Regents approved an Honorary Doctorate of Arts to present to MSU music faculty member Eric Funk. Funk taught at MSU for 20 years, and board members thanked him for being an important part of the campus and Bozeman communities.

“Eric has a heart of gold,” MSU President Waded Cruzado said. “I will correct that — he has a heart of blue and gold.”

Regents also recognized three MSU emeriti faculty. Earth sciences faculty member David Lageson will retire with 43 years of experience at MSU. Craig Stewart, a health and human services faculty member, retired with 45 years of MSU experience. Film and photography faculty member Dennis Aig retired after 34 years at MSU.

After the faculty awards, the board heard a presentation about Montana 10, a program designed to help low-income students stay in college and graduate.

Crystine Miller, the director of student affairs and student engagement for the Office of the Commission of Higher Education, said the program gives students financial aid, academic support and advising.

“We know that low-income students in Montana graduate at far lower rates than other students,” Miller said. “We also know it often takes them more time and more money to degree. Montana 10 is kind of the remedy to that.”

Miller said the program has started narrowing achievement gaps between low-income students in the program and the general population. She also said students have been more likely to graduate faster in the program. Miller said Montana 10 will start to study its students’ outcomes to improve the program.

Betsy Asserson, director of the MSU Counseling Center, gave a presentation alongside Miller about suicide prevention efforts and the board’s Mental Health Taskforce. Miller said the taskforce studied trends in 2021 and 2023 and highlighted common themes that impact student mental health. Some of the common concerns for students were procrastination, finances, health of friends and family, career choices, loneliness and access to basic needs, she said.

Asserson said more students are starting to seek out mental health services, which is not a warning sign she said. Instead, it indicates a cultural shift away from stigma, which is traditionally a problem in Montana, she said.

“We also know that college is a time (when) students are going to struggle,” Asserson said. “Our goal is not to have students not struggle. They are going to have hard times. They are going to have failures. That is part of the normal developmental experience. What we’re talking about is how we support those students who might need clinical intervention and support.”

Asserson said 87% of college counseling centers have seen 30 to 40% increases in demand for the past 10 years. She also said 80% of faculty said students have approached them with mental health concerns, and 70% of college presidents identified mental health as a “top concern.”

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Dennis Aig's name.