Bitterroot College Program of The University of Montana
Minutes of the Advisory Council
Meeting Location: Human Resource Council Building Meeting Room, 316 North Third Street, Hamilton
Meeting Time and Date: 3:10 – 5:10 PM, Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Chair: Lynn Stocking (interim)
1)
2)
Call to Order and Roll Call
a) Advisory Council members present: Perry Brown, Jennifer Burdette, Pat Connell, Roger Maclean, Patricia
Meakin, Deb Morris, and Dixie Stark
b) Advisory Council members absent: Rick O’Brien
c) BCP staff present: Victoria Clark, Kathleen O’Leary, and Carole Tallman (taking notes)
Introductions  members of the public were asked to introduce themselves
a) Public present: Jackie Berenyi (eBook author, disabled veteran, and Literacy Bitterroot board member)
3) Announcements and Documents Received
Discussion Summary: Victoria Clark announced that Rick O’Brien was no longer with the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of
Commerce. Clark said she would contact the Chamber to see what their timeframe was for hiring a new director and
discuss with them the vacancy left on the BCP Advisory Council by O’Brien’s absence. Dixie Stark wondered how O’Brien’s
departure would impact the formation and leadership of the BCP Business, Industry, and Government (BIG) Committee.
Clark said that she had that on the agenda for later in the meeting.
4) Approval of Steering Committee Meeting Minutes from October 26, 2011 and December 7, 2011
Discussion Summary: Minutes from October 26, 2011 were available and were approved unanimously without any
corrections or changes. Minutes from December 7, 2011 were not available for action.
5) Approval of Advisory Council Meeting Minutes from February 22, 2012
Discussion Summary: Dixie Stark noted that Melissa Sundberg had been incorrectly identified in the minutes as being
manager of the South Valley Child & Family Center; Sundberg’s association was changed to case worker for WoRC (Work
Readiness Component of TANF); the minutes were unanimously approved with Stark’s correction.
6)
Student Representative
a) Report from Steering Committee Nominating Committee for New Student Representative(s)
Discussion Summary: Chair Stocking moved that BCP Student Heather Green be selected for the student representative
position on the BCP Advisory Council for a term ending on June 30, 2012. Provost Brown seconded the motion, and the
motion was carried unanimously. Stocking said she would contact Green and let her know of her election to the Council.
Pat Connell wondered if the student representative seat should be open or revolving due to student’s changing schedules.
Brown noted that come July two students would be selected to share the student representative seat and that this should
ensure reliable student representation at council meetings. Stark mentioned that she would be sure to pre-arrange
disability access to the Advisory Council meeting room for Green.
7)
Advisory Council Old Business
a) Strategic Plan Approval (Victoria Clark)
b) Discuss Advisory Council Vacancies – 1 Local and 1 UM (Lynn Stocking)
c) Select Nominating Committee for Advisory Council Leadership Positions (Lynn Stocking)
d) BIG Committee Member Selection Update (BIG = Business, Industry, and Government)
e) Planning for a Council Retreat (Lynn Stocking)
f) Planning for BCP Graduation Celebration (Patricia Meakin)
Discussion Summary: Clark reported that the BCP 5-year Strategic Plan had been approved by UM President Engstrom.
Provost Brown related that the document would be sent to the Board of Regents for their information but that nothing
further was necessary – that the strategic plan would be neither an action nor an information item on a Regents’ meeting
agenda. Stark suggested that a “thank you” note be sent to President Engstrom for his positive review of the BCP Strategic
Plan. Clark said she would follow through with writing a letter. Clark then turned to the Advisory Council vacancies
noting that the UM had a slot yet to fill and that with John Robinson’s resignation in December that there was also a local
slot available. Too, it was commented that a second local seat was now free due to O’Brien’s departure. Clark, citing the
council bylaws, said that replacing a council member midterm was at the discretion of the Advisory Council as a whole.
With regard to the vacancy left by Robinson, it was decided that Advisory Council members should email nominations,
accompanied by a brief biography, to Chair Stocking and that names would be presented at the next council meeting for
BCP Advisory Council Meeting Minutes, 3-28-2012, Page 2 of 4
discussion and selection. Stark identified member of the public Jackie Berenyi as interested in joining the Advisory
Council. Chair Stocking thanked Berenyi for her interest.
Next discussed was the Nominating Committee for the Advisory Council Leadership positions. After a recap of
procedures and process from Chair Stocking, it was decided that Patricia Meakin, Deb Morris, and Dixie Stark would
make-up the leadership nominating committee and that the committee would present the slate of leadership nominees
at the next Advisory Council meeting. With respect to the BIG Committee, Clark communicated that O’Brien, Stocking,
and herself had met the prior week and identified possible BIG Committee members by local employment sector. Clark
believed they had a solid list but that now the issue was in O’Brien’s absence who from the Advisory Council was going to
lead the BIG Committee and then assist with contacting proposed members. Bitterroot Workforce Center Manager Patti
Furniss was suggested by multiple council members as a possible candidate to fill O’Brien’s shoes. Provost Brown
emphasized the importance of selecting a committee leader who knew and was respected by the local business
community. The discussion ended with the decision that the newly formed Nominating Committee would approach
Furniss and see where she stoodwas she interested in joining the Advisory Council and, if so, would she also be willing
to lead the BIG Committee. The Advisory Council would wait to take further action until the Nominating Committee
reported back from their discussion with Furniss.
