The University of Iowa is a major national research university located on a 1,900-acre campus in Iowa City in southeast Iowa, on the Iowa River near the intersection of U.S. Interstate Highways 80 and 380. Iowa is composed of 11 colleges, the largest of which is the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, enrolling most of Iowa's undergraduates. The Henry B. Tippie College of Business, the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, and the Colleges of Education, Engineering, Law, Nursing, Pharmacy, enroll undergraduates, and with the Colleges of Dentistry and Public Health provide graduate education in conjunction with the Graduate College.

The University of Iowa seeks to advance scholarly and creative endeavor through leading-edge research and artistic production; to use this research and creativity to enhance undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, health care, and other services provided to the people of Iowa, the nation, and the world; and to conduct these activities in a culturally diverse, humane, technologically advanced, and increasingly global environment.

The Iowa City area community includes Coralville, North Liberty, Solon, and other small towns with a total population of about 100,000. The University both provides and attracts a wide variety of cultural opportunities, Big Ten athletic events, and a number of business endeavors resulting from scientific and educational research that originated at Iowa. In the summers, Iowa City sponsors weekly downtown jazz and pop concerts, and all through the year major poets, writers, artists, historians, scientists, and others speak or perform in University venues or to read at local bookstores. Excellent public schools, close, safe, and comfortable neighborhoods, and a highly educated population mean that Iowa City frequently appears high on “best-place-to-live” listings in national magazines. The nearby countryside, good state parks, and the Iowa River provide many opportunities for walking, biking, and boating. Twenty miles to the north is Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s second-largest city, home to the Eastern Iowa Airport and a population of about 120,000.