MONTANA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
SEMI-ANNUAL CAMPUS DIVERSITY REPORT
The University of Montana-Missoula
January 2001
I.��������� Executive Summary
The University of
Montana-Missoula continues to make steady, and in some cases significant,
strides toward diversity action goals set forth by the Board of Regents.�
Enrollment Management:� Serious
efforts to recruit minority students at undergraduate and graduate levels have
resulted in a 20% increase in Native American enrollment.� These programs include a dedicated Graduate
School support person, a distance learning Teacher Education Program on the
Blackfeet Reservation, and outreach to and involvement of all minorities in the
State as early as junior high school.
Completions: Services dedicated to minority students ensure a
supportive academic environment.� Since
1998, the University has granted ten Master�s Degrees to Native American
students.� In addition, in the 1999-2000
Academic Year, UM-M�s freshman to sophomore retention rates increased slightly
from the previous academic year.�
American Indian students have a retention rate of 50.9%, while six-year
graduation rates for American Indian students increased significantly, from
19.4% to 29.6%.
Funding:� Given the
constrained funding levels across the University during the last few years, the
University has used available institutional dollars, as well as private and
discretionary funds, for the recruitment, retention, and graduation of American
Indian students and other minorities.�
Since 1991-1992, the number of students receiving Native American Fee
waivers has increased 47%.� In the last
five years, scholarship opportunities and funding has increased 91% for
minority undergraduate students and 105% more Native American graduate students
received 194% more scholarship funding.
Faculty/Staff:� The
University makes great efforts to recruit employees identified as racial
minorities.� During Fall Semester 2000,
UM-M selected 45 faculty members in national searches:� Tenure-track faculty make up 32% of those
appointed, including 14 females (44%) and 7 minorities (22%), two of whom are
Native Americans (6.25%).� Two minority
faculty members received appointment as Chairs, including one Native American
female.� Female faculty members comprise
39% of the faculty and racial minorities account for six percent.� The minority application rate for classified
staff positions weighed in at 4.5%, indicating that UM-M�s hiring rate for this
group ranked higher than the actual application rate.� The contract professional group ranks fully utilized in female
and racial minority representation.
Coursework and Programs:� A myriad of
initiatives at UM-M at the undergraduate and graduate levels encourage and
enhance multicultural awareness and understanding across the campus.� Required non-Western general education
courses and programs of multicultural awareness in the curricula abound,
including those specifically geared for Native American students.�
Future Directions:� Seven
concrete goals set forth by the President direct the University�s activities
toward increasing campus diversity.� To
achieve the objectives requires participation of the entire campus community
working collaboratively.� Committees
currently in place oversee and implement these specific goals.
II.
Statement of Objective
The University of
Montana-Missoula strives to implement the Board of Regents Minority Achievement
Policy of 1990, and adheres to the Board of Regents-approved Campus Action Plan
of 1991.���
Since the adoption of and in
accordance with the 1991 Plan, the University has submitted several subsequent
reports, including a Diversity Advisory Plan, to the Regents.� Responsibility for monitoring implementation
of the Diversity Action Plan on the Missoula campus rests with the Diversity
Advisory Council, appointed by the President.�
The Council consists of administrators, faculty, staff, and students.
Annually, the Council solicits information from the campus and prepares a
report for presentation to the campus community and the Regents.� This exercise recognizes publicly the
seriousness the University attaches to multi-cultural diversity efforts and
participation and achievement of minorities throughout the University
community.� The annual reports reveal
that, despite funding constraints and reporting limitations, the University
continues to make progress in implementing the Diversity Action Plan and
reaping the benefits of diversity on campus.�
In addition, the annual reports reveal a persistent effort to develop a
workable reporting process that will keep attention focused on the substantive
goals and objectives.�
It remains clear that while
seeking to implement the Campus Action Plan, the University encounters
challenges in achieving every goal and objective.� Nonetheless, the campus community adheres to the three major
goals of the Regents� Minority Achievement Policy of 1991.� The University of Montana-Missoula campus
strives to enroll and graduate minority students, especially Native Americans;
seeks to identify, attract, and employ qualified minority applicants for
employment; and introduces, whenever possible, multiculturalism into the
curriculum.� By adherence to these
guidelines, the University has accomplished much and will continue to make
strides in this direction.
III.������� Campus Report
Graduate.�
Institutional research data show a steady increase in Native American
enrollment.� Between 1996 and 1999, the
overall enrollment of Native American students increased from 320 to 384 (a 20%
increase).� In terms of the Policy goal
of minority representation in the University proportional to minority
representation in the State, Native Americans made up 2.69% of the total
enrollment at The University of Montana-Missoula in 1996.� They comprise 3.03% of the student
population in fall 2000, despite the fact that total enrollment of the
University increased by 4.43% over this period.
