Maejo University, also spelled Maecho University (Thai: มหาวิทยาลัยแม่โจ้), located in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, is the oldest agricultural institution in the country. Founded in 1934 as the Northern Agricultural Teachers Training School, it was restructured and renamed several times until it gained the status of a full-fledged public university in 1996 and since then has been known as Maejo University. Maejo University main campus at Chiang Mai is composed of the Faculties of Agricultural Business, Agricultural Production, Science, and Engineering and Agro-Industry. In addition to these, the university has two smaller campuses in Phrae and Chumphon. President Thep Phongparnich was awarded Oklahoma State University's Distinguished International Alumni Award on November 12th, 2005. The two universities have formed an alliance. Maejo University has been noted for particularly cruel initiation rites of freshmen, forcing them to perform military like exercises in warm weather which has caused many of them to fall ill. Inside a ring with Maejo in Thai and English, the logo depicts Thailand's symbol of agriculture, the lord of rain Phra Phirune mounted on a Nāga (พระพิรุณทรงนาค).