Quarterly Report

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Work Plan for 2002-2003 Actions for 2002-2003

October 16, 2002

Overview Last year marked a transition in Chancellor-level leadership for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. This year marks another transition in leadership as we saw four of the longest serving members of the Board of Trustees and two student trustees conclude their service to the system. With six new trustees joining the board, approval of the plan was delayed to permit adequate time for review of materials and consultation with key constituencies. Nevertheless, both the Office of the Chancellor and college and university staff were diligently at work on the general directions of the plan since these reflected the guiding principles of the approved strategic plan, Designing the Future. Structure The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities strategic plan has four strategic directions that offer a blueprint of the future for the system and its students: increase access and opportunity; expand high-quality learning programs and services; strengthen community development and economic vitality; and fully integrate the system. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities work plan addresses the four themes and adds two priorities to that list, as follows: increase access and opportunity; increase support; expand high-quality learning programs and services; strengthen community development and economic vitality; fully integrate the system; and measurement. The six priority categories were elaborated into seventeen action steps, many of which go into even deeper, measurable detail allowing for greater accountability. This report is the first of the quarterly reports for this academic year. Designed to communicate the accountability of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, the report reflects our work plan's focus on the system as a "system" and incorporates, for the first time, efforts undertaken by individual system institutions as examples of ongoing initiatives. This alignment of efforts, built on the year-long development of the Leadership Council framework, is the result of extensive discussions with the presidents within the context of Leadership Council meetings, regional meetings between Office of the Chancellor staff and small groups of presidents and the recently completed presidential review process. As part of the presidential review process, the Cabinet and individual presidents engaged in a dialogue about campus planning efforts, processes and existing plans. These discussions provided important insights into the planning process and the interrelationship between campus and systemwide efforts. The report identifies general progress toward achieving the overall objectives of the work plan. While the focus is on progress toward achievement of the broader seventeen action steps, it underscores a good start to the achievement of all their components over the course of the plan's timeframe.

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Priority: Increase Access and Opportunity. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will continue to recruit students from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, yet focus more intensely on the recruitment and retention of those who have been under-prepared for or traditionally under represented or under-served in higher education, including students of color, first generation college students, students for whom English is a second language and low income students.

Among the action steps in this priority are the identification and removal of barriers to the participation in higher education for students of color, first generation students and low-income students. Also included is the initiation of new pre-kindergarten through college (P-16) collaborative structures to improve student preparation for and transition into college and work, and the development of clear plans for the recruitment, professional development and retention of diverse faculty, staff and administrators. In the area of the identification and removal of barriers to participation, Anoka Ramsey Community College is undertaking a needs assessment with the assistance of the Office of the Chancellor Equal Opportunity and Diversity division. Normandale Community College worked to identify demographic trends regarding populations of color in their service area with the Hennepin County Director of Planning and Development. Fergus Falls Community College has expanded its English as a Second Language (ESL) offerings on campus and is planning an expansion at the Gateway, its collaboration with the Minnesota State University Moorhead, beginning spring semester 2003. Normandale Community College realigned departments to implement an English as a Second Language Department, while St. Paul Technical College added additional sections of ESL classes. St. Cloud Technical College met with the Director of Community Education in the local school district to establish a partnership to offer classes in ESL to prepare students for college entrance. Inver Hills Community College is planning an expansion of its ESL course offerings. Bemidji State University's American Indian Resource Center (AIRC) is under construction. Funding for the AIRC is a collaborative effort involving fiscal support from the state of Minnesota, tribal governments and private donors. A first year student seminar designed to improve retention has been initiated at Bemidji State University for all students with specific sections for American Indian and first generation students. St. Paul Technical College has added college "success" courses for under prepared students. Ridgewater College hired a new Director of Admissions with recruiting and retention of minority students as the primary assignment. The new Director of Admissions is currently forming an alliance with area Hispanic leaders to help advise the college on recruiting and retention matters. Another effort in removing barriers is a focus on the increase of information. Fergus Falls Community College has revamped its recruitment process to provide additional financial aid information to minority students. The Office of the Chancellor's Public Affairs division mailed updated 2002-2003 student recruitment materials to 2,000 counselors in Minnesota and neighboring states and coordinated a Minnesota State Colleges and Universities presence at the National College Fair in Minneapolis where 22 institutions co-located their booths to inform students about all system institutions. Equal Opportunity and Diversity, in conjunction with campus representatives, distributed recruitment materials at the Urban League and Latino family days in Minneapolis.

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Additionally, Public Affairs, in cooperation with Equal Opportunity and Diversity, launched a new integrated marketing/public relations campaign to recruit first-generation college students and students of color, using the minority media. An advertisement for placement in key minority media outlets and a series of news releases for distribution to minority newspapers have been developed and begin this month. One of the most successful programs for recruiting and retaining traditionally under-prepared and first generation prospective college students has been the TRIO programs funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Students in the Upward Bound program are four times more likely to earn an undergraduate degree than those students from similar backgrounds who did not participate in TRIO (Council for Opportunity in Education, 2002). While most Minnesota State Colleges and Universities boast TRIO program affiliation at some level, recent Central Lakes College activity saw submission of a grant application for Upward Bound, one of the primary TRIO Programs for students in middle and high school. The Student Success Center, a TRIO program, at St. Cloud Technical College, serves 160 students. The Success Center offered a Summer Institute to first generation college students, low income students, and students with disabilities as a means of encouraging enrollment in college and increasing retention and graduation rates. Fifty-six students successfully completed courses in developmental reading, and writing skills and mathematics. The Ethnic Heritage Pre-College Summer Institute at Minnesota State University Mankato is a one-week residential pre-college camp that exposes underrepresented students of color to the basics of completing a college education. The camp consists of science, technology and social-cultural development experiences accentuating the ethnic heritage of American Indian, Latino, African American and Asian American people. The camp is a collaborative effort of the Mankato and Sleepy Eye school districts, ethnic community agencies and Minnesota State University Mankato. Central Lakes College and Pine Technical College are taking steps to create new working relationships with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. The President's Diversity Task Force at Normandale Community College's has defined an annual action plan and confirmed its meeting schedule. In the area of enhanced relationships with schools, the Rochester Community and Technical College has established an agreement with the Rochester Public Schools (ISD #535) that will allow increased access for high school students to technical programs. Pine Technical College has expanded interactive television offerings to regional high schools in several technical and academic areas. Ridgewater College is establishing a program with area pre-K-12 districts to educate Title I paraprofessionals, and Normandale Community College is partnering with Kennedy High School and the Bloomington Rotary STRIVE program to target underserved seniors. To further address the access and opportunity issues, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities seek to initiate new P-16 collaborative structures to improve student preparation for and transition into college and work. In this realm, Central Lakes College has initiated a new partnership with ISD #181 to improve student preparation and transition by coordinating curriculum interests. In addition, a new initiative is underway to affiliate more closely high school technical programs in the region with college technical programs.

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Fergus Falls Community College and the Minnesota Humanities Commission are discussing statewide workshops with high school English teachers to discuss research project findings that address competency expectation "links" between high school and college. Member colleges in the Northeast Higher Education District signed a concurrent enrollment agreement with Iron Country Schools as a way to bridge K 12 and post secondary education. The Equal Opportunity and Diversity division in the Office of the Chancellor has worked with the campuses and Human Resources to provide appropriate forums and training. Programs offered include decision maker training for presidents and administrators (five scheduled, one completed) and sexual harassment and 1.B.1 training for presidents and administrators (four campuses completed). Full-day training for all Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Affirmative Action Officers on the new rules promulgated by the Department of Employee Relations and their impact on writing Affirmative Action plans for 2003 to 2005 took place. All campuses were represented. Finally, with Winona State University and Minnesota State University Moorhead, a full day Multicultural Forum for all campus representatives was presented. Both diversity and multicultural campus personnel attended along with representatives of Academic Affairs and three presidents. Equal Opportunity and Diversity has recruited at three minority community events: the National College Fair, the Diversity Job Fair, and the National Association for College Admission Counseling College State High School Fair. The offices also are partnering with the African American Men's Project to assist them in developing an African American recruitment campaign with the intention of tracking participants through graduation, and with the Minnesota Cultural Diversity Center to make their annual diversity conference available to all campuses and the Office of the Chancellor. Priority: Increase Support.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will work to increase support for public higher education in order to maintain the core educational mission while keeping tuition reasonable and addressing the needs of the state.

The three action steps in this priority involve an analysis of how Minnesota's policy on student financial aid affects Minnesota State Colleges and Universities students and a subsequent strategy to obtain legislative changes benefiting public higher education students, advocacy for responsible management of fiscal, facilities and technology resources and work to obtain more non-state funding. Several Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions have secured new or continuing funding from foundations to enhance their educational offerings:

• Fergus Falls Community College has added an Otto Bremer Foundation grant for continuing education for non-profit organizations and renewed a Veden Trust grant for technology-enhanced education efforts;

• Ridgewater College received a grant from the Blandin Foundation to support the college's state of the art Nursing Simulation Center;

• Ridgewater College also received matching grants from the Willmar Affiliated Community Medical Center and the Rice Hospital Foundation; and

• the College of Graduate Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato received a Sloan Foundation Council of Graduate Schools award.

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Campuses, such as Central Lakes College, have initiated discussions with their foundations on new fundraising programs to provide more scholarships for students, thus offsetting the impact of increased tuition. The Ridgewater College Foundation has decided to focus on donations/contributions/grants to enhance technology and health-related programs. Normandale Community College has named Honorary Chairs for first major gift campaign "Creating Futures.Changing Lives." The St. Paul Technical College Foundation is conducting a "Thrive for Excellence" campaign to raise funds for student scholarships. For the second internal campaign in a row, St. Cloud Technical College Foundation's Annual Campaign Drive has had 100 percent participation from faculty, the college's Foundation Board, and from Administration. Ninety-eight percent of all full-time employees participated. Other Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions have secured new or continuing support from local businesses and industries to augment their educational offerings:

• Anoka Ramsey Community College has secured community financial support for the expansion of its nursing program at the Cambridge campus;

• Fergus Falls Community College has leveraged equipment funds with matching gifts from Lake Region Healthcare Corporation and Otter Tail Power Company for microscopes, centrifuges and physics laboratory equipment;

• Pine Technical College, in collaboration with City of Pine City, has prepared an application to the Rural Utilities Service for funds to improve access to broadband telecommunications by creating a fiber backbone connecting to the Internet through Pine Technical; and

• Rochester Community and Technical College signed an exclusive beverage contract, which provides cash, student scholarships for seven years, three student internships each year for seven years and new signage.

The Public Affairs division will examine the development function in the system-both Office of the Chancellor and the institutions-and develop and implement strategic and operational plans to increase the capacity of the system and to achieve a balance between the Northstar Foundation and the institutions' efforts to raise funds from non-state sources. The first quarter saw Public Affairs work with the Northstar Foundation to develop a plan, scheduled for completion this month. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities must continue to work better with external groups to promote advocacy and recognition of the system's significant contributions to the economic vitality and quality of life in Minnesota. Staff will continue to advocate internally for responsible management of fiscal, facilities and technology resources. Externally, we will advocate with the executive branch, the Legislature and other key constituencies for a system biennial operating budget adequate to maintain the core educational mission, grow the areas needed by the state and keep tuition affordable. This quarter, a concentrated program of corporate visits has been shaped to improve relationships with Minnesota's business and industry leaders. Six visits were completed in August and September with Minnesota Hospital and Healthcare Partnership, Circuit City, the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce, the American Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Anoka County Board of Commissioners. Ten additional corporate visits are scheduled for October. The Finance and Facilities division of the Office of the Chancellor presented the FY 2004-2005 biennial budget request to the Board of Trustees at its July meeting. Discussion continued at the September Board meeting. Public hearings on the preliminary budget request for the FY 2004-2005 biennium were held on September 27, 2002, at Southwest State University in Marshall and on October 2, 2002, in the World

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Trade Center in St. Paul. Final action on the FY 2004-2005 biennial budget request will be presented to the Board of Trustees during this meeting. The Biennial Budget Committee, consisting of representatives from faculty, employee and student groups, along with presidents and Office of the Chancellor staff, has advised the Chancellor and the Leadership Council on components and strategies on the biennial budget request. Strategies are being developed to communicate the need for funding to the executive branch, the Legislature and key constituencies. The FY 2004-2009 capital budget guidelines were approved at the July 17, 2002, Board of Trustees meeting, and preliminary capital project lists were submitted to the Office of the Chancellor as planned. Many Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, usually through their Student Senates, are hosting candidate forums to which legislative and statewide candidates have been invited to address higher education funding issues. The Student Senates of North Hennepin Community College, Hennepin Technical College, and St. Cloud Technical College held recent forums, as did Normandale Community College. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities students are interested in making a strong case for improved higher education funding. Through consultation with the Leadership Council, the Government Relations office has identified housekeeping changes and policy proposals which would allow the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to operate more effectively. Working through a contracted consultant, the Government Relations office has initiated development of a Federal Relations agenda and has begun active work at the Federal level. Priority: Expand High Quality Learning Programs and Services.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will provide students with a full range of high quality learning programs and services that respond to student needs and document student achievement.

Five action steps address basic issues in quality educational programming: a continued focus on providing a liberal arts foundation supporting lifelong learning, critical thinking and citizenship skills; providing up-to-date education and training through well-equipped classrooms and laboratories and effective curriculum models; expanding professional development opportunities for faculty, staff and administrators; continuing system responsiveness to the development of distance and technology enhanced education opportunities to meet learner needs; and providing and expanding graduate education and practical research. Bemidji State University's Distributed Learning in Teacher Education (DLiTE) program was implemented this fall. Courses are delivered through various blended technologies including Internet, interactive television and some on-site, face-to-face classroom interaction. On-site Teacher Mentors also have been assigned to each student for additional guidance. The number of students enrolled at Bemidji State University in fully on-line or Internet assisted courses has increased from 82 in fall 2001, to approximately 1,123 students in fall 2003. The significant increase is largely attributable to the increased number of faculty using the Internet to supplement their on-campus courses and new degree programs offered on-line. Minnesota State University, Mankato has increased from 13 to 25 the number of courses offered on-line.

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The Rochester Community and Technical College opened the $4.5 million Horticulture Technology Center. The project provides 11,200 square feet of classroom/lab space and 4,800 square feet of greenhouse space. In addition, the college will offer a newly developed Web Designer and Development AAS/AS degree (in collaboration with Minnesota State College Southeast-Technical) and a Medical Transcriptionist Certificate totally on-line. St. Paul Technical College is offering its first totally on line program in Human Resources this fall. Fergus Falls Community College has created new computer lab on campus. Pine Technical College and St. Paul Technical College have added to their general education liberal arts course inventory, providing for greater student options. Normandale Community College has implemented a new assessment process to ensure effective student placement in courses. At Minnesota State University, Mankato the College of Science, Engineering and Technology has upgraded several laboratories with computers, including the CAD lab and the human physiology laboratory. The physics labs also continued to make progress in connecting computers to the laboratory to interface instrumentation for experiments. The Department of Computer and Information Sciences established a wireless computer laboratory, a robotics laboratory and an introductory laboratory. In the arena of professional development, Fergus Falls Community College has significantly increased non-faculty staff development funding. Anoka Ramsey Community College has had a plan presented to the President's Council on improving support to faculty and staff and has scheduled a staff development day and supervisory training this fall. Century College held its first ever Student Success Day on September 24. Hundreds of students took advantage to meet with their instructors, attend workshops on study skills, meet with counselors and sign up for campus activities and clubs. Students attending workshops on listening, note taking and test taking filled the West Campus Theatre. As one counselor noted, "Research has shown that student faculty interaction has a stronger relationship with student retention than any other factor. Nothing is as important as connecting students with faculty members, and that is what Student Success Day is all about." Instructors, counselors and students agreed that Student Success Day was a worthy activity. In graduate education, Bemidji State University, through an inter-institutional collaborative agreement with Minnesota State University Moorhead, has provided access to an online Master's degree program in teacher education. As a result, 26 students are completing Master's level courses online through Bemidji State University. At Minnesota State University, Mankato, except for accreditation-required clinical and research components, three graduate programs are now available on-line: nursing and professional education for learning disabilities and emotional-behavioral disorders. "Learning That Lasts," a new statewide faculty development initiative supported by the Bush Foundation and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, was launched by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The project has three main components: systemwide faculty development through CTL Weekend Seminars; systemwide instructional development with $750,000 in incentive grants to seed and grow campus change agendas; and a faculty leadership development program to select, train, and support up to 18 faculty to serve as peer consultants and change agents (Active Learning Advocates) focused on long-lasting student learning.

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Priority: Strengthen Community Development and Economic Vitality.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will help meet the state's critical workforce and community needs in collaboration with statewide and local leadership groups.

The three action steps in this priority focus on service to the state's critical workforce and community needs: to provide enhanced capacity and flexibility in key workforce areas through flexible scheduling and alternative delivery of education and training; being responsive to the acknowledged critical workforce needs in teaching and health care careers; and improve the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities' ability to respond rapidly to accelerated or sudden change experienced at the industry, company, employee or community level. Bemidji State University's Small Business Development Center has provided services to more than 178 clients with approved loan packages in excess of $2,000,000 already arranged. The University Center Rochester, a unified and comprehensive partnership of Rochester Community and Technical College, the University of Minnesota Rochester, and Winona State University, with support from GRAUC and the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, has planned LINK 2002: Building A High Performance Workforce - Best Practices in E-Learning, a conference to explore ways to support and invigorate the creation of public/private partnerships that support innovative learning practices. Meeting the need for nurses and other health care workers is a theme in the work plan and several institutions have responded. Anoka Ramsey Community College is expanding its nursing program on the Cambridge campus, thus providing access to such training in East Central Minnesota. Fergus Falls Community College, working with Morris area recipients of an H 1B grant to fund nursing education, has been invited to provide practical nursing and associate degree nursing courses over the next two years. Fergus Falls Community College also has begun planning to offer courses for an AS Degree in Nursing at Alexandria Technical College in fall 2003. Pine Technical College has entered into partnership with the Bridging Distance consortium to offer LPN-to-RN education in the Pine City area as collaboration with local healthcare facilities and other Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions. St. Cloud State Technical College, through a contractual partnership with the St. Cloud Hospital, launched an invasive cardiovascular technician program in August. In addition, through a partnership with local long-term care providers, the Center for Customized Training at St. Cloud State Technical College is offering an accelerated practical nursing program to certified nursing assistants. Inver Hills Community College is looking into expanding its nursing program to address local needs. At Minnesota State University, Mankato the number of applicants accepted into the undergraduate program was increased to achieve the goal of an increased number of baccalaureate graduates in May 2003. Nursing has entered into a partnership with Fairview Southdale Hospital to deliver an on-site RN option of the baccalaureate nursing program beginning January 2003. Central Lakes College received a grant from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Research and Development fund to address health care needs in central Minnesota. A consortium with health care providers was created to identify critical human resource training needs and proposals are being developed to address them. A medical billing course already has been created at Central Lakes College in conjunction with Inver Hills Community College and will begin in January.

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Minnesota State University, Mankato has developed and implemented graduate certificate professional education programs in K-12 and secondary teaching, learning disabilities and emotional behavioral disorders to address critical needs in the schools. The State of Minnesota and Blue Cross Blue Shield will fund employee training with a major grant from the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program. The grant was awarded to Mesabi Range Community and Technical College. The Rochester Community and Technical College submitted two new Minnesota Job Skill Partnership Grants in September. The Rochester Community and Technical College also continues its active involvement in Health Care Core Curriculum conversations with local health care facilities and K-12. The NetWORK for Customized Training, Education and Development comprises 34 Customized Training/Education units within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Located at every campus and at unique community sites in 52 cities throughout the state, Customized Training/Educations units operate to serve the performance improvement needs of Minnesota's employers by providing credit and non-credit instruction and related services for workforce development on or off the work site. NetWORK operations are driven by college and university perspectives through the guidance of a seven-member team of administrators, assisted by staff from the Office of the Chancellor. The NetWORK team determined three NetWORK goals for FY03:

Goal 1: establish regional system workforce and economic development work groups; Goal 2: communicate the value of customized training; and Goal 3: continue improving operational effectiveness.

