While Reynolds Hall is being renovated, a new addition is being installed behind it. 

The building is still in the process of being titled and planned, but it will be named after Gov. Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon. Gov. Nixon played a large part in the Joplin tornado recovery and has maintained a relationship with Missouri Southern since, according to Southern’s president Dr. Alan Marble. 

“I think the connection really is Joplin; Missouri Southern is part of Joplin, but it grew from the tornado I’m sure,” Marble said. “The tornado really moved him as a human being … he became very attached.”

The current plans include two stories, 20,000 feet of room, and elevated walkways large enough to have furnishing. Renovations on Reynolds displaced many classes, but they are slated to reunite under Reynolds and the tentatively named Jay Nixon Extension. The two buildings are slated to house math and biology classes.

“The biology department has had very strong enrollment traditionally,” said Dr. Paula Carson, vice president of academic affairs. “They have our pre-med, they have very many pre-professionals, they have pre-dental, which will grow with UMKC.” 

Southern’s science classes have called many times for improvement. Specialty furnishings and settings are required for many of the classes. The cadaver and physiology laboratories will be expanded. New laboratories will be built vertically in the interest of efficiency. Architectural designs for classrooms that can be divided and reunited upon request are also in review. The call to change the way mathematics classes work has also been heard. 

“What we want to do is have students from their first semester take the math course required for their curriculum but have built in a variety of supports or supplemental instruction or peer tutoring or more credit hours for the class or a variety of other techniques so that you do not have to spend a semester, two semesters remediating,” Carson said. 

In addition to change in class format, settings for mathematics classrooms are set to change. The aim is to replace sterile classroom environments with learning living rooms and more comfortable furnishings with wood grain as a set element.