Presidential candidate Brad Hodson pays his first visit to SEMO’s campus

The sole candidate for SEMO’s next president, Brad Hodson, visited campus on Feb. 12 in two open forums where students and faculty were free to ask questions.

Hodson, currently the executive vice president at Missouri Southern State University, has 30 years of experience in higher education and has spent 19 years in two cabinet positions. He claims to have experience in fundraising, student recruitment, marketing, community relations, economic development and applied research.

When asked about his leadership style, Hodson said that he prioritizes using clear goals with his staff, giving them resources and then stepping away from their work. He describes himself as the opposite of a micromanager and allows his employees to work on goals at their own pace, depending on check-ins to watch their progress.

After many leadership changes at SEMO, the question was raised about how to handle these transitions. Hodson believes in looking at vacancies and performing national searches for applicable candidates. While interim leadership is not permanent, they do help to fill roles and move the college forward.

Moving further on the topic of staff, Hodson spoke on how he planned to boost morale and improve pay at SEMO.

Hodson said to maintain morale within faculty at Missouri Southern State University, he has hired a group to do a market study to find out which staff members were not paid near the market. He claimed that as the university got more funds, they allocated it to pay raises to those departments in a three to five-year road map.

With all of the changes that Hodson plans to bring to campus, some previous plans will remain the same.

For example, Hodson will continue the campaign of current SEMO President Dr. Carlos Vargas to build the Roy Blunt Health Professions Hall, which will replace the old Dearmont Hall.

Turning his attention away from staff and other changes, Hodson answered a number of questions regarding student issues.

A student asked about recent Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) regulations from the federal and state governments and how Hodson would handle those situations.

Regarding DEI, Hodson said it is important that all students feel safe and included, but he will follow the state and federal laws in order to maintain funding and accreditations.

There were also a number of questions about the cost of college and academic programs.

Hodson says that he aims to maintain affordable tuition, relevant programs and tight relationships with community members. Hodson claims that he would never raise tuition on an impulse. While he admits that universities are losing federal funds, he still wants to avoid raising tuition to make up for that lost money.

While Hodson wants to work to keep college affordable for SEMO students, there were some questions raised about the retention and graduation rate at the university where he currently works.

Missouri Southern State University currently only has a 12% graduation rate for a four-year degree and a 67% freshman retention rate.

In order to combat these concerns, Hodson cited measures taken by his former school like tightening probational admission and admitting students who are more likely to succeed based on GPA and other factors.

Another important issue raised at the forum was how Hodson would handle snow days on campus.

Hodson said snow days will be equivalent to online learning days.

The Board of Governors is expected to discuss confirming Hodson as the 19th President of SEMO in a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13.