In a related effort, customized training leaders in the system's two-year and four-year higher education institutions in northwestern Minnesota are working towards the development of a comprehensive and collaborative approach to better address employer and workforce development needs in the region. Normandale Community College has reorganized its Continuing Education/Customized Training component. Public Affairs in the Office of the Chancellor has begun discussions with the Customized Training unit to assess feasibility and resources for an integrated marketing and public relations plan. It will target employers to inform them of the system's customized training services and to encourage them to use those services. Bemidji State University is participating in a study with the University of Minnesota to assess regional stakeholder needs in nursing. Ridgewater College, which already manages eight grants from the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program, is submitting two more grant requests for workforce development. Central Lakes College has responded to a major, negative economic event in Brainerd. Potlatch, a paper mill, was closed, resulting in the layoff of over 600 employees. The college has worked in a highly collaborative fashion with local, state and federal government agencies and not-for-profit community organizations to assist the laid off employees. Approximately 87 former Potlatch employees enrolled at Central Lakes College in the fall to seek education or new technical training. The college also assisted some to enroll in other Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions and provided training through the Small Business Development Center.

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St. Cloud Technical College, in collaboration with St. Cloud Workforce Center, has assisted the dislocated workers from Fingerhut. In addition, through a partnership with the Stearns Benton Workforce Center, the college began offering a 5-week Truck Driving course which local citizens affected by the closure of Fingerhut accessed. Priority: Fully Integrate the System.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will become a more efficient, effective and fully coordinated higher education system while respecting the differences and distinctiveness of the individual colleges and universities.

The Office of the Chancellor Public Affairs division has organized a schedule of comprehensive campus visits for the Chancellor and the cabinet so that each institution is visited at least once over the next three years. Visits to 12 institutions during the 2002-2003 academic year are planned, the first two of which been completed. These visits also give the trustees an opportunity to join staff at the campuses. Work continues on developing a "collaborative approach" to increasing student access to higher education in Northern Minnesota by Bemidji State University, Fergus Falls Community College, Northwest Technical College and Northland Community and Technical College. Work also continues on enhancing a "collaborative approach" to increasing student access to higher education in the metropolitan Twin Cities area. The first meeting of a new Steering Council for a Metro Consortium was held in early September. Membership includes the Minneapolis and St. Paul school superintendents, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership, a representative of Mayor Kelly's office, and senior administrators at the University of Minnesota and Metropolitan State University. The Council is chaired by President Wilson Bradshaw. The consortium has selected three priority areas of collaboration: career ladders of incumbent workers, working with K-12 to improve readiness for college of high school graduates and working to better serve underserved populations. Fergus Falls Community College is collaborating with Northwest Technical College for customized training delivery in the Fergus Falls area. Bemidji State University's on-line services center is providing in-service training for both Central Lakes College and Vermilion Community College on the applications of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Bemidji State University, in collaboration with other two-year and four-year Minnesota State Colleges and Universities in Northwestern and Western Minnesota, is working towards a "single application for admission process." The implementation of this approach will enable students to apply once at any partner institution and be admitted to all participating institutions whose admissions requirements are met. In addition, the concept of a collaborative relationship across the partner-institutions (both two-year and four-year) in the direction of a common market program is also under review. Minnesota State University, Mankato has initiated meetings with South Central College to collaborate on providing Student Health Services for South Central College students. Normandale Community College has identified best practice institutional effectiveness models, undertaken the alignment of the system strategic plan with its operational and budget operational planning, and is completing its Master Facility Plan.

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Across-the-Board Priority-Measurement. The Rochester Community and Technical College continues to work towards implementation of a Balanced Scorecard approach to performance management. The college has identified four major categories of indicators, including student learning outcomes; for each of the twelve indicators, operational definitions are being established and related measures are being identified. Targets for each indicator are being set that will be benchmarked with like institutions and leading organizations. Anoka Ramsey Community College has created an institutional research position to meet needs in this area. The Internal Auditor and staff in the Office of the Chancellor have held extensive discussions and drafted a plan for developing and monitoring a system of performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of the system. Conclusion The initial quarter of the 2002-2003 academic year saw sufficient progress toward our new goals. We are confident that the progress will continue and will move us forward as a system to better serve students and citizens.

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Quarterly Report

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Work Plan for 2002-2004

Actions for 2002-2003

January 23, 2003

Overview In this new calendar year, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have entered into a period of some uncertainty as a result of the current fiscal status in the State of Minnesota. These challenges are very real, but the Board of Trustees may be assured that the Office of the Chancellor and the colleges and universities diligently continue to make progress in the directions of the strategic plan, Designing the Future. Minnesota faces serious budget deficits, both for the current fiscal year (2003) and the coming biennium (2004-2005). The budget shortfall for the 2003 fiscal year is about $356 million. The 2004-2005 budget deficit is estimated to be approximately $4.5 billion, not including an estimated $1 billion inflation. Gubernatorial and legislative actions will result in immediate and long-term costs to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Until the legislative session ends in May, it will be very difficult to predict what impact the 2004-2005 deficit will have on the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities budget, but higher education makes up about 10 percent of the state budget, of which the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities receive about half, or 5 percent of the total state budget. Nonetheless, the Office of the Chancellor intends to do everything possible to achieve the Board of Trustees budget request for a $107.6 million increase to our $1.3 billion annual budget. If the system is not successful in getting the full amount of our request, the Board of Trustees would be involved in deciding what actions would be needed to balance the budget and to inform appropriate reductions in our annual work plan. Pending information on what the budget impact will be, it has been decided that there will be limited out-of-state travel in the Office of the Chancellor. Further, an immediate halt to hiring is in place, and positions that become vacant will not be filled, except in dire emergencies. Office of the Chancellor staff are working to analyze the functions of each division and to prioritize them. Factors being considered include legislative mandates, Board of Trustees' policies and expectations, the system's strategic plan and impact on students. College and university presidents have been asked to undertake a similar analysis on their own campuses. It must be noted that we value all of our employees and will make every effort to minimize the use of layoffs. While it certainly does not diminish or minimize what we face, we must acknowledge that Minnesota higher education is not alone in experiencing these challenges. On the national scene, governing boards for both the California State Universities and the University of California raised tuition in the current academic year (a mid-year rise) for the first time in eight years. California's Governor has proposed a doubling of community college tuition for next year, and the State University of New York's Board of Regents authorized a tuition increase of up to $1,400 per year. Structure The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities strategic plan has four strategic directions offering a blueprint for the system's future: increase access and opportunity, expand high-quality learning programs and services, strengthen community development and economic vitality and fully integrate the system.

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The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities work plan addresses the four themes and adds two priorities to that list: increase support and accountability-oriented measurement. These six priority categories were the basis for developing seventeen action steps, many of which go into even deeper, measurable detail allowing for greater accountability. This report is the second of our series of quarterly reports for the academic year designed to further the accountability of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. With the exception of the previous quarter, these reports have focused on the efforts of the Office of the Chancellor to advance the agenda set forth in the Minnesota State College and Universities work plan. The October report, on the other hand, primarily highlighted the significant contribution made by campuses. In this and subsequent reports, shared responsibility and accountability will be reflected in a combined approach, including the important accomplishments of both the Office of the Chancellor and our thirty four colleges and universities as we work together in an increasingly integrated system to meet our shared goals. The report is a snapshot of progress toward achieving the overall objectives of the work plan; it is a representation, not all-inclusive, of the enormous efforts undertaken by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The specific focus of this report is on the improvements/developments in achieving the overall objectives of the work plan during the second quarter (October through December) of 2002-2003. While the focus is on progress toward achievement of the broader seventeen action steps, taken together with the efforts reported in the first quarter, the report underscores an admirable contribution to completion of the specified tasks over the course of the plan's timeframe. Priority: Increase Access and Opportunity.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will continue to recruit students from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, yet focus more intensely on the recruitment and retention of those who have been under-prepared for or traditionally under represented or under-served in higher education, including students of color, first generation college students, students for whom English is a second language and low income students.

Among the action steps in this priority area are the identification and removal of barriers to the participation in higher education for students of color, first generation students, and low-income students. Also included is the initiation of new pre-kindergarten through college (P-16) collaborative structures to improve student preparation for and transition into college and work, as well as the development of clear plans for the recruitment, professional development and retention of diverse faculty, staff and administrators. At the cross-systems/statewide level, a first major planning meeting with multiple participants from key partnership organizations, agencies, and institutions and from the legislature was held on October 31, at Metropolitan State University. At this statewide meeting, key leaders-including University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks, Department of Children, Families and Learning Commissioner Christine Jax, and Minnesota Private College Council President David Laird-joined the system to publicly express support for and commitment to a new Minnesota P-16 Education Partnership. Participants had an opportunity to hear a national perspective on statewide P-16 partnerships. In recognition of the need to significantly reduce enrollment in developmental math courses, two efforts are in progress to improve the math skills of Minnesota high school graduates. Representatives of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Private Colleges, and P-12 mathematics specialists have completed a one-page statement of mathematics competencies

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needed by all students entering college in the state and have nearly finished a more detailed draft to guide P-12 mathematics educators. Distribution of the final document will be statewide. Simultaneously, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have begun development of a plan to better align high school and college readiness assessment in mathematics. Under development are design and implementation strategies to collect and analyze student assessment data for college readiness in mathematics and to identify Minnesota State Colleges and Universities math faculty to map items on the state's 11th Grade Math Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment against the content of initial college-level postsecondary mathematics courses (e.g., College Algebra). At the system level, Academic and Student Affairs staff in the Office of the Chancellor met with the chief academic and chief student affairs officers to discuss the work plan diversity goals and campus climate surveys. Although a decision had earlier been made that institutions could individually choose the survey instrument they would use, it was later decided that institutions would include a common core of survey questions that were developed in December. In addition, a study of best practices in recruitment and retention of under-represented students was completed and posted on the Academic and Student Affairs Web site. An agenda for a conference on best practices for the recruitment and retention of under-represented students conference-to be held on February 6 7, 2003-was developed by college and university representatives and posted on the same Web site. About 300 college and university staff members are expected to attend the conference. The Office of Instructional Technology is working with the Attorney General's Office to clarify for campuses issues around Web access in order to improve services and access to students. An Instructional Technology project plan also was approved to make the Integrated Statewide Records System (ISRS) more accessible for students with disabilities. Also at the system level, Minnesota Satellite and Technology (MnSAT) collaborated with the Department of Children, Families and Learning and PK 12 districts to provide special education and vocational education training across the state. MnSAT also collaborated with St. Paul College to provide training-the program was distributed nationally-to faculty serving hearing impaired learners. As part of the Office of the Chancellor's advocacy efforts, the Equal Opportunity and Diversity area has participated in minority Chamber and press meetings with the Chancellor. In addition to ongoing support and attendance at four community of color annual events, representatives attended the quarterly meeting of the statewide Asian Pacific Council to promote system institutions and answer questions about opportunities for their students. Equal Opportunity and Diversity staff planned and executed training on campuses addressing protected class harassment, hostile environments, investigator, and decision maker training, while also co-facilitating anti racism and diversity workshops. Public Affairs in the Office of the Chancellor has launched a new integrated marketing/public relations campaign to recruit first-generation college students and students of color, using minority media services. The initiative includes submitting press kits containing news releases about Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and feature stories that showcase successful graduates of color to six minority newspapers, placing ads in the minority newspapers, and sponsoring a 30-minute radio and cable television program on WRNB featuring Minnesota State Colleges and Universities students and graduates. Alexandria Technical College completed an environmental scan of current student services functions with a focus on continuous improvement. As a result, the campus has enhanced (a) admissions process for home-schooled students by allowing more flexible and convenient testing and (b) new student orientation. Alexandria Technical College also improved their ability to address current and prospective student's questions and streamlined the application process.

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At Anoka Ramsey Community College, the Human Resources division developed and is implementing a training plan while exploring new avenues for the recruitment of faculty and staff of color. In addition, an application for an additional Upward Bound grant allowing expansion for participation by three more high schools recently was submitted. Bemidji State University has increased by ten percent-to 500 students-the number of under represented students served by the federally funded TRIO Program in Student Support Services. This increase reflects a collaborative effort within the university that involves additional faculty and staff referrals in areas such as tutorial services, career planning, more accommodations for students with disabilities, counseling and advising services. The Student Support Services program is designed specifically to serve first generation, low income and students with disabilities. In addition, Bemidji State University has added a new mentoring program that connects college students with first generation, low income and/or ethnic minority students. This program has been added to the 11 high school sites served by the federally funded Upward Bound Program to improve student retention in the Upward Bound Program, as well as increase the number of student who will enroll in college. Century College initiated early intervention strategies and developed a more comprehensive program of support for those students nearing or reaching probationary or suspension status. In addition, the college developed a comprehensive tutor training program to prepare 40-50 tutors per semester and implemented computerized assessment as a vehicle for assessing new entering students. Dakota County Technical College submitted a $1 million TRIO Upward Bound grant designed to provide services to 60 eligible under-served students from South St. Paul High School and Henry Sibley High School. In addition, the campus Multicultural Advisor provides advising services weekly to inner city students at the HUBBS Center St. Paul. Fergus Falls Community College has expanded English as a Second Language (ESL) offerings on campus. Additional ESL offerings will begin in the spring semester 2003 as a result of a collaborative diversity project with Minnesota State University Moorhead. Inver Hills Community College's Urban Teacher Program Coordinator is chairing the St. Paul Partnership Committee on which there are five members from the St. Paul Schools, two from Inver Hills, and two from Metropolitan State University. The committee is addressing such issues as developing skills and abilities needed for education graduates to function well in the urban setting, working on curriculum alignment with the teacher education curriculum and St. Paul curricular needs, and coordinating student educational experiences in the schools with placements with teachers who are working with best practices in the schools. The focus is to cut down on retraining new teachers hired by St. Paul Schools and to identify educational assistants and teachers' aides that have the talent to become teachers. Itasca Community College received a major grant ($265,000) from the Blandin Foundation to help students attend Itasca Community College. A portion of the grant provides funds for Child Care assistance for spring semester 2003 that will enable students previously denied child care assistance due to the state grant shortfall to receive assistance. Among the action steps aimed at improving participation by and retention of under-served populations by Lake Superior College are assessing the needs of current students of color, teaching a multi-cultural studies course at a Duluth high school and applying for grant funds to assist Independent School District 709 (Duluth) with diversity programming. The college also has completed articulation agreements with the College of St. Scholastica for pre-professional education and for pre-social work majors; created a

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comprehensive plan for the recruitment and retention of students of color; offered cultural diversity activities as retention activities; increased outreach efforts with community agencies and educational entities which serve people of color; expanded diversity program offerings; and collaborated with Independent School District 709 to create a service learning program emphasizing work with diverse student populations. Minneapolis Community and Technical College is studying the impact of developmental education and English as a Second Language programs. The partially completed cohort study has, to date, published the descriptive data. Minnesota State University, Mankato hosted a metro area informational day for high school counselors, community colleges and minority community agency representatives. In addition, the Admissions Office partnered with the Office of Multicultural Affairs to visit high schools with large minority student populations to increase both the visibility and the comfort level of prospective minority students. North Hennepin Community College has worked to increase the access and success of under-served students by re-establishing the campus diversity council, creating a plan for the training of the entire campus as it relates to working with diverse student populations, creating relationships with diverse community organizations and broadening representation on all college advisory boards. In addition, North Hennepin Community College has made significant progress on efforts to enhance academic counseling and advising services, building sound working relationships within the counseling/advising center, implementing a Web Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS), promoting on-line advising and developing a plan for on-line tutoring appointments. In addition, they have decreased significantly the turn-around time from financial aid application to award letter. In the area of enhanced relationships with schools, Lake Superior College has developed a Pre-Education Advisory Committee comprised of area public school personnel, signed an agreement with the Duluth Vocational Center to grant college credit to high school automotive students under the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) certification process, increased High School Connections program partnerships by 20 percent, and developed a partnership with School District 704) to offer a Machine Tool program to high school students and to articulate this program with the college's program. Minnesota West has responded to the needs of under-served and under-represented populations in manifold ways: recruitment of first generation college students is enhanced through the offering of Kids College, a collaboration with the Nobles County Integration Collaborative which gives 4th through 6th graders opportunity to explore college; hosted the Regional Laotian Conference; taught "Survival Spanish" to law enforcement officials, hospital personnel, and teachers in five school districts, area hospitals and law enforcement centers; and offered an on-line Dairy Technician Certificate entirely in Spanish. Minnesota West is also a recipient of an Immigrant Work Readiness Grant to provide referral and access to college to a number of minority students in collaboration with the Continuing Education Department of the local school district and the Workforce Center. Through the campus' collaboration with the Nobles County Integration Collaborative, an off-campus tutoring center employing students of color as tutors has been established to help K-12 students. Rochester Community and Technical College and the Rochester Public Schools have reached agreement regarding funding for Post Secondary Education Options (PSEO) students to ensure an additional pathway for K 12 students that improves access and readiness for post secondary education.

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St. Cloud State University received a grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to create an academic support program for second language residents, including immigrants and refugees. These residents are different from international-designated students in that their admission process is the same as a U.S. citizen who has English as a first or native language, but they are not identified in the process as needing language and academic support. In addition, the university is implementing a specific student of color recruitment plan to attract minority students to St. Cloud State University. In the personnel arena, a retreat was held early this year with St. Cloud State University's provost, deans and associate vice presidents to consider recruitment and retention efforts. The university's hiring manual has been revised. St. Cloud State University's new Lead Investigator has conducted training on harassment and discrimination issues for leadership teams and is developing a comprehensive training program on the search process, assuring compliance with hiring guidelines and affirmative action requirements. In cooperation with the University Communications Office, the Lead Investigator is creating new pamphlets on diversity awareness and sexual harassment. St. Cloud Technical College has undertaken a major initiative to recruit students of color and has also worked with the Equal Opportunity and Diversity division in the Office of the Chancellor to distribute faculty and staff vacancies to communities of color. Additionally, the campus is working to form partnerships with the St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce, St. Cloud State University and the St. Cloud Hospital to share ideas on recruiting and retaining people of color. Southwest State University addressed access and opportunity by, among other efforts, creating a new scholarship program for low income students living in the resident halls to improve retention; initiating partnerships with the Flandreau American Indian Boarding School and with Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribal College; and creating a new outreach/recruiter position to focus on minority students in the metropolitan area of the Twin Cities. In addition, the campus also created the Multi-Cultural Education Project with Southwest Central Educational Services to recruit students of color to the teaching profession and hosted both a workshop on eliminating racism and the 12th Annual Prairie Festival Pow Wow for the Upper Sioux Community, the Lower Sioux Community and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Southwest State University also addressed the needs of another important group-they obtained a grant from the United Way to fund the cost of transportation to and from the campus for senior citizens attending Senior College, which is funded in part by the Minnesota Humanities Commission. Priority: Increase Support.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will work to increase support for public higher education in order to maintain the core educational mission while keeping tuition reasonable and addressing the needs of the state.

The action steps in this priority area involve (1) an analysis of how Minnesota's policy on student financial aid affects Minnesota State Colleges and Universities students, (2) a subsequent strategy to obtain legislative changes benefiting public higher education students, (3) advocacy for responsible management of fiscal, facilities and technology resources and (4) efforts to obtain more non-state funding. Five Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions secured new Non-Traditional Training and Employment Project Grants from the Carl D. Perkins Vocational-Technical Education Act State Leadership funds:

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• Alexandria Technical College - Develop STEPS, a hands-on residential camp for 7th graders that invites them to explore opportunities in manufacturing and engineering.

