Hotline // April 2, 2025

VCSU graduates boast 99% success rate

Valley City State University graduates during the 2023-24 academic year had a 99% success rate according to VCSU’s Career Outcomes Report.

Compiled by the VCSU Career Services Office, the report details the success of recent graduates in finding work or continuing their education at a higher level.

Students who received an undergraduate degree from VCSU in 2023-24 had a 99% success rate, meaning they are either employed, continuing their education or not currently seeking employment. Students who earned a master’s degree in 2023-24 boasted a 100% success rate.

Internships & Business Partnerships

Jack Ingstad, a Spring 2024 Business Administration graduate, cited VCSU’s campus environment and partnerships with local businesses as key factors in preparing him for a future job.

“The small, close-knit campus created an environment where I could build meaningful relationships with my professors and collaborate easily with classmates,” said Ingstad. “The integration of local businesses as learning tools added a practical, hands-on element to my education that truly prepared me for the real world.”

VCSU students completed 40 internships in the 2023-24 academic year, with 83% of those located in North Dakota.

100% Success Rate in Education

Students who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education reported a 100% success rate. Out of 122 reporting graduates in education, 121 are employed and one is continuing their education.

“Before beginning my career as an educator, many seasoned teachers repeated the statement ‘The first year of teaching is the hardest,’” said Cassidy Hoyt, a Fall 2023 English Education graduate. “While my first year has often had its challenges, I can confidently say both the education and experiences VCSU provided have prepared me to navigate these challenges with precision and assurance in my abilities—skills I would not have procured without the education program at VCSU.”

Preparing the North Dakota Workforce

Of the reporting graduates, 66% are employed in North Dakota.

“My time at VCSU was instrumental in shaping my career as an IT Coordinator,” said Derek Bear, a 2024 Computer Information Systems graduate who is now employed as an IT professional in North Dakota. “Through my internship at DRN ReadiTech, I gained invaluable real-world experience in IT operations and customer service. Additionally, my involvement with the VCSU IT Department allowed me to work hands-on with innovative technologies while collaborating with a dedicated team. These opportunities, paired with the university’s supportive environment and expert faculty, prepared me to excel in my career and confidently tackle the challenges of the ever-evolving tech industry.”

The report includes an 83% knowledge rate based on survey responses directly from graduates or data gathered from faculty, staff and other sources. It encompasses data from VCSU students who graduated in Summer 2023, Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. The report is developed following the standards of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

VCSU Shooting Sports Adds Skeet Team

VCSU Skeet Team members, from left: Grant Larson, Ty Awender, Logan Heen, Kasey Odegaard, Tyler Johnson, and Cooper Monilaws

Skeet Team begins competition this spring

VALLEY CITY (VCSU) – The Valley City State University Shooting Sports Team is expanding its offerings, announcing the addition of its first official skeet shooting team.

VCSU added shooting sports as a coed intercollegiate sport in Fall 2024, starting with a trap shooting team. While trap shooting involves a single airborne target moving away from the competitors, skeet shooting ups the stakes with two airborne targets crossing their field of view. The team is led by shooting sports head coach Dr. Nick Galt and includes six students: seniors Tyler Johnson, Logan Heen, and Grant Larson, and freshmen Kasey Odegaard, Cooper Monilaws, and Ty Awender.

The new skeet shooting team has been recognized by the USA College Clay Target League and begins competition this spring, starting with the league’s weekly events on April 2.

“We are excited to officially have skeet shooting as another pathway for students to represent VCSU,” said team member Grant Larson, president of the VCSU Trap Club. “Shooting sports have been growing in popularity at the collegiate level, and we want to promote the student experience at VCSU with activities that students are passionate about.”

VCSU Shooting Sports is facilitated in part by Chuck and Sandi Mielke at OH Range south of Valley City, where team members practice and compete in their weekly events. OH Range has supported VCSU students for the past five years, as well as the broader Valley City community for even longer.

For more information about the VCSU Shooting Sports team, contact Dr. Nick Galt at nicholas.galt@ndus.edu.

Music Concerts set for April 4th and 8th at VCSU

The Valley City State University Music Department is pleased to announce two upcoming concerts at the Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts.

The Spring Instrumental Concert will take place on Friday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m., and the  Percussion Ensemble Spring Concert is Tuesday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. Both concerts are free of charge and open to the public. They will be held in the Performance Hall at the VCSU Center for the Arts.

For those unable to attend, the concerts will be live-streamed on YouTube on the Valley City State University Music account.

