UMR unveiled a new look for its main website today (Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007) in preparation for the university’s name change on Jan. 1, when it becomes Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T).

University officials launched the redesigned website during the break between academic semesters to help ensure a smooth transition from the old web and email domain (umr.edu) to its new address, mst.edu.

The redesigned site features a cleaner look and easier navigation for current and prospective students, faculty and staff, alumni, and other frequent visitors to the website. The site is optimized for mobile devices, meets compliance standards established by the World Wide Web Consortium and is supported by most modern browsers. The website also meets Section 508 accessibility standards to ensure accessibility for disabled users.

The site displays the new Missouri S&T logo, which features a unique pickaxe symbol in the ampersand – a nod to the university’s founding in 1870 as the University of Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy.

Coinciding with the website update, the university switched all student, faculty and staff email addresses to the mst.edu domain.

The change from UMR to Missouri S&T was first proposed in October 2006 by Chancellor John F. Carney III in an effort to help define the university’s role as a leading technological research institution. “The University of Missouri-Rolla is unique among the four University of Missouri campuses because of our focus as a technological research institution,” Carney said at the time. “We believe a more distinctive name would afford UMR several advantages in recruiting students on a national level.”

The name change was unanimously approved April 6, 2007, by the University of Missouri Board of Curators.