University board gains new president in member Jay Knudtson

Members of the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents elected Jay Knudtson as the board's new president on Feb. 28.

The board's former president Doyle Privett of Kennett, Missouri, said he brought up the motion to have the election at the most recent Board of Regents' meeting after a decision had been made about Southeast's next university president.

"They all agreed, we talked about it, that I stay on as president until after the new university president was announced," Privett said. "So once Saturday that we had made our decision, then I asked to have elections for the officers at that time, and so we did and Jay Knudtson was elected president."

Knudtson has lived in Cape Girardeau for the past 25 years and has been involved in the community since he arrived. He has been a member of the Board of Regents since December 2013 and has held other leadership roles in the community such as chairman of the Chamber of Commerce board and mayor of Cape Girardeau from 2002 to 2010. Knudtson mentioned that his appointment was appropriate considering he lives in Cape Girardeau and will be able to better assist incoming university President Dr. Carlos Vargas-Aburto when he takes office on July 1. Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins, the university's current president, announced on Sept. 8 his planned retirement date of June 30.

Knudtson said the board members decided that with all the changes happening at Southeast, it would be important to have a member who lives in Cape Girardeau as board president.

"The discussion really centered mostly around the fact that with a new president coming in, without any kind of relationships, without any kind of connectivity, that it was probably strategic to select and elect a board regent that was from Cape Girardeau," Knudtson said.

Kendra Neely-Martin, the St. Louis resident who was already vice president of the board, was reelected as vice president on Feb. 28.

"Kendra could have easily handled the president's job, we would have had no problem with her being president, but I think, and she had mentioned this too, that it would just be best to have the new president, since they would be working so closely with the new president of the university, if that were a local person," Privett said.

Privett's term on the Board of Regents expired on Jan. 1, but he said he will remain an active member of the board until Missouri Governor Jay Nixon appoints his replacement.

"You can serve for as many years as the board will have you," Knudtson said of the presidenitial position. "It might be that after two years the board wants to reconsider the leadership and elect somebody else, but there are no limits on tenure as president or vice president, other than, as was the case with Mr. Privett, in that his term was expiring as a regent. Obviously that brought to a conclusion his term as president."

Knudtson announced on Wednesday that the Board of Regents members will create a transition team to help Vargas and his wife, Pam, acclimate to the Cape Girardeau area in the coming months and to help them gain connections in the community. Knudtson said the role of the Board of Regents president would be different if it weren't for the transitional period the university will be going through in the coming months with the appointment of a new university president.

"[Vargas] obviously comes steeped in academic background and experience, and even leadership ... but no matter how good [he is, he's] not going to have any local relationships. They're not going to have any local knowledge."

Knudtson said his appointment as Board of Regents president holds more weight now than if Dobbins were going to continue as Southeast's president.

"It means something different because of the timing and the crossroads that we're at as a university," Knudtson said. "And it's why I'm honored to take on this challenge because it's so important. I'd like to think that eight years as mayor, serving as the Chamber of Commerce chairman of the board, active in many various community events, hopefully best suits me to be that ambassador and partner to our next president."

Knudtson said his leadership experiences in Cape Girardeau have prepared him to be a strong leader for the Board of Regents, especially his experience working with the budget in Cape Girardeau and at Southeast. During his last year as mayor, the city's budget was around $52 million, whereas Southeast's budget was $104 million.

"I think a lot of those things, a lot of that service, has in many ways prepared me for the role as president of the board," Knudtson said. "Granted it's a different world, it's academically focused. ... So when I wanted to start thinking I was Mr. Big Rich as being mayor of the city of Cape Girardeau, the university's budget was twice as large. That puts things in perspective as to the magnitude of the university, the economic magnitude of the university, all the employees that the university has. Yes, the town's name is Cape Girardeau, and we are a city, but the university is clearly a city within the city and an equal partner in that. In and of themselves, neither of us would be as strong."

Knudtson said one of his main goals moving forward as president of the Board of Regents is to exploit Southeast's strengths as a university.

"We have to begin to have the discussion that says 'Let's identify what we're really good at and let's throw our resources behind that,'" Knudtson said. "'Let's figure out ways to differentiate ourselves from other universities.'"

Knudtson said he is excited about being the president of the Board of Regents and is looking forward to helping the university move forward.

"It's an honor I don't take lightly, it's an honor I take very seriously, and it's important," Knudtson said. "But that being said, I'm more excited about propping up the next president of the university and the team. That is more important."