Enrollment growth: Moving forward together

Greetings from Valley City State University! One of the most important measures and validations of a university’s success is enrollment. We have seen our fall enrollment numbers increase every year for the past 10 years, and in the last 4 years, our efforts to continue that growth have been very purposeful and focused. Our faculty, administration and staff have been ...

Community collaboration continues

VCSU is thankful for the collaboration and support we enjoy from the community, county and public schools, both in Valley City and the region. I’m looking out the south window of my office while writing this column, and I see sunny skies; with 56-degree temperatures and no wind, it’s a seemingly picture-perfect day. Yet, just this morning, city crews were ...

Inauguration and homecoming recap — Forward Together

Greetings from Valley City State University! On Friday, September 27, I was extremely honored and humbled to be formally installed as the 14th president of Valley City State University. The outpouring of support from friends, family and colleagues, both near and far, provided for a weekend of activity that I will never forget, along with the displays of Viking pride ...

Forward Together: Building on Excellence

Greetings from Valley City State University! Homecoming is always a special time to welcome alumni back to campus, invite the community to participate in many events, and engage the students, faculty and staff in fun and memorable activities. The week of September 23-28 is filled with exciting activities and events for our students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the ...

Welcome to new staff and those in new roles

In addition to the new faculty I introduced in my previous column, we also have more than two dozen staff members who have joined us in the past academic year or moved to new roles on campus. Although they’re not typically in the classroom, these individuals often have much direct contact with students, and regardless of their responsibilities, they contribute ...

Welcome new faculty members

Greetings from Valley City State University! As part of Welcome Week activities on campus, we recently welcomed 10 new members of the faculty to the VCSU community. I’m excited by the energy, enthusiasm and experience they bring to their teaching positions with us, and I’m pleased to introduce them via the biographical sketches below. Note that several are renewing their ...

Interim legislative committee meets at VCSU

Greetings from Valley City State University! On Thursday, July 18, Valley City State University hosted the Interim Higher Education Funding Formula Review Committee on campus. We sincerely appreciate all that the legislature has done for higher education and VCSU during this past session and are very excited to move forward with final design work on our new arts and communication ...

The value of external collaboration

Greetings from Valley City State University! When I interviewed for the VCSU presidency, one of the most consistent and overriding comments I heard from campus and community constituents centered on the strength of the relationship between the university and the Valley City/Barnes County community, and the importance of sustaining and enhancing this relationship. I have found this to be very ...

Embracing change and valuing tradition

Greetings from Valley City State University! It’s no surprise that VCSU has a long and storied tradition of providing education to the citizens of North Dakota. A significant and founding principle of that long-standing tradition is in preparing the next generation of teachers for our state and beyond. I was proud to report — and brag a bit — to ...

Friendraising and fundraising

Greetings from Valley City State University! The last few weeks have been marked by gatherings of our important boards and some fun activities for raising funds and awareness for the university. The Viking Golf Scramble was held Saturday, June 8. Twenty-eight teams took to the Country Club and Bjornson Park courses to enjoy a day of golf and fellowship, rekindling ...