SOUTHEAST GAINS PUBLIC INPUT FOR STRATEGIC PLAN

JACKSON -- Better publicity regarding financial aid information, regional learning opportunities and employable careers would result in better regional participation for Southeast Missouri State University.

Those were the suggestions offered by area residents who attended a strategic planning forum Friday at the Jackson Chamber of Commerce building.

About 10 area residents attended the forum, the eighth in a series of meetings being conducted throughout the region. A second forum was held Friday at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce building.

University officials will use suggestions offered during the forums to update the university's strategic plan, which was first developed in 1994.

Dr. Pauline Fox, vice president for administration and enrollment management at the university, conducted the discussion period of the forum.

Fox, who recently began her 22nd year at the university, said the strategic planning forums are a necessary process for the university's continued growth.

"I think back to if we had begun to try and impact some of these issues 21 years ago, how far we would be now," she said. "That's why we have to continually come back and ask you what do we need to do next."

Participants said more learning centers in outlying areas should be developed in the next five years. They said the university also should become more involved in addressing economic development issues in the region.

"One suggestion might be to work with the Missouri Economic Development Commission to provide training for people seeking certification in economic development," said Ken Parrett, director of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce. "These are people who are directly interested in something that could benefit the region."

During the forum, university president Dr. Ken Dobbins presented a slide show to demonstrate what suggestions from the previous planning forums had been implemented. As residents requested five years ago, the university turned its focus on the southeast region of the state, he said. That focus resulted in cooperative programming offered at a variety of sites with other state universities and community colleges.

For example, the university has learning centers based in Kennett, Malden and Sikeston that allow "placebound students" to attend courses at sites near their homes. Also, the creation of the Southeast Missouri Education Consortium allows students the university to develop courses in collaboration with Lincoln University, University of Missouri, Three Rivers Community College and Mineral Area Community College, he said.

The introduction of interactive television and website classes has also increased the university's enrollment in Southeast Missouri.

Now, the university will seek to improve regional participation by students living north of Cape Girardeau. A site already has been selected in Perryville, and other centers also are under development.

"As you can see, we are providing access and students are taking advantage of it, and that's good for all of us," Dobbins said. "We're trying to do what you've asked us to do."