MSU President's Column for Traill County Tribune
August 22, 2020
Focusing on the future with optimism and excitement
This has been an exciting week at Mayville State. Not only have our football, volleyball, and other student athletes joined us on campus, our faculty and staff are back! Annual pre-service activities for faculty and staff began on Wednesday.
COVID-19 testing was among the activities on the schedule for faculty on Wednesday morning. The community testing event was held at the May-Port CG High School parking lot. The 8 to 10 a.m. time period was reserved for Mayville State faculty who chose to participate. The last testing event prior to the start of fall semester classes is Monday, Aug. 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This testing event will be held in the Mayville State Wellness Center gymnasium. It is being held for Mayville State students who will be studying on campus, as well as any faculty and staff who were unable to test on Aug. 12 or 19. Further information about testing and other fall restart information can be found at www.mayvillestate.edu/Fall2020restart.
Our employees have worked extremely hard to prepare for the fall semester in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone is going above and beyond and taking precautions to help ensure that our campus will be as safe as possible so that we can keep our campus community healthy.
I delivered my annual state of the university address on Thursday morning, Aug. 20. The environment was a little different this year. We were in the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse, where the audience of faculty and staff, as well as the public were seated in bleachers. Seating was marked off allowing for proper social distancing and everyone masked up to help protect one another. The purpose of my presentation was to be transparent and informative, and to provide a glimpse at both our challenges and opportunities for the future. I’ll share some of the highlights of my presentation here.
I’m Comet Proud of the academic accomplishments at Mayville State University! Several faculty were awarded promotions last spring. They are Dr. Jeremiah Moen, Dr. Lynn DiLivio, Dr. Brittany Hagen, and Dr. Erin Kunz. In addition, several faculty were awarded tenure. They are Dr. Tami Such, Dr. Lynn DiLivio, Dr. Erin Kunz, and Dr. Donna Gutschmidt.
Our highly successful nursing program has been expanded from the RN-to-BSN degree to include a new Master of Science degree in nursing. Other new nursing programs are the Nurse Educator Graduate Certificate and Nursing Leadership & Management Graduate Certificate. The new Bachelor of Science degree in agribusiness will prepare students to work in sales, cooperatives, banking, finance, and more. Flexibility in course delivery, as well as pertinent content, puts these innovative new programs at the forefront.
Mayville State University was successful in their fourth-year assurance review with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) this spring, and the Division of Teacher Education was re-accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). Accreditation is extremely important, as it officially gives us a seal of approval and recognizes us as being qualified to do our work as educators.
A part of my presentation focused on the budget. We are working with a couple of budgets right now. The annual 2020-21 budget has now rolled out. In addition, we are making preparations for the 2021-23 state-funded biennial budget.
A number of factors have caused us to develop a very lean budget for 2020-21. In doing so, the first priorities were to protect current faculty and staff positions, fund growth opportunities, continue essential operations, provide a safe working environment for the campus community, and to continue to provide outstanding experiences for students.
With the upcoming legislative session, also comes development of the biennial operating budget which receives general fund support from the state of North Dakota. After our proposed budget is submitted, it will work through the legislative process, and a final outcome will be determined with the close of the legislative session in the spring.
Our best opportunity to positively impact tight budgets and budget reductions is through enrollment growth. We will be working diligently to not only recruit new students, but also to retain the students we have through graduation. In addition, we are enforcing conservative spending measures.
Other important work that will happen when the legislature meets early next year is review of our capital project request, which has now been approved by the State Board of Higher Education. We are asking for $1.6 million in state funding to replace fuel oil burners with those that burn natural gas. Use of natural gas will provide efficiencies for our institution. The project will enhance our infrastructure and improve our campus while providing a cleaner footprint. Mayville State’s commitment to natural gas helped to make it possible to bring natural gas to the community, and we are happy to do our part in making this more economical, cleaner, and reliable fuel source available in Traill County.
We look to the future with optimism and excitement. As we move forward, our lens will be focused on strategically conserving funds; enrollment growth, retention, and completion; exploring new markets and methods for promoting programs; curriculum development and enhancements; and exploration of shared services. We’re strong, well-positioned, and we look forward to transforming Mayville State University in ways that will benefit of future generations.