The University of Missouri (Mizzou), located in Columbia, Missouri, United States, is the state’s flagship land-grant university and largest public research university. It was founded in 1839 as the first public university west of the Mississippi River. Today, Mizzou enrolls over 30,000 students from more than 100 countries and all 50 states on its five campuses: Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla, St. Louis, and an extension campus in Springfield. The University of Missouri System is a constitutional system of four universities that includes Mizzou; it also encompasses two health care centers and four research institutes. The main campus in Columbia covers 1,262 acres (510 ha) with over 300 buildings. The school is known for its journalism and communication programs—the Missourian newspaper was founded here by Robert Sengstacke Abbott in 1908—as well as for its business programs and medical research facilities.
Mizzou athletics compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The football team has won several conference championships, including eight SEC titles (most recently in 2013), and appears frequently in national rankings; it appeared in bowl games every year from 1999 to 2014 except one. Men’s basketball has similarly achieved success under head coach Frank Haith; the team won back-to-back Big 12 regular season titles in 2012–13 and 2013–14 before moving to the SEC. Other Mizzou teams have also had recent success: wrestling won consecutive NCAA Division I Championships in 1997–98 and 1998–99; women’s soccer made nine straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2006 to 2014; baseball made six straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2009 to 2014; softball made sixteen straight NCAA tournament appearance from 2002 to 2017; men’s golf has produced five individual national champions since 1950 while appearing regularly at the NCAA Championships; track & field’s 4×100 meter relay team set a world record at the 2007 Drake Relays. In total, 32 Mizzou athletes or teams have competed or are scheduled to compete in Olympic Games or Paralympic Games competitions