Spring Instrumental Concert

The Spring Instrumental Concert on April 4 showcases the talents of more than 40 students and staff performing in the VCSU Brass Ensemble, Woodwind Ensemble, and Concert Band.

The Brass Ensemble, led by Dr. Ken Jimenez, will perform two pieces to open the night including “Panoramic Landscapes” by Tyler S. Grant. The Woodwind Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Katrina Clements, is performing three pieces which include a suite titled Romanian Folk Dances by Bela Bartok.

The Concert Band will wrap up the night, performing four pieces under the direction of assistant professor Jerrold Heide. The finale is “Music for a Darkened Theater” by Danny Elfman. Five of Elfman’s most notable film scores are included in this arrangement: “Tales from the Crypt”, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Edward Scissorhands”, “Beetlejuice”, and “Spider-Man”.

Percussion Ensemble Concert

The VCSU Percussion Ensemble is featured in concert on Tuesday, April 8, highlighting some of the university’s standout percussion students. With the theme of “Roots & Resonances” the concert will present work for small percussion chamber ensembles.

The program will open with “Elements” by Chad Heiny, a series of duets for marimba and electronics which is “a programmatic piece representing natural elements through musical devices such as texture, phrasing, style, and tonality…” The world premiere of Matt Sargent’s “Flower & Branch” follows, a sparse, quiet work for two performers bowing and striking one glockenspiel. It will also include “Sequoia” by Yaz Lancaster, a work inspired by the massive Redwood trees of Northern California. “Sequoia” features flower pots played as musical instruments in a variety of ways and field recordings of nature made by students. The concert concludes with Emma O’Halloran’s “Shell”, a groove-based piece for four performers playing around a single “reverb-drenched marimba.”

VCSU Percussion Ensemble is under the direction of Dr. Taylor Long, VCSU’s percussion professor. Students in Percussion Ensemble are music majors, music minors, and non-major participants.

Adventure Awaits! Get your tickets for the 30th Annual VCSU Scholarship Auction

VCSU quilt	Milwaukee trimmer kit	Pizza for a Year	The Ultimate Nerf Gun Party

It’s not too late to purchase tickets for the 30th annual Valley City State University Scholarship Auction: Adventure Awaits! Tickets are $70 for this year’s pirate-themed auction on April 11, 2025 at the Valley City Eagles Club. Included with admission are a buffet dinner as well as two drink tickets to use that evening. Tickets can be purchased here or by contacting the VCSU Foundation Office at 701-845-7203.

Silent auction items are being uploaded to the Handbid app this week and can be viewed at anytime. This year’s silent auction will be set up to view in-person at the Valley City Eagles Club. Bidders do not need to attend the auction to bid on silent auction items as the bidding will be done exclusively in the Handbid app.

The live auction will feature the following. A full list of live auction items will be released next week.

• Milwaukee battery-powered lawn mower
• Luxury ice fishing excursion for three
• The Ultimate Nerf Gun Party
• A variety of dinner parties
• Guided pheasant hunt
• Blackstone Grill with air fryer and warmer
• 2-Piece section patio sofa with table
• Pizza for a Year
• Wine!
• VCSU items
• Quilts
• Kids Jeep Wrangler
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL string trimmer/blower kit with accessories
• Three limited edition beers from Brockopp Brewing

For more information regarding the VCSU Scholarship Auction, to purchase tickets or to donate an item, call the VCSU Foundation Office at 701-845-7203.

2025 Scholar Symposium: call for submissions

The 2025 Valley City State University Scholar Symposium will be held in the main lobby of the Larry J. Robinson Center For the Arts on Tuesday, May 6 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The annual event allows undergraduate students to showcase their research, writing, and other creative projects developed over the past academic year. Last year’s event featured 65+ student-designed projects representing seven departments across campus, revealing the wide-range of scholarship VCSU students produced individually and collaboratively in more than 20 unique courses.

Student recipients of the SOAR (Student Opportunities for Academic Research) Award and of the EPSCOR (Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Award presented their advanced research projects, and faculty members from three different departments shared their discipline-specific research and creative scholarship from the past academic year.

Students are encouraged to participate in the Scholar Symposium, as presenters and/or attendees, as this event is designed to showcase and celebrate the individual and collaborative vibrant academic work of VCSU students and faculty across campus.

Contact event coordinator Emily D. Wicktor, associate professor for language and literature, at emily.wicktor@vcsu.edu for more information on the submission process.

Submission forms are due by April 24.

