Missouri State University

Skip to content Skip to navigation
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Presidential Updates

  • Office of the President
  • Follow Clif on Twitter

Clif’s Notes for June 28, 2022

June 28, 2022 by Clif Smart

Wes Pratt headshot.

Last week H. Wes Pratt announced that he will retire from Missouri State on Aug. 1, 2022.

Wes is a giant in the Springfield community.

  • He helped revitalize the local NAACP chapter.
  • He established The Gathering.
  • He co-founded and led Minorities in Business and guided it through a recent name-change to the Multicultural Business Association.
  • He was appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness.

Recognizing that MSU leads Springfield in diversity, equity and inclusion, Wes pushed the university’s diversity training, resources and expertise into the broader community.

Wes has long served as an important source of sage advice to a multitude of leaders in our community. He speaks truth to power and maintains an enormous network of influence in Springfield and beyond.

His tenure at the university

Wes has worked for MSU since 2007. He started as coordinator of diversity, outreach and recruitment.

He will retire as our chief diversity officer.

Wes focused his work on helping the university value the inclusion of diversity.

During his time at MSU, Wes expanded diversity training and development, coordinated and enhanced the Collaborative Diversity Conference and Facing Racism Institute, and worked with the Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB) to relocate their national headquarters to MSU’s campus.

Embodying public affairs

Wes’s career is a testament to the university’s public affairs mission. Wes doesn’t just talk about public affairs, he has committed his life to community engagement, cultural competence and ethical leadership.

I will miss working with Wes as our chief diversity officer. He has played a critical role in MSU’s — and Springfield’s — success.

I hope you will join me in celebrating Wes’ career at a retirement reception scheduled for 3 p.m. July 18 at the Jay Wasson Idea Loft in the efactory.

Search for an interim

An internal search for an interim chief diversity officer will begin immediately. The interim will be appointed to a one-year term, and we will assess the need for a national search at that time.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Smart Tagged With: retirement

Clif’s Notes for June 21, 2022

June 21, 2022 by Clif Smart

Student sits studying on West Plains campus.

The Board of Governors will vote on the university’s FY2023 budget later this week.

The budget includes $8.8 million in new, ongoing compensation and benefits.

Highlights include:

  • A 4% across the board compensation increase for full-time employees and graduate assistants.
  • A $15 minimum wage for full-time employees.

The budget also includes a one-time retention payment plan. Under this plan, full-time employees will receive a $1,000 retention payment in their Dec. 31, 2022 paycheck.

To qualify for the payment, an individual must be employed full-time at MSU on April 1, 2022 through Dec. 1, 2022.

Updates from West Plains

The board will receive reports from Dennis Lancaster and others about the exciting things happening on our West Plains campus.

Highlights include:

  • A presentation recognizing the MSU-WP National Professional Agriculture Student Competition winners.
  • Reports from Dr. Linda Wulff-Risner (chair of Faculty Senate in West Plains), Bryan Moore (chair of Staff Senate in West Plains), and Jackson Wright (SGA president in West Plains).
  • Presentations detailing the West Plains campus Long-Range Plan and Campus Master Plan.

The board will discuss the 2023 Board of Governors meeting schedule, the West Plains campus Long-Range Plan and Campus Master Plan, and revisions to the Springfield campus Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities, Faculty Handbook, and Employee Handbook.

Finally, the board will recognize Student Governor Briar Douglas whose term has expired. Briar has been a good advocate for students on our board, and I will miss working with him in that capacity.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Smart Tagged With: Board of Governors, West Plains

Clif’s Notes for June 14, 2022

June 14, 2022 by Clif Smart

Three women sing and dance on Tent Theatre stage.

This is Staff Appreciation Week.

Supervisors, I hope you will take time this week to express your gratitude for all of the work your team does.

To all of our staff, I appreciate you. You work hard, often without much thanks, to meet the needs of our students and our campus community. Thank you for everything you do.

