Presidential Updates

Clif’s Notes for June 22, 2021

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Last week the Board of Governors approved our 2021-2026 long-range plan for the Springfield campus.

As I discussed in a prior note, our new plan is built on aspirational stories and examples of big ideas that will guide our decisions and reality over the next five years.

Those stories and ideas fall under four topical headings:

I would encourage you to take some time to review the plan and see yourself and your unit or department in the stories. Respond to the stories and engage with the ideas. Talk about them with friends, family and colleagues — on and off campus.

You will like some of the ideas and dislike others. Most of all, I hope you will be inspired. I hope you will come up with your own big ideas to propel the university to success over the next five years.

Making the Action Plan

Each unit or division should develop a list of action items that align with the themes of the plan.

We will continue to do that centrally by developing an annual action plan and reporting on that plan at the end of each academic year. The administrative and academic leadership teams will begin to develop the Action Plan for 2021-2022 at a planning retreat this week.

We will also continue to track metrics and establish measurable goals. The board discussed metrics under the new plan at their meeting last week.

In addition to many of the metrics tracked under prior plans, the board would like to track metrics in three additional areas:

  • Number of global partnerships.
  • Number of professional doctorates and masters of fine art.
  • External funding received.

Administration will present draft metrics and measurable goals to the board at their retreat in August.

Thankful for a hard-working team

Developing the 2021-26 Long-Range Plan was an arduous process.

I would like to thank Suzanne Shaw and Shawn Wahl for their hard work to co-chair the steering committee and lead this process.

I would also like to thank all of the members of the steering committee. They met weekly throughout the year and invested many grueling hours to coordinate the creation of the plan.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for May 11, 2021

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At this week’s Board of Governors meeting, I will present the Executive Budget Committee’s FY2022 budget recommendations to the board.

These recommendations include $7.5 million in benefit and compensation increases.

Among these increases is a 3% across-the-board compensation increase.

If approved by the board, this increase will go into effect:

  • On July 1 for all full-time, 12-month employees.
  • On Aug. 1 for all full-time, 9-month employees.

Only employees who are full-time on or before May 31, 2021 will receive the increase.

Cost-of-living increases

Compensation is important. With this in mind, the board and I have worked to provide cost-of-living salary increases throughout my presidency.

Unfortunately, the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic made it impossible to provide a cost-of-living pay increase last July.

The 3% pay increase recommended by the Executive Budget Committee, combined with the $600 across-the-board increase that went into effect earlier this year, recognizes the increased living costs our employees have faced since we were last able to budget a cost-of-living pay increase in July 2019.

Funding priorities for the committee

The Executive Budget Committee’s recommendations also include:

  • Enhanced dental plan benefits for employees (a Faculty Senate and Staff Senate priority for this year).
  • Salary range adjustments.
  • A minimum wage increase.
  • Salary increases under the professor salary incentive program.
  • Faculty promotions.

At the request of many members of the Executive Budget Committee, the recommendations will also restore a substantial portion of travel budgets throughout the university and unfreeze many of the currently frozen faculty and staff positions.

The Executive Budget Committee also recommended increases for several university programs, services and initiatives, including:

  • $65,000 for LinkedIn Learning.
  • More than $300,000 in technology upgrades.
  • $120,000 in additional student recruitment travel costs.
  • $300,000 in diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Board will vote in June

I will present these recommendations for discussion at the Board of Governors Finance and Facilities Committee meeting May 12.

The Board will vote on the FY2022 budget at its June meeting.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for April 27, 2021

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Throughout the year, our Long-Range Plan Steering Committee has collected information and regularly met to develop the university’s 2021-26 Long-Range Plan.

They have developed four themes for the plan:

  1. Evolving academic directions for future careers.
  2. Global engagement.
  3. Inclusive excellence driving university success.
  4. Community leadership and partnerships.

Each theme includes focus areas fleshed out with stories. Our goal is to develop a plan that all members of the university community can plug into as we develop annual action plans in the coming years.

Review the 2021-26 Long-Range Plan

Share your feedback at town hall

The steering committee, our leadership team and the Board of Governors need your feedback as we develop and finalize the 2021-26 Long-Range Plan.

Please attend the university-wide Virtual Town Hall meeting at 3 p.m. this Friday, April 30. We will present the themes, focus areas and stories to you and solicit your input.

You can find the Zoom link and other information about the meeting on the town hall webpage.

Updating the board on COVID impact

Last week the Board of Governors met.

I presented an update on COVID-19. Our numbers on campus and in the community continue to trend in the right direction.

