Presidential Updates

Clif’s Notes for April 9, 2019

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The Collaborative Diversity Conference is April 24 – 26 and the MoState Student Summit is April 27. I hope you will join me in attending one or both of these important public affairs events.

Register for the conference

The theme for this year’s Collaborative Diversity Conference is “Bridging the Cultural Divides.” The conference will emphasize best practices for diversity and inclusion while addressing the cultural divides that reflect our current national climate.

On April 24, we will feature an anti-racism preconference workshop titled “Facing Racism in 2019 and Beyond!” This session will discuss how to oppose racism in the workplace as well as the current political and social environment.

Conference sessions will begin on April 25 with a plenary presentation by Professor Irshad Manji, an author, educator and winner of Oprah’s first-ever “Chutzpah Award” for boldness. A Muslim who openly stands for the dignity of women and minorities, she has founded the award-winning Moral Courage Project. Morning and afternoon breakout sessions will follow Manji’s plenary presentation.

Breakout sessions will continue on the morning of April 26. The conference will conclude with the Diversity Champions Luncheon. The Diversity Champion for 2019 will be announced at the luncheon, and Manji will discuss her new book “Don’t Label Me: A Conversation for Divided Times.”

You can find more information at the Collaborative Diversity Conference webpage.

Students speak up

On April 27, we will host the 2nd Annual MoState Student Summit. The summit allows students to take on the roles as presenters and provide an interactive and transformative forum for participants to engage in critical discourse around issues of social justice and make steps toward social change.

The theme of this year’s summit is “Leading across the Cultural Divide.” You can find more information on the Multicultural Programs webpage.

Concealed carry

As many of you are aware, last week the Missouri House of Representatives perfected a bill that includes a floor amendment allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons on college campuses. To find out more information about this bill and how you can advocate on it, please join the MSU Legislative Network and read last week’s Legislative Network Update.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Nov. 6, 2018

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Today is Election Day. I encourage each of you to put the public affairs mission into practice by voting at the Welcome Center or your regular polling location. I am in China this week meeting with government officials and representatives of our partner universities, but I voted absentee before I left.

In last week’s Clif’s Notes, I summarized some of the issues on the ballot and told you how I voted on Proposition D (the transportation funding proposal). If you missed that note, you can find it here.

Setting new goals

When we developed the 2016-21 long-range plan, we also established measurable goals to track our progress under the plan.

I am pleased to report that the university has met two of these goals.

We set a goal of awarding 4,900 degrees and credentials annually. Last year we awarded 4,723 degrees and 461 certificates for a total of 5,184.

We also set a goal of having 14 percent of our faculty and staff be international or members of historically underrepresented groups. In fall 2018, 14.5 percent of our faculty and staff were international or members of historically underrepresented groups, a nearly 4 percent increase over the past 5 years.

The board discussed this progress, and the university established new goals.

The board recognized the flat trend in numbers of high school graduates in Missouri. The board also recognized that our future enrollment growth will be more focused on targeted areas of high workforce demand. Accordingly, we have established a goal of awarding 5,200 degrees and credentials annually by 2021.

The board and the administration agreed that it was important that we continue to press forward on our work to diversify the university’s workforce. Accordingly, we have established a goal of having 16 percent of our faculty and staff be international or members of historically underrepresented groups by 2021.

Room to improve

We have not yet reached our goals with regard to retention and graduation rates.

We have a goal of achieving an overall six-year graduation rate of 57 percent and a first-to-second year retention rate of 82 percent. Our 2018 rates were 54.5 percent and 78 percent respectively.

We also have a goal of increasing our retention and graduation rates for underrepresented, Pell-eligible and first-generation students to 79 percent and 50 percent respectively. Our retention rates for these groups of students range from 64 to 76 percent, and our graduation rates range from 38 to 57 percent.

We are doing a lot to achieve our retention and graduation goals. We continue to expand our designated GEP 101 sections. We are in the process of implementing the Center for Academic Success and Transition (CAST), creating an academic care team for students in academic trouble, encouraging more students to create and utilize four-year plans, providing training on proactive advising and undertaking numerous other initiatives designed to support student academic needs.

In December, the board will discuss the retention and graduation data and the initiatives currently underway.

I am proud of the work we have done, and I look forward to the work that lies ahead to achieve each of these important goals.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for May 1, 2018

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Last week we hosted the Collaborative Diversity Conference. I hope you were able to attend some of the sessions. The conference offered great insight as we continue to create a campus environment that values inclusive excellence.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Facing Racism in 2018 and Beyond: A Changing Dynamic.” The speakers and workshops focused on addressing the resurgence of racism, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments and discriminatory actions taken against those from diverse backgrounds. The conference inspired an action-oriented commitment to the public affairs mission by providing participants viable ways to implement and embrace inclusive excellence to transcend the bias that permeates our political, social and economic environments.

The plenary speaker, Dr. Damon Williams, provided insight into implementing an inclusive excellence model to innovate diversity and empower leaders. He also met with our administrative and academic leadership teams to share his expertise in strategic diversity leadership, youth development, corporate responsibility and organizational change.

In addition to Williams’ plenary address, I found the “Conversation with Diversity Champions” panel discussion particularly inspiring. Panelists Jim Anderson (CoxHealth) and Ron Johnson (Missouri State Highway Patrol) shared about their efforts to address and resolve divisiveness, hostility and rancor in the workplace and in society as a whole.

