RESOLUTION REGARDING THE RESTRUCTURING PLAN

Whereas; In the early 1990's, the Montana Board of Regents recognized the need to provide more responsive educational opportunities to Montana students and for the system to be made easier for students to obtain a quality education, and responding to criticisms that the current System was fractured with each campus arguing separately for budget allocations only for their local interests, and intending that the System provide a significant coordinated Statewide resource, and

Whereas; On January 21, 1994, the Board of Regents adopted a plan to recognize that while the institutions are unique, they should function as part of an integrated system of public higher education for Montana with the following characteristics:

  • Shared intellectual and material resources;
  • Collaboration among units in teaching, research, and public service;
  • Participation in a common academic core curriculum;
  • Enhanced acceptance of credits from other institutions in the system;
  • Use of a common academic calendar;
  • Mutual efforts to ensure orderly educational changes in response to shifts in society;
  • Effective applications of distance-learning and telecommunications-based management systems; and
  • Recognition of the uniqueness and importance of all campuses to the unified system.

And to achieve these common goals the Board of Regents adopted a job description for the Commissioner that empowers him to function as the Board's Chief Executive Officer for all activities, programs, and services of the Montana University System, and

Whereas; The Board of Regents has from time to time reviewed the implementation of this plan with the latest being an evaluation from an outside and independent expert, Dr. Mingle in 2000, and has reviewed the latest follow-up actions of his recommendations of the Plan on January 18, 2002;


Be it therefore resolved by the Board of Regents;
That the above noted statements reflect the current opinion and operating philosophy of the Board of Regents and we again endorse the direction and intent of the restructuring plan and its associated approved follow-up actions. The Board further endorses the concept of a strong central executive in the person of the Commissioner to lead efforts to implement the approved restructuring plan and other significant undertakings of the Montana University System and gives strong approval for actions taken to date.

 

Adopted by the Board of Regents at its meeting in Havre, Montana on March 20, 2002