Posts Tagged

legislature

As this academic and fiscal year winds down and the new one begins on July 1, we are finalizing our budget for the upcoming second year of the biennium. Per North Dakota University System (NDUS) requirements, we need to electronically submit our final budget package to the NDUS and embed it in their system soon. […]

As I mentioned in last week’s column, we met with Governor Burgum and his executive leadership team yesterday as part of a strategic review process that is utilized by the Governor and the executive branch to plan for North Dakota’s future. First, President Armacost, accompanied by the university’s vice presidents, presented on behalf of UND […]

Now that Governor Burgum has signed the funding bill for higher education, we are busy finalizing our operating budget for the coming academic year. Our final budget will be in line with any provisions stipulated by the State Board of Higher Education and needs to be approved by President Armacost on behalf of UND. It […]

Although the last official day of this year’s session of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly is fewer than two weeks away, it is likely that the session actually will end sometime next week in order to save some days for another subsequent meeting to address state-wide redistricting. As you may know, the biennial session of […]

Today is Match Day for our senior medical students! At 11 a.m. today (12 p.m. Eastern), medical students from around the country (including those at the UND SMHS) learn where they will be spending the next three to five (or more) years as part of their post-MD residency. Hosted by the National Resident Matching Program […]

Today marks one year since the pandemic really started in earnest for Susan and me. On that Friday we retreated to our home and realized that our life – and that of our family, friends, neighbors, and literally billions of others – was about to change in profound ways. You know what I mean – […]

We now have reached the “cross-over” phase of the North Dakota legislative session where bills that originated in one chamber are passed over to the other chamber for consideration. In the case of the funding bill for the UND SMHS that is contained in the higher education budget (SB 2003), the bill (which passed without […]

Here is some promising news regarding the School’s budget submission to the North Dakota Legislative Assembly (Legislature) that currently is being considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Committee just released a status report of its current thinking about the North Dakota University System (NDUS) budget request, of which the UND SMHS is one important […]

The School’s presentation to the North Dakota Legislature’s Senate Appropriations Committee this past Monday went well. Dave Molmen, CEO of Altru Health System and the chair of the UND SMHS Advisory Council and I presented virtually, utilizing the slides available here. We fielded a few insightful questions from committee members, but none that were problematic. […]

This past year has been a trying one on many levels. The impact of the pandemic has been enormous of course. The suffering of many has been substantial, and the losses heart-wrenching. So, too, is the recent passing of Lonnie Laffen, former North Dakota senator and a principal at JLG Architects, the firm that coordinated […]

The School held its first-ever virtual Holiday Gathering last night. Ordinarily, we coordinate December celebrations on each of our four campuses as well as a luncheon get-together that we hold on the second floor of the Grand Forks building. But because of the pandemic, we consolidated all five parties into one – made possible by […]

This past Monday, the UND SMHS Advisory Council reported back to the Interim Higher Education Committee of the North Dakota Legislature, as is customary prior to each legislative assembly session and as required by law. As you might already know, the next session begins Jan. 5, 2021. I testified (virtually), along with Dave Molmen, the […]

Although the next session of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly (the biannual meeting of the Legislature) is fewer than 11 months away (with a scheduled start date of Jan. 5, 2021), UND and the UND SMHS are already in the preparatory stages of budget planning for the next biennium. As you probably know, North Dakota […]

As I mentioned in last week’s column, this past Tuesday we testified in front of the North Dakota House Appropriations Committee – Education and Environment Division. Following morning testimony by the North Dakota University System (NDUS) and then President Kennedy and colleagues from UND, Dave Molmen and I testified in the afternoon on behalf of […]

This past Tuesday, a delegation from the UND SMHS traveled to Bismarck for a scheduled meeting of the SMHS Advisory Council. As I’ve discussed before, the Council is a legislatively mandated group that advises the School, UND, the member organizations that have representatives on the Council, and especially the Legislature regarding the strategic plan, programs, […]