Cameron University is a four-year, state-funded university located in Lawton, Oklahoma, that offers more than 50 degrees through two-year, four-year and graduate programs. The degree programs emphasize the liberal arts, science and technology and graduate and professional studies. Cameron is the only Oklahoma university which offers associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs at one site. Oklahoma Legislature created six agricultural high schools in each judicial district just a year after statehood in 1908. Lawton was chosen to receive a high school over Anadarko in April, 1909, due to their having already set aside a portion of land for a higher educational institution. The University Improvement Association, under the auspices of the Lawton Chamber of Commerce, organized the effort to acquire 220 acres (0.89 km) of land two miles west of the town. Its original goal was to secure a private Baptist college. Arrangements with the Baptists fell through in the summer of 1908. The Catholic Church approached the Association with an offer to form an all-male institution on the site. This plan was not acceptable to the town leaders.