The University of Central Missouri (UCM) is a public university in Warrensburg, Missouri, United States.
In 2024, enrollment was 13,734 students from 48 states and 52 countries on its 1,561-acre campus. UCM offers 150 programs of study, including 10 pre-professional programs, 27 areas of teacher certification, and 37 graduate programs.
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History
The university was founded in 1871 as Normal School No. 2 and became known as Warrensburg Teachers College. The name was changed to Central Missouri State Teachers College in 1919, Central Missouri State College in 1945 and Central Missouri State University in 1972. In 1965, the institution established a graduate school. In 2006, the name was changed to the University of Central Missouri.
There are 150 majors and minors, 32 professional accreditations and 45 graduate programs. UCM has a high-tech, STEM-focused facility called the Missouri Innovation Campus in Lee's Summit, Missouri and provides numerous online courses and programs.
Academics
The university is considered a Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense.
College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences departments include:
School of Visual and Performing Arts
Music
Theatre and Dance
Art and Design
Government, International Studies and Languages
Political Science
English and Philosophy
History and Anthropology
Communication and Sociology
Religious Studies
Women's Studies
'The Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies' is accredited by AACSB International. Other accreditations include Aviation Accreditation Board International and the Council on Social Work Education. Departments include:
School of Business Administration
Economics, Finance and Marketing
School of Accountancy and Computer Information Systems
Management
School of Professional Studies
Aviation
Criminal Justice
GIMPS
The University of Central Missouri continues to hold an important role in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. The GIMPS project at UCM is a university-wide effort managed by Curtis Cooper and Steven Boone. As of 2022, UCM's team (curtisc) is currently the 10th place contributor to that project in terms of CPU power devoted to the project, and is the only GIMPS team that has discovered four Mersenne primes: M43 230402457 - 1 with 9,152,052 digits, M44 232582657 - 1 with 9,808,358 digits, M48 257,885,161-1 with 17,425,170 digits, and M49 274,207,281-1 with 22,338,618 digits.
Student life
The university has more than 185 student organizations, with academic, cultural, recreational, community service and special interest clubs and associations. There are more than 20 intramural sports, free movie nights on campus and a bowling alley and movie theater in the student union.
Freshman and sophomore students are required to live in one of the nine residence halls in their first year, to help ease the adjustment from high school to college. Students may also live in one of ten Learning Communities, which places students with the same program of study together in the residence halls.
Greek life
The University of Central Missouri is home to 26 Greek organizations. Ten percent of UCM students are involved in Greek life.
Media
The UCM newspaper is called The Muleskinner. An online publication called digitalburg.com covers the Johnson County area. These publications are entirely student-operated. The university also houses KMOS-TV.
Athletics
UCM athletic teams compete in the Mid–America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, or MIAA. The athletic division includes basketball, baseball, women's bowling, American football, golf, women's soccer, softball, cross-country, track, volleyball and wrestling. UCM's athletic teams are called Mules (men) and Jennies (women). UCM has two mascots, a costumed anthropomorphic mule named Mo, and live mules named Tammy and Molly.
Basketball games are played in the UCM Multipurpose Building, renamed in February 2024 for longtime athletic director Jerry Hughes as the Jerry M. Hughes Athletics Center. Built in 1976, The Multi, as it is known to students and alumni, has a seating capacity of 6,500 for basketball and volleyball games. Football games are played on Vernon Kennedy Field at Audrey J. Walton Stadium. The stadium was erected in 1928 and underwent a major facelift in 1995. The stadium officially holds 11,000 people, but crowds often approach 12,000.
Keth Memorial Golf Course within Pertle Springs Park on the campus of the University of Central Missouri is an 18-hole grass greens course complete with a fully equipped pro shop. Keth Memorial also is home for UCM golf and cross country competitions.
Library
The James C. Kirkpatrick Library (JCKL) is the library of the University of Central Missouri. It was named for James C. Kirkpatrick, who was secretary of state of Missouri from 1965 to 1985. It includes over 480,000 circulating volumes.