Bozeman Tech Center to expand offerings

Shelley Swart does all the payroll and bookkeeping for her family’s business, Budget Game Processing of Belgrade.

In the busy fall and winter seasons, that means Swart keeps track of taxes and W-2 forms for more than two dozen employees.

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2004/08/29/news/econbzbigs.txt

Her job has gotten easier since she took computer classes from the state College of Technology in Great Falls.

But Swart didn’t have to drive to Great Falls for most of her courses. Instead she took night classes at the College of Technology’s little-known satellite office in downtown Bozeman, called the Bozeman Tech Center.

"Being able to go to the Tech Center really helped me to run our business," Swart said. "It’s really good because I do all the paperwork — I’m not pulling my hair out."

The Bozeman Tech Center has been quietly operating here since 1996. Its office and a classroom lab full of Dell computers are in the basement of the city-owned Stiff Professional Building at 20 E. Olive St., behind the Post Office.

"It’s like we’re a well-kept secret," said Eleanor Wend, the Bozeman Tech Center’s program coordinator for the past year.

It’s a secret no more. The Bozeman Tech Center has been running newspaper ads to get the word out that students can earn two-year associate degrees in computer technology here. Fall classes start this week.

And starting this semester, College of Technology, or COT classes are being offered on the Montana State University campus, in the computer lab at Room 303 of Reid Hall.

Mary Moe, dean of the Great Falls College of Technology, said COT classes can fill a need for people who want technological training or special skills, but who are older and can’t leave town. Some students who come to MSU may discover they don’t need a four-year degree, she said.

"Bozeman obviously is a vibrant economy in Montana," Moe said. COT classes can "keep it going that way."

Three night classes are being offered by the College of Technology on the MSU campus this fall: introduction to computers, interpersonal communications and networking fundamentals. In addition, two remedial math classes in pre-algebra are being offered at MSU during the day.

Meanwhile, the downtown Bozeman Tech Center is offering more advanced computer classes at night — Web page design, desktop publishing, and introduction to router technologies, for students seeking Cisco Systems certification in installing and maintaining Internet equipment.

Wend said that adding class space at MSU is doubling the number of courses the Bozeman Tech Center can offer each semester. That’s good for students, because they won’t have to wait as long for classes they need to be scheduled.

"It’s pretty exciting times," she said.

Holding College of Technology classes at MSU has been somewhat controversial.

The idea has been a goal of Montana State University’s president, Geoff Gamble. It was embraced last spring by MSU’s budget committee as part of the university’s five-year plan for the future.

Administrators said the aim is to serve the business community’s needs for vocational training and to serve MSU students who are struggling to stay in college, by helping them with basic skills.

Each year, 30 percent of MSU freshmen fail to return the following fall. MSU officials hope COT classes could help lower that dropout rate.

However, the idea of offering two-year College of Technology classes at MSU, a four-year institution that’s aggressively pursuing a reputation as a research university, met with skepticism last winter.

In anonymous e-mails, a few professors scoffed at the idea of MSU offering "trade-training" and trying to hang onto students who were "less motivated or less talented."

MSU administrators answered that retaining students and improving MSU’s quality aren’t contradictory, because the campus benefits whenever students succeed.

Gamble said he thinks the COT classes will fill a gap in the local educational offerings.

"I think in the long run it will pay off," he said. "There is a lot of demand for Cisco certification, for Microsoft certification. We’ve heard from the community that these are needs. This is our way of reaching out."

The Bozeman Tech Center does three basic things, Wend said. It offers:

€ Two-year associate of applied science degrees in computer technology (focusing on small computer maintenance and repair; business network and Internet support; or Web design). Students can take a national A+ exam for certification in computer maintenance and repair.

€ Continuing-education seminars. These include training in computer skills, accounting programs, recertification credits for teachers, and small-business workshops offered jointly with the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce.

€ Short-term, customized training workshops for business owner who want to train their employees in such areas as leadership skills, customer service, marketing or maximizing profits.

In addition, students can take core classes needed for a four-year degree and transfer those credits if they enroll at MSU.

The COT also offers online classes and one-year certificates for medical transcription, health information coding and medical billing. Its newest certificate offered online is for general office assistants.

"Believe it or not, there is a shortage of qualified office support" staff, Wend said.

Students, from teenagers to seniors from Wilsall to Ennis have been coming to the Bozeman Technology Center, she said. The online classes have enrolled students from as far away as Florida and Hawaii.

Classes aren’t free. A three-credit class in using Microsoft Word, for example, costs $383. However, financial aid is available. And as Swart pointed out, as a COT student, she avoided all the four-year campus’ fees for athletics, parking and the like.

The Great Falls College of Technology was placed under the wing of MSU a decade ago, when the state Board of Regents restructured the state University System.

Unlike the University of Montana, MSU didn’t have a college of technology nearby. The Great Falls College of Technology was affiliated with MSU.

COT classes were started at the Bozeman Tech Center with the intention of making it easier for residents here to earn two-year degrees or upgrade their job skills — without having to leave home, job and family and move to Helena or Billings, Wend said.

"They’ve got roots, this is their home town, and they don’t want to move," she said.

Swart, for example, took most of her classes — in Excel, Microsoft Word and other business computer programs — at the Tech Center at night.

She also took some classes online. Because she was determined to finish in two years, one semester she drove 356 miles round-trip each week to Great Falls. She graduated in 2002.

In addition to the computer technology degree, the College of Technology is considering offering other programs in Bozeman, said Joe Schaeffer, COT director of outreach in Great Falls.

Under discussion are possible two-year programs in interior design and aviation.

Interest in the computer technology degree has tapered off, Schaeffer said. Four years ago, there were 15 to 20 students taking the classes, but today it ranges from four to seven.

At the same time, he said, there has been a steady increase in people taking short-term workshops and customized business training. Students often are people who have a job but need a skill, or are looking for a promotion.

"We will continue to expand," Wend said. "We’ve been mandated to do that.

"The challenge is visibility — people knowing we’re here."

More information is available at the College of Technology’s Web site, http://www.msugf.edu.