UPDATED: MSSU president announces retirement

León, president of the Joplin university since December 1982, did not release a timeline for his departure.

MSSU’s Board of Governors Friday afternoon named Terri Agee as acting president. She has been vice president of business affairs for six years and previously was director of human resources for nine years, according to a separate news release from the school.

The board also announced it will begin a national search for a new president, and officials hope to have a replacement by the fall 2008 semester.

León began his MSSU career in 1969 as an assistant professor of business administration. He rose through the faculty ranks and was named dean of the school of business in 1976. He was named interim president in July 1982 before being designated the university’s third president since becoming a four-year institution.

During his tenure as president, León has overseen the expansion of MSSU’s campus, its acquisition of a statewide international mission and its transition to university status.

León, raised in Iquique, Chile, earned his undergraduate degree in English at the University of Santiago, Chile, before attending Odessa (Texas) College and Oklahoma Baptist University. He received his master’s of business administration from the University of North Texas in 1968 and his doctorate in business administration from the University of Arkansas in 1973.

See the Aug. 27 issue of Joplin Tri-State Business, SBJ’s sister publication, for more about León’s career and retirement.