On Tuesday, September 14, 2004, at 4:10 p.m. in the SUB Ballroom, President Gamble delivered a State of the Campus address to the campus and community. Below is the text of the president's comments.

Thank you for coming today.

I'd like to start by talking about Move-In day, which we had on our campus a few weeks ago. It's always a good test of how well our administrative team works together. I found that the Provost and I can successfully manage a futon. The event is a strong example of how this campus is engaged in supporting student success.

More than 400 volunteers from the faculty, administration, staff, ASMSU leadership, Greek system and Bozeman community helped 1,500 students and their families move TVs, stereos, furniture and other belongings onto campus.

Enrollment Numbers

We're growing the university in a thoughtful, structured way, while at the same time growing the quality. Our vision is to achieve enrollment growth of about 800 to 900 students over the next five years. This year's incoming freshman class looks like it will be just slightly larger than last year's record class, and that is right where we want it to be.

We want a significant part of our enrollment growth to be the result of improved student retention. I know you have heard me speak many times about MSU's commitment to student success, and I think we are beginning to see results. Our freshmen retention figure for last year was just over 70 percent. This fall it is 73 percent. We can do better, but we have those figures moving in the right direction.

And before I leave the subject of freshmen, I want to mention that we have a 75 percent increase (about 90 students) in the number of incoming freshmen who scored 30 or better on their ACT tests.

The number of Native American freshmen increased from 23 last year to 49 this year. Our high school Honors Scholarships are also doing well. Of 280 awards, half of those students have chosen to come to MSU -- 137 students, to be precise. The University of Montana garnered the next highest number -- 89 students.

Our fundraising efforts directed at attracting high-ability students and supporting affordability are paying off. A new scholarship program based on ACT scores (30 and above) awards $8,000 to eligible students. We've awarded more than $800,000 through that program, which played a significant role in attracting new freshmen.

Overall, scholarship funds are helping us accomplish two important goals: keeping high-ability students in state; and making college affordable for Montana residents with financial need.

Key work done was done by the enrollment committee to achieve these numbers. The people in Student Affairs, Academic Affairs and Administration and Finance have all worked very hard to make this happen.

As pleased as we are with this success, unfortunately there is another side of the picture. Our fixed costs continue to grow, and these increases will draw from our new revenue and then some. For example, our utility costs are up $850,000, and insurance has risen more than $1 million. This is a great frustration, especially in the context of all our recruiting efforts. However, we still want to celebrate our recruiting success.

What is it about MSU that is allowing us to achieve this success? I'd like to talk about several key factors.

Integrating Learning and the Discovery of Knowledge

Core 2.0

Much effort has been invested in the development of this new set of core courses, which focuses on critical thinking and strong communication skills. This new core ensures that every student has the opportunity for hands-on learning -- a chance to put theory into practice in addressing real-world situations and needs.

This hands-on experience represents a critical enhancement of the learning opportunities within the classroom. It can provide students the chance to work collaboratively with a team of faculty and other students, often representing a mix of disciplines.

This research/creative experience requirement sets us apart from other schools. Most schools offer this kind of experience to a select few undergraduates. Our new curriculum demonstrates the value we place on ensuring all undergraduate students have this kind of quality in their educational experience. I look forward to the continuous development of all aspects of Core 2.0, especially in undergraduate research.

Center for Entrepreneurship in the New West

After only three years, the Center for Entrepreneurship in the New West was named one of the top ten programs in the country with minors or emphases in entrepreneurship by "Entrepreneur Magazine." Students have contributed more than 3,000 hours of research for startup companies in Montana. Eleven students were offered jobs from the entrepreneurs they were working with.

Student-Centered Campus

We are known as a friendly, student-centered campus, and it is the efforts all of you make on an ongoing basis that creates this culture. The extra time you take to help a student through a process, follow up on a request, ensure that a caller gets the right answer, or just to say hello as you walk across campus--all of these efforts work together to impress upon our students that the No. 1 priority for all of us at MSU is to support student success. I appreciate the efforts faculty and staff make every day to welcome and assist visitors.

Some upcoming opportunities to share our campus environment, not just with students but also with family, alumni and the community include Homecoming, October 8-10th; Parent Family Weekend, October 15-17; and Ag Appreciation Weekend, November 12-13th.

Everyone at this university, no matter his or her role, has an impact on retention. A recent alumni survey indicated that often some of the best memories alumni have of their years at MSU involve the help they received from staff members such as the departmental secretary or a counselor in Financial Aid.

