Presidential Updates

Clif’s Notes for May 16, 2023

by

It has been just over a year since I announced we would begin a two-year transformation plan to ensure we are meeting modern post-secondary needs. The Board of Governors supported the approach and it includes all areas of the university.

Over the next few months, I’ll provide more information about many areas of the plan. Today, I’ll focus on the academic realignment plan, which was a primary topic of our Town Hall last Friday.

You can read the complete details on the academic realignment plan website as I reference portions below. My intent here is to convey my excitement on a few of the outcomes and changes that will collectively shape the academic transformation.

Key highlights

Darr College of Agriculture (DCOAG)

Darr is focused on enhancing its statewide prominence and I’m excited by the vision from Hospitality Leadership and its move to Darr as we go from farm to fork in addressing food, forage and natural resources. The two new schools offer a laser focus on the science and business/education sides of agriculture.

Departments will be combined into two schools within the college. Our build-out of the approximately $6 million Agricultural Innovation Hub projected for completion in 2025, comes at a perfect time for this college as it morphs in addressing 21st century needs. My thanks to Dr. Melissa Bledsoe for assuming the interim dean role and Dr. Chin-Feng Hwang for taking on the chancellorship of the Mountain Grove campus. I cannot wait to see the changes ahead.

Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (RCASH)

Last December, we announced that the colleges of Arts and Letters and Humanities and Public Affairs would be combined to create a new college. I’ve attended a few combined RCASH functions as of late and it’s quite clear the transition has been smooth and enhanced collaboration is blossoming.

The opportunities for us to be a destination campus for the arts, to continue elevating strong programs like criminology and criminal justice and defense and strategic studies, and to be a trendsetter in protecting and investing in the arts, social sciences and humanities make me proud of our realignment efforts in these areas. A special thanks to Dean Vic Matthews for his 39 year of service – our very best to you, Vic, in retirement!

College of Business (COB)

COB is our largest college and we’re the university of choice in the Midwest for business students – so why rest on our laurels? I love the focus on expanding and enhancing our portfolio by having Economics join what will soon be known as the department of finance, economics and risk management. Merchandising and Fashion Design will move to the department of technology and construction management.

The synergies of the programs are evident and investing in them is as well. To exemplify, our new $1 million specialized lab complex in Glass Hall includes a merchandising and fashion 3-D lab and is slated to open this fall. Further, we are beginning an $8 million addition and renovation of Kemper Hall with its completion projected in fall 2024.

College of Education (COE)

We are the state’s leader in producing educators. The two new schools serve to enhance our strengths in teacher education and developmental studies and complement the Greenwood Laboratory School and Agency for Teaching, Leading and Learning – and the soon-to-be-opened Center on Rural Education.

I appreciate the focus on proactive engagement communities. Our 1905 founding was based on being a normal school and serving agricultural interests. Combined with the Darr College of Agriculture, the changes within the College of Education will serve to strengthen our birthright programs.

McQueary College of Health and Human Services (MCHHS)

I fully support the move to five schools in the college – including three new ones – and the elevated focus on multidisciplinary and integrated practices complete with immersive student experiences and community integration.

The new School of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences – with Counseling’s move to MCHHS and joining Psychology and Social Work – puts another stamp on MSU being a destination campus while addressing one of society’s signature needs. The other four schools clearly address critical workforce needs. And the proposed interdisciplinary major in Esports targets an explosive field of growth.

College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS)

I’m thrilled to see the creation of an interdisciplinary major in tourism – the state’s second largest industry and a program that is relatively non-existent in higher education. The move to make Geology, Geography, Planning and Sustainability a new school is something I hope we continue to do across other areas and I’m pleased that student pathways across the university will be clarified to assist students.

Our focus on STEM is obvious with our $145 million investment in Blunt and Cheek halls. By the way, construction on Blunt Hall is slated to begin next week!

Some of these changes will occur this summer; others will occur over the next 14 months. My thanks to all areas involved as I know the transition impacts offices and workflows across the university.

John Jasinski and I talk a great deal about the continuous evolution of academic affairs. I fully expect to see ongoing changes throughout the enterprise moving forward – as continuous improvement within organizations is just that – continuous.

Other changes

Beyond the colleges, many other changes are taking place within academic affairs and it is evident the pace of change over the past 10 months has accelerated our transformational efforts.

