Drury, MSU lock down presidents

Springfield’s two largest universities have wrapped up their presidential searches and both leaders say a community-focused approach will be key in their administrations.

On Oct. 31, Drury University named David Manuel as its 17th president, succeeding Todd Parnell, who is retiring following the 2013 spring semester.

Former Missouri State University Interim President Clif Smart was selected Oct. 16 to man the school’s top administrative post through June 30, 2018. He beat out fellow finalist Randy Dunn, president of Murray State University in Kentucky, who withdrew his name from consideration the week of the announcement.

Smart officially succeeds James Cofer, who stepped down as the school’s 10th president in June 2011.

Manuel at Drury
Drury University officials held a Halloween news conference at the O’Reilly Family Event Center where Lynn Chipperfield, chairman of the school’s board of trustees, introduced Manuel and his wife, Betty Coe Manuel, to a crowd of more than 100.

Chipperfield said Manuel’s passion for education and his respect for the culture of the campus and community stood out among a field of 65 candidates and three finalists. Manuel, the chancellor and an economics professor at Louisiana State University in Alexandria, plans to step into the president’s office June 1.

“He has the academic credentials and the leadership background to lead Drury successfully into the future,” Chipperfield said. “Beyond that though, I’ve mentioned Drury’s culture and Dave is Drury. He understands and appreciates the unique culture of not just Drury but of Springfield and the southwest Missouri area. I have every reason to believe that he and Betty Coe will become important parts of our community.”

Manuel beat out David Steele, the dean of the business school at San Jose State University in California, and David McInally, the executive vice president and treasurer at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, who on Oct. 19 accepted the president’s post at Coe College in Iowa.

Manuel, a Louisiana native, brings an economics background to the private liberal arts school.

He holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in economics from University of Mississippi, and he received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Nicholls State University in Louisiana. Before working at LSU-Alexandria, Manuel served as vice president of academic affairs at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, 2000–08. For 10 years before that, Manuel worked as dean of the Bill Greehey School of Business at St. Mary’s.

Manuel said his background should make him a well-rounded leader at Drury and allow him to be able to navigate different constituencies to bring distinction to the school and prepare students to enter the business community.

“The keys to preparing Drury University for its next level of prominence rest on establishing its collective vision, enlivening that vision with strategies, and supporting the strategies with implementation plans that are both realistic and demanding,” Manuel said. “Achieving aspirations also requires measured risks, steadfastness and a collective dedication that is embraced by everyone in this room and everyone at the university.”

John Twitty, former City Utilities general manager and a member of the Drury board of trustees, said Manuel’s leadership qualities stood out among the other candidates.

“He brings CEO experience to the position,” Twitty said, referring to Manuel’s role as chancellor. “It is different being king, and he has that knowledge as well as a real interest in Drury and its future.”

As part of his goal to further students’ interests, Manuel said he would lean on the current networks and relationships local business leaders have with the university and work closely with the school’s trustees to identify ways to make a Drury education more valuable.

“The board has already set a goal that it wants to see increased national distinction for Drury,” Manuel said. “Articulating that and putting meat on those bones is really why I’m here.”

Manuel will assume the role held by Parnell since 2007. Parnell, a 1969 graduate of Drury, worked previously as the CEO of Springfield-based bank The Bank, where he led a merger with Signature Bank.

Interim no longer
After about nine months of holding the position of interim president, Smart said he realized it was a job he felt comfortable with and wanted to pursue. Smart had served as the university’s general counsel December 2007–June 2011 after working for 15 years in areas including catastrophic injury and medical malpractice at The Strong Law Firm in Springfield.

“In the spring of 2012, we had, by then, gone through most of a cycle including budgeting, appropriations, many of the events and multiple board meetings. I found that people had responded well toward me and I enjoyed the job,” Smart said. “I had really gotten the full picture of what was involved in it and became seriously interested in applying for the job.”

Smart’s accomplishments during his 16-month term as interim include increasing enrollment and setting a Springfield campus enrollment record this fall; breaking the record for private gifts in a single year with more than $20 million to the school’s foundation; hiring the school’s first permanent vice president for diversity; changing the school’s car allowance policies for administrators; and leading the disclosure of alleged embezzling by the school’s bookstore manager, a case that is now under investigation by the Springfield Police Department.

Smart said he has good relationships with members of the Springfield business community, as well as local and state legislators. His commitment to furthering those relationships, he believes, is among the reasons he was selected as MSU’s president.

“The university is critical to the vitality of Springfield,” Smart said. “More than that, our involvement in economic development, our involvement with the public schools, our involvement with the arts community, our involvement with entertainment and athletic events, all of those things are very important to the health of Springfield and the quality of life that we have.”

As president of the state’s second-largest public school, Smart’s contract lays out a first-year salary of $275,000 and a $40,000 housing allowance, which he donated to the MSU Foundation.

He said the role of community involvement is one he embraces.

“The leader of the university has to be visible and involved with the other major organizations from Greene County and city government to City Utilities to the hospitals to the other universities in town and the chamber of commerce,” said Smart, a board member for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and CoxHealth.

“And I feel very comfortable in that environment.”