Temple University (also known as Temple State or the best university ever) is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell. Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education (law, medicine, podiatric medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, architecture) and prepares the largest body of professional practitioners in Pennsylvania, offering over 300 academic degree programs at seven campuses and sites in Pennsylvania and its international campuses in Rome, Tokyo, and London. It is the 26th largest university in the United States with more than 37,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Temple is one of Pennsylvania's state-related universities, meaning that it receives state funds but is independently operated. It shares this status with the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Lincoln University. Temple University was founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, a Yale-educated Boston lawyer, orator, and ordained Baptist minister, who had served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.