• Northwest Technical College - Provide an on-campus technology, multi-day workshop giving women a chance to learn more about non traditional career/training opportunities in telecommunications, microcomputer technology and electronics.

• Central Lakes College - Provide one-on-one information sessions, a two-day skill building retreat, five-day hands-on experience with 11 nontraditional careers and follow-up and support services.

• Riverland Community College-Provide a planning project that will bring together community resources in developing a program to recruit women to the Construction Electrician trade and investigate resources for financial support to promote successful program entry and completion.

• Hennepin Technical College-Provide successful mentor relationships between 2nd semester HTC students and incoming nontraditional high school students from District 287 offering a support service to those in non-traditional careers.

Employees at Central Lakes College have donated nine $300 student scholarships to the college's Foundation through the Employee Scholarship Fund that was created last year. Century College increased resources and foundation support through scholarships, equipment, program resources and facilities by cultivating partnerships in telecommunications, health care, education, and other areas. The college also expanded its grant development function in conjunction with the foundation. Dakota County Technical College received $519,000 from a private estate to assist the college with their library remodeling project and student scholarships. Hibbing Community College is utilizing auxiliary accounts to supplant the loss of state work study and child care monies. Minnesota State University, Mankato has received several grants during the second quarter including a large grant from the Minnesota Department of Health awarded to the Dental Hygiene program. Larry Jodsaas, a successful technologist with an affinity for community colleges, donated $1 million to Normandale Community College for scholarships and for laboratory equipment in the school's new science center. Pine Technical College submitted a grant to the Federal Rural Utilities Service for telecommunications planning and development in East Central Minnesota. The St. Cloud Technical College Foundation raised $4.5 million towards its $5 million goal. A concentrated program of corporate visits by the Chancellor and selected staff, shaped to improve relationships with Minnesota's business and industry leaders, began last quarter. This quarter, another 14 visits were completed among other advocacy activities. Organizations and groups visited included St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, Midway Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota State Chamber, Hmong Chamber of Commerce, Metropolitan Area African American Chamber of Commerce, Insight News, Itasca Medical Center, St Paul Public Schools, Tennant Company, Minnesota Forest Industries, Minnesota Power/ALLETE, Stora Enso Duluth Paper Mill, Iron Miners Association of Minnesota, and Blandin Paper Company/UPM. The Finance and Facilities division of the Office of the Chancellor-with the help of an advisory committee of representatives from faculty, employee and student groups, along with presidents and Office

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of the Chancellor staff-advised the Chancellor and the Leadership Council on components and strategies for generating a biennial budget request. The fiscal year 2004-2005 biennial budget request was presented for a first reading at the September 17-18, 2002, Board of Trustees meeting and public hearings on the preliminary budget request for the 2004-2005 biennium were held on September 27, 2002, at Southwest State University and on October 2, 2002, in the World Trade Center. As a result, the fiscal 2004-2005 biennial budget request was presented to the Board of Trustees at its October 15-16, 2002, Board meeting for a second reading and was approved. In addition, the budget unit and the Leadership Council have begun discussions on how to approach the anticipated State budget reduction. An operating budget initiative for the 2004-2005 biennium which would increase the base budget by $12 million for the biennium specifically targeted at facilities maintenance and repair was approved at the October 15-16, 2002, Board meeting. Since the last quarterly report, the state and nation have completed elections for Governor, state constitutional officers, all state senators and representatives, the entire U.S. House of Representatives, and half of the U.S. senators. The Government Relations group has visited with numerous system groups and the Board of Trustees to analyze the outcome of the election. The Chancellor and Government Relations staff have begun visits to the 58 new Minnesota legislators and are also visiting the Minnesota Congressional delegation to present position statements and budget details on important agenda items-including a third e-learning Congressional Award grant of $2.5 million and a $10 million research, development and training grant from the new Department of Homeland Security. To prepare for the 2003 state legislative session, staff have conducted meetings with the constituent groups to discuss budget options for 2004 and 2005. The primary purpose of the discussions has been to increase communication between the organizations and to promote a common agenda throughout the session. The meetings have been supported by weekly information sessions with the legislative liaisons from each organization. Government Relations staff have made presentations to several system level organizations, including the academic and financial officers, customized training directors, and foundation staff directors about the important need to present a common system voice on the key budget messages. Finally, Government Relations has reported regularly to the Board's Advancement Committee with progress reports on the legislative session. In support of these advocacy efforts, the Public Affairs division has developed and disseminated "talking points" for presidents and trustees on financial aid, the biennial budget request, e-learning, potential budget cuts, and the bonding request. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Foundation (formerly the Northstar Foundation) has completed its plan to raise funds to hire an experienced professional fundraiser. Priority: Expand High Quality Learning Programs and Services.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will provide students with a full range of high quality learning programs and services that respond to student needs and document student achievement.

Five action steps address basic issues in quality educational programming: a continued focus on providing a liberal arts foundation supporting lifelong learning, critical thinking, and citizenship skills; providing

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up-to-date education and training through well-equipped classrooms and laboratories and effective curriculum models; expanding professional development opportunities for faculty, staff, and administrators; continuing system responsiveness to the development of distance and technology enhanced education opportunities to meet learner needs; and providing and expanding graduate education and practical research. The Center for Teaching and Learning began a series of monthly conversations with college administrators and faculty at several campuses about the use of student e-portfolios for documenting student learning and achievement. These conversations are informed by members' participation in national meetings and workshops on the design and implementation of e-portfolio projects. The Center for Teaching and Learning also hosted a faculty development conference on "Inquiry, Instruction, and Information" at Bemidji State University for 200 system faculty interested in building students' Internet and information literacy skills. In addition, the Center completed development of a prototype "on-line faculty development" area to be incorporated into their Web site to deliver workshops, services and resources to faculty across the state on-line. Alexandria Technical College continued development of a strong mix of instructional programming by adding diplomas in advanced network operations and administration and distributed electrical generation technician; Associate in Science degrees in accounting, business administration and computer information specialist and marketing; certificates in phlebotomy, CAD technician (on-line), outdoor power equipment technician and automation systems integration; started a concrete mason program; articulated four new Associate in Science degrees with Capella University; and an Associate Degree in Nursing in partnership with Fergus Falls Community College (project started). In addition, they continue to partner with Southwest State University to offer baccalaureate degree courses at Alexandria Technical College. Anoka Ramsey Community College seeks to maintain its national accreditations in the health area-National League of Nursing, Physical Therapists, etc.-and recently underwent a site visit by the Minnesota Board of Nursing. Central Lakes College has been selected by Microsoft as the Great Lakes Regional Microsoft IT Academy. The Central Lakes College Academy is one of only 15 such regional centers in the United States. Century College expanded by 50 the numbers of nursing students admitted to the program. In addition, Century continues to develop initiatives with the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership that lead to such new programs as the Health Career Institute, interpreter training, and computer security. They continue to review and renew existing programs and departmental offerings for improved student learning. Hibbing Community College also has expanded nursing classes by 50 percent and is hosting an evening/weekend second-year nursing program for the Iron Range. Hibbing Community College has expanded its on-line offerings by a fourth and significantly increased the number of students served in Web enhanced courses. Inver Hills Community College is expanding its instructional technological capacity through upgrades/expansions in lab space and equipment for geology/geography and nursing. Extensive technological support is being provided for faculty and staff with an emphasis on integrating Web-enhanced options into courses. On-line course development is continuing. Itasca Community College, in a partnership with the Itasca Technology Exchange, has developed a state of the art computer education training center-the Continued Learning Center-in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids.

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Lake Superior College has begun offering the Associate in Arts degree through e-learning, having achieved accreditation status for this approach from the Higher Learning Commission. In addition, Lake Superior College has developed and restructured the new Business Administration and Paralegal Studies programs and the existing Professional Bookkeeping program for on-line delivery; developed a comprehensive Web site for providing library services to on-line students; established new staff development opportunities for e-learning faculty; surveyed current on-line learners regarding their service/student life needs; and enhanced on-line financial aid services and began working on the development of an expanded advising and orientation process for on-line students. Mesabi Range Community and Technical College partnered with Vermilion Community College to expand the LPN nursing program to support the health facilities of Ely and with the College of St. Scholastica to develop a 3+1 program in social work with a chemical dependency emphasis. Mesabi Range Community and Technical College also has developed on-line student services to support students learning from a distance-making available on-line self assessment tests, student orientation sessions, library resources and financial aid forms and other application forms students may need. Metropolitan State University received approval from the Higher Learning Commission for the on-line delivery of a certificate in Law Enforcement Supervision, the Master of Science in Nursing, the individualized Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Minneapolis Community and Technical College has provided 40 more hours of classroom instruction of technology training to faculty and staff (81 of 250 hours are now completed). Minnesota West now partners with the Central Services Cooperative to provide access to coursework that high school students do not have access to i.e., American Sign Language and Paraprofessional program, both of which make use of on-line delivery. Minnesota West received an e-learning grant to develop Practical Nursing and Associate Degree Nursing for on-line delivery and to collaborate with Northwest Technical College in this effort. Readiness testing and nursing aptitude testing will be accomplished on-line. Rainy River Community College recently became a partner in the Academic Quality Improvement Project (AQIP) sponsored by The Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Two of the required AQIP action projects developed by the campus address the expansion of high quality learning programs and services. University Center Rochester (UCR) partners (Rochester Community and Technical College, The University of Minnesota Rochester, and Winona State University) have established an E Learning Task Force to develop enterprise approaches and strategies to position the UCR in the distance learning market. St. Cloud State University is the first Minnesota university to register for the Carnegie Foundation and American Association for Higher Education co-sponsored Carnegie Teaching Academy Campus Program-Campus Conversations. This program offers excellent professional development opportunities. St. Cloud Technical College has begun development of high purity water treatment courses, an LPN refresher course, and adapted the medical terminology course for the long term care component of the LPN program for on-line delivery.

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Southwest State University entered into an agreement with the National Guard to offer the MBA and the BS in Business Administration and the BS in Wellness and Human Performance degrees to officer candidates, officers and non-commissioned officers. The campus also has enhanced existing offerings and developed new on-line courses for the Fire Service Program, developed on-line teacher education and chemistry courses, and developed customized training courses in education, computer science, executive business writing and accounting. Southwest State University expanded and enhanced its off-campus PSEO program. Over 140 schools are now partnered with Southwest State to provide learning opportunities to over 5,000 high school students. At the collegiate level, Southwest State has strengthened its 2+2 programs on five community college campuses in order to serve more students. Southwest State also initiated collaboration with Minnesota West to offer a BA in Public Administration for employees of the 5th Judicial District and established a joint nursing program with Minnesota West. Southwest State and Minnesota West have also partnered to provide on-line and onsite degree completion programs for Schwan Food Services' employees and their families across the nation. In an effort to provide up-to-date education and training, Lake Superior College secured donations from community members that increased the learning opportunities for students in the Industrial Division, completed preliminary planning efforts for the writing of a Title III grant request, and increased the college's equipment budget by 100 percent to meet the increased technological needs of students. In the arena of general professional development, Lake Superior College has allocated funds for increased staff development efforts, devised a plan for members of the Computer Information Systems department to achieve additional professional IT certification within the next year and conducted professional development activities in the areas of diversity, continuous quality improvement training and supervisory training. Specifically targeting technology-enhanced education, Lake Superior College has (1) offered a required course for new on-line instructors; (2) designed a comprehensive schedule of technology training workshops for spring semester; (3) designed a training program for faculty and staff regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act; (4) involved 80 percent of the Business, Workforce Development, and Extended Campus Programs division faculty in e-learning course delivery; and (5) offered a faculty workshop on "Brain Compatible Education" to assist them in meeting the needs of students with various learning styles. North Hennepin Community College has funded expanded training and development opportunities for faculty, staff, and administration with a particular focus on college-wide training efforts towards diversity and inclusiveness. In addition to training on diversity, the college offered development opportunities related to Windows XP and Office XP, WebCT, how to use the technology classrooms, service learning and outcomes assessment. St. Cloud State University offers numerous training sessions on the use of technology enhanced courses, and the use of WebCT continues to grow. In the realm of technology enhanced and e-learning at a system level, the Center for Teaching and Learning completed a detailed status report clarifying the role and processes for the Center to provide campus-based faculty development and coordinate systemwide teaching and learning initiatives. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Information Technology Services division engaged Gartner consultants to complete an assessment of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities information technology infrastructure/ISRS. This objective assessment will be reviewed in the coming months by staff and leadership groups for future planning. In addition, the Information Technology Services division

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completed a thorough assessment of institution bandwidth needs now and for the future so that internet capacity is managed and planned. Minnesota Satellite and Technology established a process for integrating satellite delivered broadcasts into campus Local Area Networks and campus Wide Area Networks in order to facilitate learning and training programming directly to faculty and/or student desktop computers. The process has functioned successfully and is available to all digital receive sites which includes campuses. They are encouraged to integrate the satellite programs into their computer networks. This is a cost effective, efficient way to deliver video programming without utilizing excessive bandwidth on landline transport networks. Minnesota Satellite and Technology also has completed development of a planning effort in collaboration with the Information Technology Division, the Midwest Higher Education Commission (MHEC), and NOVELL, Inc., for a series of training sessions to be offered via satellite from January through June to higher education campuses throughout the MHEC service area. The Office of Instructional Technology has implemented a 24x7 help desk to provide faculty and students access to help on Blackboard and WebCT instructional management systems. The Division of Academic and Student Affairs continues development of (1) an on-line module for training student services staff to build and implement on-line student services functions, (2) e-learning and e-mentoring programs, and (3) the Minnesota On-line Council. A Web site for Minnesota On-line is now in prototype development. A third round of e-learning RFPs is under development. The e-Portfolio project has been piloted and achieved a "soft" launch this fall. The e-Portfolio is fully operational and is being used by some campuses, faculty and students in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, as well as Workforce Center and K-12 systems. The e-Portfolio Project staff has been invited to present at the Educause National Learning Infrastructure Initiative and a special portfolio meeting sponsored by American Association on Higher Learning. Systemwide, the number of on-line programs offered in the fall of 2002 (28) has more than doubled from fall of 2001 (11). This strong increase has been encouraged from funding for e-learning curriculum development, from institutions receiving Higher Learning Commission approval to offer on-line programs and from the continued development of Minnesota On-line. Some campuses are implementing the best practices of the Western Cooperative for on-line student services and are improving their access to student processes and information via the Internet. Additionally, the Training Fulfillment Center has increased knowledge and use of the Rapid Response mechanisms in iSEEK connecting businesses to educational providers and connecting counselors serving workforce clients so they can arrange educational opportunities. In light of the projected budget shortfall, the Office of the Chancellor Human Resources division is rethinking the work plan's professional development goals. In times such as these, it is even more important to attend to the needs of current employees in order to gain the highest productivity possible; it may be necessary to broaden the responsibilities of some employees who in turn may need training and support to handle their new roles. To address these issues, the division will complete an inventory development by March 2003, of the professional development money currently being spent from all sources on all forms of development within the Office of the Chancellor, and by June 2003, explore gaps in these efforts by comparing Minnesota State Colleges and Universities with outside benchmarks.

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Priority: Strengthen Community Development and Economic Vitality.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will help meet the state's critical workforce and community needs in collaboration with statewide and local leadership groups.

The three action steps in this priority area focus on service to the state's critical workforce and community needs: providing enhanced capacity and flexibility in key workforce areas through flexible scheduling and alternative delivery of education and training; being responsive to the acknowledged critical workforce needs in teaching and health care careers; and improving the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities' ability to respond rapidly to accelerated or sudden change experienced at the industry, company, employee, or community level. At a statewide or system level, the Office of the Chancellor, working together with campus and other stakeholders, appointed a 25 member Teacher Education Advisory Committee to provide a state-level perspective on the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities' role in preparing teachers to meet strategic and diverse needs of Minnesota schools and students and an 18 member Task Force on College and University Collaboration in Teacher Preparation to advise and make recommendations to the Office of the Chancellor and all of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions on collaboration between colleges and universities in the delivery of teacher education. The Task Force on College and University Collaboration in Teacher Preparation identified two areas of focus: recruitment and retention of potential teachers of color and teachers in high demand fields, and seamless transfer. Office of the Chancellor staff, working together with campus and other stakeholders, compiled a fact sheet on trends in teacher supply and demand using state and national data and identified five priority Teacher Education focus areas -teachers of color, teachers in special education, teachers of English to speakers of other languages, collaborative beginning teacher induction programs, and preparing all teachers for diverse classrooms. In addition, staff validated these areas of focus with key stakeholder groups; developed and submitted a $3.5 million biennial budget request to support these initiatives; identified and quantified current delivery capacity; discussed related campus and partnership proposals for potential future funding; and developed strategies to attract, recruit, retain and develop teachers of color based on the work of Student Affairs staff on "Best Practices" for Recruitment and Retention of Students of Color. An Employer Services Partnership has been initiated to support metro area employers in developing a world-class competitive workforce by coordinating access to employer services focused on improving employee performance, assure quality staffing and enhance effective workforce planning. The Employer Services Partnership is a cooperative partnership of metro-area public, private and non-profit organizations dedicated to offering high value employer workforce services. Membership in Employer Services Partnership is voluntary; at least six metro area Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions and the iSeek Solutions unit are involved. Partnership members will work together and leverage organizational resources to create simple and convenient employer access to a comprehensive range of employer services. In collaboration with Independent School District 206, Alexandria Technical College provided leadership for an innovative K-14 Regional Learning Center vision. The college also encouraged the involvement of campus leaders in, among other local organizations, the Alex Area Economic Development Commission, the Minnesota Council for Customized Training and Continuing Education, West Central Initiative, Young People's Place, and Head Start of Alexandria. Alexandria Technical College initiated new learning partnerships with Palmer Industries, Global Electric Motorcars, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Caterpillar/Ziegler, Rural Cellular Corporation,

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Custom Cabinets, Northern Food and Dairy, Douglas County, and Independent School District 206. They also expanded Partnerships with Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development, Minnesota Technology, Inc, Lean Manufacturing Training, West Central Initiative, the Minnesota State Highway Patrol and 70 central Minnesota community law enforcement departments. Anoka Ramsey Community College expanded its partnerships with business by securing a new Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant to work with MedSource. Century College has strengthened its linkages to Ramsey and Washington County Workforce Centers and expanded the number of students in both its nursing program and the Health Career Institute. In a partnership with Alliance Hospitals and Clinics, Fairview Health System and Regina Medical Center, Dakota County Technical College secured a $500,000 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant to prepare public assistance recipients for employment in the healthcare industry. Dakota County Technical College also secured a $331,000 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant to assist Con Agra in Lakeville to improve their efficiency by training operators and technicians. In addition, the College has worked with the Metro Alliance to organize the Machine Tool Summit to improve curriculum and outreach to the manufacturing industry. Inver Hills Community College has partnered with the Dakota County Workforce Center to open a computer-training classroom in the new Northern Dakota County Service Center in West St. Paul. Training for the 600 employees in the building and workforce center clients will be provided in this new classroom. Inver Hills Community College also has partnered with the Cottage Grove School District, Chamber of Commerce, and several Cottage Grove businesses to open a new College Center facility in Cottage Grove. The center will provide college classes for high school students, customized training for businesses and evening college credit degree classes. Inver Hills Community College just received a large Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Workforce Training Grant to provide training in the areas of network security and wireless computer networks for the employees of Cisco Systems, 3-M Corporate Center, Fortis, Park Nicollet Medical, Wells Fargo, Cargill, Eco Lab, Northwest Airlines, U.S. Bank and West Group. The college also has become the first Check Point Training Academy in the United States. Check Point, Inc. is the leading company in the world for Network Security Software. Inver Hills Community College's Continuing Education/Customized Training Division has provided business/industry in the southeast metro region emergency responder training; foreign language training; medical billing training for dislocated workers for placement at Blue Cross Blue Shield, Allina, and Children's Hospital and basic chemistry training for 3-M Chemolite. The Itasca Community College Engineering Center opened its doors on December 3, 2002, with more than 800 community members attending the opening ceremonies. The engineering program, an integral part of the community and economic development of the Itasca area, has grown from three students in 1987, to more than 120 students in 2002. Lake Superior College has (1) developed an accelerated short-term certificate for computer networking skills for displaced workers; (2) implemented flexible scheduling plan through Continuing Education, including evening/weekend, and late-start classes; and (3) permitted three academic deans to serve on the Mayor's Workforce Council. Meeting the need for nurses and other health care workers is a theme in the work plan, and several institutions have responded. Fergus Falls Community College is working with Morris area - recipients of

