The University of Kansas is a major public research and teaching institution and the flagship university of the state of Kansas in the United States. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities since 1909, KU consistently earns high rankings for its academic programs. KU has 13 schools, including the only schools of pharmacy and medicine in Kansas, and offers more than 360 degree programs. Particularly strong are special education, city management, speech-language pathology, rural medicine, clinical child psychology, nursing, occupational therapy, and social welfare.