Workplace Issues Face Ed Leaders

By Pickett, Mary

Higher-education leaders heard some familiar themes – including that the state needs more trained workers – Thursday morning during one of the last listening sessions organized by the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

Todd Buchanan and Janine Pease, who are Billings members of the Montana Board of Regents, and Mick Robinson, the associate commissioner for fiscal affairs, led the public meeting at the Montana State University Billings Downtown Campus.

Later in the day, they met with MSU Billings faculty and students.

One recurring message emerging from the dozen listening sessions around the state has been employers having a hard time finding qualified workers because of the state’s low unemployment rate, Robinson said.

That message was repeated at the Billings meeting.

The morning session was split between a discussion of work force development attended by about 40 people and health care issues that attracted about 20.

Education is important to economic development, Robinson said.

Regents have emphasized two-year education not only because many jobs now require training provided by two-year degrees or certificates, but also because two-year schools may be the best academic environment for some students to start their postsecondary education.

Despite the importance of two-year education, only 17 percent of full-time-equivalent Montana students go to two-year schools, Robinson said.

Efforts to get students thinking about two-year schools should start in middle school, several participants said.

As important as two-year programs are, expanding graduate university programs could increase the number of jobs with higher salaries for Montana residents, Buchanan said.

Although a tuition freeze was passed by the 2007 Legislature, “affordability is a huge issue” for many Montana families, Pease said.

With fewer students expected to graduate from Montana high schools over the next 10 years, the University System needs to recruit older state residents to help stave off declining enrollments.

Low salaries paid to college and university faculty and staff have been a continuing problem in recruiting and keeping qualified teachers.

State Sen. Roy Brown, R-Billings, asked if there were restrictions on businesses giving equipment or supplementing instructors’ salaries to help keep them in the state.

Lenette Kosovich, director of human resources for St. Vincent Healthcare, said her hospital and Billings Clinic contribute to salaries for nursing instructors at MSU’s program in Billings.

Stan Barr, director of School District 2′s Career Center, said he also is having trouble recruiting vocational teachers when current instructors retire.

Those attending the sessions also suggested:

* Creating more slots for Montana students in the WWAMI medical school program and perhaps think about starting a medical school in Billings.

* Training more nurses and many other types of health care workers.

* Starting a training program for anesthesiology technicians. Billings anesthesiologist Dave Rietz said that, because there is no such program in five or six surrounding states, local anesthesiologists. have to train their own technicians, who are an important part of patient care.

MSU Billings, in conjunction with several other schools in the state, is applying for a Department of Labor grant to start a program to train technicians in anesthesiology pharmacy and respiratory therapy, said David McGinnis of MSU Billings’ grants program.

* Taking another look at proposal made by Sen. Jeff Essmann, R- Billings, in the 2007 Legislature to build a regional work force center at the MSU Billings College of Technology and managed by the college. The bill died in committee.

The building was designed to house short-term training programs needed by local companies and other groups.

Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns was unable to attend the Thursday meeting because her daughter was having a baby in Helena.

For more information about the Montana University System’s strategic goals, go to www.mus.edu and click on “Strategic Directions Presentation.”

The University System officials will be in Red Lodge from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at Bridge Creek Backcountry Kitchen for a public meeting for Stillwater and Carbon County residents.

Copyright Billings Gazette Oct 26, 2007

(c) 2007 Billings Gazette, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.