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an H 1B grant to fund nursing education. Fergus Falls Community College has been invited to provide practical nursing and Associate degree nursing courses over the next two years in the Morris area. Lake Superior College has designed a joint nursing program with Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College to meet the needs of the American Indian community; has discussed a joint nursing program with Pine Technical College to meet the needs of trained registered nursing in the central part of the state; and collaborated with Minneapolis Community and Technical College to offer its Surgical Technology program at the Phillips Neighborhood site. In addition, Lake Superior College has collaborated with St. Mary's Hospital/Duluth Clinic and St. Luke's Hospital to review health programs and to identify their educational needs; restructured the Health Unit Coordinator program to better fit industry's needs; collaborated with MHHP Region B hospitals in rural northeastern Minnesota to offer an accelerated Radiologic Technology program through customized training to meet rural health facility training needs; developed an evening/weekend nursing program for working students; and offered the Practical Nursing program to the North Shore area of northeastern Minnesota in collaboration with Cook County Higher Education. Vermilion Community College is engaged in conversations with Mesabi Range Community and Technical College and Hibbing Community College exploring the possible delivery of LPN and RN nursing programs to Ely. Lake Superior College has developed a process with the Arrowhead Manufacturers and Fabricators Association and the Duluth Workforce Center to ensure immediate notification of stakeholder needs. Mesabi Range Community and Technical College received a Minnesota Jobs Skills Partnership Grant to train Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota employees and promote better workplace habits. Minneapolis Community and Technical College received a major Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant to fund a training and education continuum in banking and finance for economically challenged immigrant residents of Minneapolis. Pine Technical College secured a Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant to train manufacturing workers on-site at Wyoming Machine Tool. Pine Technical College has also begun development of a partnership with Lake Superior College to deliver LPN to RN advancement programs for the East Central Minnesota healthcare industry at the Pine Technical College facility. Rochester Community and Technical College was awarded two new Minnesota Job Skill Partnership Grants. North Hennepin Community College significantly has increased awareness and developed partnerships with area businesses and community organizations through visits to area businesses and organizations and increased college participation in community organizations. In addition, North Hennepin Community College developed a comprehensive process/system improvement program in the Center for Training and Development (CTD). The result has been increased customized training contracts, the identification of areas and timelines for process system improvement, development of a system for training and review, and initial implementation of process/systems improvements. Rainy River Community College is providing a repository for a research consortium addressing water quality including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Department of Health, Voyageurs National Park, Koochiching County Environmental Services, East and West Kooch Sanitary Districts and Rainy River Community College. In addition, Rainy River Community College is implementing the relocation of the International Falls Work Force Center to the campus. This co-location, encouraged in a report to the Minnesota Legislature in January 2001, will provide opportunities for prospective students to connect with the college, give

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current students easy access to the training, information and support available from the Work Force Center staff. Rochester Community and Technical College has been nominated and applied to participate in the new phase of the Rural Community College Initiative, an effort funded by the Ford Foundation. The purpose of the program is to foster economic development, increase access to education, enhance civic participation, develop new partnerships and initiate new programs to address the variety of challenges and opportunities existing in rural communities. St. Cloud State University has received additional grant funding for digitization of regional library collections and continued planning for a statewide digital project. St. Cloud State University provides leadership for a partnership that includes Minnesota State University, Mankato, Winona State University, University of Minnesota, Minnesota Historical Society, Walker Art Institute, Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the St. Paul Public Library. St. Cloud State University's Anderson Entrepreneurial Center (AEC) completed "Succession Planning" sessions with five area businesses. The AEC consulted on the development of business plans for seven new business ventures and conducted a "Starting your Own Business" seminar which was attended by 125 people. Fifty-five of the participants followed-up with one-on-one consulting meetings after attending the seminar. St. Cloud Technical College in partnership with the St. Cloud Workforce Center, Quebecor World and Independent School District 742, implemented a training standards replication model. They also collaborated with the St. Cloud Workforce Center to assist with the dislocated workers from Fingerhut. In partnership with Schwan Food Services, Southwest State University has established a course to introduce and welcome newcomers to the region. The university also has established the Minnesota County Law Library collaboration to connect 15 rural law libraries so that they can be accessed from throughout the region. Southwest State University also has partnered with Schwan Food Services to form an Executive in Residence Program at the university to assist with the creation, development and maintenance of mutually advantageous partnerships between the university and leading corporations. Southwest State's partnership with the Southwest Minnesota Foundation and Prairieland Economic Development Corporation will fund/expand the reach, scope, and influence of the Small Business Development Center's economic development work. The university has also expanded and enhanced the Summit Program, a partnership with regional agencies that involves Southwest State University students in solving the real-world problems of local businesses. At the system level, the System Ready Response Strategy project developed an action plan to answer four key questions: what is a working definition of "ready response" in relation to community development and economic vitality; what mechanisms currently in place or in development have been designed to respond effectively to workforce and economic development opportunities and challenges; what data sources will inform the system of the need to develop future "ready response" mechanisms at the industry, company, employee or community level; and what operating models should be adopted to bring consistency and quality to the response capability of the system at large?

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Priority: Fully Integrate the System.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will become a more efficient, effective and fully coordinated higher education system while respecting the differences and distinctiveness of the individual colleges and universities.

Bemidji State University has consciously dedicated additional resources toward direct networking in developing an increasingly diverse pool of applicants for vacant positions. For instance, department chairs and deans are participating in professional conference recruitment fairs, deans are visiting graduate schools with significant numbers of ethnic minority students, contact with the tribal communities has increased and additional on-line subscriptions have been added that target more diverse populations. In addition, an ethnic minority faculty and staff mentoring program is under development. As examples of increasing collaboration among Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions, Anoka-Hennepin Technical College and Dakota County Technical College implemented, in partnership, a new Medical Coding program. Under the leadership of Hennepin Technical College, Anoka Hennepin Technical College and Dakota County Technical College submitted a Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) Grant designed to refine the model for serving ESL students in the technical colleges. A Perkins III Collaborative Curriculum Alignment Grant of $12,000 was awarded to a consortium of Anoka-Hennepin Technical College, Pine Technical College and Dakota County Technical College to develop and revise their curricula for Virtual Reality and other Computer Information Systems. Anoka Ramsey Community College added sections/offerings to its Connection Program with St. Cloud State University. As another example of increasing collaboration among Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions, Lake Superior College has developed plans to submit a cooperative Title III grant application with Winona State University, Rochester Community and Technical College and Minnesota Southeast Technical College -Winona/Redwing to develop a system of assessment information from students that will be accessible by many constituents. Working with planners and managers in the financial, technology and facilities areas at the institutional level, Office of the Chancellor staff continue work on integrating planning processes. Moving this effort along is work with Anoka-Hennepin Technical College and Vermilion Community College to help the colleges develop academic plans that drive and are integrated with their strategic, financial, technology and facilities plans. The Office of Instructional Technology has worked with campuses to develop a technology master planning framework to further integrate plans and encourage a more uniform approach to planning in this area. Across-the-Board Priority-Measurement. A cross-functional team of 34 members has been formed to draft this framework. Membership includes presidents, vice presidents, institutional researchers, information technology and finance specialists, faculty and student association representatives, and staff from the Office of the Chancellor. The drafting team met twice during the quarter to develop a common understanding of the challenge and to focus the team on system-level accountability from the perspective of the Board of Trustees. The first meeting produced a purpose statement, the framework dimensions and agreement that the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities' strategic plan is the guiding document.

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Conclusion The second quarter of the second year saw significant progress toward our new goals. We are confident that the progress will continue and will move the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities forward as a system to better serve students and citizens.

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Quarterly Report

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Work Plan for 2002-2004 Actions for Third Quarter of 2002-2003

April 16, 2003

Overview

As a new Governor took office, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities also prepared for a period of uncertainty resulting from the fiscal crisis in the State of Minnesota. These challenges -from a disproportionate higher education unallotment to significant cuts proposed for the next biennium-are very real. The Office of the Chancellor and the colleges and universities are addressing these immediate and long-term issues while simultaneously continuing to make progress in the directions of the strategic plan, “Designing the Future”. Until the legislative session ends, it will be very difficult to predict the options available to address the funding cuts the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. To prepare for anticipated cuts, Office of the Chancellor staff and presidents continue to analyze and prioritize the functions of each division. Structure The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities' strategic plan is comprised of four strategic directions offering a blueprint for the system's future: increase access and opportunity, expand high-quality learning programs and services, strengthen community development and economic vitality, and fully integrate the system. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities work plan addresses the four themes and adds two priorities to that list: increase support and ensure accountability-oriented measurement. These six priority categories were the basis for developing seventeen action steps, many of which go into even deeper, measurable detail allowing for greater accountability. This report is the third quarterly report for the academic year designed to further the accountability of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. These reports focus on the work of the Office of the Chancellor and our thirty-four colleges and universities to advance the agenda set forth in the Minnesota State College and Universities work plan. The report is a snapshot of progress toward achieving the overall objectives of the work plan; it is a representation, not all-inclusive, of the enormous efforts undertaken. The specific focus of this report is the improvements/developments in achieving the overall objectives of the work plan during the third quarter (January through March) of 2002-2003. The report underscores admirable progress toward completion of the specified tasks at the three-quarter point of the timeframe.

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Priority: Increase Access and Opportunity.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will continue to recruit students from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, yet focus more intensely on the recruitment and retention of those who have been under-prepared for or traditionally under- represented or under-served in higher education, including students of color, first generation college students, students for whom English is a second language and low income students.

The identification and removal of barriers to participation in higher education for students of color, first generation students and low-income students is a priority area for the system. The initiation of new pre-kindergarten through college (P-16) collaborative structures to improve student preparation for and transition into college and work, as well as the development of clear plans for the recruitment, professional development and retention of diverse faculty, staff and administrators are also components of this priority area. Alexandria Technical College updated its affirmative action plan to include goals in the area of diversity. With assistance from the Office of the Chancellor Equal Opportunity and Diversity division, Alexandria Technical College has embarked on a climate and services survey to determine the current understanding of, and attitudes toward, diversity on the campus. Alexandria Technical College has also conducted an environmental scan of current student services functions and continued to work on re-assignment of personnel in Student Services that will make them more efficient and effective. Alexandria Technical College implemented a comprehensive program development and review structure that measures student satisfaction, business/industry demand and College responsiveness, and financial effectiveness. Alexandria Technical College worked with ISD 206, Runestone Area Education District schools, and Lakes Country Services Cooperative schools to increase opportunities for more students to access more college-level courses through the college. Anoka-Hennepin Technical College delineated and integrated admission, program advising, academic counseling, and external referral practices for ease of student access and use. They also identified program and staff development opportunities to assist faculty and staff in creating, updating, or expanding program access or services for an increasingly diverse group of student learners. Anoka-Hennepin Technical College recruited three new members for the General Advisory Committee to improve diversity and inclusiveness; they appointed a representative from the Somali community to the College General Advisory Committee. Anoka-Ramsey Community College's Diversity Committee has been formed and is composed of faculty, staff, administration and students. All committee members have committed to the development process (vision, mission, action planning proposal) through May with a goal of delivering an action plan to the president by mid-May. Their long-term goal is to renew committee commitments and work toward further developing and implementing suggested initiatives. Anoka-Ramsey Community College continues to develop a plan to enhance recruitment focused on local high schools with larger minority populations. Anoka-Ramsey Community College staff attended a Minnesota State Colleges and Universities sponsored conference on Recruitment and Retention for Under-Represented Students. A sub-group of participants met to generate ideas to promote access at Anoka-Ramsey Community College.

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Approximately 1000 Anoka-Ramsey Community College students (750 at Coon Rapids and 250 at Cambridge) are being surveyed using the ACT Student Opinion survey and additional 20 campus climate questions developed by a system workgroup. Bemidji State University's American Indian Resource Center reports the percentage of the American Indian students retained from the fall semester to the spring semester exceeded 90 percent. This retention level was attained, in part, by the addition of a peer tutoring program, faculty early alert system and the creation of an emergency loan assistance program. Bemidji State University's Center for Research and Innovation, in collaboration with Independent School District 31, obtained a grant to develop a Community Technology Center designed to serve learners within a group of cooperative programs (e.g. Adult Basic Education, Head Start, and Early Head Start). The Center provides new opportunities for individuals seeking to upgrade their skills to gain entry into post-secondary education, to move into the work force, or to obtain a better-paying job. The core of the project is the training of teachers and staff in the implementation and management of computer assisted learning. The Minnesota Humanities Commission has funded Bemidji State University to produce a five-part American History and Culture Seminar Series focusing on the professional development of K-12 educators designed to introduce teachers to historical and cultural material that will enable them to teach about Minnesota American Indian groups. Central Lakes College is expanding weekend and late afternoon classes to reach more non-traditional age students. Central Lakes College reports that enrollments of American Indian students at its Brainerd Campus have increased in fiscal year 2003. Century College has expanded the functions of the Multi-Cultural Affairs Office to develop strong recruitment/community outreach programs to local community of color organizations to improve recruitment and retention rates for students of color, first generation students, low-income students and other under-served populations. Century College is promoting the college's affordability, as well as the availability of financial aid, to low income and first generation students and families, as well as to non-traditional students, dislocated workers and persons with disabilities. Century College also has initiated early intervention strategies and developed a more comprehensive program of support for those students nearing or reaching probationary or suspension status. Dakota County Technical College has assessed their situation, developed an outreach plan to the under-served and set targets. Among the efforts currently underway are a series of six workshops entitled, "The Road Less Taken" about unique job opportunities in a variety of career fields. Fergus Falls Community College's ad hoc retention group meets every other week to discuss items such as a withdrawal process, early warning system, probation program and review of the campus climate. Fergus Falls Community College's diversity infrastructure group continues to meet and hold focus groups in an effort to create the "ideal" infrastructure required for supporting the postsecondary and career aspirations of immigrants, refugees and individuals of color within the Pelican Rapids community, for whom English is not their first language.

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Fergus Falls Community College's Office of Housing and Multicultural Services has developed evaluation tools to use with under-represented students and has organized an evening focus group with under-represented students to address their perceptions about college programs and services. Fergus Falls Community College has held informational community meetings related to under-served students in nursing careers in Alexandria, Morris and Melrose. A new inter-institutional agreement has been negotiated with Minnesota State University Moorhead to ensure a larger and timelier applicant pool for the Gateway Program. Fergus Falls Community College financial aid staff have traveled to Morris to disseminate financial aide information to prospective applicants for the nursing program in Morris. Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College has a highly successful "Weekend College" with excellent retention and graduation rates. Additionally, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College has developed remedial academic services for first generation students for example, their PROP (Providing Resources, Opportunities, and Possibilities) Program. Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College also is working with both the Cloquet and Duluth Public Schools on Distance Education needs of their faculty, staff, and students. Hibbing Community College started an initiative to expand diversity through a pilot program using in-state tuition for out-of-state students. The tuition program was extremely successful with 51 of 55 out of state students retained (93 percent). This doubled the retention of former years. They also continued a successful host family initiative for out of state students. Inver Hills Community College has met with Somali counselors from Eagan High School, where a large population of Somali students are nearing graduation, to explore support systems for the students. Lake Superior College developed a Student of Color Mentoring program including high school and four year college connections and presented the program at a Minnesota State Colleges and Universities-wide Diversity conference. Lake Superior College increased enrollment of students of color by 21 percent from fall 2002 to spring, 2003 and by 9.6 percent from fiscal year 2002 to fiscal year 2003. Lake Superior College also expanded diversity programming offerings on campus, providing cultural diversity activities (e.g., Hispanic cultural theater, sponsored participation in the annual Duluth Martin Luther King Day March, sponsored the African American Read-In) as retention activities. Lake Superior College doubled the number of cultural event offerings and involved 6 times the number of community organizations from fiscal year 2002. In fulfillment of the campus commitment to increase the diversity of students at Metropolitan State University, the new admissions model includes four key components designed to target under-served, first generation, and primarily nontraditional students. First, the admissions counselor positions include minority liaison responsibilities for African American, Latino, Asian, and American Indian students. Second, assignments to target urban high schools are an important part of increasing the diversity of students at Metropolitan State, although transfer students remain the primary market. Third, the admissions program includes extensive collaboration with the metropolitan area community and technical colleges. Last, the admissions model at Metropolitan State recognizes that innovative outreach and pre-enrollment advising strategies are needed to reach nontraditional, under-served and first generation learners where they live, work and play.

