Northwest Missouri State University is a state university in Maryville, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, it offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. The campus, based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, is the official Missouri State Arboretum. The school is governed by a state-appointed Board of Regents and headed by President Dr. John Jasinski. The Northwest Bearcats competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Division II) and Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association for men's and women's sports. They have won three NCAA Division II football national championships (1998, 1999, and 2009) and finished four times as runner-up (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008). In 1905 the Missouri Legislature created five districts in the state to establish teaching standards or norms (hence the original name Normal school) in a state teacher college network. Maryville won the competition for the Northwest district with an offer to donate 86 acres (35 ha) (on coincidentally the northwest corner of town) and $58,000 on the site of a Methodist Seminary.