Goal: Students who seek to complete their academic degrees in a timely fashion and who demonstrate a commitment to their academic program should not be hindered in those efforts.

Implementation: MSU-Bozeman will pursue numerous strategies to reduce the time to degree completion, particularly for first-time, full-time students. The Implementation Task Force, established for the implementation of the Productivity, Quality, and Outcomes Agreement, will develop an action plan to meet these objectives. The curricular and programmatic strategies for these purposes will include:

• Implement Four-Year Graduation Contract. Students who subscribe to this contract and meet its requirements will be compensated by the University for additional course work required to complete degree requirements as the result of lack of access to required courses.

• Guarantee course availability which assures full-time students access to the courses they need to graduate within four years.

• Review and reassess undergraduate curricula for improvements in the structure, content, and articulation, particularly with respect to the core curriculum and disciplinary majors.

• Facilitate the transfer of students academic credits from one campus to another.

• Enhance the quality and availability of academic advising (see 2 below).

• Ensure that students who advance beyond the freshman year possess the communication and analytical skills needed for upper division course work.

• Promote and facilitate the course challenge process which enables students to demonstrate competency in course subject areas.

• Implement one of the several available prior learning assessment and validation processes to give appropriate credit for prior learning where feasible.

• Review and assess impact of course availability on student progress and reallocate instructional resources to mitigate potential bottlenecks.

1.

Through FY 1999, demonstrate continuous increase in the number of students who successfully complete the Four-Year Contract, as well as decrease in the amount of compensation paid by the University to fulfill the contract.

Baseline = None

2.

Through FY 1999, demonstrate continuous declines in the average total number of credit hours taken by first-time, full-time undergraduate students beyond their program credit requirements. The target for FY 1997 is to reduce average total credit hours from the base of 150.45 to 147.00 credit hours, and to reach a target of 140.00 average total credit hours by FY 1999.

Baseline = 150.45; FY 1997 = 147.00; FY 1999 = 140.00

3.

Maintain or increase the percent of the institutional budget which is allocated to the instructional program, insofar as fixed institutional costs (e.g., utilities) permit.

Baseline = 55.6%

Goal: Many MSU-Bozeman students are unable to attend on a full-time basis or during conventional daytime schedules. The University needs to employ a variety of strategies to make educational opportunities more readily available for this growing portion of our student population. These can include self-paced learning opportunities, asynchronous course delivery, telecommunication-based course offerings, and conventional evening, weekend, and compressed course offerings.

Outcomes Measures:

1.

Increase by 20% the availability of course sections for students who are unable to attend during traditional schedules by FY 1999.

Baseline = 271; FY 1999 20% improvement = 325

2.

Increase by 20% the number of students enrolled in course sections offered during nontraditional times and formats by FY 1999.

Baseline = 5265; FY 1999 20% improvement = 6318

Goal: Students will have confidence that the advising they receive is accurate, timely, and relevant to their particular needs. Advisors will be highly knowledgeable about academic requirements and career opportunities. They will also demonstrate a commitment to serve students and to provide high quality academic and career advice.

Implementation: The Implementation Task Force will develop action plans which will include a variety of implementation strategies to achieve this goal. These strategies will address curricular change as well as faculty reward and development structures. Specific strategies will include:

• Collaboration with the efforts of the University's Assessment and Outcomes program which has established preliminary tracking mechanisms to track advisee cohorts.

• Establishment of department-specific plans tailored to the unique advising needs of students in each academic department within the University to assure that information regarding academic requirements is readily available to all students and that all faculty are well informed of curricular developments.

• Expansion of available information technologies to assure that faculty have immediate access to appropriate student records and transfer information.

• Training of faculty in both the most effective advising skills and the use of information technologies for advising purposes (see 6.C).

• Development of lower division seminar style courses which will enhance interaction between faculty and students, increase student self-reliance, and provide direct advice to students.

• Greater integration of faculty performance as advisors into annual evaluations and merit pay decisions.

1.

By January, 1996, each academic department will have reviewed and modified its annual review/merit pay process to include assessment of advising as an integral part of faculty evaluation (in place by Fall, 1996).