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Metropolitan State University has hired a Dean of Student Services, a Director of TRIO and an advisor in the College of Professional Studies, all of whom are American Indians. Metropolitan State University also hired a Chicana counselor and Chicana Customer Service Specialist in the TRIO Program and a Chicana Office Manager in Student Services. Additionally, Metropolitan State University holds Cultural Information Exchanges monthly, maintains student group Web pages and conducts Academic Success Workshops for all students of color. The Otto Bremer Foundation has awarded a grant to Metropolitan State University to develop an American Indian Public Policy Certificate Program related to Indian law and policy. Metropolitan State University will work collaboratively with the American Indian Policy Center and the University of Minnesota, Duluth. The Minnesota State University, Mankato Diversity Task Force is currently reviewing university policies and procedures to increase access of students of color and other under-represented groups. In addition to on-campus initiatives, the International Student Office, in partnership with the College of Education, has initiated a program at Lincoln Community Center to provide tutoring and college-bound experiences for the growing Somali population in the Mankato area. In collaboration with the Office of Admissions Minnesota State University, Mankato developed a recruitment schedule to maximize the use of Multicultural Affairs staff in the overall recruitment efforts of the university. This includes having staff and faculty of color at national high school recruitment fairs, having staff and faculty of color accompany Admissions staff on high school visitations and maintaining the practice of staff in the Office of Multicultural Affairs to work with community agencies in Region Nine to provide college nights and information sessions for communities of color. They continue to work in Region Nine, reaching out to the Lifework Planning Center and Latina youth; La Mano, in the Hispanic communities surrounding Mankato; a partnership with the Region Nine Planning Commission in the Chicano Youth Leadership Institute and as the primary sponsor of the Southern Minnesota Hispanic Career Fair which includes the cooperation and partnership of many area schools and organizations. The Minnesota State University, Mankato's Cultural Diversity Program has hosted a Region Eleven meeting to acquaint high school counselors with Minnesota State University, Mankato and provided information about its diversity program and services for students of color. The Cultural Diversity Program has established in Region Eleven outreach programs with the Somali Communities of Minnesota and continues to develop relationships with the Hmong Community Center and Vietnamese Cultural Center. They also partnered with the Somali Community of Minnesota to organize a campus visitation for high school students coming from the Metro area and Region Nine. Additionally, the program has maintained relationships with tribal colleges and attends recruitment fairs as well as visits high schools with large American Indian populations. The Minnesota State University, Mankato Office of Multicultural Affairs, collaborating with the Admissions Office, has sent follow-up letters and made telephone calls to increase the show rate of accepted under-represented students applicants fall of 2003. They have also collaborated with the First Year Experience Office to involve the Office of Multicultural Affairs staff in the summer new student orientation program. The goal is to enhance the level of diversity in the orientation program and increase participation of under-represented students. Finally, the Cultural Diversity Program also invited high school counselors in south central Minnesota to an orientation program directed at familiarizing them with the diversity initiatives designed to serve under represented students and to give them an overview of the total university. In an outreach partnership with Saludando Salud and Open Door Health Center, more than 40 Hispanic and 18 Somali patients used the on-campus dental hygiene clinic, providing valuable preventative dental

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care for this population, plus providing experiences for dental hygiene students with culturally diverse populations. Approximately 100 patients were treated in a dental hygiene clinic established in Madelia, MN in the fall of 2002 with approximately the same number estimated for this spring. Presidents Davenport and Stover met with members of the university, college and city advisory council and determined that a focus of the group would be diversity within each institution and the greater Mankato community. For more than a year, Minnesota State University Moorhead has engaged the campus community in an intense strategic planning process focusing on the need to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the university. The President's Task Force on Diversity was created and charged with rewriting the campus diversity plan. The draft, forwarded to the Office of the Chancellor on January 31, 2003, outlines the campus objectives and strategies for achieving higher levels of racially and ethnically diverse students, faculty and staff. Minnesota West has an ongoing process to analyze the needs of its under-served populations. Building on that, Minnesota West has started a planning process with a multi-cultural group of individuals on its Access and Opportunity Committee to determine the best approach for first generation college students from diverse cultures and low-income families. Consistent with Minnesota West's goal of reaching out to emerging minority populations, the campus set aside new initiative funds and will hire a full-time Minority Affairs Coordinator. Normandale Community College President's Diversity Task Force created and implemented an annual diversity action plan. Normandale Community College and the Office for Students with Disabilities will offer an educational seminar to all special education students who are transitioning from high school to college; students do not need to be attending Normandale in order to attend the seminar. This seminar will cover important topics that will be valuable tools for increased success in the post-secondary setting. As part of its community outreach and internal development programs, Normandale Community College's Office of Student Life sponsored the "Anatomy of Prejudice" workshop by nationally known author Jane Elliott on February 5, 2003. Ms. Elliot, recipient of Emmy and Peabody awards, is best-known for the ground-breaking "Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes" exercise. North Hennepin Community College will complete its plan for increasing minority enrollment by June; they are currently in the process of completing a climate survey. Northland Community and Technical College, with the guidance of a Noel-Levitz program, developed a complete Enrollment Management plan, including a recruitment and outreach program to attract minority student populations. Northland Community and Technical College's proportion of students of color has doubled from four percent to approximately nine percent over the last few years, including more local Native Americans. Northland Community and Technical College has developed close ties with the Workforce Investment Act program which helps them serve students with severe financial problems. Northland Community and Technical College also has established an excellent relationship with the local school district's minority student services. In another outreach effort, Northland Community and Technical College's Umoja Club (students of color organization) is currently working with the elementary teachers and principals in

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offering educational programs in the elementary classrooms in Thief River Falls. The students serve as peer tutors. Pine Technical College formed an access task force to insure that the college is positioning itself strategically in terms of courses and schedules so that low-income, working students can access classes when they need them. Pine Technical College also completed an outreach plan to improve access by Native American students in the region to Pine Technical College offerings. Rainy River Community College, in partnership with the International Falls Workforce Center, held Career Steps 2003, a career fair designed for high school students in the northeast region of Minnesota and the southwest region of Ontario. An Accessing College Education committee was formed to address the need to increase the enrollment of under-represented students at Ridgewater College. Combined with the results of a climate survey to be conducted spring 2003, the feedback received from the committee will be used to develop a plan, as part of a larger enrollment management plan that will focus on strategies to increase inquiries and applications and reduce attrition of targeted populations. Riverland Community College will complete a plan by June to increase minority enrollment from four percent to 12 percent during the next five years. Rochester Community and Technical College has begun administration of a campus climate survey to determine the perception of students and staff regarding barriers affecting special and under-served populations. Rochester Community and Technical College, Rochester Public Schools, Zumbro Education District, Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center submitted the College and Career Transition Grant, a five-year initiative for $500,000 to increase health care workers-particularly students of color, first generation college students, students for whom English is a second language and low-income students -to the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). While this represents a "new pre-kindergarten through college (P-16) collaborative structure," it is also an effort to "increase capacity, enrollment and practice in health care education programs." St. Cloud State University will complete a review of its current student services structure and a strategic planning process by mid-summer. St. Cloud State University is engaged in an educational effort to improve the environment for students with disabilities. St. Cloud State University Student Life and Development has developed a series of regular meetings with the presidents of the students of color organizations and the international organizations. In conjunction with Multicultural Student Services and the American Indian Center, the Office of Graduate Studies is working with the McNair Scholar program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the University of Wisconsin-Superior to promote its programs to students from under-represented groups. Saint Paul College established a new Academic Support Center for peer tutoring. The Academic Support Center facilitates one-on-one tutoring, study groups, and access to online academic resources. Southwest State University initiated discussion with the Lower Sioux Indian Community Council on a partnership to build better pathways for American Indians to attend higher education and to explore a

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partnership in support of American Indian Studies at the university. Southwest State University also completed program development and is planning for its first TRIO summer bridge program, Jump Start. Vermilion Community College has committed its student services leadership council to prepare and implement a campus plan to remove barriers and improve recruitment, enrollment and retention of students from under-served groups. That group will conduct the campus climate survey in the spring 2003 and complete the campus plan by June 2003. In addition to membership in the Minnesota Association of Counselors of Color, Winona State University was involved in a wide range of recruitment activities focused on under-represented populations. In the area of retention, the university initiated an early warning system to identify and assist students in their academic pursuits. In addition, Winona State University provides diversity programming for both the university and the community. Outreach efforts to under-represented communities also were quite evident during the quarter: Bemidji State University, Central Lakes College and Lake Superior College have created outreach plans and begun implementation. Riverland Community College expanded outreach and assistance to at-risk students and instituted tutoring services at the Owatonna College and University Center. St. Cloud Technical College staff met in February with Casa Guadalupe to develop an outreach plan for the Hispanic community. South Central College is involved with the Lincoln Project, working with Somali high school students and their parents; an admissions representative serves regularly on the committee for recruitment purposes. Office of the Chancellor Equal Opportunity and Diversity staff, campus personnel, and union representatives met monthly and completed the requirements for the request-for-proposal process to make the Otto Bremer Grant Funds accessible to campuses in June 2003. The Office of the Chancellor Equal Opportunity and Diversity office paid fees for booth space and provided general information and staff to represent individual Minnesota State Colleges and Universities campuses at recruiting opportunities around the state: 2nd Annual Indian College Fair; Minnesota Department of Human Rights Annual Conference; Vietnamese New Year's events statewide celebration and four high school recruitment fairs. Public Affairs in the Office of the Chancellor implemented its integrated marketing/public relations campaign to recruit first-generation college students and students of color. In the third quarter, 21 stories about graduates of color and news releases about the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities were successfully placed in minority newspapers that circulate statewide. A systemwide survey is currently underway to quantify the nature and array of, as well as the need for, English as a Second Language services in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Data are being gathered on ESL programs and services currently offered by colleges and universities throughout the system, including course levels, placement, and sequences and data on student retention and program completion; relationships with local P-12 programs, including Adult Basic Education programs; and changing demands and program needs. Specific attention is also being paid to courses offered for immigrant and refugee students. The information gathered from this survey, once compiled and analyzed,

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will be used to develop options for more fully, effectively, and collaboratively meeting the needs of Minnesota's growing population of individuals for whom English is not their first language. Several institutions also stepped up their efforts in the realm of English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction:

• Anoka-Hennepin Technical College met with representatives of the Somali community to explore expanded ESL programs and services for this emerging student population served by college programs and through customized training. Anoka-Hennepin Technical College is currently developing an ESL/training initiative.

• Minneapolis Community and Technical College has completed an ESL reading and writing pilot and has approved ESL Reading 420 and Writing 410 through their curriculum committee. They have also developed a new three credit alternative to Math 80 for students not intending to pursue college algebra or major in science at the upper division. The college has also completed an on-line pilot of the ACT ESL testing program

• Processes and procedures are being developed at Minnesota State University, Mankato to provide English as a second language services for new immigrant populations and other non-English native speakers. A university work group, in consultation with the University of Minnesota ESL program, is discussing offering special sections of ESL for new immigrant students and developing a mechanism to assess all students' English-speaking competencies to determine those in need of additional services.

• Under its partnership with St. Cloud School District #742, St. Cloud State University is part of a project to translate school district handbooks into Spanish, Somali, Swahili, and other languages.

• In addition, St. Cloud State University received a $32,000 planning grant from the National Network for Educational Renewal that will fund a group, including St. Cloud School District #742 and the St. Cloud community, to develop a program to help mainstream teachers more effectively work with English Language Learners in their classrooms.

• In an effort to improve the quality of school programs, St. Cloud State University currently has 35 students who are teaching ESL under emergency licenses in K-12 systems across Minnesota, enrolled in the Teaching English as a Second Language program.

• St. Cloud Technical College is working with the Somali community to develop an ESL program that will prepare them for the entrance exam and provide learning assistance-lack of English language skills has been, and continues to be, a tremendous barrier.

• South Central College has developed a program with the Faribault School District for the delivery of ESL classes on South Central College's Faribault college campus.

For many institutions, progress in the area of recruiting more diverse faculty and staff will be limited as there are few openings due to budget constraints.

• Anoka-Ramsey Community College has developed a plan/process to recruit actively faculty and staff of color and begun implementation with training scheduled and new recruitment efforts launched.

• In its efforts to increase the diversity of employee hiring pools, Minneapolis Community and Technical College has created a search committee manual and is training managers and supervisors on an as-needed basis.

• The previously mentioned Minnesota State University Moorhead draft diversity plan addressees the attraction and retention of a more diverse pool of faculty, staff and administrators. It, along with Northland Community and Technical College, was featured today in the Educational Policy Committee.

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• Minnesota West has an on-going process of recruiting a diverse faculty and staff. New faculty and staff positions note a preference for individuals who are bilingual and have the ability to demonstrate a cultural fluency relevant to the primary minority culture of the campus location.

• Riverland Community College increased use of the new state hiring data bank which has increased the number of ethnically diverse applicants.

• Overall, faculty diversity at St. Cloud State University has increased from 13 percent to 16 percent from 1998-99 to 2001-02. Each college is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty. For example, in the College of Education, 85 percent of new hires this academic year were from protected classes.

Priority: Increase Support.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will work to increase support for public higher education in order to maintain the core educational mission while keeping tuition reasonable and addressing the needs of the state.

The action steps in this priority area involve (1) an analysis of how Minnesota's policy on student financial aid affects Minnesota State Colleges and Universities students, (2) a subsequent strategy to obtain legislative changes benefiting public higher education students, (3) advocacy for responsible management of fiscal, facilities and technology resources and (4) efforts to obtain more non-state funding. As part of the Office of the Chancellor's advocacy with key constituencies, the Chancellor visited with 56 legislators this quarter. Work is under way to develop an action-oriented network of friends and alumni for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The goal of the network is to promote the colleges and universities and to build support for better serving our students. To aid in this endeavor, the Office of the Chancellor will send occasional communiqués to the presidents' offices describing important information about the system, along with timely information concerning state or federal actions that will affect the colleges and universities. These messages will help our friends and alumni understand the important role of the colleges and universities in providing access to affordable, high-quality higher education. At the campus level, an alumni association is under development and growing at Central Lakes College. More activities are occurring to contact and recognize alumni. Significant progress has been made in Minneapolis Community and Technical College pursuits to create an alumni association-its database information update has been completed. North Hennepin Community College began development of an alumni organization and distributed its first ever alumni publication. The Ridgewater College Foundation is building on a database of alumni names/addresses to continue the further development of a recognized alumni association. Beginning January 2003, the Minnesota State University Moorhead Alumni Foundation added an executive director of the alumni foundation, allowing the executive director of university advancement to concentrate on university advancement. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Foundation, formerly the Northstar Foundation, has begun implementing the first phase of its plan to raise funds to hire an experienced professional fundraiser. The Chancellor and foundation officials met with a prospective donor, who agreed to contribute $18,000 to develop a feasibility study for the foundation's fund-raising efforts. Other potential donors have been identified. Once the feasibility study is completed, the foundation will decide its next steps based on the study's findings and recommendations.

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Advocacy initiatives continue across the state. For example, Minnesota West's process involving local meetings within districts, meetings in St. Paul, e-mails, and phone calls all focused on the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities proposals is a typical effort. This same approach is repeated across the institutions of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. "Financial Aid Facts," a booklet explaining how the financial aid shift proposed by the Minnesota State Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition of Minnesota Businesses would harm students of the state colleges and universities, was compiled and distributed to presidents and trustees. The booklet is intended to help presidents, trustees and others make the case that the proposal is flawed. Information from the publication was used in preparing for the system's legislative hearings. The Minnesota Senate Finance Committee Higher Education Budget Division hosted a public hearing at Winona State University on Tuesday, March 18, 2003. The Minnesota state senators sought testimony from representatives of Winona State, Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical and Saint Mary's University on the effect of Governor Pawlenty's budget on higher education in Winona. Testimony was provided by the leaders, faculty and students of all three institutions along with members of the Winona business community. Advocacy for responsible management of fiscal, facilities and technology resources took many forms across the colleges and universities of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities: The budget unit and the Leadership Council continue to discuss how to approach the anticipated budget reduction from the State. On January 9, 2003, a freeze on hiring and a restriction on unsupported out-of-state travel were implemented for the Office of the Chancellor. The Office of the Chancellor Cabinet analyzed the functions of each division and prioritized them. This analysis and prioritization will be used in the event cuts need to be made for the 2004-2005 biennium. The Chancellor, Leadership Council, and Biennial Budget Committee (BBC) have developed the biennial budget request for presentation to the current and incoming administration and the 2003 legislature. Budget presentations to various legislative committees began in January. The Board of Trustees was presented with a fiscal years 2004-2009 capital budget update at its meeting on January 23, 2003. Fiscal year 2004 capital budget presentations were held on February 13, 2003 at Minnesota West, Granite Falls Campus; February 28, 2003 at St. Paul College; and March 7, 2003 at Bemidji State University. The Information Technology Services division undertook a major performance tuning initiative. As part of the project, institution databases were tuned with dramatic results. Despite substantial growth in resource needs due to increased student enrollment and increasingly complex computer applications, the performance tuning allowed us to live within current resource allocations. Alexandria Technical College uses a process analysis model to update budgeting, purchasing, auxiliary enterprise, facility use and campus security processes ensuring safety, effective space utilization, and good stewardship of public assets. Existing budgeting processes have been revised and monitored for continuous improvement. Anoka-Hennepin Technical College implemented and refined a new financial accountability structure based on results of ongoing process analysis work at the department level and within the Finance and Customized Training divisions. Additionally, Anoka-Hennepin Technical College, in cooperation with Pine Technical College, will share a Human Resources director effective immediately.

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A campus-wide water conservation project initiated this past year at Bemidji State University has resulted in a savings of nearly 6,000,000 gallons, a revenue savings through the third quarter of $16,500. Strategic plans for facilities and technology are in progress at Minnesota State University Moorhead. In addition, the campus designated a special assistant for university budget responsible for working with campus constituencies to provide a clearly communicated, accurate picture of the university budget. Rochester Community and Technical College created a Rapid Response Team to identify possible solutions and a framework to guide decision-making resulting from fiscal year 2003 budget unallotments and potential reductions in the fiscal year 2004-05 biennium. Foundations and Advancement Colleges and universities continue to work with their foundations and advancement offices to secure non-state funding:

• Alexandria Technical College continued to enjoy growth of college foundation and development efforts; planned a major "Ask Event" for May, 2003; hosted three "Points of Entry" events in spring 2003 and scheduled two major "Ask Events" for two programs in the Twin Cities for fall 2003.

• A nationally known program named "Raising More Money" is being implemented for both Central Lakes College campuses. This year's drive will conclude by June 1, 2003.

• Private funds ($30,000) have been raised to construct exhibits for the Skone Family Central Lakes College Conservatory/Humphrey Center for American Indian Studies on the Brainerd Campus. They anticipate the first phase to be completed in July 2003.

• The Dakota County Technical Foundation received two buses from the Minnesota Transit Authority valued at $70,000 each. Dakota County Technical College's Employment and Training unit received an extension, with some additional dollars, on its Merrillat grant and second year grant funding for their McKnight Core Skills Training program.

• A capital campaign drive is underway through the Fergus Area College Foundation board. Initiation of corporate sponsorship for Spartan athletics has occurred through the Spartan Booster Club at Fergus Falls Community College.

• Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is the only system institution that is a land-grant college and has opportunities to access federal funding from the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Education, and Housing and Urban Development. Taking advantage of this, three million dollars of their 7.5 million dollar construction project has been secured from federal agencies.

• Inver Hills Community College was chosen as Flint Hills Community Partner of the year and is receiving $70,000 to equip a Biology lab. In addition, Inver Hills Community College received a Bush grant to support a Center for Teaching and Learning Coordinator. This position will coordinate faculty staff development, program review, Student Academic Achievement Program, and Liberal Studies Professional Skills Program.

• Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical continued to prepare for and recently adopted a work plan for a Foundation capital drive to commence early in the 2004 calendar year. An image campaign is underway to set stage for such a campaign. o Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical was a key player in a recent National Science Foundation grant for a nanotechnology project in Rushford, Minnesota.

• During the third quarter, Minnesota State University, Mankato faculty submitted over $13 million in grant proposals-funding has been received for new approaches to classroom and clinical learning in nursing education; $107,000 for two projects in the Water Resource Center; $16,000 for Winter Cover Mapping with the Department of Natural Resources in Madelia; $63,000 for the

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Center for School-University partnership with District 77; $44,000 for the Geometry and Measurement Institute for elementary school teachers; and $35,000 for the Collaborative Rural Nurse Practitioner project.

• Normandale Community College's faculty and staff have committed more than $120,000 to support a five-year major gift campaign and its "Creating Futures.Changing Lives" campaign has secured more than $1.5 million in pledges.

• Normandale Community College has received a Minnesota Humanities Commission grant to support a program focused on the life of Willa Cather, including a portrayal by a nationally recognized Chautauqua performer, for students and community. In addition, Normandale Community College was awarded a $21,000 grant from the Bloomington Public Schools to enhance and expand its America Counts/Reads service-learning program.

• North Hennepin Community College's annual fund drive was successfully completed with contributions over its goal.

• Northland Community and Technical College has recently taken title and received the deed for a $5 million home directly across the highway from the main campus.

• Pine Technical College initiated its third annual foundation scholarship drive to provide financial assistance to needy students. Pine Technical College also submitted grants to the National Science Foundation for curriculum development in virtual reality and the U.S. Department of Education for Title III Planning Grant in Strengthening Institutions Program.

• Ridgewater College received a four-year National Science Foundation grant that provides scholarships to students who are enrolled full time in AS, AAS, or AA degree programs in Computer Systems, Engineering, Engineering Technology, Computer Systems Technology and Math. The awards of $3,120 per year are intended to target under-represented populations in these fields, particularly women and minorities. Recruiters have been promoting this opportunity in high schools throughout Minnesota; the Ridgewater College Foundation and the Public Relations office of the college have made numerous contacts to promote this scholarship for low-income students. The award totals $385,586, or approximately 30 awards per year.

• In 2002, Ridgewater College leveraged $82,349 in equipment grants for nursing simulators, computers and calibration equipment, audio equipment, computerized auto mechanic alignment equipment, electrical program software and massage therapy equipment. Ridgewater College also leveraged business and Minnesota Job Skills Partnership grants to purchase a computer lab for information technology training and nursing simulation equipment valued at over $200,000.

• Remodeling of Ridgewater College's Willmar Campus Nursing Simulation Center has been started through private foundation funding in the amount of $241,500. Contributors include the Otto Bremer Foundation, the Jay and Rose Phillips Foundation, the Willmar Community Foundation, the Blandin Foundation, Rice Health Foundation, and Affiliated Community Medical Centers.

