Last edited 1:21 p.m., Aug. 4, 2014The Missouri State University Board of Governors last week approved a four-year extension to President Clif Smart's contract.
With the extension, Smart's contract continues through June 30, 2022, according to a news release.
The board also voted to increase Smart's salary by 1.5 percent. Although prepared to offer a more significant increase, the board deferred to Smart's request that he only receive the same increase being provided this academic year to faculty and staff. Smart's fiscal 2014 salary was $300,000, according to MSU.
“I am excited by the many good things that happened at Missouri State over the past year and look forward to building on that success this year and beyond,” Smart said in the release. “I greatly appreciate the board’s confidence in me and their enthusiastic support for the direction that the university is heading."
Smart's compensation package includes a $40,000 housing allowance, which he will again donate to the MSU Foundation. The fundraising arm will use $30,000 to endow the Gail and Clif Smart Professorship in Agriculture for the third time. The remaining $10,000 will go to MSU's downtown business incubator The eFactory in honor of former MSU President Michael Nietzel, the release said.
Smart delivered his self-assessment to the board during its June meeting. The governors wrapped up their evaluation during the July 31 executive session. The evaluation included an electronic survey measuring Smart's work in nine categories: strategic leadership; educational leadership; organizational management; financial management; fundraising; external relations; internal relations; board and governance relations; and personal characteristics and values.
“The contract extension underscores our confidence in his ability to move the university in the right direction,” MSU board Chairwoman Beverly Miller said in the release. “So many good things are happening in the Missouri State system, and we feel strongly about supporting his leadership of the university well into the future.”
The release outlined 2013-14 accomplishments under the leadership of Smart. They include:
- record high enrollment of 21,798 at the Springfield campus set in fall 2013;
- the generation of nearly $1 million in revenue through enrollment growth that wasn't budgeted;
- the beginning of $26 million in athletic and recreation improvements at the Springfield campus;
- record grants of $22 million awarded to faculty and staff; and
- the foundation raising over $18 million in private support in fiscal 2014, its second-largest year in its history.