I encourage all of you to continue your efforts to support our students in every way possible. Too many capable students are leaving, and we all need to make concerted efforts to ensure they've received from us the best support we can provide.

EMPower Student Center

The College of Engineering's EMPower Student Center exemplifies a college-based program that provides important guidance to students. The program supports minority and women engineering students with mentoring, advising and peer networking. The center has become a "living room" where students can host meetings, receive tutoring and find access to technology and other resources.

The College of Engineering has a number of "bridge" students coming to MSU this fall. These are minority students contacted by the college while in high school. A factor in the success of their transition to MSU is the availability of this center.

Nationally and internationally recognized faculty

Bill Hiscock, a physics professor, received the 2003 Frank J. Malina Astronautics Medal, awarded by the International Astronautical Federation. This is a worldwide award for excellence in space education. Hiscock was the only recipient selected this year.

Ines Atmosukarto of Indonesia recently announced her decision to come to MSU for postgraduate work. She was awarded a UNESCO fellowship for women in science and is the only recipient from the geographic area that includes Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and her home in Indonesia.

The fellowship provides funds for her to study anywhere in the world. She selected MSU because of the research of Gary Strobel, plant sciences and plant pathology, on microbes that can have medicinal or agricultural benefits.

In the two months that she has been at MSU, she has mentored 12 Indonesian students -- undergraduate and graduate -- and is providing a network for these international students to succeed at MSU.

Student Successes

There's a reason our students get more Goldwater scholarships than most schools in the country: the faculty. The strength of MSU's faculty supports the achievements of our students. At MSU, our students receive the quality of instruction and the mentoring that leads to significant student awards: Truman, Rhodes, Mitchell.

The success of our students also shows in their performance on national exams. MSU students have a pass rate of 95.5 percent on the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. The national average is 79.6 percent.

On the CPA exam, our accounting students have the highest pass rate in the nation (85.2 percent). They have a 100 percent pass rate on the auditing portion. This is the fourth time in ten years that MSU placed No. 1 in nation

Our nursing students show a 96 percent pass rate on national licensing exam; the national average is 86 percent. Our students in the graduate-level Family Nurse Practitioner program have had a 100 percent pass rate on the national certification exam every year since the program started in 1994.

Leading Research

Fiscal year 2004 research expenditures have reached nearly $88 million. This represents nearly a 10 percent increase with significant increases in last few years -- possibly beyond any other enterprise in the state -- nearly $6 million this year, and $16 million the year before.

INBRE Grant

Researchers at MSU and other state institutions were awarded $16.5 million from the National Institutes of Health. The focus of the grant, called IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence, or INBRE, includes infectious disease and health issues related to the environment.

The grant builds on a previous $6-million grant by increasing the biomedical research capacity of the state and by building research infrastructure, supporting faculty and student research, and fostering a statewide network of researchers. More than 800 students participated in the initial grant, including 95 minority students. Undergraduate students made presentations and coauthored papers with faculty mentors. Seventy-five research collaborations occurred across the state; 14 federal grants were subsequently awarded to BRIN researchers.

The INBRE grant extends frontiers of science by building partnerships with other Montana University System campuses (U of M, Tech, Western, and Billings), Rocky Mountain College, six tribal colleges and two research labs.

The new grant will fund new faculty at tribal colleges, a mentoring program to link researchers with peers at other institutions, training in research methodology, and significant hands-on opportunities for undergraduate students.

History Department

A National Science Foundation grant for $300,000, one of three such grants awarded in the nation, went to MSU's history department. The department will use the grant to study how humans have used and modified the American West through science and technology. The department's new Ph.D. program was a key factor that enabled it to successfully compete for the grant.

Chemistry Facility

Space has become a premium as our research program has grown so rapidly over the past few years. A new facility for the chemistry and biochemistry faculty will increase support for a variety of their research programs.

Spectacular Educational Setting

Many students are initially attracted to MSU because of the spectacular outdoor setting, but once they're here, they find that our natural setting supports quality research projects for our faculty and students. From dinosaurs to Yellowstone snows, the geography provides a great laboratory for MSU students and scientists. Examples of this research includes the work of Robert Garrott, who is working in the Yellowstone ecosystem, and the Big Sky Institute scientists, who are working with the United States Geological Service and Glacier National Park on a study of climate change. This research was recently mentioned in National Geographic magazine. And we have many more examples of these sorts of research projects.

Integrated Marketing

These are all examples of the great things that are happening here. A public opinion survey that we did last spring showed that Montanans think we do a good job, but they don't know much about the specific achievements at MSU. That means we all need to do a better job telling our story to the public.

