Vicky Mieseler

Chief Administrative Officer

Ozark Center

Vicky Mieseler is proud of the fact that she has a stubborn streak, just like her father. But if there’s one thing she appreciates the most about her time as a student at Missouri Southern State University, it’s that she learned a lot about being more independent.

Today, Mieseler oversees operations at Freeman Health System’s Ozark Center. Her career started in psychology – first with undergrad work at MSSU before graduate work and eventually a PhD. Over the years she has worked her way up through the Ozark Center hierarchy, and as she looks at her journey over the years she can’t help but point to the foundation of independence and self-confidence that she developed during her time at MSSU.

“The beauty of Missouri Southern is that it is a great commuter college,” she said. “I was able to have a great college life and experiences while still living at home and saving money. I loved the camaraderie of the people there. I loved the fun atmosphere. I made friends there that I still have to this day. And best of all I received a very solid education. I feel like it has helped shape the person that I am today. I’m very analytical and science-oriented, and that’s because of the program that I was part of there.”

It’s not just the academic side of Missouri Southern that has been a big part of Mieseler’s life. Most of her family has also attended the university, and almost all of them have played sports. Two of her brothers played football for the Lions, and she remembers being at their games all the time supporting them and cheering them on.

“I remember one year I got into painting ceramics with one of my friends and we found all these ceramic football players that you could paint and fire in a kiln,” Mieseler said. “I made all of the team a football player with MSSU colors and numbers. We worked and worked and worked really hard on those. I sat them on a card table in my bedroom so that my brothers wouldn’t get into them. They called them the lumps. And when I gave it to them they were so proud of them. All of them still have it to this day in their offices or at their homes. And it just goes to show you that we have always been a MOSO family. We were at football games when we were barely in grade school. Dad was a founding Lionbacker. It’s in our blood. And I know that it means the same for a lot of people as it means for us. Generation after generation has attended Missouri Southern.

“It’s an institution that has given our kids and children of this community opportunities to go to school to get a college degree for a relatively inexpensive dollar amount. All of us have been successful in our fields, as have our children. That tells me that Missouri Southern has been and continues to be a solid school with amazing professors, great curriculum and a culture that is changing the makeup of kids today and moving them to a different level. I think Missouri Southern should be credited for a lot of the Midwestern family values that we have here in our community.”