With less than a month left in the legislative session, local lawmakers are making the final push to see a Missouri Southern name change.

Senate Bill 55 to change the College’s name to Missouri Southern State University-Joplin, sponsored by Sen. Gary Nodler (R-Joplin) and Rep. Bryan Stevenson (R-Joplin) passed April 10 out of the House Education Comm-ittee in a 17 to 1 vote unamended. This means if the representatives pass the bill on the House floor in exactly the same form in which they received it, the bill will be sent directly to the governor’s desk for him to sign into law.

Nodler said he predicts the name change bill will hit the House floor within the next couple of weeks.

“It has a real good chance to pass,” he said. “If it would not get passed, I would reintroduce it (January 2004), but I expect it to pass.”

Stevenson said when the bill makes it to the floor, “I have the votes to get it passed.”

College President Julio León said he’s confident the bill will pass this session.

“I feel very good about the position we’re in right now,” he said. “So, now it’s just a question of when the House leadership will consider Senate bills for third reading.

“Among those we will be one of the first.”

This version of the name change bill, which originated in the Senate, was amended to contain portions of SB 56, another of Nodler’s bills.

In SB 56, cooperative agreements between institutions of higher education would be encouraged “for the purpose of offering graduate degree programs on campuses of those institutions of higher education which do not otherwise offer graduate degrees.”

The bill also states that in the case of these cooperate graduate programs, the names of both institutions involved would be included on the graduate’s diploma.

León said there has been no preliminary research done as to what degrees the College will offer if the bill is passed.

He said they are going to wait until it happens, “then we can begin to speculate and explore what possibilities are available through the bill.”

If Southern becomes a university, the law also requires the College to discontinue all associate degree programs by July 1, 2008. Some two-year degrees may be allowed pending the approval of the Coordinating Board for Higher Education. The College’s Board of Regents will be renamed as the Board of Governors. As the members’ terms expire, they would be replaced under the new provisions that expand the area in which they can be selected.

As for immediate changes, students won’t see many past signage, León said.

“For a while Missouri Southern will continue to be the same institution that it is, only that it will be called a university,” he said.

“Immediately, there will be a new perception because the institution will be referred to as an university.”

León said he has received “very positive support” from other universities including the University of Missouri.

“We’re pretty confident our colleagues from other universities are not opposed,” he said.

If Southern’s name change bill is passed, León said he hopes Gov. Bob Holden will sign the bill at a formal ceremony at the College.

“Obviously we would hope that when he decides to sign it, he might want to come here and do it on campus,” León said.

“We’re just excited about the possibilities and we hope that it becomes a

reality.”