UM System is one of Missouri's most valued assets

When I was appointed interim president of the University of Missouri System in November, after three decades of serving in academic and leadership roles on our Columbia campus, I was both honored and humbled by the awesome responsibility before me. Becoming president of the entire UM System has allowed me to reflect on something I always knew to be true, but perhaps didn't take the time to truly appreciate: that all 6 million Missourians, in communities across our state and in all 114 counties, have a connection with the UM System.

The UM System is a precious asset to take great pride in, support and strengthen. Arguably, no other institution in our state is more pivotal to our standard of living, economic and physical well-being and future. Just consider, for example, how the UM System affects your community of Cape Girardeau, and Cape Girardeau County, every day.

Currently, we educate more than 77,000 students on our four campuses (the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla and the University of Missouri-St. Louis), providing the talented workforce that is critical to our state's employers. Currently, 313 of those students are residents of Cape Girardeau County, many of who will return, educated and ready, to join the workforce and help boost the Cape Girardeau-area economy upon graduation.

The people of Cape Girardeau benefit from the many research advances discovered on our campuses, from lifesaving medical cures to the powering of some of our state's most important industries like agriculture, high-tech manufacturing and aerospace. In 2015 alone, UM System research brought in more than $295 million in funding to the state of Missouri, further helping to spur our statewide economy.

Our vast University of Missouri health-care system provides health services to hundreds of thousands of Missourians, including in the Cape Girardeau area, where 615 residents of Cape Girardeau County were treated by a MU Health Care physician in 2015.

We share our expertise in Missouri communities small and large across our state through University of Missouri Extension. Every year, more than 2.5 million Missourians turn to our Extension programs and offices in every county to seek greater practical knowledge, learn to solve problems, adapt to change and make informed decisions. During 2015, the University of Missouri Extension office in Cape Girardeau County had more than 29,000 contacts. Extension has always been a point of pride for me as my wife, Dr. Julie Middleton, who serves as director of organizational development for Extension, has dedicated much of her professional career to this invaluable program.

We also touch the Cape Girardeau area every day in other ways, including through another UM System-affiliated program, the Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet). MOREnet provides Internet connectivity, technical support, videoconferencing services, network security and training to 800 Missouri schools, public libraries, health-care organizations and local government offices. In Cape Girardeau County, MOREnet provides services to the Cape Girardeau, Delta, Jackson, Nell Holcomb and Oak Ridge school districts, Southeast Missouri State University, the Cape Girardeau and Riverside public libraries and Cross Trails Medical Clinic.

There are far more examples, but the point remains the same. For decades, the UM System has provided indispensable service in helping our state, and the Cape Girardeau area, move forward. We have challenges now, as we have in the past and will certainly face in the future. But our mission of education, research, economic development and service has been making Missourians proud for generations. Our university is as strong as ever, and will always be a beacon of hope for our state's young people.

Michael Middleton is interim president of the University of Missouri System.