September 11, 2020

Minutes of the Board of Governors 
Missouri State University 
September  11, 2020, 12:45 P.m. 
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88496891710

Roll Call
Present – Mr. Craig Frazier, Chair
Ms. Amelia “Amy” Counts, Governor
Mr. Gabriel Gore, Governor
Ms. Beverly Miller Keltner, Governor
Ms. Lynn Parman, Governor
Ms. Carol Silvey, Governor
Ms. Carrie Tergin, Governor
Mr. Jay Wasson, Governor
Mr. Chris Waters, Governor
Mr. Briar Douglas, Student Governor

Also present – Clifton M. Smart III, President
Jim Baker, Vice President for Research and Economic Development & International Programs
Jeff Coiner, Chief Information Officer
Chris Craig, Deputy Provost
Ryan DeBoef, Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President for Governmental Relations
Frank Einhellig, Provost
Steve Foucart, Chief Financial Officer
Rob Hornberger, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management & Services
Tammy Jahnke, Dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences
A’dja Jones, Director of Student-Athlete Development & Community Relations
Dennis Lancaster, Interim Chancellor of the West Plains Campus
Mike Merrigan, Coordinator of the Master of Health Administration Program
Matt Morris, Vice President for Administrative Services
Wes Pratt, Chief Diversity Officer and Assistant to the President
Suzanne Shaw, Vice President for Marketing and Communications
Dee Siscoe, Vice President for Student Affairs
Rabekah Stewart, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs-Multicultural Services
Rowena Stone, Secretary to the Board of Governors
Shawn Wahl, Dean of the Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts and Letters
Mark Wheeler, University Architect and Directors of Planning, Design, and Construction

Presiding – The presiding officer for the meeting was Mr. Craig Frazier, Chair of the Board of Governors. He called the meeting to order at 12:48 p.m. in the Christopher S. Bond Learning Center Ballroom at the Darr Agriculture Center in Springfield, Missouri. The meeting was broadcast live via Zoom webinar.

Approval of Minutes – Mr. Frazier mentioned that the first order of business was the approval of minutes for the open and closed meetings that took place on August 7, 2020. Ms. Carol Silvey so moved, receiving a second from Ms. Amy Counts.

Motion passed 8-0.

President Smart provided an overview of the meeting’s agenda that focused on the 2020-2021 action plan. He stated that the university will have three major planning documents under development this year that include the Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) plan, a new Long-Range Plan, and a new visioning guide. He shared that presentations would be provided on the processes for developing each plan with the goal being to receive initial Board thoughts and agreement on the proposed processes and timelines. He commented that the Board would continue to be consulted for input on all three plans during the academic year and would vote to approve the final documents at a later date.

Strategic Enrollment Management Plan – Dr. Rob Hornberger, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management & Services, and Dr. Tammy Jahnke, Dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, provided an update on the SEM plan. Dr. Hornberger highlighted the plan’s timeline, committee structure, status prior to the pandemic, guiding principles, goals, and challenges ahead. Dr. Jahnke shared adjustments to the SEM process and goals, information on new realities the university is facing, and beginning enrollment numbers of Missouri four-year public universities for the fall 2020 semester.

Long-Range Plan – Ms. Suzanne Shaw, Vice President for Marketing and Communications, and Dr. Shawn Wahl, Dean of the Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts and Letters, presented on the university’s new Long-Range Plan. Ms. Shaw highlighted the entrepreneurial approach used to develop the plan that would reflect the spirit of the university. Dr. Wahl shared information on establishing themes and engaging the campus community to provide input for creating the plan. He shared the timeline for the plan and stated that the finalized plan will be presented to the Board for approval in June 2021. 

Visioning Guide – Mr. Matt Morris, Vice President for Administrative Services, and Mr. Mark Wheeler, University Architect and Director of Planning, Design, and Construction, provided an update on the university’s visioning guide. Mr. Morris shared that the visioning guide is created in conjunction with the Long-Range Plan to establish a vision for the campus’s physical environment. The guide provides Long-Range Planning for architecture, land use, space use, transportation, parking, outdoor environment, and utilities in concert with the core goals of the campus.

Mr. Wheeler highlighted how the visioning guide is used as a visual tool to determine future growth and assists with development of both short-term and long-term financial planning for projects. He shared that projects are coded as underway, planned, and potential future projects. He reviewed the entities that will be part of the 2021-2026 visioning guide that included the university’s main campus, Darr Agriculture, and Downtown Springfield.