A Graduate School staff person
oversees diversity activities, including diversity training, financial aid
advising, Indian student mentoring, and administering the Native American
Graduate Student Association.� Finally,
this position provides follow-up to students participating in programs to
encourage minority student enrollment in graduate studies (AIBL-School of
Business Administration; BRIDGES-Experiences in Science; INPSYCH-Training in
Psychology; McNair Scholars; Project 1000; WEB-training in Environmental
Biology; and AISES-Undergraduate Science majors).� In 1998, the Graduate School established a distance-learning
Teacher Education program on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana.
Undergraduate.� Admissions and New Student Services
recognizes that successful enrollment of American Indians and other minorities
must begin with activities and attention directed to students as early as
junior high school.� To that end, during
1999-2000, the University hosted 720 prospective students from Talent Search,
Upward Bound, and GEAR-UP programs for full-day visits to campus.� The University invites minority students and
their parents to UM Days.� Admissions
and New Student Services representatives visit all Montana Tribal Colleges and
high schools.� A team of representatives
from Admissions and New Student Services, Financial Aid, University College,
and currently enrolled students visit Browning High School and Blackfeet
Community College each year.�� Within
the Office of Admissions and New Student Services, a .5 FTE staff member
provides outreach to minority students.�
The full Office staff assists in all recruitment activities.� Minorities make up two of the three
recruiters.
In
addition, several undergraduate academic programs actively recruit Native
American students, including the Health Career Opportunity Programs in
Psychology, Pharmacy, and Physical Therapy and BRIDGES for the baccalaureate
program in the sciences.
B.�������� COMPLETIONS
Successful retention and graduation of minority students
requires a supportive and comfortable academic environment and accessible
support services.� The Dean of Students
developed a cultural diversity web site that provides access and links to areas
of study, admissions and special programs, awards, employment and equal
opportunity, committees and organizations, and international groups.� ASUM and UM-M recognize and support 27
minority student organizations, including six for Native American students.
The University Center�s
Multicultural Alliance focuses on building alliances between cultural and
ethnic groups on campus through workshops, lectures, and the promotion of
multicultural issues and events.�
Hundreds of staff and students have participated in prejudice reduction
workshops, and many have become certified trainers who present workshops on
campus and in the Missoula community.
Residence Life staff
training includes presentations from Native American Studies and other offices
knowledgeable of minority issues.�
Career Services provides orientations and workshops for minority student
groups and organizations.
Two highly visible academic programs serve Native American
students and provide assistance and support towards degree completion.� The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP)
provides myriad services, including study skills, academic advising, career
information, financial aid troubleshooting, tutoring, and Native American peer
mentoring.� The Health Careers
Opportunity Program provides academic, financial, summer residencies, and
social support for Native American students seeking careers in Pharmacy,
Physical Therapy, and Psychology.�
The University College/Office of Academic Advising works
closely with EOP to advise and provide support for Native American and minority
students.� University College employs a
full-time multicultural/minority student counselor.
Graduate.� In 1998, American
Indian students received four Master�s of Arts and one Master�s of Public
Administration degrees, while in 1999, American Indians received two Master�s
of Business Administration and three Master�s of Arts degrees.
�����������
Undergraduate.� Completion
rates for American Indian and minority students remain mixed.� For the 1999-2000 academic year, UM-M�s
freshman to sophomore retention rates increased slightly from the previous
academic year.� American Indian students
had a retention rate of 50.9%; for African-Americans, 50%; and for Hispanic and
Asian students the retention rates were 53.6% and 81%, respectively.� White students had a freshman to sophomore
retention rate of 69.7%.
Six-year graduation rates for American Indian students
increased significantly in the last year, going from 19.4% to 29.6%; for
Hispanic students, 22.2%.�� White
students had a six-year graduation rate of 46.2%.
C.�������� FUNDING
UM-M uses institutional dollars to recruit, retain, and
graduate American Indian and other minority students in several ways:
Graduate. The Graduate Council awarded six assistantships to
Psychology, Anthropology, Division of Biological Sciences, Curriculum and
Instruction, and the Schools of Business and Forestry to enroll Native American
graduate students.� UM�M received two
WICHE Doctoral Scholarships.� A Tribal
College instructor received a WICHE Scholarship to upgrade credentials to the
master�s level.� In 1997, UM-M received
the �Extra Mile Award� from WICHE in recognition of the success of this
program.� Subsequently, new minority
training programs (such as TRAIN in the Division of Biological Sciences) have
incorporated the WICHE model into their administrative structure. �In 2000, WICHE awarded Dr. David Schuldberg
its �Extra Mile Award� for his outstanding work as a teacher and mentor.
