MSU-West Plains wants business leaders’ input on new strategic plan

Zora Mulligan: Campus wants to be part of a dynamic, growing area.

In Zora Mulligan’s first year as chancellor of the Missouri State University-West Plains campus, crafting a new strategic plan has been a top priority.

A final plan is expected by the end of June.

She recently provided a preview to the MSU Board of Governors, explaining one overarching goal: to align training and education provided on the two-year campus to workforce needs in Howell County and surrounding communities.

“You’ve made a lot of progress in a very short amount of time,” said Melissa Gourley, chair of the MSU board.

Mulligan said stakeholder feedback indicated a lack of alignment between economic development, workforce needs and educational offerings. She said the campus aims to address that while also growing student enrollment and achievement levels.

“It will be really important for us to work with elected officials from throughout the region, our friends in economic development, with business leaders, with other education partners,” she told the board. “There is an interest in having us be a stronger voice in that conversation instead of what is perceived sometimes is more reactive.”

To develop the plan, a series of work groups devoted to various efforts have been formed:

• Expand awareness of MSU-West Plains

• Implement ways to grow and maintain enrollment

• Align offerings with the needs of communities served

• Strengthen fiscal and organizational resources

• Enhance partnerships with MSU’s Springfield campus

An MSU review of jobs in the region showed most required some post-secondary education – at least an associate degree or certificate – with high demand in health care and education fields.

Mulligan said a review of majors showed the campus is “doing a pretty good job of matching our current needs right now.”

She said the campus is open to developing programs or tweaking existing ones to meet employers’ needs.

“We have been working on pulling together a manufacturing consortium that includes employers from throughout our region,” she said. “One of the things they are really interested in trying to solve is soft skills.”

Gourley said the final plan has to reflect the realities and the goal for MSU-West Plains and the students it serves.

“I like the areas you’re looking at, especially because, like you said, the demographics may be a little bit different for you, the job market is a little bit different in West Plains,” she said. “You can’t just have this big broad strategic plan that doesn’t fit for everybody.”

To develop meaningful benchmarks, MSU-West Plains is working to identify a list of peer institutions in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Most will be in rural areas.

MSU-West Plains has been seeking input as it develops the strategic plan and also sharing what it has learned by digging into regional data. Mulligan said stakeholders have been engaged.

“There is a unified interest in growing,” she said.

Total headcount at the MSU-West Plains campus was just under 2,000 during the fall semester. The 1,986 is up from 1,937 last year but the mix of students has fluctuated.

The two largest categories are degree-seeking undergraduates – 905 in the fall, down from 983 the prior year – and high school students in mostly dual credit courses, where they can earn credit for both high school and college, with 997. That number was up from 860 in fall 2024.

Missouri higher education institutions have been grappling with how to recruit and retain students amid a predicted “enrollment cliff” – a drop in the number of high school graduates.

Mulligan said while enrollment challenges exist, a drop in the number of high school graduates is not imminent in that part of the state.

She said a review of public school enrollment in the seven-county area showed strong numbers in the near future.

“We’re going to see increasing numbers of high school graduates over the next several years,” she said.

She noted there are 90,000 residents who live within a 60-mile drive of West Plains, and three of the four counties in its service area have experienced moderate growth

with more growth projected in the next decade.

“Sometimes there is a perception of decline or of reduced opportunity,” she said. “When we look at the data, we really see there’s an opportunity for us to be part of a growing, dynamic community.”