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Board of Regents approves new UM Mission Statement as re-org work continues

Posted at 5:04 PM, May 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-24 19:04:12-04

HAVRE – University of Montana President Seth Bodnar tells the Board of Regents there’s still work to be done on UM’s plans for restructuring, and possibly implementing major spending and job cuts in the next few years.

But he says UM leadership is committed to “shared governance” and involving the entire campus in making those decisions.

Bodnar made an initial presentation of UM’s new “Mission Statement” as the Montana University System Board of Regents met in Havre Thursday morning. That new statement forms the core of a broader plan to save some $10 million in spending, but just as importantly, adjust to changing enrollments.

Faculty Senate leaders said the Mission Statement reflects the “theme” of preserving undergraduate and graduate “professional” work, while “articulating the challenge” of meeting students’ needs in the future.

Bodnar says UM wants to “sustain programs”, but says there will be reductions in “certain areas” where enrollments are dropping. But he pledged adjustments will “continue over time”, with decisions made “as a team."

“How do we as a university, regardless of discipline, regardless of whether you’re going to be an accountant, a pharmacist, a biologist, a neuroscientist, that when you leave the University of Montana that you’re prepared for an uncertain and dynamic future? And that’s a key component of this as well, and that is, the creative and agile learners,” Bodnar said.

It’s expected the broader questions of UM’s cuts will be discussed through the summer as part of the University System’s budget process.