Chair Stocking then turned to the issue of the council retreat. Stocking suggested that the retreat be held after the
new council members were seated in July. Stocking suggested mid to late September for the retreat, as many folks were
gone in July and that August was very busy for college administrators. Jennifer Burdette commented that September was
a very busy time for high schools, and that it would be particularly difficult for her to attend a retreat if it were held on a
weekend due to high school athletics. Stark remarked that she really wanted the retreat to focus on understanding the
goals of the council, the appropriate role for council members in terms of BCP issues, and how council members could be
better utilized by BCP administration. Stark also mentioned that she thought she could reserve the HRC meeting room
(the present Advisory Council meeting room) for the retreat, noting that this would save on costs. Several members
suggested that a facilitator was needed for the retreat, that a budget needed to be developed, and that a retreat funding
source needed to be identified. In the end it was decided that a retreat on a weekday in late September/early October
would be the goal. Stocking was charged with sending out an email to all council members to secure a retreat date.
Further planning for the retreat would continue at the next council meeting.
With respect to planning for the BCP graduation celebration, Patricia Meakin deferred to Kathleen O’Leary to provide
an update. O’Leary said that she would shortly be meeting with Kimberley Mills to start the planning process, with
Meakin’s and Stark’s involvement welcomed. O’Leary related that BCP staff wanted to keep the celebration simple as
time was limited. The suggested date for the event was the afternoon/early evening of Friday, May 11 (the day before
graduation in Missoula). O’Leary said that seven BCP graduates had been identified but that also invited to the
celebration would be BCP students who had transitioned to the UM (even if an AA had not been earned) as well as BCP
honor society students. Council members suggested that a plaque be designed listing all BCP AA recipients. O’Leary
stated she and Mills would look into this idea.
8)
Advisory Council New Business
a) Discuss Changing Meeting Date for April Advisory Council Meeting (Lynn Stocking)
b) Unresolved Missed Lectures/Grading Issue from Fall 2011 Statistics Course (added at beginning of meeting at
the request of Patricia Meakin)
Discussion Summary: Chair Stocking asked the council to consider moving the April meeting date as she had a conflict
with April 25. Meakin noted that she would be away the week of April 30, but that her husband John Meakin could be
present at the meeting in her absence. Stocking said that she would email all council members and see if an alternate
date could be agreed upon.
Chair Stocking next asked Meakin to relay her concerns about the Fall 2011 statistics course issue which has been
Steering Committee business in October and December of 2011. Meakin related that she had heard from several of the
students in the class recently and that no action had yet to be taken on adjusting students’ grades to reflect missed
content in two missed lectures and one mis-sequenced lecture. Stocking thanked Meakin for her concern and said she
would follow through on the issue. Clark inserted that to her knowledge one student had individually met with the course
instructor and had her grade adjusted. Clark also said that she had recently advised another student to do the same.
Meakin responded that the Steering Committee had not followed through on assisting the statistic course students in
getting their grades adjusted for the missed content and that the students’ GPAs had been negatively impacted through
no fault of their own. Clark answered that she had a back and forth email discussion with the course instructors as well as
several face-to-face meetings with the course discussion leader and that from the instructors’ point of view the missed
lecture content had been sufficiently made up via Skype study sessions and extra discussion time. Consequently, the
BCP Advisory Council Meeting Minutes, 3-28-2012, Page 3 of 4
instructors had decided not to adjust any of the BCP students’ grades for the course based on the missed lecture issue.
Clark said that the lesson she had learned from the situation was that while administrators needed to be involved when
instructional delivery issues where in question (missed lecture recordings), in the case of grading these issues were
handled individually between student and instructor. Too, when a student wasn’t satisfied with an instructor’s response
to his/her grading question that the student then needed to meet with the instructor’s department chair. If still the issue
wasn’t resolved satisfactorily, then the next step was for the student to meet with the department chair’s dean. Clark
noted that there had not been another recording issue after the initial series of events. Clark also remarked that the
Steering Committee had said they would investigate the situation but that there had not been a promise to “change
grades.” Meakin replied that at the December 2011 Steering Committee meeting "there was consensus among
the Steering Committee members that missing the three lectures affected students' understanding and grades (especially
on exam 2).” Meakin also said that "Clark wrote in an email that some consideration must be given to the Hamilton
students disadvantage to having essentially missed two (if not three) instructional periods.” Meakin said that a student in
the class had forwarded her Clark’s email. Clark responded that such comments could not be taken out of context and
that the text was part of a back and forth email discussion with the instructors. Clark stated that the discussion needed to
be continued outside the meeting and asked that Meakin meet with her later. Stocking reiterated that she would follow
through and respond to Meakin’s concerns at the next council meeting. In closing, member of the public Jackie Berenyi
warned that students who believed they were dealt with unfairly would spread the word and classes taught by implicated
instructors would not fill in the future.
