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Hotline

Hotline // October 2, 2024

Oct 2, 2024

A newspaper backdrop with a white chevron and the words Hotline, The weekly newsletter of Valley City State University

This week’s Hotline includes the following articles:


President's Column: Exciting Results in Enrollment, Rankings, and AI

VCSU president Alan LaFave talks with a group of students on campus

Greetings from Valley City State University! Last week was very exciting for our university. Continued record enrollments, national rankings and the hosting of the first ever North Dakota AI Conference were driving forces for an abundance of positive news.

Enrollment: Annual census date enrollment data for the North Dakota University System was released on September 23, and we were extremely pleased to have eclipsed 1800 for the first time in school history! With 1806 students enrolled for the 2024 fall semester, we continue to be recognized as a wise academic investment by students and their families. This number includes 1651 undergraduate students and 155 graduate students. Here are some other specifics regarding this year’s enrollment data:

  • FTE (full-time equivalents) also reached a new record of 1184.
  • VCSU has grown more than 31 percent over the past ten years and has set enrollment records each semester for the past three semesters.
  • 314 new undergraduate students are enrolled, including freshman and transfer students.
  • The graduate program grew by 23 percent over last fall.
  • Transfer student numbers increased by 21 percent.
  • Retention rates for first-time, full-time students increased by 3%.
  • Full-time students increased by 5%.

This data helps illustrate that our trusted degrees and generous scholarship programs combine to provide our students with quality education and experiences at an affordable price. We are extremely grateful to our donors and all those who support our mission in the important role of providing an attainable and affordable education for our students.

Rankings: VCSU has enjoyed a long and successful history of being recognized by U.S. News and World Report. In fact, we’ve been recognized as one of the top Best Colleges for 27 consecutive years. The 2025 U.S. News Best College Report, released last week, ranks colleges annually in areas such as retention, graduation rates, outcomes, peer reviews, measures of student excellence and the educational expenditure per student.

Along with being the top public regional college in North Dakota, U.S. News ranked us as the No. 2 public regional college in the 12 state Midwest region including, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. Other notable rankings include:

  • Named a 2025 “Hidden Gems of the Great Plains” by College Raptor – 1 of 3 in N.D.
  • Colleges of Distinction award.
  • #1 Best Value College in N.D. by Niche.com.
  • Most Valuable Online Education Degree by Research.com

Our commitment to quality, both in and outside the classroom, contribute to these external validations of the VCSU experience. These rankings confirm what we see every day – students who choose to call VCSU home have a great experience and leave with a valuable degree and credentials at an affordable price.

AI leadership: Finally, VCSU was honored to serve as the site of the first ever North Dakota Conference on AI on September 26 in the Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts. The conference, entitled “Being Human and Working in the Age of AI” brought researchers, industry practitioners, educators and thought leaders together to hear from national and regional experts in the field. This event was a collaborative effort and partnership involving Valley City State University, University of Mary, Dakota Digital Academy, North Dakota University System, North Dakota Information Technology and Department of Public Instruction.

More than 200 educators, industry professionals, students, faculty, and staff gathered to hear keynote presentations from the Honorable James E. Baker – director of the Syracuse University Institute for Security Policy and Law and professor at the Syracuse College of Law and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs – and Dr. Eman El-Sheikh, associate vice president and professor for the Center of Cybersecurity at the University of West Florida. Her presentation, “Building an AI enabled Future Workforce” focused on workforce transformation and the preparation of skilled professionals.

Several breakout sessions focused on the topics of health science and technology, business, government and education. Also included was a fireside chat moderated by Todd Pringle, DDA director featuring NDUS Chancellor Mark Hagerott and Monsignor James Patrick Shea, University of Mary President.

We are grateful for the opportunity to host a conference such as this and look forward to the Center for the Arts venue serving as the site for many more educational and community events.

Our successful growth and recognition have been a team effort. All three of these topics and success stories are the result of an entire team of faculty, staff, coaches and administrators working to make VCSU the best it can possibly be.

Go Vikings!

Artist talk and reception for visiting artist, Ryan Stander, to take place on VCSU campus

Crawl, walk, run words written over image of woman, cow and milk jugs
Ryan Stander

Valley City State University invites the community to an artist talk and reception for visiting artist Ryan Stander’s solo exhibition “Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid”.

The event will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 2 in the Larry J Robinson Center for the Arts Choir Room at 3:30 p.m. A reception will follow in the CFA Gallery and lobby until 5:30 p.m. The Artist Talk will also be live-streamed on the Art Department’s YouTube and Facebook channels.

