SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY

public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Cape Girardeau, Mo., U.S. About 12 undergraduate degrees are offered in more than 100 fields of study through the Donald L. Harrison College of Business and the colleges of Education, Health and Human Services, Liberal Arts, and Science and Technology. The University Studies program prescribes a general undergraduate curriculum in the liberal arts. The School of Graduate Studies awards about five master's degrees in more than 20 areas; the Specialist in Education degree is also granted. University research units investigate topics such as families, earthquakes, gerontology, regional history, and science and mathematics education. The Kent Library houses the Louis Daniel Brodsky Collection, which features materials from and about novelist William Faulkner. There are approximately 8,000 students on campus. In 1873 Southeast Missouri Normal School was established as a teacher-training institution. In 1919 the school was renamed Southeast Missouri State Teachers' College, and in 1946 the word Teachers' was dropped from the name. The college was elevated to university status in 1972. The undergraduate program in historic preservation was among the first in the United States.