Missouri 100 Initiatives
- Caring for Missourians
- Taking Intellectual Capital to Market
- Retaining and Recruiting World-Class Faculty
- Building and Preserving our Physical Infrastructure
Caring for Missourians
More than 220 qualified applicants were turned away from the University of Missouri’s three nursing schools for fall semester 2007 due to existing space limitations.
Yet more than 500,000 nurses will be needed by 2025 to keep up with patient demand, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Health policy experts have long recognized that the United States is experiencing a shortage of health care workers. Shortages already exist in many specialties, and future shortages will likely affect a broad range of individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
Missouri is no exception. With its aging population, decreases in the number of health care-related graduates and abundance of rural communities with few health care resources, the state is at a critical juncture where its ability to provide health care for its citizens is in jeopardy.
Public universities such as the University of Missouri can help mitigate these effects by increasing the number of health care graduates, but funding limitations greatly restrict their ability to admit additional students.
Request
The University of Missouri, along with all the state’s public two- and four-year institutions, have joined together to increase the number of health professional graduates through a program called 
Caring for Missourians. In total, a request of $39.8 million is being made to the General Assembly. Funds will be used to increase health care professional education programs at all Missouri public two- and four-year colleges and universities, including the University of Missouri’s four campuses.
Through Caring for Missourians, these institutions will increase the number of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals by 20 percent— or 900 health care workers over five years, including 31 new physicians, 30 pharmacists, 489 nurses and 288 allied health professionals.
The University of Missouri’s medical schools in Columbia and Kansas City are ranked among the bottom seven out of 74 public medical schools in terms of state support, with state-appropriated funds providing about $32,000 annually per year per student. The national average is $94,000 per year.
Meanwhile, the Association of American Medical Colleges has called for medical schools to increase enrollments by 30 percent by 2015.
Fast Facts
- Missouri is experiencing shortages in several health care fields:
- Physicians: 95 percent of Missouri counties are designated as under served
- Nursing: A 20 percent shortage of nurses is predicted by 2015
- Pharmacy: A critical shortage of about 157,000 pharmacists is predicted by 2020
- Dentistry: Almost 93 percent of Missouri counties don’t have enough dentists
- Missouri ranks 14th in the nation in the number of people 65 and older who will require
greater medical care as they age - Missouri communities are reporting difficulties filling open health care professional positions. Local health care facilities are often forced to use high-cost contract health providers or reduce services
Taking Intellectual Capital to Market
Research and economic development are about the pursuit of scientific discovery that can forever change the course of humankind for the better, and then taking that discovery and making it available to the public.
As the state’s only land-grant, doctoral-granting research institution, the University of Missouri is an economic growth engine for the state. The university elevated the role of economic development to the fourth mission of the university in 2004. Since then, the university has strengthened its focus on innovation-based economic growth by championing research at its four campuses and finding ways to market that research through public/private partnerships.
There is more work to be done, however. As the world transitions to a knowledgebased economy, intellectual property assets are increasingly recognized as key business assets. In fact, it is estimated that greater than 70 percent of the market value of publicly traded companies is attributable to intellectual property. The university is in need of a new intellectual property management paradigm that will sustain a repeatable process across campuses and a breadth of intellectual property, facility and operational needs of the inventors, outside organizations and corporations. This will increase economic growth by stimulating technology transfer activity, including invention disclosures, patents, licenses and business start-ups.
Request
The University of Missouri is requesting $1.5 million from the state. One million dollars will be used to fund additional staff in the areas of innovation, commercialization and portfolio management, and legal, marketing and new product support. Funds also will be invested in software resources to establish a systemwide pipeline of research that can move from the lab to the marketplace.
The remaining $500,000 would provide grants to faculty to accelerate proof of technology demonstrations, market research for identification of market entry points, and start-up funds for new company formation issues and challenges that have been identified. This investment fund would be managed by a 501c(3) System Foundation Board of Directors and provide for investments in research incubators, accelerators, research parks and overall commercialization of scientific discoveries in Missouri’s labs.
Fast Facts
- The University of Missouri infuses nearly $572 million in the Missouri economy from outside
sources, including federal grants, private donations and out-of-state tuition. This money ultimately creates almost $1.1 billion in economic activity and more than 13,000 jobs.
- The university generates a 5-to-1 return in annual operating revenues for every dollar appropriated. With nearly 26,000 in-state employees, the payroll alone accounts for $940 million annually with a direct return of $126 million in taxes.
- Public universities like the University of Missouri conduct two-thirds of the country’s basic research and are the primary source of technology development.
