“WE HAD A GOOD YEAR last year, and we want to build on those achievements,” Missouri State University Interim System President Clif Smart said Tuesday, Sept. 11, in his annual “State of the University” address to approximately 150 Missouri State-West Plains faculty, staff, students and community members at the West Plains Civic Center theater. Building on success, however, takes time, consensus and the input of many people, he added, and pointed to 10 areas of focus for the current academic year that will aid in the process. Those areas include enrollment, funding, public affairs, diversity, student access and learning, graduate programs, profile, facilities, the IDEA Commons and Jordan Valley Innovation Center in Springfield, and marketing, the last of which will directly affect the other nine. “By that definition, marketing should be a high priority, not only for the Board (of Governors) and administration, but for each of us,” he said, adding a major initiative of this year will be to complete a marketing study for the university. “It will provide some much-needed research upon which we can better build our recruitment and fund-raising plans,” he added. (Missouri State-West Plains Photo)