Smart named president of MSU

Following the bowing out of his competitor yesterday, Missouri State University interim President Clif Smart has been named the school's permanent leader.

Smart was introduced as the 11th president of MSU during an Oct. 16 news conference, which was streamed live this morning via MSU's website.

Smart, who was named interim president of the university after the sudden resignation of James Cofer in June 2011, was selected as a finalist last month along with Randy Dunn, president of Murray State University in Kentucky. Via an email sent out to media outlets yesterday afternoon, Dunn announced he was dropping out of the race, saying it had become clear to him that the Springfield community wanted "one of their own" to lead the university.

Smart - who had served as the school's general counsel since December 2007 and worked at Springfield-based The Strong Law Firm PC for 15 years - negotiated with the board of governors a first-year salary of $275,000, as well as a housing allowance of $40,000 per year and presidential memberships to Hickory Hills Country Club and The Tower Club. His contract runs through June 30, 2018.

Saying he negotiated to reduce the size of his salary and was "partially successful" because the board felt a minimum salary needed to be maintained, Smart has committed to return the $40,000 per year housing allowance to the MSU Foundation, the school's fundraising arm.

Smart and his wife, Gail, this morning created the Gail and Clif Smart Professorship in Agriculture, which will provide $30,000 per year for 10 years to the William H. Darr School of Agriculture. He also wrote a $10,000 check to support MSU Tent Theatre in its 50th year of operation.

Smart said he and his wife decided to support the Darr School of Agriculture because of its work at the research campus in Mountain Grove; to improve faculty salaries in a department with no endowed faculty positions; and to give additional resources to the department because of its growing enrollment.

Moving forward, Smart said he wanted to work with faculty, staff, students and the community in facing challenges, such as maintaining enrollment growth, overcoming less state funding and marketing the university.

"These are challenges we can overcome together if we really don't care who gets the credit," Smart told a campus crowd of roughly 450 at the school's Plaster Student Union Theater. "My commitment to you is to work to improve the quality of our programs - many of which are already outstanding; to aggressively advocate for us in Jefferson City and Washington, D.C.; to engage our community and state and the higher education community to create partnerships, economic development and more and better opportunities for our students; to expand our reputation and reach throughout our state and our region; to improve our facilities and our capacity for technology; to grow our alumni outreach efforts; to better define our public affairs mission; to better serve our nontraditional students; to improve both student success and access; and to tell our story better.

"I can't promise that we can do all of that in the next two or three or four years, but I do promise that we will work with you on these and other matters in the same open, inclusive, transparent way that has been our method of operation these last 16 months."[[In-content Ad]]