{"id":10768,"date":"2023-08-24T23:59:26","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T04:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/?p=10768"},"modified":"2023-08-24T13:30:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T18:30:40","slug":"from-the-dean-endless-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/for-your-health\/2023\/08\/24\/from-the-dean-endless-events\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Dean: Endless events"},"content":{"rendered":"

The start of the fall semester has proven to be a busy week and a half! A variety of exciting events took place both at UND and the SMHS. First up at UND was last Thursday, when President Armacost presented the State of the University Address<\/a>, followed by a \u201cPicnic with the Prez\u201d at University House. In his address, the President highlighted a variety of examples of the excellence that permeates UND, and he looked forward in his presentation to the future through UND LEADS, our strategic plan going forward. The theme of Andy\u2019s address focused on the collective effort needed to achieve success, with faculty, staff, students, friends, and others coming together for the common good. In a subsequent presentation at the UND SMHS, the President proclaimed this year as the \u201cYear of Connectivity\u201d to emphasize the importance of all of us working together.<\/p>\n

This event was followed on Monday with the groundbreaking ceremony for the new addition to the Fritz Pollard Athletic Center that will be called the Nodak Insurance Company Athletic Performance Center, in recognition of the lead gift that made this facility possible. The new space will house facilities to support our athletes, including locker and weight rooms and office space for coaches. And it perhaps goes without saying that such an upgrade will benefit our Department of Sports Medicine and the Master of Athletic Training program it houses. The athletic center is named in honor of Fritz Pollard, Jr., who was a three-time all-conference football player at UND and went on to win a bronze medal in the 1936 Olympics \u2013 the same Olympics where fellow African American Jesse Owens won a gold medal in the 100-meter dash, much to the chagrin of the Nazi Party in the event’s host nation Germany.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, DeAnna Carlson-Zink, the CEO of the UND Alumni Association and Foundation<\/a> (UNDAAF), gave a spirted address summarizing the amazing work the Foundation has been doing with donors and friends to garner philanthropic support for UND. The four major areas of fundraising are for student scholarship support, endowed faculty positions, programmatic support, and facility construction\/renovation. DeAnna reported that the Foundation\u2019s endowment has grown to an amazing $380.4 million, doubling over the past decade! In her presentation, she displayed some of the bricks that formed the foundation of UND\u2019s first building \u2013 Old Main \u2013 that was built in 1883, and she wondered if any of the townspeople who may have gathered for the laying of the cornerstone of the building would have had any idea of what an amazing campus would evolve over the subsequent 140 years.<\/p>\n

The next day there was another wonderful event back at the UNDAAF Gorecki Center when UND held its second annual Faculty Investiture Ceremony and Celebration. This event honored all 45 faculty members who hold an endowed chair, professorship, or fellow designation that is supported by philanthropic dollars. At the UND SMHS, we are honored to have six such endowed positions:<\/p>\n