NDSCS Update from President Dr. John Richman

Posted by Robert T. Chambers 
on Mar 03, 2016
 
     Traditionally Dr. John Richman the President of the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) gives members an update.  On March 1st at the regular noon meeting at Prante’s he addressed five items: 1) the boiler; 2) enrollment; 3) work force improvement; 4) physical plant; 5) allotment.
      As it has been in the news he first addressed the issues with the power plant boiler that blew up.  No one was hurt and there is still heat.  The college uses three fuels: coal, natural gas and fuel oil.  The coal burning boiler was not in use but under EPA regulations needed to be tested something that requires start up and a couple of days.  The analysis is still under way but at this time no one is sure why the boiler blew up.  Fortunately no one was in the line of the blow when the doors blew off and the basic structure remained intact.  It is not clear if it is repairable or even if the college wants to repair it or go with the non-coal energy sources; likely that will take a couple of years.  In the meantime there is still a lot of heat from their other fuel options.
       The spring enrollment is at a thirty-three year high.  While there are still three hundred seats available on the Wahpeton campus the focus is on retention of students to degree completion.  In the recent past that retention rate was 63 %; now is 73% and they seek to improve that.  Some of that is based on delivery methods with the options of campus (Wahpeton campus and/or Fargo campus) or on-line or a hybrid model where the student does some combination.  The driving factor is convenience for the student.  Currently there is a slight decrease in Wahpeton enrollment, an increase in Fargo and hybrid enrollments and a decrease in on-line enrollments.  The latter is being experienced nationally at about a 3 % rate; for NDSCS it is only a 2 % decrease.   The goal is 100 % possible enrollment on the Wahpeton campus and an expansion of the Fargo (now maxed out) campus.  The numbers of students in the pipeline in Cass County elementary-middle and high schools is stunning.
         NDSCS’s focus remains on workforce improvement.  Currently there are 16,000 jobs available in North Dakota the most of them in Cass County.  Equipping people to be productive going into those jobs is fundamental to the NDSCS mission.  The Workforce Environment Association and the Valley Prosperity Partnership studies have both concluded that there are major workforce challenges in the Red River  that need to be addressed through technical education. 
        Now in his ninth year as President Dr. Richman has overseen over $ 50 million put into the Wahpeton campus infrastructure with maintenance, upgrades and new facilities.   During the course of this work Hektner Hall, named after educator Vernon Hektner was demolished.  After consultation with the Hektner family on May 5th NDSCS will rename the student center as the Hektner Student Center.  The NDSCS presence in Fargo is driving the Wahpeton facility with students coming from Fargo for courses not offered there.  Despite that South Dakota offers free technical education students come from there for the “campus experience”.
        After receiving a budget allotment for a two year cycle the State of North Dakota, due to falling oil revenues has realigned its budget forecast and asked for 4 % back from everyone except the K-12 program.  This included NDSCS that was in an advantageous spot in that they are in a sound fiscal position.  Six open positions in programs with little to no enrollment were turned back as a part of that 2 million they were expected to return.  The deferred maintenance list was shortened; the projects will get done just not immediately.  Even before the requested budget return an effort was being made to be more efficient and plans were underway to combine the student affairs program and the student success program.  That saves about two hundred thousand and removes one current Associate Vice-President.
         Dr. Richman entertained members question resulting in a wide variety of discussions including plans for the empty dormitory buildings no longer needed and that elements of the canceled nanoscience program have been incorporated into other science areas.  Clearly Dr. Richman is bemused at the national trend of parents pushing their children into baccalaureate programs when they would succeed better and prosper better with technical associate degrees.