2.

By FY 1997, all faculty and advisors will have access to "On Course," the on-line academic advising system, and they will have the ability to produce electronic academic progress reports for students, which will substantially reduce the use of paper and the length of waiting lines.

3.

By FY 1996, a new advising assessment instrument being developed at Kansas State University will be piloted on the MSU-Bozeman campus. The instrument requests information in six specific advising areas.

4.

Student satisfaction with the quality of academic and career advising, as demonstrated through survey data and focus groups, will show continuous improvement through FY 1999.

Baseline in Academic Advising = 72% Excellent or Good
Baseline in Career Advising = To be established

Goal: It is essential that all academic departments provide advising support for students in an easily accessible manner and at times which are suited to students needs. Accessible advising includes both formal and informal advising activities. Academic advising will foster student self-confidence and promote student self-discipline.

Outcomes Measure:

1.

Access to advising will also be reflected in the academic progress of students, as indicated by declines in time to graduation measured in 1.A above.

2.

By Fall 1996, each academic department will have a plan developed and in place to enhance the quality and accessibility of advising.

3.

Student satisfaction with the accessibility of academic advisors will show continuous improvement through FY 1999, based upon survey and focus group data.

Baseline in the major = 84% Excellent or Good Ratings

Goal: All students, but especially lower division students, should have access to small, seminar-style courses in a variety of academic departments, including interdisciplinary courses. These classes should include many forms of pedagogical techniques and subject matters, but they should emphasize core curriculum requirements which enhance student movement toward degree completion.

Implementation: The Implementation Task Force will establish action plans for revisions in the curriculum and its delivery which will direct institutional efforts toward this goal. This process will include a variety of strategies that focus attention on undergraduate course offerings. These include:

• Review of current program requirements to assess their effectiveness and efficiency, and to identify opportunities to reallocate resources for smaller class sizes.

• Assess the Core Curriculum to determine if the present content and mode of delivery can be redesigned to increase availability of smaller, seminar style classes, including freshman seminars.

• Reallocate existing resources to small class offerings.

• Implement the Assessment and Outcomes programs strategies to track the academic progress of cohorts of students with respect to their developing writing and math skills during the course of their undergraduate education.

Baseline = 113; FY 1997 60% Increase; FY 1999 100% Inc.=226

Goal: Lower division courses, as well as upper division, should require and include opportunities for active learning. Regardless of the size of a class, students should be engaged in group learning activities, directed self-study, and active discussion and debate with classmates and faculty, and there should be emphasis on introspection. They should learn to utilize the informational and intellectual resources of the University to develop life-long learning skills and to understand how to apply knowledge and theory to new situations and challenges.

Implementation: The Implementation Task Force will develop an action plan to promote active learning across the curriculum. The strategies employed must involve the promotion of appropriate pedagogies within courses, faculty development, and faculty support and recognition. In particular, the Task Force will consider strategies which:

• Provide faculty with information and training on active learning teaching methods through faculty seminars and symposia. The Task Force has a target of 12 such events per year.

• Encourage development of new active learning projects in various academic programs by providing resources and support to faculty.

• Acknowledge faculty efforts to establish active learning methods through the Universitys teaching awards and annual performance assessments.

1.

By FY 1999, the amount of active learning components included in course syllabi for all lower division courses will increase 15%.

2.

By FY 1999, faculty skills and abilities in the application of active learning techniques will be enhanced as described in 6.C, D below.

Goal: All students at MSU-Bozeman will have the opportunity to engage in independent research and creative work with faculty support and guidance. This work will be sufficiently challenging and rigorous to engage students and stimulate them to higher levels of academic performance It will also provide opportunity for integration of concepts and ideas across fields and disciplines.

Implementation: This goal will be met by increasing the attention given to independent student research and creative work by both students and faculty. The Director of the Undergraduate Scholars Program and faculty advisory committees will identify the opportunities for expanding current efforts, for increasing student and faculty awareness of undergraduate scholarship, and for developing greater faculty participation. Specifically, they will:

• Promote the importance of undergraduate scholarly activities through a variety of student and faculty forums, meetings, and publications, as well as by recognizing student accomplishments through the many external awards they garner.

