Missouri University

University of Missouri–Kansas City

The University of Missouri–Kansas City (often referred to as UMKC) is an institution of higher learning located in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Its main campus is in Kansas City's Rockhill neighborhood east of the Country Club Plaza. It is a part of the University of Missouri System.

History

Lincoln and Lee University

The school has its roots in the Lincoln and Lee University movement first put forth by the Methodist Church and its Bishop Ernest Lynn Waldorf in the 1920s. The proposed university (which was to honor Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee) was to be built on the Missouri-Kansas border at 75th and State Line Road, where the Battle of Westport (the largest battle west of the Mississippi River during the American Civil War) took place. The centerpiece of the school was to be a National Memorial marking the tomb of an unknown Union soldier and unknown Confederate soldier. Proponents of the school said it would be a location "where North met South and East met West." The Methodist interest reflected the church's important role in the development of the Kansas City area through the Shawnee Methodist Mission which was the second capital of Kansas.

As the Methodists started having problems piecing together the necessary property, other civic leaders including J.C. Nichols began pushing to create a cultural center on either side of Brush Creek, just east of the Country Club Plaza. According to this plan the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and Kansas City Art Institute would be built north of Brush Creek around the estate of The Kansas City Star publisher William Rockhill Nelson and a private nonsectarian University of Kansas City (initially proposed as a junior college) would be built south of the creek. In addition, a hospital would be constructed around the estate of Kansas City Journal-Post publisher Walter S. Dickey. The hospital was never built.

In 1930, after the Methodists had brought the Kansas City Dental School into their fold, the two plans were merged. The new school was to be called "Lincoln and Lee, the University of Kansas City." and plans were underway to develop it into a four-year school.

The university was built on a 40 acre plot, southeast of the Nelson mansion. William Volker had purchased and donated this land for the University of Kansas City. The original Volker purchase did not include the Dickey mansion itself. Dickey died unexpectedly in 1931 and Volker acquired it to be the first building.

University of Kansas City

The two groups were to squabble back and forth, with Ernest H. Newcomb attempting to mediate. The Church did not maintain its ties and the Lincoln and Lee name was abandoned.

The school announced that it would start if 125 students enrolled. Classes began in October 1933 with a faculty of 17 and a student enrollment of 264.

The campus (now expanded to 90 acres) is called the Volker Campus. The Dickey mansion is now Scofield Hall. The second building on the campus, the library, was named for Newcomb. A Carl Milles fountain on Brush Creek opposite the Nelson Gallery is called the Volker Fountain.

The University of Kansas City grew quickly, and soon incorporated other existing local private institutions of higher learning. The Kansas City School of Law, which was founded in the 1890s and located in downtown Kansas City, merged into the university in 1938. The Kansas City-Western Dental College followed in 1941 and the Kansas City College of Pharmacy merged in 1943. This was followed by the Kansas City Conservatory of Music in 1959. During this period, the university also established the School of Administration in 1953, the School of Education in 1954, and the Division for Continuing Education in 1958.

University of Missouri-Kansas City

On July 25, 1963, the university became part of the University of Missouri System and $20 million of assets including 23 buildings were transferred to the University of Missouri. At the time of the acquisition the UKC had 3,300 students (2,000 full time) and 175 full time faculty.^[3]

At the same time the University of Missouri acquired the Normandy Residence Center in St. Louis to form the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The acquisitions of the two schools were different in that the privately-owned University of Kansas City could be donated to Missouri while the University of Missouri had to buy the St. Louis campus (although for a nominal $60,000) because the St. Louis campus had been purchased for a junior college in a bond election by the public Normandy, Missouri School District.

At the time of acquisition Missouri already owned the campuses in Columbia and Rolla. Accordingly, the university's name was changed to the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

After this, UMKC established the School of Graduate Studies in 1964, the School of Medicine in 1970, the School of Nursing in 1980, the School of Basic Life Sciences in 1985 (which was renamed the School of Biological Sciences in the mid-1990s), and the School of Computing and Engineering in 2001.

By 2007, its active enrollment had grown to over 14,000 students.

Academics

Academic units

Today, the academic divisions of UMKC are the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Education, the School of Nursing, the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, the School of Medicine (one of six in Missouri), the School of Law (also one of only four in Missouri), the School of Computing and Engineering, the School of Biological Sciences, the Conservatory of Music and Dance, the School of Dentistry, the School of Graduate Studies, and the School of Pharmacy.

The School of Medicine is regionally known for its six-year post-secondary program, wherein a student spends only six years obtaining both a Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine degree. The school is located away from the main campus on "Hospital Hill," where it is connected to Truman Medical Center, a large research hospital.

The School of Law produces more future judges than any other law school in Missouri, according to local business publication Ingram's Magazine. In addition, graduates of the law school now have one of the highest passage rates on the Missouri bar exam. The school is one of only six American law schools, along with Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and the University of Cincinnati College of Law, to have produced both a President of the United States (Harry S. Truman) and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Charles Evans Whittaker).

Other Departments

The University is the home of New Letters, a preeminent literary magazine, as well as the nationally syndicated public radio program New Letters on the Air. For over 50 years, UMKC has broadcast live, taped and syndicated programming over KCUR, the university's radio station and NPR affiliate.

In 2004 the Fungal Genetics Stock Center moved to UMKC where it is in the School of Biological Sciences. The FGSC was founded in 1960 and distributes research materials to over 45 countries. It is part of several genome programs and publishes the peer-reviewed journal, the Fungal Genetics Newsletter

The University's MFA Theater program is considered to be one of the better MFA programs in the country. It is quite well respected in the theatrical community.