Missouri Southern State University

Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College

The campus of Missouri Southern is cross divided by Duquesne Road (running north-south) and Newman Road (running east-west). The main portion of the campus is located west of Duquesne, though the football stadium and softball fields are on the east side of Duquesne.

The campus has two traditional dormitories, eight apartment-style housing complexes, and one suite-style dormitory. The dormitories are McCormick and Blaine Halls; the apartments are Gockel, Stegge, Dishman, Dryer, Stone, Headlee, Maupin, and Mitchell Halls; the suite-style dorms are located in East Hall. Also a part of the residence area of campus is the Mayes Student Life Center, which is home to the university's cafeteria, weight room, residence computer labs, and commons area.

These dorms house about 600 students. New dorms, which are currently unnamed, opened fall of 2015. This is a three-story complex that features 51 student apartments the vast majority of which will be four bedrooms.

Missouri Southern's mascot is the Lions. The Lions play in NCAA Division II and in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. MSSU fields seven men's and seven women's sports.[19] The program has had over 250 All-Americans in its history after starting off as a member of the NAIA and in 1989 becoming a member of the NCAA. The program was a member of the Central States Intercollegiate Conference while a member of the NAIA.