MSU president fights for higher education

New Montana State University President Waded Cruzado has discovered the fierce loyalties of Cats versus Griz, but she sees nothing but solidarity in their missions.

“I positively believe that both institutions make contributions to elevate the quality of life of all Montanans,” she said.

 As Montana State University professors wooed local high school students on Thursday, Cruzado made the rounds of media, including the Daily Inter Lake editorial board.

On the job since Jan. 1, Cruzado, a native of Puerto Rico, replaced Geoff Gamble and became the first woman and minority president. She came from New Mexico State, where she was executive vice president and provost and had served 10 months as interim president.

She hit the ground running, placing a priority on getting out of her office and into the communities across the state served by the four campuses in Bozeman, Billings, Havre and Great Falls.

Cruzado has scheduled a listening tour of the campuses as well as the agricultural centers and hopes in time to visit all the extension offices.

“The idea is to immerse myself in the communities and university system,” she said.

Cruzado has seen and heard much to her liking so far, calling Montana a beautiful state with great people. She also lauded the quality of Montana State University.

The new president doesn’t see her move to Montana as a large departure from the environment she left behind.

“There are more similarities between New Mexico and Montana than you would initially expect,” she said. “They’re both large states, sparsely populated. The populations are very similar in the rural communities.”  

With state revenue projections in free fall from the recession, Cruzado fields questions at every stop about the governor’s mandate to plan for 5 percent cuts. She said the university has 147 recommended savings under review.

“We need to make sure that we don’t lose sight, while attempting to reduce the budget, that we aren’t limited to reducing expenses,” she said. “We can also enhance sources of funding.”

Cruzado said her approach was to go after “the low-hanging fruit.” The first fruit she identified was expanding distance learning.

She said communities need innovative ways to serve “place-bound” students who can’t relocate due to family or job commitments. The university now has several technologies to teach people in their homes or on local campuses.

Cruzado targeted student retention as the second low-hanging fruit she intends to harvest. The idea is to identify ways to increase the rate of freshmen who return to school as sophomores.

“Right now it’s hovering at 72 percent,” she said. “I think we can do better.”

The president said the university can accomplish this without compromising quality education or watering down the curriculum by providing students tools they need for success.

Cruzado doesn’t see closing campuses as an answer to the budget woes. Experience in other states has shown that ongoing expenses of debt services for buildings and the cost of serving relocated students add up to little in savings.

“More and more people want to complete their education,” she said.

Cruzado argues that finding more efficient ways of providing education offers a better solution. She mentioned more evening classes and new class structures breaking out of the traditional three-credit class taught three days a week during a full semester.

As an example, she mentioned compressed study over weekends that could meet the needs of master studies for executives with full-time jobs.

She said she has gained insight from her son and daughter who are now attending college.

“I have learned from them that they are looking for alternatives like taking online courses from other institutions,” she said.

Cruzado also supports seeking grants to enhance the visibility of the institution while also creating hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduates.

“That makes learning more fun,” she said.

Last week, Cruzado also met with officials at Flathead Valley Community College, where Montana State University offers a four-year nursing degree. With huge gains in enrollment from displaced workers, the community college offers fertile ground for such partnerships.

“I anticipate there are some opportunities for more collaboration using different modalities like distance learning,” she said.

According to Cruzado, Montana State University has also seen enrollment gains but nothing as dramatic as the community college’s 30 to 40 percent jumps.

Just like the community college, many new MSU students don’t fit the old model of freshly minted high school graduates embarking on the second phase of their education.

“It’s adult learners looking for a second or third degree to enhance their career opportunities,” she said. “It’s also retirees who now have the time to learn a discipline they were always interested in.”

Cruzado staunchly defends the value of a four-year-and-beyond education, even in the face of rapidly rising college costs. She said all the research she has seen shows solid evidence of greatly increased earning power over a lifetime and something more.

“It’s not only measured in terms of dollars and cents,” she said. “A four-year education enhances your quality of life.”

She cited studies that have found graduates live longer, have fewer divorces and better health.

As she tours the service area of MSU, Cruzado makes the point said that land grant colleges such as Montana State University were created to provide these benefits to more than a privileged few.

“I always tell people that land grant colleges are here to educate the sons and daughters of the working class,” she said.

Even though some studies show up to 50 percent of those graduates leave Montana, Cruzado said that research provides an incomplete picture. She said the research looks at new graduates but doesn’t follow up a few years later.

“I was the first generation in my family to go to college,” she said. “I went to Texas. When I had my first opportunity, I went back home.”

She said she returned to Puerto Rico when her children were three and five so they could grow up with the blessings of an extended family around them. She said she also wanted to pay back and give back to the community.

According to Cruzado, she has found Montanans also come back.

She related her experience in Great Falls where she visited  Benefis Healthcare. She polled the nurses and found the overwhelming majority went to MSU and stayed or returned to Montana for the quality of life.

“I hear that story over and over again,” she said.

The new president passionately believes that taxpayer investments in higher education benefit both the student with a better life and the community with a higher quality of life.

“Everybody wins when a kid in Montana decides to go to college,” Cruzado said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com