We have administered more than 15,000 vaccinations on campus. The Springfield community’s vaccination rate now exceeds 25%, and the city has removed occupancy restrictions for most activities and events.

Approving tuition and fees

The board also approved our 2021-22 tuition and fees.

The Springfield campus in-state undergraduate tuition rate will be $257 per credit hour. As I previously discussed, this is a blended rate under which seated and online classes will have the same tuition.

We requested and received a waiver from Commissioner of Higher Education Zora Mulligan to restructure our tuition in this way without incurring a financial penalty under the state’s Higher Education Student Funding Act.

Other tuition and fee highlights include:

  • No changes to dual credit, college fees, program fees and parking fees.
  • Only two supplemental course fee changes (TCM 121 and 122).
  • A combined room and board increase of 2.15% with a rate freeze in Monroe and Sunvilla apartments.
  • A $2 per credit hour increase for in-state tuition on the West Plains campus.

Board approves purchases

The board awarded a contract to Slate by Technolutions for a comprehensive technology customer relationship management platform for enrollment management and student services.

The board also approved the purchase of an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy system at the Roy Blunt Jordan Valley Innovation Center.

Bonds refinanced

The board approved resolutions related to the refinancing of three sets of bonds.

The original financing occurred in:

  • 2014 for the O’Reilly Clinical Health Sciences Center and the Davis-Harrington Welcome Center.
  • 2015 for JQH Arena.
  • 2019 for Brick City buildings 1, 3, 4 and 5.

The university will save more than $4 million by refinancing these bonds.

Building expansions and renovations

The board awarded a $1.3 million contract to BP Builders, LLC to expand and relocate the Multicultural Resource Center. The project will also include renovations to the office of student engagement in the PSU.

The board also awarded a $300,000 contract to Kenmar Construction, Inc. to replace the gymnasium floor at Foster Rec Center.

Finally, the board approved a resolution to name the new outdoor facility currently under construction the John Goodman Amphitheatre. John Goodman is an accomplished alumnus of MSU and has made several large gifts to support the Reynolds College of Arts and Letters and the arts park project.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

 

Clif’s Notes for Feb. 23, 2021

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The Board of Governors met last week.

The board approved a new tuition model. In-state undergraduate students currently pay tuition of $228 per credit hour for seated classes and $299 for online classes.

In 2021-22, in-state undergraduate students will pay a blended rate of $257 per credit hour for all classes. We anticipate this will result in no tuition increase for most students.

Missouri’s public universities have traditionally increased tuition each year by inflation. By approving the new tuition structure, we will break with that tradition and not increase tuition by CPI next year.

The change is revenue neutral. In 2020-21, in-state undergraduate students paid $87,630,000. Under the new model, students would have paid $87,605,000 — $25,000 less.

A large majority of students with which we interacted supported this change. It is fairer and allows students to better estimate the cost of their education. It allows the university to schedule classes, and students to decide which classes to take, without cost being a factor.

The new model also recognizes that the line between seated and online classes has blurred with many “seated” classes having a substantial online component.

CARES Act funds

The board also approved distributions of federal funds to students.

After all pending CARES Act allocations are received, the university will have $2.3 million of funds remaining from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund established by the CARES Act. Given the compliance requirements for these funds, the board determined that the best use of the Springfield campus allocation of these funds is to refund a portion of online tuition paid by qualifying students on the Springfield campus in the fall 2020 semester.

The remainder of the West Plains campus allocation will be distributed as emergency financial grants to students on the West Plains campus.

We are still calculating the exact amount of the distributions, but we anticipate the online tuition refund will be between $25 and $28 per credit hour. These refunds will be automatically applied to students’ accounts.

The board also approved the first distribution of funds from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA). The federal government has required that we distribute to students about $7.4 million of the funds we received under CRRSAA. The board approved the framework for our plan to distribute these funds as emergency financial aid grants with Pell students receiving a higher amount than other qualifying students.

We will finalize and communicate details about the CRRSAA student distributions in the coming weeks.

Refinancing approved

The board approved resolutions related to the university’s plans to refinance two sets of bonds that were originally used to finance JQH Arena, the O’Reilly Clinical Health Sciences Center, the Davis-Harrington Welcome Center, and to amend the bond issue for the purchase of Brick City Buildings 1, 3, 4 and 5. By refinancing these bonds, the university will save more than $4 million.

The board also approved an intent resolution to preserve the right to issue revenue bonds up to $25 million to finance the acquisition of the new residence hall.

Other board actions

The board approved the receipt of property (located at 326 N. Boonville) from the MSU Foundation, which will be used to house an art gallery for the Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts and Letters. The board also approved the sale of property the university no longer needs located near the Bull Shoals Field Station in Taney County. The board also approved changes to the consulting contract for the Kampeter Hall project.

The board approved a new behavioral support assistant associate degree program in West Plains and an occupational therapy doctorate program in Springfield. The board also discussed the university’s new test optional scholarship package.

The board received two presentations about the university’s academic programs. In the Programs and Planning Committee, Rachel Heinz presented information about the Bear POWER program, and the board interacted with a panel of students enrolled in the program.

In the regular meeting, Dr. Nancy Gordon presented information about the university’s work in online education, and the board discussed emerging opportunities for new learning modalities. The board also interacted with a panel of four faculty members: Damon Basset, Natalie Curry, Dr. Seth Hoelscher and Dr. Margaret Weaver.

Finally, the board approved changes to its meeting schedule. These changes will allow us to have five socially distanced graduation ceremonies spread over two days in May.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Dec. 15, 2020

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The Board of Governors met last week. They approved the compensation increases and budget adjustments I discussed in my last two Clif’s Notes.

Tuition changes

I also presented a new tuition and fee model for discussion. Currently, the university charges in-state undergraduate students $228 for seated classes and $299 for online classes. The university has developed a plan to charge the same tuition rate for seated and online classes.

Charging one rate will be fairer and more transparent for students. It will eliminate financial impact on students when the decision is made for a particular class to be online. It also recognizes that the line between “online” and “seated” classes has blurred.

The plan I presented would change the tuition rate for all in-state undergraduate students to $250. Students taking at least one seated class would be charged fees that are consistent with the current fee schedule. Students taking only online courses would be charged a new fee that is substantially lower.

This proposal will have minimal impact on most students. Under the new model, the average in-state undergraduate student would pay $50 less than under the current tuition and fee model.

The proposal is also revenue neutral on tuition, meaning it would net the university the same tuition revenue as the current model. The new online student fee generates some additional revenue, but it recaptures only about half of the fee revenue that has been lost over the past two years as students gradually migrated to online classes.

The proposal would also preserve MSU’s cost advantage by continuing to price tuition and fees below MSU’s major competitors.

The board discussed and provided feedback on this proposed model. Those discussions will continue in the coming months. The board will vote on tuition and fees for the 2021-22 academic year in the spring.

SEM Plan

The board discussed and approved the Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan. The plan includes four measurable goals in the following categories:

  • Outreach and recruitment.
  • Retention and student success.
  • Successful graduation and completion.
  • Financial preparedness.

The plan also includes strategies to attain each goal. The plan establishes a committee structure that will implement the plan throughout the coming months and years.

The board and our leadership team are pleased with the final SEM Plan and proud of the work we have done to chart our pathway forward on enrollment. I want to say a special thanks to the SEM Plan co-chairs Dr. Tammy Jahnke and Dr. Rob Hornberger, the SEM Steering Committee, and others who served on committees and otherwise engaged in the SEM Plan process.

Reviewing the budget

The board reviewed the FY2021 budget.

Due to Gov. Mike Parson’s release of withheld appropriations, cost saving measures that have been implemented and fall enrollment numbers exceeding projections, the Springfield operating fund is $5.5 million ahead of budget and the West Plains operating fund is $300,000 ahead of budget. These totals include more than $4.5 million in university reserves that were allocated when the board originally approved the FY2021 budget in June.

COVID-19 policy updates

I provided the board with an update on the impacts of COVID-19 on our campus.

As part of that update, I advised the board that we have eliminated the COVID-19 Work and Compensation Policy and updated five other temporary policies:

Board appointments

Finally, the board approved the executive committee, and Gov. Counts announced board committee appointments for 2021:

  • Govs. Counts, Silvey, Frazier and Waters will serve on the Executive Committee.
  • Gov. Waters will chair the Finance and Facilities Committee.
  • Gov. Parman will chair the Programs and Planning Committee.
  • Gov. Silvey will chair the Risk Management and Audit Committee.
  • Gov. Frazier will serve as the board representative to the MSU Foundation.

The end of the calendar year also marks the end of outgoing board member’s terms. The board recognized Govs. Gore, Keltner and Tergin for their service on the Board of Governors. I have enjoyed working with each of them, and they will be greatly missed when their replacements are appointed and confirmed.

Save the date

Before we leave for winter break I wanted to let you know about an upcoming event. At 3 p.m. Jan. 15 we will host a virtual town hall meeting to discuss our COVID-19 response, plans for the spring semester and other topics. We will distribute the Zoom link and other details in January.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!