9)
Director’s Report
a)
Programming
i)
College
(1) Spring 2012 Courses and Enrollment; Summer 2012 Courses; Fall 2012 Planning
(2) Degrees:
(a) Exploring: Natural Resources AAS, Filmmaking AAS, Tourism/Recreation/Hospitality/Culinary Arts
AAS’s
ii)
Continuing Education
(1) Winter 2012 Enrollment; Spring 2012 Courses; Summer 2012 Planning
(2) New Offerings: OPI Units through Ed2Go
b) Administration/Operations
(1) Textbooks and Food Services
(2) Advising and Enrollment Services Coordinator – new position update
(3) Receptionist and New Faculty Member FY2013 request – update
c)
Community Outreach and Regional Issues
i)
Montana Campus Compact AmeriCorps Vista Member Application Update
ii)
Dual Credit and Partnering with Area High Schools (Lynn Stocking)
(4) TAACCCT Grant
Discussion Summary: With the remaining meeting time starting to get limited, Clark presented an abbreviated version of
her report. She asked that council members review the spring and summer 2012 enrollment handout, and she said that
fall 2012 course planning was on track, with BCP courses in the registration system and ready for student registration by
the April registration opening date. Clark did ask Stocking about clarifying UM-COT and BCP placement testing
procedures, e.g., could the Compass eWrite test be taken more than once and could placement testing scores be entered
into the registration system more frequently than at present. Stocking replied that she would look into the situation and
get back to Clark. Clark then asked council members to review the enrollment and retention statistics handout she had
included in the hard copy meeting packets. Clark noted that the BCP had gained 76 new students between the recent fall
and spring semesters, but that the BCP had also lost 70 students between the semesters. Wondering about these “lost”
students, Clark had asked O’Leary to research what had happened to these students. O’Leary determined that half of
these students were actually still enrolled college students, just not at the BCP27 were taking classes only in Missoula
BCP Advisory Council Meeting Minutes, 3-28-2012, Page 4 of 4
and eight were taking classes only online. Consequently, what had first looked to be a 35 percent attrition rate now
proved to be only a 17 percent attrition rate. Provost Brown commented that the BCP 83 percent retention rate was
better than the UM’s and was actually about the number the UM was aiming for. O’Leary said she wanted to dig deeper
into the numbers and determine how many of the 27 students who moved onto Missoula were actually now in their
chosen degree program.
Clark next spoke about BCP exploration of degree programs. She mentioned that there had been a meeting earlier
that afternoon about exploring a Natural Resources degree and that meetings about energy, health sector, and
filmmaking degree programs were in the works. Stark commented that she had been at the Natural Resources meeting
and she was impressed by the number of participants, the facilitation of the meeting by UM College of Forestry and
Conservation Dean Jim Burchfield, and the quality of the brainstorming. Jennifer Burdette expressed interest in the
filmmaking degree due to local high schools affiliation with the MAPS program. Clark said she would keep Burdette
informed as the process went forward and that MAPS was the local partner and impetus behind this exploration.
With respect to BCP Continuing Education Clark noted the spring list of offerings, highlighting the CompTIA A+
Certification class and the Foundational Electronics class. Provost Brown said that the UM via the College of Forestry and
Conservation had an agreement with the military for surplus military equipment, and he suggested that if items were
needed for the electronics class that this might be a route to obtain equipment. Clark said she would ask Carole Tallman
(BCP Operations) to look into this.
Chair Stocking then asked to discuss dual credit, as Stark had expressed interest in this topic for this meeting.
Burdette commented that UM-COT Dean Barry Good had visited Darby High School several weeks ago and that things
were on track to offer writing and math dual credit courses at Darby High School for fall 2012. Burdette said Darby High
School was also very interested in having a dual credit biology class available to students. Stocking replied that this would
be in place for spring 2013, but not for fall 2012.
d) Fiscal Issues
i)
Monthly Financial Statement – State Fund (College)
ii) Fundraising Update – Expansion Campaign: $27,000 raised to date; $6,000 to go
Discussion Summary: Clark summarized that she was working with the Provost’s fiscal director to balance the BCP’s
FY2012 budget and that despite the appearance of a significant deficit on the balance sheet presented in the meeting
packet, that monies were still being allocated and that by June 30 (end of the fiscal year) the BCP budget was set to
balance. With regard to FY2013 Clark said that Provost Brown had informed her that his budget was very tight and that
he doubted he would be able to increase the BCP general fund allocation for FY2013. He said that there was no money
for a BCP faculty position. Connell said that this situation would interest state legislators; in particular local legislator Ron
Ehli who Connell said supported BCP growth. Clark said that she would contact Ehli. Provost Brown remarked that
discussions were still underway with regard to the BCP and FY2013, and that outcomes were not yet final.
10) Public Comment (none)
11) For the Good of the Order
Discussion Summary: Chair Stocking announced that the BCP had been given the Economic Development Award at
the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce Banquet on March 24. Stocking thanked the Chamber for this honor.
12) Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.