DATE:           September 24, 2001

TO: Board of Regents

FROM: Dr. Ronald P. Sexton,  Chancellor, Montana State University-Billings

RE:Campus Report for the September, 2001, Board of Regents Meeting

        Online enrollment currently stands at 1,075 enrollments as of 9/24/01. Target for FY 2002 is 3000.

        MAP Training is progressing. Evaluations of the training are positive.

        Construction has begun on the Softball Field Complex.

        MSU-Billings Center for Applied Economic Research has contracted with Missoula Area Economic Development Corporation to study the impacts of 2000 wildfires on Montanas Tourism Industry.

        Several MSU-Billings people are represented in a new book published in celebration of the Parmly Billings Library centennial Writers Under the Rims: A Yellowstone County Anthology. Sue Hart and Donna Davis are two of four editors. Campus contributors included Adrian Heidenreich, Walt Gulick, Sue Hart, Jean Davis, Catherine Feldman, Anneke-Jan Boden, Donna Davis, Hap Gilliland, Tami Haaland, Dave Karnos, Bruce Meyers, Aaron Small, Shirley Steele, Ben Steele and Jane Howell.

        Three MSU-Billings Library staff, Jeff Edgmond, Jan Fandrich, and Darlene Hert, were elected as co-chairs for the 2001-2002 OMNI Consortium.

        Dr. Matt McMullen, Psychology Dept., received an $85,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.

        Dr. Tony Hecimovic, Dr. Matt McMullen, and Dean George White, successfully led MSU-Billings toward an NIH approved Institutional Research Board for human subject research.

        Dr. Craig Wilson's studies of the 2000 elections in Montana appeared in the journal PS, and are scheduled for publication in a study of nationwide results of the 2000 elections.

        Construction of the new ACT Center at the College of Technology is near completion (October '01).

        Upward Bound Summer Program ended with 97% completion rate. Seven out of 15 spring Upward Bound Grads are attending MSU-Billings this fall; and 13 of 14 are enrolled in a college or university.

        Professor Joanne Sheridan, College of Business, has had a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Business Research.

        Region III Comprehensive System of Personnel Development, chaired by Marsha Sampson and Debra Miller in the Montana Center for Disabilities, sponsored a workshop titled Increasing Language and Literacy Skills and Reducing Challenging Behaviors in Early Childhood.

        Equity for Young Women with Disabilities Project in the Montana Center on Disabilities hosted a training for mentors. Project goal is to increase employment of young women with disabilities.

        The T5: Teacher Training with Teams, Themes, and Technology Project in the College of Education and Human Services was awarded continuation funding of $515,036 for the 2001-02 fiscal year.

        The MSU-Billings Library will serve as the information repository for the Lockwood Solvent Groundwater Plume Site for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.

        We are Still Here: Humanists Consider Coping Strategies of Native Americans through Religion, Art and Story is the theme of an NEH Focus Grant recently awarded to MSU-Billings.

        September 11, a panel discussion was organized for invited news media to discuss the implications of the terrorist attack upon New York City and Washington, D.C. In the following week prayer services were held, counseling services were made available, and a bell ringing ceremony was held which involved campus security, Billings Fire and Police Departments, Sheriff's Office, Highway Patrol, Red Cross, American Medical Response, and a color guard from the U.S. Marine Corps.

        MSU-Billings co-sponsored a presentation by Mr. Bill Barker, Chief Investment Strategist and Research Consultant for Dain Raucher. Events included a news conference and an in-class presentation. The evening event was attended by 250 individuals. The Office of Certification and Field Placements in the College of Education and Human Services placed over 300 students for fall semester, 2001.

        Part-time faculty training was held on September 4 with over 50 part-time faculty in attendance.

        The Academic Support Center is up and serving over 600 students.