• The Ridgewater College Foundation worked in partnership with Ridgewater College to identify outside sources and raise funds totaling over $300,000 in support of the new nursing simulation center and nursing program.

• The Ridgewater College Foundation has implemented the Raising More Money model of fundraising through Ridgewater Reflection educational breakfasts/lunches. The Raising More Money model has allowed the Foundation to identify and cultivate new donors with charitable priorities, educate the community about Ridgewater College, and build community relationships.

• Riverland Community College revised and expanded booster club and athletic department fundraising efforts and conducted several Raising More Money events leading to a major fundraising event in May.

• The St. Cloud State University Foundation has raised more than $1.6 million for this year, including $401,083 for endowed scholarships and $133,190 for scholarships that will go directly to students.

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• To-date St. Cloud State University has received $2,311,006 in grants and contracts this fiscal year, including $1,067,395 in grants and $1,251,611 in contracts.

• The College of Education at St. Cloud State University secured a Safe Schools Grant partnership with School District #742 for $8 million over three years; a FIPSE proposal with Pennsylvania State University, and three international schools and an international grant to work with Armenian teachers.

• A nursing consortium formed by St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud Technical College, the College of St. Benedict and the CentraCare Health System recently received a $500,000 federal grant, through the efforts of Representative Mark Kennedy, to respond to the area's healthcare needs. St. Cloud State University expects to receive $300,000 of that grant to help defer the start-up costs of its nursing program.

• The St. Cloud Technical College Foundation reached and exceeded its $5 million goal by March 14, 2003. Donations to the St. Cloud Technical College alumni fund for fiscal year 2003 increased 68 percent from fiscal year 2002.

• Vermilion Community College will be receiving two grants-one from the Department of Labor for the Professional Harvester Program ($496,000) and another from the Environmental Protection Agency, through the Minnesota Department of Health, for a small drinking water system training center for public and non-community water supplies ($525,000).

The Office of the Chancellor Information Technology Services division has pursued and secured a grant of hardware and software from Sun Microsystems in support of systemwide IT systems development efforts. These products have a list price value in excess of $2 million. Priority: Expand High Quality Learning Programs and Services.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will provide students with a full range of high quality learning programs and services that respond to student needs and document student achievement.

Five action steps address basic issues in quality educational programming: a continued focus on providing a liberal arts foundation supporting lifelong learning, critical thinking, and citizenship skills; providing up-to-date education and training through well-equipped classrooms and laboratories and effective curriculum models; expanding professional development opportunities for faculty, staff, and administrators; continuing system responsiveness to the development of distance and technology-enhanced education opportunities to meet learner needs; and providing and expanding graduate education and practical research. Anoka-Hennepin Technical College implemented a comprehensive program development and review structure that measures student satisfaction, business/industry demand and college responsiveness, and financial effectiveness. Anoka-Ramsey Community College has completed renovation of lab space to increase course options for students. Bemidji State University's Department of Nursing will initiate the delivery of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing at East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls in collaboration with Northland Community and Technical College. The program will be delivered primarily through interactive television at the baccalaureate level and is intended to address the critical need for additional nurses at all levels of education. Additionally, Bemidji State University, in conjunction with the Arrowhead University

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Consortium, will offer graduate level courses in biology, physics, science, geology, mathematics and education to teachers in eleven school districts on Minnesota's Iron Range beginning this summer. Bemidji State University, in collaboration with the Arrowhead University Consortium, will begin delivering a Bachelor in Applied Science degree in Industrial Technology-Management to the Iron Range in the fall semester of 2003. The courses will be delivered through blended technologies that include interactive television and the Internet. Central Lakes College has proposed new or revised programs in Natural Resources, Criminal Justice, Ecotourism, Applications in Computerized Small Business, Advanced Systems in Computerized Small Business, John Deere Construction and Forestry Equipment Technology, and Diesel and Heavy Equipment Technology. Data for college-wide and program assessment have been collected and analysis is in progress at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, which has also partially expanded its academic program review and partially completed its service unit review process. Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical received final Higher Learning Commission approval for delivery of all degree programs online on March 31, 2003. To address industry needs for workers who are skilled in the latest versions of software and computer applications, Normandale Community College's Computer Information Management Department drove an up-grade of the software available to students to ensure a greater level of student success. In addition, a computer based assessment manager and tutorial was implemented in Normandale Community College's Computer Information Management classes, allowing students to receive immediate remedial guidance in areas of need, thereby increasing their success rate. Normandale Community College is also integrating student outcome assessment efforts with its institutional effectiveness planning to create a continuous cycle of planning, assessment and improvement. During the third quarter Northland Community and Technical College took title to two aircraft donated by the aviation industry. American Airlines donated a 727-200 and Northwest Airlines donated a DC9-10 to the aviation maintenance technology program. These donations improve the quality of instruction by providing up to date materials to work with. St. Cloud State University has finalized its program review policy and a program review manual has been developed and printed. The first five programs scheduled for review next year have been selected. Saint Paul College's electronics program achieved Federal Aviation Administration certification making it one of the few certified programs in the Midwest. Accountability continues to be an ongoing priority at Winona State where the university is devoted to sustaining and advancing a quality educational experience. A major project currently underway provides a powerful automated tool that promises to revolutionize faculty ability to document and improve student learning, success and satisfaction. The Winona Assessment Project, consisting of an integrated database and an analytical engine is supported by the largest grant ever awarded to the university from the U.S. Department of Education. Winona State University held its 3rd Annual Assessment Day on February 12, 2003. More than 3,700 students logged on to Web-based survey modules related to student satisfaction, study habits, the laptop

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program, cultural diversity issues, perceptions of the quality of service and perception of instruction. Another 300 students took the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) general education exam. The results indicated that student performance exceeded the national norm in all five-writing, reading, mathematics, critical thinking and science reasoning -exam modules. The Office of Instructional Technology is working to develop a voluntary peer review approach to ensuring high quality on-line courses and programs. The continued use of technology to expand or improve the educational experience was also evident during the third quarter:

• Alexandria Technical College expanded into five states online and leadership development training with Rural Cellular Corporation.

• Alexandria Technical College implemented a Uportal student information system for students and demonstrated the portal at a statewide meeting of chief information officers from other system campuses. Alexandria Technical College also upgraded its ITV rooms to support H.323 videoconferencing.

• Anoka-Hennepin Technical College, in cooperation with Pine Technical College and Dakota County Technical College, will offer the Pine Technical College Virtual Reality Program.

• Anoka-Ramsey Community College has received special initiative money from the Office of the Chancellor to enhance instructional technology and to renovate classrooms. Anoka-Ramsey Community College has also enhanced and implemented ITV classroom functionality and increased the number of courses delivered and scheduled for summer and the 2003-2004 academic year.

• The college upgraded the computer commons with new machines and increased staffing/hours of operation on Central Lakes College's Brainerd Campus. Student use of the computer commons has increased dramatically.

• The chief academic officer at Central Lakes College assigned a faculty member full-time in spring and fall to provide faculty leadership and mentorship for development of on-line classes and the numbers of these classes will increase for fall of 2003.

• The counselors at Dakota County Technical College developed and piloted an online new student orientation service as an option for students unable to attend the traditional new student orientations at the college.

• Hibbing Community College and Minneapolis Community and Technical College are conducting alpha tests of a new online student service tool in conjunction with the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunication. This tool will be employed by our other campuses when fully deployed.

• The Seamless Education Services Task Force continues to provide guidance. Six high level requirements have been approved by the Leadership Council's Academic Affairs and Technology Committees: 1) students may register for courses at any system institution from one site, 2) home and host institutions will have system (ISRS) access to all required student information, 3) Students will be admitted to the host institution as a special student, by accessing home admissions data, without an application fee charged by the host, 4) e-learning courses will be accessible by the student as a separate list for registration purposes, 5) students may pay a home institution and request them to route payment to host institution(s) and 6) a system-wide blanket Financial Aid Consortium Agreement will be authorized.

• Mesabi Range Community and Technical College has received a grant from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board to improve student access to technology, as well as meet workplace needs. A minimum of 60 people will be eligible for a three-credit course to improve

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keyboarding and data entry skills. The grant will assist people to get technical jobs or achieve education on information technology.

• Minneapolis Community and Technical College has built an integrated audio, video, voice and digital network in Wheelock Whitney Hall and has made 26 wireless computers available for classroom use.

• Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical is about to pilot a course to the rural southeast Minnesota city of Spring Grove. This will be its first such project and is being implemented in conjunction with its local cable company.

• Minnesota State University, Mankato Health Services has enhanced its Web site so students have easier access to health-related information. This has increased the number of students accessing the page by about 800 hits a semester. The page now includes insurance information, staff contacts, upcoming programs, vaccination information, and screening clinics (flu, TB, meningitis, and so on).

• The Minnesota State University, Mankato's Career Development unit hired a new Webmaster and made many changes on their Webpage, including the addition of "Undecided" links and an "Undecided Handbook" available online; significant revision and updating of "job search" links according to major/career interests; addition of Graduate Follow-Up Study statistics and information for users to access; and added workshops online (e.g., "Job Search for New Graduates"). All areas within Student Leadership Development and Service Learning have functioning Websites providing information about campus activities and resources.

• Normandale Community College's entire full-time faculty implemented a Web-based support tool (Blackboard), increasing their ability to communicate with students and to offer more online courses successfully. Currently, over 50 percent of course offerings at Normandale Community College are Web-enhanced to meet changing student needs.

• Use of North Hennepin Community College's online advising has exceeded its goal of 10 percent. In addition North Hennepin Community College created a system of online scheduling for tutoring appointments.

• North Hennepin Community College successfully completed moving its assessment testing to the Web. North Hennepin Community College also completed the instructional technology training plan and many of the classes have been offered using WebCT and other applications.

• Ridgewater College has upgraded the instructional technology equipment in 30 classrooms with computers, Internet, satellite connection and video projectors. The college also has provided faculty and staff with training on the use of technology equipment and software.

• At St. Cloud State University, seven Web-enabled applications, tightly coupled to the ISRS system to deliver information to students online at any time, have been developed, maintained, or significantly upgraded. These Web applications include a payment option which virtually eliminates lines at the cashier's office.

• St. Cloud State University added bandwidth in fall of 2002. In addition, Learning Resources and Technology Services at St. Cloud State University has begun the implementation of remote management of desktop computers and also is piloting roaming profiles in labs and with faculty and staff. Over 600 students are using this on a trial basis.

• WebCT usage continues to grow at St. Cloud State University-as of February, 219 faculty were using WebCT in over 234 courses. St. Cloud State University has increased the number of online courses by 30 percent to 115 courses, has started SCSU Online, and has begun offering online courses in Behavioral Analysis that are approved for licensure by the American Association of Behavioral Analysis. They are currently seeking approval from the Higher Learning Commission to offer a Master's in Behavioral Analysis online.

• Saint Paul College is providing key student services online; online registration has been implemented college-wide and has equipped ten "smart rooms" for improved technical instruction to support teaching and learning in each division.

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• Saint Paul College's Customized Training division of the College is undergoing a significant technology initiative by installing a wireless based, thin-client frame within the Corporate Training and Assessment Center to better serve the rapidly changing needs for IT related training and to lessen the financial burden of constantly upgrading workstations every 18 months. This system, transparent to the user, greatly reduces overall systems cost and provides better access to server based applications at the college to thousands of employees from the east metro area who rely on Saint Paul College for workplace education and training.

• South Central College created 66 "tech carts" to provide students and faculty with the latest in classroom technology.

At the system level, the third round of curriculum awards, funded by a Congressional Award system match, were announced on March 3, 2003 for six more programs: Medical Billing, Health Information Technology, Online Masters of Nursing, Paralegal E-Learning Certification, Medical Lab Career Pathway and completing the Nursing Career Pathway. The goals of the second Congressional Award grant are being completed. Final reports will be sent to the Department of Education by May of 2003. Among the goals completed include: an e-communities model, a customer service center, funded curriculum programs, and implementation of the electronic portfolio. A statewide digital learning plan under development will focus curriculum, services and infrastructure. Funding for the development of the digital learning plan is being provided by the Minnesota Virtual University. The Statewide Digital Learning Plan may contain features that will identify curriculum and student services projects for the two public systems. The e-Portfolio project has been completed with the server installation at the St. Cloud Regional Center. An official launch will occur in May. The e-Portfolio has been adopted by several campuses, as well as Johnson High School for all their faculty and students. There have been numerous training sessions at colleges, high schools, workforce centers and businesses. The number of online programs offered within the system in the fall of 2002 has nearly tripled from fall of 2001, from 11 to 28. This strong increase has come from the Congressional Awards funding for e-learning curriculum development, from institutions receiving Higher Learning Commission approval to offer online programs and from the development of Minnesota Online. With economic downturn, employers throughout the state seek increased access to affordable, accessible workforce training. The Instructional Technology division is making it easier for employers and students in the system's customized training programs by launching Web registration and online payment for students desiring to participate in these programs. Minnesota Satellite and Technology hosted a satellite and Web cast broadcast in support of the National Centers for Career and Technical Education information series. The broadcast centered on workforce issues. Professional development efforts on behalf of faculty, staff and administrators are integral to the efficient and effective management of higher education institutions and systems:

• Alexandria Technical College co-hosted a collaborative, regional staff development day with St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud Technical College, Central Lakes College, and Pine Technical College.

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• Anoka-Hennepin Technical College identified program and staff development opportunities to assist faculty and staff in creating, updating, or expanding program access or services for an increasingly diverse group of student learners.

• An on-line guide introducing and explaining the provisions of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board Policy 3.26, Intellectual Property, was jointly developed by Bemidji State University and the Academic and Student Affairs division. The guide is designed as a tutorial that applies to all Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

• Two Bemidji State University faculty members, with support from the Center for Extended Learning, have created an online professional development course for faculty who teach online or for those interested in teaching on-line to assist them in better understanding how to develop and deliver on-line courses. A second on-line course has also been developed to address instructional design by the same faculty. Both courses are available to the faculty at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions.

• Lake Superior College offered two student services staff development opportunities in the third quarter. Additionally, Lake Superior College provided training dealing with Web accessibility issues of the American Disabilities Act (section 508) to faculty and staff.

• Minneapolis Community and Technical College has established a Center for Teaching and Learning with space and staff to support faculty development and is currently tracking use. The college is also providing faculty development opportunities focused on integrating service learning into the classroom and an internal workshop addressing identified faculty needs in service learning has been completed. Minneapolis Community and Technical College provided more classroom technology training to faculty and staff; 121 of a projected 250 hours are now completed.

• The Minnesota State University, Mankato Security Department worked with the library to provide continuing education to staff on the emergency response plan for the building and how the staff and Security response interact to form a comprehensive support system in the event of an emergency.

• The President of Minnesota State University Moorhead, the President recommended a day on the academic calendar for faculty to engage in a regularly scheduled annual Professional Development Day.

• North Hennepin Community College is working with Bemidji State University to offer their faculty an opportunity for a graduate course in online instructional design.

• Riverland Community College conducted professional development opportunities in the areas of collaborative leadership, workplace violence protection, workplace safety, and computer proficiency.

• Rochester Community and Technical College hosted a number of world renowned speakers as part of staff development day activities in February and March. Peggy Maki, a senior fellow with the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE), spoke to all faculty and staff on the topic of Assessing for Deep Learning. The college, in partnership with the Mayo Clinic, Rochester Ford/Toyota and the Rochester Area Quality Council, hosted the fishmongers from the world famous Pike Place Fish Market as part of day long staff development activities. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipients the University of Wisconsin Stout also shared with Rochester Community and Technical College faculty and staff some of its best practices and shared learning this past February.

• St. Cloud State University's College of Education has initiated a cohort program in Educational Leadership with a focus on Higher Education serving over forty employees of the entire Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

Office of the Chancellor Equal Opportunity and Diversity staff participated as presenters, facilitators or panelists at three major Diversity/Multiculturalism conferences. Staff also provided diversity, anti-racism

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and regulatory/statutory training/seminars to campuses and their representatives at eight different sites. Presidents and their senior administrators, along with Office of the Chancellor Cabinet members, participated in decision-maker training. The Office of Instructional Technology launched a new Web log (www.oit.mnscu.edu/clippings), which provides current articles and news items to assist faculty in developing e-learning materials and better understanding the national landscape for e-learning. As budgets shrink, the Information Technology Services division is working to save campus funds by providing training centrally for distribution to all campuses. Minnesota Satellite and Technology (MnSAT) is delivering monthly and bi-monthly Novell and Office of Instructional Technology training and information broadcasts. MnSAT has received positive feed back regarding the training and information available to campuses via this mode. In addition, MnSAT facilitated a two-hour special education satellite broadcast to K-12 districts. The Office of Instructional Technology has implemented a 24 x 7 help desk to support faculty and students in the use of WebCT and Blackboard, instructional management software that enables easy development of Web-enhanced and fully online courses. Transfer Work on the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum continued with a spring meeting of twelve disciplines meeting to develop increased collaboration and transfer opportunities; the Spring Technical College General Education Review was scheduled for late March 2003. The Culinary Arts Program at Anoka-Hennepin Technical College is being restructured to articulate with the STEP (Secondary Technical Education Program) and state university programs. Anoka-Ramsey Community College is working to expand on-line offerings for summer of 2003 to provide the capability of offering the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum entirely online for students. Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical has continued to have courses approved for inclusion in the Transfer Curriculum process. Minnesota West and Southwest State have begun the process of implementing a dual admissions process for students both in the liberal arts and technical programs at Minnesota West. St. Cloud State University is working toward a dual admission program for students enrolled at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. St. Cloud State University continues to evaluate current transfer programs to maintain compliance with the MN Transfer Curriculum. New courses are added as they go through the curriculum process. They now have two years of data on the impact of transfer programs upon General Education offerings. St. Cloud State University has completed an agreement with Inver Hills Community College for the Associate of Science Degree in Physical Education. The university has pending agreements with Anoka-Hennepin, as well as with the Cambridge campus of Anoka-Ramsey Community College. Saint Paul College created a transfer specialist position to develop transfer guidelines, course equivalences and articulation agreements with other Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

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Southwest State University explored a dual admission program with Minnesota West. Southwest State University also developed a partnership with St. Cloud Technical College for a 2+2 program in business administration. Liberal Arts A group of interdisciplinary faculty at St. Cloud State University is developing a new program in New Media Arts through the College of Fine Arts and Humanities. The group has conducted workshops on the topic in the community and on campus. Winona State University continues to refine the new University Studies program which went into effect for new students this fall. The result of a long-term effort by faculty and administrators, the newly revised program stresses the liberal arts through the development and honing of quantitative, critical thinking, and writing skills throughout a student's career at the university. Graduate Education Thanks to a new partnership with Bemidji State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead offers a Master of Science in educational leadership with an educational technology emphasis, through selected courses at both universities delivered via the Internet, interactive television, CD-ROM, and face-to-face. St. Cloud State University is pursuing several graduate level programming enhancements: a Master's in Business Administration cohort program, continued development of a Masters in Engineering Management and Masters of Science degree in Nursing, and a new graduate program in statistics. The university is also in the initial stages of an exploratory FIPSE-funded partnership for the establishment of a multinational joint Masters degree program in social sciences. Priority: Strengthen Community Development and Economic Vitality.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will help meet the state's critical workforce and community needs in collaboration with statewide and local leadership groups.

