Record enrollment just part of the story

Ten years ago at UND, budget cuts and program closures — not enrollment records — were top of mind. Here’s how that changed.

Today’s news about UND’s record enrollment is sure to result in positive headlines around the state.

But make no mistake: There have been other headlines in UND’s recent past. And in describing them, the word “positive” would not be the first that comes to mind.

Consider these trumpet blasts from the pages of the Grand Forks Herald, from as recently as 2016 and 2017:

Layoffs, budget cuts part of UND budget plan

UND medical school outlines budget cuts

Losing steam: Decades-old boilers at UND need about $20 million in replacements, repairs

UND cuts women’s hockey, men’s and women’s swimming

UND athletics announces elimination of baseball, men’s golf

UND Arts and Sciences announces budget cut proposals

Today’s great news about UND enrollment is a story, all right. But even more striking is the tale of UND’s extraordinary renewal over the past 10 years.

From a University with – in the words of its own 2016 Master Plan – “poor and inadequate” classroom spaces, plus a potentially half-billion dollar maintenance backlog, plus the budget and layoff woes highlighted above, UND has evolved into a strikingly beautiful campus with new and newly renovated buildings, new programs attracting hundreds of students, White House- and Joint Chiefs of Staff-level visitors, the state’s best retention numbers, R1 status and record enrollment.

How did that happen?

That’s what today’s package of UND Today stories is all about.

In comparison to where it was in 2017, when Dr. Casey Ryan was first appointed to the State Board of Higher Education, “UND is knocking it out of the park,” Ryan said. A physician and former Altru Health System president, Ryan served on the State Board for eight years, including two years as chair.

In Ryan’s view, UND is succeeding because the University and its leadership rose to the task on multiple occasions, including when budgets were tight, when the COVID emergency struck and when new opportunities were recognized and seized.

That decade of transformational leadership started with Interim President Ed Schafer, the former governor of North Dakota, Ryan said. It continued with former President Mark Kennedy, former Interim President Joshua Wynne and current President Andy Armacost.

Not to mention a responsive Legislature, generous donors and the University’s highly competent faculty and staff, Ryan said. And as a result, “I see people on campus who are happier, people who are smiling,” he said.

It’s a remarkable story, and in multiple ways, “it has exceeded all expectations.”

2016: The beginning

Interim President Ed Schafer set the stage, said Peter Johnson, who in 2017 retired from UND as the interim vice president for University and Public Affairs, and who now is the part-time director of Government Relations & Public Affairs for the UND Alumni Association & Foundation.

Schafer served as interim president of UND for only about six months, from January to July 2016. But during that time, he had to respond to a strict budget-cutting edict from then-Gov. Jack Dalrymple.

“That meant Schafer had to make the first really tough decisions,” Johnson said. And not only did he make them, but also he called for even deeper cuts, in order to free up money to tear down the many empty buildings on campus and address the University’s other pressing needs.

“In other words, he made the cuts in such a way that UND was able to focus budgeting on priorities,” those priorities including the research enterprise, deferred maintenance and high-potential degrees and programs, Johnson said.

President Mark Kennedy, who served from 2016 to 2019, made difficult budget and programming decisions of his own. As a result, UND in fiscal year 2018 counted 3,664 FTEs, a figure that was down more than 350 jobs from the 2014 number of 4,018 — and the number of FTEs continued to decrease over the next few years.

The cuts shook the University and badly hurt morale, said Janelle Kilgore, vice provost for Strategic Enrollment Management, who was serving in UND’s Financial Aid office at the time. Moreover, the physical environment didn’t help: Kilgore recalls prospective students touring the campus in those years, passing through too many old and deteriorating buildings – and being visibly underwhelmed.

But then, the mood and the environment started to change.

“We really had to stop and regroup as a campus, reconnect with those who were still here, then identify our biggest challenges and barriers and kind of go on from there,” Kilgore said.

