SEMO EXTENDS ACCORD TO COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Students will have an easier time transferring from two community colleges thanks to articulation agreements signed with Southeast Missouri State University Friday.

Southeast President Kala Stroup signed the agreements with officials of Mississippi County Community College in Blytheville, Ark, and Dyersburg (Tenn.) State Community College.

Under the agreements, students entering Southeast will have advantages, within certain limits, when transfer credit is being evaluated.

"This is truly a momentous occasion for Southeast, Mississippi county Community College and Dyersburg State Community College," Stroup said. "These agreements are the culmination of several years of hard work and underscore the determination of our three institutions to better serve our students and the region."

Cosigning the agreement in Dyersburg was Karen Bowyer, president of Dyersburg State Community College. Mississippi County Community College President John Sullins cosigned the agreement in Blytheville.

Under the measures, Southeast has agreed to certify that students transferring to the university from those community colleges, and who have met those institutions' lower division general education requirements, also have met Southeast's lower division general education requirements.

Southeast currently has articulation agreements on file with Missouri's public colleges and universities; Belleville College, John A. Logan College, Lewis and Clark Community College, Rend Lake College and Shawnee College in Illinois; Paducah Community College in Kentucky; and Kolej Damansar Utama, INTI, and RIMA colleges in Malaysia.

"This past year we've made a big effort to extend articulation and coordination agreements with community colleges," said Fred Snider, Southeast dean of admissions and records.

Coordination agreements state that the participating institutions will agree to cooperate with each other and exchange information in an effort to make a student's transfer process as smooth as possible.

"It's that inter-school type of arrangement for which we are striving," Snider said. "We feel we would like to make the transfer process as easy as possible for students. Articulation agreements just reduce the hassles.

"This is a very big step forward," Snider said. "It's terrific. It also opens up the opportunity for more cooperation on a department by department basis between university and community college faculties. This is a big step in working toward that goal."