TO: Montana Board of Regents

FROM: Roger Barber, Deputy Commissioner for Academic & Student Affairs

RE: The Diversity Report

DATE: September 21 - 23, 2005

The Montana University System's Diversity Report Executive Summary is attached to this memorandum. This Report is prepared in response to Montana Board of Regents Policy 1902. The stated goals from Policy 1902 are:

1.             To enroll and graduate American Indians and other minorities in proportion to their representation in the state's population. In measuring the outcome of this goal it is expected that the students would originate from the State of Montana and that the proportional representation would apply both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Further, it is expected that the minority students would have comparable levels of achievement with non-minority students.

2.             To increase the employment of American Indians and other underrepresented minorities in administrative, faculty and staff positions to achieve representation equal to that of the relevant labor force.

3.             To enhance the overall curriculum by infusion of content which enhances multicultural awareness and understanding.

Each of the Montana University System campuses submitted a detailed report with the following sections:

    1. Institution Information
    2. Policy and Structure
    3. Enrollment by Ethnicity
    4. Completions
    5. Fee Waivers
    6. Scholarships
    7. Tenured Faculty
    8. Tenured-Track Faculty
    9. Adjunct Faculty
    10. Staff
    11. Training
    12. Courses
    13. Cooperative Agreements
    14. Indian Languages
    15. Teacher Education
    16. Action Plans

These individual campus reports provide a wealth of information regarding each campus efforts to accomplish their goals for multicultural diversity. Additionally, data related to enrollment, degree completions, faculty and staff numbers, and fee waivers are summarized in a MUS Diversity Report. The on-line reports contain over 10 years of historical data.

The Executive Summary that I have provided to you today is intended to be a concise response to the goals established in Policy 1902. The summary is also designed to provide you an update from the last time the report was given, July 2003. If you are interested in seeing the details by campus or for more years, please go to the web site identified above.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to try and answer them.