Kegel looks at successes, troubles

The interim chancellor of Montana State University-Northern spoke to community members, university faculty and staff about the current status of some of the bigger issues the institution is facing, as well as some of the positive changes.

Montana State University-Northern Interim Chancellor Greg Kegel spoke Thursday night of the State of the University at Hensler Auditorium in the Applied Technology Building.

Kegel spoke both of the successes and tribulations of the university at the public address and spoke, overall with hope about the future for the institution.

Full-time student drop

Full-time enrolled student numbers are down from last year and years before that. Kegel said that he and his crew have plans to better recruit and retain students, but as it stands now, the numbers have dropped semester to semester. A nonofficial count of full-time enrolled students for 2014 was 1,146.31. The count for 2015 is 1,103.79.

Kegel said one of the first things he did when he took the place of former chancellor James Limbaugh was form a committee to look into possible ways to stifle the loss of full-time students and reverse it.

"There's no way that enrollment isn't a critical thing," he said.

One of the simplest ways the university can increase its number of full-time students is by changing courses' credit worth. Kegel said that there is a large number of students who are just below the full-time mark. If tweaks were made to the credit-worth of some of the classes, the university would have an amount over the loss it experienced from last year.

"Even if we just raised each one of those classes one credit, it would contribute about 75 FTE," Kegel said.

He added studies show that students who have a heavier class load - over the full-time mark - generally receive better grades than those below it. Therefore, a push for students to take more classes would benefit both performance levels of the student body and the university's full-time student levels.

New auto-diesel building

Kegel said Waded Cruzado, president of the Montana State University system, has given him the green light to start construction of the new Automotive/Diesel Technology Building.

He said he and Cruzado are going to have a meeting with the CEO of ConocoPhillips to pitch the possibility of the company donating funds for the building.

The university is short of the $4 million it needed to raise in order to complete the project, but with the recent contributions of monetary donations from partners and benefactors, there is enough to break ground and get the ball rolling with the new building.

The recent gifts from big-name companies, including General Electric, BNSF Railway and Independence Bank sent the university fairly well over $3 million of the $4 million needed for the project, but the institution is still on the quest to achieve the goal for the project.

An audience member asked the interim chancellor when they can expect construction to begin on the new building, to which Kegel replied he did not know when the construction would be completed, but the current building in which the automotive and diesel classes are held would be demolished after classes are over this spring semester.

He said that, so far, no one he has contacted about donating to the construction of the building has said no. They have not all donated, but many have pledged donations to the project.

The university does not have the funds to complete the project by itself. MSU-Northern is in debt to the Montana State University system for about $1 million, Kegel said.

"And they expect their money back," he said, adding that they are making payments on this debt.

In addition to the construction of the new building, there are improvements that are needed to current buildings that need to be made, he said.

Community feelings

"Northern lost a little bit of integrity," Kegel said, alluding to the feelings some of the Havre community and Northern employees and students felt toward the university in recent times.

He said one of the first things he needed to do when taking his current position is gain back community support of the university.

"It's so vitally important," he said.

The community barbecue in October was more successful than he had anticipated, he said. That, in addition to Cowboy Christmas and other events, have increased community support for the university which experienced some negative happenings that damaged its reputation before he took the place of Limbaugh, who resigned in August due to the environment of the college.

The nursing department, which was in a state of turmoil a year ago, has switched directions and is doing well, Kegel said. The representative of the state nursing board who visited Northern to take a look at the program last year recognized that the program was on a decline. This year, she visited again and said the program took a 180-degree turn for the better, Kegel said.

After his address to the community, an audience member asked about the future of Donaldson Hall. The building has been a source of some contention, as its place in the history of the university has rallied people behind the cause of saving it, but the university does not have the funds to revitalize it.

Kegel said that to bring the building up to par would bring a bill of around $8 million.

"Donaldson is a problem," he said.

In September of 2013, the building received a $250,000 facelift meant to stabilize the structure, which was and still is in disrepair. Kegel said it did not work. The building costs too much to revitalize and is expensive to demolish, if it came down to that option. The future of the building, which is not on the historic registry, is uncertain.

Kegel said that he is hopeful of the future of the city of Havre and of MSU-Northern. The university's place as one of the premiere diesel colleges in the nation and some of the major economic changes in the Hi-Line area, including the Bakken oil boom and the possibility of the Keystone XL Pipeline, mean good opportunities for the area and eyes are on the future.