The Chief Academic Strategy Officer will be Dr. Ken Brown and he begins his duties June 1, 2023. Three provost fellows are being introduced for fall 2023: research – Dr. Paul Durham, research compliance – Dr. Amy Hulme and curriculum and learning – Dr. Subha Basu Roy.

Executive Vice President Zora Mulligan, MCHHS dean Mark Smith and John J. listened and took in a great deal from our advising community. Key changes in advising include structure (ensuring all colleges have advising centers), system – (invoking an early alert system) and people (providing baseline market pay for advisors).

Zora and our enrollment team, along with all those throughout academic affairs and all of you have focused on enrollment, and our preliminary fall 2023 projections – shared at Friday’s Town Hall – look solid. More on enrollment in the coming months.

Vice President Brad Bodenhausen and John J. listened to our researchers and those who are part of our research support system. Investments in research include the provost fellows, funding an additional position in the Office of Research Administration and a move toward an eventual innovation fund.

We began a journey of exploring a new learning management system late last November and we’re taking a proposal to go with Brightspace/D2L to the Board of Governors this week. We’ve already heard from a great number of faculty who wish to be early adopters of changing from our current system to Brightspace/D2L in the coming months. Thank you!

Summary

Our team gathered broad input throughout the academic realignment process. There are many more changes I’ve not addressed here. But let me summarize my take on what we’ve done in a short time and where we’re headed.

In crafting academic affairs as MSU’s strategic enterprise, we’re reallocating and investing in academics. We’re focused on raising our academic profile. We have $1.8 million for future academic investment. We have savings/reinvestment opportunities at the college level to the tune of about $600k.

We’re proposing to the Board of Governors a cost-of-living increase, retention payment and centrally-funded position adjustments. We’re investing in provost fellows, research, advising and a data warehouse. I took John J.’s challenge to fund investments in active learning classrooms and facility improvements. Combined with matches from the provost and deans, we have up to $5 million for these improvements.

Folks, we did all this and avoided program eliminations and protected filled faculty lines and administrative assistant positions. We reduced administrators and administrative costs. To be sure, we have some more to do as we have several study groups lined up to solidify further changes.

Transformation plan introduced. Transformation plan in full force in a short amount of time. Boom! Let’s keep going!

I asked for transformation and academic affairs produced. I can’t wait for the continuous evolution as we collectively focus on student success. We’re well-positioned to take that next organizational leap as we fulfill our statewide mission of public affairs.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State. Wrap up strong and we’ll see you at our spring 2023 Commencement ceremonies!

Clif

Clif’s Notes for Oct. 4, 2022

by

At yesterday’s State of the University Address, Zora Mulligan and I announced a new scholarship program called the MoState Access Award.

Beginning next fall, new Missouri undergraduate students who are eligible for the Pell Grant won’t pay any tuition or fees at Missouri State University.

This is a “gap filler” program — meaning the MoState Access Award will cover all tuition and fees that aren’t covered by other scholarships and grants.

You can find more information about the MoState Access Award on the scholarships webpage.

Addressing the decline

Our Pell Grant eligible undergraduate population has steadily declined in recent years.

Chart showing the decline of Pell students declining from 2014-2022.

The Enrollment Steering Team analyzed relevant data and found that MSU’s decline in Pell eligible enrollment has outpaced other institutions in our area.

The Enrollment Management Team recommended the MoState Access Award as a current best practice designed to address this decline.

The MoState Access Award will make an education at Missouri State University accessible for all students regardless of their financial need. This is important to our core mission of educating students to be global citizen scholars. It is also a critical strategy to increase enrollment.

As we work to recruit prospective students, I hope you will join me in spreading the word about this important new access initiative.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Sept. 27, 2022

by

I will deliver the State of the University address at 12:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3 in the PSU Theater.

Throughout the pandemic, we replaced our traditional State of the University address with a series of virtual town hall meetings.

This year, we will return to our regular format with an in-person address. I will cover highlights from last year, enrollment data from fall census, and goals and action items for the coming year.

After I have delivered the address, I will moderate a discussion with Zora Mulligan and John Jasinski about our work on enrollment and academic realignment.

Following that discussion, Zora, John and I will answer questions from the audience.

I hope you will plan to join us for this year’s State of the University address.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Aug. 30, 2022

by

Every Monday morning throughout the spring and summer, I received and reviewed a fall 2022 enrollment projection report from AVP for Enrollment Management and Services Rob Hornberger. These reports were based on enrollment indicators — applications, acceptances, enrollment in SOAR, housing deposits, etc.

