Parson appoints Wasson to MSU board

Gov. Mike Parson announced yesterday the appointment of former state Sen. Jay Wasson to the Missouri State University Board of Governors.

MSU spokesman Kevin Agee said Wasson is taking over the seventh district seat on the 10-member board. Agee said the seat most recently was held by Virginia Fry, a Husch Blackwell LLP partner who died of cancer in late 2018.

Wasson’s appointment was announced in a Jan. 7 news release from Parson’s office. A Nixa resident and real estate developer, Wasson served 2010-18 as a Missouri senator and 2002-10 as a state representative, and he previously was mayor of Nixa. Parson also recently appointed him to the Missouri Tourism Commission.

Last month, the Missouri Transportation and Economic Development departments announced Wasson’s Wasson Family LP was chosen for a $152,400 grant to make improvements in Nixa. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission is voting today on the funding, which would pay half the cost of a new intersection connecting Highway 160 in Christian County to property Wasson owns.