From issues on the budget, bonding, and specific bills related to higher education, it’s the job of the Council on Public Higher Education for Missouri to represent those interests.
The organization is comprised of the presidents or chancellors of all four-year public universities in Missouri, making 13 members. It is tasked with supporting and advancing the mission of Missouri’s public four-year universities, and increasing the understanding and appreciation of public higher education by state leaders and the public at-large.
Missouri State University President Clif Smart was recently elected president of the council, for which he had previously served as vice-chair.
“We’re already working on our legislative agenda for next year,” Smart says. “And I think some of the key issues will be trying to make up some of the core funding we’ve lost as a result of budget cuts.”
He also noted that additional funding will be sought to increase graduates in the fields of STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math.
“I think those will be our two top priorities and we want to get all our members together on one sheet behind those proposals and I think we’ll be working with our two-year brothers to see if there’s commonality there in terms of their priorities. Because if we can get all advocate together as a sector – not just four-year schools or not just two-year schools – then we have a better ability, a better likelihood to get things across the finish line.”
The Council on Public Higher Education meets every two months, with leadership meeting on a more consistent basis.
Smart says the latest example of collaborative work at the council level was this year’s passage of the general revenue bonding proposal. He called it a multi-year effort of the four-year and two-year schools working together to agree on projects, the budget, and how that money will be spent.
“It came down to the last two weeks, we didn’t think the House was gonna pass this and frankly in part it was a result of our working together really around the clock with people to get a vote on this, to get a bill that would allow this through.”
Hear the full conversation with President Clif Smart above, as part of our monthly program Engaging the Community.
