Days after Missouri State University touted "record-breaking" enrollments this year among first-time college students and those pursuing graduate studies, the Springfield-based public university announced that its president, Clif Smart, plans to retire in the summer of 2024.
“It has been my greatest honor to serve as president of Missouri State University,” Smart said Wednesday, in a written statement released shortly after a celebratory three-minute video was posted to YouTube.
“I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the unyielding dedication and the remarkable passion of our students, faculty and staff," Smart added.
Previously an attorney for Missouri State, Smart took over as interim university president on June 27, 2011. The news came after his predecessor, James Cofer, served less than a year in the president's office.
At the time, Smart's former law firm colleague Tom Strong dubbed the new president a "class act" who was "brilliant," according to news accounts archived by the Springfield-Greene County Library District.
Smart shed the "interim" label the following October. As he presided over the university for the next 11 years, his leadership was credited with a number of Missouri State milestones.
The biggest university in the Ozarks was established in 1905 as the Fourth District Missouri State Normal School college for teachers. Under Smart's watch, in 2012, it became a doctoral university, according to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
During his administration, Missouri State doubled the number of terminal degrees on offer for students, including new fine arts masters degrees and doctorates in fields like defense and strategic studies and psychology. The university also upgraded dozens of buildings and increased numbers of graduating students.
In recent years, two large fundraising campaigns collectively brought in more than $440 million. In Smart's retirement announcement, the university touted tuition and fee increases that came in below inflation rates, plus a focus on increasing diversity among faculty and staff.
Missouri State said it would conduct a national search to replace Smart in the president's office. An in-house search committee is to be named by the end of the month.
In a written statement, Missouri State board of governors chair Christopher Waters said the university "has thrived" with Smart at the helm. "He saw us through the very challenging years of the pandemic and has moved the university forward in too many ways to name," Waters said.
Smart's time in office was also marked by his status as an avid and witty social media user, frequently posting to the platform formerly known as Twitter, where he has more than 22,000 followers.
In 2018, Smart's sense of fun made headlines as he put on a pair of red footwear to promote a Juanita K. Hammons Hall performance of Broadway's "Kinky Boots." Two years earlier, Smart cosplayed as a member of classic rock act KISS, ahead of a concert on campus.
