Sept. 5, 2025
Contact: Christopher Ave, christopher.ave@missouri.edu
Photos by Abbie Lankitus, Reagan Manis and Mizzou Visual Productions
Leading a four-campus university system that shapes thousands of lives is no small task.
For University of Missouri President Mun Choi, it’s more than a responsibility. It’s a calling that he cherishes with deep gratitude.
Since coming to Missouri in 2017, Choi has championed bold investments in student, faculty and staff success, and the results have been transformative. At Mizzou — where he’s doubled as chancellor since 2020 — retention and graduation rates, career outcomes and research funding levels have all reached new heights. So have levels of philanthropic support and state funding. National rankings and Association of American Universities (AAU) performance are also on the rise.
And he’s not done yet. As his contract has been extended through June 2031, President Choi is now looking to a future that puts Mizzou at the center of solving some of the world’s greatest challenges.
Here’s a look back at some of his most significant contributions to the UM System and Mizzou and a sneak peek at what’s on the horizon.
1. Championing Tiger success
Go to Tiger Walk, where new students gather to kick off the school year, and you’ll see President Choi. He’s cheering on the Tigers at athletics events, too, as well as at performances that showcase student work. You’ll find him at Move-In Day, the Homecoming parade and graduation. And sometimes, you’ll find him out on campus greeting passersby.
Choi has prioritized student success, and it shows. Under his leadership, Mizzou has risen in national rankings, including landing in the No. 4 spot for best value among all flagship universities in the U.S. The university’s retention rate increased to 93% and the graduation rate to 76%. More than 95% of graduates begin their careers or continue their education within six months of earning a degree.
Those successes aren’t by accident. He credits the outstanding faculty and staff at Mizzou who are student focused. President Choi has invested in new academic initiatives, technologies, programs, research fellowships and advising services to make sure students have what they need to succeed.
And the efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Applications to Mizzou were up 44% this year as more students want to take advantage of everything the university has to offer.
2. Powering breakthrough research
Also reaching record levels under President Choi’s administration? Annual research expenditures. At Mizzou, that amounted to $535 million in 2025 (an 83% increase since 2017), a milestone that places the university among the fastest-growing research institutions in the AAU.
Through research, Mizzou advances solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Mizzou researchers have developed innovative cancer treatments, new techniques to manufacture in-demand computer chips and novel methods to increase crop yields, among many breakthroughs.
3. Bringing in the best
Mizzou’s momentum in research is the result of deliberate, long-term investments, the centerpiece of which is MizzouForward. President Choi launched MizzouForward — a transformative $1.5 billion investment in faculty and student excellence — in 2021. As a result, nearly 80 award-winning professors have come to Mizzou, bringing with them innovative research projects and scholarship.
4. Transforming campus
President Choi has overseen the construction of several significant building projects at Mizzou, including some that are still in the works. During the past five years, more than $1.5 billion in capital projects were completed or planned. The Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building opened in 2021 and has since become a hub of patient care, interdisciplinary research and innovation. The Sinclair School of Nursing building was completed in 2022. On his watch, MU Health Care’s new Children’s Hospital, the Jeanne & Rex Sinquefield Music Center, the Stephens Indoor Practice Facility and the South End Zone facility opened, as did an East Campus Plant Growth Facility. Construction is underway on a new Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment, a new Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in the Dr. Dan Brown Building, and The Michael L. Parson Meat Science Education and Training Laboratory. And a 47,000-square-foot addition to the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) opened earlier this year to bolster production of life-saving medical radioisotopes.
5. Strengthening Missouri’s future
With eight years behind him and six more to go, President Choi has shown Missourians that he’s committed to Missouri. That means ensuring a future workforce that includes highly trained professionals who embrace the freedom to speak, learn and discover at Mizzou and beyond. It includes working with University of Missouri Extension throughout Missouri’s 114 counties to provide support for farmers, business owners, veterans and youth, and partnering with state policymakers to expand capacity for rural health care and rural broadband. It includes investing in the 4-H and FFA programs to educate the next generation of leaders for Missouri.
Those efforts add up. Mizzou’s economic contributions to Missouri exceed $5 billion every year.
Looking ahead
Equipped with a vote of confidence from the UM Board of Curators, President Choi is making plans for the next six years.
MURR is high on his to-do list. And in that category alone, there’s a lot to do.
A signature project is the $1.3 billion NextGen MURR, a second state-of-the-art research reactor that will produce critical medical isotopes and spark innovation across science, engineering and patient care. NextGen MURR will establish Mizzou as the epicenter of nuclear medicine research, clinical trials, manufacturing and logistics for the United States.
Supporting those efforts will be a new Radioisotope Science Center, a partnership with the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, with matching funding from the State of Missouri.
And Mizzou just celebrated the groundbreaking of three additions to the existing MURR facility, which will expand production capabilities.
MURR isn’t the only path President Choi is taking to ensure Mizzou is meeting future health care needs. He’s also working closely with administrators at MU Health Care and Mizzou’s School of Medicine to make sure students are equipped to serve patients throughout the state, including special programming to prepare doctors to work in rural communities and expansion of a School of Medicine program to offer four-year MD degrees in Springfield, Missouri.
Outside of health care, the president has his eye on rising energy demands. The Energy Innovation Center, expected to open in 2028, will bring together engineers, computer scientists, physicians, chemists, biochemists and public policy experts to advance energy production, storage, distribution and regulations. The Energy Innovation Center, funded in part by the Missouri Farm Bureau, is a partnership between the College of Engineering, the College of Arts and Science, and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR), with contributions from the School of Law, the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business and the Missouri School of Journalism.
Also among President Choi’s immediate priorities is completion of the $250 million Memorial Stadium Improvements Project by August 2026 to mark the centennial of the historic stadium. That project includes a new multi-level north concourse with premium seating options and modernized facilities to bolster the fan experience. Mizzou has enjoyed great success in football, men’s basketball, wrestling, volleyball, softball and recently a No. 3 national finish by the gymnastics team. New investments for Mizzou’s student-athletes to compete at the highest level are planned.
From advancing medical research and expanding rural health care to breaking ground on high-tech facilities, Mizzou’s reputation as a world-class research university is on the rise.
But amid all the groundbreaking, ribbon-cutting and record-breaking, President Choi’s focus remains steady: preparing students for success, fueling innovation that changes lives and strengthening Missouri’s future through meaningful engagement across the state.
The work is far from over — and that’s exactly how he wants it.
President Choi cheers on the Tigers at Memorial Stadium.
