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Helena firm to promote two-year colleges [Independent Record, Helena, Mont.](Independent Record (Helena, MT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) June 12--Helena-based communications and marketing firm Strategies 360 Montana has been selected to serve as the consultant for a Montana University System initiative that aims to draw interest and increase access to the state's two-year colleges. The College!Now program is funded through a $1.77 million grant from the private, Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education. The money was awarded in 2009 and is available for four years, by the end of which the university system is hoping to expand the scope of its two-year colleges and garner more local interest in the workforce training and transfer education opportunities they offer. The effort began several years ago, when Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns and the Board of Regents -- the university system's governing board -- recognized a huge "need and opportunity" in Montana, which was nearly last in the nation in its percentage of undergraduate students enrolled in two-year programs, said John Cech, deputy commissioner for two-year and community college education and former dean of the Montana State University-Billings College of Technology. That percentage has grown over the last decade, from 17 percent in 2001 to 29 percent in 2011, though it still trails behind the national average of 46 percent. When Cech's predecessor, Mary Sheehy Moe, initially contacted the Lumina Foundation, the university system received a one-year grant to conduct an audit of its program before submitting a more extensive proposal, which successfully secured the four-year funding. Cech stepped into his current job in January and started working with the colleges to develop comprehensive vision and mission statements regarding two-year education in the state, which will serve as a guide for the work that follows. The document was approved by the Board of Regents in May. And now, to help with the next steps in the process, Strategies 360 Montana is on board. The firm, which has been in Helena since 2008, beat out companies from as far away as Missouri for the job. Strategies 360 grew out of a partnership between a public relations company and a marketing firm that started in Seattle in 2003. It now has regional offices in Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Anchorage, Alaska; Albuquerque, N.M.; Boise, Idaho; and Washington, D.C., in addition to the Helena location. Adam Pinley, senior vice president for Strategies 360 Montana, said the company's diverse services and experiences -- which include everything from communications, public relations and social media to public policy, marketing and design -- would work well with the College!Now project. "It really was an absolute perfect fit," he said. Some of the firm's undertakings have included legislative efforts to assist the Salish and Kootenai tribes, and work with Fortune 500 companies who need help understanding how to operate within Montana, Pinley said. Still early into its work with College!Now, nothing specific has been planned yet, he said, but the firm is ready to start diving into the project. The state's current two-year college resources include five COTs -- MSU-Billings, MSU-Great Falls, UM-Helena, UM-Missoula and Montana Tech in Butte -- and three community colleges -- Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, Dawson Community College in Glendive and Miles Community College in Miles City. Two-year opportunities are also available in Bozeman, Havre, Lewiston, Dillon and Hamilton. Other programs exist within the state's seven tribal colleges, but they don't fall within the jurisdiction of the Montana University System -- however, Cech noted that one of the goals for the future is to work more closely with them. The College!Now initiative is broken down into five overarching strategies: 1. Extending the comprehensive two-year mission -- with its focuses on transfer education, workforce development, adult education, lifelong learning and community development -- to the state's five COTs, including rebranding and renaming them. Even though it's been more than a decade since the schools became designated colleges of technology associated with the state's flagship campuses, many people still see them as the vocational technical schools -- "vo-techs" -- they started as, Cech said. Their programs have continued to expand over the years and, by 2013, the university system hopes to see them operating as comprehensive community colleges, he said. Among the benefits they can offer students is the ability to complete their first two years of college at a COT -- with lower tuition rates -- before transferring to a four-year institution to finish their education, Cech said. There appear to be other advantages to obtaining an associate's degree through a college of technology. Montana graduates in 2008-2009 with such degrees made an average of $29,098 a year, whereas those with bachelor's degrees had an average salary of $25,760. And the training at the colleges has been attracting more people over the past decade. Enrollment in the schools increased by nearly 3,000 full-time-equivalents between 2001 and 2011, to what is now more than 6,000 FTEs. Dislocated workers affected by such industry closures as Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. in Frenchtown and Stimson Lumber in Bonner have boosted those numbers in recent years. 2. Ensuring that every Montana region is served by a two-year college or program that acts as a regional educational clearinghouse hub. This would encompass a number of things, like workforce education relevant to local businesses and industries and additional program opportunities in the early morning and evening or on weekends so working adults can use them. It would also include expanding dual-credit opportunities for high school students, including options through the online Montana Digital Academy, as MSU-Great Falls and UM-Missoula have done and five other two-year colleges in Montana, including UM-Helena, are in the process of making available, Cech said. Communication among the various two-year colleges is another aspect of the objective. As an example, the schools recently collaborated to apply for a $17.5 million U.S. Department of Labor grant that would allow them to change the way developmental math is taught in the state. It would use a computer-based program that identifies an individual's strengths and weaknesses in the subject, Cech said. 3. Creating efficiencies through coordinated curricula and integrated technology. That includes initiatives like establishing a common course numbering system across all the schools in the Montana University System, which ensured that equivalent courses are designated with the same number -- "M121" for college algebra, for example -- so it's easier to transfer credits among institutions, Cech said. 4. Including performance-based components in Montana's higher education funding model. Essentially, using various performance metrics to track every college's productivity and then rewarding the schools who've seen the biggest increases. 5. Ensuring that constituent groups are aware, informed and engaged with two-year education. That includes collaborating with policymakers, K-12 educators, students and parents, and four-year institutions. The Board of Regents has requested updates at each of its monthly meetings to see how the College!Now efforts are progressing. Additional information about the initiative is available at www.mus.edu/twoyear/COLLEGEnow/default.asp. Reporter Allison Maier: 447-4075 or [email protected] ___ To see more of the Independent Record, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.helenair.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Independent Record, Helena, Mont. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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