The road to renewal

So:

• Kennedy’s OneUND Strategic Plan directed resources toward priorities such as retaining students, boosting graduation rates and ramping up research – and the plan delivered.
• COVID happened. But thanks to UND’s Schafer-and-Kennedy-era focus on online education, coupled with the interim presidential leadership of Dr. Joshua Wynne – vice president of Health Affairs at UND, dean of the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, and a physician and public-health professional who both led the North Dakota University System’s systemwide COVID Restart Task Force and served as chief health strategist for North Dakota – UND grew its enrollment during the pandemic, bucking very strong national trends.
• The buildings slated for demolition in the 2016 Master Plan started coming down – and the new Steam Plant, Memorial Union, Nistler College of Business and Public Administration building, Albrecht Softball Field, Frederick “Fritz” D. Pollard Jr. Athletic Center, Nodak Insurance Company Sports Performance Center and residence halls, among other projects, arose in their stead.
  And the construction cranes are still swinging, as groundbreaking for the new three-story, $163 million STEM complex was held during Homecoming Week.
• UND and Grand Forks were awarded the Larry Abernathy Award from the International Town & Gown Association, one of America’s highest awards for outstanding town/gown relations.
• UND received the Gold award for Military Friendly schools, and was named among the Top Ten of Military Spouse Friendly schools. The achievements testify to the University’s dedication to creating great opportunities for its military community – a goal, not coincidentally, of both the OneUND Strategic Plan and its successor, the UND LEADS Strategic Plan.
• Speaking of UND LEADS, another of that plan’s priorities – national security – has led to a SpaceX rocket carrying UND satellites, controlled by UND students and faculty members, being launched into orbit. Moreover, in an achievement that’ll mark a first among U.S. universities, UND next year will also begin using lasers to beam messages around its “tech triangle”: three buildings scattered across campus.
• UND earned the Carnegie “R1” designation, an honor placing the University into a grouping of the most highly regarded research universities in the nation.
• And the UND Alumni Association & Foundation blew past its $500 million fundraising goal so quickly, that the organization promptly set another goal: $625 million, by the end of 2026.

By the way, President Armacost deserves full credit for not only building on the budget and planning foundations of his predecessors, but also setting and achieving even more ambitious goals for the university, Ryan said.

Moreover, he makes it look easy through his friendly yet uniquely effective leadership style.

“I mean, give me a break,” Ryan continued. “President Armacost is not just succeeding. He’s hugely succeeding,” and in a way that’s getting national attention. “He’s clearly the right person for the right time.”

Johnson agreed. Of course, any and all of the leaders mentioned above, he said, would quickly and rightly point out that lots of people have helped UND achieve its success. Likewise, the North Dakota Legislature played a vital role, as have the donors and many others who’ve helped the campus upgrades, beautification and other aspects of renewal come about.

“But the point is, UND has not simply been thriving all along,” Johnson said. “Eight years ago, we went through a massive budget cutting exercise, and we wound up losing lots of people.”

UND’s careful and continued renewal since then was neither accidental nor preordained, Johnson said. Instead, it resulted from higher education leadership at its best – a textbook example of the right people, not just the right individuals, in place across the UND campus and the state at the right times.

The Road to Record Recovery package …

>> The story behind the numbers: UND President Andy Armacost reflects on the tough decisions, hard work and extraordinary partnerships that have built the University of today.

>> UND sets all-time enrollment record in fall 2025: The No. 1 destination of choice for North Dakota residents now counts 15,844 students, up 825 students over last year.

>> Record enrollment is just part of the story: Ten years ago at UND, budget cuts and program closures — not enrollment records — were top of mind. Here’s how that changed.

>> From layoffs to Leaders in Action: With strategic budget cuts and a farsighted master plan, UND modernized its campus and built a new brand.

>> Look at UND — then and now: Before- and after-shots show the amazing transformations that have taken place on the UND campus.

>> Community leaders reflect on UND’s momentum: Leaders express pride in partnerships, community, smart master planning, extraordinary philanthropy and an energized, beautiful campus.