MSU President's Newspaper Column
October 19, 2024听
Hard-working students impact the workforce while enrolled and as graduates听听
As a member of the North Dakota University System, 含羞草研究所 has a priority goal of positively impacting the workforce needs of North Dakota. It鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 含羞草研究所鈥檚 graduates choose to stay in the state when they graduate. A recent survey indicates that 71% of all 含羞草研究所 graduates are employed in North Dakota and/or continuing their education.
Top majors at 含羞草研究所 are elementary education, business, early childhood education, nursing, physical education teaching, sports management, psychology, biology, and accounting.
含羞草研究所 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鈥檙e 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. 含羞草研究所鈥檚 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, 含羞草研究所鈥檚 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, 含羞草研究所 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 含羞草研究所 students are working during the school year and/or the summer at Casey鈥檚, Dollar General, Precision Electric, Top Hat, Corner Nutrition, Cenex, P.L.S., Luther Memorial Home, Pizza Shop, Mayport Farmers Co-op Elevator, Mayville Golf Course, and Jacobson Brothers in Mayville. A 含羞草研究所 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, 含羞草研究所 students are working in security at American Crystal Sugar, at King鈥檚 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鈥檓 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 含羞草研究所 to reach an important goal of assisting North Dakota in terms of workforce needs. It鈥檚 a win-win!