| Never
far from the spotlight, the Montana Board of Regents is
often maligned and more often misunderstood by the public
as it pilots the course of higher education in the state.
|
| But
current Board Chairman Richard Roehm, '57 Micro,
of Bozeman, hopes a new openness by the board with community
forums throughout the state will go a long way toward
broadening the public's understanding of the board's work. |
| "We
want the people to know we work for them," he said. "We
want to know what they don't understand about the operation
of higher education and how they think we're doing, good
or bad." |
| The
seven-member all-volunteer board was given broad powers
by constitutional mandate in 1971. According to "In the
People's Interest," the centennial history of MSU, Montana's
constitutional convention reorganized higher education
and separated it from K-12 education. The delegates believed
that higher education had become too complex for one board
to administer and comprehend. |
| As
a result, the Board of Regents would have full power,
responsibility and authority to supervise, coordinate,
manage and control the university system. To this end
the delegates created a Commissioner of Higher Education
with duties and responsibilities established by the regents. |
| The
move was made to counter what had been the tendency for
legislators to intervene in the day-to-day life of the
university system. The new mandate limited the legislature's
ability to determine how and where monies appropriated
for education were to be spent. |
| The
legislature would continue to hold the purse strings,
but the specific allocation of those monies within the
university system would be the responsibility of the commissioner
and the board. |
| It's
that arms-length relationship and a perceived lack of
accountability that has set the stage for contention over
the years. But Roehm and the current board are working
to ease that contentiousness with information and collaboration
with the legislature and the executive branch. |
| "We
want to partner with state government and be viewed as
a positive, not just a beggar with an empty bag, and not
simply another agency that needs money," he said. "The
money invested in higher education will result in a return,
and sufficient dollars should be funded to realize the
potential." |
| Many
legislators have viewed higher education as only a benefit
to the individual. "But we maintain that it's also a benefit
to the state to have an educated society which in turn
will attract business and jobs to the state and will keep
our young people here," he said. |
| Roehm
says he knows that's possible because he's seen it done.
During his years in the Air Force as commander of all
air defense forces in the Southeastern United States,
he watched the Gulf states use matching funds to obtain
funds from the federal government. "They put an emphasis
on higher education," he said. "Their level of income
used to be right at the bottom, now they're mid-level."
|
| Along
with that, Roehm is emphasizing accountability by the
university system. "We have a very open form of accounting
where the dollars come from and where they go," he said.
"The days of 20-page budgets are long past." |
| With
over 30,000 students and campuses in Helena, Bozeman,
Billings, Great Falls, Dillon, Havre, Butte and Missoula,
the board has crafted a mission: "To serve students through
the delivery of high quality, accessible postsecondary
educational opportunities, while actively participating
in the preservation and advancement of Montana's economy
and society." |
| Part
of that access to education, according to Roehm, is the
number of campuses in Montana. |
| "Campuses
across the state are especially necessary for those that
come to school looking for retraining," he said. "Plus,
campuses can get so big that they're impersonal. We're
determined to maintain what we've got. We tailor what
we offer to meet the needs of the people of the state."
|
| Roehm,
retired from a 25-year career in the Air Force, has served
on the board since his appointment in 1998. He agreed
to become a member of the board only after he was satisfied
that board members were not just figureheads. He also
had a personal interest...he wanted to insure the transferability
of credits within the university system. His nephew had
spent two years at the Havre campus, and when he came
to Bozeman, none of his credits would transfer. |
| The
board is a policy board that meets six-times a year. They
establish policy based on recommendations from the public,
campus administrators and students. The day-to-day administration
of the campuses is delegated to the Commissioner of Higher
Education and the campus presidents. In 1994 the board
was again reorganized, this time to consolidate the oversight
function of the campuses to the presidents of Montana
State University-Bozeman and the University of Montana.
The consolidation made the system more efficient and kept
each individual campus from lobbying the commissioner
and the legislature. |
| "Each
year we set a mission, vision and goals," Roehm said.
"We evaluate our administrators on how they perform the
mission of the board." |
| "There's
a steep learning curve as a board member," he said. "There
are so many different ways money comes into the system,
and there is a need to understand what educational function
each campus fulfills. It takes time to absorb it all.
It's like you're drinking from a fire hydrant for a while." |
| Roehm
says as a board member he's most proud of the personnel
they've hired to run the campuses. "Geoff Gamble at Bozeman
personifies the thinking of a positive 'can do' approach
and attitude." |
|
"We set that tone as a board," he said. "No more whining
and doom and gloom. We understand the fiscal realities
of the state and we'll do our part. We're partners." |
