The Bitterroot College Program of The University of Montana
Meeting Minutes: Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Steering Committee of the Bitterroot College Program (BCP) of The University of Montana (UM) met
on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 from 3:15 – 5:15 PM at the Human Resource Council Conference
Room in Hamilton. The meeting was chaired by John Robinson. In alphabetical order, committee
attendees included: John Cech, Roger Maclean, Patricia Meakin, Kimberley Mills, Rick O’Brien, Lynn
Stocking, and Dixie Stark. Committee members absent were Katelyn Andersen, Perry Brown, Terri
Duncan, Suzy Foss, Chuck Jensen, Deb Morris, and Bobbie Roos. Also present was BCP Director Victoria
Clark.
BCP Program Assistant Kathleen O’Leary was absent due to a bad cold. Clark took notes during the
meeting.
Members of the public present included John Meakin.
The meeting was called to order at 3:15 pm by Chair Robinson and opened with Victoria Clark asking
Dixie Stark to read the names of the four individuals who had been awarded scholarships from the Ryan
Foundation. Stark announced that the Ryan Foundation Scholarship recipients were BCP students
Samuel Allred, James Case, Larry O’Leary, and Clark Sisler. Stark noted that each recipient had received
$1,125 and that the scholarships were promoted to adults who were transitioning from construction
employment to healthcare careers. BCP psychology instructor Janet Woodburn was thanked for leading
the scholarship committee; also thanked were scholarship committee members Nancy Anderson, Patti
Furniss, Deb Morris, Dixie Stark, and Lynn Stocking.
Next, John Cech, Montana’s Deputy Commissioner of 2-year Education, was called on to provide an
update on the state’s College!NOW initiative. Cech spoke of the Comprehensive 2-year Mission
Statement which had recently been approved by the Montana Board of Regents; he spoke of the five
College!NOW strategies which had been developed to implement the new comprehensive 2-year vision;
and he underscored the importance of communication in the process of implementing the new vision.
Cech highlighted the upcoming listening sessions to be held on the five College of Technology (COTs)
campuses which were meant to initiate dialogue on realizing the comprehensive 2-year mission at the
COTs. He remarked on the first installment of the College!NOW Newsletter and the recent launching of
the College!NOW Facebook page. He noted that the rebranding/renaming effort was getting underway
with respect to the COTs. Cech spoke with enthusiasm and commitment; his remarks were wellreceived by the committee.
Next Chair Robinson called for approval of the August meeting minutes. Clark replied that the minutes
had not yet been prepared. Robinson asked that approval of the minutes be tabled until the next
meeting.
Chair Robinson then called for Old Business, Planning Discussion and Advisory Council Nominations.
Clark asked for comments on the final draft of the Strategic Plan, noting that she realized the document
had just gone out to committee members the day before and time probably had not allowed for most of
the committee members to have read over the plan. Stark remarked that she had read the plan over
carefully and did have a few comments. First she noted a grammatical error on page 6 wherein
“become” needed to be changed to “became.” Then she remarked upon 1) the reference to Teacher
Renewal Units in the Academic Program Plan, noting that a distinction between Teacher Renewal Units
The Bitterroot College Program of The University of Montana
Meeting Minutes: Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Page 2 of 3
and Teacher Renewal Credits needed to be made and 2) the issue of seating Advisory Council Members
and having members receive recognition of their selection for the Council from the UM President. Clark
said she would follow up on Stark’s comments. Cech wondered about the plan’s enrollment projections
and how these numbers had been figured. Clark answered that the enrollment projections were from
the BCP Needs Assessment completed by Maas Companies, Inc and were based on a standard student
participation rate (SPR) calculation used by 2-year units to project enrollment. Cech’s comments closed
the Strategic Plan discussion, and Clark concluded by saying she would revise the document with respect
to Stark’s suggestions and forward it to Provost Brown for final editing and submission to the Regents.
