The first program will be a master's in education, probably in teacher instruction and not education administration, Sederburg said.

Sederburg would like to have the program ready by fall 2008, but that will depend on approval from the State Board of Regents.

Other master's degrees in the works are health sciences, specifically nursing, and business administration.

However, Sederburg promised that the school will not lose its roots as a trade and technical institute, begun in the late 1930s.

"Whether it's certification, whether it's two-year degrees or four-year degrees, the essential product of UVSC will not change," he said.

"I can tell you because we've done the research, there is not another institute in the nation that has changed names and missions as UVSC has," said Lucille Stoddard, a former interim president at UVSC and now associate commissioner for academic affairs for the Board of Regents. "Not one."

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com