Stiegelmeier presents SOAR project at Minnesota Writing and English Conference

RubyAnn Stiegelmeier, music major and 2024-25 SOAR award recipient, presented her Student Opportunities for Academic Research project at the spring 2025 Minnesota Writing and English Conference, held in River Falls, Wis., at UW-River Falls.

Stiegelmeier’s project, titled “Local Product Placement in Literature: Testing an Updated Business Model for Authors,” examines the possibilities of funding literary, creative, and other artistic media content following the established product placement practices in mainstream media but on a local/regional level. Stiegelmeier successfully presented her project as part of the “Transforming Literature and Creative Writing” panel as one component of her semester-long SOAR project.

Mehus presents at the Minnesota Writing and English Conference

Beth Mehus, language and literature student, presented her English Capstone project, titled “Digitizing and Promoting Student Writing to Inspire a New Generation in Turbulent Times,” as part of the “Elevating Student Voices” panel at the 2025 Minnesota Writing and English Conference held at the University of Wisconsin River Falls, March 28 & 29.

Mehus’s self-designed research project involves digitizing and creating a web presence for the VCSU national award-winning literary and arts journal, “The Forge”. Building a well-designed and accessible digital web presence ensures all university members have direct access to current and archived editions of “The Forge” and creates a public presence that encourages wider community engagement with this student-produced publication committed to sharing literary and artistic expression for all.

Dutton appointed to advisory board at NDSU

Anthony Dutton, Ph.D., professor for history, has been appointed to the advisory board for the North Dakota State University College of Arts and Sciences. The board consists of NDSU alumni and people familiar with the programs and mission of the College of Arts and Sciences, providing support and making recommendations to Dean Kimberly Wallin.

Dutton earned his Ph.D. in History from NDSU in 2014, and his three-year term on the board begins in June.

Language and Literature faculty present at Minnesota Writing and English Conference

J. Gregory Brister, Ph.D., professor for language and literature, and Emily D. Wicktor, Ph.D., associate professor for language and literature, presented at the 2025 Minnesota Writing and English Conference at the University of Wisconsin River Falls campus in River Falls, Wis., March 28 & 29.

Brister presented his paper, “(Re)-Inventing the University: David Bartholomae, Academic Audience, and AI,” as part of the “Perspectives on AI in the Classroom” panel. Brister’s scholarship repositions Bartholomae’s landmark article within current critical Writing Studies discourse investigating best student writing practices in an age mediated by AI and LLM technologies.

Wicktor presented her paper, “English Studies in an Age of Rhetorical Sorrow,” as part of the “Rhetorical Pedagogy and Social Change” panel. Wicktor’s scholarship contemplates contemporary attempts at banning language as fostering the loss of critical practices cemented in classical rhetorical texts like the anonymous 5th century BCE text the Dissoi Logoi.

Viking sports update

SOFTBALL

The Vikings opened conference play with a 4-0 record after sweeping Dakota State last week and improve to 15-12 overall this season. Logan Gronberg was named NSAA Player of the Week after posting a .688 batting average against the Trojans with two doubles, a home run and eight RBIs. VCSU’s home series against Bellevue will now be played April 6-7 in Omaha, Neb. due to Valley City’s forecast and current field conditions.

BASEBALL

VCSU baseball dropped its NSAA opening series at Bellevue last week and is now 15-18 on the season and 0-4 to start conference play. The Vikings are slated to play a 4-game series at Dakota State April 5-6 with game times TBD.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

April 5: Outdoor Track & Field at Al Bortke Open, 10 a.m. (Bismarck, N.D.)
April 5: Baseball at Dakota State (DH), TBD (Madison, S.D.)
April 6: Baseball at Dakota State (DH), TBD (Madison, S.D.)
April 6: Softball at Bellevue (DH), 2 p.m. (Omaha, Neb.)
April 7: Softball at Bellevue (DH), 12 p.m. (Omaha, Neb.)
April 7-8: Golf at Dakota Wesleyan Invite, 9:30 a.m. (Mitchell, S.D.)

What's happening at VCSU and around Valley City...

April 4
7:30 p.m. Spring Instrumental Concert, Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts

April 7
4-7 p.m. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, McF 122

April 8
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, McF 122
7:30 p.m. Percussion Ensemble Spring Concert, Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts

April 11
30th Annual VCSU Scholarship Auction, Valley City Eagles Club
Purchase tickets at https://www.vcsu.edu/30th-annual-vcsu-scholarship-auction-set-for-april-11-2/

Find out what’s happening at VCSU: https://www.vcsu.edu/news-events/

Find out what’s happening in the community: https://www.valleycitycalendar.com/