UND Today

University of North Dakota’s Official News Source

‘Meet the Armacosts’ meets with success

Kickoff event for statewide ‘Meet the Armacosts’ tour introduces Andy and Kathy Armacost to enthusiastic crowd

Andy and Kathy Armacost greet guests at the June 2 ‘Meet the Armacosts’ event in Grand Forks. The UND Alumni Association & Foundation will be hosting similar events in other North Dakota communities throughout June and July. Photo by Mike Hess/UND Today.

On June 2 at the Gorecki Alumni Center, the UND Alumni Association & Foundation hosted “Meet the Armacosts,” a chance for the UND community to greet President Andy Armacost and his wife, Kathy.

About 100 people attended, and there were big smiles all around, noted DeAnna Carlson Zink, the association and foundation’s CEO.

“It was a thrill to be able to kick off the Meet the Armacosts Tour in Grand Forks,” Carlson Zink said after the event. “It was our first in-person event in more then a year! The atmosphere was lively and fun, and the audience was thrilled to be able to hear directly from Andy and Kathy.

“We look forward to seeing alumni and friends across North Dakota and Minnesota over the next few months as we host more Meet the Armacosts events.”

Carlson Zink offered a special thank-you to Wes and Vivian Rydell, who sponsored the event and whose Rydell Group now has grown to more than 83 car dealerships in 17 states. The Rydells also brought several classic cars to the Alumni Center for the occasion.

“Wes and Vivian are amazing community partners who are always willing to help out our University,” Carlson Zink said.

Throughout June and July, other “Meet the Armacosts” will be held in Fargo, Bismarck, Watford City and elsewhere around North Dakota as Andy and Kathy Armacost tour the state. Visit the “Meet the Armacosts” page at the UND Alumni Association & Foundation’s website for more information and to RSVP.

The following photos were taken at the June 2 Meet the Armacosts event in Grand Forks. They’re interspersed with excerpts of the remarks that DeAnna Carlson Zink and Andy Armacost delivered at the event. The excerpts were lightly edited for clarity. 

UND President Andy Armacost addresses the crowd at the ‘Meet the Armacosts’ event on June 2 at the Gorecki Alumni Center in Grand Forks. Photo by Mike Hess/UND Today.

DeAnna Carlson Zink: Thank you, thank you. All the smiles! I’m so happy that we get to see your whole faces today. It’s just wonderful!

Thank you so much for coming out and helping us to officially welcome the Armacosts to our university and to our community. We’re looking forward to introducing them to many more groups like this.

We’re so excited to have Andy and Kathy as part of our community. It’s been an interesting and amazing year. I know many of you feel like you know Andy, because you’ve been able to meet him on Zoom or from behind a mask at some of our City Council meetings or other events, but you haven’t really had the opportunity to meet him, or especially to meet Kathy.

So this is our opportunity to welcome them warmly. We’re so proud to have them as part of our team.

Photo by Mike Hess/UND Today.

President Andy Armacost: Thank you. To get this outpouring of support really means a ton to both me and Kathy.

And as you get to know Kathy, you’ll learn she’s the more exciting of the two of us. (laughter) And as she reminded me when we saw all of you here, ‘Maybe they’re not here to see us. Maybe they’re just here to get out of the house.” (laughter)

Truly, I don’t view this as a celebration of the Armacosts; it’s really a celebration of the spirit of UND, and of what we do together as a campus, as an alumni community, and as global leaders. We come together to support these great students whom we’re trying to send off in the world to be amazing leaders.

Courtesy of Wes and Vivian Rydell, a 1940 Oldsmobile (left), a 1939 Cadillac convertible (center-left) and a 1935 Chevrolet Phaeton (right) graced the ‘Meet the Armacosts’ event at the Gorecki Alumni Center on June 2. Photo by Mike Hess/UND Today.

President Andy Armacost: I’m so proud of the team that I’ve joined. You know, Josh Wynne was the president when I was appointed, and Josh graciously brought me aboard. We had this great relationship; it was like Thing One and Thing Two, from Dr. Seuss fame (laughter), Josh being the president and me as kind of the understudy, coming in five months before I was to take over as the president.

Josh was just extraordinary in terms of support to me and to Kathy.

Then COVID hit in mid-March. … To make sure the university was taken care of, that we treated everybody with a sense of health and safety, and to make sure the mission of the university continued – those were our goals. I think the team did an amazing job over the last year-and-a-half.

We executed 65,000 COVID tests over the course of the pandemic. We had 2,200 positive cases, the majority of whom were students, and we needed to house them and feed them while they were in quarantine and isolation.

So far, we’ve administered over 2,000 vaccines on campus, and in total dollars, spent $53.7 million to respond to the pandemic. Have no fear, though, as $52 million of that was funneled from the federal government through our wonderful state government in Bismarck government into our hands.

We were well-reimbursed for the work that we did to keep our campus safe, in other words. So you should be extraordinarily proud of the state of North Dakota and how it responded to this pandemic.

And all the while, we focused on academic excellence. Our students continue to do amazing things.

How about a round of applause for all? (applause)

Wes Rydell (center) and his wife, Vivian, were among the distinguished guests at the June 2 ‘Meet the Armacosts’ event. Photo by Mike Hess/UND Today.

President Andy Armacost: I wanted to just let you know about some of my core values, and I ask you to hold me to these ideals. Because these are important to me, and it’s how our campus should be.

No. 1: Love your people. Take care of them and make sure their needs are met.

That doesn’t mean kowtowing to them. It means holding them accountable, but caring for them in a way that will make them successful.

No. 2: Always remember, we’re here for our students. The reason a university exists is yes, to create knowledge; but primarily, it’s to graduate students, to turn them into great citizens for for our nation and the world.

No. 3: Treat everyone with kindness, dignity and respect. And you’ll hear me talk about this often – about the way we treat others, the way we treat others who have different backgrounds from us, the way we treat our friends as well as the people we don’t know. It has to be rooted in a sense of fairness, a sense of equity and a sense of dignity, and in treating everybody with respect.

No. 4: There is so much to learn. And  we have to do this with a sense of wonderment and excitement, but also with a sense of humility. … We all have to have the humility to listen to the voices of others.

No. 5 is a phrase I like to use: Everyone is great at something. It’s just for them to figure out what that is, and for us to help them understand how they can be great.

What happens is, greatness begets greatness. In other words, success in one area of life helps that person become successful in other areas.

And it’s for us as a university to make sure that that happens for our students and for each other.

Kathy and Andy Armacost. Photo by Mike Hess/UND Today.

President Andy Armacost: Last but not least, call me anytime you have a question. I know Kathy’s probably worried right now that the phone’s going to ring right off the hook (laughter), but that’s a serious offer. You can reach me any time. And if there’s some some issue bothering you, just reach out.

Bottom line, let me just say, thank you for your love of UND. Thank you for what you do for each other as a community, and for your support in so many ways, whether that’s providing your time, your talents or your treasure. You do extraordinary things for our campus.

Thank you for being here tonight. It’s really an honor to talk with you.

Photo by Mike Hess/UND Today.

DeAnna Carlson Zink: I think you can understand why we’re so excited to get the Armacosts out for everyone to have an opportunity to meet them. This university is in great hands with their leadership.