The University of Oregon (UO) is located in Eugene. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class (five students) two years later.

The school colors are green and yellow.

Former Oregon attorney general Dave Frohnmayer is the president of the university administration. UO receives much of its funding from the UO Foundation, an independent not-for-profit organization. Foundation members include executives from Intel and the Pape company, a Eugene-based manufacturer of tractors and forklifts.

The university maintains the Riverfront Research Park on the other side of Franklin Blvd. from the main campus, next to the Willamette River. The Park is used for creating new technologies (including projects funded by the US military), such as research about artificial intelligence at the Computational Intelligence Research Lab, and genetic engineering research on zebrafish.