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Strategic Planning and Budgeting University Reaccreditation 2007 MSU Moorhead |
February
2002 Campus Update February 19, 2002 To: The Campus Community From:
President Barden Re:
Campus Update MnSCU Recognition: Congratulations to the Department of Speech
Communication and Theatre Arts for their recent success! The
department was selected to receive a 2002 MnSCU excellence in
curriculum programming award. The department is being honored for its
revised professional communication program. Congratulations also to
Vice President Bette Midgarden for being honored with a 2002 MnSCU
outstanding academic officer award. The awardees will be presented to
the Board of Trustees for recognition on February 20 in St. Paul. Student Academic Conference:
The annual MSUM Student Academic Conference is April 10. Conference
planners report the numbers of student submissions to be down from
last year. Please encourage your students to submit their work by
visiting the conference website for a downloadable application form at
www.mnstate.edu/acaconf.
Late entries will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22. Legislative Update: The Science Teaching Lab facility is
strongly supported by Governor Ventura and the Senate. Next week, the
House will reveal its plan for the Capital Bonding Bill. In response to the projected shortfall in revenue to
the State of Minnesota, the Governor, Senate and House each have
released formal recommendations to the public. MSUM’s jeopardy
appears to be in the range of $1.2-1.5 million of rescinded
appropriated funds for FY03. Admissions: We are happy to welcome Gina
Monson to her position as Director of Admissions. After a national
search, Ms. Monson was selected to assume the position. Since
beginning her duties Feb. 1, she has been in the process of meeting
with various departments regarding recruitment planning and conducting
in-service training for admissions personnel. John Motherwell, assistant
women’s basketball coach, and Jeremy Johnson, a 2000 MSUM graduate
in business and finance, have both joined the admissions staff on a
part-time basis to assist with high school recruitment visits through
the remainder of the academic year. Since July 1, the campus has welcomed nearly 1,300
visitors. Compared to a year ago, freshman applications are up 4%
while transfer applications are down 2% at this time. The
telecounselors have made over 8,000 phone calls this year to
prospective and admitted students. Saturday, March 23 is MSUM Preview Day. The staff of
the Office of Admissions invites faculty participation at this event.
Students and their families who are unable to visit campus during the
week attend Preview Day to learn about our academic programs. Volunteers should contact Veronica Michael at 236-2548. University Diversity Initiatives: In December 2001, I formed the President’s Task Force on
Diversity. The group’s charge is to revise the MSUM Cultural
Diversity Plan for 2002-2003 to reflect the university’s resources
and regional needs. The plan will also incorporate a procedure for
reporting progress to me. Twenty representatives of the students,
faculty, staff and administrator groups were appointed by virtue of
their leadership positions on campus. I look forward to sharing the
Cultural Diversity Plan with the university community in the coming
months. As you may know, the TOCAR Collaborative (Training
Our Campuses Against Racism) includes representatives from MSUM, NDSU,
Concordia College, and NWTCC. Our campus chapter of TOCAR hosted an
excellent anti-racism training session for 50 representatives of the
MSUM students, faculty, staff and administrators on January
31-February 1. I look forward to TOCAR providing additional
anti-racism training opportunities for more members of the campus
community. The TOCAR group is making progress on creating an
institutional assessment tool that will be used on each campus
starting in the fall. Part of the assessment planning process will
involve a series of campus and community forums to generate additional
information that can be used in the tool’s development. The group, along with other community members, is also planning the TOCAR- and MSUM-sponsored study circle sessions that will be held April 2, 9 and 16 at Trinity Lutheran Church. These sessions are a follow-up to the April 2001 study circles on the topic of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report titled, “The Status of Equal Opportunity for Minorities in Moorhead, Minnesota.” Assistant to the President for Budget: As many of you may know, in light of the State of
Minnesota’s financial uncertainty, I cancelled the search for the
position of Assistant to the President for Budgeting and Planning. We
will revisit the university’s need for the full-time position when
the university achieves financial stability. In the meantime, I am pleased to announce that Jean
Hollaar, CMU business officer, has agreed to assist me on a part-time
basis with university budget development and reporting over the next
year. She will also continue her role as the CMU business officer. Facilities: As you
may know, there was mold contamination in the exterior walls of
Hendrix Health Center. The mold has been cleaned up and containment is
in place. At this time, we are exploring plans to relocate the health
center with a move projected during the summer months. If you haven’t ventured over to the east side of
campus recently, now is the time to do so. It is impossible to
overlook the latest change to the skyline – our new 36-plex
apartment facility. Construction continues on schedule. The masonry
contractor is currently installing the inside concrete block walls and
over the next two months, the wall insulation and outside brick veneer
will be added. We still plan for new residents of “Neumaier II” to
move into their apartments for the fall semester. The first campus sign reading “Minnesota State
University Moorhead” will be in place on the corner of 5th
Avenue and 11th Street by early May. Once that sign is
installed, we will remove the current “Moorhead State University”
signs at the corner of 6th Avenue and 11th Street
and the corner of 9th Avenue and 11th Street. The Minnesota Department of Transportation assures us
that before the fall 2002 session begins, MDOT will post the
appropriate signage bearing our university name on the Interstate, 8th
Street and Highway 10. Student Leadership Conference:
Thanks to the work of the Center for Leadership and Student
Organizations, the first MSUM student leadership conference was held
February 7. More than 100 students, faculty, and staff attended all or
some of the 15 educational sessions. The Center for Leadership and
Student Organizations is exploring plans to host future leadership
development opportunities for our student leaders.
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