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University of Missouri Facts (PDF 8.4 MB)
During her tenure as board president, Curator Angela Bennett will focus on the good news from each University of Missouri campus. At the March 24 meeting in Rolla, Chancellor Jack Carney gave a presentation on UM-Rolla.
“Today UMR is an outstanding technological university,” Carney said. “In five years our goal is to be one of the top five technological research universities in the nation. It is critically important to the future of the state of Missouri and our country that technological universities like this one flourish in the years to come.”
UMR continues to see success with its students, Carney reported. The campus currently has more than 5,600 students, and its retention rate from freshmen to sophomore year is 87 percent.
Outside of the classroom, UMR students gain hands-on experience and leadership skills from student design teams, a distinctive feature of the UMR undergraduate education. “This separates us from other programs across the country,” Carney said. “Our students learn from one another outside the classroom working in these design teams, and that is why companies love to hire our students, because they are immediately productive employees.”
Students have captured wins in recent national championships with the Solar Car Team, Solar House Team, Mucking Team, Advanced Aero Vehicle Group, Formula Race Car Team, and Human-Powered Vehicle Team.
Carney also highlighted some of the world-class research conducted at UMR, including the Center for Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies, which has ten research areas involving more than 35 faculty members and 60 students.
These and other ongoing applied research activities at UMR are already having profound economic payoffs in Missouri and nationally, Carney said.
In addition to achieving recognition as one of the top technological research universities in the nation, goals of UMR’s strategic plan include increasing total enrollment to 7,000 students; increasing externally sponsored research to $60 million; and raising $200 million in private funds to support campus priorities.
“Our guiding principle is to maintain the high quality and diversity of our academic programs,” Carney said.