°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½±

If you would like more information regarding any of the stories we share, or if you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact Dusty Schnieders schniedersd@umsystem.edu and/or Emily Lucas lucasem@umsystem.edu. If you would like to visit any of the campuses to see research and community service projects, please let us know and we can coordinate such meetings. There are also °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½± Extension offices in every county and district, who also like to show off what they do in your communities, and we would be happy to coordinate those visits as well.

°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½±-Columbia

More than 5,150 new freshmen joined the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½± community, up 3% from last year, as the university officially welcomed students back to campus for the Fall 2023 semester. Overall enrollment steady as the Fall 2023 semester begins; retention and graduation rates increase.

Rural Missourians often face more disparities in health outcomes than their urban and suburban counterparts, in part from challenges accessing health care — a problem amplified in recent years by a growing physician shortage. But a new study at the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½± found that health and health care organizations are increasingly offering basic services, such as transportation, housing, food, and mental health support, as they recognize these services contribute to a person’s overall health.

°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½±-Kansas City

The °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½±-Kansas City broke ground on a new $14.5 million medical building for its School of Medicine campus in St. Joseph, Missouri. The 22,000-square-foot building will transform health-care access for millions of Missourians by training future health care providers who are committed to rural medicine, supporting research and providing care to people in St. Joseph and the surrounding area.

Missouri University of Science and Technology

For over 150 years, Missouri S&T has been a leader in the field of mineral recovery, and that continued to be the case last week when the university hosted the third annual Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals national workshop. The workshop, which was held Aug. 9-10 and funded by the National Science Foundation, brought in 128 attendees in person and another 90 online.

°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½±-Saint Louis

UMSL recently completed a months-long renovation of the Patient Care Center, which will now serve as the main hub of clinical lab education for the College of Optometry. The °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½±-St. Louis offers a four-year program of study leading to the doctor of optometry degree; this professional degree is administered by the College of Optometry. It is one of only 23 accredited programs in the United States and the only one in the state of Missouri.