FOUNTAIN DEDICATION SET OCT. 6

Southeast Missouri State University will dedicate the Kala M. Stroup Fountain on the Plaza Oct. 6.

The $72,000 fountain in front of Kent Library is named for the state's commissioner of higher education, who previously served as the 14th president of Southeast.

Stroup suggested the project while president of the school. She and her husband, Joe, donated $38,000 to the project. The rest came from the university.

Southeast also spent nearly $48,000 on improvements to the area around the fountain, including new steps and handicap ramps for Kent Library.

The fountain features a waterfall punctuated with several limestone boulders.

Stroup will be on hand for the 4:30 p.m. dedication. She is among a number of officials who are scheduled to speak at the ceremony.

The dedication coincides with the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education meeting, which is to be held at Southeast for the first time since April 1992. Stroup was president of Southeast the last time the coordinating board met in Cape Girardeau.

Southeast's Board of Regents will meet in open session at 2 p.m. Oct. 6 in the University Center. At 3:30 p.m., the regents will hold a joint session with the coordinating board.

The fountain dedication will follow an hour later.

The coordinating board will hold its regular meeting on Oct. 7 in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium. The meeting is to begin at 10:15 a.m.

Prior to the meeting, the coordinating board's presidential advisory committee will meet at 8:30 a.m. in Dempster Hall. Presidents of Missouri's public and private colleges serve on the committee.

The Golden Eagles Marching Band will perform as a prelude to the fountain dedication, said Jim Biundo, assistant to the president for university relations.

As part of the ceremony, an inscribed capstone will be unveiled as the finishing touch for the fountain, Biundo said.

The dedication ceremony is expected to last about half an hour.

At 5:15 p.m. on Oct. 6, the university is scheduled to bus coordinating board members to old St. Vincent's Seminary. The university is seeking continued state funding to develop the site into the River Campus visual and performing arts school.