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Center Looks to Expand -- More Students, Programs and Faculty Members to Be Added

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 December 2005, 12:00 CST

By Jimmie Covington covington@desotoappealcom

More programs, more students and more faculty members are expected in 2006 at Northwest Mississippi Community College and the University of Mississippi at DeSoto Center in Southaven.

And officials hope that planning and initial work can begin during the year on completing 13,000 square feet of unfinished space in the basement of the center's newly expanded classroom and office building.

In the fall semester, both schools moved into the final part of completed space in the center's new $7.5 million wing, although the expanded space has not yet been officially turned over to the schools. The expansion totaled 47,000 square feet.

Dr. Bonnie Buntin, Ole Miss dean at the center, said the timetable on finishing the basement space will be up to the university's chancellor, NWCC's president and the availability of funding.

"Hopefully we are going to be able to look forward to finishing out the basement so we will have more space to offer classes," said Richie Lawson, NWCC DeSoto Center dean.

Both schools have experienced steady growth in recent years at the Southaven center. Enrollment records were set in the fall.

Ole Miss had a 10.3 percent increase in students, as enrollment climbed to 760 - an increase of 71 from the fall of 2004.

NWCC's enrollment increased 2.3 percent, as it rose to 2,435 - an increase of 54 students from the previous fall.

Lawson said he hopes the community college growth remains slow and steady.

The limited funding available for higher education would make it difficult to handle large increases, he said.

Through attending the first two years at NWCC and junior and senior level Ole Miss classes, students may obtain a four-year college degree at the center at 5197 W. E. Ross Parkway. Ole Miss also is offering a growing number of graduate school classes at the center.

In early December, officials announced that the university will expand its master's degree program in accountancy to the Southaven Center. The first class will begin next fall, but interested students should apply for the program in January, said Dr. Morris H. Stocks, dean of the Ole Miss Patterson School of Accountancy.

"We are really excited about the master's in accountancy," Buntin said.

Also, she said, the possibility of more partnerships with the university's medical school in Jackson, including an allied health program, is being explored.

Most Ole Miss classes at the center are in the late afternoons or evenings, but Buntin said, "We are in the process of developing our schedule of morning classes. "

One of the signs of growth at the center came during the fall semester when the university's elementary education senior block of classes was held at the center rather than at the Ole Miss main campus in Oxford.

"This has worked out just tremendously," Buntin said.

She said moves will be made in the coming year to strengthen student organizations and student services at the center. Two new staff members, a test clerk and regional admission counselor, will be added in the spring, she said.

"We want to increase our course options for students," Buntin said.

At NWCC, a second instructor in chemistry will be added in January, Lawson said.

Other course offerings may be expanded and additional faculty members hired, he said. Much depends on the funding provided for higher education, he said.

- Jimmie Covington (901) 333-2010

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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