Come to the Staff Awards Luncheon

We kicked off the week last night with MSU Staff Appreciation Night at Mother’s Brewery.

Today at 11:30 a.m. we will have our annual Staff Awards Luncheon in Hammons Student Center.

Shuttles will operate from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Attendees are encouraged to wear Bearwear.

Three categories of employees will be honored:

  • Full-time staff who reached a five-year milestone in 2021.
  • Those selected for the Staff Excellence in University Service Award.
  • Those selected for the Staff Excellence in Community Engagement Award.

Please plan to participate in this year’s luncheon to support your co-workers and colleagues that are being recognized and to connect with your university community over a free meal.

I would encourage all supervisors to allow full-time staff to attend this important event.

How you can participate this week

Other activities this week include:

  • On Wednesday, all members of the university community are encouraged to post their love and appreciation for staff on social media with #MSUStaffShoutout.
  • On Thursday at 4:15 p.m., staff will gather for an All-Staff Photo on the quad east of Carrington Hall.
  • On Friday, we will host mocktails and lawn games from 1 – 3 p.m.
  • On Friday. we will close the university from 3 – 5 p.m. Issues related to essential personnel, time reporting, and compensation for this closure are addressed in section 2.15 of the Employee Handbook. Supervisors will work with their staff on how to coordinate coverage if coverage is required.

Support the arts on campus

Many other events will occur on campus throughout the summer.

The tradition of Tent Theatre continues with three outstanding productions:

  • “Xanadu” (in Coger Theatre starting June 22).
  • “Moon Over Buffalo” (in Coger Theatre starting June 29).
  • “Crazy For You” (in the new John Goodman Amphitheatre starting Sept. 9).

We will also host Broadway productions of “Anastasia” and “Disney Jr. Live” in Hammons Hall.

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils will put on a special performance with the Springfield Symphony on Sept. 10 and 11 in Hammons Hall.

Buy tickets

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Smart Tagged With: staff awards, tent theatre

Clif’s Notes for June 7, 2022

June 7, 2022 by Clif Smart

Roses bloom on campus with fountain and library in background

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

John JasinskiIt 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.

Learn more

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!

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Smart Tagged With: Provost

Clif’s Notes for May 24, 2022

May 24, 2022 by Clif Smart

We have completed the search for executive vice president and provost.

Zora Mulligan will be our new executive vice president. For reasons I discuss below, we will designate an interim provost.

Leadership and creativity

I selected Zora because of her leadership abilities, creativity and broad experience in higher education.

I have witnessed these skills throughout the time I have known Zora.

For example, she facilitated the agreement that allowed us greater ability to offer professional doctoral degrees. In my view, consensus was not going to be possible to achieve on that issue. By getting everyone to the table and finding a pathway for each stakeholder to get some, but not all, of what they wanted, Zora found a way to achieve a consensus.

Observers throughout the country have taken note of Zora’s leadership abilities. Last year, she received the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) Exceptional Leader Award. She was essentially named the top commissioner in the country.

Creative problem solver

Zora sees opportunities others do not and finds ways to bring them to fruition.

Her work to consolidate Missouri’s Department of Higher Education with the Division of Workforce Development is a great example of her creativity. She envisioned a novel department unlike any of its peers throughout the country. She saw an opportunity to combine the state’s post-secondary talent development functions in a way that benefits Missouri citizens and more efficiently administers state resources.

Zora’s work to create the Fast Track program, establish the Missouri College Access Network, increase student access to childcare, promote education pathways, expand summer bridge programs, and fully fund the Access Missouri need-based financial assistance program demonstrate her innovative approach to address modern obstacles in post-secondary education.

Restructuring

As we move to a model that includes an executive vice president, I will work with the academic and administrative leadership teams to develop a set of duties, assignments and direct reports that capitalize on Zora’s strengths as a leader and a post-secondary education innovator.

