Missouri State University Hosts Inaugural Rural Summit
The Missouri State University Center for Rural Education recently held their first-ever Rural Summit.
Brandon Lucius of Arkansas Teacher Corps delivers the keynote address.
When the Missouri State University (MSU) Center for Rural Education launched in 2023, it was opened with a mission to develop and sustain school and community partnerships, establish a teacher pipeline, retain and support rural teachers, and to seek and secure external funding to promote research and advocacy. Center co-directors Drs. Rhonda Bishop and Denise Cunningham knew that while much of the work towards those goals could happen virtually, there is a certain galvanizing power to in-person convenings. So was born the 2025 Rural Summit, hosted on a spring day on MSU’s scenic campus in Springfield, MO.
School leadership teams comprised the majority of attendees, reflecting the priority the Center places on continuing to grow relationships with rural districts. “School partnerships are the focus of the mission of the Center. Since Missouri has over 70% rural school districts, our Center wants to partner with those schools to provide additional support through resources and the power of networking” shares Dr. Cunningham. In addition to school administrators, representatives from Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO), Rural Schools Collaborative, and Compass Academy Network all were in attendance (MSU and CFO both are a part of RSC’s Missouri Hub).
Kicking off the conference was a keynote presentation delivered by Brandon Lucius, executive director of the Arkansas Teacher Corps and hub lead for RSC’s Arkansas & Delta Regional Hub. Arkansas Teacher Corps (ATC) is a three-year post-baccalaureate certification program that works in high-need rural Arkansas schools to address critical teacher shortages. Brandon shared about how ATC approaches supporting teachers, both in pedagogy and content knowledge, but also in supporting their mental health and resiliency.
After Brandon’s keynote, participants worked together on a networking activity designed to facilitate collaborative problem solving. For several attendees, it was also an opportunity to meet and get to know each other, overcoming the professional isolation that is common amongst rural teachers and administrators. Dr. Cunningham notes that this was an important part of the event: “school partnerships are the focus of the Center– our mission. Since Missouri has over 70% rural school districts, our Center wants to partner with those schools to provide additional support through resources and the power of networking.”
After lunch, the event further opened up, bringing in current MSU students to meet with and get to know local schools in a low-stakes, informal job fair. Missouri State is a former normal school, and remains a leader across Missouri in teacher preparation. Dr. Cunningham describes that “the summit was also an opportunity for our Rural Scholars student group as well as other education majors to get a ‘first look’ at rural school districts in order to plan field experiences and/or student teaching in rural spaces. In addition, it allowed our rural partners who need to hire educators a chance to meet and talk with education majors without the competition of larger, better-resourced school districts at a career fair. We hope to grow this portion of our summit next year.”
Speaking of next year, Drs. Cunningham and Bishop hope to make this an annual event, further strengthening partnerships between MSU and area school districts. A weeklong deluge of intense rains across the region limited the ability of several schools to attend, and the hope is for a bigger crowd and continued evolution of programming in the future. Despite the torrential downpours and the rigors of a busy spring semester, those in attendance noted how much they enjoyed meeting their peers, getting to know potential future students, and deepening their partnership with MSU.