Presidential Updates

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Clif’s Notes for Nov. 30, 2021

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The United Way campaign ends on Friday.

As the United Way Campaign winds down, please remember to fill out your pledge forms and help us reach our goals this year.

The United Way of the Ozarks has reworked its investment strategy so that our undesignated funds go to the health, education and financial stability needs of our community.

My interview with Greg Burris outlines these changes and why it’s important for us to take part.

 

COVID updates

November brought two important updates for COVID-19 vaccine eligibility.

First, the FDA authorized and the CDC now recommends booster shots for all adults ages 18 years and older who received a Pfizer or Modern vaccine at least six months after their second dose.

Second, the FDA authorized and the CDC now recommends COVID-19 vaccination for children ages 5 and older.

Magers Health and Wellness Center is administering COVID-19 booster shots and COVID-19 vaccinations for children and adults who meet CDC guidelines.

Schedule your appointment today

Supporting mental health

We are nearing the end of the fall semester. For many of our students, faculty and staff, the end of the fall semester ushers in anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges.

Support for the emotional well-being of our students, faculty and staff is a campus-wide responsibility. While our campus health and counseling centers have important roles to play, we must all work to promote and protect the mental health of our campus community.

Did You Know?

  • Students with mental health problems, such as depression, are two times more likely than their peers to leave their institution.
  • 57.9% of students at Missouri State University are experiencing symptoms of at least one significant mental health problem, such as depression, anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts, self-injury or eating disorders.
  • Among these students, an estimated 45% have not received mental health services within the past year.

How can you help?

You can help support the emotional and mental health of our campus community by reducing the stigma around mental health concerns and increasing awareness of available resources for members of the campus community.

  • The university’s Counseling Center offers counseling to currently enrolled MSU students at no charge. Students can contact the Counseling Center to make an appointment at 417-836-5116 or CounselingCenter@missouristate.edu.
  • Students experiencing a mental health emergency after business hours may call the Counseling Center and follow the prompts to speak with a crisis counselor.
  • You can also contact the Counseling Center to refer a student that you believe could benefit from their services.
  • The university provides an Employee Assistance Program for full-time and part-time faculty and staff. This is a free, confidential service designed to help you and your family with a wide range of problems. It can assist you with crisis management, wellness coaching, mental and emotional challenges, among many other issues.
  • Appointments with mental health professionals are also available through Magers Health and Wellness Center. Call 417-836-4000 to schedule an appointment.
  • Faculty and staff can also contact the Counseling Center at 417-836-5116 or CounselingCenter@missouristate.edu for a referral to area therapy services or other community resources. Employees may visit the Mercy Provider Listing to locate preferred providers for the university’ health insurance.
  • Other community mental health resources can be found on the Magers Health and Wellness Center’s mental health webpage.

Refer a student

Introducing the JED Campus Initiative

As part of our work to continue to enhance the emotional and mental health of our campus community, MSU is participating in the JED Campus Initiative.

This initiative is a four-year, strategic process created by the JED Foundation that helps guide the improvement and enhancement of existing mental health programming and climate on campus.

The four-year JED Campus Initiative process involves data collection, student focus groups, strategic planning, and regular JED Campus team and sub-committee meetings.

We have a series of tools from the JED Foundation to assist us in our work to enhance campus mental health, including a campus dashboard, guidelines and access to JED Foundation partners.

We are excited about our partnership with the JED Foundation as we work to promote mental and emotional health for our campus community.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for June 16, 2020

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Last week we made two critical decisions that respond to questions and comments received during and after the May 20 town hall meeting.

First, we have established cleaning and sanitation guidelines for the fall. Public, high-touch spaces and surfaces will be cleaned more frequently with hospital grade disinfectants.

Wellness incentive changes

We have also adopted changes to the university’s employee wellness incentive program.

This year, employees will have two options to reduce their health insurance premium by $30 per month:

  • Get a flu shot in fall 2020.
  • Or submit results of a biometric screening completed any time during the 2020 calendar year.

