News : Plans under way for county learning center in Sidney : Sidney Herald, Sidney, Montana

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Plans under way for county learning center in Sidney

By Louisa Barber

Sidney Herald
Published on Friday, December 11, 2009 3:24 PM MST

If a few area leaders have their way, Richland County could very well become the agriculture and energy education hub of the northern United States.

In a meeting with Richland County Commissioners held on Tuesday, Sidney Mayor Brett Smelser, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Farr, and the Mayor’s Committee Chairman Dr. Hal Campbell presented plans for the establishment of Eastern Montana University Center, an educational partnership between Sidney Public Schools and higher education providers throughout the state of Montana and other regions of the country.

“I think I told all of you I thought we would grow Sidney on oil and gas,” Smelser told the commissioners. “We never did that. We think we will grow Sidney and Richland County on education.”

Plans for the center began roughly six months ago with a focus on quality higher education to residents of the region at an affordable price. The EMUC plan is expected to not only accomplish this goal but set the stage for dramatic improvements by extending the current K-12 strategy to a full K-20 educational policy.

“We’re looking at expanding that opportunity eventually beyond business education,” Farr said, “[to] include agriculture and education classes, apprenticeship trades and industries and other areas.”

Farr said he’d already spoken with MSU representatives to bring elementary education and a master’s program to the newly created Eastern Montana University Center where students would complete two years of their four-year degree program before even graduating high school–something that’s very cost effective. “They’re 100 percent supportive of this,” he said.

So far, the center would be held in the vacant space at Central School as well as part of Sidney High School where classes could be taught via simulcast from professors at MSU Bozeman, MSU Northern and other campuses. “The limits here are quite honestly limitless,” he said. “There’s an awful lot of opportunities to serve not only eastern Montana but also western North Dakota.”

The idea for the center is threefold. First, is to keep the area’s young people, “the most valuable resource,” from leaving by offering alternatives. “EMUC should provide them with options and hopefully change their mind...” Campbell said.

In addition to energy and agriculture classes, which could serve as the “hallmarks”of the center, the potential is there for adding courses in culinary, electrical, construction, business, health and a variety of other professional degrees. Second, is to utilize the area’s field experts.

Campbell told commissioners it’s much better to have someone who’s in the field at present to teach courses, and it would be good to capitalize on resources available such as the Sidney Heath Center and the USDA research center. He said Dawson Community College has already agreed to pay area residents to teach courses provided they are qualified. Third, is to keep tuition dollars in state, which will ultimately fuel the state’s economy.

Things seem to be going so well with the concept, that by next fall, associate degrees will be offered through Dawson, but there are bigger plans. “We’re not looking to offer degree programs under the EMUC banner,” Campbell said. “What we’re looking to do is essentially become an education broker of higher education services.” That, he added, would be accomplished by eventually offering adult career education classes, vocation training and AP college credit courses for juniors and seniors through Dawson and upper division credits for juniors and seniors through MSU. “At some point we will be a producer of higher education...” he said.

Commissioners Mark Rehbein and Don Steppler said they were concerned about transferrable credits from Dawson to MSU. Farr and Campbell said discrepancies in the transfers would not happen because of guidance counselors who would “shepherd them through” the process and submit forms to MSU for pre-approval before the students invest their time.

Long-term plans for the center include utilizing the MonDak Heritage Center, expanding its building and working with the Sidney-Richland County Public Library to expand on the resources. Although no money was asked for, Smelser said they would like support from the county. “I think all we need at this point in time is to give them ( Farr and Campbell) all the encouragement they need and as much latitude as we can to make this happen,” he said.

reporter@sidneyherald.com

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Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of the Sidney Herald.

Rob wrote on Dec 22, 2009 5:20 PM:

" I too wish the gentlemen involved w/ this project would've had the courtesy to involve the many groups already working on these issues rather than "re-invent" the wheel. The Sidney Library, RCED, Job Service, and several others have invested countless hours on researching and planning, and furthermore the existing groups seems to have a more appropriate ideal in mind. "

ENO wrote on Dec 22, 2009 2:32 PM:

