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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A decade after being rebranded Missouri State University, the new moniker is widely credited with raising the profile of Springfield's largest higher education institution.
It also has been credited with fueling the university's ongoing push to grow and diversify enrollment, expand academic offerings, and increase private giving — which, in turn, helps pay for better buildings, the Springfield News-Leader (http://sgfnow.co/1GvjM8t ) reported.
"I don't think you can overestimate how important this was," said MSU President Clif Smart. "This was the catalyst that has changed the profile of the university. It would be hard for you to pick a factor that the name change didn't impact." The old name, Southwest Missouri State University, focused on the region while the new name emphasizes statewide reach.
Smart said the hard-fought battle to change the name 10 years ago has paid off with greater prominence — the ability to develop more partnerships, lobby for legislative change and attract more talented students and faculty.
"Students now view us differently, not as a regional university anymore," Smart said. "The interest from St. Charles County, from the greater St. Louis area, from Kansas City — all over the state — is different. It is also different in recruiting international students."
The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has long recognized the role MSU, and other higher education institutions, play in attracting businesses and families to the city. Matt Morrow, president and CEO of the chamber, has described the university as a critical part of the economic engine and contends the institution's leverage has only grown with the new name.
"It has meant a lot to the city and to this whole part of the state," he said.
The largest higher education institution headquartered in Springfield traces its roots to 1905 but has only been known as Missouri State University since 2005. In recent months, the campus has celebrated the milestone and reflected on what the change has meant.
"One of my themes the last four years has been 'Let's act out our name,'" Smart said. "We're not a regional campus anymore. Let's think bigger, let's be bolder."
Jim Baker, vice president for research and economic development and international programs, said the university boasted a "significant" number of students, graduate programs and private donations as Southwest Missouri State University but has grown in each of those areas more rapidly after dropping the regional "southwest" from the name.
"There is a status attached to the name. There is a pride that goes with it," Baker said. "I don't think we'd have 24,000 students now if we didn't change the name."
Pressed to say how much impact the new name has made, Baker said: "I'd say we're 50 percent better off than we would have been, but it's hard to judge."
Baker said he believes there is more pride among students, supporters and alumni but that is harder to quantify. He contends "Bear Wear" — maroon clothing carrying the MSU name or logo — appears to be "everywhere," which wasn't the case when he joined the university's staff in 1995.
"The changing of the name created more buzz than anything," he said.
One of the biggest changes is MSU's strong, collaborative relationship with the University of Missouri system. In the years before the name change, the two were more adversarial and Mizzou supporters, in the General Assembly and beyond, were vocal about opposing the new name.
In fact, the proposed legislation to change the name at MSU — and a few other higher education institutions — was only approved after MSU agreed to a series of concessions aimed at protecting Mizzou's dominance in key areas.
"Now we are closer to a partner," Smart said. "We are a statewide university and they're much more comfortable interacting with us."
That collaboration was on display during recent legislative sessions, when MSU and Mizzou jointly lobbied lawmakers and Gov. Jay Nixon. United, they were successful in securing funding for MSU's new occupational therapy program and Mizzou's new Springfield clinical campus, which will train doctors at Mercy Springfield and CoxHealth.
Morrow recalled a time, at the height of the debate over MSU's name change, when the two institutions working together seemed impossible. "Today it is a different environment and a lot of that has to do with the leadership," he said.
He said had the two not tied the proposals together and fought for each other's projects, "they would have been competitive and there would have been a winner and a loser. Instead, we have a win-win and it's all here in Springfield."
Smart said he's proud of the progress and the new identity of the university.
"We are a different university now than we were 10 years ago," he said. "The result of that is the state is better, we're better, our relationship with the University of Missouri is better."
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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com
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