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DATE:  November 14, 2000

TO:  Board of Regents

FROM: Dr. Ronald P. Sexton, Chancellor, Montana State University-Billings

RE: Campus Report for the November, 2000, Board of Regents' Meeting

  • The bells are ringing once again on the MSU-Billings campus. The new clocks and the carillon are in place on the tower of McMullen Hall.
  • Out-of-state student enrollment increased from 232, Fall 99, to 275, Fall 00.
  • Graduate student headcount increased to an all-time high of 463, 14% over Fall 99.
  • Online enrollment after the 15th day for Fall Semester, 2000: 515 enrolled for 107.5 fte.
  • MSU-Billings met the due date established by the Commissioner of Higher Education on the reconciliation between Banner and the State System.
  • MSU-Billings also met the state deadline for submitting draft financials to the state to be included in the State of Montana's Financial Statements.
  • The first classes were held in the new addition to the College of Education and Human Services Building, Fall 2000.
  • Information Commons, a new general use computer area, was opened in the MSU-Billings Library.
  • The new MSU-Billings Intercollegiate women's softball team held its first scrimmages.
  • The two new graduate programs, Master of Science in Public Relations and the Master of Science in Psychology, in the College of Arts and Sciences are fully subscribed.
  • The College of Business has been approved for the third year of AACSB candidacy.
  • The College of Business has recently formed two new organizations, an Alumni Advisory Board and a Business Advisory Board, to work with other constituency groups in the development and growth of the college and its programs.
  • A new Development Committee, composed of 16 business leaders, has been formed to work with the College of Business throughout the upcoming Comprehensive Campaign.
  • A new chapter of Sigma Beta Delta was installed in the College of Business. This is the first chapter of Sigma Beta Delta in the state of Montana.
  • The College of Education and Human Services hosted, in conjunction with MEA, the first "Teaching the Holocaust Workshop" to be held outside of Washington, D.C., and attracted 450 participants.
  • The College of Education and Human Services has officially begun preparations for the 2002 NCATE evaluation.
  • MSU-Billings has recently been awarded a National Institute of Health Coalitions for Prevention grant of $385,000 for work in Youth Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention.
  • Innovative Tobacco Use Prevention Pilot Project Grants-two awards totaling $100,000.
  • Dr. Matt Benacquista, Physics, presented a co-authored paper with two MIT colleagues, "LISA Sources in Globular Clusters," at the 3rd International Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Symposium at the Albert Einstein Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany, in July.
  • Students in the College of Technology Drafting Program are heading back to Glendive to obtain measurements and data for a park design. The project is a collaborative effort between the State of Montana, Chamber of Commerce, and County Commissioners.
  • Data Design Corporation has given SDS/2 software valued at $561,000 to COT Drafting Program.
  • Monitors for the new Video Network have been installed in the COT Drafting classrooms. Plans are underway for the "COT News" to begin broadcast at the start of spring semester, 2001.