Southeast Missouri State University

Southeast Missouri State University (Southeast or SEMO) is a public university 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.

Enrolling 9,677 students, Southeast offers more than 175 undergraduate degree programs and 75 graduate programs. Originally founded in 1873 as a normal school, the university has a traditional emphasis on teacher education. 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 and are known as the Redhawks. The football team competes in the Football Championship Subdivision of Division I.

Southeast Missouri State University was founded in 1873 when a group of businessmen and politicians successfully lobbied the State of Missouri to designate Cape Girardeau as the home of the Third District Normal School. 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:

The Normal building was described in 1883 by Mark Twain in Life on the Mississippi as "a bright new edifice, picturesquely and peculiarly towered and pinnacled—a sort of gigantic casters, with the cruets all complete." It 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 houses administrative offices, 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. The college moved away from its focus on training teachers and began to offer courses of study in business, nursing, and the liberal arts. The size campus 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.^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, the university acquired the former St. Vincent's Seminary located in downtown Cape Girardeau on the Mississippi River. 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 institution'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, 1897. 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.