Congratulations to our new Mizzou graduates!

Dec. 13, 2024

During commencement weekend, we’re proud to celebrate more than 1,750 graduates representing 10 Mizzou schools and colleges. These accomplished Tigers worked hard and were resilient in pursuit of their degrees. They’ve earned it, and I can’t wait to see what they accomplish next.

No matter their goals, our new alumni are in good company. More than 95% of graduates have a positive career outcome within six months. Mizzou graduates also join an extensive alumni network of proven leaders in Missouri, the U.S. and around the world.

Congratulations to the December Class of 2024! I look forward to recognizing your incredible achievements alongside your family, friends and the Mizzou community.

— Mun

Mizzou Athletics is making history

Dec. 10, 2024

The momentum at Mizzou Athletics is undeniable! Across programs, our talented student-athletes are competing at the NCAA’s highest levels and bringing so much pride to Tiger fans in Missouri and beyond.

There are many recent highlights:

• Men’s Basketball defeated the (former) No. 1 team in the country: the Kansas Jayhawks.

• The same day, we learned that No. 19 ranked Mizzou Football is heading to the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville. They’ll take on the Iowa Hawkeyes on December 30.

• Mizzou Volleyball continued their historic post-season tournament run with a win against the SMU Mustangs. This will be the team’s first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2017. They’ll face the Kentucky Wildcats this Thursday.

• Last Saturday, Women’s Basketball won their fourth-straight game.

• Quarterback Brady Cook was named SEC Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year. It’s the second consecutive year he’s received this honor.

Congratulations to all Mizzou student-athletes and coaches! I’m also grateful for the strong leadership of AD Veatch and the incredible support of our fans.

These wins show the dedication of Tigers to compete for championships and the drive of our entire campus to achieve excellence.

— Mun

Mizzou’s hands-on impact in Houston 

Dec. 6, 2024

We continued our tour of Mizzou Nation with a stop in Texas at the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Mizzou has strong ties with the Lone Star State, and we’re grateful to share our ongoing impact with alumni and friends.

At experiential stations around the gallery, guests interacted with demonstrations from the MU Research Reactor and the Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Simulation Center’s Innovation Lab – including lifelike medical training tools sculpted at Mizzou by Damon Coyle. As part of the program, we received a special welcome from distinguished MU alumna, Linda Lorelle, an Emmy award winning journalist who spent nearly 17 years anchoring the evening news at Houston’s NBC affiliate.

We were also joined once again by Law School Dean Paul Litton, Director of the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy Jay Sexton and Ella Rose Ferguson, a junior studying political science and constitutional democracy. They hosted an important discussion about the role elections play in a constitutional democracy and our responsibility to educate the next generation of leaders.

I appreciate our many Houston alumni who attended. We are thankful for their dedication, and we share their excitement for Mizzou’s future.

— Mun

Groundbreaking celebrates a century of tradition at Memorial Stadium

Dec. 3, 2024

Before Saturday’s snowy Battle Line Rivalry win against the Arkansas Razorbacks, we were proud to break ground on the ambitious Memorial Stadium Centennial Project. It was an honor to launch a new era of Mizzou Football alongside members of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, top project supporters and leaders from across campus and Mizzou Athletics.

This project is the largest in Memorial Stadium’s history and is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2026 season. Improvements will provide an unrivaled game day experience for fans while building on our incredible momentum in the SEC and our will to win championships that make all Missourians proud.

Saturday was also Senior Day, which offered a great opportunity to thank 27 student-athletes for their contributions to Memorial Stadium’s legacy. It was great celebrating their many accomplishments while also looking ahead to the next 100 years of Mizzou Football excellence. The talented seniors helped secure an undefeated, 7-0 home field record for the 2024 season.

We’re thrilled to begin this transformative investment in the future of our university, our student-athletes and all Tiger fans. For those who missed the groundbreaking, we’re also celebrating a special on-court project recognition this Sunday during the Men’s Basketball game against Kansas. M-I-Z!

— Mun

State-of-the-art imaging in Mizzou’s Electron Microscopy Core

Nov. 25, 2024

I was pleased to attend the grand reopening of the Electron Microscopy Core in the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building. This suite of world-class electron microscopes allows Mizzou researchers to magnify and analyze materials at the highest possible resolution. Thanks to our partners at Thermo Fisher Scientific, the core now has even more powerful equipment that further expands our capabilities for discovery.

Our faculty are using these instruments to create important breakthroughs. Zachary Berndsen, assistant professor in biochemistry, utilized the Titan Krios cryo-EM microscope to learn more about a specific protein that is central to lipid and cholesterol metabolism. His research helps us better understand the causes of heart disease and discover possible treatments.

Mizzou continually invests in both material and biological sciences research, providing a strong foundation for the interdisciplinary collaborations needed to solve the world’s grand challenges. Min Su, the director of the Electron Microscopy Core, and his team are always ready to consult with faculty on how they can use the core’s powerful instruments to advance their work and make a difference.

The Electron Microscopy Core is one of the best in the nation and an incredible resource for our community. We look forward to seeing how Mizzou researchers use these powerful tools to create new innovations with impact.

— Mun

Celebrating an original voice in new music

Nov. 19, 2024

The Sinquefield Composition Prize is a prestigious award given each year to one Mizzou student for excellence in music composition. Last week, I joined Curator Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield, Provost Matthew Martens, College of Arts and Science Dean Cooper Drury and School of Music faculty at a reception announcing the 2025 winner: master’s composition student, Giovanni Porfirio.

