Darrel Huish Hired as MnSCU CIO

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees in January appointed Darrel Huish vice chancellor and chief information officer for the system.

Huish, 53, has been vice chancellor and chief information officer for Maricopa Community Colleges in Tempe, Ariz., since 2004. From 1996 to 2004, he was assistant vice provost for information technology at Arizona State University. Huish will replace Ken Niemi, who retired in January.

Central Office Spending and Services Reviewed

The Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) released a report in February on the spending the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system allocates for centralized staff and resources and the office’s effectiveness. The report outlines findings in several areas, including oversight by the Board of Trustees, technology investment expenditures, academic program review, and the transfer of credits.

The report found that the system spent $89 million on services and staff at the state office in St. Paul in fiscal year 2009. The OLA reported that the system office meets a significant need for centralized services that create efficiencies across the system, but that improvements should be made to increase efficiency and accountability.

Chancellor McCormick said that the system will review all of the recommendations in the report. “It doesn’t mean we’ll necessarily come to the same conclusion,” said McCormick. “We will process each one, consider it, look at it, and I would think a number of them would be implemented.”

New Candidates for the MnSCU Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees will have five open seats in July, with two of these vacancies for students. The Trustee Candidate Advisory Council (TCAC) recommends non-student candidates to the Governor for appointment, and the Minnesota State College Student Association (MSCSA) makes candidate recommendations for the student positions. Non-student trustees serve six year terms and student trustees are appointed for two years. TCAC is currently seeking candidates to fill seats designated for individuals representing the 1st Congressional District, 8th Congressional District position, and one at-large member. MSCSA will recommend one candidate to represent community college students and another to represent students in technical programs. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) Board of Trustees is a 15-member board that governs the MnSCU system.

MnSCU Board of Trustees Holds Listening Sessions on the Future of the System

The MnSCU Board of Trustees held a series of public listening sessions in January and February in St. Paul, Mankato, Moorhead, Alexandria, and Bemidji. The Board of Trustees asked participants to address the most significant changes or challenges affecting public higher education in Minnesota, how the system can add value and better meet student, employer, and state needs, and what the system’s priorities should be over the next five to ten years.

At the sessions, students, faculty, staff and administrators of nearby campuses voiced their concerns regarding higher education in Minnesota as well as discussed what MnSCU’s top priorities should be in the future. Participants spoke to the rising cost of tuition, textbook prices, and flexible learning options. During these sessions, the MnSCU Board of Trustees made it a priority to listen to its constituents and take notes for future conversations on system planning.

Students First Initiative Planning Underway

In December, MnSCU kicked off work group meetings to plan for implementation of the system-wide Students First initiative. The Students First initiative is a project to align the business practices of the MnSCU system, to make the process of enrolling, registering, and completing college seamless and consistent across the state. The project has six components: single search, single application, single registration, single bill and payment, a graduation planning tool, and shared services. MSCSA students and staff are represented on all six working groups, which will continue meeting throughout Spring 2010.

Work Continues on Credit Transfer

In response to growing student concerns over credit transfer within the MnSCU system, MSCSA and the Minnesota State University Student Association (MSUSA) are working in cooperation with the Office of the Chancellor to survey transfer students across the state on their experience with credit transfer. The survey addresses topics from on-campus advising, to the expectations of students, to the appeals process.

The survey will provide unique data that will identify patterns in the current transfer system to be further researched. The survey was sent to nearly 10,000 students who transferred credits into the MnSCU system in the 2008-2009 academic year. Results from the survey are expected in March of 2010.