Student Success initiatives are housed in the Student Development and Public Affairs unit.
Its mission is: To enrich Missouri State University’s academic environment by fostering student, faculty, and staff success through interconnected programs and services to advance the public affairs mission.


Betzabe Rodriguez
Early Childhood Education
Betzabe (pronounced Bet-zah-bay, but “I go by Betzy,” she says) moved from Mexico to Springfield a few years ago when her father became a pastor at a local church. She now spends time inside elementary-school classrooms as part of her training. She took the University’s emphasis on ethical leadership to heart; she is the founder of a campus group that works to promote higher education to local Latino high school students and their parents. more