Presidential Updates

Clif’s Notes for Aug. 14, 2018

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I hope you are as excited as I am for the fall semester to start next week. We have a week full of activities before classes start on Monday.

Frank Einhellig and I will share some thoughts for the year at the All Faculty Lunch at 11:30 a.m. on Aug.16 in the PSU Ballroom. Plan to attend this event to meet new faculty members, reconnect with colleagues and participate in the conversation about the strategic plans for our university.

New students will be coming to campus this week and through the weekend. Please help us welcome them to Missouri State. Opportunities to do this include:

  • The annual “See You Later” Brunch (where we say “hello” to new students and “goodbye” to their families and friends who have moved them to campus) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 18 in Blair Shannon and Garst Dining Centers.
  • The transfer student ice cream social from 1-3 p.m. on Aug. 18 in the PSU Food Court.
  • The Belong-B-Q at 5 p.m. on Aug. 19 in the Freudenberger Courtyard.

Throughout the weekend you can also help students move in to their residence halls as part of Bear Crew.

We will officially kickoff the new year with New Student Convocation Aug. 19 at 2 p.m. in JQH Arena. This year’s featured speaker is our very own Cameron LaBarr, a student-focused educator who led the Missouri State Chorale to a presidential inauguration and trips around the world. You don’t want to miss Cameron’s presentation.

My future is here

I couldn’t be more excited for this year and for the future of Missouri State. Last week, the Board of Governors graciously offered me a four-year extension on my contract, and I readily accepted. As I have always said, I plan to spend the rest of my career working with all of you to move Missouri State University forward. Together we can make Missouri State’s future bright.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Aug. 7, 2018

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This is the third year of our 2016-21 Long-Range Plan.

In June, Administrative Council, Academic Leadership Council, and student and staff leadership developed the university-wide Action Plan for 2018-19. You can find the draft action plan on the university website. On Thursday we will present the draft action plan to the Board of Governors for their input.

This year’s action plan is designed to set the university on a course to accomplish the key objectives of the long-range plan over the next three years. Critical action items include:

  • Adding academic programs where there is market demand
  • Supporting enrollment growth in targeted high demand academic programs
  • Improving retention and graduation rates of all students and decreasing the retention and graduation rate gaps for underrepresented, Pell-eligible and first-generation students
  • Improving the successful career outcomes rate for recent graduates
  • Advocating for increases in state funding
  • Developing a comprehensive fundraising campaign
  • Competing for the Missouri Valley all-sports trophy
  • Stabilizing enrollment and improving student performance measures on the West Plains campus

Before we finalize the plan, we wanted to give all of you the opportunity to provide input. If there are critical items missing, we want to know about it. Please email me at president@missouristate.edu to give us your feedback.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for July 31, 2018

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Voting is an important way each of us can put the public affairs mission into practice. We will have two opportunities to vote in the coming weeks.

Vote for MOSERS Board of Trustees

If you are a member of a MOSERS pension plan (I am, and most of you are, too), you will receive a ballot in the mail in early August for a MOSERS Board of Trustees election. This is a very important election, and I would encourage each of you to cast your vote.

A viable retirement plan is critically important for the university. Faculty and staff rely on the MOSERS pension plan for their future. The retirement plan is a significant asset in our efforts to recruit new faculty and staff to the university.

We all have a keen interest in seeing that MOSERS properly invests contributions, establishes reasonable actuarial assumptions and appropriately manages its overall business.

Missouri State contributes millions of dollars each year to MOSERS pension plans. Increases in the required contribution severely impact the university’s budget, dramatically increasing or decreasing the funds available for employee compensation.

As the MOSERS required contribution rate has increased over the past several years, Missouri State has become more and more engaged with the MOSERS administration and board.

It is for these reasons that it is more important than ever that all employees at Missouri State vote in the August election for MOSERS Board of Trustees.

Paul Wagner is one of the candidates running for the board. He is the chair of the Missouri Council on Public Higher Education, the association that represents Missouri State University and Missouri’s other public universities. I signed Paul’s petition to get on the ballot as did many other higher education leaders throughout the state. I am confident that Paul will represent our interests well on the MOSERS board.

Paul has indicated that he would be more than happy to talk to any of our employees who have questions about MOSERS or his board campaign. You can reach Paul at pdwagner@outlook.com or at 573-529-7195.

Vote on Aug. 7

The primary election is on Aug. 7. I would encourage each of you to become educated on the candidates and issues and cast your vote.

In addition to primaries for U.S. Senate, state auditor, Greene County presiding commissioner, and other federal, state and local offices, there are several issues on the ballot:

  • Proposition A asks voters to approve or not approve the state right to work law.
  • In the city of Springfield, Question 1 asks voters to establish or not establish a pit bull ban.