• Work with departments to establish department- and discipline-specific research opportunities for undergraduates.

• Coordinate their efforts with those of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee to establish policies and procedures which recognize undergraduate scholarship and give appropriate credit for it.

• Recruit undergraduate students to participate in undergraduate scholarly activities.

• Encourage, through deans and department heads, faculty participation in independent undergraduate research and creative projects.

1.

Have in place and fully operational an Undergraduate Scholars Program with the purpose of working directly with faculty and students to enhance research and creative opportunities for students.

2.

By FY 1999, there will be a 20% increase in the number of students engaged in independent research and scholarly activities.

Baseline = 2,196; FY 1999 20% Improvement = 2,635

Goal: External resources are essential to support students' research and creative projects, for the availability of funding allows students to engage in more complex and challenging activities than would otherwise be possible. Students should have access to funds on a competitive basis to help with their projects.

Outcomes Measure: Secure $50,000 in additional external funding to support undergraduate research and creative activities by FY 1999.

Goal: In capstone courses, students can reveal their capacities to synthesize their studies in a variety of culminating experiences such as senior theses or projects which may be multidisciplinary, practice-oriented, or practical applications of their research. Students at MSU-Bozeman will have greatly enhanced access to capstone courses.

Implementation: The Implementation Task Force will work with academic departments to promote the inclusion of capstone courses into degree requirements. In most cases, this work will involve the revision of existing courses, rather than the creation of new courses. The Provost's Office will work with the Task Force to identify ways of encouraging interdisciplinary course work and of eliminating bureaucratic obstacles to curricular innovations.

Outcomes Measure: Increase to 90% the number of graduating seniors engaged in capstone courses available to undergraduates by FY 1999, and thereby facilitate the work of the Assessment and Outcomes program.

Baseline = 27%; FY 1999 = 90%

Goal: All students at MSU-Bozeman will have ready access to computing and information technologies through student laboratories and at other sites (e.g., computer rooms in dorms) across the campus. These facilities will include access to Internet tools and Internet information resources.

Implementation: The Information Services Task Force will produce an action plan for restructuring student and faculty access to information technologies. This plan will include recommendations for the allocation of student fees and existing computing resources to address this goal. Strategies recommended will include:

• Restructuring the delivery system for information technologies to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness.

• Increasing faculty involvement in decisions and deployment of information technologies.

• Expanded faculty development in the use of information technologies.

• Conversion of existing information technology systems to more decentralized, network-based systems.

• Aggressive pursuit of external funding sources to support the development of new and replacement systems.

Baseline = 195; FY 1999 25% Improvement = 244

Goal: Access to information technologies must extend to the students' classrooms. The students of MSU-Bozeman will learn to use the most effective technologies available for retrieving, displaying, and manipulating information.

Outcomes Measure: MSU-Bozeman will increase the number of advanced technology classroom facilities that use state-of-the-art information technologies, including multimedia and computer-assisted instructional equipment by 133%, by FY 1999.

Baseline = 3; FY 1997 = 5; FY 1999 133% Improvement = 7

Goal: Learning productivity will be enhanced across the MSU-Bozeman campus through the expanded use of information technologies in the Libraries of the University. All students will have access to library-based information in the most effective and efficient means available.

Outcomes Measure: By FY 1999, the Libraries will show a 25% increase in the volume of information sources accessible via electronic means.

Baseline = 288; FY 1999 25% Improvement = 360

Goal: Students will learn and adopt new information technologies most readily if they are required to use them within normal class requirements. MSU-Bozeman will increase the number of classes which integrate the use of information technologies into normal class assignments.

Outcomes Measures:

1.

To meet the growing student demand for computer access generated by class assignments, which will increasingly include computer-related components, the University will increase by 50% the number of microcomputers available in the student computer labs by FY 1997. This outcome focuses on student computer use which transcends simple word processing and calls for mainframe and networking capabilities.

