Want to help pick next Missouri State president? Public forums set for three finalists

Claudette Riley, Springfield News-Leader
·2 min read

A search committee whittled down a stack of 48 candidates for president of Missouri State. The university's Board of Education narrowed a short list to just three finalists.

Now the community — and the students, staff and faculty at the Springfield and West Plains campuses — will get a closer look at the three men vying to be the 12th president of the university.

Provost John Jasinski, former president of Northwest Missouri State University is the only internal candidate. Roger Thompson is vice president for student services and enrollment management at the University of Oregon; and Richard "Biff" Williams recently completed a decade as president of Utah Tech University.

All three have a history of growing enrollment and programs. They have each been involved in raising the profiles of the universities where they work.

On Friday, the university announced the details of their campus visits and interviews:

Jasinski

John Jasinski
John Jasinski

  • Springfield campus − Open forum at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27 in Plaster Student Union

  • West Plains campus − Open forum at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26 at Fowler Lecture Hall in Looney Hall, community reception at 2:45 p.m. in Kellett Hall

Thompson

Roger Thompson
Roger Thompson

  • Springfield campus − Open forum at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29 in Plaster Student Union

  • West Plains campus − Open forum at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28 at Fowler Lecture Hall in Looney Hall, community reception at 2:45 p.m. in Kellett Hall

Williams

Richard Williams
Richard Williams

  • Springfield campus − Open forum at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15 in Plaster Student Union

  • West Plains campus − Open forum at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14 at Fowler Lecture Hall, community reception at 2:45 p.m. in Kellett Hall

Members of the campus and community who interact with candidates will be asked to provide feedback through online surveys at the "presidential search" tab at MissouriState.edu.

The MSU Board of Governors is expected to finalize a successor to Clif Smart — who has been in the president role, initially as an interim, since 2011 — no later than March.

A 20-member search committee chaired by banker Rob Fulp was formed and included MSU students, faculty, staff, alumni, university administrators, community and board members.

More: A look at Missouri State's 3 president finalists through a sports lens

In all, 48 candidates completed applications for the university's top job. The applicants were not publicly named.

Following an extensive review, 11 candidates were invited to interview in person Jan. 3-5 at a Kansas City airport hotel. The university said the pool was diverse "in terms of race, sex, age, geographic region, institutional size, and professional background."

Four candidates emerged as the top contenders, prompting background and reference checks, but one dropped out due to personal reasons.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Want to help pick next MSU president? Public forums set for finalists