Minutes from September 28, 2022

1. Welcome and announcements - council members introduced themselves, their representation and university roles
   1. Announcements included the approval of the fire department lease and planning for a campus hotel, MSU’s first ground leases in many years, American Indian Heritage Day celebrations on September 30th, and updates on new administrators at MSU.
2. Approval of minutes from 4/27/2022 – approved
3. Discussion
   1. Expectations for Planning Council Members
      1. Know the Strategic Plan and attend meetings.
      2. Communicate both ways – we want to know what constituents think and you need to tell them what we are doing.
      3. Leave local affiliation at the door. We represent and strive to improve the university as a whole
   2. Update on priority goals for AY 24
      1. The 3 priority goals (1.1, 1.2, 3.3) were endorsed by President Cruzado and her executive team, available here.
         1. The council discussed how the priorities are being discussed around campus, with particular emphasis on retention and persistence, but wanted to emphasize the importance of the “how” goal of 3.3 being the foundation of achieving the “why” goals of 1.1 and 1.2.
   3. C. Work plan for AY 23
      1. Council reviewed their charge.
      2. Annual tasks of reviewing progress and recommending priorities
      3. Timing of next strategic plan
         1. Current plan ends in 2024
         2. Align with NWCCU 7-year report cycle, due fall 2024
            1. Vice Provost Swinford discussed changes to the accreditation cycle, including breaking up the 7-year report into a 6-year report focused on financials and facilities and a 7-year report for discussion of Student Success and Academic Affairs.
            2. Alignment will allow accreditation discussions from the 7-year visit and recommendations from accreditors to inform strategic planning.
         3. Planning Council is responsible for shepherding and starting to “plan to plan,” but will not be responsible for the development of the plan.
      4. Other ideas for work plan:
         1. Hear from Offices of Financial Aid and Financial Education on resources to share when students express financial needs and concerns
         2. Hear from units about their plan progress, with possible reports from MRJCON, JJCBE, and Library
   4. Progress report on Goal 2.2 and 1.1
      1. A goal update is shared at most University Council meetings. Fastnow volunteered to share last year’s schedule of goal updates.
      2. Fastnow shared updates on Goal 2.2, focused on interdisciplinary scholarship
         
         1. 2.2.1 – we currently have a few center and training grants underway at MSU.
            
            1. Lachowiec shared about her training grant, ALLIUM, which helps mentor graduate students in Plant Sciences & Plant Pathology and the Individual Interdisciplinary program in partnership with the School of Computing.
            2. Graduate Dean Ogilvie spoke of the current challenges in applying for new grants because of workload backlogs.
         2. 2.2.2 – Updates show that there has been an increase in grant expenditures with investigators across multiple units.
            
            1. Alison-Burnell asked if we could see what units were involved in the collaborations.
         3. 2.2.3 – Updates show that there has been an increase in scholarly products with authors from multiple units.
            
            1. Knutson asked whether a potential bottleneck from Covid was reflected in the numbers.
         4. 2.2.4 – The Research Capacity Team (RCT) presented their findings and recommendations to the VPREDGE, who adopted the recommendations. The presentation from the RCT will be re-shared with Council.
         5. Miley asked about the lack of interdisciplinary curriculum mentioned in this goal. Fastnow spoke to how the curriculum will hopefully follow the advances in and ability to perform interdisciplinary research.
      3. Fastnow began to share updates on Goal 1.1, focused on student access and success.
         1. 1.1.1 – The enrollment of the tracked groups varies in this years’ student body. Good discussion of reasoning why some groups showed decreases in their share of the student body ensued.
            1. In-state and out-of-state enrollments seem to be reflected in the demographics.
            2. Rudnicki asked if we should expect to see declining numbers of first generation students if the overall population of people whose families did not attend college.
            3. Ogilvie related the decrease in Pell recipients to the decrease we are seeing in FAFSA filers in general at MSU. A discussion ensued about how to ensure students know to file FAFSAs.
         2. 1.1.2 – We are moving further away from our goal of meeting student financial need. Student need met does not include loans and is mostly federally funded.
         3. 1.1.3 – There has been an increase in 1- and 2-year degrees and certificates through Gallatin College, although not enough to reach the stretch goal.
            1. Ivester spoke to how most programs in Gallatin College have waiting lists.
            2. The council discussed the request for a new, centralized building for Gallatin College and how its approval and construction would help meet the goal.
      4. Fastnow will share the rest of the 1.1 updates next meeting.
4. Other business - none
5. Public comment - none

Next meeting:  October 26, 2022 10:30 - 12 noon, MT Room

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