KC's premier university?

[warwickland]

Rockhurst has already done much for Troost.

I guess I'm not seeing it, never have. Troost in that area certainly wouldn't stand as a neighborhood strip in a suburb of Chicago.

[rxlexi]

yeah, again, as a Rockhurst graduate, I would argue that while the school is to be commended for staying in the urban core and making a number of major investments within their campus, they've done little to actually make Troost an appealing or lively place.  It isn't abandoned along that stretch, so I guess that's something...but I feel the school could do more.  For example, while Rock U. purchased and renovated the former grocer and music store buildings adjacent campus for university purposes, they've also leveled nearby buildings for surface parking lots and haven't provided much, if any life on the Troost side of campus.  The (relatively) new Greenlease Gallery doesn't even have windows or an entrance on Troost and it is located mere steps from the sidewalk. 

  I feel that our urban universities strongly under-achieve.  I loved my time at Rockhurst and badly want to see it grow into a proper, well-known Jesuit institution like, say, Xavier in Cincy.  It draws well from around Missouri (StL area in particular) but its reach doesn't extend much beyond.

  UMKC, meanwhile, could really become at least a legitimate urban university.  It has a number of highly respected, desirable programs, an awesome campus right in the heart of the city (next door to many cultural/scientific/educational partners) and affiliation with the largest school in the state.  The additional dorms are a nice start towards respectability, but IMO a name change and more effort towards a vibrant campus life (Troost or 51st St.) and connections with its neighbors would really cement the notion that it is more than a second-class commuter school.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Even when it was known as Kansas City University I doubt that it was much more than a commuter school since there were few if any dorms (at least that I know of).

Question for recent UMKC grads.  Has there been much of a frat/sorority life or even any social life on the campus?  There was very, very little in the early 70's.

Another question.  If UMKC was to become more of a traditional school wouldn't that require way more dorms then it has now?  And if so how would that impact the surrounding neighborhood given that those dorms have to be built somewhere?

With regards to Troost, yes you might be critical of Rockhurst but at the same time Troost looks so much better now around the campus then it did years ago.

[pstokely]

[quote author=aknowledgeableperson link=topic=15496.msg386664#msg386664 date=123Question for recent UMKC grads.  Has there been much of a frat/sorority life or even any social life on the campus?  There was very, very little in the early 70's.
[/quote]

http://www.umkc.edu/stulife/greeklife/

[Spartan65]

I think if UMKC became the University of Kansas City it would change a lot, particularly starting with the all important perception. I obviously know little about colleges in KC, but I remember that except for OU, every other college I nearly went to was U of [insert city name]. Like U of Cincy's renowned arch school. I went to OU close to home for a while before transferring to the University of Calgary, to see some more of the world, and another country, let alone a much better architecture program than OU's crappy embarrassment of an arch school. U of C went through the first half of the 20th Century like UMKC, only as University of Alberta-Calgary Branch. Kind of a demeaning name for a university with 30,000 students and nationally-acclaimed programs, including probably Canada's best arch school, among other excellent programs.

I love the University Heights area of NW Calgary. Kind of a mid-century neighborhood for the most part, with lots of neat architecture, very vibrant, lots of pedestrian activity ESPECIALLY bikes, and lots of college-focused businesses like coffee shops, bookstores, and all-night diners. You always know when you are getting close to the university because the feel is different from the rest of the city. Crowds from events at McMahon Stadium (including football games) spill over into bars, and you see people with Dinos shirts on all over town and you pretty much know which C-train stop they're getting off at.

Other colleges I can think of along the lines of this are the University of Tulsa. TU is small, but still a lot larger than Rockhurst. I think their enrollment is around 5,000. TU is a beautiful historic campus in the heart of Midtown Tulsa, surrounded by lots of bars, coffee shops (particularly on Cherry Street) and stuff that caters to the college students. There's a real TU community, and of course there's a lot of pride in how good TU's Division 1 football team has been under the last two head coaches. Division 1 athletics are always a big boost. TU also has a decent Frat Row. Oklahoma City University, also a smaller private school, has around 6,000 enrolled, 3,500 undergraduates that live on campus. No Division 1 athletic team, so it's neighborhood in the inner north side has less of a college feel that the TU area, but nonetheless, it being ranked consistently in the Top 100 Universities has it pretty well established as OKC's premier university. They're also well known for the best music and dance school in the country (producing more Miss Americas,3 or 4, than any other school) and one of the best law schools in the nation, and probably the best in this region.

These are instances of where smaller private schools are pretty well established as the premier university in their community, through academic excellence. It's hard to beat TU's endowment of over $900 million among private schools, and even most large public schools. Houston has Rice as well as U of H and all of the medical schools in the world, New Orleans has Tulane and Loyola, Nashville has Vanderbilt, Memphis has Rhodes, Richmond has Virginia Commonwealth University, Cleveland has Case-Western, Omaha has Creighton, St. Louis has Wash U, and so on..

I was sort of mostly wondering if Jewell was KC's version of TU or Wash U, but I suppose nay. Even though without knowing, someone could have easily made an argument fooling me lol. See, I knew you guys here at KCRag were pretty damn resourceful.

[NDTeve]

Everybody wants UMKC to change their name. Most notably...the law school.