You can see the full list of candidates and issues that will be on the ballot in Greene County on the county clerk’s webpage.

Greene County voters can now vote at the Welcome Center

We are also excited to partner with the Greene County clerk’s office to offer a new option for voting on campus. Starting with the Aug. 7 election, if you are registered to vote anywhere in Greene County, you can vote in the Davis-Harrington Welcome Center instead of at your regular polling location.

The Welcome Center will be open for voting from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 7. We anticipate the Welcome Center will be open for voting again in the November election.

Please help us get word out about this opportunity to our students, employees and members of the community.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for July 24, 2018

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The board and administration are always working to manage risks and protect the university. Faculty and staff can help by following best practices for information security and notifying the appropriate university officials about suspected fraud and dishonesty.

Tips for information security

Recently, our university has seen a significant increase in cyber-attacks attempting to steal money and obtain sensitive information. As Missouri State University employees, we have a responsibility to safeguard the information and resources entrusted to us.

There are simple practices you can adopt to help defend against these attacks:

  • Be suspicious of email. Cybercriminals can make email appear to be from someone it’s not. Some of these emails are extremely convincing, and it takes constant vigilance to avoid being deceived. Be cautious when clicking on links in email, and never enter your BearPass ID and password on a webpage linked from an email.
  • Secure your password. A secure password is unique, complex and known only to you. Make sure your BearPass password is different from the passwords you use on other websites like Netflix and Facebook. Do not share your password with anyone, and never enter it on a non-university website.
  • Store university information appropriately. With all the opportunities to store information in the cloud, it’s imperative to follow university policies on data storage. Take the time to become familiar with our Cloud Services Policy, located in Chapter 12 of the Policy Library.

There are many technology components of our security defenses, but none of them are as important as each of us remaining mindful of cybersecurity as we do our work. To learn more about these issues, visit the Information Security Awareness Training Resources webpage. If you have any questions or concerns related to information security, contact our information security office.

Reporting fraud

In May, the board approved the university’s fraud policy. The policy sets forth guidelines for reporting suspicious activity and the protocols that will be followed to investigate and discipline fraudulent or dishonest behavior.

Stealing university funds or property is a classic example of fraud, but fraud is broader than just theft. A person commits fraud when they intentionally do something, typically for their own benefit or the benefit of a friend or family member, through false representation, concealment or other unethical means. Examples include theft, bribes, kickbacks and falsification of records (contracts, timesheets, etc.).

If you suspect fraud or dishonest behavior, you should report what you have observed to your immediate supervisor or to a higher level of management if you do not believe it is appropriate to report it to your immediate supervisor. You should not attempt to investigate the matter yourself.

Management is required to immediately pass along your report to the department of internal audit and compliance for a thorough investigation. All employees are required to cooperate fully in any internal or external investigation.

Decisions to prosecute or refer the investigation to external law enforcement or regulatory agencies will be made by the department of internal audit and compliance in conjunction with the university’s general counsel and president.

If you have concerns about fraud or dishonest behavior but you don’t feel comfortable discussing your concerns directly with a university official, you may submit a confidential report through the Ethics Hotline online or by calling 1-888-233-8988.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for July 17, 2018

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In closed session at the June Board of Governors meeting, I presented my self-assessment to the board. As part of that presentation, I submitted the university’s end-of-year report to the board. I also used a series of slides to highlight some of the university’s accomplishments outlined in the report.

I would encourage you to review the report and slides at your convenience. Highlights include:

  • We hit yet another enrollment record
  • Legislation was signed into law that eliminates MSU’s statutory degree limitations and replaces them with a statewide program approval framework
  • We reduced our graduation requirement from 125 to 120 hours and rolled out four other critical affordability initiatives for our students
  • We awarded over 5,000 degrees and certificates (the long-range plan goal was 4,900)
  • We eliminated geographic restrictions on our collaborative engineering programs, priming those programs for growth
  • We increased our percentage of faculty and staff on the Springfield campus who are international or underrepresented to 14.1 (the long range plan goal was 14 percent)
  • We enrolled more than 3,100 underrepresented students on the Springfield campus
  • We received the MVC All-Sports Trophy, had seven conference championships, and had exceptional student athlete academic marks, all while cutting over $1 million from the athletics budget

We accomplished a lot in really difficult circumstances this year. While I had the privilege of reporting our many accomplishments to the board, these are not only mine. They are the result of all of our hard work. Please join me in celebrating a successful past year as we prepare for what next year holds.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!