Drury, OTC partner for business leadership degree

Drury President Todd Parnell and OTC President Hal Higdon signed an agreement between the schools at OTC’s Richwood Valley campus in Ozark. Afterward, school officials stayed to give campus tours and more detailed presentations on the program.

Starting Aug. 27, Drury’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies will offer a Bachelor of Science in organizational studies that’s designed to seamlessly follow a two-year associate’s degree in business or marketing at OTC, according to Drury Director of Outreach Activities Barbara Weathers. Courses can be scheduled in the evenings at Richwood Valley or online and be completed in five semesters, which means students could receive two degrees in slightly more than four years, she said.

Classes focus on managing, motivating and communicating with people in the workplace and “provide a broad base of knowledge including advertising, psychology, finance and legal issues, in addition to the foundations of leadership and organizational principles,” according to the degree description.

“(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.”

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, Weathers said. But a formalized partnership between the two allows OTC credits to transfer directly to Drury.[[In-content Ad]]