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Clif’s Notes for April 5, 2022

April 5, 2022 by Clif Smart

Beth Cunningham

I am excited to introduce you to Beth Cunningham, our new Lady Bears basketball coach.

Coach Cunningham has an impressive 20-year collegiate coaching resume. Most recently she was an assistant coach at Duke University.

Before that, she was the associate head coach at Notre Dame during one of the best winning stretches in NCAA history that included:

  • A 244-19 record.
  • Seven 30-win seasons in a row.
  • Six conference titles.
  • Five NCAA Final Four appearances.
  • And the 2018 National Championship.

She also had a successful run as head coach at VCU (where she is the all-time leader in women’s coaching wins) and as a player at Notre Dame. There, she led the program to its first NCAA Women’s Final Four appearance her senior year and departed as the all-time leading scorer in Fighting Irish women’s basketball history.

Coach Cunningham knows how to win. She was our number one choice for this job, and I am very pleased that she agreed to lead our program.

I hope you will join me in welcoming Coach Cunningham, her husband Dan, and their four children to the Missouri State community.

Exciting events on campus

We have several great events on campus this week.

Shaun Tomson will speak at this year’s public affair convocation at 3:30 p.m. this Wednesday in the PSU Theater.

Tomson, author of “The Code” — this year’s Common Reader, will share his life experiences in and out of the surfing world. He will offer how the simple message — I Will — can be a model to face life’s challenges and help you achieve your goals.

I hope you will plan to attend. No ticket is required, and the event is free and open to the public.

Read more about Tomson

That evening, at 6:30 p.m., we will host a book reading, signing and reception with award-winning, internationally bestselling author Laura McHugh at the C Minor Recital Hall in Ellis Hall.

McHugh’s novels have won numerous national and international awards. They have also been translated into multiple languages and optioned for film. McHugh lives in Columbia, Missouri, with her family.

Early on Wednesday, at 9 a.m., we will dedicate the Darr Agriculture Academy, the agricultural sciences SPS magnet school that will be located on our campus at the Darr Ag Center.

The building will serve approximately 150 elementary students at SPS and provide a meaningful partnership between MSU and SPS.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Smart Tagged With: agriculture, athletics, public affairs

Clif’s Notes for Dec. 17, 2019

December 17, 2019 by Clif Smart

Citizen Scholars

The Board of Governors met last week.

The board approved more than $400,000 in equity salary increases for 125 employees. These are pay raises that cost centers on campus have agreed to fund by reallocating money from their existing budgets.

This is the first time staff and administrators have been eligible for these kind of equity adjustments in more than a year. We went through a similar process in the spring for faculty, and the board approved more than $500,000 in equity salary increases and promotions for 88 faculty members in June.

The board also approved more than $70,000 in raises that we are centrally financing for 48 employees to comply with changes to Fair Labor Standards Act regulations.

Moving forward with JVIC expansion

The board also approved a letter of intent laying out the terms of our public-private partnership with The Vecino Group to expand the Jordan Valley Innovation Center. Under this agreement, Vecino will construct a $14.4 million 30,000 square foot white box addition to JVIC. The university will have the option to purchase the facility for no more than $6.2 million in seven years.

Through a financing model that utilizes $9 million in federal New Market Tax Credits as well as conventional financing, the university will pay $530,000 in annual lease payments. The university anticipates that new revenues the university will receive from JVIC tenants will cover these lease payments.

The university and the Missouri State University Foundation will pay up to $4.6 million when the contract closes (less if additional New Market Tax Credits are secured before closing). The university and foundation will work to recuperate as much of these funds as possible by selling $3 million in state tax credits allocated by the Missouri Development Finance Board for the project and by advocating for funding from the state through the MoExcels program.

This model will allow the university to receive a $14.4 million building for between $7.5 million and $10.8 million. We initially explored this project with a goal of developing additional JVIC space for a substantial discount. I am pleased to report that we are poised to accomplish this goal.

The board is excited to move this project forward. We know this arrangement is not without risks, but the potential impact on the university’s economic development footprint and the development of areas surrounding our downtown campus is outstanding.

Darr gift will grow agriculture programs

The board also approved an agreement to establish a Springfield Public Schools agricultural magnet school and to construct a small animal education facility at the university’s Darr Agricultural Center. These projects will be funded with a $6.5 million gift from the Darr Family Foundation to the Missouri State University Foundation.

The generosity of Mr. Darr and his family through this and other gifts have truly transformed the College of Agriculture and Missouri State University as a whole. Please join me in thanking them for this transformative gift.

Recognizing outstanding students

The board also awarded this year’s Citizen Scholar Award to six high performing students:

  • Cassidy Cunningham
  • Seth Hadley
  • Rachel Prather
  • Robbyn Rose
  • Niyati (Mia) Sethi
  • Stephanie Urich

You can find more information about the award and this year’s recipients in the news release.

