UND announces $6.5 million gift from Sanford Health

Gift will be used to fund scholarships, complete additions to Fritz Pollard Jr. Athletic Center

Campus leaders were on hand at the North Dakota Museum of Art on Monday as Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the U.S., announced a $6.5 million gift to improve facilities for student-athletes and boost the University’s scholarship endowment.

Of Sanford Health’s $6.5 million gift, $2.5 million will fund three endowments that will receive a 50% match from the North Dakota Higher Education Challenge Grant Fund, a program created by the North Dakota Legislature to encourage giving to the state’s colleges and universities. The gift also benefits the completion of the UND Athletics practice and competition facilities.

“The gift from Sanford Health that we are celebrating today impacts so many important initiatives laid out in our UND LEADS Strategic Plan for the University, and by extension, our priorities to serve the state and region,” UND President Andrew Armacost said.

“From enhanced funding for the Sports Medicine program to undergraduate and graduate scholarships in Psychology and Clinical Psychology education and Behavioral Health training, Sanford’s generosity benefits students, staff and faculty across our allied health fields. In turn, the education, training and skills generated from these gifts are key to workforce development in health care and services across North Dakota.

“And thanks to the North Dakota Legislature and its North Dakota Higher Education Challenge Grant Fund, we can do even more great work with Sanford’s incredible gift.”

Moreover, Sanford’s gift will help boost student recruitment, Armacost added. “This is a game-changing gift that will be felt by so many students across campus,” he said. “It’s something I like to call an attractor — something that will attract both students and student-athletes to our campus and give them the UND experience.”

The endowments to be funded are:

• Sanford Health Human Performance Endowment ($1.5 million from Sanford, $750,000 from the Challenge Fund), to be used for programming in the Department of Sports Medicine in the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences.

• Sanford Health Behavioral Health Scholarship Endowment ($600,000 from Sanford, $300,000 from Challenge Fund), which funds scholarships for SMHS and College of Nursing & Professional Disciplines students who intend to practice Behavioral Health.

• Sanford Health Psychology Endowment ($400,000 from Sanford, $200,000 from Challenge Fund), which funds scholarships for students studying Psychology or Clinical Psychology.

The remaining $4 million gift was unrestricted by Sanford. The University is designating it to go toward completing additions to the Fritz Pollard Jr. Athletic Center, including new weight rooms and sports medicine facilities. The addition will be named the Nodak Insurance Company Sports Performance Center upon completion.

“We are so grateful for Sanford Health’s partnership with the University of North Dakota,” said DeAnna Carlson Zink, CEO of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation.

“This extraordinary gift from Sanford funds endowments and facilities that will live on well into the future. In 100 years, there will still be students receiving one of these Sanford Health scholarships. This gift is exactly what the Forever UND campaign is all about: ensuring current and future students have access to a degree from this great University.”

Carlson-Zink also thanked state legislators in attendance for their “foresight to create and continue to fund the Challenge Grant.”

Tiffany Lawrence, president and CEO at Sanford Health and a UND alumna, added that training the future health care professionals of the region is a key priority — one that will be furthered through the gift.

“We are very proud of the impact that this transformational gift will have on UND’s student-athletes and the future of our health care workforce,” she said. “Our commitment to the region and state in supporting workforce opportunities for students is a priority. Sanford has been fortunate to partner with UND for several years on residency programs and internship opportunities, and is the largest training site in North Dakota for medical students.”