• UM produced its 24th Rhodes Scholar in 1998. Since then, it has produced five Truman Scholars, seven Goldwater Scholars, a Marshall Scholar and five Fulbright Scholars. UM was named one of three 2004 Truman Foundation Honor Institutions in the nation.
  
• 1,286 students have participated in the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College since it opened in 1997 and the Barksdale Honors Scholarship has provided more than $1.3 million. Reader's Digest calls the Honors College one of the nation's three finest.
  
• The Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance ranks UM among the nation's Top 50 public research universities.
  
• External funding for research, service and education projects on the Oxford and Jackson campuses topped $100 million each of the past six years.  UM is home to more than 30 research centers.
  
• The National Science Foundation ranks UM 20th nationally for total R&D expenditures in physics.
  

• The School of Pharmacy ranks fifth among America's 92 pharmacy schools for total extramural funding for research.
  
• The American Academy of Forensic Scientists ranks the UM degree in forensic chemistry among the top five in the country.
  
• The University's endowment stands at $421.4 million, placing it among the nation's best endowed public institutions per capita.
  

• The School of Business Administration's insurance risk management program is ranked among the top five in the country.
  
• The National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law at UM is training attorneys general staff nationwide to investigate and prosecute cyber crime.
  

• University Hospital in Jackson is the only Level 1 trauma center in the state. The new 256-bed adult hospital, occupied this summer, marks completion of the University of Mississippi Medical Center's plan to replace the original teaching hospital, which opened in 1955.
  
• With $5 million from The Freedom Forum, UM is creating a center to study Southern journalism and politics, bringing together journalism, law and Southern culture programs.
  
• UM's 18 sports teams compete at the NCAA's highest level, and 15 participated in post-season play since 1995. During that time, 736 student-athletes were named to SEC academic honor rolls.
  

• The TelEmergency System, an initiative of the Department of Emergency Medicine, allows the University of Mississippi Medical Center to provide 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week physician coverage to emergency rooms in rural communities.
  

• Sports Illustrated rates tailgating in the Grove as one of America's premier college events, placing it No. 3 on a list of 100 things to do before graduating.
  
• The Lott Leadership Institute offers the state's only undergraduate degree program in public policy studies and strengthens UM's tradition of producing national leaders.
  

• UM is home to the world's largest blues archive, Living Blues magazine (the country's longest-running magazine dedicated to blues music) and "Highway 61," a blues radio show produced weekly for Mississippi Public Broadcasting.