When the rest of their friends are sleeping this summer, hundreds of high school students are lining up for 8 a.m. classes at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. The UMSL Bridge Program, the university’s award-winning precollegiate program, is now in it’s 26th year. And it’s enrollment has climbed to more than 400 this summer including it’s middle school program.
With recreations of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” video popping up all over the Internet, a group of University of Missouri–St. Louis students decided to create their own tribute to the sugary sweet summer hit.
Believe it or not, giving away $50,000 is not an easy task. Just ask Patricia Zahn, chair of the Jubilee Program Committee at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
A towheaded infant crawled down the grassy hill, oblivious to the spectacle high above her. An elderly man hobbled slowly along the walkway seemingly pleased to be a part of the same rare wonder.
Dancing and fireworks. Virtual murals. Scholarships. Concerts. Community health fairs. A 50-year retrospective on civil rights. For the last several months, dozens of people at the University of Missouri–St. Louis have been meeting and planning a year’s worth of ideas to celebrate UMSL’s founding in 1963.
In unison, the 16 young men and women recited the Cadet Creed. A standing-room- only crowd filled the sanctuary of a former church on the St. Louis University campus May 10 for the military ceremony.
Expanding on the success of St. Louis Public Radio | 90.7 KWMU, the University of Missouri–St. Louis is acquiring Quincy University’s public radio station WQUB 90.3 FM in Quincy, Ill.
After years of presenting hundreds of awards to students and their organizations, Curt Coonrod got to accept one for his team. The Bridge Program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis was recognized by the College Board for its commitment and efforts to positively impact the African American community. Coonrod, UMSL’s vice provost for Student Affairs, accepted the Dr. Asa G. Hilliard Model of Excellence award on April 27 at the College Board’s 2012 A Dream Deferred: The Future of African American Education conference in Los Angeles.
Dr. Patricia Wolff, a St. Louis pediatrician who left her private practice last year to devote her time to providing food and medicine to malnourished children in Haiti, is one of three individuals receiving honorary degrees at five commencement ceremonies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis May 12 and 13.
“Good. Better. Best. We just met the best.” Those were the words of Ruth Bryant in 1986. Bryant was president of the Chancellor’s Council at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and the council had just completed interviews of three finalists for the position of UMSL chancellor. The council members agreed: The final candidate, Marguerite Ross Barnett, was number one.
Donald K. Anderson Jr. stands in front of an iconic railroad image. It’s a painting by Leslie Ragan that’s on display in the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. A smile crosses his face as he talks about the artwork, the era, the trains.
Among the more than 1,500 students graduating from the University of Missouri–St. Louis Saturday, four of them stand out for what they have in common. They’ve all earned high honors, entered college at the sophomore level and are 20 years old. (Since 1974, only 217 of more than 60,000 UMSL graduates were 20 years old or younger.) Not surprisingly, they’re highly focused individuals with grand plans.
You’re a college student and you get invited to a dinner with 12 strangers. Do you say yes? Of course you do if you’re a student at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. That dinner pairs you with five other students and six UMSL alumni. The lively conversation usually lasts for hours and often results in relationships that benefit everyone at the table. And no one leaves a stranger.
With a $1 million gift to the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Chancellor Tom George announced the Monsanto Company will fund a community education center in the university’s new building in Grand Center. George also announced funding of the “transformative” redesign of a portion of Natural Bridge Road from Hanley to Lucas and Hunt roads that runs through the campus in North County.
A $1 million gift from Monsanto Company to build a community education center in Grand Center, will mean the University of Missouri–St. Louis can further its urban mission and strengthen the partnerships it has with the region’s media, arts and educational institutions.
The threat of bad weather Saturday morning kept some volunteers away. But the people who did show up at the University of Missouri–St. Louis for the final community service project of the semester had plenty of enthusiasm.
How about a French vanilla cappuccino with your muffin? A fresh salad? Enchiladas with Southwestern corn? Welcome to the Southside Café. Right on schedule, a new eatery at the University of Missouri–St. Louis opened for business April 25. And at least one customer is positively ecstatic about the change from vending machine fare to fresh food.
It’s an annual report befitting a public university. No slick publication. No high-priced consultants. The report is delivered in person to the people who have invested in its outstanding product – an educated work force for the St. Louis region.
Teachers, children, parents, scientists and an artist or two showed up at the Missouri History Museum last Wednesday to play with robots and hear about a coming war we humans might have with them.
Now in its sixth year, the St. Louis Mercantile Library’s annual Fine Print, Rare Book and Paper Arts Fair attracts a throng of enthusiastic patrons and customers interested in viewing and buying an Audubon print, an antique map or historic photo. But fair organizers have added a few surprises this year to appeal to an even wider audience.
Kay Gasen hopes to arm a veritable army of volunteers April 28 with paint brushes, shovels and rakes to plant a community garden, paint houses and generally make life a little better for people living in the Normandy (Mo.) School District.
