MSU President's Newspaper Column
March 12, 2022
Faculty, staff, students, and community members enjoy Chancellor Hagerott’s visit
We had the honor of hosting North Dakota University System (NDUS) Chancellor Dr. Mark Hagerott at Mayville State this week. The visit was part of the chancellor’s Executive Engagement Program (EEP) for campus communities. The program is intended to connect the chancellor with NDUS institutions and their local communities. Open forums and dialogue are designed to strengthen the relationship between North Dakota higher education, the local institution, and community leadership.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the chancellor to put the Executive Engagement Program on the back burner for a while, but with the decline in positive cases and close contacts recently, the comfort level with safety for meeting with groups across the state has increased. The chancellor’s EEP visit to Mayville was the first in his return to the statewide campus and community visit schedule.
Chancellor Hagerott, together with campus administrators, enjoyed a very nice time of socializing with community leaders on Monday evening, March 7 at the Edson and Margaret Larson Alumni and Leadership Center. The opportunity to build and strengthen relationships such as this is vital to our success. I am grateful for all who took time from their busy schedules to participate.
Vice Chancellor of Strategy and Strategic Engagement Jerry Rostad joined Chancellor Hagerott for the visit schedule on Tuesday, March 8. It began with continental breakfast with campus governance. The presidents and vice presidents of the Staff Senate, Faculty Senate, and Student Senate had a chance to visit informally with Chancellor Hagerott. The day also included visits with faculty, a “show and tell” in the science lab of Dr. Michael Kjelland and his student researchers, lunch with student leaders, and participation at the awards ceremony of a middle school math meet hosted by Mayville State on March 8.
A highlight of the day was a discussion led by Dr. Hagerott for all Mayville State faculty, staff and students. His topic was “Reflections on post-Cold War relations and alliances in Eastern Europe and Russia.” He brought a very interesting perspective on this topic related to current events since one of his concentrations of study while at Oxford was Soviet/East European studies.
Hagerott holds a B.S. degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, an M.A. degree in political science and economics from Oxford University where he attended as a Rhodes Scholar, and a Ph.D. in history from University of Maryland.
Prior to coming back home to serve as NDUS Chancellor, Dr. Hagerott served on the faculty and held numerous academic leadership roles at the United States Naval Academy. He also served as a planning and strategy director in one of the largest U.S. Army educational organizations, NATO Training Mission, which included the Afghanistan army, police, air force, and medical school programs. Hagerott served as distinguished professor and deputy director of the Center for Cyber Security Studies at the Naval Academy and served on the Defense Science Board summer study of unmanned systems 2014-2015. He is a commissioner on the Midwestern Higher Education Compact and Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
We are grateful for the time spent with Chancellor Hagerott and Vice Chancellor Rostad. It was a great opportunity to talk with him about the great things happening at Mayville State. His friendship and support for our university are very much appreciated, as is the outstanding work he does on behalf of all of higher education in our great state of North Dakota.