The Southwestern Bell Foundation has pledged a $200,000 grant to fund an instructional television classroom at Southeast Missouri State University.

Officials of Southwestern Bell and the university announced the grant Friday.

The four-year pledge to the school's capital campaign will fund an instructional television classroom in the Otto and Della Seabaugh Polytechnic Building.

The $7 million, 60,000-square-foot building will be constructed on the north side of the campus. It will house the recently formed Polytechnic Institute, which includes the school's industrial technology department.

Southeast officials said the facility will provide space for specialized training for industries and instruct students in advanced manufacturing technology.

The institute is focusing its curriculum, training and research efforts on electronics, manufacturing and technical graphics.

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's president, said construction on the building should start this summer. Work should be completed by spring 2001.

Lisa Wilder, Southwestern Bell's area vice president for external affairs, said the interactive TV classroom should help students and faculty "open the doors of the future."

Southwestern Bell Foundation's grant will underwrite the cost of equipment and related start-up costs for the classroom.

Wilder said the classroom will provide for long-distance learning. Students at other sites in St. Louis and the Southeast Missouri region would be connected to the classroom via TV monitors and cameras.

Nitzschke said Southeast is one of only three four-year schools in Missouri with a state-mandated mission to provide vocational and technical education.

The high-tech classroom, he said, will add to Southeast's efforts to provide higher education across the region.