Ms. Carrie Tergin, Governor, joined the meeting at this time.

Mr. Wheeler reviewed the process and timeline for the 2021-2026 visioning guide that included six phases with a publish date of July 2021. He concluded his presentation by stating that the university tries to visit other campuses and locations for ideas on their approach to projects when possible. President Smart added that these types of visits are usually project specific, providing examples of visiting other campuses when developing the new Magers Health and Wellness Center and renovations to Glass Hall for the College of Business. Per Board questions and suggestions, President Smart added that this type of external scan of other similar sized universities may be something to add in future visioning guides. 

2020-2021 Action Plan – President Smart provided an overview of the additional 2020-2021 action plans topics to be discussed. He called upon Dr. Frank Einhellig, Provost, to start the presentations with information on academic and career initiatives.

Academic and Career Initiatives – Dr. Einhellig shared that a task force is to be created to evaluate new academic areas and programs in order to keep Missouri State University education at the forefront of addressing needs of society. The task force will have significant representation from faculty across all colleges. Dr. Einhellig also discussed expanding academic programs that have high student and workforce demand, providing the nursing program as an example.

Ms. Shaw then discussed marketing strategies for academics. Highlights of her presentation included results from marketing research completed on how Missouri State compares to other schools. As a result of the research, university messaging was updated through a redesign of the website. She provided information on major website updates that included creating a career outcomes page, offering a virtual tour, and creating a topic of focus section on the university’s landing page. Ms. Shaw provided analytics on the home page call to action buttons which included a 32% increase in clicks to the “apply now” link, an increase in views of the What’s New at MSU video, and click counts to the COVID‑19, Plan Your Visit, and Make a Gift webpages.

Ms. Shaw reviewed plans for fiscal year 2021 in regard to digital marketing. Areas of focus included certificates, Admissions, specific programs, and awareness to various areas such as career outcomes, access, and transfer information. She provided examples of marketing ad types the university plans to utilize that included web search results, display ads, social boosting of ads, and video advertising. She concluded her presentation with website analytics on how students view the site (mobile/desktop/tablet), user numbers by city, data of new versus returning visitors, and search terms used.

Increase Career Education Opportunities – Mr. Jeff Coiner, Chief Information Officer, and Dr. Mike Merrigan, Coordinator of the Master of Health Administration (MHA) Program, provided information on university efforts of partnering with LinkedIn Learning for students, faculty, and staff. Mr. Coiner provided an overview of the agreement with LinkedIn Learning. Highlights of his presentation included the university having a 10 month pilot program through June 30, 2021, in which employees in Springfield and West Plains, all students in the in the MHA program, and up to 700 additional students can create an account and take courses. He added that offices on both the Springfield and West Plains campus, the Career Center, and other areas of the university are looking at ways to utilize the platform to enhance professional development and classroom experiences. Mr. Coiner shared that the LinkedIn Learning platform works with individuals’ LinkedIn profiles to add credentials and certificates earned, and that there is a dashboard available to track activity and engagement of those on the university’s license.

Dr. Merrigan provided information on how he is using the LinkedIn Learning with students in the MHA program. He shared that results from a student and alumni survey indicated there was a skills gap in the areas of accounting, finance, and statistics. Dr. Merrigan consulted with faculty of the program to discuss methods to provide students with additional tools in order to succeed. As a result, LinkedIn Learning was suggested. He shared that faculty in the program have started to build LinkedIn Learning courses into curriculum to help students fill in knowledge and skills gaps in order to be successful in the classroom and workforce.

President Smart proposed that in the interest of time, the remainder of the meeting would focus on the areas of funding, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and West Plains.

Funding – President Smart provided information on efforts to evaluate and design a new undergraduate pricing structure for the university. He stated that the pandemic provided an opportunity to review how the university offers courses and to evaluate the pricing structure of classes. He shared that the university currently charges three rates for both undergraduate and graduate students. Current undergraduate tuition rates were provided for courses numbered 1-559:

  • In-State seated at $228 per credit hour
  • Online at $299 per credit hour
  • Out-of-State seated at $517 per credit hour

He added that while fees are added to in-state and out-of-state students’ amounts, no fees are assessed to a student who enrolls in all internet courses. He stated that when internet courses were first being developed, the university paid a premium to faculty as an incentive to develop and offer the courses in an online format due to market demand. President Smart shared reasoning for modifying the pricing structure as a result of the pandemic that included:

  • Eliminating the premium paid to faculty teaching internet courses as a cost savings measure in the current year’s budget as it is now an expectation that all faculty teach internet classes
  • Moving all seated classes online in the spring, resulting in charging students different prices for classes even though all were online
  • Having the second largest block of classes now in a blended format, meaning some part of the class is taught online, still being charged at the seated rate
  • Moving summer 2020 seated classes, that students had already registered for, to an online format that resulted in a price increase for the students. Students and parents voiced concerns and complaints over the increase.

