Presidential Updates

Missouri House of Representatives recommends budget restoration

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Missouri State University would like to acknowledge the work and support of legislators in the Missouri House of Representatives for recognizing the value and impact of higher education to the state.

Restoration of the budget cuts will ensure students continue to have the opportunity to obtain an affordable quality education. If Missouri State receives the appropriations included in the House budget, tuition for in-state undergraduate students will increase by only 1 percent for next academic year.

Special thanks to Rep. Todd Richardson (Speaker of the House), Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick (Chair of the House Budget Committee), and the Springfield business community for your continued support of higher education.

2017 State of the University address

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Clif Smart and Frank Einhellig will present the State of the University address at 12:15 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, in the Plaster Student Union theater. The speech will be live streamed.

Asking questions

During the speech, President Smart and Provost Einhellig will accept questions in person and online:

Supplemental resources

Broadcast information

For those who cannot attend in person, the speech will air at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 on KSMU and 7 p.m. Oct. 2 on Ozarks Public Television.

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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.

Join the Budget Town Hall meeting

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President Clif Smart will lead a town hall discussion about the university budget at 1:30 p.m. April 10, 2017, in the Plaster Student Union theater.

This meeting will discuss revenue enhancement and expense reduction strategies that each cost center and the university as a whole can use. The Executive Budget Committee will consider this discussion as it develops FY18 budget recommendations for the Board of Governors.

Watch the live stream

Providing feedback during the meeting

After the discussion, President Smart will accept feedback from faculty and staff in attendance via DirectPoll. Please bring your phone, tablet or laptop to participate.

We ask that you consider using your data plan instead of WiFi in the PSU Theater.

Supplemental information

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University reaffirms commitment to transgender students

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We are all aware of the recent rescission by the departments of Justice and Education of their May 2016 guidance that provided additional protections for transgender students. Because this rescission is concerning to many of our employees and students, I wanted to provide some information for your review.

Missouri State University is committed to creating an academic and work environment free of sexual discrimination and harassment, while valuing the dignity of all students, faculty and staff.

In the last three years we have expanded our Title IX office from part-time commitment to a staff of four people to address all concerns associated with sexual discrimination and harassment.

Additionally, Missouri State has made a concerted effort to be inclusive across campus.

Avenue of international flagsNondiscrimination policy was expanded last year

In February 2016 – before the issuance of the now rescinded protections – we modified our campus nondiscrimination policy to specifically preclude discrimination based on marital status, family status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or any other subcategory of sex discrimination. Recent actions taken by the federal government do not change this or any other university policy.

Missouri State values all forms of diversity represented on our campus. It makes us all consider a variety of perspectives that we may not have been exposed to before joining the Missouri State community. These perspectives ideally create a more culturally compassionate response to changing environments and those who ask for our consideration and respect.

We remain committed to our transgender students and will continue to provide for your safety. Please continue to interact with the LGBTQ Resource Center in the Multicultural Resource Center Annex for information and support.