Every
graduate program has spent discretionary and private funds to recruit, retain,
and graduate American Indian and other minority students.� The Graduate School spends
approximately� $4,000 per year from
private and discretionary funds to recruit and retain Native American students,
and the Office of Research Administration has spent $162,452 in cost sharing
for the WICHE program alone.� Other
grants used to fund American Indian education include a recent EPSCoR agreement
and funds from the Rural Institute which will establish a national center for
access and accommodation of American Indian students with disabilities.� Faculty in the Division of Biological
Sciences have spent a great deal of money out-of-pocket for food, gas, and
housing for American Indian Students in the Hughes Grant Program.��
Undergraduate.� Each year, Admissions and New Student
Services spends $33,000 for the recruitment of Native American and other
minority students.� Part of this
amount--$15,000--goes to employ a .5 FTE minority recruiter, with the remainder
used for travel, hosting on-campus events, and operational expense/s such as
postage and publications.
Since 1991-92, the number of
students receiving Native American fee waivers has increased 47%.�� The Financial Aid Office (FAO) communicates
with all seven Reservations in Montana and several out-of-state Reservations to
assist in maximizing financial aid for students.� Two FAO staff work with Native American students.� The UM-M Presidential Loan Fund provides
temporary financial assistance to many minority students who might otherwise
need to withdraw from school.� The FAO
works closely with GEAR UP, Educational Opportunities Program, Upward Bound,
and Native American Studies to provide current information about financial aid
and scholarships.
In 1995-96, 118 minority
undergraduate students received $187,961 and 19 minority graduate students
received $34,222 in scholarships.� In
1999-2000, 225 minority undergraduate students received $359,118 and 39
graduate students received $100,720 in scholarships.� In five years, scholarship opportunities and funding increased
91% for undergraduate students, and 105% more graduate students receive 194%
more scholarship funds.
D. ������� FACULTY/STAFF
Increasing the number of
employees identified as racial minorities in all job categories remains one of
The University of Montana�s primary goals in achieving a culturally diverse campus.� Efforts to fill administrative, academic,
and professional vacancies include searching nationally and sending
announcements to all Tribal Colleges in the American Indian Higher Education
Consortium as well as to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.� In addition, Departments considered
underutilized in women or minorities, based on availability in the relevant
labor market,[1] lists
positions with appropriate minority publications that reach Ph.D. recipients,
such as the Society of Indian Psychologists, for tenure-track faculty.
Detailed recruitment and hiring analyses for all job
categories for searches conducted during the year aid in assessing the
effectiveness of the University�s recruitment efforts to fill vacancies and the
attainment of affirmative action and diversity goals.� The University monitors each search for EEO compliance and to
assure a good faith effort to solicit applications from qualified minorities
and females.� Responsible parties must
justify any exceptions to wide recruitment with approval by the EEO Officer in
advance.� For Fall Semester 2000, The
University of Montana-Missoula selected 45 faculty members through national
searches; Tenure-track faculty make up 32 of those appointed, including 14
females (44%) and seven minorities (22%), two of whom are Native Americans
(6.25%).� Two minority faculty members
received appointment as Chairs of Departments, including one Native American
female.� Female faculty members now
comprise 39% of the faculty, and racial minorities six percent (Fall Semester
1999).� The Fall Semester 2000 employee
count by job group remains ongoing.� Of
the 1,123 applicants for the 32 tenure-track positions filled, Native Americans
made up 13 (1.17%) of these, and other minorities account for 129 (11.5%).� In both cases, the percentage ranks higher
than the availability in the relevant labor market.
Classified staff local and
state-wide recruitment efforts yielded 1,677 applicants for 243 positions
filled; minorities (five percent), including four Native Americans, made up 12
of those employed.� Females make up 149
(61%) of the new employees.� The female
application rate was 53.7% and the minority rate was 4.5%, indicating that
UM-M�s hiring rate for these groups ranks higher than their actual application
rate.� The University hired 12 employees
as contract professionals, including two senior level administrators and six
coaches.� Females made up five of these,
with one Native American administrator promoted to the position of Dean of
Students.� This job group weighs in as
currently fully utilized in female and racial minority representation relevant
to availability nationally.
Administrators receive
evaluations annually by their supervisors and peers which include comments
regarding accomplishments in promoting cultural diversity in their areas.
E. ������� COURSEWORK AND PROGRAMS
The University of
Montana-Missoula has many initiatives at both the undergraduate and graduate
levels to enhance multicultural awareness and understanding:
Undergraduate.� All undergraduates
must take a �non-Western� general education course.� Courses in Native American Studies, African American Studies, and
in other areas focusing on history, culture, religions of minorities, and
non-Western cultures fulfill this requirement.�� While a number of programs include multicultural awareness in
the curricula, the School of Journalism deserves special note.� Last year the School instituted an American
Indian Journalism Program and recruited Dennis McAuliffe as a Native American
Journalist in Residence.� Additionally,
Professor Carol VanValkenburg offers a yearly Native American Honors class
where photo- and print-journalism students produce an in-depth high-quality
publication of an issue of importance in Indian Country.