If the pricing for blended and online class offerings are the same, the incentive would shift to teach what is the best modality for the subject matter or to match the modality of the course to the faculty member’s skill set.

President Smart shared that the university could not simply reduce the internet price to the seated price as the revenue loss would be substantial. The university needs to find a middle ground that would result in an increase to the seated in-state rate and a decrease in the internet rate. He commented that the lower internet rate would give the university a price advantage over other schools without adversely affecting the in-state rate comparison. He added that most of the university’s students take a mix of classes, so many students would not see a significant increase in cost. Students disadvantaged in the new pricing structure are those who take only seated courses, but that group is shrinking as online courses have expanded.

President Smart added that the university will also need to change how fees are charged and reevaluate scholarships. He concluded his presentation by stating that the university would need state approval to adjust in-state seated prices because it would raise the cost by more than CPI; however, he believes the university has a strong case for doing so.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – Mr. Wes Pratt, Chief Diversity Officer and Assistant to the President, provided an overview of the core components of the action plan that relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). He called upon Dr. Chris Craig, Deputy Provost, to present on efforts made in the area of academics. Highlights of Dr. Craig’s presentation included:

  • All 70 sections of GEP 101 including a module on racism and related topics
  • 38 faculty members participating in the Gardner Institute course entitled “The Humanity of Inclusive Practices”
  • Expanding Bear POWER to a four-year program
  • Beginning a mentoring program for diverse faculty, started in fall 2020
  • Modifying policies in the faculty handbook to better define roles and expectations of faculty in implementing accommodations for students with disabilities
  • Seeking external funding to support university DEI initiatives and efforts through the Department of Education and Community Foundation of the Ozarks

Dr. Craig concluded his presentation and called upon Dr. Rabekah Stewart, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs-Multicultural Services, to present on DEI efforts made by the Division of Student Affairs. Highlights of Dr. Stewart’s presentation included:

  • Enhancements to the Bias Response Team in fall 2020
  • Holding meetings of the President’s Student Diversity Council
  • Consolidating the Disability Resource Center with the Learning Diagnostic Clinic
  • Expanding the Multicultural Resource Center, design process to being in 2021
  • Creation of ResLife toolkit and guides to facilitate DEI discussions for residence assistants
  • Creating support for underrepresented and first-gen students through Bears LEAD, Access Programs, Multicultural Services, etc.

Dr. Stewart concluded her presentation and called upon Ms. A’dja Jones, Director of Student-Athlete Development & Community Relations, to present on DEI efforts made by Athletics. Highlights of Ms. Jones’s presentation included:

  • Let’s Talk Tuesdays
  • Monthly student-athlete development programs
  • Creation of the DEI Core Committee
  • Creating and implementation of a departmental climate survey for athletes and staff to recognize areas of strength and improvement
  • Community engagement opportunities (i.e. Bears, Badges, and Kids)

Ms. Jones concluded her presentation by sharing information on what is next for Athletics that included creating DEI goals, objectives, action steps, accountability measures, and a timeline for implementing the goals.

Mr. Pratt shared additional efforts made in response to the DEI action items. Highlights included expanding the Facing Racism Institute, increasing Diversity 101 sessions for faculty and staff, the Collaborate Diversity Conference, community outreach efforts, developing a diverse faculty mentoring program, expanding faculty and staff diversity composition initiatives and diversity hiring program, participating in public entities’ diversity workgroups and various committees, and facilitating DEI development with area school districts, the City of Springfield, and other community entities.

West Plains – Dr. Dennis Lancaster presented information on the West Plains action items. Highlights of his presentation included the university’s response to the COVID‑19 pandemic, developing a new strategic enrollment management plan, enhancing alternative- and multiple-delivery capabilities in all courses, restructuring the development office, and creating additional transfer articulation agreements, IT efficiencies, and DEI initiatives.

Adjournment – Mr. Frazier adjourned the meeting at 5:38 p.m., on the motion of Ms. Beverly Miller Keltner, the second of Ms. Silvey, and the unanimous vote of the Board.

Rowena Stone
Secretary to the Board