The Commissioner of Higher Education, Dr. Sheila Stearns, visited the MSU-Bozeman campus, on March 22, 2004, at the request of CEPAC's Chair, Bonnie White.  During her visit, she met with CEPAC, President Gamble, Faculty Council, and Professional Council.  An informal lunch was attended by President Gamble, Susan Alt (Director of PPS) and the officers of CEPAC.

 Commissioner Stearns' meeting with CEPAC opened with introductions of members present, and Bonnie White explained the Committee's structure and the purpose of its work.  Bonnie then led the meeting through the list of CEPAC's goals for 2003-04 and members explained our achievements to date.  It was encouraging to be able to demonstrate, to ourselves as well as to the Commissioner, that each of the goals have been met, are currently well under way, or awaiting progression (eg the outcomes of the fee waiver survey will be progressed as the dependents' pilot scheme is evaluated).  We spoke of our work with the entire staff of MSU, from classified to faculty, to professional and to the upper administration.  We commended the shared governance style promoted by President Gamble at MSU, and vouched for our experience of its success.

 The Commissioner engaged in lively discussion and conversation around the goals (enhancing communications; procuring funding for CEPAC; fee waiver issues; and MAP).  She made note of the points we raised, of various aspects of our work, and was keenly interested in CEPAC's achievements to date.  Some noteworthy comments from Dr. Stearns were:

 1. she saw MAP to possess some plusses but said if it is unfunded it would be demoralizing.

2. she asked whether the distribution of the pooled funding for MAP bonuses in cases where departments could not self-fund these benefits might not be divisive.  Sara France explained that the method of distribution invited all departments to apply to the pool and the allocation of funds was, in the first instance, the responsibility of the VPs.

3. she recognized the issue of supervisor training as a global problem, present in all kinds of employment but wondered how you fund resources sufficient to provide adequate services.  She suggested that MSU research utilizing online and shared resources.  Susan Alt reported that PPS is working on a proposal for training and this suggestion is already included.

At the close of the meeting, Commissioner Stearns commended CEPAC on its well organized presentation.  She said she considered MSU-Bozeman as an exemplary campus.