Columbia is a city in the State of Missouri in the United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Missouri. Columbia is a Midwestern college town, home to the land-grant University of Missouri, a major research institution with over 30,000 students. Surrounding Downtown Columbia are also Stephens College and Columbia College giving the city its educational focus. It is the principal city of the Columbia metropolitan area, population 215,811, and the central city of the 9-county Columbia–Jefferson City–Moberly combined statistical area with 415,747 residents.
The University of Missouri System is an American state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, and ten research and technology parks. Over 61,500 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses. The health care system operates several hospitals and clinics in central Missouri, while the extension program provides distance learning and other educational initiatives statewide.
Timothy James Pawlenty is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served from 2003 to 2011 as the 39th governor of Minnesota. A member of the Republican Party, Pawlenty served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003, and as House Majority Leader from 1999 to 2003. He unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2012 presidential election.
Robert Lee Holden Jr. is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of Missouri from 2001 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Missouri state treasurer from 1993 to 2001 and represented the 136th district in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1983 to 1989. Since leaving public office, Holden has worked at Webster University, where he founded the Holden Public Policy Forum, and serves as the president and chairman of the United States Heartland China Association.
Christopher Samuel Bond is an American attorney, politician and former United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he defeated Democrat Harriett Woods by a margin of 53–47%. He was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004. On January 8, 2009, he announced that he would not seek re-election to a fifth term in 2010, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Roy Blunt on January 3, 2011. Following his retirement from the Senate, Bond became a partner at Thompson Coburn.
Kenny Charles Hulshof is an American politician and lawyer who represented Missouri's 9th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was the unsuccessful nominee of the Republican Party for Governor of Missouri in the 2008 election.
Gary D. Forsee was the chairman and chief executive officer of Sprint Nextel Corporation (2003–2007), and president of the University of Missouri System from 2007 to 2011. Forsee resides in Columbia, Missouri, the headquarters of the UM System.
Walter Williams was an American journalist and educator. He founded the world's first journalism school at the University of Missouri, and later served as the university's president. An internationalist, he promoted the ideals of journalism globally and is often referred to as "The Father of Journalism Education".
The University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, was established in 1839. This later expanded to the statewide University of Missouri System.
University of Missouri Health Care is an American academic health system located in Columbia, Missouri. It's owned by the University of Missouri System. University of Missouri Health System includes five hospitals: University Hospital, Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, Missouri Orthopedic Institute and University of Missouri Women's and Children's Hospital — all of which are located in Columbia. It's affiliated with Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City, Missouri. It also includes more than 60 primary and specialty-care clinics and the University Physicians medical group.
The Columbia Missourian is a digital-first newspaper based in Columbia, Missouri, published online seven days a week and in print five days a week. The newspaper is affiliated with the Missouri School of Journalism, and is owned as a 501c3 non-profit under the Missourian Publishing Association. Students enrolled in staff classes produce the newspaper, which is managed by working professionals who also serve as professors.
Richard Bowen Loftin, better known as R. Bowen Loftin, is an American academic and physicist who was the 22nd Chancellor of the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Prior to his appointment as chancellor, he served as the 24th president of Texas A&M University.
The University of Missouri is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. Founded in 1839, MU was the first public university west of the Mississippi River. It has been a member of the Association of American Universities since 1908 and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity."
Steve Owens is an attorney and higher education leader. After serving in private practice with a large Kansas City--based law firm, he joined the University of Missouri System as General Counsel 2008. The UM System, headquartered in Columbia, Missouri, includes four doctoral granting public research universities and a fully integrated academic medical center. He served as Interim President of the UM System from January 2011 to February 2012 and then returned to his previous position as General Counsel. Later, he was named Interim Chancellor of the System’s flagship university, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and served in that position from November 2013 to February 2014 after which he again returned to his previous position as General Counsel.
The 2015 Missouri Tigers football team represented the University of Missouri in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It marked the Tigers' fourth season as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in the Eastern Division. The team played its home games at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri. They were led by 15th year head coach Gary Pinkel, in what would be his last season as the team's head coach.
In 2015, a series of protests at the University of Missouri related to race, workplace benefits, and leadership resulted in the resignations of the president of the University of Missouri System and the chancellor of the flagship Columbia campus. The moves came after a series of events that included a hunger strike by a student and a boycott by the football team. The movement was primarily led by a student group named Concerned Student 1950, referencing the first year black students were allowed to enroll in the university. The movement and protests were documented in two films, one made by MU student journalists and the other, 2 Fists Up, by Spike Lee. While it is alleged that bad publicity from the protests has led to dropping enrollment and cutbacks, others have cited budget cuts issued from the state legislature.
Michael Joseph Budds was an American musicologist, and longtime professor, at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. In addition to teaching, he wrote and edited a number of works, including a widely used textbook on American popular music. Also a philanthropist, he established the Budds Center for American Music Studies at the University of Missouri School of Music where he taught. He was the first musicologist inducted into the Missouri Music Hall of Fame. Budds taught at Missouri for 37 years, until his death on November 19, 2020.
The Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs is one of twenty-one schools and colleges at the University of Missouri. Established in 2001, it was previously known as the Department of Public Administration. The school mission is to "advance the knowledge and practice of governance in Missouri, the nation, and beyond by informing public policy, educating for ethical leadership in public service, and fostering democratic discourse among citizens, policy makers, and scholars." As part of the College of Arts and Science, the school awards master's, and doctoral degrees. The school is named after Missourian and U.S. President, Harry S. Truman. It was ranked the 38th best public affairs program by U.S. News & World Report in 2020.
The Mizzou College of Health Sciences is the University of Missouri system’s only school of health professions and the state’s only public health program located on a health sciences campus. Its mission is to improve the health and well-being of others.
The Board of Curators of the University of Missouri is a body consisting of nine members that governs the University of Missouri System, four state universities in the U.S. state of Missouri. In addition to these four universities, it also supervises and coordinates University of Missouri Health Care, the University of Missouri Extension, and a number of research locations across the state. Refer to the list of colleges and universities for details on the individual schools.
