SEMO regents extend Vargas’ contract three years

Carlos Vargas, president of Southeast Missouri State University, had his contract extended Tuesday by the governing Board of Regents.

Meeting in special session, the regents presented Vargas with a new three-year rolling contract.

“(Southeast) has benefited greatly from the leadership of President Vargas. He is a tireless advocate for the university in the Cape Girardeau community and throughout the state and the Board felt it was appropriate to extend his tenure,” Edward P. Gargas, regents board president, said in statement.

The new agreement, effective July 1, will run through June 30, 2024. The board also voted the same salary increase for Vargas as was approved for all university employees earlier this summer.

The new contract grew out of Vargas’ annual review, Gargas said, which included an assessment of the university’s accomplishments during Vargas’ six-year tenure and particularly Vargas’ leadership during the past COVID year — one that brought alterations in the way education was delivered to SEMO’s approximately 9,500 undergraduates.

Among the eight specific accomplishments noted by the regents:

• Continued progress toward retention and graduation goals. In the fall 2020 semester, the retention rate of 80% met the goal set by Vargas after his 2015 arrival on campus and is the highest rate since the university began tracking the data. “Retention” refers to the percentage of a school’s first-time, first-year undergraduate students who continue at the school the following year.

The graduation rate of nearly 51% recorded in fall 2020 represents an improvement of “about two percent” over the last two academic years.

• Southeast’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic allowed the university to start and end on time without campus closures or interruptions.
• The university’s athletics department, for the first time in SEMO history, won the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner’s Cup, symbolic of excellence in a variety of sports within the OVC.

Note: Reporter Jeff Long is a part-time faculty member at Southeast Missouri State University.