UM College president joins recruiting efforts

Most colleges send their marketing or admissions staff to meet with prospective students at high schools. In an unprecedented recruiting move, the University of Montana did not just send its regular group of students and administrators to talk with students about coming to their school. They sent their own president.

University of Montana (UM) president George Dennison came to Mercer Island High School last Friday, Feb. 5, as part of a trip to western Washington to meet with alumni, prospective students and their parents. Yet, Mercer Island High School was the only high school they visited.

Accompanying Dennison from Missoula, Mont.were a couple of prominent faculty members who guest-taught classes at the high school.

UM representatives and Mercer Island High School principals John Harrison and Craig Olson agreed that it was an unusual move. Neither side said they had ever known a sitting president of a state university to visit a high school.

Dennison said that Mercer Island students are attractive to the University of Montana. According to counts from admissions officials, there are currently 15 students attending UM who graduated from Mercer Island High School. Mercer Island students represent the third-largest high school attending UM from western Washington. Other Washington students include 23 from Bainbridge Island and 26 Bishop Blanchet graduates.

The state of Washington represents the largest “out-of-state market” for the university. There are presently 693 applications from Washington for fall 2010 admission to the Missoula, Mont., school.

UM officials say that 70 percent of UM students are in-state. The rest are from out of state — including Washington state students. According to the Princeton Review, 12 percent of students enrolled at the University of Washington are from out of state.

Administrators acknowledge that tuition-wise, their college is a reasonable alternative for Washington students who are facing double-digit increases in tuition at state schools. UM is only looking at a one percent increase in each of the next three years while the University of Washington is expecting to raise tuition 14 percent for the 2010-2011 school term.

But Dennison wants to get the message across to students about what the school has to offer.

One thing that UM representatives wanted to emphasize with Islander students on their visit was the Missoula campus commitment to the environment. A UM press release announcing the trip included the statement, “Seattle students are known for caring about the environment and promoting sustainability, and many students select UM for its national reputation as a leader in climate change research, activism and sustainability.”

The school employs the internationally known climate change scientist Steve Running, who is the UM Regents Professor of Ecology. Running, a Seattle native, is a professor in UM’s College of Forestry and Conservation and directs the University’s Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group, which has written software for NASA environmental satellites. He was a lead author for the North American section of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report, and his IPCC committee shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. He was part of a group that created a worldwide climate change index that was unveiled at Copenhagen, and he recently released a new study that shows global warming will increase drought stress in the northern Rockies and lead to increased potential for insect infestations and risk of more severe wildfires.

While Dennison met with journalism students for an interview, others taught classes. They included Richard Hughes, who worked with students in video arts and jazz choir; Trey Hill, who critiqued student work in photography and ceramics, drawing and painting; and Garon Smith, who taught science classes.

Hill looked over student portfolios from the AP Studio art class, one by one, laid out in the 500 hallway, and gave each a critique. He spoke about texture, the use of light and the need to leave a bit of mystery. Less is more, he said more than once. “Try to determine how much you need to include to inform your viewer.”

Senior Becky Yost said it was very helpful to have “a new person outside our own group to comment on our work.”

For his part, Hill said the work he saw was sophisticated. “I am very impressed,” he said. “It is obvious the students are engaged here.”

When asked if looking for Washington state students — specifically Mercer Island students — was a tactic to entice students to UM, Dennison said, “Absolutely, it is a tactic. Mercer Island students are appealing to us. They come well prepared, and the school colors they bring (maroon and white — the same as UM) are the right ones.”

But, he told the journalism students more than once, “the most important thing is to go to college — not just ours.”

Dennison also wanted to emphasize the extensive international exchange program that the school is involved with. He and other members of his delegation stated that they felt a college experience was not complete without a period of study abroad.

For more about the University of Montana, go to www.umt.edu.