MSU President's Newspaper Column
October 19, 2024Ìý
Hard-working students impact the workforce while enrolled and as graduatesÌýÌý
As a member of the North Dakota University System, 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State has a priority goal of positively impacting the workforce needs of North Dakota. It’s important that we graduate students who can fill critical workforce needs for our state. To go hand in hand with this, a person with a college degree has a better likelihood of finding meaningful employment opportunities.
It’s interesting to note that 68% of the 1,134 students enrolled this fall are from North Dakota. Nearly 800 of our graduates are teachers or administrators in North Dakota, and 82% of recent teacher education graduates currently hold teaching licenses in North Dakota. In general, the majority of 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State’s graduates choose to stay in the state when they graduate. A recent survey indicates that 71% of all 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State graduates are employed in North Dakota and/or continuing their education.
Top majors at 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State are elementary education, business, early childhood education, nursing, physical education teaching, sports management, psychology, biology, and accounting.
91³Ô¹ÏÍø State has recently enrolled 40 North Dakota paraprofessionals in teacher education programs, thanks to the state-funded Para-to-Teacher Pathway which seeks to assist in filling full-time teaching positions in K-12 schools. North Dakota Department of Public Instruction is covering the cost of tuition for these paraprofessionals who wish to become teachers in the school districts in which they’re already working. In many cases they will continue to live in these communities with their families.
Looking at other programs that can help to fill the need for employees in high-demand career areas, a Bachelor of Science degree program in criminal justice launched this fall. Courses are available through traditional and online modalities. 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State’s nursing programs provide flexible scheduling that allows nurses currently working in the field to maintain their work in the medical field where they are so badly needed while furthering their educational goals.
In addition, 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State’s popular new accounting major is producing graduates who can make an impact in North Dakota. Since its start in 2020-21, 30 students (21 majors and nine minors) have graduated from the program. There are currently about 36 students enrolled in accounting, either as majors or minors.
While preparing to enter the workforce full time after earning their undergraduate degrees, 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State students have a big impact as employees in the local area and beyond. Not only are they contributing to the local economy while they are students, they are also assisting with the workforce needs as part-time and sometimes full-time employees.
A quick poll taken recently showed that 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State students are working during the school year and/or the summer at Casey’s, Dollar General, Precision Electric, Top Hat, Corner Nutrition, Cenex, P.L.S., Luther Memorial Home, Pizza Shop, Mayport Farmers Co-op Elevator, 91³Ô¹ÏÍø Golf Course, and Jacobson Brothers in 91³Ô¹ÏÍø. A 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State student is an assistant coach with the Ice Dawgs. Others are working for local farmers, and still others are employed in various capacities on campus.
A little further out, 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State students are working in security at American Crystal Sugar, at King’s Walk Golf Course in Grand Forks and Goose River Brewery in Hillsboro, and for the Traill County Highway Department and Gowan Construction. To help raise funds for their teams, some students are on the clean-up crew after University of North Dakota hockey games. This is only a partial list, but it helps to show how students work hard while they also keep up with their studies.
I’m very proud of our hard-working students who, in some cases, are taking a full-time course load, participating on an athletic team, and working full- and/or part-time, sometimes at more than one job. These students are very important to our community as they work to reach their academic goals and do their best to reduce their college debt along the way. The icing on the cake is that most of them will stay in North Dakota to work after graduating, helping 91³Ô¹ÏÍø State to reach an important goal of assisting North Dakota in terms of workforce needs. It’s a win-win!