Missouri S&T is one of the few technological research universities in the nation. that’s why we offer a vastly different student experience than you’ll find on most campuses.
No. 44: View from the Toomey Hall balcony
You can’t see Russia from here but you can see Parker Hall.

No. 45: Sleeping students
Late-night study sessions mean catching Zs whenever — and wherever — you can. If their timing is right, students can catch the best snoozing spots on the second floor of Curtis Laws Wilson Library.

No. 46: Fitness center
Thanks to the generosity of donors — and students themselves — Miners have a fantastic fitness center where they can work off their stress.

No. 47: Missouri S&T Magazine
You love us. You really, really love us!

No. 48: Recycling
Missouri S&T has RecycleMania, an annual contest in which our students compete with other campuses to see how much waste they can recycle. The whole campus has the recycling bug, with recycling stations located in 85 percent of all buildings.

No. 49: Small size
As we say in the recruitment materials, “We’re probably bigger than your high school, but we’re not too big.” At 7,300 students, S&T is the size of a small town. It’s “a university small enough for one to be an individual, not a number, while at the same time being one of the largest engineering campuses in the world,” says Bob Stevens, ChE’81. We’re kind of like “Cheers” — a place where everybody knows your name.

No. 50: Walking to class in the snow
Snow days? We don’t need no stinkin’ snow days! Even though S&T canceled classes twice last winter, most alumni remember having to trudge to class through the snow. As one grad posted on our Facebook page last winter, “I remember having to walk through a blizzard to flunk a calculus test.” At least it wasn’t uphill both ways.

No. 51: Chalked sidewalks
Got news to share? Go ahead and put up your flyers and post it on Facebook. But chalking the walk still gets people’s attention on campus.

No. 52: Camaraderie
The S&T experience forges lifelong friendships. David N. Peacock, GGph’64, MS GGph’66, PhD GGph’70, typifies many alumni. “One thing in particular: Student camaraderie and fraternity life (Delta Sigma Phi), leading to lifelong friendships,” he says. “I’m still in contact with friends and brothers I met as a freshman, 50 years ago.”

No. 53: Being a geek
Maybe you weren’t the most popular kid in high school. But at Rolla, geeks rule. Nerdy types are “culturally accepted” at S&T, says Mike Hunter, Math’99. “What was great was being surrounded by fellow tinkerers and people who wanted to explore the way things work. You can’t get that without the focused mission of the university.” Sharon Wingron, EMgt’87, adds that she loved “hanging out with a bunch of smart people, who were also funny.”

No. 54: Duct tape
It holds the world together — as well as solar cars, Formula racers and a lot of equipment in our high-tech labs.

No. 55: Informal atmosphere
“I recall with pleasure the informal but get-the-job-done atmosphere,” writes Randall Staponski, EE’74, MS EE’81. Clark F. Houghton, CE’51, agrees: “The informal atmosphere — it did not matter whether you were a Greek or indie, you were always treated well.”

No. 56: My major
Regardless of your major, chances are you loved it. Maybe not as much during your time on campus as you do today.

No. 57: Friendships of a lifetime
“The lifelong friends I made in Rolla … are, by far, what I love the most,” says Mike Carlson, ME’99. “This university and the experiences it opened to me have shaped my life and my relationships profoundly, both personal and professional, in ways that words cannot even begin to explain.”

No. 58: Imports
Back in the day when the campus was overwhelmingly male, students paired up with “imports” — coeds from other campuses brought in for weekend parties or St. Pat’s.