Emporia State University (ESU) is a university in the city of Emporia in Lyon County, Kansas, just east of the Flint Hills.

The university was founded in March 1863 when the Kansas Legislature passed the enabling act to establish the Kansas State Normal School. The school's first graduating class consisted of two women in 1867, the year the first permanent building was completed.

In 1876, the Kansas Legislature passed the "Miscellaneous appropriations bill of 1876". The end result was that Leavenworth Normal and Concordia Normal were closed so the state funding for normal schools could be directed to Emporia.

In February 1923, the name of the school was changed to the Kansas State Teachers College. In July 1974, the name was changed to Emporia Kansas State College. On April 21, 1977, the college became Emporia State University. The Kansas Board of Regents is the governing body for ESU. Since 1863 more than 150,000 students have studied at ESU.

On January 25, 2006, then ESU president Kay Schallenkamp, Ph.D, resigned to serve as president of Black Hills State University starting July 1, 2006. On September 22, 2006 the Kansas Board of Regents announced the hiring of Michael R. Lane (BS in finance, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 1975; MS in financial accounting, Northeastern University, 1976; Ph.D in financial accounting, Texas A&M University, 1980) as University President effective November 1, 2006. Lane was previously provost at University of Arkansas - Fort Smith. Edward Flentje succeeded Lane until 2012 January 3 when Michael Shonrock became president.

A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state, or a similar entity such as the District of Columbia. These systems constitute the majority of public-funded universities in the country. Each state supports at least one such system.

Federal funded colleges and universities are limited to military personnel and government employees. Members of foreign militaries and governments also attend some schools. These schools include the United States military academies, Naval Postgraduate School, and military staff colleges.

A state university system normally means a single legal entity and administration, but may consist of several institutions, each with its own identity as a university. Some states—such as California and Texas—support more than one such system.

State universities get subsidies from their states. The amount of the subsidy varies from university to university and state to state, but the effect is to lower tuition costs below that of private universities. As more and more Americans attend college, and private tuition rates increase well beyond the rate of inflation, admission to state universities is becoming more and more competitive.