Aviation Program Expected To Launch In Fall 2021

The Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents has approved a new Professional Pilot Bachelor of Science. The program now goes to the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development for review. Southeast hopes to begin implementing the program and admitting students in August with the program expected to launch in fall 2021.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for the University to stay on the leading edge of academic program innovation and to grow our enrollment,” said Dr. Carlos Vargas, president of Southeast Missouri State University.

Vargas said that shortly after arriving in Cape Girardeau in 2015 he began talking to people, including the manager of the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and visited the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center about a professional pilot program.

At about the same time, he was approached by Ken Jackson of Dexter, Missouri, who had a very similar idea. Jackson, state supervisor of instruction with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and former superintendent of Dexter Schools, expressed to Vargas his keen interest in the development of a professional pilot program. Vargas and Jackson met to discuss their shared vision, and the program began to take shape.

“He had done a lot of research into a program and had already gathered a lot of information,” Vargas said. “When we talked, we both realized we had the same goal, and we were both really excited about the program. He was a champion from the very beginning.”

The Professional Pilot Bachelor of Science program will require a minimum of 121 credit hours of instruction, including 42 hours of general education coursework. Southeast plans to launch the program with minimal expense by structuring it similarly to other professional pilot programs. Under the program, Southeast will contract with a flight company that will own the aircraft and be responsible for maintaining them per contractual guidelines and FAA standards.

Southeast has had initial discussions with the City of Cape Girardeau on partnering with the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport as a primary facility for the program.

FMI: https://semo.edu/