Dear university community,
The end of the semester is quickly approaching and we are already busy with our plans to return to normal operations in the fall. We’re in a new phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, but our university leaders remain committed to sustaining a safe community and following public health guidance. Thank you to everyone for your tenacity and efforts in this extraordinary time.
I’m extremely proud of the creative ways that we’ve carried on our missions of education, research and engagement over the past year. This year’s UM System Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol took the form of a two-week virtual event, which included projects from talented students at MU, UMKC, Missouri S&T and UMSL. MU found creative ways to hold the Chancellor’s Art Showcase, a recording of which can be watched on our YouTube channel. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve worked to provide students with a high-quality education and a meaningful experience. Those efforts are showing results. Over the past year, several graduate education programs have risen in national rankings. The UMKC School of Medicine is in the top one-third of U.S. schools for family medicine, and Missouri S&T engineering and business programs jumped in the rankings.
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Our community continues to achieve the incredible in many respects. MU junior Claire Shipp was selected as a Truman Scholar, one of 62 recipients of the nationwide. UMKC sophomore Niki Joshi received the Frederick Douglass Global Fellowship and was congratulated by Vice President Kamala Harris and Nettie Washington Douglass, who is the great-great-granddaughter of Frederick Douglass and the great-granddaughter of Booker T. Washington. UMSL awarded talented St. Louis-area high school graduates with Opportunity Scholarships, which are designated for first-generation college students and/or students who are underrepresented in the workforce. We also honor faculty this month, especially the 17 recipients of the UM System President’s Awards, who are recognized for their exceptional contributions to their universities and fields of study.
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We’re still working to improve lives across the state and nation, too. Missouri S&T won a national contract for their work in partnership with MU Extension to expand rural access to high-speed internet, starting with northwestern Missouri as a test site. UMSL is partnering with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks’ Department of Social Work, using a grant from the Department of Justice to develop victim advocacy training for Alaska Native communities.
NextGen Precision Health, our highest-priority initiative to chart new territory on the path to better health for Missouri and beyond, also continues. Be sure to register for Dr. Fungai Chanetsa’s talk “Team Science: A Value Proposition” on May 4 to hear about how many disciplines have the opportunity to get involved with precision health research. If you missed any of the previous lectures in the NextGen Discovery Series, you can find the recordings online. And most importantly, don’t forget to save the date for the grand opening of the NextGen Precision Health building on Oct. 19!
To close, please join me in congratulating Dr. Kristin Sobolik on her official inauguration as Chancellor of UMSL. During her tenure, she has already elevated the stature of UMSL and I look forward to her continued outstanding leadership of eastern Missouri’s premier public research university.
Thank you to our entire community for all that you do to advance our missions of education, research and engagement. If you have an inspiring story about our university community, please send it to president@umsystem.edu.To close, please join me in congratulating Dr. Kristin Sobolik on her official inauguration as Chancellor of UMSL. During her tenure, she has already elevated the stature of UMSL and I look forward to her continued outstanding leadership of eastern Missouri’s premier public research university.
Reviewed 2022-06-10