[The Montana Professor 23.2, Spring 2013 <http://mtprof.msun.edu>]
I sense most Montanans believe access to higher education is important and we should strive to improve opportunities for teaching and learning. The world increasingly is a busy and complicated place. Potential students and current students have many demands on their personal time and their pocketbooks. Our goal for online or digital learning is to reach students where they are and create opportunity for all types of learners in all situations and environments. I know members of the Board of Regents are committed to supporting high-quality education in every delivery we offer. For students who are raising families and working multiple jobs, the chance to complete a course online might truly be the key to open doors that once were closed on educational opportunity. We have to remove barriers and open more doors to meet our goal of 60 percent of Montanans with a college degree by 2020. Online learning will never replace the face-to-face experience of a classroom, but I think it supports readiness and preparation for the classroom. Online learning might not be for everyone. But for those who can benefit from it, online delivery seems important for recruiting and retaining students who might not otherwise enroll in college or set foot in a classroom.
The university system is often perceived as being driven more and more by a business model of management. Without question, keeping the enterprise fiscally strong is critical, particularly in these difficult budgetary times, but isn't there a risk that we are losing sight of what higher education is all about?
The members of the Board of Regents are strong advocates for a business model that supports teaching and learning and the people who are at the heart of education and research—students and faculty. As an educator, I believe a diversity of models must be employed to meet the needs of our students. The business model and the measurables that come with it are key to accountability. Montana is not alone in our challenges with education funding. I doubt there is a Legislature in any state that is eager to increase funding for a university system that isn't eager to increase degree production. Now more than ever before, it is vital that we set reasonable targets and work together to reach them if we expect to secure a strong state investment in higher education.
It's not just funding and numbers of degrees. In my view, it is exciting that we as a board and as a system are increasingly involved in conversations about providing for the "whole" student. To meet our goals, we can see we need to support faculty and staff in supporting so many facets of the complete student experience. This includes need-based aid, time-to-degree options, credit load, and countless pieces of helpful advice for students on navigating the waters of the university system.
I feel very assured that regents and administrators value the role of education as importantly as the faculty and staff who directly serve our students. I am the youngest in a family of seven and one of four to graduate high school. I am the only member of the household I grew up in to achieve a college education. I feel qualified to say I understand the role of education as a great equalizer. I know that every member of the Board of Regents, the Commissioner and his staff, and all our campus leaders understand the vital piece that higher education plays in opportunity for the American Dream. Those opportunities must exist for all students, where they are in place and in life, not exclusively for those who excelled academically in high school. Sometimes that place includes less-than-perfect grades and a student who is holding town one or two jobs and raising a family. We need to structure innovative opportunities for all to gain a better society for all.
The Montana University System made some headlines in January 2013 when some legislators questioned the number of administrative positions in the system. The catalyst for the dialogue was a Wall Street Journal article that reported on another state's effort to reduce administrator positions and administrative expenditures on the "top" end of the organization. We were pleased to see through objective analysis that our system in Montana is relatively lean by a remarkable margin. In the last 10 years across the system, for example, the number of new faculty positions grew at twice the rate of new administrative positions. That said, I think the point is well taken that the best way to support student learning is to ensure students are engaged with and supported by faculty and staff who know and can see that their contributions are valuable to the system.
I sense, in my time on the board, we have elevated the conversation with faculty and staff to historic levels. I say that simply because that is the feedback we've received from faculty and staff representatives. We greatly appreciate that feedback. The board's highest legislative priority is securing a meaningful legislative appropriation for faculty and staff compensation so we can continue our excellent service to students for another two years at an affordable tuition price. Last year, the board formed compensation focus groups with faculty and staff to examine the system's most important compensation issues. Last month, I attended a meeting of the Coalition of the Union Faculty (CUF) to work on data and methodology for market-based salary comparisons and solutions to salary inversion and compression. We're looking forward to board updates and dialogue on this subject in May 2013. The members of the Board of Regents highly value the several breakfast meetings and lunch meetings we have with faculty representatives throughout the year, every year, to discuss issues of paramount importance. These are positive, forward thinking conversations where open dialogue is encouraged and expected by all.
Our faculty members who teach and who research in the disciplines of political science and education have long noted the attributes of Montana's constitutional structure of higher education. The elected delegates who framed our state constitution, and the voters who ratified it, gave us a volunteer governing board of lay citizens. In Montana, the people didn't desire or provide us a state department of education administered by the Governor's cabinet, or by an administrative board of academic officers. Ours is a board of lay citizens who bring a lot of diversity to the table. Our task is to guide and support the tremendous faculty, staff, and administrators of the Montana University System. I can't really say if it's "a problem" that Montanans don't require the appointment of a professor or an administrator to the board. But I can say this board works hard to involve and engage faculty, staff, and administrators at all levels.
As volunteer board members who serve in an unpaid capacity, we're eager and able to devote a great number of days to visiting campuses and interacting with faculty. As you might expect, a lot of those visits and interactions are scheduled in conjunction with regular meetings of the Board of Regents. Also, a number of us on the board are occasionally on campus and interacting with faculty outside the regular meeting schedule, for example, as part of various task forces or focus groups. In addition to those interactions, depending on where each regent lives, he or she might make even more visits to campuses closer to his or her home community in Montana. I like the idea of a regular process that gets board members onto campuses for interaction with faculty outside of our regular meetings and will examine the best approach for doing so with board members and our commissioner.
[As of this publication date:] The legislative session is just a little past the half-way point, and there is a lot of work ahead. The good news is, as things stand now, we have secured strong levels of funding in the state general fund appropriations act, House Bill 2. Those funding increases would largely cover inflationary costs of utilities, library materials, and other routine overhead costs that are rising. As for salaries and compensation, we are working hard to generate legislative support for a pay plan that would allocate funds to the university system for faculty and staff pay raises. At the time of this writing, a state employee pay plan bill—House Bill 13—has been defeated in the House Appropriations Committee, but is likely to be revived in some fashion. We will stay vigilant and active in our advocacy for a pay plan. Commissioner Christian, his staff, our campus presidents, and members of the board have engaged in concerted communication efforts with legislators dating back to last May and have continued through this session. We have worked across party lines toward the mutual goal of a more college-educated Montana. We have a tremendous working relationship with both the legislative and executive branches of government. I am confident this situates the university system positively in the legislative process.
I know that top priority is the recruitment and retention of high-quality faculty and staff. To meet any other goal, such as more student completions and graduations, we must be able to attract and support and keep the dedicated faculty and staff who invest their careers in the Montanan University System. Our compensation focus group, consisting of faculty and staff and regents and campus leaders, is coordinating and working closely with faculty union leadership on improving some tough salary situations. Other goals include affordable tuition prices and better support of student success. The state and the board are striving to provide 60 percent of Montana's adult population with a college degree or certificate of completion. We need to work as a system to develop access points and procedures for all types of learners at all stages of their lives in order to reach this goal. Of course, in reaching that target, we must also consider affordability. There are a lot of moving parts within this framework of high-priority goals. For example, our top legislative priority this session is the College Affordability Plan (CAP). The CAP is a carefully crafted package that would increase state funding for educational programs and for faculty and staff pay raises if the university system freezes tuition prices and allocates some state funding to campuses based on institutional performance in degrees and completions. The CAP is still intact well past the mid-point of the Legislature (late March 2013). We have a lot of work ahead to keep the pieces together.
[The Montana Professor 23.2, Spring 2013 <http://mtprof.msun.edu>]