Missouri State University is a leader in Springfield and throughout the state of Missouri on diversity and inclusion. We take this responsibility seriously. I am proud of the work we have done to make our campus more inclusive. The Collaborative Diversity Conference provides us with a meaningful opportunity to share our experiences in inclusive excellence and to learn from the experiences of others.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

A response to recent events

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When we begin the new school year, we typically focus on areas of celebration: our continued growth in enrollment of first-time students, the completion of several major campus construction projects that will improve the student experience, recognition for our first generation initiatives and efforts and continued growth in our number of diverse students, faculty and staff.

However, we realize recent events, such as the travel advisory issued by the NAACP and the violence at the University of Virginia (UVA) may have caused some members of our campus community concern about their anticipated experiences at Missouri State and in our community.

We are deeply saddened and dismayed by the events that occurred at UVA, yet we support the peaceful exercise of free speech, expression and assembly. However, violence is not protected and cannot be condoned. We strongly condemn the racism, bigotry and intolerance shown by white supremacy organizations in Charlottesville. Missouri State University will always stand against such hate and violence while continuing to champion the promise of America for all.

Inclusion is one of our core values at Missouri State University, and we seek to lead Springfield and the state in our commitment to inclusivity. We have over 3,000 underrepresented students and approximately 1,700 international students. We are committed to providing an environment in which all can thrive educationally and professionally.

Diversity and inclusion is an important value for our university and it serves as a critical component of our vision for Missouri State. Inclusive excellence is woven into the three pillars of our public affairs mission. Diversity is also one of the university’s focus areas for its annual action plans and one of our six priorities in our 5-year Long Range Plan.

Missouri State University will continue to collaborate with partners from every sector to ensure a welcoming and inclusive environment for all of our domestic and international university stakeholders, especially our students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and community members.

We recognize that significant challenges face our world, nation, state, and local communities. Despite these challenges, we will continue our efforts to educate students to be global citizen scholars committed to ethical leadership, cultural competence and community engagement. I hope you will join me in continuing to make Missouri State a place where all feel welcome.

Clif’s Notes for July 11, 2017

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Last month I presented the board with our Report on Action Plan for 2016-17 and highlighted our work and accomplishments over the past year. Thanks to all of your hard work, we had a very good year except in the state funding arena. Of course, that is a very important matter as we all know.

Breaking records

We graduated a record number of students, awarding 4,401 degrees and 299 certificates. We also added new academic programs in areas of critical workforce needs, including a master’s in agriculture, master’s in computer science, master’s in athletic training and master’s in early childhood special education.

We set enrollment records with 26,000 students in the system and 24,116 on the Springfield campus. We enrolled 1,782 new transfer students in fall 2016, making Missouri State the number one transfer student destination in the state of Missouri.

We set records for enrollment of underrepresented students. We expect additional growth in the coming year, making 2017-18 the first year Missouri State has enrolled more than 3,000 domestic underrepresented students. With retention initiatives like designated GEP 101 sections and restructured scholarships, the university increased the retention rate for first-time full-time freshman to 79 percent, a four point increase over a two year period. St. Louis Graduates and the St. Louis Regional Chamber recognized Missouri State as one of five Missouri colleges (only three of which were public) for “leadership in graduating low-income students, first-generation students and students of color with less debt.”

Making improvements

Aerial view of campus

We increased the diversity of our faculty and staff to 12.8 percent (up from 11.5 percent just one year ago), and we once again met our target of 20 percent of new hires being from diverse backgrounds. We also instituted many campus and community diversity training programs, including diversity training for the board and senior administrators and classroom cultural consciousness training for all new faculty and academic administrators.

We made significant facilities investments, including work on Ellis Hall, the Professional Building (third floor), Cheek Hall (computer labs), Blair-Shannon House (bathrooms), Glass Hall, the Health and Wellness Center and Hass-Darr Hall in West Plains.

We improved safety on campus by completing an IACLEA LEMAP assessment in Springfield and West Plains, reallocating money to hire a manager of emergency preparedness, completing a hazard identification risk assessment, revising emergency response plans and policies, increasing campus cameras to 472 digital and 92 analog, and enhancing our information security protections.

We expanded our entrepreneurial activities, completed a second cohort of the business accelerator program, and kicked off several new initiatives and activities like Rosie, the Springfield Entrepreneurial and Innovation Network, and customized corporate innovation events. We received numerous accolades for our entrepreneurial activities, including Entrepreneur Magazine ranking The eFactory third in its national list of “seven incubators that can help your startup.”

We received significant external support with grants and sponsored contracts and private contributions through the Foundation each topping $19 million. We won four conference championships in athletics with our athletes earning the highest overall grade point average in history.

The list of great things we were able to accomplish this year goes on and on.

I want to thank all of you for your commitment to Missouri State. These accomplishments are possible only through the combined effort of our entire team of faculty and staff.

Keeping an eye on the budget

We spent a lot of time last year working on the budget in light of state funding cuts. Before the new fiscal year began on July 1, the governor announced a new set of spending restrictions that will impact Missouri State. In essence, the state intends to fund Missouri State and all other public universities and community colleges using the 9 percent reduction that the governor initially recommended rather than the 6.58 percent reduction passed by the legislature.

The university’s budget assumes a 9 percent reduction, so we will not have to make any immediate adjustments. However, unless the governor lifts the spending restrictions in the near future, it will be difficult to move forward with a mid-year compensation package.

Work has already begun to develop strategies to fund strategic investments in next year’s budget. One such investment will be a compensation package for employees. I will update you when this work materializes into a plan.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!