Stander’s work, featured in the VCSU Art Gallery over the last month, explores the shaping of place, memory, and religion through interdisciplinary artworks incorporating printmaking, sculpture, book arts, and photography. Stander encourages viewers “to piece together meaning through loose associations, rather than explicit illustration.”

A virtual exhibit of “Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid” will be available on the VCSU Art YouTube channel.

Virinca Trio performing on VCSU campus Oct. 2

the virinca trioThe VCSU Music Department is excited to host the Virinca Trio on Wednesday, Oct.2 in the Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Performance Hall. The public is invited to attend and admission is free.

The Virinca Trio, based in South Dakota, is a distinguished ensemble dedicated to commissioning and performing works by American composers. Their repertoire not only includes traditional pieces for soprano, clarinet, and piano but also emphasizes rare and underrepresented compositions. The trio‘s mission is to champion underserved communities making the repertoire accessible to both students and professionals.

 

Deriving from the Esperanto international language, as well as Sanskrit, “virinca” (vee-REEN-cha) loosely means the creator and all of his and her followers.

In recent years, the Virinca Trio has commissioned songs from four esteemed composers, showcasing their commitment to expanding the musical landscape. Their exceptional contributions have garnered international and national acclaim, with notable presentations and performances at prestigious conferences. Among their celebrated premieres are Jocelyn Hagen’s Inside My Ribcage (2022), Jonathan Bailey Holland’s Poppies in the Graveyard (2021), and Richard Pearson Thomas’s Life on the Edge (2019), all debuted at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest. Additionally, the trio has presented their commissioned works at the 2022 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) national conference.

The Virinca Trio features the talents of soprano Dr. Darci Bultema, clarinetist Dr. Audrey Miller, and pianist Dr. Philip Everingham. Drs. Bultema and Miller are esteemed members of the music faculty at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD, while Dr. Everingham serves as the Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Granville, Ohio. Their collective expertise and dedication to their craft have solidified the Virinca Trio‘s reputation as a leading force in contemporary American music.

Dr. Ozzie Johnson Playing Piano Recital on Oct. 4

Dr. Ozzie Johnson poses for a photo in front of the brick walls in the CFA lobby.

The music department at Valley City State University is pleased to host faculty member Dr. Ozzie Johnson playing a solo piano recital in the Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts. The performance is set for 7 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 4, in the Performance Hall of the CFA.

Dr. Johnson is in his third year at VCSU, where he teaches applied piano, class piano, music theory, and coordinates collaborative piano duties. In addition to these duties, Dr. Johnson has a deep interest in composition and music theory. His culminating doctoral project was a multi-movement work for piano entitled Bigger Than Us, which he composed and recorded in Sursa Hall in Muncie, Indiana. Dr. Johnson is highly active within the piano community in North Dakota. He is a member of NDMTA and NDFMC, and he currently serves as the NDMTA State Competition Chair and president of the Valley City MTA chapter. Dr. Johnson received a DA in Piano Performance from Ball State University and holds a MM in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Ohio University, as well as a BM in Piano Performance from Wheaton College.

Dr. Johnson’s program features music by Schumann, Grieg, Chopin, and Kapustin. He built the program around two major works: Chopin’s first Ballade and Grieg’s Holberg Suite. The first set features a short piece from Schumann’s Morning Songs that works as a perfect prelude before the exciting launch of the Praeludium that starts the Holberg Suite. This wonderful work by Grieg contains five movements, each modeled after a dance style from the Baroque period.

Following this first set are two great piano compositions by Chopin: his Nocturne in C Minor and the aforementioned first Ballade. After the cataclysmic ending of the Ballade, the third set fittingly features three delicate gems that flow seamlessly together. The first piece is from Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood, entitled Of Foreign Lands and People, and it is followed by Grieg’s Arietta, which several people in the audience may have played in their own past piano lessons. The final piece of the third set is Schumann’s Arabeske, the ending of which is simple, breathless beauty.

The final set is really just a single piece, Variations on a Theme by Stravinsky by the late Ukrainian jazz pianist and composer Nikolai Kapustin. Being a variation set, it features many popular jazz styles and ends with a bombastic coda that is a fitting end to just about any program.

Dr. Johnson is eager to share this wonderful program with the region and hopes you will consider attending, Friday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m.

National education expert coming to VCSU

Todd ZakrajsekDr. Todd Zakrajsek will be on campus to conduct several workshops and presentations on Tuesday, Oct. 22.

