Pride points
MU Has Top-Flight Students
In fall 2007, MU welcomed 28,477 students from every county in Missouri, every state in the nation and more than 100 countries. Freshman enrollment topped 5,000 students for the first time in MU's history.
Mizzou's six-year graduation rate of 68.9 percent is the highest it's ever been and continues to rank first among the state's public institutions.
The 2007 freshman class boasts an ACT average of 25.5, compared with the national average of 21.2 and the state average of 21.6. Nearly one-third come from the top 10 percent of their high school classes.
MU attracts more valedictorians, Curators Scholars and almost twice as many of the state's Bright Flight Scholars than any other college or university in Missouri.
MU has more than 500 student-athletes involved in 20 sports where student-athletes compete at the highest level nationally. In 2007, Tiger athletes led the Big 12 conference in graduation and student retention rates in nine sports.
The football team won the 2008 Cotton Bowl game against Arkansas, received a No. 1 regular season national ranking (the first since 1960) and won the Big 12 North Division Title for the first time ever.
MU Offers an Excellent, One-of-a-Kind Education
As Missouri's flagship university, MU has 19 schools and colleges and more than 270 degree programs — including 40 online options — to help students reach their career and personal goals.
MU is highly ranked in quality and value by U.S. News & World Report, The Fiske Guide to Colleges, Barron's Best Buys in College Education, and in numerous other college guides.
The National Science Foundation has recognized MU as one of the top ten universities in the country for successfully integrating research into undergraduate education.
The Center for the Literary Arts reinforces MU's reputation as a "writing university" by uniting renowned programs in creative writing and theatre and maintaining connections with journalism and other fields to offer students an interdisciplinary approach to writing.
MU offers more than 100 Freshman Interest Groups, where students with shared academic interests live in the same residence hall and attend classes together. These communities, which are models for other institutions around the country, provide a strong academic and social foundation for freshmen and higher retention and graduation rates.
Mizzou offers students opportunities to perform at national venues through two programs: Mizzou on Tour at Carnegie Hall and Mizzou on Broadway at the York Theatre in New York.
The MU Office of Service Learning formally integrates community service into student instruction and learning. During the 2006-07 academic year, 2,896 undergraduates enrolled in more than 100 service-learning courses and provided 116,700 hours of service through more than 200 agencies.
MU Provides a Rich Learning Environment
More than 5,400 trees and 650 varieties of plants accent the campus with colorful and fragrant flowers in the spring and brilliant leaves in the fall, transforming Mizzou into a botanic garden. The campus also features 18 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, 600-year-old Chinese stone lions and Thomas Jefferson's original tombstone.
The collection of the MU Libraries is the largest in the state. Ellis, Engineering, Geology, Health Sciences, Journalism, Law, Mathematical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine have more than 3 million volumes, almost 7 million microforms, 1.6 million government documents and more than 33,000 journal subscriptions.
MU has $700 million of campus improvement projects in design or construction. The latest projects include the expansion of Brady Commons, the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and Thomas and Nell Lafferre Hall.
MU's Museum of Art and Archaeology possesses the third most extensive art collection in Missouri and the campus Museum of Anthropology is the only anthropology museum in the state.
In MU's School of Journalism newspaper, magazine and photojournalism students gain hands-on experience as they produce print and online publications, including three magazines and a daily newspaper. Broadcast students train at radio, TV and online outlets. Strategic communication students create advertising, public relations and marketing strategies for local and national clients.
MU Is an Economic Engine for Missouri
Thanks to the generous support of alumni and friends, the For All We Call Mizzou campaign is close to reaching the university's $1 billion goal.
Research at MU prepares students to succeed in a knowledge-based economy, solves problems and improves lives, leads to innovations and new companies, attracts new money to the state and helps make Missouri and the U.S. more competitive.
Based on the most recent data from the National Science Foundation, MU ranks No. 2 among all institutions in the Association of American Universities in growth of federal research funding from 1995 to 2005.
MU attracts 71.3 percent of the federal research dollars flowing to Missouri's public universities.
Every week, Missouri's economy benefits as MU brings in an average of $2.4 million in private donations, spends $9.7 million in payroll and wins $3.7 million in outside funds for research.
Over the last decade, MU has conducted $2 billion in research, impacting the state economy with $3.56 billion. It takes MU's high-quality faculty and infrastructure capacity to attract multi-million dollar federal research grants. The state has built this capacity, or “critical mass,” at MU.
The loss of Mizzou's $220 million research operation would be the same as losing 22 companies with annual revenues of $10 million each.
Last year, MU files 110 patent applications for new inventions; 10 new start-up companies are being developed based on MU technology.
MU Is a Nationally Competitive, Global University
MU is one of only six public universities in the country with medicine, veterinary medicine, law, engineering and agriculture all on one campus. More Missouri physicians have received their medical degree from MU than from any other university. Two-thirds of Missouri veterinarians are MU graduates. One fifth of all attorneys in Missouri were educated at MU's law school.
MU is one of only 34 public U.S. universities, and the only public institution in Missouri, to be selected for membership in the Association of American Universities and designated "comprehensive doctoral with medical/veterinary" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This year marks the centennial of MU's AAU membership, which recognizes excellence in teaching and research endeavors and includes only the nation's top-tier institutions.
MU provides all the benefits of two universities in one — it's a major land-grant institution and Missouri's largest public research university. Many states support two, such as Michigan and Michigan State and Iowa and Iowa State.
MU sends more students to study overseas than any other college or university in Missouri. Currently, MU offers more than 375 study abroad programs in 55 countries. Last year, 848 MU students participated in the program.
Innovation at Mizzou
More than 1,000 faculty life scientists at MU are working to improve human and animal health, food and the environment. Areas of strength include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, animal and human reproductive biology, aging, plant genomics and biotechnology, geo-spatial informatics, bioengineering, rural economic development policy, math education, nanoscience and nanotechnology, cognitive and neurodevelopmental sciences, exercise physiology, autism, nuclear medicine and comparative medicine.
MU boasts some of the world's top scientists in wheat, corn and soybean research and is 14th in the nation in life sciences funding from the National Science Foundation.
MU is home to the world's most powerful university research reactor and is the largest U.S. producer of radioisotopes for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
MU is a national leader in comparative medicine; researchers collaborate, sharing discoveries, innovations and treatments benefiting both animals and humans.
The Southwestern Bell Science Education Center involves MU scientists, science teachers and schools to strengthen science education in Missouri schools.
MU Is Improving the Quality of Life
As Missouri's land grant institution and largest public research university, MU has a statewide mission to improve the public welfare. Every year, more than one million Missourians turn to MU and its extension programs to help them continue their education, solve problems and make informed decisions.
The University of Missouri academic medical center has more than 6,000 professionals who care for patients from every county in Missouri.
MU Health Care provides rural patients with better access to high-quality health care through its nationally recognized Missouri Telehealth Network, which has 140 sites in 43 Missouri counties.
More than 100,000 youth from across the state participate in University of Missouri Extension 4-H clubs or 4-H school enrichment programs each year.
The Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs, the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute and the Rural Policy Research Institute make objective contributions to state and national public policy. MU's Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis is the major Missouri source for demographic and economic data analysis used in the development and evaluation of economic policy.
MU's Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory conducts more than 300,000 diagnostic tests annually to help determine the cause of death and disease in animals.
University Extension brings lifelong learning opportunities to Missourians in all walks of life. Annually, more than 100,000 people — including teachers, health care professionals, lawyers, firefighters and police officers — gain the latest knowledge in their professions while participating in continuing education opportunities offered through Extension and MU's schools and colleges.
