Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
 |
|
| Motto | A Higher Form of Higher Learning |
|---|---|
| Established | 1905 |
| Type | Public, secular |
| President | John Jasinski |
| Staff | 876 |
| Undergraduates | 6,051 (Fall 2009)[1] |
| Postgraduates | 1,025 (Fall 2009) |
| Location | Maryville, Missouri, USA 40°21′12″N 94°53′00″W / 40.353306°N 94.88340°WCoordinates: 40°21′12″N 94°53′00″W / 40.353306°N 94.88340°W |
| Campus | Rural |
| Athletics | NCAA, MIAA |
| Nickname | Bearcats |
| Mascot | Bobby the Bearcat |
| Website | http://www.nwmissouri.edu |
Northwest Missouri State University is a state university in Maryville, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, it is a university offering undergraduate and graduate classes. The campus, based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, is the official Missouri State Arboretum.[2] The school is governed by a state-appointed Board of Regents and headed by President Dr. John Jasinski. Northwest competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Division II) and Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association for men's and women's sports. The mascot is a Bearcat. The Bearcats have won three NCAA Division II national championships (1998, 1999, and 2009) and finished as runner-up (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008) in American football.[3]
Contents |
In 1905 the Missouri Legislature created five districts in the state to establish teaching standards or norms (hence the original name Normal school) in a state teacher college network.
Maryville won the competition for the Northwest district with an offer to donate 86 acres (on coincidentally the northwest corner of town) and $58,000 on the site of a Methodist Seminary. The other districts in the network were to be at Kirksville (Northeast - now Truman State), Cape Girardeau (Southeast), Springfield (Southwest - now Missouri State), and Warrensburg (Central - now Central Missouri).
The original mission of the school was to teach elementary school teachers. Classes began on June 13, 1906 with a lab school teaching Maryville's children (that was eventually named the Horace Mann school) in kindergarten through third grade. The school was eventually expanded to a full-fledged high school before dropping back to its current configuration of kindergarten through sixth grade.
In 1919 the school was granted the name Northwest Missouri State Teacher's College, and with that the ability to grant baccalaureate degrees. In 1949 the name was shrunk to Northwest Missouri State College by the Board of Regents.
In 1969, Missouri Governor Warren Hearnes pushed for switching St. Joseph Junior College from a two-year school into a four-year state college. At approximately the same time, authorities decided against a plan to continue routing Interstate 29 north of St. Joseph along U.S. Route 71 through Maryville and Clarinda, Iowa (instead picking a route to Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska along the sparsely populated Missouri River bottoms).
Opening a new four-year state school within 45 miles (72 km) of Maryville (along with a delay in converting U.S. Route 71 to Maryville to four-lane status until ultimately 2002) was perceived in Maryville as an attempt to kill the school (and the town with which it is intertwined.) Those fears came to the forefront in 1988 when Shalia Aery, commissioner of higher education under Governor John Ashcroft announced a strategy to close the school. The plan was ultimately withdrawn.
On August 14, 1972, Northwest was elevated to university status so that it could offer masters graduate degrees. Its name changed to Northwest Missouri State University.
One point of pride for the university is its Missouri Quality Awards. The university currently holds four of these honors, the first granted in 1997, the second in 2001, the third in 2005 and the fourth in 2008. Northwest is the only educational institution to receive multiple Missouri Quality Awards.[4]
In 1987, Northwest revealed its unique Electronic Campus Program. This put computers in all residence halls as well as faculty offices. The VAX computers were command line driven and included access to programs such as Wordstar. Brit Hume, visiting the college during this period on a speaking engagement, wrote a guest column in the Washington Post proclaiming Northwest as the country's first electronic campus.[citation needed] In 1997, the program was upgraded and all of the faculty members received laptop computers, while network machines were implemented in each residence hall room. Recently, all full-time students were given a laptop. Many locations on campus are now connected via WiFi.
The campus design was inspired by the Forest Park design for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair which evolved into the campus for Washington University. In 1993 the state legislature designated Northwest the official Missouri State Arboretum.
In 2000 Northwest began offering an on-campus course for gifted high school students who spend their junior and senior years of high school living on the campus completing their high school courses as well as two years of college work. Upon graduation, students receive their high school diploma and an associates degree from Northwest.
The Missouri Academy average enrollment is around 80 students, but since 2007 enrollment has increased by 20 students, and continues to increase. The program is called the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing. It is located at the center of the campus.
The defining landmark of the campus is the Administration Building, very similar to Brookings Hall at Washington University in St. Louis. Brookings Hall served as the Administration Building of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The master St. Louis design was created by Cope & Stewardson, famed for designing schools throughout the country based on the Oxford University style.
The Collegiate Gothic structure with its central tower keep design evokes Tattershall Castle and lords over the campus with the motto, "And the truth shall make you free," engraved in stone. Because of this design, the term "Tower" is used frequently throughout campus and is the name of the school yearbook. Work on the building began in 1906 and continued on and off until classes began in it on October 3, 1910. The architect of record for the Maryville building is John H. Felt. On March 15, 1919, a tornado ripped the roof off its auditorium and blew out most of its windows.
On July 24, 1979, a fire destroyed 60 percent of the building on the central and west wing as well as the north wing housing the auditorium and Little Theater. However the east wing survived with relatively little damage. Many thought the building was going to be razed.
However, a $13.8 million capital program repaired most of the building and made extensive changes to the campus layout. The building ceased to serve as classroom space, with the exception of 3rd floor, which houses the Family and Consumer Sciences Department. The theater and music departments moved out of the building to what is now the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts, located southeast of Bearcat Stadium. The north wing of the Administration Building was torn down and sealed, although the outline of the wing is still visible against the bricks on the north. The former Wells Library (now Wells Hall) was turned into a classroom area and home for the National Public Radio affiliate radio station KXCV-FM and the library was moved to its current location in the new B.D. Owens Library. All the academic files were burned and lost with no backups prior to the fire.
Northwest was a founding member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1912 and has remained in the conference ever since. From its founding until 1937 it competed in the Amateur Athletic Union. From 1937 to 1957 it competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. In 1957 it joined NCAA Division II. Northwest has appeared in seven Division II football title games (winning three) since 1998. The men's basketball team appeared in an AAU title game in 1930.
|
|||||
   | Northwest Missouri State University - Northwest Missouri State University |
| | Northwest Missouri State Athletics - Welcome to NorthwestBearcats.com |
|
|
Search