Minnesota State University, Mankato

Minnesota State University, Mankato is a public four-year university located in Mankato, Minnesota. As of Fall 2015, the student body is the second largest in the state of Minnesota with over 15,000 students, with the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus ranking first. Students are served by 600 full-time faculty members creating a 28:1 student to faculty ratio. The school was founded in 1868 and is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MnSCU). The current President is Richard Davenport, who began his term in 2002. The athletic teams are known as the Minnesota State University Mavericks with school colors of purple and gold. Teams primarily compete at the NCAA Division II level in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The exceptions are the Men's and Women's ice hockey teams who compete at the NCAA Division I level, in the highly regarded Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Minnesota State University currently offers 158 undergraduate programs of study, 82 graduate programs and is the first institution in the United States to offer a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre.