 Millenium Student Center | |
| Motto | Salus populi suprema lex esto (Latin) |
|---|---|
Motto in English | Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law[1][2][3] |
| Type | Publicresearch university |
| Established | 1963; 62 years ago (1963) |
Parent institution | University of Missouri System |
Academic affiliation | |
| Endowment | $118.01 million (2023) (UMSL only)[4] $2.24 billion (2023) (system-wide)[5] |
| Chancellor | Kristin Sobolik[6] |
Academic staff | 680 (fall 2020)[7] |
Administrative staff | 974 (fall 2020)[7] |
| Students | 8,023 (fall 2023)[8] |
| Location | ,, United States |
| Campus | Urban, 350-acre (0.5 sq mi; 141.6 ha)[9] |
| Colors | Red and gold[10] |
| Nickname | Tritons |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division II -GLVC |
| Mascot | Louie |
| Website | umsl.edu |
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TheUniversity of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) is apublicresearch university inSt. Louis, Missouri, United States. Established in 1963, it is the newest of the four universities in theUniversity of Missouri System. Located on the former grounds ofBellerive Country Club, the university's campus stretches into the municipalities ofBellerive,[11]Bel-Nor[12] andNormandy.[13] Additional facilities are located at the former site ofMarillac College and atGrand Center, both in St. Louis city.
Bachelor's, Master's, and doctoral programs are offered through the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business Administration, the College of Education, the College of Nursing, the School of Social Work, and the College of Optometry. The business school isAACSB-accredited and is the only public university in the St. Louis area to also be AACSB-accredited in accounting.[14] Preprofessional, a joint engineering program withWashington University in St. Louis, and evening programs are also offered. UMSL is home of anoptometry school, providing its students with a doctorate (OD). The Pierre Laclede Honors College is UMSL's honors program. UMSL isclassified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".[15]
The university contains two libraries: TheThomas Jefferson Library which is the main library of the university and theSt. Louis Mercantile Library which was founded in 1846 and is the oldest library west of theMississippi River. The campus contains two stops onMetroLink, St. Louis' regionallight rail system. A student center, academic buildings, parking structures, a performing arts center, and residential housing have been constructed over the past ten years as part of campus improvement programs. The university has a dual-enrollment agreement with theGulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait.KWMU (90.7 FM), which is the flagshipNational Public Radio station in the St. Louis area and known on-air as St. Louis Public Radio, is owned by and licensed to UMSL.
For the Fall 2023 semester, UMSL has 8,023 students attending classes on-campus, compared to 6,792 students taking classes off-campus, which is primarily students dual-enrolled at area high schools. The university has the equivalent of 5,654 full-time students. UMSL has historically been a commuter school for the St. Louis area.[16]
The impetus for a college campus in its current location began in 1957 when members of the Bellerive Country Club put their 53-year-old club house and 125-acre (50.6 ha) grounds on the market for $1.3 million as they planned to move to larger quarters inTown and Country, Missouri. At the same time members ofNormandy, Missouri School District began debating the need of creating an affordablejunior college to offer an alternative to the much more expensive privately ownedSaint Louis University andWashington University in St. Louis. Country Club members approached the Board and the asking price was dropped to $600,000. A bond issue on September 30, 1958, received the necessary two-thirds majority and the golf club was turned over to Normandy on May 31, 1960. A group of board members and citizens popularly referred to as "The Committee of Twenty-eight" began the process to set up thejunior college. The group met withElmer Ellis, president of theUniversity of Missouri.
Interest in a four-year school immediately arose. In 1963, the original MU campuses in Columbia andRolla were merged with the privately ownedUniversity of Kansas City to form the present day University of Missouri System. The newly formed system immediately won permission to upgrade the Normandy center to a full-fledged four-year institution. The transfer from the Normandy school district to the University of Missouri System was delayed when theMissouri Supreme Court in 4–3 decision ruled that the school could not transfer the property without a formal open bid process. TheMissouri General Assembly enacted legislation signed by GovernorJohn Dalton on October 13, 1963, enabling the transfer and the university bought the property for $60,000 from unallocated funds at the university's disposal.[17]
With expanding enrollment classes were held in alaundromat building at Natural Bridge and Hanley and in a church basement across from the campus while buildings were built on the site of the former Bellerive Country Club. Benton Hall opened in 1965, Clark Hall and the Library were the next buildings built. On July 23, 1973, anOzark AirlinesFairchild Hiller FH-227B Flight 809 fromNashville International Airport crashed into the campus just east of the Mark Twain complex while attempting to land atLambert-St. Louis International Airport.[18][19] In 1976Marillac College was acquired. It is now called the "south campus."
