Drury, OTC partner for business leadership degree

The Hollister woman is preparing to graduate from Ozarks Technical Community College this summer and was exploring her options for a bachelor’s degree when she stumbled upon a program barely on the books.

Through a partnership between OTC and Drury University announced June 25, Turner can use her OTC associate’s degree to transfer seamlessly to Drury and obtain a bachelor’s degree in organizational studies – in just more than two years. The courses are offered online and at OTC’s Richwood Valley campus in Ozark, where Turner already attends classes.

“I thought, this is right up my alley,” said Turner, who plans to use the degrees as a stepping stone to a master’s degree in instructional learning, so she can go to work as an online teacher. “I’m still in the OTC environment, but I’m also getting the Drury (name) – they’re so well-known for their business and educational courses. It was just exactly what I needed.”

Two plus two

OTC and Drury University presidents Hal Higdon and Todd Parnell signed an articulation agreement establishing the schools’ collaboration at Richwood Valley last week. The schools want to create an opportunity for students and professionals interested in furthering their leadership and administrative skills.

Drury’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies will begin offering a Bachelor of Science in organizational studies on Aug. 27. It’s designed to follow a two-year associate’s degree with an emphasis in business or marketing at OTC, according to Drury Director of Outreach Activities Barbara Weathers.

The program – called a two-plus-two arrangement – puts OTC graduates on a fast track for a four-year degree from Drury by compacting required courses into as few as five semesters. That paves the way to earning two degrees in slightly more than four years, Weathers said, and because courses are at Richwood Valley, it means students can earn a bachelor’s degree without ever leaving Christian County.

Courses are scheduled in the evenings or online, which is especially suitable for working students, Weathers said. The curriculum focuses on managing, motivating and communicating with people in the workplace and providing “a broad base of knowledge including advertising, psychology, finance and legal issues,” according to the degree description.

Benefiting business

Classes cover topics such as interpersonal communication, organizational relations, negotiation and conflict resolution, managing multicultural organizations, and white-collar crime.

“(Students) will be best suited for this if they’re working, because all of the classes have a practical approach to them,” Weathers said. “Everything they learn, they can use tomorrow.”

Drury’s Parnell agrees, noting the impact the program could have on the local business community.

“We’re going to have a better-educated work force,” he said.

The concept of students graduating from OTC and moving on to Drury to gain a bachelor’s degree is not new, especially because the schools’ main campuses neighbor each other in Springfield, Weathers said. But the formalized partnership between the two allows OTC credits to transfer directly to Drury.

“OTC students already go to Drury in huge numbers in Springfield, and now they’ll do it in … not only Christian County, but probably Taney County, Stone County and surrounding areas,” Higdon said at the announcement.

“Not only is this a collaboration between a two-year and a four-year school, it’s a two-year public and four-year private (school), and I think that’s even more important.”

Both Parnell and Higdon pledged to collaborate on other initiatives in the future. In that vein, Drury’s Weathers said another two-plus-two program already is in the works for education degrees.