Regarding the Advisory Council Nominating Committee, Stark was called upon to report on the group’s
progress. The following list of nominations was put forward and approved by majority vote of the
committee (after a discussion of the whole, term lengths were added before the vote):
UM Nominations
 Perry Brown, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs
 Roger Maclean, Dean, School of Extended and Lifelong Learning
 Lynn Stocking, Associate Dean, College of Technology
 Undecided
Community Nominations
 Pat Connell, House District 87 Representative, Government Representative (1 year term) (Darby)
 Patricia Meakin (position shared with John Meakin), Libraries, Local 2-year Education Advocate
(1 year term) (Stevensville)
 John Robinson, Retired Attorney and Educator, Local 2-year Education Advocate (1 year term)
(Corvallis)
 Rick O’Brien, Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce Director, Business Representative (2 year
term) (Hamilton)
 Dixie Stark, Literacy Bitterroot Director, Developmental Education Representative (2 year term)
(Darby)
 Jennifer Burdette, Darby High School Principal, K-12 Education Representative (3 year term)
(Corvallis)
 Deb Morris, Human Resources Director, Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital, Healthcare
Representative (3 year term) (Florence)
 Undecided, BCP Student Representative (preferably two students in a shared position) (1 year
term)
Chair Robinson next called for the Student Issues report. Clark explained that student representative
Kimberley Mills had to leave during Cech’s presentation as she had to get to a class. Clark also noted
that student representative Terri Duncan was excused from today’s meeting due to a class. Clark,
however, had communicated with Mills and Duncan prior to the meeting and conveyed that neither
student had anything pressing to report to the committee presently.
Chair Robinson then asked Clark to present her Director’s report. Clark began with a breakdown of
operational issues: 1) college topics included summary statements on current enrollment which
equaled 460 duplicated students enrolled in 34 sections (an estimated headcount of 220), the BCP’s fall
2011 Learning Lab schedule (free tutoring), BCP fall 2011 textbook sales which totaled nearly $30,000
and which Clark wanted to contract out for the spring due to the amount of work involved, and BCP
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Meeting Minutes: Wednesday, September 28, 2011
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spring 2012 course planning which Clark and Stocking were presently working on; 2) continuing
education topics included a reminder of the October 6 Sunflower Matrix Business Forum, a call for
volunteers to help at the Sunflower event, and a rundown of continuing education courses soon to be
underway, namely EMT-BASIC (offered by Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital), Geology Field Trips, and
workforce development classes in business and computers; 3) administration topics included the delay
in hiring for the new BCP staff position because of Clark’s busy schedule and security issues ranging from
a suspicious person frequenting the BCP parking lot, a missing computer projector, and the need for a
fire/security plan and complete inventory of BCP property; Clark noted that the Hamilton Police were
involved in both the suspicious person and missing projector incidents and that UM personnel were
assisting with the fire/security plan; Lynn Stocking suggested Clark contact Kathy Benson at the UM for
assistance with the inventory; Patricia Meakin volunteered to help with the inventory; Clark ended the
administration topics with the BCP Expansion, commenting that the remodeling was on schedule and set
to be completed by November 1; and 4) community outreach topics were limited to the upcoming BCP
Booth at Apple Days; Clark asked for volunteers and Stark offered to help at the booth.
Clark then turned to the fiscal report. Clark referenced the monthly financial statement noting that
essentially the program continued to be in the black, however there were still some outstanding costs
which had not been put into the annual budget projection so final numbers with respect to positive and
negative balances were not yet completely clear. Clark then commented that she was working on
understanding student course fees with respect to BCP classes and exploring how fees collected from
students taking BCP courses could be redirected to defray BCP course costs. Lastly Clark discussed the
BCP Fundraising Campaign. Clark stated that the campaign had raised about $18,000 to date in cash
contributions and that two individuals had donated items or money earmarked for items – namely,
Terry Ryan had donated an 8 inch Bausch & Lomb 8001 telescope and D Jay Johnson had donated
$1,500 for the purchase of a projection microscope for the new BCP science laboratory. The committee
applauded these donations.
Chair Robinson then asked for public comment. There was none.
Chair Robinson moved to adjourn the meeting, and all agreed. The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 PM.
Minutes subscribed and summarized by Victoria Clark.