The University of Dayton (UD) is an American private Roman Catholic national research university in Ohio’s sixth-largest city, Dayton. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio.

The University has about 8,000 undergraduate and 2,200 post-graduate students from a variety of religious, ethnic and geographic backgrounds, drawn from across the United States and more than 40 countries. It offers more than 80 academic programs in arts and sciences, business administration, education and health sciences, engineering, law and, in 2009, was first in the country to offer an undergraduate degree program in human rights.

For the 2016-17 academic year, the University has 8,095 full- and part-time undergraduates and 2,115 graduate and law students. The University of Dayton offers more than 80-degree programs in four schools and a college — School of Law, School of Engineering, School of Business Administration, School of Education and Health Sciences, and the College of Arts and Sciences.