Montana Education Excellence

The regents need to understand that it’s "not kingdom-building," Miller said, but "a pathway to success for students," especially for students not planning to attend a four-year college.

"I feel it could potentially devalue our degree," Brileya said. "Without a home department and people looking out for them, folks will not receive the treatment they should. Who’s going to recruit new microbiology students if it dwindles each year?

Cooley’s labs do research and teaching on microbiology, cell biology and neuroscience, bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics. Graduate students, undergrads and medical students in the WWAMI doctor-training program also learn there.

“We’ve gotten in the habit of not supporting our schools.”

“We want to change the mindset. We want people to think about what we need to accomplish.”

“We have to consider the global economy. We need to prepare our kids to compete for jobs, but not just in Billings.”

Two-year programs are increasingly viewed as an affordable and good quality educational option in Montana.

“Let’s move!” Working together, we can successfully invest our time and resources in a healthier future for Montana’s children, and our great outdoors." Peggy Beltrone

“The frontier is really where we are,” said Denise Juneau, Montana’s state superintendent. “We are more rural than rural.”

Montana education officials are creating a plan to compete for federal stimulus dollars reserved for academically high-performing states.

The money will go to the Foundation Fighting Blindness, which does research on retinal degenerative diseases, and the Missoula County Public Schools, to purchase technology for students with visual impairments.

Community partnerships are the hallmark of successful community colleges.