TO:                    Board of Regents

FROM:               Alex Capdeville, Chancellor

DATE:                November 9, 2000

SUBJECT:        Campus Reports for the November 2000 Board of Regents Meeting

         Upon my arrival at Montana State University-Northern, I found an institution that has been experiencing a decline in student enrollment. Initiatives have been undertaken as responses to this challenge--without significant impact. In order for the university to attract students and quality faculty and staff, MSUN must collect adequate data to utilize as the foundation for the development of a comprehensive plan of growth and revitalization.

I believe that the future needs of this institution must focus on creating a healthy environment for Montana State University-Northern in Havre. I have agreed to have a consultant do a feasibility study, which will focus on our residence life for students, new markets, the applied technology center and a capital fund drive for the institution. MSUN will focus on creating an atmosphere that will invite students to live on campus. The Foundation has agreed to hire Critical Data, Inc., a consultant firm, to do the study. They will begin with a visit to the campus on November 13, 2000 to conduct interviews. The results of the study will be available in early January.

         Kate Nagengast, a junior majoring in elementary education at Montana State University-Northern, has been named the Montana Student Delegate to the National Education Association convention in Chicago, which was held the last week of June and the first week of July. This is the first time Montana State University-Northern has had a student delegate take part in the national convention.

        The American Indian College Fund selected Browning native Carly Kipp, a Montana State University-Northern animal science major, as Outstanding Student of the Year. She is receiving a scholarship and will travel November 7 to speak at the College Fund-s "2000 Flame of Hope" gala in New York City. Each of the 31 tribal colleges in the U.S. has a Student of the Year selected by the College Fund, and of these 31, only two students are chosen to attend and speak at the "Flame of Hope" gala. The American Indian College Fund gala is a yearly event attended by approximately 400 corporate sponsors and created to raise scholarship, endowment and operating monies. Due to the support of corporations, foundations and individuals, the College Fund is now the country's largest provider of privately funded Indian scholarships. For the 1999-2000 academic year, the organization distributed $3 million in scholarships directly supporting more than 6,000 students.

         The MSU-Northern Career Center was recently awarded a continuation grant from the federal government to partner with Havre High School and the Flathead Valley High Schools' Diesel Project to help better prepare students for workplace challenges of the 21st Century. The grant award for the second year is $74, 461, bringing total funding for the two-year project to $149,000. MSU-Northern has an average of 150 students a year participating in cooperative education. Expanding on a 22-year co-op program, the grant focuses on increasing work-based learning opportunities for high school students and increasing the number who enroll in post-secondary institutions. Elements of this project include opportunities for credit-for-work, school-based enterprises and job shadowing experiences. Also, students are given the opportunity to visit University classes in their field of interest, attend informational sessions of recruiting employers at MSU-Northern and to be involved in articulation agreements with the University.

         MSU-Northern College of Nursing plans to conduct needs assessments and feasibility studies to explore the possibility of expanding the Associate of Science in Nursing degree program to the following areas:

  • Two clinical sections of Level I added to Lewistown campus, bring the total number of students at that site to 40.
  • Two clinical sections of level I added to Great Falls campus, bringing the total number of students at that site to 40.
  • Initiate the ASN program at Shelby in response to requests from area hospitals to bring an on-site nursing program to the community.