News
2017
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Enrollment at the University of Missouri rose slightly higher than expected in fourth-week census numbers released today while the campus continued to log near-record retention rates. Total enrollment is 30,870.
MU welcomed 4,134 freshman this fall—up from the 4,009 expected based on preliminary numbers released in May. That’s more first-year students, including more Missourians, than any other university in the state.
Rabia Gregory, an associate professor of religious studies at MU, says certain things come up in the classroom during the first couple weeks of the semester so often as to be predictable. The department teaches about religion from a secular perspective, but Gregory says that is a perspective that few students are exposed to before leaving home for college.
The University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology will reopen to the public and begin normal operations on Saturday, Sept. 16. Museum hours will be Tuesday-Friday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., 12 – 4 p.m. on the weekends, and closed Mondays. The public is invited to a small event on Friday, Sept. 15 at 5:30 p.m. to mark the museum’s reopening.
People who strongly trust their gut instincts tend to make snap judgments about whether something is morally wrong or not, and they do not change their point of view even after thinking about the issue. That’s the conclusion of a series of studies conducted by Sarah Ward, a doctoral candidate in social/ personality psychology.
The College of Arts and Science has built a proud tradition of honoring alumni and friends through its annual alumni awards program. The success of the program is largely due to the assistance of friends and alumni who provide us with nominations on behalf of deserving individuals.
The college is seeking nominations for candidates in each of the following categories:
Distinguished Alumni Award
Anyone who has seen an episode of Law & Order knows that if the defense attorney can successfully portray his client as a victim, jurors may be less inclined to assign blame to the defendant or may reduce the severity of the defendant’s punishment. Research confirms this is more than just a television trope—casting the perpetrator of a transgression as a victim tends to make them seem less blameworthy.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Hurricane Harvey is the most recent natural disaster that has caused damage and destruction across many communities. When disasters strike an entire community, they do not affect all community members equally, and victims of domestic violence are often particularly vulnerable. Researchers at the University of Missouri have now identified a framework that can help victims of domestic violence before, during and after disaster events.
New research from the Department of Psychological Sciences suggests physical activity can change diet preferences in males, but not females. Jenna Lee, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the lab of associate professor of psychological sciences Matt Will, says she was curious why we eat for pleasurable purposes instead of nutritional need.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Politics and Twitter now seem inseparable, especially with politicians tweeting increasingly to connect with their supporters. A team of researchers at the University of Missouri’s Political Communication Institute (PCI) have found evidence that social media engagement—or social watching— during last year’s presidential debates produced beneficial effects for those engaged on Twitter while watching the debates on TV.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Preliminary figures for enrollment at the University of Missouri indicate that Mizzou students are enjoying a successful collegiate career. MU began classes today with an enrollment of more than 30,000 students. This includes a freshman class of more than 4,100 students and the second highest retention rate in MU’s history at 86.6 percent. The retention rate measures how many freshmen from the 2016-17 school year are returning to Mizzou.

Prof. Peverill Squire’s latest book, The Rise of the Representative, explores the 157-year history of representative institutions in Colonial America up to Independence.
The first representative assembly in Colonial America was created in Virginia in 1619, by the corporation that created the colony, in order to serve the needs of the corporation. Peverill Squire, an MU political science professor, says the colony was not flourishing, and the corporation, the Virginia Company of London, believed that if the stakeholders—the colonists—had a say in things, colonial life might improve.
Photographer Drew Nikonowicz, BFA ’16, says reactions to his work often differ depending upon the age of the viewer. Nikonowicz, 24, says the thesis of his work is founded in his world view.
COLUMBIA, Mo. –With changing environments, pond-breeding salamanders face increasingly hazardous treks as the space between breeding ponds and their non-breeding habitat widens or is degraded. A study from the University of Missouri suggests that a salamander’s success may depend more on when it breeds than on the landscape obstacles it might face.
Politicians have been a ripe target for humorists for generations. Mark Twain, for example, quipped that “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.” Will Rogers once said, "There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the entire government working for you." As long as we have had political representatives, we have had people making fun of them. Television, however, took the art of spoofing politicians to a whole new level.
COLUMBIA, Mo. –Patricia Okker, interim dean of the College of Arts and Science at the University of Missouri, today announced that Lael Keiser, professor of public policy and administration, has been appointed director of the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at MU, effective Sept. 1. On that date, the Truman School will incorporate into the College of Arts and Science.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is Simon Dinnerstein’s monumental work, The Fulbright Triptych, which New York Times art critic Roberta Smith called a “crackling, obsessive showboat of a painting, dreamed up during a decade when the medium supposedly teetered on the brink of death.”
The picture will tell you what it wants—you just have to listen really hard and channel what that picture is telling you and try to follow it, and that’s what I’m trying to do. - Simon Dinnerstein
As the warming planet continues to cause sea levels to rise, new research suggests rising seas eventually could prove detrimental to human health. John Huntley, an assistant professor of paleobiology in the department of geological sciences at MU, has just published his first paper stemming from research he conducted as a senior visiting fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy, last summer.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Ayurvedic medicine (also called Ayurveda) is one of the world’s oldest medical systems. Originating in India more than 5,000 years ago, this holistic medicine system uses herbal compounds, special diets and other health care practices to augment conventional preventative and disease treatments.
In Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, released in 1838, Oliver is an orphan born in a workhouse and sold as an apprentice to an undertaker. He later escapes and joins a gang of young pickpockets, led by elderly ringleader Fagin. Dickens’ tale exposed the cruel treatment of many orphans in London in the mid-19th century.
The fact that Columbia, Missouri, is in the path of totality for the August 21st solar eclipse is going to make this year’s Summers @ Mizzou camp a lot more interesting. Camp participants—mostly high school students—will be “Telling the Stories of the Stars” by learning the science behind the solar eclipse and then creating oral stories and digital-animation projects to convey what they have learned.