Immediately following Frank’s retirement announcement, we began a search for an executive vice president and provost.

In our last Clif’s Note, I announced that I had selected Zora Mulligan to serve as executive vice president and would be appointing an interim provost with a traditional academic background.

I discussed this matter with the Board of Governors at their May meeting. In closed session, they authorized me to use one-time funds to hire an interim provost from outside the university.

Dr. John Jasinski will be interim provost

It is my pleasure to announce that I have selected Dr. John Jasinski as our interim provost. John will start in July.

We have initially agreed to a one-year term but have the flexibility to extend the contract for an additional year if warranted.

John will work with Zora and me to solicit feedback from the campus community and restructure our academic and business units and operations. This will enable us to redesign the university in a way that meets modern post-secondary needs.

Our academic deans will report to John, and John will report to me. John will manage academic program review, approval, accreditations and faculty affairs.

He will also lead our efforts to develop a plan to reduce expenses in academic affairs.

We will flesh out the structure to divide duties, offices and responsibilities between Zora and John in the coming weeks.

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Jasinski has served as president, in many academic roles

John earned a PhD in Educational Leadership and Higher Education Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has served as a chief academic officer, associate provost, department chair and faculty member.

His teaching and research responsibilities were in the areas of mass media, broadcast communication, and communication theories and law.

John will come to us following a 13-year tenure as president of Northwest Missouri State University.

His record at Northwest includes:

• Setting multiple enrollment records.
• Exceptionally high student satisfaction rates.
• Receiving a Faculty Senate Meritorious Award.
• Implementing an Inclusive Excellence framework.
• No layoffs, furloughs or reductions in force throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A complete financial turnaround.

The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development (MDHEWD) tracks enrollment at every public university in the state. You can see the most recent report on MDHEWD’s website.

We have had the second-best enrollment record over the last 5 years, shrinking by 2.6%. Under John’s leadership, Northwest has had the best enrollment record — growing by 20.5%.

I couldn’t be more excited about adding John to the leadership team. I hope you will join me in congratulating John and welcoming him and his wife, Denise, to our campus community.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!