Missouri State alumni center at 'front door of campus' to be named for Clif Smart

Clif Smart will soon retire as president of Missouri State University but his name will live on there, adorning the alumni center planned for the heart of campus.

The announcement was made Friday morning.

Brent Dunn, vice president of university advancement and executive director of the MSU Foundation, said a donor who insisted on anonymity gave a seven-figure gift — more than $1 million — with a request that the new center be named for the university's 11th president.

"Anonymous gifts do happen, often, but something of this magnitude does not," Dunn said.

He said the donor, who will not be revealed even to Smart, wanted to "recognize the contributions Clif has made over his tenure at the university."

Dunn said the donor was also excited about the project and what it is expected to mean for the campus and for generating private support and alumni engagement in the future.

Smart served as the university's general counsel before he became president in June 2011. His final day in office will be July 1.

The two-story, 28,000-square-foot building will be constructed along National Avenue — just north of the Davis-Harrington Welcome Center — and be named the Clifton M. Smart III University Advancement Center.

Smart said he was "stunned" by the gift and the honor.

"Very rarely does anyone gift a gift to be named for someone else not related to them," Smart said. "It is an amazing act of generosity and I was overwhelmed."

Smart, who has lived in Springfield for more than two decades, graduated from Tulane University and the University of Arkansas School of Law, but said over time MSU has become "my university."

"This is really the university that we care deeply about and to have my name associated with it indefinitely is amazing on a spectacular new building that will be right at the entrance to campus," he said. "I am grateful to whomever made that happen."

In mid-February, the MSU foundation sold the existing alumni center downtown to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks for $5.8 million to part of its long-term goal of having a highly visible footprint on the main campus.

That imposing structure, a former bank at 300 S. Jefferson Ave., was named the Meyer Alumni Center in honor of alumnus and longtime supporter Kenneth E. Meyer, who died in 2022.

Dunn announced Friday the Meyer name will adorn the new event center, which is planned as part of the alumni center.

"We want his name to continue," Dunn said of Meyer. "And so the events center will be named after him."

One of the conference rooms will be named for Beverly Miller Keltner, a former member of the MSU Board of Governors who has remained involved. The retired educator, who has worked extensively with the American Red Cross, is set to be the incoming char of the MSU Foundation Board of Trustees.

Final designs are not yet complete for the new center but it is expected to cost at least $20 million. The elements will include:

• Indoor event space with seating for 200;

• Outdoor space for gatherings and serve as a hangout space with seating for students and visitors;

• Offices for the foundation and university advancement team including development, alumni engagement and relations, donor relations and special events, advancement services and athletics development;

• Gallery of memories to showcase static and interactive displays featuring the history of the university and the impact philanthropic gifts have made.

Dunn said with the sale of the existing center — where MSU and the foundation will lease space until the new center is built — and the naming gifts, fundraising for the rest of the cost will ramp up.

The goal is to raise at least $10 million privately and many naming gifts remain for conference rooms, officers and other spaces. The foundation has also been saving funds for the project.

The project is expected to break ground in February and be open by summer 2026.

It will serve as the home for the MSU Foundation, the Alumni Center, and the university advancement staff. But, there will also be space for students, faculty and supporters to gather.

More: Gov. Parson, retired Sen. Blunt react to Clif Smart's plans to retire from Missouri State

An area that shows the history of the university through images and artifacts is also planned on the first floor.

"It will be a place for students to sit on the lawn and study. It's a place for students and staff to be a part of. It is really our home for all our publics. That is the purpose," Dunn said. "You have to be intentional to go to our (current) alumni center downtown but to be at the front door of campus, it makes a statement."

Smart said the location of the new alumni center next to the welcome center, where prospective students gather to start a tour, is intentional.

"We're going to have two amazing buildings, the beginning and essentially the end, represented right there and to have my name associated with that is amazing," he said. "I am honored beyond belief."

Smart said alumni centers at major universities are located "in a critical place" where it can serve as a magnet and a showcase.

"For events like homecoming and many others, having a gathering place there really highlights the importance of the foundation and the fundraising to the work that goes on here," he said. "But it's going to be so much more than that. We hope that it will be full regularly."

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Planned Missouri State alumni center will be named for Clif Smart