Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a
public university
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universi ...
in
Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland College of Arts and Media. The university is accredited by the
Higher Learning Commission
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Io ...
.
Enrolling nearly 12,000 students, Southeast offers more than 175 undergraduate degree programs and 75 graduate programs. Originally founded in 1873 as a
normal school
A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...
, the university has a traditional strength in teacher education. In recent years, the university's reputation and focus has shifted towards the arts, with the construction of the River Campus creating the state's only campus entirely dedicated to the visual and performing arts. It is the only four year institution of higher education in the Southeast Missouri area.
Five academic units make up the university: the Holland College of Arts and Media; the Harrison College of Business and Computing; the College of Education, Health, and Human Studies; College of Humanities and Social Sciences; and the College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The university's thirteen athletics teams compete in the
Ohio Valley Conference of
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...
and are known as the
Southeast Missouri State Redhawks
The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks are the athletic teams of Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO), located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States. The Redhawks athletic program is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and comp ...
. The football team participates as part of the
Football Championship Subdivision of Division I.
History
Southeast Missouri State University was founded in 1873 when a group of locally prominent businessmen and politicians successfully lobbied the State of
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
to designate
Cape Girardeau as the home of the Third District
Normal School
A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...
. Originally known as Southeast Missouri State Normal School, the first classes were taught at the nearby Lorimier School until April 1875, when the first university building was completed.
The university has had five names in its history:
*Southeast Missouri State Normal School, 1873–1881
*Missouri State Normal School—Third District, 1881–1919
*Southeast Missouri State Teachers College, 1919–1946
*Southeast Missouri State College, 1946–1973
*Southeast Missouri State University, 1973–present
The Normal building was described by Mark Twain in '' Life on the Mississippi'' (1883):[Life on the Mississippi]
/ref>
''"There was another college higher up on an airy summit—a bright new edifice, picturesquely and peculiarly towered and pinnacled—a sort of gigantic casters, with the cruets all complete."''
The original Normal School building burned down on April 8, 1902, and was replaced in 1906 by Academic Hall, the school's domed landmark building. Academic Hall was designed by
Jerome Bibb Legg, who also designed the
St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall, and it includes light fixtures from the
1904 World's Fair. Academic Hall today stands at the center of campus and is home to the university's administrative offices as well as several classrooms and an auditorium.
In the 1950s, Southeast Missouri State College had an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students. Enrollment steadily increased to more than 7,000 students in the 1970s due to low tuition costs, aggressive recruiting, and the construction of
Interstate 55 between
St. Louis and Cape Girardeau. The college also moved away from its focus on training teachers and began to offer courses of study in business, nursing, and the liberal arts. Due to the expansion of curriculum and student body population, the college became Southeast Missouri State University in 1972. The size of the campus also grew rapidly in this same period. In 1956, the institution had ten buildings on campus. By 1975, the number had increased to twenty-two buildings.
In 1998, the university acquired the former St. Vincent's Seminary located in downtown Cape Girardeau on the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...
. This property has been redeveloped as the River Campus, which opened in Fall 2007 and houses the Earl and Margie Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts. The construction of the River Campus began to shift the instutition's focus towards the visual and performing arts, which today forms the basis of the university's statewide reputation.
Missouri State Normal School Third District President John Sephus McGhee established the University Schools on June 15, 1896. This allowed prospective teachers to gain real-world teaching experience while earning their degrees. As the university expanded its curriculum and extra-curricular activities, so did the University Schools. In 1903, as recent construction allowed for more space for university classes, the training school was able to expand its class sizes as well. The University Schools consisted of an elementary, junior high, and high school. The University Schools closed at the end of the 1986–1987 school year due to increasing costs.
University presidents
# Lucius H. Cheney (1873–76)
# Alfred Kirk (1876–77)
# Charles Henry Dutcher (1877–81)
# Richard Chapman Norton (1881–93)
#
Willard Duncan Vandiver (1893–97)
# John Sephus McGhee (1897–99)
# Washington Strother Dearmont (1899–1921)
# Joseph Archibald Serena (1921–33)
# Walter Winfield Parker (1933–56)
# Mark F. Scully (1956–75)
# Robert E. Leestamper (1975–79)
#
Bill W. Stacy (1979–89)
# Robert W. Foster (1989–90)
# Kala Stroup (1990–95)
# Bill Atchley (1995–96)
#
Dale F. Nitzschke (1996–99)
# Kenneth W. Dobbins (1999–2015)
# Carlos Vargas-Aburto (2015–present)
Campus
River Campus
The River Campus is home to the Earl and Margie Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts. The facilities incorporate two buildings: the Seminary Building and the Cultural Arts Center. These buildings contain the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall, the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum, the John and Betty Glenn Convocation Center, the Wendy Kurka Rust Flexible Theatre, the Robert F. and Gertrude L. Shuck Music Recital Hall, and the River Campus Art Gallery. It is home to the departments of Art, Music, Theater and Dance. The River Campus hosts many performance series: the Touring Series, the Theater and Dance Series, the Symphony Series, the Southeast Ensemble Series, the Jazz Series, the Faculty Recital Series and Sundays at Three chamber music Series. The Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum and Art Gallery features rotating touring exhibitions.
