Bitterroot College of The University of Montana
Minutes of the Advisory Council
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Meeting Location: Science Lab, Bitterroot College Program, 274 Old Corvallis Road, Hamilton
Meeting Time and Date: 3:10 – 5:15 PM, Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Chair: Lynn Stocking
1) Call to Order and Roll Call
Advisory Council members present: Pat Connell, Roger Maclean, Patricia Meakin, Al Mitchell, Deb Morris, Dixie Stark, and
Lynn Stocking
a) Advisory Council members absent: Perry Brown and Heather Green
b) BC staff present: Victoria Clark (Director), Kathleen O’Leary (Advising and Enrollment Services), and Patricia
Skinner (Operations; taking notes)
2) Introductions
a) Members of the public: Allen Bjergo (Bitterroot RC&D Board), Amanda Duley (BC adjunct faculty), and Catalina
Gerner (BC adjunct faculty)
3) Announcements and Documents Received
Discussion Summary: Victoria Clark announced that Kathleen O’Leary had been chosen as the new Bitterroot College
Advising and Enrollment Services Coordinator. Clark said that there had been a strong applicant pool of about 25
candidates for the position, but that O’Leary had risen to the top.
4) Approval of Steering Committee Meeting Minutes from December 7, 2011
Discussion Summary: The minutes from December 7, 2011 were approved with corrections noted for the misspelling of
Patricia Meakin’s last name.
5) Approval of Advisory Council Meeting Minutes from May 23, 2012
Discussion Summary: The minutes from May 23, 2012 were unanimously approved without changes.
6) Student Representative (Heather Green)
Discussion Summary: There was no student representative report due to the absence of Heather Green. Chair Stocking
did relate that she, Victoria Clark, Roger Maclean, and Green had all met in June to follow through on the issues which
Green had raised at the May 23 council meeting. Stocking said, however, that she would leave it to Green to report on
this discussion at the next Advisory Council meeting.
7)
Advisory Council Old Business
a) Advisory Council Vacancies
i) Meaning of Term Ex Officio (Victoria Clark) – see supplemental material
b) Nominating Committee for Advisory Council Leadership and Council Vacancies
c) Discussion of Work Groups & Code of Ethics Idea – see supplemental material
i) MOLLI Board By-laws and Code of Ethics
ii) Ideas for Mission and Vision Statement
Discussion Summary: Chair Stocking recognized Clark to speak about the term Ex Officio. Clark explained that her
research (see supplemental material) showed that the term Ex Officio, despite a common belief to the contrary, did not
designate a group member as non-voting. While separate by-laws could identify an Ex Officio group member as nonvoting, the term itself did not denote a group member as non-voting. In further discussion, it was noted that BC staffers
Clark, Kathleen O’Leary, and Patricia Skinner were not members of the Advisory Council, and therefore could not vote on
council business.
Chair Stocking then recognized the Nominating Committee to speak about leadership and council vacancies. Dixie
Stark stated that the committee was nominating Lynn Stocking to continue as the Advisory Council Chair and herself
(Dixie Stark) as the new Advisory Council Vice Chair. With respect to council vacancies, Patricia Meakin reported that
neither she nor Jennifer Burdette had been able to secure someone from GlaxoSmithKline to be nominated for the
council partially due to the council’s daytime meeting hours. Stark noted that the nominating committee would next
reach out to Rocky Mountain Laboratories to fill the remaining council vacancy. Chair Stocking called for a vote on the
nomination of Terry Berkhouse to fill the UM council vacancy. Berkhouse was approved unanimously for council
membership. Chair Stocking then called for a vote on the leadership nominating slate. Stocking was approved
unanimously as the Chair and Stark was approved unanimously as the Vice Chair. According to council by-laws, the new
leadership would assume their positions at the July meeting.
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BCP Advisory Council Meeting Minutes, 6-27-2012, Page 2 of 3
Chair Stocking then asked Clark to present on the Work Groups and Code of Ethics topic. In response to a request
from the previous council meeting, Clark reported that the UM’s MOLLI Board did not have a Code of Ethics. Clark said
she would do more research on advisory councils in general and return to the council with more materials. Clark noted
that the BC Advisory Council may have a higher public profile than other UM advisory councils and therefore a Code of
Ethics might be in order—if not now then perhaps later down the road. Clark then referenced the supplemental material
she had gathered with respect to mission and vision statements from different 2-year units around the state. Clark noted
that there were examples of mission and vision statements, of various breadth and depth, from all types of the state’s 2year units—from independent community colleges, from semi-autonomous MUS colleges, and from embedded MUS
colleges. Clark said that this material was being presented as food for thought for the council’s upcoming fall retreat and
was not meant for in depth discussion or decision-making at present.
8)
Advisory Council New Business
a) Director’s request to move Advisory Council July meeting from July 25 to July 18
Discussion Summary: Clark asked that the July Advisory Council be moved to July 18 (third Wednesday rather than fourth
Wednesday in July) due to her summer vacation plans. Pat Connell said he could not make either date. Roger Maclean
said he would not be available on July 18. Chair Stocking said that she would send out a “Doodle” link so that everyone
could weigh in on a rescheduling date for the July meeting.
