PLANS UNVEILED FOR COMMUNICATIONS UNIT

PORTAGEVILLE -- Plans have been unveiled for a telecommunications resources center in Southeast Missouri.

The new center, about 5,000 square feet, will have computer training classrooms, an interactive TV conference room including satellite downlink abilities and other facilities, said Janet Kline of the Delta Center and regional director of university outreach and extension programs.

The center will be on the west side of existing buildings at the Delta Center.

Construction of the facility is expected to start early next year.

"We hope to see it open by the fall of 1998," said Judy Moss, coordinator of the Poplar Bluff regional telecommunications resources center and interim director of the Delta Center's communications center.

"The telecommunications center will bring the Missouri University campus to the Bootheel, providing educational opportunities to those who wouldn't otherwise have access to them," said David Haggard of Kennett, chairman of the Delta Center advisory board.

"We already conduct some classes at the Delta Center," said Moss. "Currently we have students from a four-state -- Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri -- involved in a master's nursing program."

The nursing program is conducted six hours a week over a three-year period.

The center will be the second University of Missouri telecommunications resource center in Southeast Missouri. One is at Poplar Bluff.

The announcement of the center came last week, during a special field day at the Delta Center.

The field day activities attracted more than 1,500 people, including MU president Manuel Pacheco, MU interim chancellor Richard Wallace, U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and a number of state legislators.

In addition to the center, the university received a $174,600 check from Kyle Vicker, assistant director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

Pacheco lauded Southeast Missouri citizens for their support of the Delta Center, where MU scientists and extension specialists carry out more than 100 research programs a year on more than 1,000 acres.

The Delta Center has a support group "Club of 1,000," which has contributed more than $175,000 to support research and educational efforts.

Groups at the field day made a number of stops during the tour. Scientists and specialists announced improvement in cotton and soybean varieties, better weed control methods and developments in "precision agriculture" that will allow farmers to precisely deliver fertilizer and herbicides where and when needed.

Sam Anand, who has released a number of new soybean varieties over the years, announced he was near release of a new soybean variety that will be resistant to races of soybean cyst nematode, a devastating worm-like pest that costs growers more than $100 million in lost yields each year.

Anand said the new variety should be released within two months, and has produced good yields in Delta Center field trials.