Wayne Goode and David Bradley appointed to UM Board of Curators
Wayne Goode
One of the newest-appointed members of the University of Missouri Board of Curators already has his likeness captured in bronze wax on the St. Louis campus.
Wayne Goode, the former longtime state legislator from St. Louis, has been appointed to the board by Gov. Jay Nixon. Nixon also tapped David R. Bradley, the president of the company that publishes the St. Joseph News-Press to the board.
These long-awaited appointments fill two open spots on the board that have been vacant since the terms of curators Cheryl Walker (of St. Louis) and Don Walsworth (of Marceline) expired in January. Walker and Walsworth have continued to serve on the board until their successors have been named. There had been talk that Walsworth, a Nixon campaign contributor, would be appointed for a second term. But I guess not.
Wayne Goode in bronze on UMSL's campus
Goode, 71, fills one of the Democratic spots on the board. According to state statute, the 9 spots on the board have to have a roughly equal number of Democrats and Republicans. He was a state representative from 1963 to 1985 and a state senator from 1985 and 2005. It was during his first term as state representative that he sponsored the legislation that established the UMSL campus. Hence, the wax statue of Goode on UMSL’s campus.
Bradley, 59, fills a Republican slot on the board. He is president of the News-Press & Gazette Co. He is a past president of the Missouri Press Association and past chairman of the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce. He has also served on the board of directors for UMB Financial Corp. since 1985. I don’t know off the top of my head if the university has any connections to UMB, but that could be a relationship that watchdogs will monitor with Bradley’s addition to the board.
Of course, these appointments will be subject to Senate confirmation — which won’t happen until January, when the Senate reconvenes. But these appointments are surely good news to the others on the board who had begun to complain that the board could not move forward and get down to business until the slots had been filled.
The Grade is the St. Louis region’s premier blog on education and child welfare. To read other recent posts, go to www.stltoday.com/thegrade.
Kavita Kumar covers higher education for the Post-Dispatch. 
Great news about Wayne Goode. He has been a dedicated public servant for Missouri and advocate for UMSL for decades. (By the way, it’s a bronze statue of him at UMSL - wax wouldn’t last very long outdoors!)
Yikes! Thanks for catching that. I guess I had read captions of photos of people waxing the statue and hence ‘wax’ stuck in my head. I’ve made the change.
Not familiar with Mr. Bradley, but Wayne Goode is a top-notch choice… job well done by Gov. Nixon. The “waxing” issue is kind of funny!
These are fine appointments. The State Senate actually could conduct hearings and perhaps vote on the appointments during the September veto session, I think. Senator Goode is a common-sense individual who deeply loves UMSL and will finally help attend to its accumulated needs. The St. Louis, Kansas City and Rolla campuses have been left wanting by the greed of the Columbia campus, even though their combined alumni numbers are closing in on Columbia’s, and in fact their professional schools are turning out graduates who will be highly compensated and hopefully able to continue growing private philanthropy for those campuses.
Many faculty breathed a sigh of deep relief when Don Walsworth didn’t win reappointment. For too long Walsworth has symbolized the tail wagging the dog when it comes to Mizzou athletics having its way at the expense of academic priorities. It is said that Walsworth would like to own a professional team but he does not have the money, so he settled for owning a college athletic director.