Welcome from the President

Welcome to Southeast Missouri State University and our nationally recognized University Studies program!

We are pleased you chose Southeast and its outstanding faculty for your college education, an education that will undoubtedly prepare you to be as competitive and successful in life as are thousands of our graduates in such fields as business, politics, medicine, science, education, music, criminal justice, and the performing arts, to name just a few.

Our graduates are successful because they received a broad and extensive general education in our University Studies program. Southeast’s first-year experience program is among the best in the country and was rated by U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.”

Southeast students participating in our University Studies and first-year experience programs also are living in an era characterized by some as the “information age.” The term refers to the world’s focus away from the production of physical goods (as exemplified by the industrial age) and towards the manipulation of information. One of the characteristics of this period is the pace of change in every field is accelerating more and more rapidly. In some fields, experts have noted that the amount of new knowledge doubles every three to five years – or in some cases, in a matter of months. It is understood that graduates entering the job market today can expect to have several different careers during their lifetimes. This makes it more imperative that you look upon your university experience as an opportunity to prepare yourself to cope with an ever-changing environment.

College is not just about preparing you to perform a specific job, although Southeast offers many opportunities for “real world experiences” to help prepare you for that first career after graduation. Rather, your college experience is about creating an educated person, one who is able to function responsibly and successfully in whatever environment is encountered. Included in this booklet are the nine “objectives” of University Studies. Those objectives spell out the myriad of skills you will need for success during your lifetime of career changes. I hope you will consider your University Studies courses to be the key to becoming a broadly educated human being, thus making your life and career a success.

Again, welcome to Southeast! I look forward to seeing you on campus.

Sincerely,

Kenneth W. Dobbins
President

Experience Southeast. . .Experience Success