Presidential Updates

Clif’s Notes for Nov. 16, 2021

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The Board of Governors Executive Committee will meet Wednesday afternoon.

The committee will vote on a resolution to award a $2.7 million contract to John Adams Construction Company for the welding lab renovation at the Broadway Building on the West Plains campus. In addition to submitting the lowest and best bid, John Adams Construction Company is a local general contractor based out of West Plains.

We are excited to partner with a local company to complete this transformative project for the university and the West Plains community.

The committee will also vote on two resolutions for projects on the Springfield campus. The first resolution awards a contract to MTS Contracting, Inc. for repairs to the exterior of Woods House and Wells House on the Springfield campus.

The second resolution hires Clark Huesemann LC as the consultant for infill work at the Roy Blunt Jordan Valley Innovation Center Brewer Science Innovation Annex.

Finally, the committee will vote on two critical procurement contracts.

The first is a contract for reinsurance — or stop loss coverage — for the university’s employee group medical plan.

The second is a contract to purchase $2.3 million in equipment needed to expand capacity of the district chilled water system to more reliably serve the campus and allow for the connection of Kampeter Hall to the system.

Open enrollment: Select the right benefit options for you

We are over halfway through November. That means you only have two weeks left to complete open enrollment for your employee benefits.

Open enrollment is the annual period during which you can elect, decline or make changes to your medical, dental, vision and cafeteria/flexible spending plans for the coming calendar year.

The open enrollment deadline is Dec. 1.

You can find more information about open enrollment, including instructions for how to complete open enrollment online or over the phone, on the open enrollment webpage.

Save $360 on health insurance premiums

You also only have two weeks left to save up to $360 on your annual health insurance premiums.

This year’s wellness incentive includes the following vaccination combination:

  • COVID-19 vaccination qualifies for $20 per month discount.
  • Flu vaccination qualifies for $10 per month discount.

Both vaccinations must be completed prior to Dec. 1 to qualify.

Employees who did not complete their vaccination at Magers Health and Wellness Center must contact Magers to submit their vaccination information before Dec. 1 to qualify for the discount.

Thanksgiving break next week

We will not publish Inside Missouri State next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

I hope you take a well-deserved break and find time to relax and recharge before we march forward to the end of the fall semester.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Oct. 19, 2021

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In April I told you about our plans to construct an addition to and renovation of Temple Hall. Today I am pleased to report that we are making progress on those plans.

Last week the Board of Governors approved a $4.1 million contract with BNIM to design the first two phases of the project. The first phase envisions a 65,000 to 90,000 square foot addition that will house research laboratories.

The second phase will renovate the existing building. Combined, the two phases will cost at least $60 million.

Design will occur this fall and continue through next year. Work is scheduled to begin on the project in fall 2022.

We are using university reserves to fund this design work. Meanwhile, we continue to advocate for funding for the project.

Advocating for federal funding

Sen. Roy Blunt was on campus to tour Temple Hall and meet with faculty last week. Sen. Blunt is leveraging the congressionally directed spending process in Washington, D.C. to advocate for federal appropriations to fund the project.

Our government relations team and I have worked closely with Sen. Blunt and his staff on this process.

Sen. Blunt has a strong affinity for Missouri State University. He is a proud alum of MSU, graduating with a master’s degree in history in 1972.

He was born and raised on a farm about 40 miles from the university. In more recent years, Sen. Blunt has lived just a few blocks north of campus and can regularly be found at various campus events and activities.

Sen. Blunt has actively supported many of our operations at Missouri State University. Many of the university’s grants and external contracts are thanks, in whole or in part, to Sen. Blunt’s work.

Beyond funding, he has worked tirelessly to promote our faculty, staff and students domestically and abroad. This work is exemplified by his decision, as chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, to invite the MSU Chorale to perform at the inaugural ceremony for the 45th president of the United States.

In addition to his strong support for MSU, Sen. Blunt has been a fierce advocate for higher education and the sciences.

Sen. Blunt is the top Republican on the Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds the Department of Education as well as Health and Human Services. In that role, he has prioritized funding for the National Institutes of Health.

Under Sen. Blunt’s leadership, NIH funding increased 43% — $12.85 billion — over the last six years. He also championed funding increases for STEM and computer science education, apprenticeship programs, TRIO, and the Pell Grant program, including support for year-round Pell.

I have had the pleasure of working with Sen. Blunt throughout my presidency. Whenever I have called upon Sen. Blunt for help, he has zealously and eagerly taken up our cause. I am glad to call him a friend.

Seeking state support

In addition to federal funding, we are advocating for state funding to support the project.

In September Gov. Mike Parson requested proposals for matching capital to fund transformational higher education projects. We submitted a request for funds to expand our STEM facilities on campus.

Like Sen. Blunt, Gov. Parson has loyally supported MSU and championed the cause of higher education and workforce development.

We are grateful to have partners like Gov. Parson, Sen. Lincoln Hough, and others in Jefferson City to advocate on our behalf. Our elected officials are well aware of our campus needs, and they work tirelessly to position Missouri State University for success as funding decisions are made.

Similar to the federal funding process, we will not know the fate of state appropriations for several months.

In the meantime, we will press forward with designing the Temple Hall project to ensure that it is shovel-ready as funding decisions are made.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Sept. 21, 2021

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The Board of Governors Executive Committee met last week.

David Hall and I provided an update on the status of COVID-19 on campus and in our community. We are in a much better position this semester than we were last fall and last spring in terms of case counts, positivity rate and all other relevant metrics.

