University of Missouri

MU is a member of the Association of American Universities and classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". In what became a decade-long trend, the university further increased research and development expenditures to $432 million as of 2022. MU is also one of two land-grant universities in the state, along with Lincoln University.

In 1908, the Missouri School of Journalism was founded in Columbia. It has been ranked the top journalism school in the United States several times by the NewsPro–RTDNA survey. Although it claims to be the world's first, the ''Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Paris'' was established in 1899.

The UM System owns and operates KOMU-TV, the NBC/CW affiliate for Columbia and nearby Jefferson City. It is a full-fledged commercial station and a working lab for journalism students. The MU School of Journalism publishes the ''Columbia Missourian'' and ''Vox Magazine'' where students learn reporting, editing, and design in a newsroom managed by professional editors. It operates the local National Public Radio Station KBIA and produces ''Radio Adelante'', a Spanish-language radio program.

Founded in 1978 after 23 years as a unit of the School of Medicine, the School of Health Professions became an autonomous division in December 2000. It is Missouri's only state-supported school of health professions on a campus with an academic health center, and the only allied health school in the UM system.

The university maintains the largest library collection in the State of Missouri. In the 2011–12 academic year, it held 3.1 million volumes, 8.1 million microforms, 678,596 e-books, almost 1.7 million government documents, more than 284,000 print maps, and more than 53,000 journal subscriptions. The collection is housed in Ellis Library, the University Archives, and seven other specialized academic libraries across campus.

During the American Civil War, Union troops used the library in Academic Hall as a guard room. They caused significant damage, including taking 467 volumes to build fires. The board of curators later sued the US Army for the destruction on campus. Settled in 1915, the suit's award was used to build the Memorial Gateway on the northern edge of Red Campus.

In 1913, construction began on a new main library, completed in 1915. It was expanded in 1935, 1958, and 1985. It was dedicated as Elmer Ellis Library on October 10, 1972, in honor of the thirteenth president of the University of Missouri. The MU libraries are home to the 47th largest research collection in North America.

MU merged two departments, the Center for Distance and Independent Study and MU Direct: Continuing and Distance Education, to form Mizzou Online in 2011. Mizzou Online offers online courses for 18 of the university's colleges and operates the University of Missouri High School, a distance learning K-12 high school. In the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Online Programs, MU ranks 28th in the best online bachelor’s degree programs out of 339 universities nationwide. Provided by Wikipedia