Baseline = 152 student lab PCs; FY 1997 = 228 PCs

2.

The use of microcomputers provided in student computer labs will continue to increase, as measured by the average percent of computers in use during all hours of lab operation.

Baseline = 52% usage; FY 1997 target = 75% usage

Goal: Any effort to enhance access to high-quality education must include explicit recognition and rewards for effective teaching within the University promotion and tenure process Faculty members must know that their teaching efforts will be supported and rewarded appropriately.

Implementation: The elevation of teaching effectiveness requires campus-wide efforts. Achievement of Goal #6 will require the implementation of a variety of strategies, including:

• Redesign of policies and procedures regarding faculty reward systems through collaboration among colleges, departments, faculty governance bodies, and the administration.

• Establishing recruiting practices which ensure that new faculty entering the University have the skills, abilities, and orientation to be successful teachers, as well as scholars.

• Promotion of an ethos that supports and recognizes the value of high quality teaching.

• Development of mechanisms that allow faculty to improve their teaching skills continuously and to adopt new teaching methods, such as the integration of information technologies, active learning techniques, and capstone courses.

Goal: Policies and practices of the University need to maximize productive, educational efforts of the faculty and to minimize other work, particularly in the area of service on committees. Committee work often distracts the faculty from educational duties, and it should be reduced so that more time and attention are available for helping achieve the goals outlined in this Agreement. The intent of this goal is to reduce, where possible, the demands of committee work on faculty members, but such reductions should not weaken the governance processes already in place.

Outcomes Measure: By FY 1997, the administration and Faculty Council will review all existing committee structures and determine which can be diminished, merged, or eliminated with the intent of reducing demands on faculty time for committee work.

Goal: Faculty members will be better supported in their efforts to acquire skills associated with new instructional technologies and methods and to address the educational goals in this document, such as active learning, multimedia instruction, and high quality advising.

Outcomes Measures:

1.

By FY 1999, funding for faculty development in instruction will increase by 200%.

Baseline = $10,000; FY 1997 = $20,000; FY 1999 = $30,000

2.

A formal program for increasing the skills of the faculty in the use of educational technology will be established and implemented by FY 1997 (see 3.B).

Baseline = 0; FY 1997 = 50 faculty; FY 1999 = 100 faculty

3.

By FY 1997, 75% of the faculty will have received training on the use of the on-line advising system.

4.

An Early Careers program for all new faculty which provides mentoring and development opportunities in teaching, advising, and scholarship will be designed and implemented by FY 1999.

Goal: MSU-Bozeman will ensure that recruitment, interview, and hiring processes give recognition to the quality of candidates teaching abilities as well as to their research skills. Particular attention will be given to the candidates' potential ability to apply new instructional technologies and active learning methods in an appropriate manner.

Outcomes Measure: By FY 1997, all departments will have in place mandatory procedures which require all candidates to be assessed as rigorously for teaching ability as for research skills and which require candidates to demonstrate their teaching ability during the interview process.

Goal: External funding for equipment, instrumentation, and facilities which enhance undergraduate education must continue to grow. Students will have direct access to high-quality equipment suitable to their academic programs of study and which will help them prepare for professional careers.

Implementation: We can accomplish Goal #7 through the continued development of existing support mechanisms and programs, through the transmission of information regarding funding opportunities, and by actively encouraging faculty to pursue external funding. These efforts will include strategies that:

• Continue or expand the level of support provided to faculty interested in proposal writing to pursue external funding.

• Transmit information on the availability of external funding and the opportunities for faculty to seek grants from agencies currently supporting work at MSU-Bozeman, as well as working with new funding agencies.

• Expand, through the Undergraduate Scholars Program, the awareness of faculty as to the various models of including students, particularly undergraduates in funded research projects.

• Target portions of matching funds to support grant proposals which will most effectively leverage funds that promote student learning and education.

Baseline = $1,816,819; FY 1999 25% Improvement = $2,271,024

Goal: Increasing numbers of students will be supported from externally funded grant and contract activity. In particular, opportunities for students to receive financial support through collaborative research and creative activities with faculty will be enhanced.