Jeremy North and William Ellegood have applied business college logistics to school bus routes for their doctoral research in logistics and supply chain management. Logan Brown, a doctoral candidate in physics, asks the question: “Where is the water?” in her research on the possibility of finding water in solar systems still unformed and light years away from our own.
One of the St. Louis region’s top institutional trust executives has decided to leave the banking world and take up the cause of public higher education. Lyle Brizendine, most recently senior vice president and director of philanthropic management for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has been named senior director of development for major gifts at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
Do these terms sound familiar: triple–toe-touch, herkie, front hurdler? How about basket toss? If you’re a cheerleader, then you’ve learned these standard moves. If you’re not a cheerleader, but are interested in learning more, the University of Missouri–St. Louis is looking for candidates for next year’s cheerleading squad.
What’s it like to be part of the UMSL environment? Is it warm, egalitarian and inviting? Or, isn’t it? Do you feel empowered and free, or not? What can make your campus life happier? Over the next two weeks, students, faculty and staff at the University of Missouri–St. Louis will be asked to complete a survey on the campus climate to answer those and other important questions.
It’s not very often a rap star gets invited to a university to talk about his life. That’s about to happen at 7 p.m. April 3 when Common, known as the King of Conscious Hip Hop, appears at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri–St. Louis
When she was a sophomore in high school, Seria Fields described herself as “a very timid individual.” Now a high school senior, she recently walked up to a podium at America’s Center in St. Louis and addressed nearly 2,000 people like a pro.
If one of the years on your Facebook Timeline says University of Missouri–St. Louis, then our social media guru needs your help. “We launched the Facebook Timeline for the UMSL page last week noting a few historic milestones,” said Jon Hinderliter, UMSL’s manager of web and electronic communications. “Our goal is to expand the timeline and make sure every year is represented. Now we need to hear from the thousands of people out there with a connection to the university. What events rate a milestone designation?”
Lawrence and Goldia Coldon live out every parent’s worst nightmare. Every day. The Coldons travel the St. Louis region telling the story of their missing daughter, hoping to find people who know something or someone, hoping to find Phoenix
The five women honored at this year’s Trailblazers Award ceremony March 7 fulfilled the requirement: Women whose extraordinary lives have contributed to the advancement of women. The annual event at the University of Missouri–St. Louis is one of the highlights of Women’s History Month.
A few months ago, Kevin Cox was working at a dollar store. Today he’s a laboratory assistant at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur, Mo. – the first big step of many toward a noble career.
On the eve of one of the biggest student elections in 15 years, Jericah Selby seems calm. Selby, a senior and president of the Student Government Association at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, attended to last-minute details of a student referendum set for March 12 through March 15.
Noted journalist and TV host Lisa Ling has traveled the world for the last decade reporting on violence in all its forms and the devastating effects it has on humanity. She often focuses on women and children – bride burning in India, gang rape in the Congo, child trafficking in Ghana. She is also well known for her role from 1999 to 2002 as co-host of the daytime television talk show “The View.”
When the buses arrived Saturday with nearly 100 high school students in them, Alan Byrd broke out in a smile. Byrd, dean of enrollment management at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, had been working with the group’s organizers to attend UMSL Day, the university’s information session for prospective students and their parents.
For the first time ever, registration for Saturday’s Spring UMSL Day Open House has “sold out.” With 1,000 potential students and their parents planning to attend Saturday’s event at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, the March 5 registration has been closed. University officials announced an additional UMSL Day has been scheduled for May 5. This is the first time a third event has been scheduled to complement the regular spring and fall activities.
Ever wonder where elementary and secondary teachers go after the kids leave? On any given day, you can find more than 100 of them in their role as graduate students at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. They spend two and a half hours in class, grab a snack from a vending machine and wait for the next class to begin. Add hundreds more nursing and optometry students doing the same thing and some of them might get cranky.
Pretty soon, workouts at the University of Missouri–St. Louis are going to get a whole lot better. But first, there will be some inconvenience involved.
One local media outlet looked at the news positively: “University of Missouri students can expect a more modest tuition increase than anticipated in the next academic year.”
Mac n’ cheese, waffles for dinner, burgers, spaghetti, all you can eat – it should be a no brainer. But figuring out what college students want to eat is definitely not as easy as it seems. Just ask Ronnie Harry.
Up until Jan. 27, ecologists were still arguing about the factors that determine the makeup of the earth’s forests. And then an article in the prestigious journal Science discussed findings that put “a nail in the coffin” of the increasingly popular so-called neutral theory in ecology, according to the article’s authors.
Higher education news has been pretty grim in recent weeks, but a big bounce in applications and an increase in admissions in the spring semester has marketing and admissions leaders at the University of Missouri–St. Louis smiling.