SMSU, Forest Institute enter cooperative agreement

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A cooperative agreement between the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology and Southwest Missouri State University, signed Nov. 17 at an SMSU Board of Governors meeting, will benefit students of both schools.|ret||ret||tab|

The agreement calls for the formation by Dec. 17 of a management team to determine the specific ways the two institutions can work together.|ret||ret||tab|

Mark Skrade, PsyD, president of Forest Institute, and Bruno Schmidt, PhD, SMSU vice president for academic affairs, will lead the management team.|ret||ret||tab|

Skrade said one result he might like to see from the partnership is a joint degree from SMSU's physician's assistant program and Forest's master's degree in clinical psychology, or a joint physician's assistant-psychology doctorate degree.|ret||ret||tab|

He said such a degree would be a good option for Forest students.|ret||ret||tab|

"There's a movement in the country for psychologists to have prescription authority, the ability to write prescriptions for psychotropic medications. (Physician's assistants) have that ability already under a physician's supervision, so if we joined our psychopharmacology track and our (psychology doctorate) program in particular here with their PA program, that puts psychology, or at least our graduates, one step closer to having that authority," Skrade said.|ret||ret||tab|

Skrade said the partnership also could result in a joint effort between Forest's degree programs and SMSU's College of Business Administration.|ret||ret||tab|

"Physicians have caught on ... that to have an MBA or to have a business management certificate gives them additional skills, abilities, knowledge to be able to run private practices, to run clinics, to be involved in hospital management," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

Skrade said the schools have discussed joint staff appointments so that Forest would be able to utilize statisticians and other members of SMSU's faculty. He added that the cooperative agreement also could enable Forest students to use resources available at SMSU's Duane G. Meyer Library.|ret||ret||tab|

"Forest has a very specialized library, and with SMSU's size of their library, it's a good research library," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Skrade said the partnership might make it possible for SMSU students earning undergraduate psychology degrees to have relatively automatic acceptance at Forest once they're admitted to a fast-track program.|ret||ret||tab|

Skrade said the community would also benefit from the partnership agreement.|ret||ret||tab|

"The (clinical) services that we, the two institutions, will be able to offer, not only to the Springfield community, but to this region, in my vision, are going to be exponentially expanded. Southwest Missouri is an underserved area of the country," Skrade said.|ret||ret||tab|

Schmidt said the cooperative agreement between Forest and SMSU fits SMSU's six-year plan, "Countdown to the SMSU Centennial," which SMSU adopted last summer.|ret||ret||tab|

"As part of that plan ... we do talk about the importance of collaborative agreements with a variety of agencies, institutions and businesses," Schmidt said.|ret||ret||tab|

"This agreement with Forest is just completely consistent with the kinds of joint efforts that we say we as an institution ought to do to provide the best educational opportunities for our students," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

Schmidt said the agreement also fits well with SMSU's public affairs mission.|ret||ret||tab|

He said once the management team for the agreement is assembled, it will outline the time frame for establishing the partnership's specifics.|ret||ret||tab|

"We have not had detailed discussions with our deans, and the management group has not been formed yet, but preliminary exploration of programs that could be impacted, where we could see some relationships, include our master's programs in psychology, physician's assistant, nursing, nurse anesthesia, communication science and disorders, guidance and counseling, social work," Schmidt said.|ret||ret||tab|

Schmidt also agreed with Skrade that the two schools could collaborate on courses and programs in business administration, but he said there are other departments that may be affected by the cooperative agreement.|ret||ret||tab|

"When you look at health care and some of the holistic health care approaches that are being taken around the country, even religious studies could very well be involved," Schmidt said.|ret||ret||tab|

Schmidt added that discussions between the two institutions date back more than 10 years, but in terms of the Nov. 17 agreement, focused discussions took place the month before the schools entered the agreement.|ret||ret||tab|

Skrade, who was named president of Forest in November following the October retirement of Richard Cox, MD, PhD, said Forest Institute recently had explored the possibility of a merger with Drury University, which would have resulted in Forest ceasing to exist as an independent entity and becoming part of Drury. |ret||ret||tab|

He said it was determined that the merger of Forest and Drury was not a good fit at this time.|ret||ret||tab|

Skrade said the door is still open, however, and he looks forward to working with Drury in the future.[[In-content Ad]]