Inside Columbia Magazine CEO Fall 2010 : Page 50
b R A d y d e A T o n Chancellor, University of Missouri C hancellor Brady Deaton likes to compare the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus to a small city. “Similar to a city of about 50,000, Mizzou operates major human and animal hospitals, multiple housing and dining services, a community newspaper, radio and television stations, a police force, a power plant, a nuclear reactor, 19 colleges and schools, performing arts venues, libraries, research facilities, a sports complex, a botanic garden and the business functions that support these enterprises,” he says. “My background and training in economics has definitely been a tremendous asset in recognizing tradeoffs and the ability to see a significant return on investment.” Deaton, 68, has been the chief executive officer of Mizzou for six years, stepping into the chancellor’s role after serving as provost and deputy chancellor. The Kentucky native arrived in Columbia in 1989 to teach agricultural economics after previous faculty stints at Virginia Tech, the University of Minnesota and the University of Tennessee; he even taught vocational agriculture in Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer. He describes his leadership style as related to the decline in ratings of the university in a number of areas, due principally to the reduced state funding that the university has suffered,” he notes. “This point has not been well understood by the public. On most qualitative measures, we have gone forward and improved the condition of this university. The growth of our students and the reputation of the university attest to that success.” Mizzou’s success feeds a symbiotic relationship with “participatory with a clear endpoint in mind, harmonizing and streamlining decision-making processes, so that decisions are made without undue delay, but with appropriate consideration of alternative viewpoints. We have sought to engage actively with the community and the state. I want to emphasize the frontier nature of our university as we look to a future where explorations of spirit and intellectual growth are vital to all that we do in society.” The past six years have brought a period of tremendous growth for the university’s Columbia campus, Deaton says. “Mizzou’s research ranking is second among all public members of the American Association of Universities and second in the growth rate of federal funding,” he says. “The growth of student enrollment (12 percent), with increasing diversity has been another high point.” New programs include a master’s degree in public health and a Ph.D. in informatics. Deaton lays recent disappointments at the feet of declining state funding, but still takes pride in the university doing more with less. “The low points have been fundamentally 50 I InsIde ColumbIa’s CEO I FALL 2010 MizzoU AT A GlAnCe Founding year: 1839 Total enrollment: 32,009 Average tuition cost: Resident $8,500/year Columbia traditional day campus enrollment: 30,019 number of Columbia employees: 19,000 (including hospital) Size of facilities: 1,360 acres with more than 200 buildings the Columbia community. “Research and innovation, stimulating entrepreneurship, small-business development and other continuing education efforts enable the University of Missouri to be a key contributor to the economic development of Columbia,” Deaton says. “It also plays a key role in helping attract companies to Missouri through its research, workforce development and faculty expertise.” The Columbia campus produces 80 percent of the university system’s total research and enrolls more than half of the system’s students. A significant contributor to the community, the campus creates nearly $481 million in economic activity. “MU is educating the citizens and leadership of tomorrow,” Deaton says. “Certainly this contributes to Columbia’s workforce, but we are only one of many entities that contribute. We partner actively with other four-year institutions and community colleges to ensure effective workforce training. MU adapts educational offerings to meet the changing needs of employers with a highly qualified workforce. Our mission is to develop leaders of tomorrow in diverse arenas and the success of our graduates, faculty and staff around the world demonstrates this.”
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