" This is interesting. I think this is a good idea in theory. Kudos to those behind this for wanting to expand educational opportunities for the community. However, how realistic it is is very questionable at best. Being a college graduate who checked into the ease of credit transfers within schools, both in state and out, believe me, credits DO NOT always transfer as easy as you think, if at all in a lot of cases. To what extent this learning hub would be accepted as an accredited "university" is also questionable, in which case credit transfer is not likely. Also, it sounds like a lot of this is being centered around high school student participation. Has anyone done a survey of local HS students to see if there is any interest, or to what extent even? I believe options are already available to them through DCC, MCC and WSC, if not others.
Speaking of which, if it was that easy to open up a learning center and have it be considered a true university, it would be a more common occurence. What would need to be done to get said accreditation for this center? I don't think this has been addressed. And where are the educators coming from for this? And competitive pay for them?
It would be nice to have a place like this, but I don't think its feasible to think it could happen in Sidney. "

GDD wrote on Dec 18, 2009 7:34 AM:

" Just curious
has anyone talked to the MonDak Heritage Center? "

Interesting.... wrote on Dec 15, 2009 11:00 AM:

" GDD: The library and Job Service has been involved with a group of community members doing research on what the community wants and the library VISTA has been doing research on buildings and architecture that would suit the library's needs. They hope to create a lifelong learning center that would help many organizations in the county... I have spoken with the library and they said they have not even talked to any of the men mentioned in this article. So no, I guess all of their hard work was actually overlooked when it came to the plan that is spoken about in this article. "

Agree with Interesting... wrote on Dec 14, 2009 2:37 PM:

" I have to agree with interesting... and say I think we've learned that in a small community we should pool are resources and do what's best for everyone, not what three men think is right for all people. "

GDD wrote on Dec 14, 2009 2:22 PM:

" Sidney Old timer:
So you are asking the people donateing tons of their time to donate more to make sure the paper and the people that just want to watch understand?

Interesting;
the library is not involved? Seems like someone would check before it was printed. "

Interesting.... wrote on Dec 14, 2009 11:03 AM:

" I think it is really interesting that these men say they have the library involved in this process, when the library and the Job Service have actually been working on their own separate agenda for the past two years, and the library is not involved in their process on bit.

The library has been putting out surveys to the community and talking to community organizations and groups to see what it is that our community wants. Seems as if these men want to expand their own agendas, rather than asking the community what it is that they want. "

Sidney old timer wrote on Dec 14, 2009 9:57 AM:

" Maybe the groups should take care of this "

Penny wrote on Dec 14, 2009 8:57 AM:

" I am sorry but this sounds a little far-fetched to me, from what I am reading, they are thinking all these high school kids are going to take college classes as well as regular classes??? Didn't that happen a while ago with DCC and whatever happened to that program??? As I remember the credits only counted at DCC and didn't transfer to other colleges as anything as an elective.The universites can say there won't be a problem with credits, but that isn't always the case. Usually to be a professor at an accredited college/university you usually need to have a masters degree in your field, do we have people hanging around Sidney to teach these classes??? Or are they just going to hire local people who have BA's and BS's in the degrees to work as TA's???
Are there going to be classes offered for teachers to maintain and continue their licenses?
I thought that DCC and WSC both used to offer classes in Sidney through ITV and with traveling professors, why did that stop??? Lack of students?? Lack of funding???
Sounds awesome, lets open a college in Sidney... "

GDD wrote on Dec 13, 2009 8:57 AM:

" Don't forget the Rec Group, also in this paper.
Maybe, because the Conference and Actions groups have become a stamp for a project that has been open to everyone (who would have thought the SHC would help fund a rec coordinator)the paper could help by finding some way to tell us which things are action group/conference which are not. If you read carefully you can figure it out, but cant we make it less confusing? "

Old time Sidney wrote on Dec 13, 2009 8:23 AM:

" If the Mayor wants to run for a higher office, he better get his BS detector fixed. "

wrote on Dec 13, 2009 8:14 AM:

" Has anyone talked to the action group from the conference about this? It seems like a couple guys with an idea, but no broad support or input.
To move forward on limited resources, our community needs to work together. The action group process seems to provide the vehicle for this. (see the safe community article in this same paper. Thats how things get done) "

Good for Sidney wrote on Dec 11, 2009 7:50 PM:

" Not to rain on your parade, but isn't that what Williston State has already built and broke ground on another center of excellance? They built an oil field energy training center for training new oil field employees, and also are currently building a new 60,000 sq. ft. Career and Tech center for energy, agriculture, deisel mechanic, plumbing, electric, etc.. for the agri, construction and oil field industries. But I see nothing wrong with Sidney building their own. I'm sure many in our community would utilize a place like this. "

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