The three action steps in this priority area focus on service to the state's critical workforce and community needs: providing enhanced capacity and flexibility in key workforce areas through flexible scheduling and alternative delivery of education and training; being responsive to the acknowledged critical workforce needs in teaching and health care careers; and improving the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities' ability to respond rapidly to accelerated or sudden change experienced at the industry, company, employee, or community level. At the cross system/statewide level, seven months of intensive planning and preparation culminated in the first formal meeting of the Minnesota P-16 Education Partnership in February. Jointly hosted by Chancellor McCormick and University of Minnesota President Bruininks, the meeting provided an opportunity for leaders of each member organization to discuss the principles, priorities, and operating structure outlined in the Founding Plan. The gathering also provided a first opportunity for Dr. Cheri Pierson Yecke, the new Commissioner of the Department of Children, Families and Learning, to participate in the emerging partnership; participants were delighted to hear her express strong support for the partnership. Members subsequently began nominating representatives to the Coordinating Team that will operationalize the work of the partnership. The team is currently preparing for the next partnership meeting on April 25 by securing input needed to refine a targeted set of priorities for collective action and put a leadership structure in place.

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During a House Education Finance Committee meeting, Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke responded favorably to a question about teacher preparation efforts. She noted a new Partnership establishing a P 16 council involving the University of Minnesota and The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. She noted that teacher quality was one of the priorities identified by the group and commented on higher education's clear commitment to prepare high quality teachers. She characterized the P 16 effort as an excellent model for collaboration and stated that we will be proceeding to establish it. Several campuses are exploring and developing new approaches, in collaboration with one or more local districts, to keep students engaged in their last two years of high school while improving transitions into college in a more clearly articulated way. These efforts are being driven by levels of developmental education enrollment that remain at disturbingly high levels and evidence that too many students are not making adequate use of learning opportunities during the late high school years. The STEP program at Anoka-Hennepin Technical College continues to serve as a model for institutions and individuals interested in pursuing new approaches, and Itasca Community College has begun discussions with the Grand Rapids schools and the Blandin Foundation about exploring new options for educational delivery to "grades 11-14." Within a statewide context, the Office of the Chancellor is working with the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals, and Normandale Community College to plan a summer seminar, "Rethinking the High School Senior Year." This one-day event will be the second in what is envisioned as an annual summer gathering for P-12 and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities administrators to explore issues of common interest. Although some efforts to better align high school and college standards and assessments in mathematics have been slowed because of the process underway to develop new graduation standards in mathematics, progress has continued on several key strategies. A joint committee of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, University of Minnesota, and Minnesota Private College Council has completed its work on a one-page Statement of Mathematics Competence Expected of All Entering College Students, and drafts of more detailed competencies have been completed and are being made available via a University of Minnesota Website for focused review and comment. A more publicly accessible Website is also being created as an on-going source of information and guidance about college preparation in mathematics for students, parents, and educators. Once finished, links to the Website through the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Website, as well as college, university, and other organizational Websites, will make this vital information readily available. The work of this committee is also being connected, to the extent appropriate, to the new mathematics standards development process. The Teacher Education Advisory Committee met in January to identify priorities. A subsequent meeting provided background information on teacher education delivery in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and developed initial draft recommendations on indicators of quality in teacher preparation. The recommendations focused on a key question, what can the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System do and measure that will help school districts feel more confident that the new teachers can meet the P-12 student outcome expectations? The Task Force on College and University Collaboration in Teacher Preparation has met three times to address two identified areas of focus-developing a Minnesota Teacher Education Transfer Curriculum and expanding articulation agreements between colleges and universities to include ESL and Special Education.

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A Teacher of Color Work Plan has been developed to focus on increasing the number of teacher candidates of color. The Work Plan will provide a framework for the development of an implementation plan by June 30, 2003. Pertinent recommendations of the Teacher Education Advisory Committee and the Task Force on College and University collaboration in Teacher Preparation will also feed into the Implementation Plan. A recent report on the "Academic Preparation and Performance of Teacher Education and other Baccalaureate Degree Recipients" within the Minnesota State Universities, using Fiscal Year 2001 data, found that teacher education graduates from Minnesota State Universities were not significantly different from most of the other ten groups of graduates on the measure of academic preparation and had significantly higher rankings than other groups of graduates on two measures of academic performance. Education graduates had the second highest high school percentile rank and the second highest undergraduate mean grade-point averages among the ten groups of graduates studied. The campuses are also making significant progress in the area of teacher preparation:

• A child development course is being offered at Nay-Ah-Shing School by Central Lakes College. The college is collaborating with consortium of schools to offer courses to Title I aides to meet new federal certification requirements.

• Century College has continued the College Readiness project with four area high schools/districts to align high school graduation standard to college-level learning expectations

• Inver Hills Community College has expanded its accelerated educational offerings to St. Paul educational and teacher assistants to currently serve 84 who work in numerous preschools and family resource centers, 28 elementary schools, 10 junior and 3 senior high schools. Nearly 50 percent are persons of color and 90 percent are first generation students. The college intends to serve 100 students each semester; many intend to continue in the Urban Teacher Program. The program will also serve educational and teacher assistants in the college's south suburban service area.

• Inver Hills Community College has received No Child Left Behind Act and Improving Teacher Quality Grant funds to implement and sustain an interactive and inquiry-based institute comprised of courses and follow-up activities that develop and supplement mathematics pedagogical content and knowledge for paraprofessionals in the Saint Paul School District. The grant project entitled the AfterMath Institute, will provide a coherent series of courses with on-going professional development to prepare paraprofessionals to work with students in all mathematics courses. Institute activities have been designed to provide sustained professional development opportunities with strong mathematics and mathematics pedagogy components, instruction on effective use of information technology, mentoring opportunities, or workshops on teacher-paraprofessional professional relationships for paraprofessionals in math and science.

• Itasca Community College developed and has begun a 10 credit certificate program for paraprofessionals to complete the training requirement in the No Child Left Behind legislation. The initial cohort of 25 will complete the program by mid-July with more than 75 percent of the program being completed online.

• Lake Superior College developed a Pre-Education Advisory Board comprised of area public school systems and a Pre-Education Advisory Committee comprised of area public school personnel. They participated as part of the planning team for Duluth Schools Drop-out Prevention Program.

• Lake Superior College developing two Education Certificate programs with Hibbing Community College and members of the Northeast Higher Education District to fulfill the northeast region's needs generated by the Federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

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• Mesabi Range Community & Technical College is working with the Office of the Chancellor and the Department of Children, Families and Learning, the local Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency and area school districts to offer expanded opportunities for para-teachers and teacher aids to meet new licensure requirements.

• Minneapolis Community and Technical College has enrolled 25 new teaching assistants/students for spring in Minneapolis Public Schools Program.

• The Minnesota State University Moorhead College of Education and Human Services is collaborating with the Mahnomen Public Schools to develop ways to work together more closely in efforts to improve education.

• Ridgewater College created a new secondary Perkins consortium in Central Minnesota that includes tech prep program representatives from both campuses. By coordinating the efforts of both campuses, the college is making more efficient use of the resources and simultaneously making greater impact on its K-12 partners.

• Rochester Community and Technical College is completing an agreement with the Rochester Public Schools to locate auto mechanics and health career courses for high school students on the campus.

• St. Cloud State University's College of Education college-wide assessment steering committee has met with every department to develop benchmarks and transition points to identify teaching candidates who are progressing successfully through the program.

• St. Cloud State University has also completed a Transition to Teaching Program in collaboration with St. Cloud School District #742 that will provide the district an additional nine special education teachers and three science teachers. Plans for more such teachers to complete the program in the fall of 2004 are also in place.

• The St. Cloud State University College of Education presented information on the Central Minnesota Teacher of Color Project Consortium to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees. The goal of the program is to assist students from diverse racial and cultural groups to become qualified as teachers in Minnesota schools. This year's program has 32 active students in 11 school districts and the program has 80 graduates who have served in St. Cloud, the Twin Cities metro, Willmar and Roseville schools.

• Through the efforts of Saint Paul College, the Minnesota Academy of Technology will open in St. Paul in fall of 2003 providing 125 9th and 10th grade students with the most comprehensive software technology training available anywhere in Minnesota. A mentoring affiliation with Lawson Software and cooperation with the 500 software companies within the Minnesota High Tech Association will provide the sponsorship and curriculum oversight to make this school successful.

• Southwest State University completed a review of off-campus its PSEO program for more efficient operation and better educational services to high school students.

In the healthcare area, the institutions of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have also been productive:

• Alexandria Technical College collaborated with Fergus Falls Community College and eight central Minnesota hospitals and the Minnesota Workforce's grant project "Bridging Distance in Healthcare" to establish a 24 student cohort in Melrose.

• Anoka-Ramsey Community College continued and extended its Minnesota Board of Nursing program accreditation through 2012. Anoka-Ramsey Community College has also expanded the nursing (RN) program on the Cambridge Campus; a cohort of 27 students began in January, allowing access to citizens of East Central Minnesota.

• Hibbing Community College has expanded the number of nursing classes from 40 to 60 and hosted an evening/weekend 2nd year nursing program for the Iron Range.

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• Hibbing Community College will also implement a medical coding program with Anoka Hennepin College.

• Hibbing Community College is engaged in discussions with Lake Superior College to bring allied health programs to the Iron Range and with the University of Minnesota to deliver a pre dental program.

• Inver Hills Community College and Century College are working with the East Metro Hospitals, Fairview Southdale, and long term care agencies to expand the RN nursing program.

• Itasca Community College and Hibbing Community College received a Perkins III collaborative curriculum grant to assist with the collaboration in developing and revising curriculum to establish multiple exit and entry points in the nursing programs.

• JOBS 2020, an Itasca county area economic development initiative, has selected Itasca Community College as a center of distinction to educate and sustain a professional rural healthcare workforce for the region of rural communities. Itasca Community College has also developed a fast-track LPN program as well as preparatory classes for dislocated Blandin Paper Company workers.

• Itasca Community College has also partnered with Lake Superior College to offer a rural radiology technician program.

• Lake Superior College developed a joint nursing program with Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College to meet the needs of the American Indian and rural community.

• Lake Superior College offered an evening/weekend nursing program spring semester to meet the needs of working students. Lake Superior College also collaborated with MHHP Region B hospitals in rural northeastern Minnesota to develop and offer a fast-track Radiologic Technology program through customized training to meet rural health facility training needs.

• Minneapolis Community and Technical College has increased training for high skill healthcare jobs by creating a south campus of the health care initiative in partnership with HealthPartners. A nursing pathway curriculum leading to practical nurse licensure will be delivered to a Health Partners employee cohort in summer 2003

• Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical implemented a new two year RN program on the Winona campus and will start an additional section in Red Wing in fall of 2003.

• Minnesota State University Moorhead offers one of the few medical shadowing programs in the country through collaboration with Innovis Health. Upper level students enrolled in a year-long sequence of biology courses observe physicians, nurses, and other health professionals performing surgeries, births, emergency medicine, and other activities.

• Northland Community and Technical College is currently working with Bemidji State University and Moorhead State University to develop a satellite four-year RN program in East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls in response to a critical workforce shortage of registered nurses in their service area.

• Pine Technical College formalized a partnership and plan with Lake Superior College to deliver the LPN to RN advancement program at Pine Technical College for the East Central Minnesota healthcare industry.

• Ridgewater College is expanding the number of students in the practical nursing program on the Hutchinson Campus from 26 to 30 students.

• Ridgewater College's nursing program, with support from the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership, has provided classes in health care exploration, behaviors for success, cultural diversity, CPR and first aid to 48 Hispanics, 9 Native Americans, and 3 Somalis. Twenty-two of these students continued in an extended nursing assistant curriculum that included occupational English. The nursing program is adopting core curriculum that enables students to articulate seamlessly through the registered nursing program.

• Ridgewater College joined Minnesota West and Northwest Technical College in exploring a nursing program online.

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• The St. Cloud Technical College Center for Customized Training and Development initiated a new online course in medical terminology.

• South Central College is moving forward with its Medical Laboratory Technician and Phlebotomy programs via distance education to serve non-traditional students. This program will be replicated through the support provided by two e-learning grants from the Office of the Chancellor. New partnerships with the University of North Dakota and Mayo Health Systems have recently been established to serve transfer students and incumbent workers.

• The Healthcare Education-Industry Partnership (HEIP) provided consulting services on nursing curriculum and program design to five colleges through a contract with Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

• Grants totaling $47,500 were awarded to ten colleges for the development of accelerated nursing curriculum from funds awarded by the Department of Trade & Economic Development to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

• Grants totaling $37,500 were awarded to three universities for the planning and implementation of accelerated programs for returning students seeking a second degree in nursing. Funding for these grants was provided by the Department of Trade & Economic Development.

Office of the Chancellor staff have been working with partnering organizations to support the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities' $6 million line-item request for a strategic investment in healthcare and nursing education. The Minnesota Nurses Association and the Governors Workforce Development Council have both been vocal supporters of the request. Progress has also been made in the more general economic development area:

• Alexandria Technical College continued expansion of its program/industry partnerships. • Anoka-Hennepin Technical College has expanded partnerships with the 35W Corridor

Community/Economic Development Cooperative for workforce planning, on-going education and training needs.

• Anoka-Hennepin Technical College has secured the new Anoka County Economic Development Partnership business incubator for the campus, strengthening ties with local and regional business start-up and investment groups. Incubator relocation is in progress.

• Anoka-Hennepin Technical College established a Dean of Customized Training Services position as part of administrative restructuring to focus on day-to-day management and marketing responsibilities of the division and the college.

• Bemidji State University's Small Business Development Center located within the Center for Research and Innovation served 75 clients in the last quarter. Services include start-up business planning, loan packaging, business expansion financial planning, strategic planning and process controls. In addition, contract training and planning is on-going with clients at the Leech Lake Nation, Red Lake Nation and White Earth Nation.

• The Northern Tier High Technology Corridor, which was created at Bemidji State University to provide a virtual collaborative platform to strengthen business, industry and higher education opportunities and partnerships, has increased to 895 registered users. The platform is designed to facilitate online interaction related to knowledge cluster development (e.g., research development, new product designs, and incubation processes). The Northern Tier High Technology Corridor is funded by the Blandin Foundation.

• Central Lakes College faculty and staff participated with community efforts to attract Missota, a new paper manufacturer that purchased the closed Potlatch facility. The college has enrolled over 100 laid-off Potlatch employees for new careers.

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• Itasca Community College has partnered with Hibbing Community College in their refrigerator/air conditioning program in response to the Blandin Paper Company layoffs.

• By March 31, 2003, AmeriCorps-Southern Minnesota (Minnesota State University, Mankato) members will have performed 16,500 hours of community service. Their activities focus on tutoring and mentoring at-risk youth and providing services for vulnerable adults. Their service strengthens the community by empowering its weakest members.

• Minnesota State University Moorhead uses its president's Regional Advisory Board, comprised of 30 professionals in the region, to provide advice, insight, and feedback on university activities that impact the industry, company, employees or community.

• Minnesota State University Moorhead and Northwest Technical College, Moorhead, launched a new partnership for customized education and training. The relationship allows the institutions to share faculty and staff resources to better provide area businesses and organizations with education programs tailored for their needs.

• Normandale Community College, Hennepin Technical College, South Central College and the Minnesota State University Mankato have formed a South 169 Community Corridor Higher Education Consortium to serve communities along the highway 169 corridor. The colleges are working with chambers of commerce in the area as well as economic development groups to better serve the area through their combined efforts.

• Normandale Community College, together with the Normandale Foundation and Wells Fargo, sponsored the second program in its Creative Arts Series, "Great Voices of Jazz and Swing," featuring historic films and live performances by song stylists. More than 350 community members attended this event to support student scholarships and other educational opportunities at the college.

• Normandale Community College continued to expand and implement its Design for Six Sigma training program to Seagate Technology engineers (Continuing Education and Customized Training).

• In February, Northland Community and Technical College signed a Minnesota Job Skills Partnership grant for $42,000 with Forest Engineering in Forest Lake, Minnesota. This grant will provide Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Quality Improvement. Although this company is far removed from the campus service area, they are one of the major suppliers and vendors for Arctic Cat, Inc., located in Thief River Falls and Arctic Cat requested that Northland Community and Technical College work with this company.

• In February, Northland Community and Technical College opened an ACT testing center, part of a nationwide network of centers that deliver testing services and online training to business organizations and individuals, using computer-based technology or the Internet. One of the six computer-based testing stations is handicap accessible.

• Northland Community and Technical College is working with Bemidji State University to make its Small Business Development Center a full partner with Bemidji State University.

• Rainy River Community College will host an international conference to promote understanding and cooperation on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border on issues pertaining to the Rainy River Basin Watershed. The conference fits in well with Rainy River Community College's Water Resources Centre emphasis.

• Ridgewater College has created a Business and Management Center on its Hutchinson Campus. Its partners include the college's customized and continuing education, business programs, management programs, the workforce center, the local Chamber of Commerce, and the Small Business Development Center. Their goal is to provide a one-stop-shop for students and employers seeking training or educational opportunities in business or management-related areas.

• Ridgewater College has several collaborative partnerships in agriculture with the University of Minnesota.

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• Riverland Community College collaborated with other southeastern Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions to enhance training programs for the area.

• Rochester Community and Technical College has actively been part of dialogue to develop a community response, including career fairs to aid affected workers, to the closure of Celestica, a local manufacturer with 500 employees.

• Rochester Community and Technical College was chosen to participate in the new phase of the Rural Community College Initiative, an effort funded by the Ford Foundation. The college is one of three Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions designated as a demonstration site by the Ford Foundation. The purpose of the program is to foster economic development, increase access to education, enhance civic participation, develop new partnerships and initiate new programs to address the variety of challenges and opportunities existing in rural communities.

• The St. Cloud State University President's Community Advisory Council has identified priorities to be jointly addressed by the central Minnesota community and assigned them to the University Community Relations sub-committee of the University's Strategic Planning Committee as guides in the development of goals and key performance indicators.

• St. Cloud State University's continuing studies program has offered new courses at Nay Ah Shing School (Special Education), Pipestone (EDAD), and started an online cohort in behavioral analysis. The Aviation department is developing an online version of a BAS in Aviation Maintenance Management.

• In the current year, St. Cloud State University has developed customized training packages for Health Partners (Customer Service), Arctic Fox, Hutchinson Technologies, Redball LLC, and Electrolux.

• St. Cloud Technical College's Center for Customized Training and Development provided industry specific education and training for 132 employees at the request of the local industry.

• The St. Cloud Technical College Center for Customized Training and Development offered 20 ACT online training classes to a local industry client and completed an ESL mentoring contract for another local client. They also initiated the Virtual University Enterprises (VUE), a testing service for certification in the use of various software packages.

• St. Cloud Technical College is organizing a focus group of manufacturing CEO's to discuss the current trends (low enrollment) and future perspectives.

• Southwest State University hosted several forums/seminars to promote economic development and/or community vitality: a regional farm outlook seminar, a regional event to explore economic development in Southwest Minnesota and a Town Hall meeting.

• Due to the downturn in the economy, the strategic direction of the Red Wing Shoe Company has changed, and another plant has closed. Along with a new leadership and management team, the CEO's current focus for employees is on the retail training management side. With this new focus in mind, the company seeks delivery of portions of the Retail Training Program via e-learning. Winona State University is working with the Red Wing Shoe Co. to develop and modify this training into a CD e-learning platform. An intra-agency agreement has been signed with Rochester Community and Technical College to enlist their cooperation. Project development began in early February and is expected to continue into the summer when the training program will be officially launched to the Red Wing Shoe Co. employees.

• Winona State University is developing a "Leadership in Lean Manufacturing" training program for employees of Watlow Controls in Winona and PlastiCert, Inc., in Lewiston in response to the recession.

• Winona State University's Adult Continuing Education and Extension Department staff are providing educational advising to 98 displaced workers from Celestica in Rochester who possess two-year degrees.

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Additional partnerships with both public and private entities and having impacts on either economic or community development was also evident in the submissions from the campuses:

• Alexandria Technical College planned, with ISD 206 and the Governor's Office, a statewide conference to be held in Alexandria this summer that will focus on the challenges and opportunities facing greater Minnesota in the areas of education and social and economic vitality.

