With $21M raised to date, MSU breaks ground on advancement center

Missouri State University unveiled more than 20 private donations as part of a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for its new multimillion-dollar advancement center at the front of the Springfield campus.

MSU Foundation Executive Director Brent Dunn said at the April 1 event – held at the building’s future home that’s currently an empty parking lot at the northwest corner of National Avenue and Bear Boulevard – that donations and other funding through the foundation have contributed some $20.8 million to the project to date. The 28,000-square-foot Clifton M. Smart III University Advancement Center, named after former MSU President Clif Smart, has a total budget of $26.2 million.

Dunn called the total raised to date – which includes a previously announced seven-figure anonymous donation and the sale of the downtown Kenneth E. Meyer Alumni Center – "a good start."

"We're not done yet," Dunn said, hinting at future fundraising plans and donor announcements.

During the event, Dunn called on a series of private donors to join him at the podium, among them businesspeople Jeff Schrag, Andy Kuntz and Richard Ollis and several past and present members of the MSU Foundation and Board of Governors (see the full list in the box at left). The individual donation totals were not disclosed, though university officials say the gifts collectively total roughly $7.4 million.

The advancement center was announced in April 2024 following MSU's sale of the Meyer Alumni Center, 300 S. Jefferson Ave., for $5.8 million to Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc. in February last year.

The two-story building would house the MSU Foundation, among other university operations, and include a nearly 200-person event center, conference rooms, executive board room, a campus living room, a traditions hall to showcase MSU history and an outdoor courtyard. The MSU board last month approved J.E. Dunn Construction Co. as construction manager at risk with a $22.9 million contract, and Dake Wells Architecture Inc. is serving as the project architect.

Smart, who retired as MSU's president last summer after 13 years at the helm, said at the groundbreaking event that the new building represents the past, present and future of the university.

"While I love to celebrate the past victories and achievements and I look back on many with great fondness, I encourage you to focus most of your time and energy on the present and the future. I know that this building is important to many of those things because its presence here will help the foundation continue to grow, and that's really important in a time of shrinking government funding," Smart said. "I think it's not really about my legacy. I think the focus should always be on the university rather than an individual."

Biff Williams, who succeeded Smart as MSU's president, pointed to the advancement center's placement across Bear Boulevard from the Davis-Harrington Welcome Center. Together, the buildings will mark the "front door" to the university, he said.

"It's a visible symbol for all of us to realize that we are a welcoming community – we're welcoming our community, we're welcoming new students, our faculty, our staff, donors and alumni," Williams said.