Take a moment to get to know Joe Morris, Director of New Student and Family Programs. Joe, a graduate of Missouri State with a degree in Mass Media and a Master’s Degree in Communication, and a SOAR leader himself for three years while he was an undergrad, has been the director of the SOAR Program for 13 years.
What has been your favorite part of working at MSU? Seeing the growth and development of students. It’s really great to work with people who are coming into the institution who have a certain level of development, and by working with them you get to see them grow and develop their skills and become these more realized people.
How have things changed since you graduated from MSU? There’s been a lot of construction and renovation since my time as a student (JQH Arena, Rec Center, Welcome Center, Magers Health Center, to name a few). In terms of programs, I feel like students are more engaged now. There are more student organizations, but there are more ways for students to get involved other than student organizations. There is a emphasis on doing undergraduate research, more opportunities for places on committees and things of that nature.
What are some of your favorite traditions at MSU? I love some of the rumors about MSU. I’m sure they existed well before I was a student but now even seeing them continue to be rumors. Things like different levels of fines for being in the fountain based on the level of the fountain you’re on and being hit by a bear line driver will give you automatic A’s for the semester. While all of these things are not true but have seemed to be passed down generations of students is really funny to me. One of my favorite traditions now is being able to help build the URSA Experience and having that be a tradition in and of itself, and also helping share with students about traditions so that they are more informed about the university.
Where do you see the public affairs mission come into play in your experiences at MSU? Definitely. I feel like the public affairs mission should be thought about in pretty much everything I do in my position. I think keeping in mind that not only are we supposed to live the public affairs mission, but we should also be telling our incoming students and incoming faculty and staff about it as well. Particularly in New Student and Family Programs, we have a big responsibility to do that. It is just as important to model that instead of just talking about it. How are our programs culturally competent? Is the training of our orientation leaders culturally competent? Do we do things ethically? Do we think about how we get the community around us engaged in orientation? Those are important questions to be asking ourselves anyway, so it’s nice to have the public affairs mission as a model for doing that.
What was it like being a student here, any advice? Being a first generation student, an only child, and from across the state, it was difficult at first. I was from a rural town, so going from a graduating class of 64 students to classes where I could easily hit that number of people or more in the classroom was a little intimidating. Once I began getting involved and connecting with people, it shrunk the campus a lot and made it much more at home. There wasn’t one experience where I felt like “I’m a Bear”, it was a spectrum of experiences where I felt more like a bear as I progressed toward graduation. Missouri State was academically challenging and personally fulfilling. I grew a lot as a person and as a leader based on the activities I participated in on campus and the organizations I was involved in. It was a really rewarding experience.
What sets aside MSU from other universities? A couple of things. Our public affairs mission is unique. I know other institution have missions they try to impress upon their students. Ours is not only interested in how it impacts students while they are here, but it actually is more focused on students and what they do when they leave the institution. I think our mission really teaches students to impact the world, which makes it unique. We also have a really friendly atmosphere here. As a student and a staff member, the people who study, work and live here have been friendly and accepting. I haven’t experienced that at other institutions I’ve visited or with colleagues who describe the institutions they’ve worked at. Things like our president being so accessible and friendly to students. Some other institutions, even those of our size, not only don’t see their president, but students don’t know who the president is. So it’s interesting to have that atmosphere on campus where people connect so friendly as they do at MSU
If you could go back and give your 18 year old self a piece of advice, what would it be? Just one? Can I not have 8 million??? I would say trust your instincts. Some of my biggest failures as a professional/human being have been instances where I did not do what felt right to me, or I did not follow my instinct or gut and that’s where things went wrong. Trusting myself more would have limited those. Of course we learn from those mistakes and grow from them, but trusting in my instincts is something I would have told myself.