28 Jan Board hears update on presidential searches
The State Board of Higher Education focused on presidential searches at one college and one university, emerging priorities that would impact the strategic outlook, and an update on COVID-19.
Board Vice Chair Jill Louters, Ed.D. provided an update on the North Dakota State University Presidential Search, noting that the state and campus visits were currently proceeding as planned. The visits included multiple events to be as comprehensive as possible to ensure that local and statewide stakeholders were involved. The search committee would meet next week to decide on three unranked candidates to forward to the Board, who would then interview them next month. She thanked the search committee for their commitment of energy and time.
Board member Jeffry Volk gave an update on the North Dakota State College of Science Presidential Search. He said the search committee had interviewed candidates and had narrowed down the field to a smaller pool that would move forward and be interviewed again via video. He noted that the overall candidate pool had a wide array of experience and expertise. Campus visits were slated for the end of February and early March.
Chancellor Mark Hagerott noted that he had begun review of strategic priorities for the North Dakota University System and Board annual retreat in June. He noted that the Board would already be available with the high-level goals they had adopted last year, but new priorities were emerging such as inflation and how that could impact tuition and salaries, digitization and its impact on workforce, talent recruitment and retention, legislative relations, and enrollment strategies.
Dr. Joshua Wynne provided an update on the Omicron variant, touching on state and national perspectives regarding the virus. He presented data made available by the Centers for Disease Control, which looked at cases, hospital admissions and deaths related to COVID-19. He said by mid-January, Omicron constituted 99 percent of cases in the country.
He said as time has moved forward, more people were vaccinated and boosted which could prevent some spread although Omicron was incredibly infectious. Wynne added that the hospital sector was facing a “double whammy” from the increased number of cases plus the strain that placed on hospital staff. Compared to the same time last year, the daily positivity was nearly double and higher than it’s ever been.
Wynne noted that in the university system numbers were substantial but down somewhat from a previous peak, which reflected a statewide trend. He added that the NDUS Smart Restart Task Force was continuing to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. He concluded that the pandemic had taken an emotional toll especially on students and attending to those needs was something that the task force and campuses were aware of and trying to attend to as best as they could. After taking some questions he noted that the N95 masks were the most effective.
Committee work, policies
Board member Tim Mihalick brought forward the Budget and Finance Committee agenda, which recommended approval for Bismarck State College to proceed with the construction of a polytechnic education facility at an estimated cost of $38 million dollars; for BSC to reduce the non-resident tuition rate factor from 1.12 to 1.0 for students from Minnesota and 1.5 to 1.0 for students from the following states and Canadian provinces: South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Effective Fall 2022; for Dakota College at Bottineau tuition model to change to assess online students a tuition rate based on their residency status effective Fall 2022; for Dickinson State University to proceed with construction of a new athletic complex with an estimated Phase I cost of $7,000,000; for North Dakota State College of Science Housing Auxiliary Facilities Revenue Refunding Bonds 2022; for NDSCS to proceed with repairs to the outdoor track and field event locations completed by the Wahpeton Public School district which will be responsible for contracting all necessary work and costs related to the project; for North Dakota State University to proceed with the Ceres Hall Partial Renovation project at an estimated cost of $2,200,000 to be funded from 2021-23 extraordinary repair funds and matching operating funds; for NDSU to increase the project authorization of the Nodak Insurance Football Performance Complex project from $37,200,000 to $50,000,000 to be funded from special funds; and further seek Legislative Budget Section approval; for NDSU to proceed with the Peltier Complex at an estimated cost of $85,000,000 to be funded by state bonding ($50,000,000), general fund carryover 2017-2019 ($20,000,000), and special funds; for NDSU to increase the project authorization of the Softball Indoor Facility project from $2,000,000 to $2,600,000 to be funded from special funds; for requests from NDSU and University of North Dakota for Differential Tuition for Master’s in Athletic Training; and for UND to proceed with construction of an ADA accessible vestibule link between O’Kelly Hall and Gillette Hall.
Louters brought forward the Academic and Student Affairs committee agenda, which included tenure recommendations, the creation of a new center at NDSU for Center for the Study of Digital Society, and exploration of creating a new center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business.
Board member Nick Hacker brought forward the Audit committee agenda, including the North Dakota University System Internal Audit Plan FY22 and the NDUS Internal Audit Independent Validation of the Quality Assessment. He noted that independent validation had come from external organizations and met standards set by the Institute for Internal Auditors. He noted that he was okay with sending the report back to committee for one additional review with feedback from campus internal auditors.
Board members Dr. Casey Ryan and Danita Bye brought forward the Research and Governance Committee agenda. Ryan noted that they saw numerous presentations on research including a five-state consortium looking at options for collaborative research. Bye noted that the governance side of the house had looked into self-assessment. They also looked at potential committee realignment.
The Board held the first reading of Policy 605.2 (Standing Committee on Faculty Rights) and the second reading of Policy HR 7 (Sick Leave).
Student member of the Board Gracie Lian brought forward the North Dakota Student Association report, noting that they had been meeting virtually out of caution toward COVID-19, and that the organization was reviewing two resolutions that would likely come up at a later meeting.
Faculty Advisor to the Board Elizabeth Legerski, Ph.D., brought forward the Council of College Faculty report, noting that the next meeting would be next month. She said that she was happy that N95 masks had been made available, especially as faculty and students are being encouraged to return to classrooms.
Staff Advisor to the Board Retha Mattern brought forward the Staff Senate report, noting that there had not been a January meeting which was typical for the start of a semester. She noted that they would be discussing leave sharing. She added that as she would be running for a seat in the state legislature, she would be finishing out her term as staff adviser in June and stepping down at that time.
DCB Dean Jerry Migler noted at the end of the meeting that he had announced his retirement and he would be leaving the college when his contract was up at the end of June.
Earlier in the meeting, the Board had entered executive session to discuss compensation packages for presidents, the chancellor and chancellor’s executive staff. Ultimately the Board did not accept the proposal from the lowest bidder and recommended that the proposal be sent back to committee.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 23 in Fargo.