| The U.S. Dept. of Education has released an appropriation of nearly $1.3 million that will benefit programs established by Missouri Southern State University, according to information from the office of Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt.
Two-thirds of the one-year, $1,290,592 grant will be used to establish a distance-learning program to train dental hygienists in two areas of Missouri that are experiencing a severe shortage. Dr. Tia Strait, dean of the MSSU school of technology, said, "We'll establish a dental clinic at the Rolla Technical Center and another in northwest Missouri at a site to be determined at an educational center. Missouri Southern will offer distance-learning classes with interactive television classrooms in dental hygiene. MSSU will set up fully equipped clinics at the two sites to give new students hands-on-learning opportunities and offer oral health care services to low-income persons, children and seniors on fixed-incomes at nominal costs."
"There is a crisis in Missouri of a shortage of dental hygienists in rural areas," Dr. Strait said. "Central and Northwest Missouri are the two areas most in need of trained oral hygienists. One goal of the grant is to address that shortage."
Another part of the grant secured by Congressman Blunt during the 2005 appropriations process will be used to upgrade the computer forensics courses at MSSU. Funds will be used to upgrade computer lab equipment to teach how to safeguard computers and software and to retrieve and recreate lost, damaged or destroyed data.
The remaining money will be used to upgrade equipment in MSSU's growing field of environmental health and bioinformatics. Dr. John Messick, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, said, "The field of environmental health looks at the impact of pollution of air, water and soil. Since 9-11, there has been increased emphasis on bio terrorism on water and food. The funds secured by Congressman Blunt will allow us to expand our distance learning in this field and add to the 30 persons who are majoring in it now. So much of science is driven by equipment, and the addition of new computers and specialized software will keep our programs modern and current." Missouri Southern State University has one of only 25 accredited environmental health programs in the nation. Go Back |