Chancellors of the school are:[20]
In 2007Express Scripts opened its world headquarters on the campus north of University Place Drive and south ofInterstate 70 in Missouri. It was the firstFortune 500 company to have its headquarters on a college campus. A second headquarters building adjoining the original one opened in 2008. Three additional Express Scripts have been added to the NorthPark development on the north side of I-70 including an Office and Data Center, Tech and Innovation Center, and Operations Center.[21] In 2018 the majority of the 5,000 St. Louis Express Scripts employees work in the complex.[21]
George Paz, CEO of Express Scripts at the time, was an UMSL graduate.[22] Express Scripts, which leases rather than owns its headquarters buildings and other structures in NorthPark, received substantial tax breaks.[23] Since the move the company has been an active partner with the university including contributing money to renovate the computer sciences building (Express Scripts Hall),[24] raising funds for building projects, sponsoring a pre-collegiate bridge program for high school students and sponsoring abusiness incubator (Accentuate).[25]
| Race and ethnicity | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 61% | ||
| Black | 19% | ||
| Asian | 5% | ||
| Unknown | 5% | ||
| Hispanic | 4% | ||
| Two or more races | 4% | ||
| International student | 2% | ||
| Economic diversity | |||
| Low-income[a] | 40% | ||
| Affluent[b] | 60% | ||
Divisions of the university include the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Business Administration, the College of Education, the College of Fine Arts and Communication, the College of Nursing, the College of Optometry, thePierre Laclede Honors College, the School of Social Work, the Graduate School, and the UMSL/Washington University Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program. In 2024, UMSL announced the creation of a School of Engineering that will offer traditional engineering programs on campus.[27]
U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools 2018 ranked the university's doctoral degree program in Criminology & Criminal Justice 5th in the US.[28]
UMSL's Master of Science in Cybersecurity was ranked No. 3 on the list of Best Master’s in Cybersecurity Degrees for 2025 byFortune.[29]
The Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) athletic teams are called the Tritons, formerly known as the Rivermen and Riverwomen until 2007. The university is a member of theDivision II ranks of theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in theGreat Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) since the 1996–97 academic year; which they accepted an invitation back in 1995. The Tritons previously competed in theMid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) from 1980–81 to 1995–96.
UMSL competes in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis and track & field; women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field and volleyball.
The Campus is divided into two parts, a North Campus and a South Campus. UMSL can be visited using theSt. Louis MetroLink light rail system, which has two stations on the campus:UMSL North andUMSL South.
Some key buildings include theThomas Jefferson andMercantile libraries, the Wellness and Recreation Center, University Meadows Apartments, the Millennium Student Center, Residential Life and Housing, Clark and Lucas Halls, the Touhill Performing Arts Center, Express Scripts Hall, and the Social Sciences Building. The Ward E. Barnes Library is located on the south campus and serves the College of Education and the College of Optometry.
The UMSL Student Government Association (SGA) is a student run government set up to provide a voice for students when dealing with administration of the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL). SGA has three parts, the Executive Branch, the Assembly, and the Student Court, and also is governed by a student-wide approved constitution. SGA was started in 1963 when the university was founded and has gone through many constitutional changes, the most recent in 2004. SGA includes members from every student organization and students from every college on campus. This government incorporates both undergraduate and graduate in its student body. SGA has been instrumental in changes for students around the campus. It is responsible for approving student fees before they go to the board of curators of the University of Missouri System, and divides out the campus activities fees to fund student organizations' budgets.
There are several social fraternities and sororities on campus.[30]
The student newspaper,The Current, is a tabloid publishing 6,000 issues weekly. It is funded primarily by advertising revenue supplemented by student activity fees. It won "Best-in-State" from the Missouri Collegiate Media Association in 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2009.
The campus hosts a student radio station, UMSL Student Radio ("The U"), on 1620 AM and streaming online, and U TV which streams in the campus dorms and on a YouTube channel.[31] The main studios are located in the Millennium Student Center, with a satellite studio in the Oak Hall Residence.
In May 2007 the UMSL board of curators approved a change of nickname from the Rivermen (first used in the 1960s) to the Tritons. The new mascot was revealed at the "Pack the Stands" night in the fall of 2009, and was named "Louie" by the student body at the annual Mirthday celebration in spring of 2010. The Rivermen/Riverwomen nickname seldom had popular support, primarily for its unwieldy gender constructions.[32]
The Pierre Laclede Honors College is the university's honors program. It was named in honor of thefounder of the city of St. Louis. It has classrooms and student housing located in a formerconvent on the university's South Campus. The program offers classes that typically focus on specific topics in thehumanities, while stressing the development and practice of students' writing skills. Students in the program publish an informal periodical,Brain Stew, which is independent ofThe Current. The college is also the center of activity for the publication ofBellerive, an annual literary magazine of artistic and literary works by UMSL students and faculty.
The university has 92,230 graduates, with 62,408 (68%) of them in the metropolitanSt. Louis area.[33]
38°42′37″N90°18′40″W / 38.710200°N 90.311055°W /38.710200; -90.311055
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