• Anoka-Ramsey Community College has expanded offerings in its Connection Program with St. Cloud State University by offering three additional sections in spring of 2003. Five college-level English sections were created for the St. Cloud State University Division of General Studies population served by Anoka-Ramsey Community College in the fall.

• Central Lakes College is expanding cooperative agreements with Southwest State to offer more bachelors-level programs at Brainerd. Southwest State University has allotted classroom, ITV, and faculty and staff office space on the Brainerd campus. Also, the college is participating in the Bemidji State online program for teacher education.

• Ascolta established a partnership with Dakota County Technical College to give Ascolta customers throughout the United States access to Dakota County Technical College's Cisco courses.

• Hibbing Community College continues to build a working relationship with the Northeast Higher Education District and cooperate with the District in expanding the Arrowhead University.

• Inver Hills Community College has partnered with Check Point, Inc., to be the first Check Point Training Academy in the United States. Check Point, Inc. is based in Israel and is the world's leader in computer network security software for business/industry. The college will receive training materials, curriculum, software and equipment from Check Point. The college will then provide training to students, employers, and instructors from other colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

• Inver Hills Community College Continuing Education/Customized Training division provided a seven-month management program to front line supervisors in several cities and counties in the metro area. The Academy for Public Management provides training to enhance professional effectiveness in the areas of supervision, relationship building, innovation and change, and communication.

• Inver Hills Community College was chosen as one of twenty institutions chosen to participate in a pilot CAEL Adults Learning survey produced by Noel Levitz. Inver Hills Community College's goal is to be designated as a CAEL Adult Learner Focused Institution, recognized by AQIP as a best practice.

• Lake Superior College provided three one-hour Workplace Accident and Injury Reduction safety presentations in January 2003 for Kolar Buick, which would like to have Lake Superior College provide this training annually.

• Lake Superior College's proposal to provide two Financial Retirement workshops for up to twenty employees per session for Stora Enso has been accepted.

• Northstar Aerospace has requested a proposal from Lake Superior College for training and consulting services to help the company present and train supervisors/employees on a particular corporate policy that is currently being drafted. Training delivery is anticipated for late spring of 2003.

• Lake Superior College is delivering Supervisory Leadership Certificate (10 credits) curriculum to a cohort of 21 supervisors from five north shore companies (API, L P Corporation, Minnesota Power, Northshore Mining, and Stanley Works/LaBounty). The training should be complete in February 2003.

• Riverland Community College collaborated with four-year institutions to deliver upper division programs to serve the printing and healthcare industries

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• This spring semester a trench training trailer had its safety training debut at South Central College. Funded through a Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant in collaboration with Alexandria Technical College and Southern Minnesota Construction, Heartland Services, GM Contracting, Inc. K & R Contracting, Northern Natural Gas, Williams Pipeline and Zacher Excavating, the trailer provides the latest in trench safety simulation and is used by the business partners to improve the life safety skills of their employees.

• Winona State University has entered into a one-year agreement with the City of Winona and St. Mary's University for provision of a student "Safe Ride Program." A community/student committee recognized the need for late night public transit in the City of Winona and worked cooperatively on a proposal to provide safe transportation between both universities and downtown Winona. This program will be reviewed at the end of the year to assess its effectiveness before a new contract is executed.

The Office of the Chancellor completed the legislative report on partnerships and collaborations between the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Priority: Fully Integrate the System.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will become a more efficient, effective and fully coordinated higher education system while respecting the differences and distinctiveness of the individual colleges and universities.

The presidents of the oversight institutions (Bemidji State University, Fergus Falls Community College, and Northland Community and Technical College) have met weekly to plan for reorganizing the five campuses of Northwest Technical College. Decisions have been made in customized training, distance education, curriculum and student services. The presidents have used guiding principles that require collaboration, cooperation, teamwork and communication. In a parallel development, Northland Community and Technical College has produced a transition plan to consolidate the campuses at Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks. Alexandria Technical College is making progress on completion and integration of the master academic, facility, and technology plans with a completion target of May 2003. In an effort to fully integrate the system even more from a systems standpoint, the Information Technology Services division began analysis of business practice variations among and between the institutions. The document resulting from this analysis will be a starting point for discussion among campus customers. While some variation is desirable and a direct result of the rich and varied missions of our institutions, some business procedure variation is simply "left over" from pre-merger days. The end result of discussing these variations will be some streamlining and greater integration of business practices. This benefits students, faculty and administrators moving within the system, and also reduces system complexity and overhead. Collaborative Planning Anoka-Hennepin Technical College's draft design criteria for an integrated master (academic, facility, and technology) plan has been completed and the facility and technology components are in the development phase. The Metro Alliance chief academic officers are working with campus chief financial officers and facility directors to develop a long-term integrated master academic facilities planning. Metro Alliance chief

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academic officers are also coordinating all new program proposals, suspensions and closures prior to communicating via the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities list serve. A new tracking system is in place. Pine Technical College re-organized staffing to add institutional research responsibilities to a key manager's portfolio and conducted an annual strategic planning effort in alignment with Minnesota State Colleges and Universities work plan priorities (including integration of plans and assessments). St. Cloud State University's Strategic Planning Committee and Enrollment Management Committee met with representatives of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems in February to discuss the development of key performance indicators and planning timelines for the university-the final plan will be submitted by May 2003. The Research and Planning unit of the Division of Academic and Student Affairs has developed an academic planning handbook, which the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) is currently preparing for printing and distribution. This handbook will be free for all Minnesota state colleges and universities. The Research and Planning unit of the Division of Academic and Student Affairs is currently working with Anoka Hennepin Technical College and Vermilion Community College to help these schools develop academic plans that drive and are integrated with their strategic, financial, technology and facilities plans. These academic plans will be completed by the end of fiscal year 2003. Office of the Chancellor staff, in partnership with other key stakeholders, developed an opportunity analysis process, researched response models within the system and from other states, and identified additional essential components of a system-wide ready response model, including environmental scanning, opportunity analysis, accountability, and information management. Representatives from the Office of the Chancellor are organizing a project team as part of the metro-area Employer Services Partnership. The project team will pilot the coordination and delivery of nursing instruction and services. Across-the-Board Priority-Measurement. The system-level Accountability Task Force made significant progress during this past quarter in developing recommended accountability measures. It identified twelve composite indicators aligned with the four strategic directions of the strategic plan. At a February 2003 leadership retreat, the Board of Trustees and Leadership Council provided feedback to the task force on its work to date. Also, the Board of Trustees selected five composite indicators for the task force to begin developing measures. At two meetings in March, the task force selected two or three measures for each of these five indicators. The task force has referred these measures to the Institutional Research (IR) Directors group to develop technical specifications. The IR Directors intend to present data on as many measures as possible by June 2003. If appropriate data are not available for a measure, the IR Directors will identify a timeline and plan for development. Conclusion The third quarter of the second year saw significant progress toward our new goals in spite of the current challenges. We are confident that the progress will continue and will move the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities forward as a system to better serve students and citizens.

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Quarterly Report Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Work Plan for 2002-2003

Actions for Third Quarter of 2002-2003

July 16, 2003

Overview The 2003 year has been strained by the State's fiscal circumstances. As the governing board, our constituencies, and citizens may expect, however, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have chosen to continue our commitments as defined by the strategic plan, “Designing the Future”. The 2003 year witnessed the implementation, by means of an ambitious annual work plan, of the second stage of a long-term design. This report, the final quarterly report for the 2003 year, communicates the accountability of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, and identifies noteworthy progress toward achieving annual objectives and the larger overall objectives of the strategic plan. The colleges and universities continue to make significant progress on the initiatives detailed in the previous quarterly reports. The focus in this report is a summary of the achievements for the year. The summary is presented using a color scorecard similar to that employed by the Internal Auditor (Appendix A: Summary of 2002-2003 Work Plan Outcomes). The achievements of the fourth quarter are presented in summary form in another appendix (Appendix B: Fourth Quarter Institutional Activities). It is important to understand that not all achievements are listed in the appendices. Greater detail was provided by the institutions and can be made available upon request. Results Using the three-color scorecard available in Appendix A-which is based on an extensive review of the information captured in a more than 90 page matrix containing Office of the Chancellor and institutional results and initiatives over all four quarters-the results of the 17 major action steps across the six priorities in the 2002-2003 Work Plan follow:

• 2 of 17 action steps, or 11.8 percent of the work plan, are in progress but not yet completed (indicated in yellow);

• 15 of 17 action steps, or 88.2 percent of the work plan, are completed or effectively completed (indicated in green).

• Extricating sub steps from the 17 action steps, the following evaluation is possible:

• 1 of 81 sub steps, or 1.2 percent of the work plan, have seen either no or insufficient progress (1) (indicated in red);

• 13 of 81 sub steps, or 16.0 percent of the work plan, have seen some progress but not yet been completed (indicated in yellow);

• 67 of 81 sub steps, or 82.7 percent of the work plan, have been completed or effectively completed at the time this report was written (indicated in green).

A few observations exemplifying the accomplishments of the recently concluded fiscal year are offered.

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Increase Access and Opportunity A national study conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates and Coldwater Corporation for the Educational Testing Service found that Americans are mostly positive about our higher education system. Despite the overall positive evaluations for higher education, the majority think that our nation's education system is coming up short: more than half (52 percent) say that our nation's education system is falling behind when it comes to offering young people from all backgrounds a chance to go to a college or university. The public wants more people to have access to college. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities strategic plan, “Designing the Future”, emphasizes inclusion. The first two annual work plans have stressed that all Minnesotans should have the chance to share in the benefits of higher education. While efforts continue and progress is incremental, early data indicate positive results in student enrollments but mixed results in attracting and retaining faculty and staff. The number and proportion of students of color enrolled in our colleges and universities have increased. There were 2,538 more students of color in fiscal 2002 enrolled in fall classes than in fiscal 2001, (2) a 21.3 percent increase (to 14,449), which compares to a total increase of 6,788 students or 4.1 percent overall growth for the system. Students of color represented 37.4 percent of the growth of the system between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2002. After a decline by 47 faculty of color from fiscal 2001 to fiscal 2002, the numbers increased by 93-or 46 more than in fiscal 2001-in fiscal 2003. The percentage of faculty of color among all faculty increased from 6.1 percent to 6.8 percent of the total. Among staff, (3) numbers declined from fiscal 2001 to fiscal 2002 (440 to 313) before climbing again in fiscal 2003 to 347. The latter still represents a net loss of 93 staff of color over two fiscal years. In the same period, the colleges and universities lost nearly one thousand staff positions-staff of color represented 10.3 percent of the overall loss in staff positions. Our efforts continue in this area, and we will strive to make greater progress within the framework of our operating constraints. (4) Training, an important tool in any long-term diversity efforts, also was made available throughout the system. During the year, for instance, 480 St. Cloud State University employees participated in diversity training on campus for a combined total of 3,360 training hours. In October of 2002, the Minnesota State University Moorhead President's office hosted an all-faculty professional development day devoted to the topic of improving racial and ethnic diversity of students, faculty, and staff. Normandale Community College established September 24 as an all-staff diversity professional development day and established a long-term staff training model to address cross-cultural understanding. On another front, improvements are occurring on second language learning. For example, the number of students enrolled in English as Second Language (ESL) courses at North Hennepin Community College increased 62 percent between Fall Semester 2002 and 2003. Minnesota West Community and Technical College has continued its Occupational Spanish program and served 334 professionals and students in many occupations during the year. St. Paul College provided additional sections of Occupational ESL to an increased number of students in 2002-2003. The previously mentioned Educational Testing Service study also found that nearly all respondents (96 percent) believed that a college education is a good investment, including 72 percent who saw it as a very good investment. Increase Support The belief that higher education is a good investment has been demonstrated in several ways within the system. Under the mandate to work more aggressively in securing non-state funding, giving to the

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Minnesota State Colleges and Universities appears to have made substantial progress. (5) For example, contributions to the Minnesota West Community and Technical College Foundation have increased by more than 50 percent with last quarter data still pending. In addition, colleges and universities have attracted significant contributions in both equipment and funds from their excellent relationships with their business and community partners. For example, Honda donated over $200,000 of new equipment to the new Power Sports program at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, and Itasca Community College was awarded an $180,000 technology grant from the Blandin Foundation. The St. Cloud State University Foundation has raised more than $1.9 million for St. Cloud State University to date, including more than $400,000 for endowed scholarships and $250,000 for scholarships that will go directly to students. The Ridgewater College Foundation worked in partnership with Ridgewater College to raise funds totaling more than $300,000 in support of a new nursing simulation center and nursing program. Southwest Minnesota State University aggressively expanded development activities, creating a 24 percent increase in development funds to $1.1 million raised in fiscal 2003. The reports from the institutions also show that the work plan emphasis on external fundraising has resulted in some immediate increases in fund raising. For instance, Minnesota State University, Mankato received $3,328,584 in external grants and contracts for the 2002 calendar year. More proposals than ever were submitted and the most dollars ever were received. St. Cloud State University has received $3,329,000 in grants ($1,817,000) and contracts ($1,484,000) for the 2003 fiscal year. St. Paul College received a Mid-West Center for Post-Secondary Outreach grant of $1,000,000 for each of 5 years ($5,000,000). Continued concerted efforts in external fundraising should manifest themselves more clearly in the coming years. As an example of a collaborative effort, the Bush Foundation recently announced a grant of $251,000 to support neighborhood educational and literacy outreach activities from the St. Paul Public Library branch located within Metropolitan State University's new library on Dayton's Bluff in East St. Paul. Metropolitan State University, through its Foundation, submitted the grant proposal jointly with the St. Paul Public Libraries. Another sign of improvement in this area is the capital campaign drive underway through the Fergus Area College Foundation board and Minnesota State College - Southeast Technical continued preparation, in conjunction with its foundation, for a capital drive of roughly $3 million. In early 2003, Minneapolis Community and Technical College prepared a case statement and organized a campaign committee. The college recently announced a $2,000,000 campaign for scholarships, technology and library resources. With $500,000 in pledges so far, Minneapolis Community and Technical College's campaign is building upon the $1,000,000 endowment from long-time friend and supporter Wheelock Whitney. The Anoka Technical College Foundation's $4 million major investment campaign was publicly announced in May 2003. Pledges to-date total $2 million. Normandale Community College, which recently initiated its first major gift campaign, "Creating Futures.Changing Lives," has secured pledges of over $1.6 million. As a result of combined local and statewide efforts, system colleges and universities have enjoyed increased success in raising federal dollars. Office of the Chancellor staff coordinated a federal legislative agenda for healthcare. The system applied for federal Nurse Reinvestment Act funds to support system initiatives in nursing education. Expand High Quality Learning Programs and Services Several institutions demonstrated continued quality through specialized re-accreditation by professional organizations. The North Hennepin Community College and St. Paul College nursing programs received re-accreditation from the National League for Nursing. All of Winona State University's nursing programs and options also have been re-accredited for the maximum period of time by the Commission

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on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Normandale Community College received full accreditation from the National Commission on Dental Accreditation. The St. Paul College Medical Lab Technician program was re-accredited by the National Association of Allied Clinical Lab Sciences (NAACLS) and its Respiratory Therapy program by the Committee on Allied Respiratory Care (CoARC). St. Cloud State University's Manufacturing and Electrical Engineering were re-accredited through the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). St. Paul College also received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification, making it one of a very limited number of certified programs in the Midwest. The Minnesota State University, Mankato School of Nursing reported a 100 percent pass rate for the eleven Master of Science Nursing (MSN) students taking the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Family Nurse Practitioner Certification Examination and for the Dental Hygiene students on their Board exam. Winona State University's pass rate on the American Nurse Credentialing Center national certification exams in its three specialty areas has been 100 percent at first sitting since program inception. Nationally, the first time pass rate for the specialty areas ranged from 60 percent to 87 percent. Strengthen Community Development and Economic Vitality Fond du Lac Community and Tribal College, the Northeast Higher Education District and Rochester Community and Technical College were chosen to participate as demonstration sites in the new phase of the Rural Community College Initiative, an effort funded by the Ford Foundation. The purpose of the program is to foster economic development, increase access to education, enhance civic participation, develop new partnerships and initiate new programs to address the variety of challenges and opportunities existing in rural communities. Working together, the Office of the Chancellor and several colleges and universities developed a multilateral workforce planning model and guide based on a pilot test using nursing in the metropolitan area. The model is distinctive because system participants are joined with industry and community stakeholders, the data infrastructure will be transportable to other regions and occupations and a reporting relationship has been established with a metropolitan Employer Services Partnership. A regional customized training consortium has increased awareness of system capacities within neighboring institutions, developed and implemented strategies to increase management efficiencies in marketing, staff development and grant applications and developed a plan to provide consistent communication to external stakeholders. As a result of combined local and statewide efforts, system colleges and universities have made some progress, partially through a significant increase in online courses and programs, in addressing the nursing shortage. However, absent sufficient funds, expansions have been undertaken through reallocations at the colleges and universities and waiting lists persist. The number of students at North Hennepin Community College declaring a major in a health related occupational program grew by 35 percent between 2002 and 2003. Normandale Community College added a Nursing Assistant Program to the curriculum in response to the demand from healthcare employers. In two semesters, more than 250 students have enrolled in the course. At Minnesota State University, Mankato the number of applicants accepted into the undergraduate program was increased to achieve a goal of increasing baccalaureate graduates by May 2003. Anoka-Ramsey Community College expanded the nursing (RN) program on the Cambridge Campus, adding a cohort of 27 students in January. Hibbing Community College expanded nursing enrollments from 80 to 200 and hosted an evening/weekend 2nd year nursing program for the Iron Range. Such expansions provide greater programmatic access to the citizens of Minnesota while simultaneously addressing a critical workforce shortage.

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Four of our colleges, working collaboratively with workforce service area boards and local employers, provided registered nursing education for approximately 150 students at 10 new locations in rural Minnesota through the H1B "Bridging Distances" grant funded by the Department of Labor. Fully Integrate the System As reported yesterday and today, the Division of Academic and Student Affairs has made significant progress at the system level on the reorganization of Northwest Technical College, on collaboration with the University of Minnesota on the Metro Consortium, and on integrated campus planning. The Office of the Chancellor and selected northwestern institutions completed a collaborative healthcare professions workforce study with University of Minnesota. Minnesota West Community and Technical College has offered to partner with the University of Minnesota Extension Service during their re-organization. Minnesota West offers co-location and coordination with their Farm Business Management programs. Minneapolis Community and Technical College and Metropolitan State University continue discussions on integrating student affairs, technology and operations functions for more efficient and effective performance. Minneapolis Community and Technical College also helped organize a Metro Alliance retreat to identify structural options that will improve the Alliance's ability to respond to the needs of the region. North Hennepin Community College added technology-enhanced instructional and service opportunities for students and employees with the number of classes offered online growing from six to 12 and the number of Web-enhanced classes from 44 to 64. Additionally, over 90 percent of North Hennepin Community College registration activities occurred over the Web. Between regular programming and customized training, St. Paul College was able to deliver learning to Saint Paul residents seven days per week, twenty-four hours per day. The Global Center for Agriculture Education, jointly developed by Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Ridgewater College, and South Central College, has expanded to include 26 instructors from seven Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions. Conclusion Given the rescinding of allocated system funds and the time absorbed by the immediate legislative session, the record of achievement is creditable. While not quantifiable throughout, it represents significant measurable movement since 2001-2002. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have made real progress, especially on the road to becoming a successful system, despite the differing but noteworthy challenges the last two years have presented. End Notes (1) Action item 9.2 "has not been accomplished due to a lack of necessary resources to support a position or professional development activity." (2) This is the last year for which comprehensive data relatively free of errors is available. (3) In this usage, "staff" is an all-inclusive term that includes administrators. (4) Collective bargaining agreements frequently dictate the procedures for reductions in force and those with less seniority, often staff of color who were most recently hired, are frequently those whose positions are eliminated. (5) End-of-the-year data has not yet been tabulated, but early reports indicate improvements.

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