 The main campus of Kent State University is located in the southeastern part of the city . The campus itself occupies approximately 866 acres ( 350 ha ) and the university owns thousands of additional acres adjacent to the campus . Additional facilities include a research park and golf course just east of the city limits in Franklin Township and the Kent State University Airport , just west of Kent in Stow . Founded in 1910 as a teacher training institution , the university has become a world leader in the development of liquid crystals through the Liquid Crystal Institute and was the site of the first patent for the modern liquid crystal in the 1970s . Kent State also has a nationally recognized fashion design program and nationally ranked programs in library science and business . As of 2010 , the College of Nursing is the 5th @-@ largest nursing school in the United States and largest in Ohio . In 2009 the university inaugurated the College of Public Health , the second public health program in Ohio and 33rd in the U.S. The Kent State library system , which includes the 12 @-@ story main library and houses over 2 @.@ 6 million volumes , includes six additional department libraries on the main campus and a branch at each of the seven regional campuses . The library system is a member of the Association of Research Libraries , one of 3 in Ohio and 124 in North America . The university offers over 300 programs of study combined in the undergraduate and graduate levels and serves over 41 @,@ 000 students in eight campuses across Northeast Ohio with over 30 @,@ 000 at the campus in Kent . 
