Missouri State, UMKC partner for pharmacy program

With Tuesday's announcement of a joint venture between Missouri State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, MSU students in Springfield will have the opportunity to earn a Doctor of Pharmacy degree.

Gov. Jay Nixon, as well as the presidents of both universities, were in Springfield Tuesday for the announcement of a new program with UMKC School of Pharmacy, which will use distance learning and satellite technology to link classrooms at UMKC to specially equipped classrooms on MSU's Springfield campus, according to a news release.

Pharmacy students on the MSU campus will be registered at UMKC but have access to MSU services, including parking and library facilities when the program begins. The anticipated start date is fall 2011.

The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center estimates that Missouri will have a shortage of 700 pharmacists by 2012. The shortage is evident at UMKC; 123 students are currently enrolled in the five-year program because of capacity, though applicants have numbered more than 600 each of the past two years.

"The shortage of pharmacists in the state is acute, and it is especially severe in southwest Missouri," MSU President Michael Nietzel said in the release. "The University of Missouri and Missouri State will be great partners in helping address this need with a high-quality program at a great value."

Curriculum for the joint program will be the same as the program on the UMKC campus; many of the required basic courses are already offered at both schools, and courses not offered at MSU will be transmitted from Kansas City through two-way audio and video to MSU's interactive classrooms.