- Research funding at the university topped $326 million in 2007, up from $170 million just 10 years before.
- Licensing revenues from Missouri research are expected to reach $7 million this year, up from $1.5 million in 1997.
- The university currently maintains research parks and incubators at eight sites around the state that foster human discovery and bring new products to market.
Retaining and Recruiting World-Class Faculty
Current compensation levels have made it more difficult to recruit and retain faculty in a very competitive market and when enrollments and research funding are at record levels.
High-quality faculty are the cornerstone of the University of Missouri. Whether it is through teaching, mentoring, research or public service roles, faculty embody what is at the heart of the university—a dedication to shaping the minds of tomorrow’s leaders.
The university’s ability to attract and retain qualified faculty is in danger. A study of top faculty at public institutions of the Association of American Universities (AAU)—a group of the nation’s most prestigious public and private research universities—showed that the Columbia campus ranked last among 33 universities in the growth of base faculty salaries from fall 1997 to fall 2006. Additionally, the Columbia campus was 32 out of 33 institutions within this same group when ranked according to the current average base salary provided to faculty for fall 2006.
Compare this with the average faculty salary increases in the surrounding states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, which ranged from 29.2 percent to 47.2 percent. During the same period, salaries at MU increased an average of only 20.4 percent. Similar challenges exist with faculty compensation at other campuses of the University of Missouri.
Request
The University of Missouri is asking the state to participate in a three-year program that will
bring ranked faculty salaries at the university to the average of comparable institutions. The state’s
share would be $3.6 million for three years, matched with the same annual amount funded by
the university. The state did not fund this initiative last year, however, so the university funded
both its share and the state’s share, taking resources from other critical needs.
An investment to recruit and retain top faculty results in a stronger educational experience for students and contributes to the state’s economic development through additional funding for research and the creation of new businesses from technology transfer.
Fast Facts
- The University of Missouri-Columbia ranks next to last among comparable institutions according to the current average base salary provided to ranked faculty for fall 2006—and last in the growth of base faculty salaries from fall 1997 to fall 2006.
- Similar faculty compensation issues exist among all four UM campuses.
- Faculty in nationally ranked UM departments are often lured away to other colleges and universities, enticed with larger salaries and more resources.
Building and Preserving our Physical Infrastructure
The quality of our facilities—the condition of our labs and classrooms—are a direct personification of who we are as an institution.
Regardless of the quality of teaching that goes on inside, our facilities can either demonstrate to the outside world that we are a first-class institution or that we are struggling to keep pace.
Quality facilities are an integral part of providing a quality education. Whether it is our laboratories where scientific breakthroughs are occurring or our classrooms where today’s students are being shaped to become tomorrow’s leaders, the quality of the University of Missouri’s physical facilities must match the talents of students and professors within its walls.
Unfortunately, many of the buildings on the University of Missouri’s four campuses and hospitals and clinics are in need of preventative repair, renovation or upgrades to meet the needs of today’s students and patients. The backlog of facility needs will continue to increase and the quality of education could be in peril unless the university acts now.
Request
The university has identified $624.4 million in rehabilitation and new construction needs and is asking the state to fund $497.6 million. 
The highest priority needs total $345.6 million and include $34.5 million for critical repairs. The university also is requesting a total of $2.1 million for new engineering equipment, plus an additional $6.4 million to address a backlog of unfunded new and replacement engineering equipment from 2003-2009.
The university will fund its share—$126.7 million—of the capital rehabilitation and new construction projects from a combination of private gifts and capital reserves.
Missouri ranks 47th among the 50 states in higher education capital expenditures per capita between 2005-2007, according to a National Association of State Budget Officers study.
Missouri spent only 18 cents per person for higher education during this period, while the national average was $99.65 per person.
Fast Facts
- Since fiscal year 1999, 22.2 percent of UM funding for capital improvements has come from the state; 29.2 percent from debt; and 48.6 percent from other sources such as gifts, department funds and federal sources.
- The University of Missouri has identified more than $624 million in rehabilitation and new construction projects across the four campuses and hospital and clinics.
- More than $34 million has been identified as critical facility needs that are the result of
unfunded deferred maintenance since 2002. If left unaddressed, the normal deterioration of physical assets will continue to backlog and threaten mission-critical functions.
- More than $34 million has been identified as critical facility needs that are the result of
- More than $2 million in engineering equipment on all the campuses has been identified, as well as more than $6 million in a backlog of engineering equipment that has not been purchased since 2003.
