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 is AACSB-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 with Washington University in St. Louis, and evening programs are also offered. UMSL is home of an optometry school, providing its students with a doctorate (OD). The Pierre Laclede Honors College is UMSL's honors program. UMSL is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".[15]
The university contains two libraries: The Thomas Jefferson Library which is the main library of the university and the St. Louis Mercantile Library which was founded in 1846 and is the oldest library west of the Mississippi River. The campus contains two stops on MetroLink, St. Louis' regional light 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 the Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait. KWMU (90.7 FM), which is the flagship National 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]
History
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 in Town and Country, Missouri. At the same time members of Normandy, Missouri School District began debating the need of creating an affordable junior college to offer an alternative to the much more expensive privately owned Saint Louis University and Washington 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 the junior college. The group met with Elmer Ellis, president of the University of Missouri.
At the time, MU was responsible for accrediting junior colleges. Ellis suggested that the University of Missouri supervise the educational program at the school. The terms required that 100 students attend the school. 140 students applied on the first day. The Clubhouse was renovated with 15 classrooms, two laboratories, a large lecture room, a library and a cafeteria. The "Normandy Residence Center under the auspices of the University of Missouri" opened in September 1960. Enrollment increased to 300 in 1961 and 550 in 1962.
Interest in a four-year school immediately arose. In 1963, the original MU campuses in Columbia and Rolla were merged with the privately owned University 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 the Missouri Supreme Court in 4–3 decision ruled that the school could not transfer the property without a formal open bid process. The Missouri General Assembly enacted legislation signed by Governor John 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 a laundromat 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, an Ozark AirlinesFairchild Hiller FH-227B Flight 809 from Nashville International Airport crashed into the campus just east of the Mark Twain complex while attempting to land at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.[18][19] In 1976 Marillac College was acquired. It is now called the "south campus."
Express Scripts World Headquarters Campus at NorthPark
In 2007 Express Scripts opened its world headquarters on the campus north of University Place Drive and south of Interstate 70 in Missouri. It was the first Fortune 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 a business incubator (Accentuate).[25]
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, the Pierre 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.[26]
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.[27]
UMSL's Master of Science in Cybersecurity is ranked No. 3 on the list of Best Master’s in Cybersecurity Degrees for 2025 by Fortune. [28]
UMSL provides 11 Division II sports teams ranging from Soccer and Basketball to Golf and Softball.
Campus
The Campus is divided into two parts, a North Campus and a South Campus. UMSL can be visited using the St. Louis MetroLink light rail system which has two stations on the campus: UMSL North and UMSL South.
Some key buildings include the Thomas Jefferson and Mercantile 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 (formally CCB), 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 Activity's Fees to fund student organizations' budgets.
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 YouTube channel.[30] The main studios are located in the Millennium Student Center, with a satellite studio in the Oak Hall Residence. The stations is organized by the Student Electronic Media Professional's Association (SEMPA). The U has a non-commercial freeform format, playing various genres of music and talk shows as well as programs featuring campus news and personalities. The Film Production Society was established in 2006. This organization has since changed its name to The Media Production Society. It manufactures original content, tutors students in need, and researches new forms of modern media.
Nickname and mascot
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, Fall 2009 and was named Louie by the student body at the annual Mirthday celebration, Spring 2010. The Rivermen/Riverwomen nickname seldom had popular support, primarily for its unwieldy gender constructions.[31]
Other divisions within Institutional Safety include the Department of Environmental Health and Safety, Parking and Transportation, and Campus Locksmiths.
Pierre Laclede Honors College
The Pierre Laclede Honors College is the honors program for the University of Missouri–St. Louis. It was named in honor of the founder of the city of St. Louis. With classrooms and student housing both located in a former convent on the university's South Campus, the program offers classes that typically focus on specific topics in the Humanities while stressing the development and practice of students' writing skills. The students in the program publish an informal periodical, Brain Stew, which is independent of The Current. The college is also the center of activity for the publication of Bellerive, an annual literary magazine which contains artistic and literary works by UMSL students and faculty.
Alumni
The university has 92,230 graduates, with 62,408 (68%) of them in the metropolitan St. Louis area.[32]