The board also approved a commendation to William Miller for his service on the board as student governor. It has been a pleasure working with Governor Miller in this role, and he will be greatly missed.

The board received a strategic enrollment management plan update, viewed a presentation about the Darr College of Agriculture, received a report on the Onward, Upward foundation campaign, viewed a demonstration of the university’s variable data marketing initiative and virtual tour, discussed the Springfield and West Plains campus key performance indicators, and announced and approved board committee assignments for next year.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Smart Tagged With: agriculture, Board of Governors, Citizen Scholar, enrollment, IDEA Commons

Clif’s Notes for Dec. 20, 2016

December 20, 2016 by Clif Smart

Clif's Notes

Our Board of Governors met last week. They took up several important matters.

Board recognizes Citizen Scholars and service to university

The board recognized this year’s Citizen Scholar Award recipients:

2016-17 Citizen Scholars
Jaggar Deeds, Kimberleigh Eng, Caroline Finnell, Alexis Jemes, Michelle Pellegrino and Victoria York

You can find more information about our 2016-2017 Citizen Scholars. Please join me in congratulating these students on a job well done.

The board also recognized the board service of Governors Peter Hofherr and Steve Hoven, whose terms expire at the end of the year. Governors Hofherr and Hoven have made a lasting impact on Missouri State, and Missouri State University is better because of their service on the board.

19210_3038-West-PlainsLooking to the future of the West Plains campus

The board also approved the long-range plan for the West Plains campus. Similar to the Springfield campus, we have also developed a set of measurable goals for the West Plains campus to ensure accountability. The particular goals are set forth below.

Degrees and certificates awarded annually (July 1 – June 30)
FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 Goal FY22
333 302 309 297 300 350
Three-year graduation/transfer rate for first-time full-time students (statewide average in parentheses)
2009 cohort in 2012 2010 cohort in 2013 2011 cohort in 2014 2012 cohort in 2015 2013 cohort in 2016 Goal fall 2022
40.7% (39%) 38.5% (34.6%) 35.5% (35.6%) 44.2% (NA) 47.7% (NA) 50%
First year to second year retention rate (fall to fall) for first-time full-time students (statewide average in parentheses)
F11 to F12 F12 to F13 F13 to F14 F14 to F15 F15 to F16 Goal fall 2022
43% (49.7%) 45% (49.4%) 43% (58.8%) 42% (56.2%) 49% (NA) 55%
Three-year graduation/transfer rate first-time full-time students by subgrouping (n= total beginning number of students in cohort)
2009 cohort in 2012 2010 cohort in 2013 2011 cohort in 2014 2012 cohort in 2015 2013 cohort in 2016 Goal fall 2022
Hispanic/Latino 14% (7) 50% (8) 0% (2) 33% (6) 36% (11) = or > annual rate for total pop
Black African-American 70% (10) 63% (8) 64% (14) 68% (22)  65% (23) = or > annual rate for total pop
First year to second year retention rate (fall to fall) for first-time full-time students by subgrouping (n= total beginning number of students in cohort)
F11 to F12 F12 to F13 F13 to F14 F14 to F15 F15 to F16 Goal fall 2022
Hispanic/Latino 50% (2) 33% (6) 73% (11) 25% (12) 56% (16) = or > annual rate for total pop
Black African American 14% (14) 50% (22)  35% (23) 46% (24) 48% (29) = or > annual rate for total pop
Annual percent of full-time faculty and staff who are international or members of historically underrepresented groups, defined to include minority, veteran and disability
Fall 2012 Fall 2013 Fall 2014 Fall 2015 Fall 2016 Goal fall 2022
7.38% 9.45% 8.03% 11.19% (15/135) 10.08% (13/129) 13.0%

We are excited for what the next five years will hold for our faculty, staff and students in West Plains.

Agriculture studentChanges in agriculture

The board approved a resolution changing the Darr School of Agriculture to the Darr College of Agriculture. This is an important change that highlights the growth of Missouri State’s agriculture programs and the important role they play at the university, in the state of Missouri and throughout the world. I want to thank Anson Elliott and his team for developing Missouri State’s agriculture programs to what they are today. We know that the Darr College of Agriculture will continue its upward trajectory under Ron Del Vecchio’s leadership, and we are excited for what the future holds for our agriculture programs.

19024-9565-clifs-notes-winterMeeting performance measures on both campuses

The board also received reports from Frank Einhellig and Drew Bennett on the university’s performance as part of the state of Missouri’s performance funding framework. We are happy to report that the Springfield campus and the West Plains campus met all five of their performance measures. You can find additional details about the performance measures online.

The Springfield campus has met all five of the performance funding targets every year since the performance funding framework was established. The university’s success is thanks to the hard work of all of our faculty, staff and students.

