Flagship state university towns

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by JManc

Not Texas where UT Austin and Texas A&M shared that distinction; Tier 1 and exclusive access to state's Permanent University Fund (PUF). U of Houston and a couple of other universities have been elevated to Tier 1 along with a brand new medical school. No access to PUF since that would mean changing several laws and plenty of Aggies and Longhorns in the Legislature so that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Other states have multiple tier 1 public schools (e.g. the University of Michigan and Michigan State University). But the definition of "flagship" means it is the premier university within the state. UT Austin seems to be the undisputed "flagship" state school of Texas.

flagship noun

flag·​ship | \ ˈflag-ˌship \

Definition of flagship
1: the ship that carries the commander of a fleet or subdivision of a fleet and flies the commander's flag
2: the finest, largest, or most important one of a group of things (such as products, stores, etc.) —often used before another noun
the company's flagship store

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flagship

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I'd say plenty have more than one, or even none, at least by traditional definitions.

In Michigan, U-M is the oldest, most famous and most prestigious, but MSU is the largest, broadest offerings and the official land grant university. Or in Indiana, how would you decide between Purdue and IU?

In Ohio, OSU is a pretty clear flagship. Same for Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and many others.

the definition isn't cut and dry. states like indiana with Purdue an IU (two very good, public, R1 universities) make it a very tough call on which one is THE flagship.

this isn't the highlander, there can be more than one.


instead of getting hung up on state borders and the word "flagship", maybe a better way to define the parameters of this thread is "The best university towns for public R1 universities located in Urban Areas of less than 500K people".

that way both Purdue and IU, or UofM and MSU, are all included.

[Docere]

So is Madison out?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Docere

So is Madison out?

Madison is on the bubble of being kicked out in IMO.

it's UA was 401,661 back in 2010.

the CB hasn't releesed 2020 UA figures yet, but my guess is that the Madison UA remained under 500K for 2020. it will likely surpass 500K in 2030.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Other states have multiple tier 1 public schools (e.g. the University of Michigan and Michigan State University). But the definition of "flagship" means it is the premier university within the state. UT Austin seems to be the undisputed "flagship" state school of Texas.

It's not though, it's been in a one-on-one tie with Texas A&M for decades. UT Austin has more of a 'Public Ivy' reputation but A&M has top level veterinary and engineering programs which are a big deal for Texas. University of Texas is also very disjointed; UT Austin was the first university but the first medical school (UTMB) was in Galveston and dental school (UTHealth) in Houston. UT Austin only got its own medical school in the past 10 or so years ago.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by JManc

It's not though, it's been in a one-on-one tie with Texas A&M for decades. UT Austin has more of a 'Public Ivy' reputation but A&M has top level veterinary and engineering programs which are a big deal for Texas. University of Texas is also very disjointed; UT Austin was the first university but the first medical school (UTMB) was in Galveston and dental school (UTHealth) in Houston. UT Austin only got its own medical school in the past 10 or so years ago.

The University of Texas is considered the one in Austin, right? That's the flagship. Who is Texas State?

[iheartthed]

I'm sure they're all great schools, but I crossed out all of the non-flagship state schools. Yes, I'm being pedantic.

Originally Posted by Docere

Flagship universities in the United States (Wikipedia):

University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa)
University of Alaska Fairbanks
University of Arizona (Tempe)
University of Arkansas (Fayetteville)
State University of New York at Buffalo
University of California, Berkeley
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Connecticut (Storrs)
University of Delaware (Newark)
University of Florida (Gainesville)
University of Georgia (Athens)
University of Hawaii Manoa (Honolulu)
University of Houston
University of Idaho (Moscow)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Indiana University Bloomington
University of Iowa (Iowa City)
University of Kansas (Lawrence)
University of Kentucky (Fayetteville)
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge)
University of Maine (Orono)
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
University of Minnesota (Twin Cities)
Mississippi State University (Starkville)
University of Mississippi (Oxford)
University of Missouri (Columbia)
University of Montana (Missoula)
University of Nebraska Lincoln
University of Nevada, Reno
University of New Hampshire (Durham)
University of New Mexico (Albuquerque)
New Mexico Stata University (Las Cruces)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
North Dakota State University (Fargo)
University of North Dakota (Grand Forks)
University of North Texas (Denton)
Ohio State University (Columbus)
University of Oklahoma (Norman)
University of Oregon (Eugene)
Pennsylvania State University (University Park)
University of Pittsburgh
Purdue University (West Lafayette IN)
University of Rhode Island (Kingston)
Rutgers University (New Brunswick NJ)
University of South Carolina (Columbia)
University of South Dakota (Vermillion)
Southern Illinois University (Carbondale)
State University of New York at Stony Brook
University of Tennessee (Knoxville)
Texas A&M University (College Station)
University of Texas at Austin
Texas Tech University (Lubbock)
University of Utah (Salt Lake City)
University of Vermont (Burlington)
University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
University of Washington (Seattle)
West Virginia University (Morgantown)
University of Wisconsin - Madison
University of Wyoming (Laramie)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego..._United_States

I'd also argue that Cornell is the flagship university of New York State, but that's a different argument.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by TWAK

The University of Texas is considered the one in Austin, right? That's the flagship. Who is Texas State?

