We are building a University Advancement Center in the heart of campus. Our current home, the Kenneth E. Meyer Alumni Center, was sold to a nonprofit that serves the region. We’re excited to create a space just for alumni and friends like you!

When you’re a Bear, you’re a Bear for life.

Whether you’re an alumnus or alumna, a friend, parent, current student, faculty member or staff member, you’ll always have a place at Missouri State.

And soon, University Advancement will have a place in the heart of campus waiting to greet you.

Now that it has been officially announced, we can tell you: We have been dreaming of a new space to welcome you home.

Our goal is to create a University Advancement Center that can be a “living room” for those who visit.

This place will evoke Bear pride, showcase private support and celebrate the rich tradition of Missouri State.

It will also allow us to change what we do and increase our programming to showcase the incredible university we represent — which will now be literally right outside our door.

This facility is expected to open in 2026, and all Advancement staff members will move from the Kenneth E. Meyer Alumni Center to this building. Thanks to a generous anonymous gift, this building will bear the name of the University’s 11th president and be called the Clifton M. Smart III Advancement Center.

These are the people who work in:

• Development
• Alumni engagement and relations
• Donor relations and special events
• Advancement services
• Athletics development

This facility will give the university and its friends more space for events, collaborations and meetings.

“We’ll be able to better tell the story of the university, as well as the value of engagement and philanthropy and how that is a key to the future of the university,” said Brent Dunn, vice president for University Advancement and executive director of the Missouri State University Foundation.

Selling the Meyer Alumni Center to a philanthropic powerhouse

At a press conference held Feb. 15, Dunn announced the sale of the Meyer Center to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, or CFO — a local nonprofit.

CFO provides philanthropic leadership in several ways:

• Helps donors achieve their goals by professionally investing and administering charitable funds.
• Helps nonprofits fulfill their missions by administering funds and making grants.
• Helps local students by administering more than 400 scholarships.

CFO’s goal is to serve the people of the Ozarks and enhance quality of life in the region. This approach is called “place-based philanthropy.”

Examples of CFO initiatives related to this goal include:

• The Rural Schools Partnership.
• The Youth Empowerment Project.
• The annual Humanitarian Award.

The CFO is governed by a board of volunteers and run by a professional staff.

The organization’s current downtown building on Trafficway Street was built just for them, and they moved there in 2006.

“The (CFO) foundation has surpassed its capacity, both in terms of staff — we’ve got people tucked in nooks and crannies and places that aren’t really offices — as well as hosting community meetings and activities,” said Winter Kinne, CFO president and CEO.

They were committed to staying downtown, and started to explore options for new spaces.

In spring 2023, Dunn had a conversation with CFO President Emeritus Brian Fogle.

“They were busting at the seams,” Dunn said.

First, the CFO considered moving operations to one floor of the Meyer Center.

Eventually, Dunn asked: “Hey, what if the CFO buys this building?” It was a win for both teams. “It’s a good deal for us because we have had dreams for years to build on campus,” Dunn said.

“When you look at major universities — and we’ve toured several of them recently — the alumni and development operations are front and center. They are at the front door.”

Dean Thompson, a 2001 Missouri State alumnus, is the current chair of the CFO Board of Directors.

“This project represents a significant lift. I like it because, quite frankly, it’s a stretch goal. It’s not just bigger (than CFO’s
current home) — it’s about six times bigger,” Thompson said at the press conference announcing the sale.

“What excites me about that is what we can do with the space in the future and how that will have an impact on our region.”

This also means a downtown building will have new caretakers.

“It seems right and fitting that an anchor institution like the Community Foundation would be the next steward of this landmark building,” said architect Tim Rosenbury, director of quality of place initiatives for the City of Springfield.

The Springfield-based staff of the CFO plans to move into the currently unoccupied fourth floor in late 2024 or early 2025.

The MSU Foundation will lease back its current offices until its new building is done.

As university staff members complete their move, Kinne said, “we will then re-envision what the space can be.”

A Bear’s journey: From the Welcome Center to the Advancement Center

In the highly competitive world of higher education, first impressions are critical.

Before 2015, potential students and their guests had no place just for them at Missouri State.

They would have to walk onto campus to find Carrington Hall, which has no parking in front, and then go to the second floor.

“Many of them end up sitting in the hallway or getting their initial briefing standing in a group because there is no gathering space,” President Clif Smart said in the 2010s when advocating for a new facility.

Since 2015, those visitors have been greeted at what has become our “front door”: the Davis-Harrington Welcome Center.

It’s the starting point for campus tours, and has a 100-seat auditorium. The center created a warmer atmosphere for visitors.

While that took care of the recruitment side, we don’t have a similar place on the main campus for alumni, donors and friends. That’s where the University Advancement Center will come in.

It will be located at the corner of National Avenue and Bear Boulevard, close to the Welcome Center.

“We want everyone to know being a Bear is a lifelong journey from the start of their time here,” said Stephanie Smith, senior director of donor relations and special events for the MSU Foundation.

“That journey will start at the Welcome Center and end at the Advancement Center.”

When alumni and friends visit, she said, it’s a space that should make them “feel like they’re coming home.” Dunn said the dream of a new building is a bold move, but a beneficial one.

His team has been creating special plans that will be revealed shortly. “I guarantee you, this will benefit the campus,” he said. “This is a great, historic day.”