DATE: September 21, 2001

TO: Board of Regents

FROM: Rick Gray, Interim Dean/CEO, Helena College of Technology

RE: Campus Report for the Sept. 27-28, 2001 Board of Regents' Meeting

        OCHE granted $34,000 to two-year colleges in Montana for the ON Project to help orient new college instructors to the teaching environment in Montana two-year colleges. Seven first year and second year instructors from HCT are participating in this project, which will involve weekend sessions on different campuses and the use of the interactive video centers. Dr. Kirsten Graham has accepted the coordinating responsibilities and will do some of the instruction. These are non-credit workshops, but may easily evolve into credit-bearing courses that teachers can use for degree advancement.

        Cisco Systems awarded $130,000 of new software to HCT in conjunction with the purchase of Cisco equipment for Semester 5 and 6. Dave Marshall participated in training this summer and gained Cisco certification to instruct Semester 5.

        The Passport 2001-2003 Program supports twelve students at HCT. $100,000 was awarded to the Career Training Institute and HCT as collaborative partners to support welfare clients financially, academically and emotionally through certificate or degree programs at HCT. A case manager from CTI works with the students on campus to assure suitable support for their educational programs both at school and home.

        Intermountain Bio-Medical of Kalispell has donated $20,000 worth of bio-medical equipment to the HCT Bio-medical electronics program with the promise to find more donor sources in the near future. This allows the students to work with equipment that would normally be cost prohibitive.

        The 1999 Graduate Employment Survey shows that 95% of the respondents were employed with 81% of those employed in Montana. The average total wage was $12.85 with the highest wages in the welding program at $19.00 per hour. Two other high wage programs were Agri-Diesel and Fire and Rescue that averaged about $15.50 per hour.

        HCT students ranked the College significantly above the national average on the Student Satisfaction Inventory in Admissions and Financial Aid, Student Centeredness, and Service Excellence. Academic Advising was ranked lower than results from the SSI in the spring of 1998. Campus leaders are evaluating all the results for recommendations for improvement of policies and procedures.