University of Arizona
public university in Tucson, Arizona, United States
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university established in the Arizona Territory. The University of Arizona is one of three universities governed by the Arizona Board of Regents (the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University). As of fall 2025, the university enrolled 54,384 students in 22 separate colleges/schools, including the Eller College of Management, the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, the College of Medicine – Phoenix, the College of Medicine – Tucson, and the James E. Rogers College of Law.
The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". UA also is a member of the Association of American Universities. The University of Arizona is affiliated with two academic medical centers, Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix.
Known as the Arizona Wildcats (often shortened to "Cats"), the UA's intercollegiate athletic teams were members of the Pac-12 Conference of the NCAA. The university joined the Big 12 Conference on August 2, 2024. UA athletes have won national titles in several sports, most notably men's basketball, baseball, and softball.
History
After the passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862, the push for a university in Arizona grew.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “University of Arizona” as public university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as public university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q503419. VIAF identifies the subject as 138554716. The Library of Congress control number is n79064632. Authority coordinates are 32.232, -110.953. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1885, 2025, 2024 and 1862.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “University of Arizona”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow University of Arizona primary sources, University of Arizona archive and University research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “University of Arizona”?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “University of Arizona” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.