She will lead our efforts to redesign the university to meet modern educational needs. This will involve innovative approaches that target employer and community partnerships, adult and online students, and traditional students and parents who are increasingly skeptical about the value of a college education.

It will also involve creative approaches to overcome matriculation, retention, and graduation barriers current and prospective students experience at MSU.

Stepping in as needed

The Board of Governors regularly asks me who would step in to lead the university if something happened that left me incapacitated. My answer throughout my presidency has always been the same — Jim Baker or Frank Einhellig could lead the university.

When Frank and Jim announced their retirements, the board told me that they wanted to be sure we hired someone who could lead the university in my absence. Zora is clearly up to the task of filling this role.

Having an executive vice president to act as second-in-command will free me up to focus on external affairs, advocacy, fundraising, and managing the university’s finances and assets.

With 16 direct reports, I spend far too much time managing the day-to-day affairs of every component of the university’s operations. I look forward to passing some of these responsibilities to Zora so we can both focus our efforts on what we do best.

Read more about this selection

Developing a succession plan

In addition to someone who could lead if I became incapacitated, the board told me they wanted us to hire someone who had the potential to be a strong internal candidate for president when I retire.

The board has not committed that our next president will come from inside the university. However, they would like to have a viable internal option when they search for my replacement.

I do not plan to be president of Missouri State University forever. I am 61 years old.

I love this job and the university, but there are other things I would like to do before I grow too old to do them. Gail and I have grandchildren to love, travel destinations to experience, adventures to pursue, public service and volunteering opportunities to participate in, and so much life left to live outside of work.

I have not made specific retirement plans. My current contract runs through June 30, 2026, and I have told the board that I do not plan to stay in this job any longer than that.

In the meantime, the board rightly wants to prepare for the future by hiring and developing a strong internal candidate for president who has the skills necessary to successfully run the university.

Zora Mulligan abounds in these skills. She has demonstrated the wisdom throughout her career to know when to pause, when to drive forward, when to cut bait, when to finesse, and when to forge through adversity.

She has good judgment and makes excellent decisions. She respects people and processes. Above all, her passion for the academy, access to education, inclusive excellence, and student success are unparalleled.

We are beyond fortunate that Zora accepted this position, and I look forward to working with her.

An interim provost will be named

During the search process, faculty expressed concerns about hiring a candidate who has not worked as a professor to serve as provost.

I am confident that Zora would be an effective EVP/Provost, regardless of the fact that her credentials and professional experiences differ from that of many of our faculty members.

I was ready to hire her for the position. It would have been within the purview of my role as president to do so. However, after discussing the concerns with Zora, the board and others, I determined it could prove difficult for her to lead effectively if faculty concerns lingered.

Accordingly, as noted above, I have named Zora as the executive vice president, and I will name an interim provost before Frank retires at the end of June.

I have discussed this at length with the search committee, academic leadership team, administrative council, and Board of Governors. These groups support the plan to hire Zora as executive vice president and name an interim provost.

This both meets our immediate needs and, as an interim solution funded with one-time funds, it does not involve a permanent expansion of administrative positions.

I hope you will join me in congratulating Zora and welcoming her to our campus community.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Smart Tagged With: Provost

Next Page »

Archives

Categories

Tags

accreditation action plan athletics audit benefits Board of Governors budget CBHE Cofer commencement compensation Coronavirus diversity Einhellig enrollment Executive Budget Committee facilities funding FY12 FY13 FY14 fy15 goals governor HLC homecoming IDEA Commons legislative priorities long-range plan Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame open enrollment Provost public affairs Public Affairs Conference safety salaries Smart staff awards State of the University Address tent theatre tuition united way Wall of Fame welcome weekend West Plains
Make your Missouri statementMake your Missouri statement
  • Last Modified: May 24, 2022
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Disclosures
  • EO/AA/M/F/Veterans/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity
  • © 2013 Board of Governors, Missouri State University
  • Contact Information