I enjoyed hearing Giovanni describe his genre-spanning approach to composition as well as his musical influences. As part of the prize, Giovanni is commissioned to write a new, original work that will be performed by the University Philharmonic Orchestra and professionally recorded. It will premiere this February at the Chancellor’s Arts Showcase.

Mizzou’s music composition program is one of the best in the country, and we are grateful for the generous support of Curator Cairns Sinquefield, Rex Sinquefield and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Their vision for the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) has made our campus a global destination for students like Giovanni and world-renowned faculty like 2024 Guggenheim Fellow Utku Asuroglu. MNMI supports a range of ambitious programing, including the Sinquefield Composition Prize and the Mizzou International Composers Festival, which has resulted in more than 1,250 new works produced over 20 years.

Congratulations again to Giovanni! I look forward to hearing how he, and our many talented Mizzou composers, create their own legacy and influence others.

— Mun

The future of energy innovation with Dr. Harriet Kung

Nov. 14, 2024

Today we welcomed Dr. Harriet Kung, leader of the Office of Science in the Department of Energy (DOE), for our second annual President’s Distinguished Lecture. Dr. Kung’s wide-ranging talk covered the organization’s history, the critical energy challenges facing our nation (including uses of AI) as well as new opportunities for partnerships that support innovation and discovery.

Dr. Kung also discussed how our community – especially through MizzouForward – can contribute to DOE’s important work by translating scientific advances into solutions that benefit industry and communities. Following her presentation, Dr. Kung answered questions from the audience about important energy topics and ways student researchers can get involved and make a difference.

Mizzou has strong connections to the Department of Energy. During her visit, Dr. Kung met with many leading Mizzou researchers with DOE-funded projects in numerous fields, such as plant sciences, physics and engineering. She also toured the University of Missouri Research Reactor, where our team contributes to vital radiopharmaceutical development as part of DOE’s Isotope Program. We were also thrilled to preview future Mizzou initiatives that can contribute to DOE goals, including our twice-as-powerful research reactor, NextGen MURR, and the Center for Energy Innovation.

We are proud to partner with the DOE and the Office of Science to address the most significant energy challenges facing our nation and to educate the workforce of the future. It was an honor to host Dr. Kung and to learn from her experience and leadership.

— Mun

Launching a world-class partnership for materials science breakthroughs

Nov. 13, 2024

Mizzou faculty are joining researchers from around the country in an interdisciplinary partnership that strengthens domestic manufacturing and enhances national security.

Co-led by MU Engineering researchers Shelia Grant, David Grant and Prasad Calyam, the team is partnering with distinguished colleagues at Arizona State University, Brewer Science and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center. Together, they are exploring the development and manufacturing of critical materials, including for semiconductors, using advances like AI and machine learning. This initiative meets an important need while building on the groundbreaking work of our Materials Science & Engineering Institute.

This collaboration will inspire incredible breakthroughs while growing our reputation as a center for innovations in materials science. We are proud to collaborate with fellow academic, industry and government leaders to impact Missouri and our nation.

— Mun

Honors Humanities Sequence celebrates 70 years of big ideas

Nov. 7, 2024

Last weekend, I enjoyed attending the 70^th anniversary of Mizzou’s long-running Honors Humanities Sequence. Since 1954, this interdisciplinary program has engaged Tigers through four linked Honors College courses that explore literature, philosophy, art, religion and music – stretching from Homer to Billie Holiday.

We were joined by faculty and alumni from nearly every decade of the program who shared how the courses enriched their lives. The celebration included a history of the sequence from its current coordinator and Honors College Associate Dean Rachel Harper, remarks from Honors College Dean Catherine Rymph, engaging lectures, a performance by School of Music faculty and panel discussions exploring the sequence’s growth and influence.

Mizzou proudly prepares leaders to engage with society’s most important questions. It was great celebrating the Humanities Sequence’s success and its ongoing impact on our community.

— Mun

Recognizing Sigma Chi and the contributions of MU fraternities and sororities

Nov. 1, 2024

I was pleased to attend a banquet celebrating the rechartering of the  Xi Xi chapter of Sigma Chi. Rechartering is a significant moment for the chapter and allows Sigma Chi brothers to make an even greater impact on campus and beyond.

For the past two semesters, the chapter placed in the top 3 fraternities for GPA rankings. Members also raised over $5,000 through philanthropic efforts last year and spent one day each month cleaning 1.5 miles of road they adopted. Sigma Chi is empowering its members to make a difference while enhancing our entire fraternity and sorority community.

Originally founded in 1896, Sigma Chi has a long history at the University of Missouri. Prominent alumni include industry leaders – and dedicated Mizzou supporters – such as Larry McMullen, Jay Shields and John Qualy. Jesse Hall namesake and former university president Richard Jesse was also a Sigma Chi brother.

Fraternities and sororities at Mizzou make an incredible impact through their fundraising and outreach – while also helping students find support and belonging. Congratulations to Chapter Consul Tyler Thomas and all 51 Sigma Chi brothers at Mizzou. I’m grateful for their dedication to others and for the contributions of our more than 7,300 fraternity and sorority members.

— Mun