Jun
12
Strategies 360 Montana and Montana University
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 Pimley, 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.
Click here to read the full article.
Adam can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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 Pimley, 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.
Click here to read the full article.
Adam can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
