By Tim Leeds
A public forum on program review at Montana State University-Northern will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 5, at the Student Union Building Ballroom.
Trygve Magelssen, ASMSUN senator, said Chancellor Mike Rao, Provost Roger Barber and regent Lynn Hamilton have said they will attend. The rest of the regents have also been invited, Magelssen said.
Magelssen said the forum will provide community members and faculty, students and staff at the university the opportunity to present their views on the program review recommendations, approved by the Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education on March 23.
"It's for those that are concerned about the campus and the situation with program review," Magelssen said, "that we can work on a viable solution to make things right and go on in a positive manner from here."
Ed Jasmin, chair of the regents' meeting last week, said nothing is set in concrete, and they will deliberate any changes in recommendations brought to them in future meetings.
Rao said he doesn't believe changes in the recommendations for elimination can all be reversed, but he said some changes in recommendations could occur.
The recommendations for review came after programs which did not meet a criterion for productivity were identified. If a baccalaureate program does not average five or more graduates in a three year period, it is considered unproductive and considered for alteration or elimination.
MSU-Northern's recommendations to the regents included about 20 programs for elimination or alteration. Some of these programs had only one or fewer graduates in the last six years.
