Steve - out today

 

  • Update on the Career Fair - 179 businesses, ~250 students an hour
  • Shan - all call for events to put on MSUAF calendar
  • Matt - update on some club sports/funding (Men's Hockey, for example) - outside of MSU, technically, so they have to pay their own way when they travel (even to nationals)
  • OSE controls the clubs, but they need funding, hence:

 

ASMSU Business Office! (Molly Lammers and Bill McKenney are presenting today*)

*The students are the "boss" of student government, even though they have advisors

 

5 Areas:

  • Executive Branch - Steve
  • Legislative - Bill
  • Senate - 21 senators, weekly meetings (Thursdays @ 6pm), elections in the spring
    • Updates from Bill on what they've been working on this school year
    • Upcoming items - one of the biggest things is the budget (of course :))
    • $1.6 million in their budget
  • Judicial - Matt
  • Business Office and Programming - Molly

 

Business Office (Molly Lammers) 

  • New as of July 2025
  • Molly is paid through the state, not student funding
  • $3.4 million in student funds:
    1. Enable student-led initiatives and events
    2. Promote fiscal responsibility and compliance
    3. Foster leadership development through fiscal stewardship

 

What the Business Office does:

Budget development and oversight

Financial processing

Payroll support

Financial support for student orgs

Financial reporting and compliance

  • Molly Lammers - Financial Advisor
  • Christine Dennis - BOM
  • Kirstin Jones - student business manager
  • Elle Skudlarick - assistant business manager

 

ASMSU student funded/led/run:

Programs

Clubs

Partners: OCSL, Streamline, Early learning center, Exponent, Legal Services

*Unused funds are swept into reserve fund at end of fiscal year

Currently, there is a LOT of excess $$ in the reserve, and ASMSU is working on deciding on what to do with that money - how to be good stewards of that money

 

Finance Board meets weekly:

Funding that is internal to ASMSU

Allocate funds to themselves (reserve and supplemental)

Budget oversight, policy creation, budget creation

 

RSO Funding Board meets weekly:

Funding that is external to ASMSU (student org fee)

Allocating funds to clubs (rolling and VIM)

 

Club Funding Assistants has weekly office hours:

Help track, spend, and reconcile

Located in ASMSU office

 

The Budgeting Process: ~ 80 sets of eyes look at alllll the things before money is spent

Program Directors: 4 weeks

Admin Team: 3 weeks

Finance Board: 4 weeks

Senate: 3 weeks

 

Club Funding:

Student Org Fee: $11.13 per semester per student = ~ $333,900

60%: Rolling Funds

30%: VIM Funds

10%: Admin

 

Rolling Funds: ~$189k (RSO Funding Board)

Applications open in September, close in April

NO MAXIMUM :)

Clubs can ask for money through this process 

Currently: zero dollars! That's good - that means clubs are getting funding

…but now what? Should ASMSU dig into the reserve to help clubs that need it?

 

VIM Funds: Volunteer and Impact Montana  - ~$94k

Volunteer based - students earn money for their club by volunteering in the community

Opens in July, closes in mid-April

$15/hr per club member

Max: $1500 for each club

In FY2026, 87 clubs have earned VIM hour for a total of $50,407.62 given by ASMSU to clubs

 

Other Updates:

  • Faculty Senate
    • Suicide Prevention at next meeting
    • Participating in strategic plan
  • Staff Senate:
    • April meeting will be benefits-oriented
  • Orientation Registration is open!
  • Summer School Housing Registration is open!
  • New Staff: Sienna George! Leadership Institute Director
  • Joe Hicks: Fastest faculty in the mile…well, he won his heat ;)
    • ~30 showed up - will continue to grow
  • Sarah Callow: Law Day - April 23rd - domestic violence case - MT Supreme Court will be in the SUB, schools are involved (middle and high school)
  • MT10 in their new space! 3rd floor of the SUB in the old VOICE Center  - open house at the end of the month
  • Rob Maher - Navy Nuclear Lab recruiter (MSU Alum!) visiting his sections this afternoon