MSU getting better all the time, Gamble says

Montana State University is not only getting bigger, it’s getting better, President Geoff Gamble said Wednesday in his annual speech on the state of the university.

By GAIL SCHONTZLER, Chronicle Staff Writer

"MSU is in great shape," with an excellent faculty, award-winning students, great staff and a beautiful community, Gamble told a crowd of about 150 professors and administrators in the Strand Union Building.

Gamble ticked off achievements that rival the top universities in the nation — MSU is No. 1 in the nation in students passing the certified public accounting exam, one of the best in passing the engineering and nursing exams, and No. 8 in the number of science students winning national Goldwater scholarships over the years.

MSU scientists and professors spent a record $82.3 million in research grants and contracts from federal and private sources in the past year, and at this rate may surpass $100 million within a year, which would rank MSU with the nation’s elite universities, he said.

Underlining the point, Gamble announced that MSU is the lead university in a group that has landed a $10 million National Institutes of Health grant to establish a high-speed telecommunications network in six states.

The research network will equal anything at Stanford and MIT and "eliminate the digital divide," he said. Leading that effort is Gwen Jacobs, head of the cell biology and neuroscience department.

Despite his avalanche of upbeat news, including record enrollment of 12,135, Gamble acknowledged MSU faces a "real challenge" because state money is limited. Most MSU employees, like other state workers, will get no pay raise this year.

Everyone from parking attendants to computer programmers to professors can earn more by leaving, Gamble said.

He said he is committed to finding creative ways to do better on pay and is talking with the Montana Board of Regents about the problem.

After the speech, architecture professor Ferd Johns said he hopes Gamble succeeds in improving salaries.

"Most of us feel we’re kind of stuck here," Johns said.

He added that the statistics Gamble pointed to proudly — showing that MSU educates each student for 65 percent of what it costs in other states — are true because "we don’t pay our faculty enough."

Gamble mentioned other areas that need work — summer session has languished, Gaines Hall has some "archaic" labs, and MSU is raising money for a livestock research center.

Still, the bulk of the speech was relentlessly positive.

Gamble bragged about MSU students — freshmen ACT college-exam scores and grades have risen in the past 10 years — and announced plans to attract more of the nation’s brightest students. Starting next fall, MSU will offer Montana and out-of-state students scholarships or fee reductions based on their SAT and ACT scores. MSU has been aggressively raising donations for scholarships and already has $14 million pledged, he said.

"We do more with less over and over and over again," Gamble said told his employees. "You are doing a remarkable job. I love it and I appreciate it."

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