MSU President's Column for Traill County Tribune
November 23, 2013
Mayville State hosts NDUS and NDSA representatives
This has been an especially busy week at Mayville State University. It was our honor and pleasure to host the November meeting of the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education (SBHE) and the Chancellor’s Cabinet meetings on our campus. The State Board of Higher Education typically meets at Mayville State about every-other year. It’s great to have the opportunity to have SBHE members, North Dakota University System (NDUS) staff and presidents, as well as other representatives of the NDUS campuses in Mayville.
On Wednesday evening, Nov. 20, my wife, Debbie, and I hosted a social for our out-of-town guests at Paula’s Steakhouse & Lounge. We enjoyed the time spent visiting with our colleagues in an informal setting.
The State Board meeting began at 8:30 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 21, with interviews and selection of the NDUS Chief Auditor. This portion of the meeting was held in a classroom of our new Division of Education & Psychology facility, and was concluded by noon.
While this was going on, the Chancellor’s Cabinet met in the Heritage Room of the MSU Campus Center. The Cabinet is composed of the Interim Chancellor Larry Skogen and the president or chief executive officer of each of the NDUS campuses. Among the discussion items at the Cabinet meeting was Pathways to Student Success and the proposed 2014-15 room, board, and fee guidelines. Several academic requests were also considered. The business of the Cabinet finished before noon.
The SBHE and Chancellor’s Cabinet, together with NDUS staff members enjoyed lunch in Mayville State’s Center. Mayville State’s Dining Services staff cooked and served a delicious meal.
The meeting of the SBHE resumed at 1:00 p.m. in the MSU Campus Center Luckasen Room. The SBHE meeting schedule for 2014 was set. This was followed by reports from SBHE President Kirsten Diederich, Interim Chancellor Larry Skogen, North Dakota Student Association representative Jennifer Vetter, Council of College Faculties representative Dr. Douglas Munski, and Staff Senate representative Janice Hoffarth.
During the Board business portion of the meeting, Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs Laura Glatt led the discussion regarding the distribution of Challenge Fund allocations. Interim Chancellor Skogen gave an update on Student Success, and Skogen’s five goals as interim chancellor were reviewed and approved. A number of items were discussed and approved as part of the financial and facility consent agenda.
Tenure request for the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University were approved during a personnel consent agenda item. Bismarck State College and Minot State University had submitted items for approval in the academic consent agenda. Several SBHE policies were considered in first and second readings, and the last order of business for the day was reports from each of the NDUS presidents.
The State Board of Higher Education is the policy-setting and advocacy body for the NDUS and the governing body for North Dakota’s 11 publicly supported colleges and universities. The SHBE is made up of seven citizen members appointed to four-year terms by the governor. Current members are Dr. Kirsten Diederich, president, Fargo, N.D.; Dr. Terry Hjelmstad, vice president, Minot, N.D.; Duaine Espegard, Grand Forks, N.D.; Don Morton, Fargo, N.D.; Kathleen Neset, Tioga, N.D.; Kari Reichert, Bismarck, N.D.; and Grant Shaft, Grand Forks, N.D. Devin Hoffarth, a Mayville State University student from Langdon, N.D., has been appointed by the governor to serve a one-year term on the board. The Council of College Faculties non-voting faculty advisor is Dr. Douglas Munski from the University of North Dakota. The NDUS Staff Senate-selects non-voting staff advisor is Janice Hoffarth, an administrative assistant at the University of North Dakota.
A week of special activities at Mayville State will end with the Mayville State Student Senate hosting the North Dakota Student Association (NDSA) for their regular monthly meeting which begins Friday evening, Nov. 22, and continues on Saturday morning. The NDSA is the legislative assembly for students from the eleven NDUS campuses and serves to represent student interests to the legislature, the SBHE, and to the public.
It’s been quite some time since an NDSA meeting was held on the Mayville State campus, so it is very exciting to have this opportunity. Interim Chancellor Skogen; Greta Paschke, representing the Council of College Faculties; Terry Kemmer, representing Mayville State’s Larson Leadership Program; and I will each have an opportunity to address the group at the beginning of the meeting.
We are very proud of the Mayville State campus and all of the good things that are happening at our university. Hosting our colleagues from across the state gives the perfect opportunity to share first-hand the excitement we are experiencing here. It’s been a great week!