MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS
MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY
APRIL 30, 2012
1. Roll Call
Present- Mr. Stephen Bough, Governor (conference call)
Ms. Elizabeth Bradbury, Governor (by conference call)
Mr. Gordon Elliott, Chair of the Board
Mr. Peter Hofherr, Governor (by conference call)
Mr. Stephen B. Hoven, Governor (by conference call)
Ms. Paige Jenkins, Student Governor
Mr. Orvin Kimbrough, Governor (by conference call)
Ms. Beverly Miller, Governor (by conference call)
Ms. Cathy Smith, Vice Chair of the Board (by conference call at 3:10 p.m.)
Mr. John Winston, Governor (by conference call at 3:10 p.m.)
Also
Present- Paul Kincaid, Chief of Staff
Penni Groves, Interim General Counsel
John McAlear, Secretary of the Board
2. Presiding --- The presiding officer for the meeting was Mr. Gordon Elliott, Chair of the Board of Governors. He called the conference-call meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. in the Turner Family President’s Conference Room in Carrington Hall on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.
3. 25-Year Environmental Assumptions/Presidential Search --- Mr. Elliott first noted the purpose of this conference-call meeting was that the leadership of the presidential search committee requested a clear understanding of what the Board was looking for in its next president. He added that at the March 30, 2012, board meeting, he had asked Governors Bough, Hofherr, and Kimbrough, working with Governor Bradbury, to develop such a document. Both Governors Kimbrough and Bradbury complimented Mr. Paul Kincaid and the Administrative Council on developing the 25-year Environmental Assumptions that were used in arriving at the core competencies the Board should be looking for in their next president (listed at the end of the document). The assumptions and competencies had been provided to the entire Board on April 23, 2012, for its review. After a short discussion, Mr. Kimbrough moved that the Board accept the 25-Year Environmental Assumptions and Presidential Competencies as presented. Mr. Bough provided the second to the motion.
Motion passed 7-0 (Governors Smith and Winston not yet in attendance).
4. President’s Job Description --- Ms. Penni Groves, Interim General Counsel, then gave a brief report concerning the current job description of the University’s president. She stated that there was no job description until 2009 when John McAlear, Secretary of the Board of Governors, worked with Human Resources to create a presidential job description. The criteria used by the 2004-2005 presidential search committee were used for the minimum acceptable qualifications. Recent changes to the job description since last forwarded to the Board include:
a) Deleting experience with the management of intellectual properties and transfer technologies as this qualification is not applicable to this position and should not have been included.
b) Correcting the education qualification from “an earned doctorate is preferred” to the 2004-2005 presidential search education qualification of “an earned terminal degree is preferred.” As in 2004-2005, this will create a wide funnel that would include degrees such as Masters of Fine Arts, Juris Doctorate, Medical Doctors, and some masters programs.
c) Adding diversity language suggested by Mr. Wes Pratt, Equal Opportunity Officer, taken from the University’s Search Guidelines.
d) Four changes that Ms. Groves made to leave the job description more consistent with the presidential competencies just approved by the Board.
Ms. Groves then suggested one more minor revision which would change the phrase “a high energy level” to “an ability to complete multiple priorities.”
Mr. Elliott then asked if any of the board members had a problem with the job description as presented by Ms. Groves. Mr. Winston suggested a wording change to one of the president’s responsibilities that broadens the responsibility of “effective stewardship of state funding” to include all funding. All present thought this was a good change. There were no other suggested revisions to the job description as presented.
5. Date of Next Meeting --- The date of the next regularly scheduled meeting was set for Thursday, May 17, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. on the Springfield Campus.
6. Adjournment--- Mr. Elliott adjourned the meeting at 3:20 p.m. on the motion of Mr. Kimbrough and the second of Ms. Bradbury.
John W. McAlear
Secretary