University of Missouri–Kansas City

History

Lincoln and Lee University

The school has its roots in the Lincoln and Lee University movement first put forth by the Methodist Church and its Bishop Ernest Lynn Waldorf in the 1920s. The proposed university (which was to honor Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee) was to be built on the Missouri–Kansas border at 75th and State Line Road. Proponents of the school said it would be a location "where North met South and East met West".

In 1930, after the Methodists had brought the Kansas City Dental School into their fold, the two plans were merged. The new school was to be called "Lincoln and Lee, the University of Kansas City", and plans were underway to develop it into a four-year school.

The university was built on a 40-acre (16.19 ha) plot, southeast of the Nelson mansion. William Volker had purchased and donated this land for the University of Kansas City. The original Volker purchase did not include the Dickey mansion itself. Dickey died unexpectedly in 1931 and Volker acquired it to be the first building.

University of Kansas City

The two groups were to squabble back and forth, with Ernest H. Newcomb attempting to mediate. The Church did not maintain its ties, and the Lincoln and Lee name was abandoned. The school announced that it would start if 125 students enrolled. The target was met, and the University of Kansas City, or "KCU" for short, held its first classes in October 1933 with a faculty of 17 and a student enrollment of 264.

The campus (now expanded to 90 acres or 36.4 hectares) is called the Volker Campus. The Dickey mansion is now Scofield Hall. The second building on the campus, the library, was named for Newcomb. A Carl Milles fountain on Brush Creek opposite the Nelson Gallery is called the Volker Fountain.

The University of Kansas City grew quickly, and soon incorporated other existing local private institutions of higher learning. The Kansas City School of Law, which was founded in the 1890s and located in downtown Kansas City, merged into the university in 1938. The Kansas City-Western Dental College followed in 1941 and the Kansas City College of Pharmacy merged in 1943. This was followed by the Kansas City Conservatory of Music in 1959. During this period, the university also established the School of Administration in 1953, the School of Education in 1954, and the Division for Continuing Education in 1958.

University of Missouri–Kansas City

On July 25, 1963, at the urging of alumnus Hilary A. Bush, the university became part of the University of Missouri System and $20 million of assets including 23 buildings were transferred to the University of Missouri. At the time, KCU had 3,300 students (2,000 full-time) and 175 full-time faculty.

At the time Missouri already owned the campuses in Columbia and Rolla. Accordingly, the university's name was changed to the University of Missouri–Kansas City. After this, UMKC established the School of Graduate Studies in 1964, the School of Medicine in 1970, the School of Nursing in 1980, the School of Basic Life Sciences in 1985 (which was renamed the School of Biological Sciences in the mid-1990s), and the School of Computing and Engineering in 2001.

In 2012, the school conducted studies on whether to rename the school back to the University of Kansas City (while still remaining in the University of Missouri system). In November 2012, the school decided against the change noting at the time, "while prospective students and the community at large had strong interest in the name change, several other important groups — current students, faculty/staff, and alumni — do not favor a name change at this time."

In the mid and late 2010s, UMKC came under fire for corruption and cover-ups that alleged a pursuit of outside money above all else. Critics highlighted examples in the management school and pharmaceutical school, including a faculty member who required international students to perform personal tasks for him and false information used to rank the business school.

Academics

Today, the academic divisions of UMKC are as follows:

the College of Arts and Sciences

the Conservatory of Music and Dance

the Henry W. Bloch School of Management

the School of Science and Engineering

the School of Dentistry

the School of Education

the School of Law

the School of Medicine

the School of Nursing and Health Studies

the School of Pharmacy

the School of Graduate Studies

The School of Medicine is known for its six-year post-secondary program, wherein a student spends only six years obtaining both a Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine degree. The school operates two campuses, one in Kansas City, Missouri, and one in St. Joseph, Missouri. The School of Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri, is known as the Health Sciences District campus or HSD. It is situated away from the main campus on Hospital Hill, where it is connected to University Health Truman Medical Center, an extensive research hospital. The St. Joseph campus (STJ) is based in St. Joseph, Missouri. Students initially trained within Mosaic Life Care hospital facilities, but in August 2025 UMKC opened a new 22,000-square-foot, $14.5 million medical education building. The facility houses classrooms, simulation labs, and clinical training spaces, and serves as a hub for expanding rural health education.

The School of Law is one of four law schools in Missouri (St. Louis University School of Law, University of Missouri School of Law, and Washington University School of Law are the others). It is one of only seven American law schools to have educated both a President of the United States (Harry S. Truman) and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Charles Evans Whittaker). Truman attended but did not graduate from the law school and never practiced law. The schools that actually have had President-Supreme Court graduates who practiced law are Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, the William & Mary Law School and the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Rankings

As of the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, the University of Missouri–Kansas City was ranked:

#232 (tie) in National Universities

#129 (tie) in Top Public Schools

Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence.

Athletics

UMKC's mascot is Kasey Kangaroo (originally drawn by Walt Disney). Historically, UMKC athletics had used the identity of "UMKC Kangaroos," but the short form "Roos" was widely used both within and outside of the program. On July 1, 2019, the athletic program officially rebranded itself as the Kansas City Roos. The school's colors are old gold and royal blue. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I Summit League, having rejoined that conference on July 1, 2020, after seven years in the Western Athletic Conference.

The men's soccer team won the Summit League men's soccer championships in 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2010. The team set an NCAA record on October 12, 2001, with the fastest trio of goals scored in Division I soccer during the MLS era, by scoring three times in 1:46 against Valparaiso University. Notable Roos soccer players have included goalkeepers Kevin Corby and Connor Sparrow, defenders Roberto Albuquerque and Coady Andrews, forwards Levi Coleman, Eric McWoods, and Jordan Rideout, and midfielders Manny Catano, Jony Muñoz, and Bryan Pérez.