Outcomes Measure: Through FY 1999, direct support for students in the form of salaries, stipends, materials, and fees coming from externally funded projects will increase by 25%.

Baseline = $3,267,051; FY 1999 25% Improvement = $4,083,814

Goal: MSU-Bozeman faculty must maintain and strengthen their knowledge and skills within their respective fields of instruction. This effort is directly reflected in their success in competition with peers nationally and internationally. Despite recent reductions in sources for matching funds, continued matching is essential to meet the goal.

Outcomes Measure: MSU-Bozeman will increase by 54% the volume of competitive, externally funded instructional and research awards through FY 1997.

Baseline = $25,976,344; FY 1995 = $36,200,000; FY 1997 Projected = $40,000,000

Goal: The place-bound citizens of Montana will have enhanced access to course offerings, academic programs, and professional development opportunities through the increased use of existing, cost-effective, and appropriate telecommunications technologies. These courses will be available in a manner that utilizes technologies suitable to the levels of expertise, available equipment, and financial resources of particular audiences.

Implementation: Achievement of Goal #8 will require the development of new instructional methods, the continued development of telecommunications networks both on- and off-campus, the solicitation of external funding, and the education of site-bound students as to the availability and opportunities of telecommunication-based instruction. This effort, led by the Burns Telecommunication Center and the Information Services Task Force, will include such strategies as:

• Continued pursuit of gifts and grants to support the Burns Telecommunication Center.

• Provision of seed grants to stimulate the conversion of existing courses into formats suitable for telecommunication delivery.

• Development of degree offerings that can be appropriately delivered through distance delivery systems.

• Collaboration with other higher education institutions across Montana to enhance existing telecommunication networks and to facilitate sharing of resources.

• Working closely with user groups around the State to determine the most desired course offerings and the most effective and efficient means of delivery.

• Exploring the opportunities provided by the presence on campus of KUSM-TV (PBS affiliate) to complement the instructional activities of the Burns Telecommunication Center.

Baseline = 26; FY 1997 = 39; FY 1999 100% Increase = 52

Goal: The resources available for delivering educational programs to place-bound students will be concentrated on those areas of greatest importance to the citizens of the state. Educational offerings will be responsive to the changing needs and reflect the concerns and ambitions of Montanans, as they are identified by community advisory groups and citizen surveys.

Outcomes Measure: The satisfaction of participants in outreach education programs will demonstrate continuous improvement through FY 1999, based upon opinions of advisory groups and data collected through surveys and focus groups.

Baseline = To be established

Goal: In order to have a significant impact on economic development, the discoveries and intellectual resources of MSU-Bozeman must be effectively transferred to the public and private sectors. There must be continuous growth in these activities if we expect businesses to establish themselves and flourish in Montana.

Implementation: Implementation of Goal #9 will require the expansion of current efforts to make the intellectual resources of the University available to solve the problems of Montana and to address the economic development issues faced by its citizens. These efforts will include:

• Continued development of programs engaged in technology transfer and the support of economic development, such as the University Technical Assistance Center, Local Technical Assistance Center, Center for Economic Renewal and Technology Transfer, and the Local Government Center, through the use of external resources.

• Expansion of the University's activities in matching new technologies and discoveries with business interests and opportunities.

• Increased communication with the public and private sectors through various advisory councils and committees to gather more information and feedback on the economic development needs of the State.

• Enhancement of student internship and cooperative education opportunities with both the public and private sectors within the State.

Baseline = 45; FY 1997 Target = 49; FY 1999 20% Improvement = 54

Goal: Economic development depends upon access to expertise essential for solving business problems, adopting new processes and technologies, and understanding the implications of new developments. MSU-Bozeman will directly extend its intellectual resources to the public and private sectors in order to provide this necessary support, particularly for small businesses.

Outcomes Measures: Student and faculty assistance to Montana businesses provided by such University centers as Small Business Institute, University Technical Assistance Program, and Center for Biofilm Engineering, measured by number of clients served, will increase by 25% by FY 1999.

Baseline = 58; FY 1999 25% Improvement = 73