Zakrajsek is the author of multiple classic books in the field of education, including the successful book “The New Science of Learning: How to Learn In Harmony with Your Brain”. A successful author, speaker, and faculty developer, Zakrajsek plans to advise VCSU employees on how to create a motivating, creative and engaging community, as well as share with students how best to learn in consideration of how the brain works. Todd describes his work in this way; “Mostly I give talks on how students learn and building communities for learning in the classroom. Much of my approach is that you can be supportive of students (including helping them understand how learning works) without lowering standards.”

Zakrajsek will lead a total of five sessions, including one specially customized for Education majors. Two different general sessions will take place in the Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts Performance Hall at 11 a.m. and Noon. The 11:00 session is “Study Less and Learn More: Applying Principles of the New Science of Learning”. The Noon session is “Universal Threads: Uncovering Your Connections in the Learning Process” and will include practical strategies you can use to help yourself learn better and to be more effective in your campus role. These sessions will cover material from his book “The New Science of Learning” which can be accessed as an ebook through the VCSU Allen Memorial Library. A faculty presentation will take place at 2 p.m., followed by an interactive workshop at 3 p.m.

The library has also obtained unlimited electronic access to his book “Teaching at Its Best”, a resource of 27 chapters pertaining to nearly every concept related to teaching at your best. Several of these topics will be the focus for 2 discussions leading up to his visit. The new edition of “Teaching at Its Best” is available here.

The New Science of Learning Part Four: Keep it Going Chapters 10, 11 & 12 October 8, 11 am - noon Skoal RoomVCSU faculty and staff are invited to the second discussion “The New Science of Learning Part Four: Keep it Going” which will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 8 from 11 a.m. – noon in the Student Center Skoal Room. The discussion on how sleep and exercise impact learning, will be led by Larry Brooks, VPAA and Kerry Gregoryk, Ph.D., director for institutional effectiveness and planning. To prepare, those interested are encouraged to read chapters 10, 11 & 12 in the book “The New Science of Learning”. Those who plan to attend are asked to bring questions, hot topics, or sticky points to this workshop that can be shared with Zakrajsek before his visit.

The final discussion will take place on Oct. 15 and will be previewed in next week’s Hotline newsletter.

Vaccination clinic on campus Oct. 17

City-County Health District will be holding a Respiratory Vaccination Clinic at VCSU on Thursday, Oct. 17 from 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. in the VCSU Student Center Skoal Room.

    • Vaccines that will be available: 2024-25 Influenza (flu) and COVID
    • A voucher for 3000 points will be available for employees who participate in the Dakota Wellness Program upon request.
    • Family members of students, faculty and staff are welcome to participate in this clinic as well, preregistration is recommended.

Please complete the online registration process at https://forms.office.com/g/ rF03NmA0Nx

      • You will be asked to enter your health insurance information so have that available when you register.
      • You will not be asked to schedule a time to come, this is only a preregistration process, so the staff have an idea of how much vaccine they need to bring with them. You can come anytime between 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. to get your vaccination(s).

     

Viking sports update

Volleyball
The Valley City State volleyball team defeated Mayville in five sets last Wednesday, highlighted by a school-record 11 blocks by Morgan Nelson. Nelson and Sadie Hansen were named NSAA Players of the Week for their strong performances. VCSU is now 10-5 on the season and 2-1 in conference play. Read more.

 

Football
The VCSU football team dropped its road game 16-10 last weekend at Mayville State. VCSU is now 1-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play. The Vikings travel to No. 21 Dickinson State this Saturday for a 3 p.m. kickoff.

Golf
VCSU men’s golf competes Tuesday and Wednesday at the Comet Invitational, hosted at the Hawley Golf Course in Hawley, Minn. After the first round, VCSU is in ninth place of nine teams. Wyatt Meisch leads all Vikings in 35th place with an opening-round 85. Live scoring.

Upcoming
Oct. 2: Volleyball at (RV) Dakota State, 7 p.m. (Madison, S.D.)
Oct. 3: Volleyball at No. 8 Bellevue, 7 p.m. (Bellevue, Neb.)
Oct. 3: Shooting Sports at USA CCTL Competition Week 2
Oct. 4: Cross Country at Jimmie Invite, Parkhurst Cross Country Course (Jamestown, N.D.)
Oct. 5: Football at No. 21 Dickinson State, 3 p.m. CT (Dickinson, N.D)
Oct. 5: Shooting Sports at Bison Blast (Fargo, N.D)

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

A backdrop featuring the HiLine bridge and a white chevron with the text Valley City Community

Oct. 2
3:30 p.m. Artist talk and reception for visiting artist exhibition: “Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid”, Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts
7:30 p.m. Virinca Trio, Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts

Oct. 4
7 p.m. Ozzie Johnson recital, Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts

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/