9)
Director’s Report
a) Programming
i) College
(1) Summer 2012 and Fall 2012 – courses and enrollment – see supplemental material
(2) College!NOW Best Practices in Serving the Underprepared Student Conference (Kathleen O’Leary)
ii) Continuing Education
(1) Change to Three Annual Programming Terms
(2) Publishing a Catalog for Postal Saturation
Discussion Summary: Clark asked O’Leary to report on enrollment. O’Leary stated that the admissions numbers were
just ahead of last year’s numbers at this time, with 30 new students enrolled for summer and 49 new students enrolled
for fall to date. O’Leary noted that due to the reduction in the availability of summer financial aid, comparing this
summer’s enrollment with last summer’s enrollment was not valid. Clark mentioned that for the fall the Anatomy and
Physiology I & II labs had been added to the BC course list. Clark thanked Stocking for facilitating this outcome.
Clark next asked O’Leary to speak about the College!NOW Underprepared Student Conference which O’Leary and
Dixie Stark had recently attended in Billings. O’Leary and Stark reported that there was a trend to get the state’s 2-year
units and ABLE programs to work together to design a new developmental education model, particularly for nontraditional students. Stark mentioned that strong local partnerships between ABLE and two-year education were the
goal; she noted that co-location in and of itself did not guarantee ABLE and two-year education collaboration. Stark
commented that she believed her program, Literacy Bitterroot, and the BC did in fact have a strong partnership; Clark
concurred. O’Leary spoke of the Emporium model for math wherein students work at their own pace with assistance
from a tutor/instructor. This model allows students to condense two or three semesters of developmental coursework
into possibly just one semester of coursework. Also, O’Leary mentioned the co-curricular model wherein instructors in
different disciplines work together to connect assignments across curricula. Too, O’Leary discussed a model for college
writing wherein all students are placed in college writing but with those students needing extra assistance meeting
between classes with a designated tutor. Essentially the thrust of the conference was about lessening the time nontraditional students spend in developmental coursework as the data indicates that the more time a student spends in the
developmental track the less likely the student is to complete a postsecondary degree. Clark wondered what the specific
data looked like for BC students. She wondered if the small class size combined with the small college atmosphere was a
plus in terms of non-traditional developmental student retention. O’Leary said she would get the state datasheet on
retention and developmental education out to council members.
Next Clark asked O’Leary to speak about the spring Adult Friendly survey that the Bitterroot College had done in
conjunction with the state’s other two-year units. O’Leary passed out a summary data sheet showing the survey results
with respect to student perceptions and with respect to administrator perceptions. Notably, while BC administration
results indicated gaps in services, BC students themselves on the whole appeared mostly satisfied with their experience at
the BC. Pat Connell and Patricia Meakin asked for more information on the institutions which the BC was ranked against
and how these institutions were selected. O’Leary said she would gather and send out further information to help council
members interpret the survey results.
With respect to Continuing Education, Clark stated that in the next academic year BC Continuing Education would
follow the college schedule and provide three main programming terms—Fall, Spring, and Summer. Clark also reported
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that she was investigating applying for a Rural Business Opportunity Grant (RBOG) in partnership with RCEDA to fund the
production and saturation mailing of a course catalog for each continuing education term. Clark said she believed the BC
had now developed solid continuing education programming but that she was not able to adequately get the word out to
the community. Clark envisioned producing a continuing education catalog for several years until the community was
accustomed to the continuing education cycle. At that point she felt then the BC could switch over to sending out a
postcard to all residents reminding them of the upcoming continuing education term and of the website address
associated with BC continuing education. Patricia Meakin asked that students be able to register online for continuing
education classes. Meakin noted that when she called the BC she often had to leave a message and that her calls were
not always returned. Too, she complained that when someone did answer phone that often the person answering could
not assist her or did not recognize her as an “Advisory Council member and may not be recognizing important callers such
as Royce Engstrom or John Cech, Deputy Commissioner for Two-Year Higher Education.” Patricia Skinner responded that
she had implemented a new phone answering process and that she believed these would not be issues in the future.
Chair Stocking suggested that Clark update the council on her progress with the RBOG and her investigation of online
registration processes at the August council meeting.
b) Community Outreach and Regional Issues
c) Fiscal Issues
i) Bitterroot College State Fund (College)
(a) Monthly Statement – see supplemental material
(b) Enumeration of Paid Positions Associated with BC – see supplemental material
ii) Bitterroot College Fund – UM Foundation
(1) Donation from Jane S. Heman Foundation
(2) Plaque for First Fifty Campaign
Discussion Summary: Chair Stocking noted that the time was getting late and asked Clark to postpone the remaining
items until the next meeting. Clark responded that she just wanted to recognize the Jane S. Heman Foundation for
funding the BC’s front entrance ADA modifications. Pat Connell mentioned that he had known Jane Heman and was very
pleased by her foundation’s donation to the BC. Clark also thanked O’Leary for initiating the contact which led the Jane S.
Heman to solicit the BC for a grant proposal for the needed ADA modifications. Clark also mentioned that a Rebranding
Implementation Task Force was needed to make recommendations to the UM Provost on the BC’s new logo and other
rebranding issues. Clark asked that interested individuals email her if they wished to serve on the task force. Clark hoped
that the BC’s rebranding effort could be concluded by mid-fall.
10) Public Comment
Discussion Summary: Catalina Gerner asked that a college-credit study and learning strategies course be offered to BC
students. Clark replied that she had wanted to add this class to the fall list but that funding limitations had prevented her.
Clark said she would make this class a priority for the spring 2013 term.
11) For the Good of the Order
Discussion Summary: Chair Stocking indicated that long-time BC volunteer John Meakin would be honored at the next
council meeting.
12) Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 5:15 PM.