The University of Kentucky (UK) is a public co-educational university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's two land-grant universities, the largest college or university in the state, with 28,928[2] students as of Fall 2012, and the highest ranked research university in the state according to U.S. News and World Report.[4][8]