Minutes from January 27, 2021

1. Welcome and announcements
   1. Steve Swinford will start attending Planning Council as accreditation liaison officer.
2. Minutes from 12/16/20 – approved
3. Discussion
   1. Report on Goal 2.1: “Enhance the significance and impact of scholarship”
      1. Chris Fastnow listed the goal’s metrics and actions:
         1. Goal 2.1.1 Foster the four Grand Challenges of Montana;
            1. The Electronic Proposal Clearance Form now has a place where faculty can check off whether their research addresses a Grand Challenge or a secondary Grand Challenge, and this feeds into Activity Insight to help track metric 2.1.1.
            2. Jason Carter reported that Jayne Morrow arranged a week of seminars for the “Securing the Future of Montana” Grand Challenge in the fall, and it was very successful. Look for more in the future.
         2. Goal 2.1.2 External outcome measures that reflect success in the Grand Challenge areas; and
            1. Research Council is working on ways to measure progress for metric 2.1.2 this spring. We should see indicators in Montana as to the external outcomes of the Grand Challenges, but Covid is impacting these indicators.
         3. Goal 2.1.3 Enhance education of undergraduates and graduate students through increased participation in research, creative and entrepreneurial activities.
            1. Chris Fastnow presented metrics found on Planning Council’s website at https://www.montana.edu/planningcouncil/goal-updates/goal-2.1-update.html regarding participation of undergraduate and graduate students in research projects as tracked in Activity Insight. The artistic & creative activities page in Activity Insight measure student collaborations with faculty.
         4. Colin Shaw asked how this is helping people meet these goals. How is the info being shared? Undergraduate Scholars compiles their own data, but no one on Undergraduate Scholars is receiving this data. He thinks this information would be useful to faculty and program heads who are not getting it. Chris Fastnow would like his input on how to better disseminate this data. She will discuss this with him and Jason Carter.
         5. Bradford Watson will bring update Faculty Senate. Rob Maher thinks some of this is covered in faculty evaluations.
         6. Discussion of other metrics to capture student involvement in research, creativity, and entrepreneurial activity: Blackstone Launchpad data on entrepreneurial programs, grant expenditures on students and tuition payment, CITI training participants. Jason Carter will follow up in VPREDGE about ways to measure how many students are involved in research.  Chris Fastnow will connect on this.
   2. Priority goals for FY23
      1. Our spring task is to identify a short list of items in the Strategic Plan to put available strategic funds and time into. We usually start with a long list and cut that down to 3-5. She has been instructed to aim for three. We have ten goals in the plan. In the past, we have focused on the following:
         1. Goals we haven’t made enough progress on;
         2. Goals that take a lot of investment now in order to make progress later; and
         3. Goals that are nearly completed.
         4. Lately, we have looked at goals that may need adjustment due to Covid.
      2. Goals that have been discussed this fall in Planning Council:
         1. Goal 1.1 regarding equity and resources gaps;
         2. Goal 3.1 - partnerships with tribal entities and how Covid has impacted these partnerships;
         3. Goal 3.3 - broader definition in who to include in discussion about wellness and responsibility for moving that dial;
         4. Goal 2.1 - scholarship with impact includes high quality, high impact practices (HQHIPs).
         5. Goal 1.3 also emphasizes HQHIPs (Cati Carmody reminded PC)
      3. Other goals we haven’t discussed that should be considered for prioritization:
         1. Jason Carter added Goal 2.4 - the $200 million target needs things to happen infrastructurally now for this to occur later. This is also the foundation for a strong institutional reputation along with Goal 2.2 and the Grand Challenges. Elevating our expectations requires support. He asked for consideration in prioritizing this.
         2. Rob Maher: include consideration of compensation in Goal 3.3.
         3. Cati Carmody corrected earlier list to include Goal 1.3, which had been discussed.
      4. Chris Fastnow asked what else people want to know to inform the discussion.
         1. Chris Kearns: We should look at where we are on each goal, how it’s trending and at opportunities. Goal 1.1 is being affected by Covid, and we’re coming up on our 2024 demographic cliff where there will be a drop off in high school graduates.
         2. Bradford Watson asked if there are any metrics on 3.1 or if there is a person we can invite to do a presentation about it.
         3. Chelsey Wilson wanted to know how we’re defining high impact practices and how are we obtaining that metric. Ian Godwin replied we are pulling this metric from Activity Insight using AAC&U practices that is footnoted in the Strategic Plan. She added that there are a lot of activities that may not be captured, but she is hoping student portfolios will help with this once they are more comprehensively implemented.
         4. Susan Raph suggested that we should categorize these six goals by the three categories Chris Fastnow mentioned above - what is close to or far from the target and what obstacles and opportunities are out there.
         5. Stephanie Gray would like to get a 3.1 speaker. She would also like to take into account which goals have already been prioritized in past years.
      5. Chris Fastnow assigned members the homework of finding out what is important to their units and discussing what is the priority to their units.
4. Other business – none
5. Public comment – none

Next meeting:  February 24, 2:00-3:00 p.m., via WebEx

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