The University of Texas at Austin is the flagship of the UT system and tied with Texas A&M (flagship of the Texas A&M System) as the 'it' public universities for Texas; academically and culturally. Texas State is a separate system and ranked lower.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm sure they're all great schools, but I crossed out all of the non-flagship state schools. Yes, I'm being pedantic.

you left both Purdue and Indiana University on there.

which one you gonna cut?

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by JManc

It's not though, it's been in a one-on-one tie with Texas A&M for decades. UT Austin has more of a 'Public Ivy' reputation but A&M has top level veterinary and engineering programs which are a big deal for Texas. University of Texas is also very disjointed; UT Austin was the first university but the first medical school (UTMB) was in Galveston and dental school (UTHealth) in Houston. UT Austin only got its own medical school in the past 10 or so years ago.

That's the point. Flagship is what everyone understands to be the most prominent public school. A&M is a good school, but I don't think anyone would dispute that UT Austin is the most prominent public school in Texas.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by JManc

The University of Texas at Austin is the flagship of the UT system and tied with Texas A&M (flagship of the Texas A&M System) as the 'it' public universities for Texas; academically and culturally. Texas State is a separate system and ranked lower.

A lot of states have the two systems with a flagship for both. I think this thread is focusing more on just the University of since they are always the main ones.
The University of Oregon
Oregon State
ect..

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

you left both Purdue and Indiana University on there.

which one you gonna cut?

Whoops. Purdue is the flagship.

[Crawford]

A lot of states have a traditionally good liberal-arts and professional-school oriented university, and then a traditionally good engineering-ag-land grant university. So Texas/A&M, Alabama/Auburn, SC/Clemson, Indiana/Purdue, etc. So I don't always think it's clear.

Decades ago, I'd probably agree that the liberal arts university gets the nod. The elites tended to go to Ole Miss over Miss State, or Alabama over Auburn. Politicians and civic leaders frequently had English or History degrees, and often went to law school. That was the patrician norm. But nowadays, with the explosion of engineering and CS degrees, and massive drop in liberal arts degrees, not so sure.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

That's the point. Flagship is what everyone understands to be the most prominent public school. A&M is a good school, but I don't think anyone would dispute that UT Austin is the most prominent public school in Texas.

It’s all a moot point anyway since Austin is too big and too diversified to be a “university town. “

[JManc]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

That's the point. Flagship is what everyone understands to be the most prominent public school. I don't think anyone would dispute that UT Austin is the most prominent school in Texas.

Again, it's not. The UT System is by far the bigger (more institutions) of the two systems but their two flagship universities are both the 'flagships' for the state and in the eyes to people who live here.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Madison is on the bubble of being kicked out in IMO.

it's UA was 401,661 back in 2010.

the CB hasn't releesed 2020 UA figures yet, but my guess is that the Madison UA remained under 500K for 2020. it will likely surpass 500K in 2030.

A victim of its own success, in a way.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by JManc

Again, it's not. The UT System is by far the bigger (more institutions) of the two systems but their two flagship universities are both the 'flagships' for the state and in the eyes to people who live here.

When in a conversation, if somebody says "The University of Texas" people will think of the one in Austin.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by TWAK

When in a conversation somebody says "The University of Texas" people will think of the one in Austin.

I worked for the UT System so I will always make the distinction because 'UT' has other large prominent universities (UTD, UTSA, etc.) but yes, you're right.

[muertecaza]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Flagstaff is probably the best in the Southwest

Originally Posted by pj3000

^ Flagstaff is nice… but no flagship is docked there.

I don’t really consider Tucson and Tempe as “college towns”.

Yeah, Flagstaff is the "college town" in Arizona, and a great one, but NAU is not a flagship. As recently as the 90s you might have called Tempe a college town. But now it's completely absorbed in the greater Phoenix Metro Area, and it's quickly becoming if not already as notable for its downtown collection of private employers as it is for the university (although even the distinction there is getting hazy, as ASU in the last ~10 years is using its large amount of land and tax exempt status to become one of the biggest landlords in the city).

[KDD]

How is Pitt "flagship" but Temple isn't? All these definitions apply to both schools. Though I know its besides the point, neither are in college towns (though universities are the backbone of their respective local economies).