As many of you know, we have been involved in an integrated marketing campaign to help us better get the word out about the great things happening at MSU. I have just mentioned several of the core messages that we want to make sure people know about. We need to reinforce these core messages at every opportunity. Those core messages center on:

• Opportunities for hands-on, active learning;
• Nationally and internationally recognized scholars;
• Leading research;
• Student-centered campus; and
• A spectacular educational setting.

While other universities may do some of these things well, MSU does all of them well. We offer the total package. That's how we can differentiate ourselves from other schools. It's the combination of the quality of our university community with the excellence of our academic programs that distinguishes MSU from other universities.

We're putting a high priority on our integrated marketing efforts because we know that if we as a university can come together in our communications with all audiences, we will have a significant impact on our vision efforts and the successes we can realize in recruiting, retention and fundraising. These core messages are things all of us can mention when we talk about MSU, whether it be at a national meeting or at a barbecue.

Other Happenings/Events/Appointments

We recently hosted the first meeting of Leadership Montana, a new program that is bringing together leaders from different backgrounds and communities across the state. Several of our people from MSU are participating. Leadership Montana is a nine-month program focused on personal development and trustee leadership in the state.

We've had several key new appointments on our campus. Following a nationwide search, Jeff Jacobsen has been named dean of the College of Agriculture and director of the Agriculture Experiment Station. Following a national search, Elizabeth Nichols was named dean of the College of Nursing. And, following a national search, Doug Steele has been named vice provost and director of the MSU Extension Service.

Effective Oct. 1, pending approval by the Board of Regents, Rolf Groseth will be promoted as MSU's fifth vice president. Groseth will serve as MSU's vice president for intercampus affairs. He will be assigned to head up collaborative efforts throughout MSU's campuses.

Fundraising Activities

I want to update you on the very successful campaign that has raised $18 million in scholarship funds. We started with a goal of $14 million and were so successful so we decided to keep on going. We will also soon launch a $130- to $150-million capital campaign that will incorporate both MSU Athletics and the Museum of the Rockies.

We have also announced some ambition goals for alumni giving that are included in our recent vision document. We plan that alumni donors will increase 50 percent and the median alumni gift will increase 50 percent. I encourage all faculty and staff to participate in this new capital campaign.

MAES facilities

We've raised $820,000 of the required $1 million match for the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station. The upgrades funded by this drive are critically important to the infrastructure needs of our research centers around the state.

Animal Bioscience

Our proposed Animal Bioscience facility will house applied studies based on work at Baylor University to map the bovine genome. Current efforts have raised half of the funding needed.

Upcoming legislative session

We recently participated in a community meeting on campus, with Commissioner Stearns and Dave Gibson, Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. Commissioner Stearns and Dave Gibson presented some of the ideas generated through shared leadership meetings, where the Montana University Systems will work with the executive branch, legislative branch and private sector to identify ways our universities can apply their resources to help address critical state needs.

Specific plans have been identified for such key areas as:

• Workforce development
• Enhanced access to higher education
• Distance learning

The leadership group will present budget initiatives to the next legislature to address these key areas. The Regents have held joint meetings with the interim subcommittee on higher education, which has endorsed these budget requests. This partnership is a good example of what we can accomplish by pooling the expertise and talents of many--all directed toward planning for Montana's future.

Competitive salaries

On the issue of competitive salaries for faculty and staff, we will be asking the Regents this month to carefully review this issue. We're now collecting data on salary comparisons for faculty and staff. This issue is especially critical because the housing market and other cost-of-living factors in Bozeman and, for that matter, Missoula, are so high. Approximately two-thirds of Montana University System employees live in the two highest cost-of-living areas in the state. Many people have asked us to put faculty and staff salaries into the university strategic plan, but we chose not to, as salaries are something that the Regents control rather than the campuses.

Vision Planning and Summary

Finally, I want to mention our five-year vision plan. Our planning is well underway, and I appreciate the efforts across the campus to further develop this plan. The process for developing this plan is a great demonstration of the value of shared governance at work at MSU.

Our progress shows your willingness to work together to accomplish the long-range goals of the University and, most importantly, your belief in our ability to be even better than we are right now.

I applaud all of you who are participating in this effort. If you're interested and haven't been involved yet, contact Jim Rimpau. The success of this process should make us all proud.

In 2010, when I give my fall campus address, I know we'll be celebrating our accomplishments, while at the same time looking further down the road as we set new and higher goals.

Thank you.