Regents impressed with FVCC work

Flathead Valley Community College’s partnerships with the local business community got high marks during a public forum with members of the state Board of Regents on Thursday in Kalispell.

“We heard marvelous things about the partnerships FVCC has created,” Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns said after the meeting. “It [FVCC] is really doing a superb job of delivering its mission.”

Stearns and Regent Clay Christian took comments from local educators and citizens as part of an 18-stop listening tour the Board of Regents is conducting statewide to hear from Montanans about higher education concerns.

FVCC President Jane Karas called Thursday’s forum “a great dialogue” and an opportunity to explain how the college works with local businesses and industry.

Montana’s College!Now education initiative was a key focus of the forum.

The $1.8 million project, funded over four years by the Lumina Foundation for Education, aims to increase the number of Montanans with college degrees by putting emphasis on the state’s two-year colleges and how those institutions can provide affordable regional access and courses tailored to community needs.

Montana is one of just three states (the others are Texas and Arizona) that received the initiative funding; 40 states applied, Stearns said.

Two-year colleges long have been overshadowed by their more popular four-year counterparts, Stearns said, and the College!Now initiative is striving to raise awareness of the benefits of two-year colleges.

There are many reasons why two-year colleges are now coming into their own.

Between now and 2018, Montana will need to fill about 155,000 job vacancies due largely to new job creation and retiring baby boomers. Of those vacancies, 96,000 will require postsecondary credentials, according to an analysis by the Georgetown University Center on Education.

Half of the 25 fastest-growing jobs will require at least an associate’s degree.

Expanding dual high school/college enrollment is a goal of College!Now. Dual enrollment allows high school students to take college classes while still in high school.

Stearns said the state has made some progress in dual enrollment and would like to increase awareness of that opportunity for students. College!Now will bring the transfer degree — an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science — to all Montana two-year colleges.

FVCC already offers transfer degrees.

DeAnn Thomas, director of the career centers at Flathead and Glacier high schools, said she’s concerned about a licensure requirement that she believes impedes dual-credit opportunities.

Dual enrollment faculty must be approved by the college and meet minimum qualifications established by the Board of Regents and must have K-12 licensure if teaching dual-credit courses.

Stearns said the board worked for some time to find a compromise for the licensure issue and came up with a four-hour or half-day course that college instructors now can take to meet the licensure requirement.

State Rep. Bill Beck, R-Whitefish, said he wants to see the state put more emphasis on reading and writing comprehension in the K-12 system.

Stearns said literacy is a continual goal of the state education system and pointed to a writing project started by the university system 10 years ago as one way the state is working to promote literacy.

Other strategies outlined in the College!Now initiative include using technology to expand access for students and save community colleges money, and funding colleges based on students’ progress and success, not just enrollment.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com