{"id":21435,"date":"2018-02-13T08:42:16","date_gmt":"2018-02-13T15:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=21435"},"modified":"2018-02-13T08:42:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T15:42:16","slug":"um-leader-says-school-ready-for-a-world-of-disruptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2018\/02\/um-leader-says-school-ready-for-a-world-of-disruptions\/","title":{"rendered":"UM leader says school ready for a ‘world of disruptions’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Seth\"<\/a>

Martin Kidston\/Missoula Current<\/p>

University of Montana President Seth Bodnar tells several hundred attendees at City Club Missoula on Monday that UM is positioned to confront the challenges of the past and the opportunities of tomorrow.<\/p><\/div>\n

When General Electric first appeared on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896, the company was lauded as a cornerstone of industrial might, a reputation it would hold for more than a century.<\/p>\n

But now, with the digital revolution in full swing, the powerhouse of American ingenuity is searching for its place in a changing world, one where transformation will be key to survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe largest taxi company in the world today (Uber) owns no vehicles, and the largest accommodations provider (Airbnb) owns no real estate,\u201d University of Montana President Seth Bodnar said. \u201cThe largest media company, or one of the most impactful (Facebook), creates no content. This is a world full of disruptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bodnar, a veteran of the U.S. Army\u2019s 101st Airborne Division and a former GE employee who focused on business transformation, drew from his own experience Monday at City Club Missoula to highlight the world that the University of Montana confronts as it stares down its 125th anniversary.<\/p>\n

The flagship campus has confronted a number of challenges in recent years and has struggled at times for a sense of new identity. But unlike some dying institutions, Bodnar said, UM is full of promise, and it has the tools it needs to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cUM is facing a defining moment,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen enrollment declines, we\u2019ve seen struggles and we\u2019ve seen the budget challenges. But this is a time when we as a community are pulling together to chart a new course for this great institution. We have all the right ingredients for what students need to be successful in the context of this changing world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bodnar\u2019s presentation and its blend of history with necessity offered many of the several hundred guests in attendance on Monday their first look at UM\u2019s new president, and his goals for the school.<\/p>\n

The West Point graduate who earned two master\u2019s degrees from Oxford University drew from his lessons in the service, where he learned to recognize the need to write a new strategy when the old tactics no longer work.\u00a0In some ways, he said, the same holds true for UM.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcellence isn\u2019t an accident,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t happen upon excellence by chance, and you don\u2019t sustain it without hard work. It also requires that you seek a better way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>Bodnar outlined four areas of focus, including excellence and innovation, and talked about what he described as the school\u2019s structural deficit. To resolve it, the university will place renewed focus on recruitment and retention, among other developing strategies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about glossy brochures \u2014 it\u2019s not about stuffing people\u2019s mailboxes with postcards,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about making sure the perceptions of the University of Montana align with the reality of University of Montana. We\u2019re going to have to spend some time and some resources to structure ourselves to better communicate the value of a UM education to the right people through the right channels, and with the right frequency to bring more students here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preparing today\u2019s students for tomorrow’s jobs shouldn\u2019t be hard to do, Bodnar said, given the school\u2019s list of accolades and achievements. Its professional schools are highly rated, and three of its researchers were recently named among the top 1 percent of the world\u2019s most influential scientists.<\/p>\n

The university has one of the best placements for students into medical school, and the role of social sciences and the humanities will grow more crucial as technology advances. While nearly half of tomorrow\u2019s jobs don\u2019t yet exist, Bodnar added, the need for a balanced education is among the stories UM must grow more apt at telling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to succeed in this world, you have to be able to work across disciplines,\u201d Bodnar said. \u201cYou have to be an agile, lifelong learner who can solve complex challenges at the intersection of disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bodnar said UM also must strive to \u201cembody the principles of Missoula\u201d and place \u201cpeople first.\u201d That includes a renewed focus on diversity and the development of those who teach on campus.<\/p>\n

Last week, Bodner also met with members of the City Council and Missoula County as the university looks to\u00a0blur the lines<\/a>\u00a0between the Mountain Campus and the wider community. The momentum, he said, is pointed in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critically important that the people who work at our university \u2014 the people who have dedicated their lives to the vocation of higher education \u2014 that they have a place where they can work and fulfill their full potential to do the best work of their lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe university and this city are inextricably linked. As Missoula goes, so goes the University of Montana, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on\u00a0Missoula Current<\/a>, an independent online newspaper, of which\u00a0Martin Kidston is the founding editor.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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When General Electric first appeared on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896, the company was lauded as a cornerstone of industrial might, a reputation it would hold for more than a century. But now, with the digital revolution in full swing, the powerhouse of American ingenuity is searching for its place in a changing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":21436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[6755,6756,63],"class_list":["post-21435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montana","category-news","tag-general-electric","tag-seth-bodnar","tag-university-of-montana","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21435"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21439,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21435\/revisions\/21439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}