University of Iowa, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Iowa City, Iowa, U.S. It comprises colleges of business administration, dentistry, law, public health, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, education, engineering, and liberal arts and schools of journalism and mass communication, music, library and information science, religion, and social work. A wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs are offered. The university’s Iowa Writer’s Workshop and International Writing Program is renowned throughout the world. Other campus facilities include Iowa Testing Programs, the Center for New Music, and the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research. Total enrollment is approximately 29,000.

Founded in 1847, the university is Iowa’s oldest public institution of higher learning. When it formally opened for classes in 1855, it was the first public university in the United States to admit men and women on an equal basis. Its law and dental schools were the first west of the Mississippi River, and the university was the first institution in the nation to award advanced degrees in creative writing, theatre, and music. It maintains museums of art, natural history, and medicine. Painter Grant Wood, poet W.D. Snodgrass, playwright Tennessee Williams, novelist and short-story writer John Irving, and short-story writer Flannery O’Connor are among the many artists and writers who have been associated with the university.