18322_7786-Clif's-Notes-ConcealStaff Service Awards

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the annual Staff Service Awards and Appreciation luncheon on Jan. 11. at Hammons Student Center. It’s a special time to recognize those who have reached a five-year longevity milestone in their years of service to the university, those who have retired, those who have been selected for the Staff Excellence in University Service Award, those who have been selected for the Staff Excellence in Community Service Award and the winner of the My Ideas program.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

 

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Smart Tagged With: agriculture, Board of Governors, citizen scholars, performance measures, Staff Service Awards, West Plains

Clif’s Notes Vol. 4, No. 4

October 3, 2014 by Clif Smart

Shoe sorting

Clif's Notes

In this issue of Clif’s Notes, I recap the State of the University address, provide an update on the visioning project, inform the campus community about Missouri State’s recent selection by INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine for the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award, discuss the Stomp Out Hunger public affairs initiative, invite the campus community to participate in the United Way and Missouri State Way campaigns and provide details on campus security authority training.

Clif SmartState of the University address

On Monday, Sept. 29, Dr. Einhellig and I gave the State of the University address on the Springfield campus. The theme was “raising the profile of the University.” I addressed five of the specific policies and priorities set by the board for this year: value, student retention rates, facilities improvement, improving diversity of faculty and staff and strategic planning. My specific remarks included:

  • Public higher education must remain affordable for working and middle class families. We must also continue to pursue opportunities to improve our rigorous, high-quality programs.
  • Improving student retention is critical to the economic success of our state. We will focus on retooling student orientation, family programs and living-learning communities to help students make better connections. We will also focus on advising, connecting students to departments and improving the GEP 101 experience.
  • Our facilities have a dramatic impact on our profile. This year we are building a Welcome Center (funded by private support) and a new health building. We are also renovating Pummill Hall, the fifth floor of the Morris Center, Sunvilla and Meyer Library (phase I). Next year we plan to expand laboratory spaces and renovate older academic buildings if the state issues revenue bonds and appropriates the proceeds.
  • We have done very well in increasing the ethnic diversity of our students, but we have made only marginal progress in improving the diversity of our faculty and staff. Our students are entitled to interact with faculty and staff with diverse backgrounds, life experiences and ideas. In all hiring searches, we need to pay attention to diversity — which means more than just race or ethnicity — as a goal.
  • We are beginning a visioning project named The Missouri State Vision: Our Passion for Excellence. The goal of this project is to gain consensus on the assumptions and philosophical foundation from which the next two long-range plans will be developed.

Student safety is a priority

After Dr. Einhellig spoke, I closed with a discussion about safety. Campus safety, particularly sexual assault on campus, is an important topic due to increased media scrutiny and recent legislation. The data here at Missouri State indicates that we have done extremely well at protecting our students from sexual assaults and investigating when these offenses are alleged to have occurred. We have never covered up a sexual assault, and we never will. But with public attention on the issue, we decided to look at what we do and see if there are things we can improve upon. The changes we implemented include:

  • The Board of Governors approved a new policy titled Title IX Policy on Sexual Assault, Stalking and Other Forms of Sexual Misconduct.
  • We created a list of campus security authorities (CSAs). CSAs are required by law to report all allegations or evidence of sexual misconduct and certain other criminal behavior to University employees who can investigate the situation and take appropriate actions. We are in the process of training all of our CSAs.
  • We have started an online training module called Haven for our students. All of our new students are now required to participate in this training, which focuses on preventing and responding to sexual assault.

Safety of our students must always be a priority for all of us. Our students and their families trust us to create a safe environment for them to study and learn. It is important that we not let them down. When we believe a student has been or may be in a dangerous situation, we all need to be ready to respond by intervening if it is safe to do so and by notifying our supervisors, the office of equity and compliance and the office of safety and transportation.

Visit the State of the University address website to view a video of the address and see Dr. Einhellig’s and my slides and speech notes.

JRS_0123-VisioningVisioning project update

I informed you in a prior issue of Clif’s Notes that we were starting a visioning project. I want to give you a brief update on the project. As I mentioned above, we have named it The Missouri State Vision: Our Passion for Excellence. I will be chairing the steering committee for this project. The other members of the steering committee are:

  • Roberta Aram
  • James Baker
  • Drew Bennett
  • Christina Bowles
  • Stephanie Bryant
  • Russell Carney
  • Ryan DeBoef
  • Brittany Donnellan
  • Frank Einhellig
  • Tammy Jahnke
  • Tim Knapp
  • Michael F. Murray
  • Tom Peters
  • Sharmistha Self
  • Suzanne Shaw
  • Dee Siscoe
  • Christine Sudbrock

The steering committee will have its first two meetings on Oct. 2 and 15. The goal of these meetings is to create a list of four to six topical areas for discussion and investigation during the visioning project, create a task force for each topical area and develop instructions explaining to each task force the parameters of their topical area. I will continue to update you on our progress with the visioning project throughout the year.

