After several years of negotiation, Connors State College and Northeastern State University have agreed to combine their operations in a new facility at the NSU-Muskogee campus, 2400 W. Shawnee Bypass.

Connors and NSU officials will break ground on a new student service facility Dec. 18. The one-story, $2.2 million building will house a campus bookstore, library, child development program and administration offices. The facility will be 8,000 to 10,000 square feet with Oakridge Builders, Inc., of Tulsa as the construction project manager.

The two higher education institutions share the NSU campus as a base of service for their combined 23 academic programs offered to regional residents.

First-year students Jackie Munsell and Edna Dugan, both of Muskogee, welcome the agreement.

“It will be great,” said Munsell, a business administration major. “Instead of sticking with a two-year degree, you can stay and go onto a four-year degree with it being at NSU.”

Dugan, a nursing major, said it will be a lot more convenient, especially for people who work full time and go to school full time.

However, Ericka Tucker, a sophomore business major from Tulsa, said she liked the downtown campus because the classes are smaller.

She wondered if the move would mean the colleges will combine classes.

“If the NSU campus is nicer and they keep the same class size as Connors, I won’t have a problem,” she said.

Connors President Donnie Nero lauded the agreement.

“This is a win-win for both institutions, as we have developed a great alliance and partnership through the years,” Nero said. “I’m optimistic that more students will take advantage of the opportunities that are presented as the two institutions continue to collaborate and align their academic programs.”

NSU President Don Betz also hailed the expanded collaboration as setting the stage for an enhanced partnership as the two institutions seek to produce more college degree holders who will help to meet the region’s needs and advance its residents’ annual earnings.

“This cements, both symbolically and literally, the long-standing relationship between our two institutions. The proximity of our two educational operations will enhance the seamlessness of educational opportunities for Muskogee-area residents as they begin their careers at Connors and complete it at NSU,” Betz said.

The project will be funded through the Oklahoma Capital Improvement Authority bonds allocated to Connors.

The site of the downtown Muskogee campus on Court Street, which houses 1,100 students, will revert to the city, which provided the facility to Connors State College.

Nero said he expects Connors’ nursing program to begin offering its classes at NSU-Muskogee facilities in January 2010. The transition for the other programs is in the planning stages, with the intent to have all of Connors’ operation in place by January 2011.

One educational program collaboration is already in place between the two campuses to serve Muskogee’s health care industry cluster, one of the largest and fastest growing in Oklahoma.