The “From the Dean” column is brought to you this week by Laura Block, the School’s associate dean for Administration & Finance and chief operating officer, who will discuss the move into the new academic year (fiscal year 2020) and UND’s new budget model called MIRA. Happy summer, everyone! Here’sRead More

Last Friday night, Susan and I had the pleasure of attending the 35th General Surgery Residency Program Graduation banquet hosted by Department of Surgery Professor and Chair Dr. Robert Sticca. The event recognized all UND surgical residents, but especially the five residents graduating from the program. The ballroom where theRead More

This week was my first as interim President of UND. As you may know, I am continuing as vice president for Health Affairs and dean of the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS). It was an especially busy week because I also attended the summer meeting of theRead More

This coming Sunday, June 16, will be my first day as interim President of UND, a role I accepted in addition to my continuing roles as vice president for Health Affairs and dean of your School of Medicine & Health Sciences. As you might imagine, I’ve already been in touchRead More

It has been quite a gratifying week since the State Board of Higher Education met last Thursday and confirmed me as interim president of UND, starting June 16, 2019. Since the announcement, I’ve been overwhelmed and humbled by the many congratulatory and supportive messages I’ve received from both within andRead More

You may have heard the news that I’ve been selected as interim president of UND following Mark Kennedy, who is leaving for the presidency of the University of Colorado System, effective June 15, 2019. I wasn’t seeking this position and agreed to accept the nomination only after fielding dozens ofRead More

Congratulations to our colleagues in UND’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences for capturing the 2019 National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Championship this past weekend at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. This was the 17th time UND won this competition, starting around 1970 when John Odegard himself tookRead More

Graduation weekend last week was a blast! I, along with fellow faculty, staff, and students, had a full dance card of activities Friday through Sunday as UND graduated over 1,900 students, including over 300 from the SMHS. There were department-specific activities like hooding ceremonies for graduating physician assistant and physicalRead More

Graduation weekend is here! Over the next two days, we will graduate over 300 medical and health sciences students who are destined for additional training, clinical practice, or other health-related employment. We are proud of them! They are going forward with wonderful opportunities, thanks to the education and training theyRead More

True to the predictions that were circulating in Bismarck last week, the North Dakota Legislature indeed did adjourn last Friday night on the 76th day of this year’s session (out of a possible 80 days). That leaves four days “in the bank” if it were necessary to reconvene the LegislativeRead More

A big “Thank You!” to all who participated in the first UND Gives philanthropic event this past Wednesday. UND Gives, to be repeated annually, is a 24-hour online fundraising challenge that aims to rally philanthropic support for UND initiatives. Thanks to the generosity of more than 600 of UND’s alumni,Read More

Given that the North Dakota Legislature is expected to wrap up its session in the next 10 days or so, we will soon know the specifics of our appropriated budget provided by state funding. We don’t expect any surprises, but still need further clarity on certain issues like the meritRead More

The presentation by Julie A. Blehm, MD, FACP, associate professor of Internal Medicine (retired) and Robert Olson, MD, clinical professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Dean’s Hour last week was indeed the special event that we anticipated. Drs. Blehm and Olson interacted with a standing-room-only audience and addressed theRead More

The UND SMHS has three fundamental missions: to educate health care providers, especially individuals destined to deliver care to the citizens of the state; to discover new scientific knowledge that benefits North Dakotans; and to serve the people of the state. Of all of the institutions of higher education inRead More

Here’s an update on the legislative front. The funding bill for all of higher education (engrossed HB 1003) has been under review by the Senate Appropriations Committee since we presented to the committee several weeks ago. This past Wednesday, a subcommittee consisting of three members of the full committee metRead More