Regional campuses
Southeast and
Three Rivers Community College in
Poplar Bluff, MO agreed in 2004 to share higher education facilities at three locations in southeast Missouri:
Sikeston
Sikeston is a city located both in southern Scott County and northern New Madrid County, in the state of Missouri, United States. It is situated just north of the "Missouri Bootheel", although many locals consider Sikeston a part of it. By way ...
,
Kennett, and
Malden. In spring 2005, Southeast eliminated Three Rivers courses from those centers, citing failure of the community college to pay approximately $10,000 in facilities-use fees. Southeast took over all course offerings at the centers, which have subsequently been named regional campuses of Southeast Missouri State University. Three Rivers Community College filed a lawsuit in March 2005 against Southeast. The lawsuit was subsequently dropped, and Southeast and Three Rivers recently announced plans to develop a joint bachelor's degree program in social work. Southeast now operates four regional campuses, at Kennett, Malden, Sikeston, and
Perryville.
List of residence halls
*Cheney
*Dearmont
*Henderson Hall
*Myers
*Vandiver Hall
*Merick Hall
*Towers East
*Towers North
*Towers South
*Towers West
*Greek Housing
*LaFerla Hall
*Dobbins Hall
Athletics
Southeast Missouri State has been a member of
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...
(
Division I FCS for football) since moving up from
Division II in 1991. As a result of the promotion in classifications, Southeast Missouri State left the Division II athletic conference
Mid–America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Its fourteen me ...
(MIAA) (which they've been a charter member back in 1912) and joined the Division I
Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
List of fraternities and sororities
Among the fraternities and sororities affiliated with the school are:
North American Interfraternity Conference
*
Delta Chi
Delta Chi () is an international Greek letter collegiate social fraternity formed on October 13, 1890, at Cornell University, initially as a professional fraternity for law students. On April 30, 1922, Delta Chi became a general membership soc ...
*
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. ...
*
Pi Kappa Alpha
*
Sigma Chi
*
Sigma Nu
*
Sigma Phi Epsilon
*
Theta Xi
*
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, maki ...
National Panhellenic Conference
*
Alpha Chi Omega
*
Alpha Delta Pi
*
Alpha Xi Delta
*
Delta Delta Delta
*
Gamma Phi Beta
*
Sigma Sigma Sigma
*
Alpha Phi
National Pan-Hellenic Council Fraternities and Sororities
*
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved in ...
fraternity
*
Delta Sigma Theta sorority
*
Sigma Gamma Rho sorority
*
Zeta Phi Beta sorority
*
Phi Beta Sigma
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young Afr ...
fraternity
*
Iota Phi Theta fraternity
Independent Social Fraternities
*
Lambda Chi Alpha
*
Tau Kappa Epsilon
Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, maki ...
*
Phi Mu Alpha
Professional and Service Fraternities
*
Gamma Sigma Sigma
*
Alpha Chi Sigma
*
Sigma Alpha Iota
*
Alpha Kappa Psi
Alpha Kappa Psi (, often stylized as AKPsi) is the oldest and largest business fraternity to current date. Also known as "AKPsi", the fraternity was founded on October 5, 1904, at New York University and was incorporated on May 20, 1905. It is c ...
*
Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a coeducational service fraternity. It is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of over 25, ...
''Arrow'' student newspaper
The ''Arrow'' is the university's
student newspaper
A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also rep ...
