As Missouri State seeks new leader, provost John Jasinski builds on 'record of success'

In spring 2022, John Jasinski was finishing his 13th and final year as president of Missouri's fastest-growing public university and trying to decide what was next.

Then came the call from Clif Smart.

Smart, president of Missouri State University, asked Jasinski — whom he had known for more than a decade — if he was interested in a short-term position as the interim provost.

The Flint, Michigan native and his wife of 37 years had been plotting a break after his lengthy tenure at Northwest Missouri State University.

"Denise and I were literally going to cruise around the country and take a breath," recalled Jasinski, 61. "I didn't feel any pressure to do anything."

The call from Smart was a game-changer. He was intrigued by the idea of working alongside Smart, whom he long admired, and so he made the 260-mile drive south to Springfield.

"Denise and I came down for a visit and were starting at Missouri State two months later," said Jasinski, noting their four children are grown. "I mean this from my heart, the community has been incredibly warm and welcoming."

Missouri State was in a period of transition. Long-serving leaders, including provost Frank Einhellig, were retiring, triggering both internal promotions and external hires.

Smart handpicked Zora Mulligan, commissioner of higher education for Missouri, as the executive vice president, his No. 2. His plan to also make her provost received pushback from faculty, who wanted the person in that position to have more classroom experience.

That prompted Smart's call to Jasinski.

Jasinski joined the faculty at Northwest Missouri State in 1986 and climbed the ranks, serving in range of roles from communications department chair to provost before entering the president's office in 2009.

Over the years, he briefly worked for a different university, completed a faculty sabbatical at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland — part of the U.S. Department of Commerce — and started a consulting business.

"I knew he would fit here because his style is similar to mine. He is very open. He is very honest. He is a consensus-builder while not being afraid to make decisions. He engages with everyone. People like him. He never raises his voice. He is always thoughtful," Smart said.

"I knew he was a good leader. I didn't know how good he was. He has just been fantastic."

After one year, the "interim" title was dropped and Jasinski's annual pay increased to $252,000.

"People expect to be heard"

Smart, as part of his succession plan, stayed involved but delegated huge tasks to Mulligan and Jasinski.

The roles overlapped but Mulligan was asked to lead an overhaul of enrollment efforts and work with partners to launch the Alliance for Healthcare Education.

Jasinski was tapped to spearhead a transformation of the university's academic future.

"He was clear with me — come in, lead the academic transformation, cut the budget, restructure, and bring academic affairs along so it's ready to go for 2025 to 2030," he said. "That was the calling and then he said go do it."

The large-scale realignment has meant reducing spending by millions, shifting staff, reallocating resources. One of the most visible results was the merger of two existing colleges into the expanded Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities.

As part of the work, Jasinski brought all the deans together regularly and met with other affected groups.

"It has been accomplished working with faculty instead of working against faculty. That has been the biggest piece. You have work groups that faculty are engaged in. You work with faculty leadership throughout the whole process. You go to Faculty Senate and report out every month and answer questions," Smart said. "You empower your deans to do the same thing and widely communicate, share data, get feedback and adjust based on that feedback so people know they have input and their input is heard and can result in changes. All of that happened."

Smart said that type of work is not for the faint of heart but Jasinski worked quickly by analyzing data, seeking input and building relationships.

"People expect to be heard. They expect to be engaged. They want to have their say. But they understand that they don't get to necessarily have their way all the time just like I don't," Smart said.

Jasinski said changes of this magnitude are more difficult if they are drawn out or not communicated in a "forthright" manner.

"You can't do that," he said. "It creates anxiety, question marks about what is going on."

"He had a record of success"

Smart and Jasinski served together in leadership roles with the Council on Public Higher Education in Missouri. They collaborated on legislative issues and talked through tough pandemic decisions.

He reached out to Jasinski after witnessing the turnaround orchestrated at Northwest Missouri State.

Jasinski took the helm in 2009, at the end of the Great Recession. The higher education landscape was changing, enrollment was sluggish and the university had been placed on the U.S. Department of Education's financial "watch list."

The designation is reserved for institutions on shaky financial ground and brings with it heightened oversight of tuition-related revenue including financial aid funds.

Jasinski, who has a doctorate in educational leadership and higher education administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, took a look at every line in the budget, cut spending and refinanced debt to get the university off the list in just 18 months.

In his inaugural address as president, Jasinski called for forging local and regional partnerships with the city, county, nonprofits, higher education institutions and employers. "We knew, coming out of the recession, that you can't be a standalone entity and work, especially in a smaller community."

Northwest was one of five institutions nationally selected for a grant-funded pilot program to boost student success through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The university is located nearly 100 miles north of Kansas City in Maryville, which has fewer than 11,000 residents. The leadership team highlighted the small-town atmosphere and offered a more customized learning experience.

"Public regional universities really need to own their sense of place," he said. "We offered a different environment … a lot of it was because of our location. Use your strengths to your advantage."

During Jasinski's final five years as president, the university grew enrollment by 20.5% — the highest growth of any public university in the state during that period.

"He had a record of success," Smart said. "I knew he could lead and do some hard work."

More: End of an era: Missouri State University president Clif Smart to retire from 'job I love'

Smart said Jasinski also has a casual, relaxed way of communicating.

"He doesn't dominate a room. When we have 16 people in administrative council every Monday, he often says not a lot and yet when he talks people listen to him because it is meaningful," he said.

Jasinski likes to stay busy. He has completed 11 marathons, and is still an avid runner. His running companion is the family dog, Daisy.

He and his wife spend time with their three sons and one daughter and one grandchild.

Next leader can't be a replica of Clif Smart

This fall, when Smart announced plans to retire in summer 2024, he told the News-Leader that he was aware of one internal candidate for the job — Jasinski.

Jasinski recently confirmed he applied for the university's No. 1 job.

The work of the presidential search committee, led by chair Rob Fulp and vice chair Amy Counts, has entered its quiet phase. It has not disclosed how many have applied.

Semifinalists are to be selected by the end of this month with interviews set for late January or early February.

At that point, finalists will be named and invited to the campus for interviews.

Smart is not part of the selection process and has not publicly disclosed if he was aware of any additional internal or external candidates.

"This is a great place to be a president of. We are financially sound, we are growing. It is a major university," Smart said in early October. "We think we'll have lots of great candidates."

More: Zora Mulligan loves being MSU's No. 2 leader. Here is why she won't apply to be No. 1

Jasinski agreed to an interview this fall about his time at Missouri State but did not feel it was appropriate to talk in detail about his interest in staying on out of respect for the process.

He said the time working in Springfield has been invigorating and he's been impressed with how much the faculty and staff care about students, each other and the community. He credited Smart with setting the tone.

"The next leader must understand, at a pretty deep level, what Missouri State is all about, it's history and where it is at today in terms of strengths and opportunities — weaknesses and challenges," Jasinski said.

"The next leader can't come in and be Clif Smart. There is no way possible. But what you can do is to understand his focus on the faculty and staff, the academic programs, the deep intersection with the communities that we serve, the partnerships, the advocacy and then take them to the next level."

Claudette Riley covers education for the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: At Missouri State, provost John Jasinski builds on 'record of success'