Last Monday the rubber hit the road. Instead of a report based on indicators, Rob sent an opening day enrollment report based on the actual number of students that were enrolled on the first day of classes.

Thanks to the hard work of our staff and faculty, the opening day enrollment report was better than our indicators predicted.

So, what did the report say?  We were successful in several areas, and we have work to do in others.

Growth in key areas

We are up in graduate enrollment and expect to set another record in graduate enrollment. I want to give a shout out to Julie Masterson and her team in the Graduate College as well as all the folks in the colleges who work on graduate programs for their hard work to grow in a challenging environment.

We are way up in international enrollment. Brad Bodenhausen and his team have responded exceptionally to the obstacles universities throughout the United States face in recruiting international students. It is good to have our international students back on campus.

We are up in transfer students. This is not due to the work of any one office or unit on campus — it is a team success.

The efforts led by Rob Moore and his team to redesign our transfer scholarships undoubtedly played a role in this growth.

The Darr College of Agriculture, the College of Business and the College of Education grew. Staff and faculty worked hard to generate these increases.

We should all be proud of the enrollment growth in these colleges and in various departments and programs throughout the university.

Headcount and credit hour decline

While we focus on the positive results, we can’t ignore that we are down 2.9% in headcount enrollment and 4.7% in credit hours on opening day.

We anticipated an enrollment decline, and Missouri State rose to the challenge.

Our admissions and enrollment teams — joined by faculty and staff throughout the university — worked hard to pare down that decline throughout the summer.

Those efforts paid off.

Your role matters

We still have a lot of work to do.

No matter our role in the university, each of us have a stake in recruiting, retaining and graduating students.

We must all reexamine the way we impact students. Even if the activities we plan, strategies we use, and actions we take have worked well for many years, we must explore opportunities to reinvent and refresh them — to make our university even more attractive to prospective and current students.

Highlighting what sets us apart

In the coming months two steering teams will take the lead in recommending changes.

Zora Mulligan will lead an enrollment steering team focused on reimagining and reenergizing our admissions, retention and enrollment efforts. This work is both urgent and important.

Accordingly, I have reassigned enrollment management and services, admissions, the registrar, financial aid, academic support and student success, and access and outreach to report directly to Zora.

John Jasinski will lead an academic disruptors steering team focused on academic structures, processes and programs as well as the academic budget. The team will address the overall academic enterprise, including academic administrative operations.

We have much to be proud of at Missouri State. Our academic programs are strong. Our campus life is outstanding. We are a cornerstone in the Springfield community, and our profile throughout the state, the nation and the world continues to rise.

We have enrollment and budget challenges and will address these challenges head on as we have always done — strategically, creatively and driven by our desire to be the best university for our students.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for March 8, 2022

by

Our spring enrollment census was two weeks ago.

We had some good news:

  • Total headcount enrollment grew by 1%.
  • We are up 5.5% in graduate students.
  • Our number of students from historically underrepresented groups is up 4%.
  • Our international enrollment grew by 28%.
  • Dual credit enrollment grew by 27%.

However, we are down by more than 4% in total credit hours. While graduate credit hours are up by 4%, undergraduate credit hour enrollment declined by 5.6%.

Enrollment declines impact our mission. We cannot educate students to be global citizen scholars when they do not enroll.

Enrollment declines also impact our budget. Enrollment declines have resulted in a $7 million tuition revenue shortfall this year.

We must all focus our efforts on enrollment for next fall and beyond. Everyone should do their part to recruit new students and work with our current students to help them navigate barriers that could prevent them from coming back in the fall.

If you have ideas or strategies to recruit new students or retain existing students, please discuss them with your colleagues and administrators. You can also email them to me at president@missouristate.edu.

Congratulate Rachel Anderson

This week the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce will host its annual ATHENA award event.

At this event, Rachel Anderson, director of the efactory at Missouri State, will receive the prestigious Virginia Fry Rising Star Award. MSU will be well represented at the event with three tables of attendees.

The Virginia Fry Rising Star Award honors someone age 40 or younger who is already beginning to light the way for women leaders. The award is named posthumously after Virginia Fry, a successful attorney in Springfield and a proud MSU alumnus and former member of our Board of Governors.

Through Rachel’s service at the university — from co-founding Rosie to serving on the advisory board for the Entrepreneurship Strand of GO CAPS to guiding fledgling entrepreneurs at the efactory — Rachel is well-deserving of this honor.

I hope you will join me in congratulating Rachel.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!