In delivering his annual State of the University address, NDSU President Dean Bresciani says there have been a lot of achievements made in recent years at NDSU, but it is not time to declare victory.
Bresciani says the school is serving North Dakota citizens at the highest level ever known by the state – and things are continuing to improve. Bresciani says the balance of disciplines offered by NDSU is common at the nation’s best university learning environments and the school has joined their ranks. As a way of making that statement literal, Bresciani says he would like to see NDSU gain membership in the prestigious Association for American Universities…
“…This Association of top tier Universities are leasers in innovation, scholarships and solutions that contribute to the nation’s economy, security and well being. I believe our scholarly performance already more than meets their standards and increased endowments and academic activities A.A.U. membership will become possible at some foreseeable point in the future. Just a few years ago I would have laughed at that assertion. Today it’s become quite real.”
Bresciani says the school needs to reach three accomplishments in order to gain A-A-U status. They include having and enrollment of 18-thousand, grow the student scholarship endowment by at least one-hundred million dollars, and be aggressive in pursuing substantial increases in endowed chairs and faculty positions. Bresciani says given the groundwork that has already been put in place, the goals could be reached sometime in the next five years.
At the same time, Bresciani says while the University has been able to take some transformative and game changing steps in the past year. But Bresciani says the progress in some areas further highlights the desperate needs for other areas…
“We will continue to vigorously pursue replacement of Dunbar Hall, which over the past several months has been closed at various times due to water and electrical systems failure. We already face formal accreditation criticism at the engineering complex and at Sudro Hall. And I’m concerned those issues – if not addressed in the immediate future -- will put the accreditation of those two critical programs at risk.”
Bresciani says a growing student population has also created a need for additional student housing. He says NDSU currently has three housing projects on a fast-track timeline.