Flu shots will be available at Magers Health and Wellness Center beginning in mid-September. Employees must get a flu shot or submit biometric screening results by Dec. 1, 2020 to reduce their health insurance premium.

Details on flu shots, biometric screenings and open enrollment will be communicated during the fall semester.

Mental health resources

We also received several questions and comments about mental health resources for faculty and staff on the Springfield and West Plains campuses.

The university provides two Employee Assistance Program options at no additional cost to employees:

  • Cigna offers counseling for work-life issues, assistance with finding child or senior care, help with legal or financial matters and more.
  • New Directions Behavioral Health provides work-life resources, short-term counseling, crisis management and more. This benefit is provided through Mercy Health. It is available for full-time and part-time employees.

My Learning Connection also offers courses for employees on stress management. Employees can sign up for these courses on the My Learning Connection webpage.

The university’s health insurance plan also covers a range of mental health services. Deductibles and co-insurance requirements apply. Details can be found on the human resources webpage.

The pandemic has been extraordinarily difficult. Please encourage one another as we all continue to work through professional and personal challenges.

Next town hall

Our next Virtual Town Hall meeting has been scheduled for 10 a.m. – noon July 9. Details about the meeting will be posted to the town hall webpage as they become available.

The meeting will address issues most relevant to university employees, so we are asking that only faculty and staff attend the meeting.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for April 7, 2020

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Last week Governor Mike Parson announced a series of spending restrictions due to the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on our state’s economy.

As part of these restrictions, the state will withhold $7.6 million of our state appropriation for this year. All public universities and community colleges received a proportionate withhold.

We anticipated a withhold, and we began planning for this contingency several weeks ago.

Steps we have taken to immediately reduce expenses include:

  • Instituting a hiring freeze
  • Eliminating some part-time staff
  • Moving some full-time staff to 2/3 pay
  • Halting non-essential campus projects
  • Canceling events and travel
  • Closing most campus buildings

We will work through additional options to address this revenue shortfall in the coming weeks. I will update you through Clif’s Notes as decisions are made.

Campus housing update

As you know, most of our on-campus students moved off campus and received a credit for a portion of their spring residence hall fees.

Over 200 students remain in our campus housing. We are working to consolidate these students to Hutchens House, Monroe Apartments and Sunvilla Apartments.

The remaining residence halls will store students’ belongings who haven’t been able to move out yet, house students in special circumstances, and potentially house healthcare workers pursuant to agreements with Mercy and CoxHealth.

Supporting international students

Many of our international students continue to reside on campus or elsewhere in Springfield.

We have taken several steps to support these students. We are supporting their commitment to social distancing by arranging food and other essential support services.

We have also established a virtual International Friends program to help these students feel less isolated and alone. My wife Gail has signed up for this program. Email Brenda Stewart if you would like to volunteer to connect virtually with an international student.

We have been in communication with several of our international partner universities and organizations, and they appreciate our efforts to go the extra mile to support our students.

Reaching our students

We have implemented several initiatives to support all of our students in their transition to distance learning.

We established a hotline to connect with students who are experiencing problems. We have also established a process to provide financial assistance for students with technology needs (internet access, etc.).

Additionally, we will have a team of staff calling admitted students to check in on them.

Supervisors can nominate staff to be part of this comprehensive calling campaign by completing an online form.

We are also charging ahead with important traditions like Fountain Day and rescheduling commencement for a later date (details to come).

Recharge over spring holiday

As you know, we will take a spring holiday this week. Classes will not meet on Thursday, and the university will be closed (i.e., staff will have an “extra given day”) on Friday.

I hope all of us can take this opportunity to reflect on how much we’ve accomplished over the past few weeks. Every member of our faculty and staff have worked tirelessly.