[mlind]

I took a summer school course in American history at KCU or UKC (whatever it was) in the 1960's and really enjoyed it.  I remember thinking the course selection in that area was broader than what was available at the liberal arts college I was attending in California.  Academia jobs for newly graduated PhD's are so hard to find that even the small schools mentioned in this string are able to attract good teachers.  The California community colleges are a good example. 

Isn't the purpose of going to college to get a good education?  And prospective employers look at other things beside the name of the school, like internships, etc.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Isn't the purpose of going to college to get a good education?  And prospective employers look at other things beside the name of the school, like internships, etc.

Yes, but when the choice is down to say the final two where you went to school and the perception of that to the person making the decision can be the tie-breaker.

[KCMax]

I would love to see UMKC become "U of Kansas City" but I think the impact of such a move gets pretty overrated around here.

[ComandanteCero]

yeh, personally i think the much more dramatic move of simply becoming an independent private university again (by the name of University of KC) would have a much greater impact.  I've said this before, but I think KC needs a large private research oriented university (on the level of a U. Chicago, Rice, NYU, etc), and UMKC would be a great start towards building something like that if it could be taken out of the state school system.

[LenexatoKCMO]

yeh, personally i think the much more dramatic move of simply becoming an independent private university again (by the name of University of KC) would have a much greater impact.  I've said this before, but I think KC needs a large private research oriented university (on the level of a U. Chicago, Rice, NYU, etc), and UMKC would be a great start towards building something like that if it could be taken out of the state school system.

Pipe dream - better put your hopes on the chance of Rockhurst suddenly coming into some massive new endowment that would allow them to fill that role. 

[ComandanteCero]

yeah, it would have to be a decades long project (i.e in terms of reaching the level of those schools).  I sometimes wonder if Stowers could have pulled off the privatization of the school in the short term with the 2 billion dollar endowment he ended up using to start his own institute. 

[IraGlacialis]

I too would like to see UMKC change its name to University of Kansas City or Kansas City University.  That doesn't mean you still can't be part of the MU system.

Yep. UMR changed to Missouri S&T to distinguish itself as a primarily engineering/research-based school, but it is still part of the MU system. Even MU itself is semi-changing its official name from Missouri University-Columbia to just plain Missouri University.
I'd think it be nice if UMKC changed its name to UKC. Though if this happens, I wonder what the St. Louis campus would change its name to.

As for premier schools, even though it is not technically a university, I would consider KCAI around the top of its own category at even the national level.

[rxlexi]

  good point re: KCAI, Ira.  It is one of the top art schools in the country and is growing, though that success and KC's progress as a Midwestern arts destination only makes the absence of an MFA program at KCAI more glaring.  I really hope that such a program is created there or at UMKC in the near future, as it is a necessary step in our evolution as an arts city, and it would provide a reason for departing KCAI graduates to consider staying in KC to continue their education if graduate school is being considered.

  also re: the name change at UMKC - how hard can this be to make happen?  It's a tiny superficial step that leaves all of the connections with U of M system in place, but IMO would make an immediate impact on the perception of the school.  Look at, say, Truman State for evidence of a successful image makeover that began with a name change.  'KCU' would at least quickly change the immediate first reaction many prospective students have of a small, commuter branch of an otherwise well-regarded university that the name UMKC seems to denote.  Perhaps incoming UMKC prez Leo Morton can make this simple move an early priority?  Just get it over with and move on to some of the larger issues the school, now with infinitely better branding moving forward, has to deal with.

[IraGlacialis]

  good point re: KCAI, Ira.  It is one of the top art schools in the country and is growing, though that success and KC's progress as a Midwestern arts destination only makes the absence of an MFA program at KCAI more glaring.  I really hope that such a program is created there or at UMKC in the near future, as it is a necessary step in our evolution as an arts city, and it would provide a reason for departing KCAI graduates to consider staying in KC to continue their education if graduate school is being considered.

Besides expanding into the graduate area, there are a few programs that KCAI isn't really suffering without yet could get a boost from having. Namely: architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and artisanship. Pretty much a set of practical arts programs to compliment the studio fine arts programs.

[jimb]

  also re: the name change at UMKC - how hard can this be to make happen?  It's a tiny superficial step that leaves all of the connections with U of M system in place, but IMO would make an immediate impact on the perception of the school.  Look at, say, Truman State for evidence of a successful image makeover that began with a name change.  'KCU' would at least quickly change the immediate first reaction many prospective students have of a small, commuter branch of an otherwise well-regarded university that the name UMKC seems to denote.  Perhaps incoming UMKC prez Leo Morton can make this simple move an early priority?  Just get it over with and move on to some of the larger issues the school, now with infinitely better branding moving forward, has to deal with.

Along with most of the posters here, I don't see a downside to this or why it shouldn't be done right away.  However, given the hissy fit that UMC threw when SMS wanted to change it's name to MoState, I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't happen at or at least took a lot longer than it should.

I have suggested before (and got some feedback from Star writers that it was being considered) that in the short term, UMKC follow the path taken by UNC-Charlotte.  The official name of the school is still "University of North Carolina at Charlotte," but the school almost always referred to simply as "Charlotte."  The athletic jerseys say "Charlotte" across the front, for example.  It's primarily sports-focused at this time, but it might be a good model for UMKC to take while trying to convince the Curators that this won't negatively effect the the UM System.

I don't think anyone can claim that calling UNCC "Charlotte" has done one thing to diminish the stature of UNC-Chapel Hill as the preeminent school in their system.