Southeast, Three Rivers come up with plan to cooperate on two-year degrees

Southeast Missouri State University and Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo., are becoming increasingly aligned as they work on a plan to award associate degrees at their Bootheel centers.

Shortly after withdrawing separate proposals to award associate degrees at centers in Sikeston, Kennett and Malden, officials from Three Rivers and Southeast have hammered out the basics of a collaborative plan.

Officials from both schools met Thursday after the Coordinating Board for Higher Education meeting in St. Louis. Three Rivers president Dr. Devin Stephenson said the institutions will submit a proposal to the board next month.

"To be honest, we think it will be a model that can be adopted throughout the state," Stephenson said after the meeting.

Three Rivers would grant associate degrees, but the schools will share students. Students could attend any Southeast or Three Rivers center to pursue an associate degree. They would transfer a block of credit from any of the centers or Southeast's main campus to Three Rivers for the degree. Because the schools have a developing partnership in Cape Girardeau, Stephenson said, it will be easy to set up a transfer system.

He said the model will follow examples set by colleges in states like Ohio and New York. There could be course requirements to finish a degree that would be fulfilled by taking classes at the main campus, online or remotely through interactive television, he said.

During Thursday's board meeting, an interim commissioner of higher education was named. Dr. David Russell, senior associate vice president and chief of staff for the University of Missouri system, will take over for Dr. Robert Stein when he retires July 1.

Stein frequently came to Southeast Missouri to work on an agreement that resulted in the Cape Girardeau Partnership for Higher Education. Southeast, Three Rivers and Mineral Area College are joining forces to offer community college services in Cape Girardeau. Fall classes start Aug. 23 at the Partnership, which is at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center.

Staff members from the colleges had been working on setting up the Partnership for several months when Southeast submitted a proposal last month to grant associate degrees at its Bootheel centers. Three Rivers already had a proposal pending for its centers, also in Sikeston, Kennett and Malden. Three Rivers officials decried Southeast's plan, saying community colleges have the exclusive ability to grant two-year degrees.

Per advice from the governor's office, both institutions withdrew their plans last week. Thursday, officials from both schools met and discussed more details surrounding a collaboration.

"There was no prescriptive advice from anyone," Stephenson said. "I think there was just sort of a call for looking to the future."

Because of the institutions' ongoing work together, Stephenson said, it was easy to build the new plan. In the long term, he said, he would consider further collaboration at the Bootheel centers, which Southeast and Three Rivers once shared.

"It's just what's best for students, and this is," he said, of the ongoing collaboration.

Southeast President Dr. Ken Dobbins could not be reached for comment.

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