I am grateful for each one of you, and I am proud of the things we have accomplished together.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Jan. 29, 2019

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Our new employee benefits year began Jan. 1. Below are a few highlights:

  • Employee choice of two plan options for medical and vision
  • Preventive care is free under the new plan. Your annual check-up, colonoscopy, mammogram, prostate exam, Pap smear, bone density test, screening for STDs and immunizations for adults/children will be 100 percent covered if coded as preventive.
  • Employee assistance program (EAP) services expanded into the overall care of full-time and part-time university employees and their dependents. Call 877-254-0781 (answered 24/7) or log on to the EAP website (password is MSU).
  • eCare through MyMercy provided to employees and dependents
  • Magers Health and Wellness Center has access to Mercy’s electronic medical record system, Epic, to easily review your overall health record when you come in for an appointment.
  • Nurse On Call services
  • Disease management, case management and wellness services, including: biometric screenings, referral to Mercy Tobacco Cessation Program and access to programming through Mercy Health and Wellness Connection (Mercy HAWC) program

Mercy HAWC, previously only available to Mercy employees and dependents, is now being offered to MSU benefits-covered employees and covered dependents (age 18 and older). This includes:

  • Functional movement training sessions with coach supervision
  • Fitness classes
  • 24/7 access to the facility
  • Lunch and learns
  • Book clubs
  • Spiritual wellness resources
  • Financial wellness resources
  • Nutrition resources
  • Onsite wellness educational classes in collaboration with Magers Health and Wellness Center

For more information, contact Aaron Tribby, Mercy’s health and wellness coordinator, at Aaron.Tribby@Mercy.net.

If you have not received your new ID cards, contact human resources at 417-836-5102 or via email at HRBenefits@missouristate.edu. Subscribe to the Human Resources blog to receive updates on your benefits and other HR news.

Call for Wall of Fame nominations

Missouri State University has a history of outstanding faculty and staff. We honor employees who have excelled at Missouri State and significantly contributed to the success and positive experiences of students by recognizing them on the Wall of Fame located outside the Plaster Student Union Ballroom.

Nominations are being accepted for next year’s Wall of Fame honorees through March 8. I encourage you to nominate former Missouri State University employees who you believe should be recognized with this honor. You can complete the nomination form online.

You can find more information about the Wall of Fame (including selection criteria and names of prior honorees) on the Alumni Association webpage.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Dec. 18, 2018

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The Board of Governors met last week.

BKD presented the university’s independent audit to the Risk Management and Audit Committee. There were no reportable matters related to alternative accounting treatment or auditor’s judgments about the quality of the university’s accounting principles. There was only one proposed adjustment, which has been recorded. I am very pleased with Missouri State’s record of excellent reports from independent auditors.

The Programs and Planning Committee received presentations about retention initiatives on the Springfield and West Plains campuses. Initiatives on the Springfield campus include college-specific GEP 101 classes, the Bears L.E.A.D. program, proactive advisor training, and creating the Center for Academic Success and Transition. Initiatives on the West Plains campus include enhancing the Grizzly Guard Alert System and evaluating advisement strategies, accessible course scheduling and cohort models.

In the regular meeting, the board approved a five-year extension of the university’s agreement with Med-Pay in exchange for Med-Pay’s agreement to maintain its current fee schedule. The board also approved a five-year extension of the university’s contract with Mercy in exchange for a flat fee schedule, guaranteed savings through a limited risk corridor program and Mercy’s agreement to provide additional services to the university’s employees.

The board also approved a bond resolution and bond purchase agreement for Brick City. In October the board approved the purchase of buildings 1, 3, 4 and 5 of Brick City for $17.7 million. Last week the board approved a bonding package that finances the purchase of these buildings with $15.73 million in private placement revenue bonds at a 3.53 percent fixed interest rate with 15-year maturity. This rate is favorable compared to current public market rates. The bond payments will be approximately $125,000 less than the current annual lease payments on the same buildings.

The board also awarded contracts for the renovation of two rooms in Kemper Hall and for a greenhouse addition to Temple Hall, received a presentation on the university’s web refresh efforts and approved board executive committee assignments.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!