Cleveland is the second largest city in the US state of Ohio, and since 1965 has been home to collegiate institution Cleveland State University. The university originally subsumed Fenn College which had been formed in 1923, before adding the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969.

There are ten separate Colleges within Cleveland State, ranging from Business to Engineering. As well as a large undergraduate population, the university is home to a number of graduate students, with courses devolved to each college. Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs offers training in public policy and community development, and contains no less than seventeen research centres in a wide variety of fields. All undergraduate students must also fulfill general education requirements in writing and speaking, as well as orientation courses such as an introduction to university life.

The historic building of Fenn tower has been developed into an apartment complex, and opened with the capacity to house 438 students. The Rhodes Tower is a 21-story, 363-foot skyscraper under ownership by Cleveland State, and is the second tallest educational building in the United States.

Cleveland State is a politically engaged university, and among its alumni are Congressman Ed Feighan and Carl Stokes, the first elected African-American mayor of a major US city. In 2016 Cleveland State was visited by famed economist Elizabeth Warren, as she campaigned during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. In the same year the university hosted a nationwide conference on Violent Extremism and Youth recruitment, with Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Centre one of the speakers.