By MATT PIKE
New Missouri Western State University President Lenny Klaver's tenure officially began at the start of this month, and it has already been a whirlwind of a start.
"Drinking from a firehose or looking up at an avalanche, either of those would be a good analogy," Klaver says on the KFEQmunnity show. "My last day at North Central Missouri College was August 31st, and my first day at Missouri Western was September 1st, with the first two days spent in Jefferson City at meetings, so I've been on campus three days and had countless meetings but as long as (Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications) Kent (Heier) and (Executive Associate to President) Betsy (Wright) keep pointing me in the right direction, I think we'll be ok."
Klaver, who spent his career at four-year universities prior to his time at NCMC, says what appealed to him about taking the job at MoWest was the challenge.
"Missouri Western's situation with the way it had been with some declining enrollment and other issues that we're facing, including an upcoming higher learning commission review, I've been through several of those before, the job was very appealing to me for the challenge and I needed that challenge," Klaver explains.
Klaver said following his introductory press conference in August that what he would consider a success during his time as President, was growing enrollment at MoWest. The university took a step in the right direction this fall, for the first time in four years, seeing an increase of nearly 10% in fall enrollment.
Klaver says the increase does bring a positive upbeat on campus and its fun to be a part of things headed in the right direction right away but adds St. Joseph deserves a great MoWest, who is facing a lot going on, including some facets that were out of its control
"Missouri Western, when you've had a downturn like that, and there's no one in particular to blame, we have to go back to COVID to look at what COVID did to enrollment at colleges and universities," Klaver says. "And I happened to be at a community college at a good time where people stayed a little closer to home, so we had a great run there in increasing enrollment, and again this year's enrollment at North Central is up, and it's up significantly here at Missouri Western, so I think it's a good time to reverse that trend and get that positive momentum good for the future."
Klaver says they will use that positive energy to keep giving attention to each student they recruit, as well as parents who are looking to get their students into college as well.
Interview
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.