SOUTHEAST EXPECTS OK OF STRATEGIC PLAN

The Board of Regents is set to approve a strategic plan today designed to usher in a new era of learning and educational service at Southeast Missouri State University.

The regents also will hear a consultant's report on the development of the campus master plan and will discuss Gov. Mel Carnahan's budget recommendations for Southeast for fiscal 1997.

University officials are confident the regents will approve the strategic plan. So much so, they plan to hold a press conference immediately after the regents act on the plan.

The plan will be the first item of business when the regents meet at 3 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom. The press conference is set to convene 15 minutes later.

The strategic plan, which took nearly two years to develop, will focus on six basic priorities.

Among them, the university wants to increase enrollment to 10,300 by the year 2000.

It wants to serve the region better by adding evening and weekend classes, and by expanding the number of classes taught at off-campus sites.

The other priorities deal with curriculum, greater use of computers and other information technology, and efforts to improve the campus environment and university facilities.

Under the plan, Southeast would require all students to perform internships and gain real-world experience in their major fields of study.

The university also wants to streamline the internal governing system.

"The goal is to provide a blueprint for the university for the 21st century," said Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president.

The plan will help define the university's mission. The state, through Missouri's Coordinating Board for Higher Education, wants colleges to have defined missions to avoid unnecessary duplication.

State funding will be tied to such missions, Wallhausen said.

Southeast wants to work closer with community colleges, vocational schools and the business community to educate students and better serve the region, Wallhausen said.