Insight Into Diversity: Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award 2014Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award

We have made great progress on diversity initiatives over the past several years. Recently, this progress was noticed on a national level. INSIGHT Into Diversity, the oldest and largest diversity magazine in higher education, has selected Missouri State as one of only 83 recipients of the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for 2014.

The HEED Award recognizes colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. We are in great company with other recipients such as California State University, Florida State University, Georgia Tech University, Louisiana State University, Penn State University, Rice University, the SUNY System, University of Georgia, University of Oklahoma, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia and University of Wisconsin.

All faculty, staff and students are to be commended and congratulated for events, programs and initiatives that display the best of diversity at Missouri State. I want to especially thank Dr. Ken Coopwood and his team for their important work on Missouri State’s diversity initiatives as well as their time and effort to apply for and receive this award.

Shoe sortingStomp Out Hunger

Missouri State has partnered with Drury, Evangel, OTC and SBU for a service project called Stomp Out Hunger: All-Collegiate Shoe Drive. From Oct. 1 through 24, there will be marked boxes in most buildings on campus. (Access the complete list of collection sites.) All wearable shoes put in these boxes will be donated to Sole Food, a program of Friends Against Hunger, a Springfield non-profit that packages and distributes nutritious, vitamin-fortified meals to hungry people in the US and around the world. Sole Food, in conjunction with Shoeman Water Projects in St. Louis, exports the donated shoes to distributors in developing countries. By donating used shoes, students, faculty and staff will provide not only shoes, but also food and clean water to those in need around the world!

Missouri State Way and United WayUnited Way and Missouri State Way campaigns

We kicked off our annual United Way and Missouri State Way campaigns with a leadership breakfast on Wednesday. The United Way serves the neediest of our neighbors in Springfield and the Ozarks. The Missouri State Way campaign is an opportunity for all members of the campus community to support the areas of the University that are most important to them. You may designate your Missouri State Way gift for student scholarships, a special program or even your own department or college.

I want to personally invite participants of either campaign to the celebration luncheon that will be held from 12 to 1 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10 in the ballroom at Plaster Student Union. This was formerly a breakfast. I hope changing the time allows more people to attend. I look forward to seeing you there. Please RSVP by Nov. 5 to Monica Gray at 836-6763.

You will receive a packet further explaining these campaigns next week. You may participate in these campaigns by completing and returning the forms in the packet.

Students studyingCampus Security Authority training

In a prior issue of Clif’s Notes I indicated that the University has created a list of campus security authorities (CSAs). A CSA is required by law to report sexual misconduct and certain other crimes to the Office of Safety and Transportation for inclusion in the campus security report.

On Wednesday afternoon we sent an email to all CSAs telling them about online training that they must complete by Nov. 1. This training is very important to our Clery Act compliance and to the safety of our students and our campus community.

Conclusion

As we approach the mid-point of the semester, we should be proud of what we have accomplished thus far. I look forward to continuing to work with you to do great things. Thanks for all you do for our University.

Clif Smart

—Clif

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Telling the Missouri State story

Students and facultyTwenty-six University students and six faculty members recently participated in the inaugural Global Agriculture Initiative, a three-week educational exchange organized by Missouri State University and its Brazilian partner university, Centro Universitário Cesumar (UniCesumar).

First phase in Missouri

The first phase of the project began last May as 12 UniCesumar students and four faculty members traveled to Missouri for a 10-day study tour focused on soil management, grain production, livestock production and U.S. agricultural policy. The Brazilian group visited Missouri agribusinesses, interacted with farmers and participated in workshops presented by the William H. Darr School of Agriculture at Missouri State.

Part of the UniCesumar student experience in Missouri also included sightseeing, cultural activities and interaction with a group of Missouri State students.

Second phase in Brazil

Fourteen Missouri State students and two faculty traveled to the state of Paraná, Brazil, for the second phase of the Global Agriculture Initiative. While there, they studied soil management and the production, management and commercialization of grain. Like Missouri, Paraná produces corn, soybeans and wheat; however, the favorable climate of southern Brazil allows for three growing seasons per year so farmers there can grow all three crops on the same land each year.

The Missouri State group was able to visit the two largest agro-industrial cooperatives in Latin America, interact with UniCesumar students and faculty, experience Brazilian culture and visit the famous Iguacu Falls at the border of Brazil and Argentina.

The initiative was a huge success and a great example of the kinds of meaningful partnerships taking place all across our campus.

Filed Under: Clif's Notes, Financial Outlook, Smart Tagged With: agriculture, Community Engagement Project, diversity, public affairs, safety, State of the University Address, Stomp Out Hunger, vision

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