New Missouri State vice president is 'deeply connected in the Springfield community,' Clif Smart says

Brad Bodenhausen, the next vice president for community and global partnerships at Missouri State, has called Springfield home for three decades.

He moved to the Ozarks in 1992 to work for former U.S. Sen. John Danforth and later transition to the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, where he spent 21 years.

The northwest Missouri native joined the university in 2014 to serve as director of the newly created International Leadership and Training Center.

He has been associate vice president of international education and training since 2017, working closely with the retiring Jim Baker, who he will succeed.

MSU President Clif Smart offered Bodenhausen the job in late April and it was recently approved by the university's Board of Governors. He will be paid $156,000 a year.

“Brad is deeply connected in the Springfield community and has helped drive many new international connections," said Smart in announcing the board's hiring decision May 24. "He will help the university develop more local and international partnerships.”

Bodenhausen was one of two internal finalists for Baker's job, along with Allen Kunkel, associate vice president of research and economic development and the director of the Jordan Valley Innovation Center.

"We had two great candidates, could not have gone wrong with either one," Smart said. "Brad had a slight edge because he has been more involved internally at the university in the last several years."

Bodenhausen was part of the steering committee that wrote the university's long-range plan and is co-chairing a work group on employer partnerships.

Smart said as the footprint of JVIC expands, so will Kunkel's critical role at MSU.

"Both our finalists were internal candidates and they each told each other and me and their teams that if they didn't get it, they wanted the other one to get it and not bring in someone from the outside," Smart said. "Jim Baker has just accumulated tremendous talent over there and they'll work well moving forward together."

Bodenhausen said having Kunkel as the other finalist was comforting. "We're friends, we have worked together."

He said they were both focused on continuity and maintaining the strong focus that was set by Baker.

"The issues will change, the opportunity will change because things are so dynamic but we'll be able to continue with that same philosophy," he said.

Bodenhausen said the job with Danforth brought him to the Ozarks but when the long-time politician retired, he moved to the chamber.

He started in governmental relations as the vice president for public affairs.

"Through the years there, I worked in a lot of different roles including helping develop our international business program," he said. "My final title there was executive vice president."

It was at the chamber that Bodenhausen first worked with Jim Baker, who has spent 28 years at the university.

He works closely with Baker now and applied for the job to continue building upon what the community and global partnership team has accomplished.

"What we do is so connected to the public affairs mission," he said. "My biggest goal is to make sure we just continue with that focus because connecting with the community and connecting with the world is really essential to that mission."

Stepping into the new role July 1, Bodenhausen said enrollment growth is the biggest challenge faced by the university.

He said his team will be focused on international student enrollment.

"That is an area that has grown and then plateaued and now it looks a little different because of the international challenges and dynamics," he said.

Bodenhausen said the international enrollment level is stable but distributed differently. For example, during the pandemic, more Chinese students opted to take classes online rather than coming to the Springfield campus.

He said another challenge for the university is to more directly respond to the needs of employers.

The university is currently working on a long-range plan to accomplish that goal and more details will be released soon.

Bodenhausen said one step is to "make it even easier for those outside the university to understand and connect with the people at the university that can help them."

He said that will include connecting students with internships and work training.

"It's connecting the talent developing on the university campus with the talent that is needed as employers face such a workforce challenge," he said.

The university also wants to retool what happens in classrooms to better meet the needs of employers.

In the new role, Bodenhausen will be responsible for global engagement. He said part of that is "realizing how interconnected we are locally and globally and that we can learn from each other and be better by working together."

Bodenhausen's wife, Kerry, is a special education teacher who splits her days between Hickory Hills and Pleasant View middle schools. Their son Michael, 23, just finished his first year at the University of Missouri College of Medicine.

Claudette Riley is the education reporter for the News-Leader. Email news tips to criley@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Brad Bodenhausen approved as new Missouri State vice president