In
addition, the University has several programs geared specifically to Native
American students.� The BRIDGES to the
Baccalaureate Program provides Native American students with experiences in the
sciences, as do Project TRAIN and Project T-WEB which receive National Science
Foundation funding.� Project TRAIN
represents a joint program with Salish-Kootenai College, while T-WEB provides
training for American Indian students in Environmental Biology.� The INPSYCH program provides training in
Psychology to Native American students.
Two
highly visible academic programs serve Native American students and provide
assistance and support towards degree completion.� The Educational Opportunity Program provides myriad services,
including study skills, academic advising, career information, financial aid
troubleshooting, tutoring, and Native American peer mentoring.� The Health Careers Opportunity Program
(HCOP) provides academic, financial, summer enrichment, and social support for
Native American students seeking careers in Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, and
Psychology.� For the Psychology Program,
a consortium of the University and seven Tribal Colleges will implement the
Program.
Our most
notable accomplishment at the undergraduate level is the move of Native
American Studies from a program to a Department, which was approved by the
Board of Regents in May 1999.� This move
provides Native American Studies with full academic recognition and status
equal to every other academic unit on campus, and allows our students to
graduate with a B.A. in Native American Studies.� In May 2000, six students, all women, received the Bachelor�s
Degree in Native American Studies.
Graduate.� The School
of Education currently offers graduate-level cohort classes on the Blackfeet
Reservation in Browning.� These courses
comprise part of UM-M�s distance-learning curriculum.�
In addition, the Graduate
School provides Native American students a graduate program option not
available in the traditional degree programs.�
This program will utilize the existing Master�s of Interdisciplinary
Studies (MIS) degree.� The first-year
curriculum will consist of core classes on interdisciplinary subjects,
including training in the skills and competencies desired by potential
employers, regardless of major, as determined by a survey of Tribal leaders and
members of the American Indian community in Montana.� After the first year, the School will individualize the
curriculum to meet the interdisciplinary interests of the student.� The program will begin in Fall 2001 using a
cohort model and will include both resident and distance learning elements.
IV.������� FUTURE DIRECTIONS
In the President�s State of
the University Address for Fall 2000, President Dennison outlined The
University of Montana-Missoula�s vision to increase the diversity of the
students, faculty, and staff for an enriched campus culture; to promote
diversity and community among students, faculty, and staff; to sustain and
enhance the quality of student life through more effective recruitment and
retention; and to attract, retain, support, and develop a diverse and excellent
faculty and staff.�
During the planning period
from 2000-2005, The University of Montana-Missoula will take deliberate actions
to assure the fulfillment of the mission and the attainment of the vision.� To achieve the objective will require the
participation of all segments of the campus community, working collaboratively.
Goals specific to this
vision include the following:
�
Increase the number of
Native American students to 780 (head count) by 2005.
�
Establish guaranteed
transfer programs with all Tribal and Community Colleges by 2005.
�
Establish guaranteed
transfer programs with 15 out-of-State Community Colleges by 2005.
�
Establish a Diversity
Center to provide services to minorities on campus.
o
Despite programs like
WICHE, InPsych, AIBL, TRAIN, and WEB designed to provide financial and
mentoring assistance to minority students, Native American students also need a
centralized student service office.� The
University considers an ombudsperson necessary in this Office to assist
minority students in financial aid, registration, and the myriad problems
minority students face in the bureaucracy of a different culture.
�
Implement a faculty
plan that meets the needs for new programs, reduces student-faculty ratio, and
enhances student-faculty interaction by 2005, with attention to diversity.
�
Implement a staffing
plan to accommodate new programs, provide technical assistance and service, and
assure operation and maintenance of facilities by 2005, with attention to
diversity.
�
Implement a facilities
master plan by 2001 that meets programmatic needs, including a new Native
American Studies building and a new or renovated International Center.
Committees to oversee and
implement these specific goals are in place.
In addition, the Vice President for Student Affairs has undertaken an initiative to expand and enhance the multicultural awareness and competencies of staff and students, including workshops, retreats, and challenge grants to student organizations.� Moreover, additional analysis of the Native American student responses to the Student Satisfaction Inventory continues.
[1] The relevant labor market refers to the national availability of Ph.D.�s in a given discipline.� The National Research Council provides yearly reports noting detailed summaries of doctoral recipients by discipline.� The 1997 publication of the National Research Council, as well as the Chronicle of Higher Education, served as references for this report.