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Regents, state leaders trade ideas on economy
The state economy was the topic of the day as state leaders, education officials and economic gurus gathered at the Board of Regents meeting Thursday to talk about ways to accelerate job growth in Montana.
By ALLISON FARRELL – IR State Bureau
The Board of Regents said at its May meeting that it wanted to spur — if not lead — an economic turnaround in Montana.
Regent John Mercer of Polson said the state’s university system is an untapped resource that could be used to aid that goal.
‘‘I think we could do a whole lot more,” Mercer said. ‘‘If we don’t grow the economy, I don’t know how we’re going to grow state support to keep education going.”
Many officials had numerous ideas. But Myles Watts, lead economist at Montana State University in Bozeman, told the Regents they need to define economic growth before they try to develop it.
Developing ‘‘economic literacy” is a first step, he said.
‘‘We still don’t have an understanding of the baseline data that’s easily understandable,” he said.
Missoula Mayor Mike Kadas cautioned the group from looking into the past for answers to Montana’s economic woes.
‘‘We continually try to re-create what we were 20 or 25 years ago, and it’s futile,” Kadas said. ‘‘I think we’re just swimming upstream.”
The state’s urban areas are where people and dollars are moving, he added, and Montana should capitalize on that before it bemoans the loss of jobs in the resource extraction industry.
Jerry Driscoll, representing the AFL-CIO, said Montana’s two-year colleges could help job growth in Montana if they found the ability to create specialized, job training programs in 60-90 days.
http://helenair.com/articles/2003/07/11/montana/a06071103_02.txt
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Regents hope to nurture growth
By Candace Chase
The Daily Inter Lake
Two Kalispell businessmen, a senator, government leaders and economists touched off what could become a partnership with Montana’s board of regents to move Montana’s economy out of the doldrums.
Regent John Mercer, a driving force behind the concept, called growing Montana’s economy a matter of survival for the university system.
The session, "Creating Montana’s Economic Road Map for the Future," was aimed at creating an agreed upon economic model.
Taken up during regents meeting Thursday in Kalispell, board members first heard the success story of the Flathead Business and Education Council. The group brought together representatives of businesses with k-12 and higher education professionals for their mutual benefit.
Hank Ricklefs, council president, said the idea for the council evolved in 1997 from connections made in the chamber’s Leadership Flathead program. Also a vice president at Plum Creek, Ricklefs said he was amazed at the resources available at the community college.
Through the dialogue on the business and education council, educators learned how to better design courses to prepare students for success in their working lives.
The group also pinpointed travel and tourism, health care, construction, retail and financial services as economic growth areas for the college to target with training programs. They also stressed the need for better communication, analytical, computer and technical skills in students.
In return, businesses provided opportunities for internships and job shadowing for on-the-job training experiences. Businesses also used the community college’s resources to obtain technical training for their own employees.
Bob Nystuen, senior vice president with Glacier Bank, discussed how the dialogue developed broad-based support for schools. Businesses became active participants in community campaigns aimed at passing school levies.
"The cornerstone of economic development is education," Nystuen said to the regents.
Ricklefs pointed to the emphasis on the contribution of four-year universities in the areas of research and development for business. He added that community colleges also contribute.
"Don’t overlook the tremendous asset you have in your two-year institutions," Ricklefs said.
He pointed to Flathead Valley Community College’s tremendous flexibility, quick response and willingness to form partnerships with businesses that spawned successful programs for students which solved problems in the business community.
Responding to a question from a regent, Ricklefs listed new programs at FVCC including the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning, Refrigeration technician training, surgical assistant, medical coding and radiological technician programs which evolved from the dialogue with businesses.
The discussion with panelists and Sen. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, followed. Members addressed whether the regents might play a beneficial role in helping coordinate economic development in the state.
President of the Montana State Senate Bob Keenan said he saw a need for a collaborative effort to identify ways to gain economic growth in the state.
"I would encourage this to go forward," he said.
Missoula mayor Mike Kadas said the economy of Montana was tied to the U.S. economy. He added that Montana was made up of a number of regional economies which are city-centered.
Kadas championed the idea of the university working for economic literacy which underscores changes that have occurred.
"We continue to try to recreate what we were 25 years ago," he said.
He said the state needs to understand that urban and city areas hold the most potential for economic development. Kadas pointed to the dramatic increase in the service sector and decline in the manufacturing segment.
A series of economist who work for the state delved into the complexities of economic modeling and information gathering. Most said they were willing to work with the regents and others in a process to benefit Montana.
However, they were skeptical that all the state leaders would ever unit behind one model.
President of the Montana Chamber of Commerce Webb Brown compared economic development to a perpetual relay race.
"There is no silver bullet for economic development," Brown said. "We need diversity, innovation and nimbleness."
He said it didn’t matter which industry was number one because we need them all.
He used the Lewis and Clark Expedition as a metaphor for what he termed the Corps of Recovery.
"They had no road map or GPs — they just proceeded up the river," Brown said. "They did it by involving everyone."
Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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Regents Meeting Highlights
By The Helena IR
Nursing students receive more time to appeal treatment in program at MSU Northern
KALISPELL (AP) — Students, unhappy with their treatment in the nursing program at Montana State University-Northern, got a bit of relief Thursday from the state Board of Regents.
The board told Northern officials to give the complaining students more time to challenge decisions and grades that they said have jeopardized their careers.
But regents also told students to use the established appeals system in the Montana university system and at the Havre campus for any further gripes. Don’t return to the board unless that process is exhausted without satisfaction, they said.
This was the second consecutive meeting in which the regents heard complaints about the nursing program. Critics called it alarming that 20 of 49 students failed to graduate this spring in the two-year program. The board ordered an investigation.
Northern officials have defended the program as following all the required policies and procedures. They said students were just unhappy that the program raised its grading standards.
Regents OK new 2-year contract for UM faculty
KALISPELL — The Board of Regents approved a new, two-year contract for the faculty of the University of Montana Thursday, just days after the union narrowly approved the contract by 15 votes.
The contract calls for no pay raise this fiscal year and a $500 base salary increase to begin Feb. 1, 2005.
The new contract, which covers more than 600 union faculty members on the Missoula campus, comes one year after the faculty received a 3 percent raise.
But UM employees are getting a raise very similar to the 25-cent-per-hour raise the state Legislature approved for other state employees, beginning January 2005. That means that over the next year and a half, neither state employees nor university faculty are going to get any kind of a pay raise.
— IR State Bureau
Western lobbies for master’s program in teaching
KALISPELL — The University of Montana-Western in Dillon should reinstate its master’s in teaching degree in order to increase the campus’ summer enrollment, supporters told members of the state Board of Regents at its meeting Thursday.
Western offered a master’s in education from 1954 to 1987, and once it was discontinued, summer enrollment numbers dropped by 30 percent. Many area students attend Western to earn four-year degrees in education, and over the past five years, 70 percent of the bachelor’s degrees awarded there were in education.
But when the master’s degree in education was eliminated, the average summer enrollment dropped from 570 students to 370 students, said Maryellen Wilkerson, a member of the university’s local executive board.
‘‘This loss of enrollment has had a significant economic impact on the Dillon community and the campus as a whole,” Wilkerson said.
The University of Montana in Missoula, Western’s mother campus, shot down a proposal Western made last year to reinstate its master’s in teaching program. But Ulrich thinks this year’s new, modified proposal will make the grade.
— IR State Bureau
http://helenair.com/articles/2003/07/11/montana/a06071103_03.txt
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