Higher education faces not only an enrollment cliff, due to U.S. population figures that show falling numbers for those of college age, but a double-enrollment cliff.
What that means is tough times are ahead for U.S. colleges and universities, said John Jasinski on Feb. 27, but not necessarily for Missouri State University and others.
“You can wake up and read all the trades (education publications) that you want, and then get real negative pretty quickly about what's happening in our environment,” Jasinski said.
“It's not going to impact every institution in every region in the same way,” he said. “What happens in the Rust Belt, on the East Coast, will be different than what happens in the southwest part of the United States, which will be different than what happens in southwest Missouri.
“I don't really like diving for cover and saying, ‘Woe is us in Missouri.' When you think about our situation, where we're at, where we're located. Given the growth of the communities that we serve, I think there's a real, real potential for us to thrive where other institutions may not be thriving.
“It's because of the strong academic programs that we have. ... It's because of what we're trying to do regarding our markets, right? Owning our backyard. We are doing a better job now of owning our backyard than we have ever done.”
Jasinski, 61, is one of three finalists to become the next president of Missouri State University. He is the second of the three candidates to visit the Springfield and West Plains campuses this month. Richard “Biff” Williams, former president of Utah Tech, completed his visit Feb. 15. Roger Thompson, vice president for Student Services and Enrollment Management at the University of Oregon, visits the campuses Feb. 28-29.
Advantages and disadvantages of being the internal candidate
Jasinski was profiled in the Hauxeda on Feb. 22.
Jasinski appeared before about 45 people at MSU-West Plains on Feb. 26, and spoke in front of about 125 in Springfield on Feb. 27, in the Plaster Student Union Theater.
This story is based on his comments at both campuses.
Jasinski is the internal candidate. He was president of Northwest Missouri State University, in Maryville, from 2009 to June 30, 2022, when his contract was not extended.
He explained why, in his view, he was not retained at Northwest Missouri State University.
“It's pretty simple,” he said. “I kicked off a couple of fraternities and this is part of the public affairs mission. ... And an individual didn't like that, got himself placed on the board, got a few others and they decided not to renew my contract. I acted ethically — public affairs mission pillar. And I would repeat that decision over and over and over because we did the right thing for the institution overall.”
Jasinski quickly was hired as interim provost at Missouri State University, starting on July 5, 2022. He soon became provost.
Jasinski is the candidate who best knows MSU and its faculty and staff. In his public appearances in West Plains and Springfield, he often called upon those with questions by their first name.
At the same time, as the internal candidate, he is also the only candidate with an 18-month history at MSU.
On Tuesday, he was asked via Zoom if he could “address the concerns of staff and faculty who may have reservations about trusting you as president of the Missouri State in light of your past in the implementing of job cuts on campus, and the elimination of an entire college?”
The question was relayed to him in those words by Suzanne Shaw, MSU vice president for marketing and communication.
Jasinski led the merger of two existing colleges into the new Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. He led efforts that resulted in overall savings of $5 million per year from academic programs, with $1.8 million being set aside for reinvestment in academics. On his curriculum vitae, Jasinski notes that overall “he reduced administrators by 14 overall and realized a reduction in administrative costs — of which 24 percent came from the provost’s budget.”
Jasinski responded to the question this way:
“You can absolutely trust me that I'll be working with you to think through the issues, listening. ... The restructure that we just went through, if you think about it, we followed a process, we set out some guidelines, a lot of listening. At the end of the day, we protected every filled full-time faculty members' job, we reduced administrative in a pretty significant way in terms of costs.”
He elaborated.
“I was asked to cut $3.2 million; we cut $5 million. Why? Because my experience in higher ed says you need some research and development funding to continue to grow... If you look at West Virginia University, universities in North Carolina, Ohio, and the list goes on and on and on. Look at the number of job cuts — faculty and staff, the number of program cuts. Liberal arts being gutted. We didn't do that at Missouri State University. So absolutely ... you can bet that we will work that way through academic leadership and through executive leadership.”
His ‘greatest achievement' was righting the ship at Northwest Missouri State
Jaskinski said he considers his greatest achievement thus far in higher education to be his accomplishments as president at Northwest Missouri State University, in Maryville.
“Coming in to an institution that was adrift, floundering, on the financial Watch List of the Higher Learning Commission, and leaving 13 years later when it was the most efficient institution in the state, the second healthiest financially.
“Enrollment growth over a six-year period was 22 percent when the next closest was Missouri State University at negative 1 percent; fundraising records; eight national championships in sports, but who's counting?
“But honestly, it was a complete transformation of an organization that really was adrift.”
He lived on campus and connected with faculty, staff and students
Jasinski has been married 38 years and he often mentions the accomplishments of his wife Denise.
He said her support and involvement at Northwest and elsewhere have been central to his “professional work life.”
“We lived on campus at Northwest Missouri State University,” he said. “We hosted faculty senate, we hosted chairs of faculty senate committees, we hosted staff senate, we had picnics, barbecues we had all kinds of activities just to get to know one another.
“You show up to club sports activities randomly — you're out running with the dog and you want to support the students. You just show up to where they're at while walking around campus to deliver doughnuts. You do whatever you do to get to know the students to make sure that you understand that they're doing OK, what their needs are.”
Supports efforts to attract international students and support them
Jasinski said he believes in efforts to attract international students and to support them.
MSU has a campus in China. Jasinski said he and his wife have visited it.
“At Northwest (Missouri State University) we received the international award for our approach to not just attracting international students and providing multicultural education, but also for retaining and graduating those students and interacting with the communities and getting them involved with the community.
“Here at Missouri State University, I was blessed in that Denise and I went to the Association for International students dinner the other night in the Bangladeshi festival,” he said. “It was really fantastic. The history of that is incredible. It goes back to the 1970s. So we have a proud history of that, as we think about invoking global competence.
“We're actually looking at different partnerships internationally right now. Inclusivity is a big deal for all of us.
What's the purpose of MSU?
Finally, he was asked: What is the purpose of Missouri State University in this day and age?
“It's really to uplift individuals, making sure that they're set up for a lifelong contribution to bettering society, bettering the communities that we serve,” he said. “That's really what a university is all about.”
