After 24 years at MU, including the last nine as chancellor, Brady J. Deaton announced Wednesday his retirement from the University of Missouri effective Nov. 15.
Deaton presided over a period of dramatic reductions in state higher-education funding. Yet under his leadership, MU cemented itself as a research university with a global reputation that attracts the highest caliber faculty, including members from the National Academy of Sciences.
MU has experienced significant increases in overall student enrollment, minority enrollment, research grants and expenditures, patents and licenses, and fundraising.
“It’s been a good time,” Deaton told about 250 people gathered in the Jesse Hall Rotunda, some peering down from Jesse’s second floor. “I’ve had a blessed career.”
UM System President Tim Wolfe said that Deaton has been “a gracious adviser and an even better friend.”
Deaton grew up on a farm in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains, living in homes that had neither plumbing nor electricity and studying at a two-room schoolhouse. He credits 4-H as his gateway to higher education.
Deaton joined the MU faculty as a professor and chair of the agricultural economics department in 1989. He was appointed chief of staff in the Office of the Chancellor in 1993, deputy chancellor in 1997 and provost in 1998. He has served as MU’s chancellor and its 21st chief executive officer since 2004.
In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Deaton chair of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.
Deaton and his wife, Anne, plan to stay in Columbia and remain involved with the university.
After speaking for about 20 minutes, during which he praised his staff, Deaton took his seat on the podium. But not for long.
Twice he stood to acknowledge the thunderous applause.