DATE: November 15, 2001
TO: Board of Regents
FROM: Montana State University – Great Falls College of Technology
Mary Sheehy Moe, Interim Dean
RE: Campus Report for the November 2001 Board of Regents’ Meeting
Economic Development Roundtable
How can the education sector–whether at the K-12 level or at postsecondary colleges, universities and training centers–help business and industry develop and prosper in Montana? That is the question that Governor Martz’s Economic Development Action Group hopes to answer through a series of roundtable discussions in communities across Montana. Taking the lead in that effort is the MSU—Great Falls Campus through its Higher Education Center Advisory Committee. On December 6, Higher Education Center representatives from the University of Great Falls, MSU-Northern, MSU-Bozeman’s College of Nursing, the Great Falls Public Schools, and the College of Technology will facilitate roundtable discussions with representatives from 11 different industry sectors. After organizing and reviewing their findings, the Advisory Committee will submit a report to EDAG and Governor Martz.
Middle School Career Day
On November 2, in cooperation with Great Falls Public Schools, the College of Technology welcomed 900 eighth-graders to a morning of career exploration. Students attended three half-hour sessions designed to help them learn about careers in their area of interest. Seventy-five community members shared their career experiences in the areas of Health and Wellness, Human Services, Natural Resources, Arts and Communications, Business and Marketing, and Engineering and Technology.
Interim Dean Mary Moe recently met with north central Montana school superintendents to encourage them to take advantage of opportunities linking higher education with high schools. Among those opportunities is the Cisco Networking program, Tech Prep, Med Prep, and the recent Running Start legislation. Running Start legislation allows school districts to enter into interlocal agreements so that students can meet high school and/or college requirements through course work available at Montana’s postsecondary institutions. With MSU—Great Falls College of Technology’s extensive Internet offerings, this opportunity is now available for students in communities once considered distant from a Montana University System campus.
On October 2, MSU—Great Falls Campus conducted its first Healthcare Recruitment Fair. Faculty members from the three Great Falls colleges of nursing--MSU-Bozeman, the College of Technology, and MSU-Northern--collaborated to offer employers from north central Montana an opportunity to recruit students.