Mun Choi, University of Missouri System president, announced on October 16 that Dustin Schnieders will serve as Director of Government Relations for the University of Missouri System.
This comes after the university began, and called off, the search for the more senior Executive Director position. Schnieders, who previously was the chief of staff for Missouri State Senate President pro Tem Ron Richards, will take on the day-to-day government relations decisions.
Christian Basi, University of Missouri spokesperson, says administrators realized they need to take a step back and assess the overall government relations office and its needs.
“It was worth it to take a pause on that search and make sure we had someone for the day to day operations, while at the same time giving us an opportunity to do a thorough review,” Basi says.
Although they have filled the role of the university’s system director, Basi explains a potential executive director would serve a different purpose.
“That individual will be responsible for looking at the long term visioning of government affairs related to the University of Missouri,” Basi says.
Basi says the university will assess if and when an executive director is needed.