The University of Nebraska–Lincoln, commonly referred to as Nebraska, UNL, or NU, is a public research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the state's oldest university and the largest in the University of Nebraska system.

The state legislature chartered the university in 1869 as a land-grant university under the 1862 Morrill Act, two years after Nebraska's statehood into the United States. Around the turn of the 20th century, the university began to expand significantly, hiring professors from eastern schools to teach its new professional programs and conducting groundbreaking research in agricultural sciences.

 

The "Nebraska method" of ecological study developed during this time pioneered grassland ecology and laid the foundation for research in theoretical ecology for the rest of the century. The university is organized into eight colleges on two campuses in Lincoln with over 100 classroom buildings and research facilities.

Nebraska's athletic programs, known as the Cornhuskers, compete in NCAA Division I and are a member of the Big Ten Conference. NU's football team has won 46 conference championships and claims five national championships, with an additional nine unclaimed.

 

The school's volleyball team has won five titles and appeared in the national semifinal nine other times.[10] NU plays its home football games at Memorial Stadium and has sold out every game since 1962. The stadium's capacity of 91,585 people is famously larger than the population of Nebraska's third-largest city.