COORDINATING BOARD APPROVES SEMO SOCIAL WORK DEGREE

The Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education has approved a cooperative master of social work degree program.

Beginning in January, the program will be offered at Southeast Missouri State University and through the University of Missouri Extension's outreach telecommunication center in Poplar Bluff.

Southeast and the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Social Work provide the cooperative program.

The program is designed for professionals working full time in the field of social work and will pave the way for them to become licensed social workers in Missouri, Southeast officials said.

The program will include telecommunications and on-site classroom instruction. A heavy emphasis will be placed on e-mail and Internet assignments, said Dr. Michael Parker, who chairs the social work department at Southeast.

To celebrate the launching of the program, Southeast's social work department will hold an open house from 9:30 to noon on July 26 in Room 210A of the Scully Building. At the open house, people can pick up applications and learn how the university's interactive television system works, Parker said.