UMSL received a record $46.7 million in gifts and pledges during the 2025 fiscal year, including $22 million directed toward scholarships and other student success support. (Photo by Jay Fram)
The University of Missouri–St. Louis has served a vital role in the St. Louis region, educating people from all walks of life and developing the workforce to drive it forward over more than six decades.
New investments from alumni and supporters have been helping UMSL develop innovative programs and transform the physical campus so that it continues to serve the needs of students and the wider region in the years ahead.
The university received $46.7 million in gifts and pledges during Fiscal Year 2025, which ended on June 30. That was more than double the $20 million total in FY2024.
Donors directed $22 million to support scholarships and other student success support.
“We are so grateful to UMSL alumni, friends and donors who believe in the mission of the University of Missouri–St. Louis to transform the lives of our students and people in our community and who are making key investments to support that work,” Chancellor Kristin Sobolik said. “The trust and backing they provide UMSL is helping us renovate learning environments, add and grow scholarships and build lasting workforce and community partnerships that will help prepare our students for success in their careers and their lives.”
UMSL’s biggest champions, not surprisingly, are often alumni, who’ve seen firsthand the impact the university can have on the life of a student. Many feel inspired to provide future students with the same opportunities that they enjoyed.
In June, the university announced the naming of the Ed G. Smith College of Business – the first named college in UMSL’s history – in recognition of expanded philanthropic support from alum and longtime donor Ed G. Smith, who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from UMSL. After graduation, Smith went on to found American Direct Marketing Resources, a nationally respected, full-service direct response advertising agency serving top clients in consumer marketing and customer acquisition.
Smith’s support is expanding access to higher education through increased scholarships and helping grow experiential learning and study abroad opportunities to enhance student success. It will also assist faculty in the college as they innovate and align their teaching to meet the demands of the modern workforce.
UMSL is constantly updating its course offerings and curriculum to be responsive to the needs of employers across the St. Louis region. There was perhaps no better example than last fall when the university announced it would launch the UMSL School of Engineering with its first cohort of students enrolling in the fall 2025 semester.
The James S. McDonnell Foundation awarded UMSL an $8 million grant providing crucial financial support for the hiring of new faculty members to both teach students and engage with local industry. It has also helped create immediate and endowed scholarships and is supporting STEM-focused college readiness programs to help prepare local high school students to pursue engineering degrees to meet a critical industry need.
“This investment is a down payment on the infrastructure necessary to make sure that people have opportunities to succeed, and that the region succeeds as a result,” JSMF President Jason Purnell said.
Donors are also playing a key role in UMSL’s ongoing $110 million campus transformation efforts, including ongoing renovation and construction projects such as the construction of the new Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center, enhancements to University Libraries, and renovations to better serve students in music or the arts. Private support from donors for campus transformation is currently $18 million, which is 75% of the way to the overall fundraising goal of $24 million.
The Missouri Optometric Foundation – a longtime supporter of scholarships – made a gift last year to aid the renovation of J.C. Penney North for faculty members in the College of Optometry. There will be an applicant interview room named in the organization’s honor.
“There are so few optometry schools in the nation, and we’re just lucky to have a school in our state,” Missouri Optometric Foundation President Scott Ream said. “Part of our mission is to give back and help students, and we look forward to working with the school in the future as well.”
Ream is a 1987 graduate of the College of Optometry who went on to build a thriving practice in Thayer, Missouri. But many of UMSL’s supporters are not alumni and are often affiliated with the university through shared values and mission alignment.
Judi Linville spent nearly 25 years at UMSL, including 20 teaching business, news and feature writing as a faculty member in the Department of English after first coming to work at the university in the public information office. She was a longtime advisor for The Current student newspaper and maintains contact with the many editors she worked with over the years.
“I was always so impressed by the motivation that so many of the students that I taught had,” Linville said. “Many of them were the first in their families to go to college. Most of them were working 20 hours a week already to be able to afford to go.”
Last year, Linville made a planned gift to endow the Linville Writing Scholarship with a goal of assisting students with a particular emphasis on excelling in written communication.
“I want to see that tradition continue,” she said. “I want to see that students who really want to become writers have a chance to attend the university and take classes so they can achieve that dream.”
Janice Stokes is a registered nurse who had no direct connection to UMSL until almost a decade ago when she a saw a news report about an UMSL scholarship helping students complete their degrees. She sought out the Division of University Advancement because she wanted to contribute.
Stokes has since expanded her giving to contribute to the Pay It Forward Annual Scholarship, which benefits pre-licensure students in the College of Nursing.
“UMSL’s nursing program has a good reputation, and we’re always in need of good nurses,” Stokes said. “I remember talking to the dean of nursing and hearing the statistic of how many nursing graduates stay in St. Louis. It was phenomenal.”
Support from donors such as Stokes is invaluable for the students who receive it.
“UMSL alumni and supporters are instrumental in providing necessary financial contributions and volunteer engagement that create access and opportunities for students to pursue their educational and career dreams,” said Lisa Capone, UMSL’s vice chancellor for advancement. “Together, we will have a lasting impact on the lives of a new generation of leaders who will join over 118,000 current UMSL alumni in driving our region forward.”
