The University of Missouri (also known as the University of Missouri–Columbia, Mizzou, or MU) is a public lan-grant university in Columbia, Missouri. Founded in 1839, it was the first public university west of the Mississippi River and is the flagship of the University of Missouri System. MU is Missouri's largest university and public research institution, with a current enrollment of over 28,000 students who come from every county in Missouri, every state in the nation, and more than 100 foreign countries. The University offers more than 270 undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs through 20 schools and colleges and is one of only six public universities in the United States with medicine, veterinary medicine, and law schools all on one campus. Also widely known are its programs in journalism (the world's first, founded in 1908), agriculture, and life sciences. It is one of only 34 public universities in the United States to be an elected member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. More than 244,000 alumni are living worldwide, with half continuing to reside in Missouri.