Montana State University

Montana State University (MSU) maintains and exceeds a variety of accreditation requirements that were designed to ensure high quality educational standards. MSU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. During its most recent re-accreditation, MSU was commended for an "extremely high level of productivity and effectiveness." In addition to national accreditation, many of MSU’s colleges, departments and programs also maintain rigorous accreditation credentials through discipline specific agencies.

Academic Technology and Outreach (ATO) is a unified effort of the Office of the Provost and University Information Technology designed to work across MSU—serving and supporting faculty, staff, and students wherever they are located—to advance MSU’s capacity and reputation to build, deliver, and support academic excellence in teaching and learning with a focus on quality, access, and innovation.  Academic Technology and Outreach builds and maintains our classroom and eLearning ecosystem and supports our land-grant mission through unique and innovative opportunities for outreach and engagement.

It represents a unique bridge between information technology and academic support and combines personnel and operational resources from the UIT Instructional Technology unit and what was formerly known as MSU Extended University.

It has three divisions:

• Teaching and Learning with Technology
• eLearning and Innovation
• Continuing, Professional and Lifelong Learning

Academic Technology and Outreach provides central support services for faculty and students engaged with distance delivered programs. It also develops and delivers non-credit and academic outreach activities, explores new forms of alternative credentials and provides technical support and strategic planning for the campus instructional technology infrastructure.

It works closely with the Center for Faculty Excellence, the Alan Yarnell Center for Student Success, and several other student and faculty support services on campus.