. The second editor of the ''Capaha Arrow'' was
Rush Limbaugh Sr. who became a nationally recognized Missouri attorney and practiced law in Cape Girardeau until just before his passing at the age of 104 in 1996; he was the grandfather of the media personality
Rush Limbaugh. After the university changed its mascot from Indians/Otahkians to Redhawks, the newspaper dropped ''Capaha'' and is now known as simply ''The Arrow.'' It is still run by students in the Department of Mass Media and publishes a biweekly newspaper distributed throughout campus. Microfilm and print copies of the ''Capaha Arrow'' dating back to the first issue are available at Kent Library and Special Collections and Archives, and some stories are also put on ''The Arrow'' website.
Notable alumni
* 1941
Velmer A. Fassel, scientist,
Ames Laboratory and
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of th ...
* 1955
Kenneth Dement
Kenneth "Redneck" Dement (February 13, 1933 – February 15, 2013) was an American football offensive tackle/ defensive tackle. He played college football for Southeast Missouri State University. He was a 25th round selection (296th overall) ...
, football player, lawyer, and local community leader
* 1960
Dick Hantak,
NFL referee
* 1960
Ken Iman, center with
NFL's
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...
and
Los Angeles Rams
* 1961
Roy Thomas, comic book writer and former Editor-in-Chief of
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...
* 1968
Clyde A. Vaughn
Clyde A. Vaughn (born April 27, 1946) is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General who served as Director of the Army National Guard.
Early life
Clyde Allen Vaughn, Jr. was born in Columbia, Missouri on April 27, 1946. He graduated from ...
,
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...
and Director of the
Army National Guard
* 1969
James T. Conway,
Commandant of the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through c ...
* 1972 Charles Williams Rear Admiral, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Military Preparedness Commission
* 1974
Linda Godwin
Linda Maxine Godwin Ph.D. (born July 2, 1952) is an American scientist and retired NASA astronaut. Godwin joined NASA in 1980 and became an astronaut in July 1986. She retired in 2010. During her career, Godwin completed four space flights and ...
,
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
astronaut
* 1976
Peter Kinder
Peter Dickson Kinder (born May 12, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Missouri from 2005 to 2017. He was appointed as a co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority in August 2017, serving in ...
, politician
* 1979
Steve Tappmeyer, basketball coach
* 1980
Desi Barmore
Desi Barmore (דזי בארמור; born May 27, 1960) is an American-Israeli former basketball player. He played the forward and center positions. Barmore played in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, and for the Israeli national basketball tea ...
(born 1960), American-Israeli basketball player
* 1987
Cedric Kyles, aka Cedric the Entertainer
* 1994
Steven Tilley, Speaker of the
Missouri House of Representatives
* 1994
Kerry Robinson
Kerry Keith Robinson (born October 3, 1973) is an American former professional Major League Baseball player. Robinson started at an early age playing baseball and football for N.Y.A. (Northside Youth Association) and playing hockey for the Val ...
, Former Major League outfielder for the
St. Louis Cardinals
* 1998
Angel Rubio, football player
* 2000
Jason Witczak, kicker with the
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
's
Nashville Kats
* 2001
Neal E. Boyd, 2008 winner of
America's Got Talent
* 2003
Willie Ponder
Willie Columbus Ponder (born February 14, 1980 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a former professional American football player who played wide receiver for 3 seasons for the New York Giants and one season with Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams.
He has 2 ...
, wide receiver with
NFL's
St. Louis Rams
* 2004
Eugene Amano, center with the
NFL's
Tennessee Titans
* 2005
Dan Connolly, center/offensive guard with the
NFL's
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
* 2006
Edgar Jones, outside linebacker with
NFL's
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...
* 2007
Joe Tuineau
Joseph Mark Laifone Tuineau (born 18 August 1981) is a Tonga international rugby union footballer. He plays in the lock position for the France based Pro D2 side, Dax. Tuineau also represents Tonga at international level.
Tuineau is a former A ...
, lock with
Southland Rugby
Rugby Southland (formerly the Southland Rugby Football Union) is the provincial rugby union who govern the Southland region of New Zealand. Their headquarters are at Rugby Park Stadium in Invercargill, which is also the home ground of the un ...
in the
Air New Zealand Cup
* 2017
Antonius Cleveland
Antonius Cleveland (born February 2, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Hapoel Eilat of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball at Southeast Missouri State University.
Early life and high sc ...
, guard with the
NBA’s
Dallas Mavericks
References
External links
*
Southeast Missouri State University Athletics
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1873
Buildings and structures in Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Public universities and colleges in Missouri
Education in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
Education in Scott County, Missouri
Education in Dunklin County, Missouri
Education in Perry County, Missouri
Education in Butler County, Missouri
Tourist attractions in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
1873 establishments in Missouri