Dr. John Schmalzbauer

To find out the role religion plays on American college campuses today, Missouri State University’s Dr. John Schmalzbauer and his team of co-researchers are exploring the landscape of campus ministries across the country.

A three-year grant of more than $981,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc. has made this project possible.

Do students lose their religious beliefs when they enter college? Many believe yes. Dr. John Schmalzbauer, Blanche Gorma Strong Chair in Protestant Studies at Missouri State University, worked with historian Dr. Kathleen Mahoney to examine this question: Where does religion stand in the heart of American universities?

They compiled their research in a new book, "The Resilience of Religion in American Higher Education." It was published in September.

Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri is a small college with a big mission; that is to produce students who are knowledgeable and have a strong walk with Christ. This mission has not come without its struggles, however, both in the present and in its heritage. KSMU Radio’s Bailey Wiles reports in the third and final installment of our series on religiously-affiliated universities in the Ozarks.

The story of Evangel University’s founding and journey over the years is a long one with various detours that have made the college what it is today. KSMU’s Bailey Wiles reports about the school’s history, its current accomplishments, and its struggles in the second part of a three-part series about religiously-affiliated universities in the Ozarks.

College of the Ozarks has a long history stretching back to the early 1900s. Today, in the first of a three part series on faith-based colleges in the region, KSMU’s Bailey Wiles looks at C of O’s heritage and how it’s changed and adapted over the years.