Murray State University was founded in 1922. USNews consistently ranks Murray State among the leading universities in The South, and Barron's college guide lists MSU as “very competitive.”
Murray State is located in western Kentucky (the Jackson Purchase to be precise) and features five academic colleges—Business and Public Affairs; Education; Health Sciences and Human Services; Humanities and Fine Arts; and Science, Engineering and Technology—as well as a School of Agriculture. The 236-acre main campus is in Murray, a city of 15,000 which is ranked in the national publication, “Crime at College,” as Kentucky's safest college town and 11th safest in the entire nation.