UMKC sponsors 16 sports for both men and women at the intercollegiate level. The department sponsors: men's basketball and women's basketball, men's soccer and women's soccer, men's tennis and women's tennis, men's golf and women's golf, men's indoor and outdoor track & field and women's indoor and outdoor track & field, men's cross country and women's cross country, softball, and volleyball. The men's and women's basketball teams play at Swinney Recreation Center. In April 2007, the school dropped its Co-Ed Rifle Program in order to add women's soccer and men's baseball. Women's soccer was added to the institution for the 2009–10 school year.

Campuses

UMKC is spread across multiple locales; the main Volker Campus, home to the majority of university operations, is located in Kansas City, Missouri's Rockhill neighborhood, east of the Country Club Plaza, and adjacent to both the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and the Linda Hall Library. In 2017 the university, in collaboration with University Health Truman Medical Center, Children's Mercy Hospital, the Missouri Health Department, the Jackson County Medical Examiners Office, and the Missouri Department of Mental Health Behavioral Medicine, formed the UMKC Health Sciences District on Hospital Hill. This district is a first-in-the-nation partnership between local and state governments, the university, and these nationally recognized healthcare faculties, designed to promote collaboration in research, innovation, education, grant funding, and community outreach, for the advancement of health and wellness in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. Also in 2017, the university announced plans to expand its metropolitan identity with the construction of a downtown Campus for the Arts, located near the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Volker Campus

UMKC has two campuses in Kansas City. Most of UMKC's main campus (Volker campus) is inside a square formed by Volker Boulevard (north), Oak Street (west), 53rd Street (south), and Troost (east). The Health Sciences District campus houses the health sciences academic departments. Directly across Troost from UMKC is Rockhurst University, a Jesuit university.

Health Sciences District Campus

The Health Sciences District campus houses the School of Nursing, the School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry, and the School of Pharmacy.

St. Joseph Campus

The UMKC School of Medicine–St. Joseph campus opened a new 22,000-square-foot, $14.5 million medical education building in August 2025. Located in St. Joseph, Missouri, the facility includes classrooms, simulation labs, and clinical training spaces designed to expand rural health education.

Buildings

Built in 1972, the Biological Sciences Building is located north of the Spencer Chemistry Building and east of Katz Hall. The building houses offices, classrooms, and research laboratories of the School of Biological Sciences. The school offers undergrad, grad, and doctoral degrees in the life sciences. The Biological Sciences Building and Spencer Chemistry Building are connected on four of its floors; in addition to this, the south stairwell on the basement floor of the Biological Sciences Building is the north stairwell of the Spencer Chemistry Building.

The Fine Arts Building was built in 1942 and remodeled in 1975. Currently, the Art and Art History departments use the building. Student works are often displayed in the building's UMKC Gallery of Art.

The building, located at 51st & Rockhill, was built in 1972 using funds donated by Helen Spencer. The purpose of the building was to nurture scientific advancement at UMKC. It currently houses the main office of the Chemistry Department, as well as several chemistry laboratories and classrooms. Spencer Chemistry Building and the Biological Sciences Building are connected on four of its floors.

The majority of UMKC's students regularly attend classes in buildings on the Quad. These buildings are Flarsheim Hall, Newcomb Hall, Manheim Hall, Royall Hall, Haag Hall, and Scofield Hall.

Cockefair, (pronounced coke-fair), is located on Rockhill across from Flarsheim Hall. It was built in 1950 and is named for former faculty member Carolyn Cockefair, who was a humanities professor at UMKC. The building currently houses the departments of History, English, and Philosophy.

Flarsheim Hall was built in 1999, and is the largest building on UMKC's campus. The Chemistry, Physics, and Geosciences departments, as well as the School of Computing and Engineering, are located in Flarsheim Hall. The hall was named after Robert H. Flarsheim, who left a $9 million endowment to the university in his estate. Flarsheim Hall is located on the northeast corner of the Quad.

Haag Hall (pronounced Hāg), built in 1937, contains offices and classrooms including the departments of mathematics and communication studies. Its most recognizable features are large murals stretching along the main stairwell. Haag Hall is connected to both Royall and Flarsheim Halls. Haag Hall is located on the southeast corner of the Quad.

Student activities

Greek life

Greek Life at the University of Missouri–Kansas City includes some 24 Greek Letter Organizations. Although the Greek population is relatively small, it maintains a proud heritage, and several chapters have received awards from their organization's international offices.

Traditions

One of the best known traditions in the history of UMKC was Hobo Day, later known as Bum Friday. The campus-wide event was created as Hobo Day, and it first occurred on May 8, 1935, to celebrate the end of the spring semester. Students dressed as hobos throughout the day, and various events and competitions took place. In 1982, the Student Life Office put a stop to Bum Friday and replaced it with "Roo Fest", which lacked many of the activities and traditions of Bum Friday and its predecessor, Hobo Day.

Alumni members of the former Bounders Fraternity raised nearly $30,000 in donations for the purchase of a Van Bergen 49-bell carillon. The Bounder Bells was dedicated on the UMKC campus in May 1989. The carillon is located in the tower of the Swinney Recreation Center. The bells controlled by an electronic keyboard, and they ring on the hour. The bells can also be programmed to play melodies.

Notable alumni and faculty

Chancellors

Since 1933, 14 persons have led the University of Missouri–Kansas City or its predecessor, the University of Kansas City, plus an additional 7 individuals in an acting or interim capacity. The most current leader is C. Mauli Agrawal.