FORMED Competitors

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university and a center for learning, scholarship, and creative endeavor. KU is the only Kansas Regents university to hold membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU), a select group of North America’s leading research institutions. KU is the oldest and largest university in the state. Our 2024 enrollment reached 31,169, the highest in KU’s history, and more than 400,000 KU alumni work to better Kansas and the world each day. KU has 48 ranked academic programs, houses 38 research centers and institutes and over 40 core research labs, and contributes nearly $8 billion annually to Kansas’ economy. KU’s main campus is in Lawrence, Kansas, and the KU Medical Center is in Kansas City, Kansas. Additionally, there are campuses in Overland Park, Salina, and Wichita. Rock Chalk!

TED’s mission is to discover and champion the ideas that will shape tomorrow. Powerful ideas, powerfully presented, can move us to feel something, to think differently, to take action and create a brighter future. TED finds these powerful ideas across disciplines and around the globe, from people who passionately seek a deeper understanding of the world and want to make a difference in it. TED’s spotlight, and its engaged, open-minded audience, help these ideas to create real impact: to shift one person’s perspective, to make a difference within a community or to spark global transformation. Ideas change everything.

Our Purpose: We ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Our Mission: The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Aspen Institute is nonpartisan and does not endorse, support, or oppose political candidates or parties. Further, the views and opinions of our guests and speakers do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.