The board applauded all of our efforts to advocate for vaccination and adhere to the masking policy.

Helping our students

The board approved our plan to distribute federal stimulus funds to our students.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) allocated $20.8 million to the Springfield campus and $1.8 million to the West Plains campus for distribution to our students. These funds are separate from the funds allocated to the university to offset lost revenue and certain COVID-related expenditures.

We distributed a small portion of the funds to students during the summer. The board approved a plan to distribute almost all of the remaining funds.

  • Currently enrolled domestic students will receive at least $1,000.
  • Pell-eligible students will receive additional funds.
  • International students may also apply to receive funds.

We plan to disperse these funds over the next six weeks.

Movement on the underpass project

The Executive Committee also hired Nabholz Construction Corporation, a construction management at risk firm, to perform professional management services for the Grand Street Underpass project.

The board set a $3.8 million budget for the project. The board can expand that budget to include a second phase if additional funding comes available through Congressionally directed spending.

We continue to work with Rep. Billy Long to advocate for this funding.

Advocating for MSU

The Missouri Coordinating Board of Higher Education (CBHE) also met last week.

The CBHE voted to advance our proposal to offer a Doctor of Occupational Therapy program to Phase II of the comprehensive review process. I want to give a special thanks to Drs. Frank Einhellig, Julie Masterson, Mark Smith, Letitia White-Minnis, Sapna Chakraborty and everyone else who have worked tirelessly on this proposal.

The CBHE approved a rule implementing changes to the Higher Education Student Funding Act (HESFA). Public universities will no longer be limited by law to inflation on tuition increases. The revised rule goes into effect and limits a university’s ability to charge course fees in certain situations. Based on the language in the rule and our conversations with staff at MDHEWD, we do not believe the new rule will impact our tuition and fee model.

The CBHE also approved budget recommendations that will be advanced to Gov. Mike Parson.

These recommendations include:

  • An inflationary increase for public university operating appropriations.
  • A deferred maintenance allocation for each university (calculated at 3% of each university’s core operating appropriation).
  • A $9 million appropriation increase for the Access Missouri financial assistance program and an $18 million appropriation increase for the A+ dual credit scholarship program.
  • Renewal of the Fast Track enabling legislation and removal of the clawback/forgivable loan provisions in the program.

We support these recommendations and will work with Gov. Parson’s office to advocate that they be included in his budget recommendations and policy priorities when legislative session begins in January.

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 April 20, 2021

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In June 2019 we began a master planning process for the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS). After months of discovery, analysis and option development, the final report was issued on Sept. 1, 2020.

The plan establishes three goals:

  1. Provide for the future of CNAS.
  2. Enable research.
  3. Increase visibility for science.

CNAS operations are spread across Temple Hall, Cheek Hall, Kemper Hall and King Street Annex. All four of these facilities need extensive work to meet the goals set forth above.

I am pleased to report that we have begun work to identify funding for the first critical CNAS project: an expansion and renovation of Temple Hall.

Temple Hall renovation

Temple Hall houses classrooms, labs, and offices to support the university’s biology, chemistry, geography, geology and other STEM programs.

Temple Hall was built in 1971 and has not been substantially remodeled since it was constructed. It is in critical need of maintenance and repair.

Moreover, MSU’s enrollment in the sciences has grown from 1,000 to 2,400 since Temple Hall was constructed. This includes a doubling of graduate enrollment in CNAS over the last 25 years.

Additional space is needed to meet CNAS’s educational and research needs.

The CNAS Master Plan proposes a 66,000 square foot, 4-story addition to Temple Hall. The plan also proposes to renovate 40,000 square feet of existing lab space and 48,000 square feet of existing classroom, office and common space in Temple Hall.

The Temple Hall addition will cost $40 million, and the renovation of existing space in Temple Hall will cost an additional $20 million.

Gaining support

I and other members of our team have begun to speak with state and federal lawmakers about this project.

Specifically:

  • I met with Sen. Roy Blunt during the first week of April and discussed this project.
  • Ryan DeBoef and Matt Morris testified about this project in Jefferson City last week at the invitation of the Missouri House Subcommittee on Federal Stimulus Spending.
  • Yesterday we also submitted the Temple Hall project to Commissioner of Higher Education Zora Mulligan as MSU’s highest priority for federal stimulus appropriations.
  • We are working with COPHE to submit the Temple Hall project directly to Gov. Mike Parson’s office as well.

The United States and the State of Missouri currently have access to unprecedented one-time funds. Our goal in the coming months is to work to match federal and state funds with private contributions and university reserves to fund this project.

Community Project Funding

MSU has a strong history of federal investment.

Over the past several weeks, a new federal funding opportunity has emerged. Through Community Project Funding requests, members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate will soon have the ability to seek congressionally directed spending for high priority projects.

Given the limited nature of Community Project Funding in its first year, we have not yet submitted a formal federal appropriation request for the Temple Hall project. However, we have submitted requests for three smaller projects:

  1. A refractory composite component braider facility expansion that will be part of the Roy Blunt Jordan Valley Innovation Center.
  2. Expansion plans for the Darr Agricultural Center.
  3. A welding lab facility renovation project at the Broadway Building in West Plains.

Ozarks Transportation Organization (OTO) has also submitted a request for renovation of the Grand Street Underpass on our Springfield campus. We support this request and will advocate for it with our federal delegation.

We will continue to meet with our federal delegation and their staffs to advocate for these and other important university projects.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!