Strategic Planning Committee Minutes, April 12, 2002

Strategic Planning (SPC) Committee Minutes
April 12, 2002

MEMBERS PRESENT:: Bruce Morton, Jon Wraith, Greg Johnson, Kay Chafey, Mary Noll, Bill Brown, Betsy Centa, John Carlsten, Jaynee Groseth

MEMBERS ABSENT: Michelle McLendon, Mark Sheehan

OTHERS PRESENT: Ben Sharp

The meeting was convened at 3:00 PM by Chair Bruce Morton. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dave Dooley was present to discuss strategic planning issues with the committee.

In response to a question asked of the Provost - in the absence of strategic planning, what vision has he, as CAO, been using while making decisions - he replied that there are several guides to current decision-making:

• The framework of UPBAC.
  
• The overarching principles the President has identified.
  • Focus on student success.
    
  • Attention to recruitment and retention.
    
  • What this means in terms of classes, services, etc.
• There appears to be a broadly-shared consensus that MSU in under-enrolled in the graduate program and that there are some target areas where the number of graduate students can grow with the available resources.
  
• There is a broad campus consensus that MSU needs to do all it can to enhance undergraduate education.
  
• A personal goal of the Provost is to give every undergraduate the opportunity to do some kind of research. This can be done through the possibility within the new core of providing research experiences in groups of 40, by coupling service learning with research opportunities, and through other methods. The essence of the undergraduate research experience is that no one knows before hand the outcome of the research experience.

Outcomes assessment continues to be an important consideration. A one-half time position has been created in the Provost's Office for an outcomes assessment coordinator. Assessment needs to be built into new programs foundationally.

Space allocation is an issue. The goal of the Space Management Committee is to have draft guidelines by fall. The trial case will be the EPS complex (EPS/Cobleigh/Roberts). The collection of data by the committee is progressing well.

• Assignment of lab space will be made upon several factors including IDC's/net assignable square foot, outside money/assignable square foot, and FTE/net assignable square foot.
  
• Assignment of instructional space will be made upon the percent of time used, the number of instructors using the space, and other factors.
  
• National, regional, and local benchmarks will be considered.

A strategic agenda will be produced by SPC and UPBAC, including consultation with the new University Planning and Analysis Office. UPBAC won't have time to gather information, reach a consensus, and by itself develop strategic principles. It was suggested by a member of the committee that SPC and UPBAC will be too large a group to develop a strategic plan and that the president should develop a list of five to seven strategies for which the larger group builds support.

According to the Provost, the President's key messages, which share his vision, are available on the President's web site. Other messages will be posted as appropriate. Aspects of the President's vision will be discussed by SPC, translated and taken to colleagues and others, discussed, brought back to SPC and then back to the President. His vision will be reflected in the final strategies.

SPC's charge will evolve over time. Two specific tasks for now are the SWOT analysis and an evaluation of optimal enrollment for MSU-Bozeman. These need to be done before moving forward. It will be important for SPC and the Planning and Analysis Office to work together to develop unified and meaningful recommendations.

The question was raised as to whether MSU really is committed to overall growth. There appears to be interest in growth in graduate programs, in Native American students and in international students. Expansion in the number of non-resident students and a stable resident population will create additional revenue.

Data indicates that MSU is a long way from maxing out its use of classroom space, except in a few cases (Architecture, MTA). More difficult to identify is the capacity for increasing faculty workload. Faculty are using their time in ways that are different from several years ago. If the number of students increases, there will need to be more faculty, although expanding the graduate program will make more TA's available to help. Tenured faculty need to have workloads allowing them time to spend with students. Academic gates are generally opposed, except in areas where there is demonstrated need.

There are tangible resource commitments to growth that can be made in addition to increased TA's, adjuncts, and tenured faculty. One of these is "investment opportunities" for the state, in which state money can be put into particular areas. Another is giving flexibility to universities by removing the cap on non-resident students through allowing more fee waivers. Combining all MSU-wide non-resident fee-waivers is a move in the right direction, because MSU-Bozeman uses all its fee waivers, but the other three units do not. UPBAC has recommended significant increases in GTA stipends and has recommended paying at least part of the health benefits for GTA's.

The point was made that research and instruction are very compatible. However, there seemed to be consensus that it appears some new faculty hires are based on research only and the hires don't necessarily fit into the department's needs for instruction. Although research is necessary to making an excellent instructor, faculty who are not effective communicators or have little desire to teach will not automatically do well in the classroom environment.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 PM.