Kristin Sobolik is the eighth chancellor of the University of Missouri–St. Louis and leads the region’s premier public research university which enrolls more than 15,000 students, employs more than 2,300 and generates an annual economic impact of more than $430M. As an anchor institution and a workforce driver, UMSL has the largest alumni base in the metro region with alumni generating a $13.4B annual economic impact to the state.
Sobolik first joined the University of Missouri–St. Louis community in 2017 as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs – quickly rising to the role of executive vice chancellor followed by her appointment as interim chancellor and then chancellor in 2020. Prior to UMSL, Sobolik served in administrative and faculty roles at Wright State University and the University of Maine, graduating with her degree in Biology from the University of Iowa and her master’s and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Texas A&M University.
Throughout her time at UMSL, Sobolik has led the development and implementation of the university’s strategic focus on student success, educational relevancy, inclusive prosperity, and economic growth and development with collaborative asset alignment with other regional and national partners. Under her leadership, UMSL has introduced over a dozen new academic programs, increased student graduation rates while decreasing student debt, increased private philanthropy by more than 20%, grown research and sponsored activities by 163%, and received unprecedented legislative support of $60M to implement the Transform UMSL Campus Master Plan.
As the university celebrates its 60th year of serving the St. Louis region, Sobolik pledges to advance a strategic vision to establish UMSL as one of the nation’s premier metropolitan universities and anchor institutions, committed to community collaboration and collective problem solving.
Sobolik serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities and is on the Advisory Council for the Commissioner of the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, as well as numerous regional boards including Greater St. Louis, Inc., Cortex Innovation District, BioSTL, the Urban League of Metropolitan Saint Louis, the Greater St. Louis Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and Christian Hospital. Her accomplishments on and off campus led the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio to award her with the Woman of Distinction Award in 2016, the St. Louis Business Journal to recognize her with a Most Influential Business Women award in 2020, the NAACP to award her with the Frankie Muse Freeman/Norman R. Seay Commitment to St. Louis Award in 2022, the Urban League of Greater St. Louis to award her a Distinguished Women’s Leadership Award in 2022, and she received The Good Scout Award in 2023 from the Greater St. Louis Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
The University of Missouri–St. Louis will be a beacon of hope, a force for good, and a leader in the pursuit of excellence in education, impactful research and community service. We boldly assert that education is for everyone who is willing and able to seek it out. We honor the duties inherent in our land-grant beginnings by positioning ourselves as partners in the search for knowledge, progress and positive change for ourselves, our communities, our world.
