The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) advocates the adoption of a strategic working assumption that undergraduate education has primacy in defining the character and mission of Montana State University-Bozeman. MSU should clearly and strongly define itself as a modern land grant university whose emphases are in the areas of agriculture, the professions (i.e., architecture, business, computer science, education, engineering, and nursing), and the physical, biological, and health sciences. The curriculum should be based on a strong and broad underpinning of the traditional liberal arts; its graduates should be accomplished critical thinkers and excellent communicators. MSU, as a matter of strategy should assertively embrace the research and service missions of the university as a way of strengthening the undergraduate experience by providing undergraduates with opportunities to assist in real-world research projects, better laboratory environments, and the opportunity to gain real-life experience throughout the state to build a stronger Montana while learning.

The SPC recommends that the university adopt a strategy of limited, strategically focused enrollment growth. The SPC does not believe that MSU can or should grow its way out of the fiscal challenges that it will face in the immediate and distant future by increasing undergraduate enrollment; to attempt to do so without addressing the impact to every level of the university would ultimately be futile. SPC endorses a strategy of changing the mix of students so that MSU will have more graduate students, more Montana high school students from the top quartile of their class, more out-of-state students, and more students with stronger high school GPAs and/or SAT/ACT scores, all contributing to an increased rate of retention and a greater overall diversity in the student body. In the pursuit of this strategy, growth should not be the goal per se; however, limited growth may result.

MSU should engage in a targeted reshaping of MSU's student body profile. SPC recommends that the standard for admission be raised. The SPC notes that MSU's retention rates are disturbingly low compared to those of peer institutions. Using the Royall Company for targeted geographic recruiting of prospective students will help address the demographic projections for a shrinking pool of Montana students. This should increase the availability of academically suitable out-of-state students, which should further increase the university's academic profile. Such a strategy should have positive effects on retention, lessening the costs of recruiting over time, stabilizing enrollment, and improving MSU's revenue stream. The student body will be strengthened as we recruit and admit Montana students who are in the top-quartile of their high school class and admit fewer students who are deemed academically unprepared for MSU. Healthy, but limited growth should result from holding the line for the size of the entering freshman class at current or reduced levels, improving retention by admitting better students, expanding summer programs, and targeting growth in graduate programs (discussed later).

It is SPC's understanding that MSU has the residence hall space to accommodate substantial growth in enrollment; it also understands that the stream of auxiliary funds would permit the construction of additional new cluster residence halls similar to those built by the SOB Barn a few years ago. Even though there may be compelling reasons to build such new residence halls to accommodate current student preferences, such investments should not be based on assumptions of significant growth of the student body.

The SPC believes that the university has limited capacity in the instructional sphere -- in the availability of classroom space or tenure-track faculty. The university has too few large classrooms and those large classrooms that it does have are not large enough, thereby limiting potential efficiencies inherent in large-lecture classes. The committee recognizes that there is a distinct preference on the part of both students and faculty for classes between the hours of 9am and 4pm, M-F; therefore, there is considerable capacity that is unused during the week from 8-9am and 4-9pm. Saturday morning classes remain an option for extending classroom capacity. Some among the committee's membership have concerns that such a strategy by the university might backfire, with unintended negative consequences in regard to retention and/or recruitment of students and faculty. At the same time we recognize that the provision of class schedule opportunities outside the MSU "traditional" schedule may be extremely well received by some segments of the student population.

Extending capacity without adding classroom space or forcing students and faculty into classes at inconvenient hours could be achieved by offering quality Internet delivery options for high demand courses. This would relieve space demands and permit students to learn asynchronously when most convenient to them; some students may actually prefer the flexibility inherent in such an option.

Undergraduate education can be strengthened through a strategy of limited, measured, strategically focused growth. Unless additional faculty are hired to staff new sections, class sizes will increase. The increased use of adjuncts at MSU mirrors a national trend. However, the pool of readily available qualified adjuncts is much more limited in Bozeman, Montana than it is at universities in more populous, less isolated areas. The availability of potential adjuncts in Bozeman varies by discipline and does not necessarily correspond at any given time to curricular or enrollment needs. To rely, as a matter of strategy, on such an uncertain situation seems imprudent. The committee is also concerned that in some disciplines the use of adjuncts instead of terminal-degree teachers who are also fully engaged as researchers or scholars may deprive students of the best educational experience possible. The committee recognizes that in some disciplines the use of adjuncts can have an especially beneficial impact on the quality of teaching and curriculum. The committee strongly recommends that an overwhelming prevalence of tenure-track faculty instructors in undergraduate classrooms become a hallmark of MSU-Bozeman. That being said, the SPC recognizes that a strong graduate program is an essential and defining feature of a university. It believes that growth in the graduate program can strengthen the university's undergraduate programs. The SPC, therefore, recommends a strategic shift toward a greater relative proportion of graduate enrollment at MSU-Bozeman. Growth in graduate student numbers, as for all aspects of the institution, should be carefully planned to address strategic quality, disciplinary, and budgetary objectives. Additional graduate students should be used to enhance the effectiveness of, rather than to replace, faculty instructors. It is the SPC's understanding that increasing the number of graduate research assistants is constrained by the greater cost-efficiency of the post-doctoral scholar and technician model prevalent at MSU-Bozeman in staffing research labs.

The SPC strongly urges that growth in the graduate program not come at the cost of quality in the undergraduate experience or the quality of the MSU research program. We therefore recommend a rigorous review of proposals for growth of graduate programs to ensure they represent low or no additional incremental cost of faculty instructional commitment. Potential benefits of increased graduate teaching assistant numbers include smaller undergraduate laboratory and discussion section class sizes, freeing instructor time from some grading and related activities, and relieving the need for adjunct faculty in those disciplines that have graduate programs.

The SPC recommends that MSU-Bozeman emphasize Masters-level graduate training, and reserve growth in PhD numbers to select programs where quality, competitiveness, and demonstrated employment potential are manifest. While universities have a moral obligation to provide for the future professorate, the SPC has serious concerns regarding the competitiveness and potential employability of some of our PhD graduates, relative to those from larger or more specialized doctoral institutions. The Masters degree is increasingly viewed as an entry-level qualification for many careers sought by our graduates.

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