This study investigates two areas to increase the understanding of university patenting activity using raw data recently made available through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office PatentsView application. First, the study assesses the relationship of institutional characteristics to the number of patents granted, and the subject fields of those patents, at colleges and universities in the United States from 1970 to 2018. A population of 189 colleges and universities that report institutional data to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is used to answer the first research question by tracking trends over time and using descriptive summaries. Second, the study seeks to further develop the current understanding of basic strategies a university can undertake to increase the amount of patenting activity it engages in by using regression models for a population of 179 institutions based on a twenty-year aggregate of total number of patents granted from 1998 through 2018. The institutional characteristics analyzed to answer the two research questions include geographic region and locale status, public or private control status, Carnegie Classification, institution size category, Land Grant status, and the subject fields in which patents are granted. The second research question additionally includes the number of faculty at an institution, professor salaries, total research expenditures, and the number of graduate and undergraduate students. Based on concepts rooted in organizational ecology, a measure of patent subject field diversification referred to as patent field density (PFD) is used to assess if whether a more generalized or a more specialized research strategy is associated with a greater number of total patents. This PFD variable is used as an additional independent variable to answer the second research question. The study finds that the number of patents granted per year to higher education institutions has steadily increased since 1970 with total patents granted skewed heavily towards the top research institutions. The institutional types and characteristics that were associated with a greater share of patents in the early years of the study tend to maintain that advantage over time. There has not been a large change in the subject fields of patents granted over time, although medical patents, which made up the greatest share of patents granted to higher education institutions in 1980, has steadily expanded its position over time as the largest subject field for higher education patents. In the regression models, total research expenditures and professor salaries are found to be statistically significant predictors of total patenting output. The findings suggest that a high level of institutional financial resources are a key factor in being granted a large number of patents. PFD is also found to be a fairly robust predictor of total patents granted, with institutions that have a more diversified patent subject field portfolio having a higher number of total patents granted. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]