‘Wake Up to UND’ celebrates growth, goals and community

UND president highlights University’s record enrollment and community-centric progress at annual event

“The sense of community between Grand Forks and UND has propelled us to great heights,” UND President Andrew Armacost told the community congregated at the Memorial Union on Sept. 26. “As the city goes, the university goes. As the university goes, the city goes.”

That spirit of partnership set the tone for Wake Up to UND, the annual breakfast that brings together university leadership, city and business partners, and community members to mark UND’s recent achievements and preview what’s ahead.

Over the hour-long program, Armacost highlighted the University’s enrollment gains, record research, and statewide workforce impacts resulting from University partnership  — all circling back to the University’s word of the year: community.

Armacost noted that UND’s recent themes — gratitude, connection and momentum — naturally led to this year’s focus on community. As in years past, he used art to make the idea tangible. In 2023, he pointed to pointillism to illustrate how individual dots combine to form a whole; this year, he chose the quilt.

“What does a quilt represent?” Armacost asked attendees before arriving at the answer: “The practical purpose of a quilt is one of comfort, and that’s what a community provides.”

UND and Grand Forks, as well as the disparate parts of those communities, can be likened to quilt blocks — distinct pieces stitched together into something both useful and beautiful, with a shared purpose.

Community by the numbers

The results of that shared purpose show up in UND’s numbers. Enrollment has increased from 14,172 students in the fall of 2023 to 15,844 this year.

“Students come to Grand Forks, they come to the University, and they see opportunity,” Armacost reflected.

Research is rising as well. UND has achieved the nation’s highest research classification, with expenditures nearly doubling over the past five years to approximately $200 million.

“It’s like a rocket ship taking off,” he said.

Armacost attributes much of the University’s success in these areas to support from state leaders, the city and donors. And this support is not limited to statistical growth but also changing the landscape across campus.

The renovation of Merrifield Hall, the NoDak Insurance Company Sports Performance Center and Albrecht Field show how facilities serve both UND and the wider community. Albrecht Field, he added, has become “a community asset” used by high schools, youth leagues and even moviegoers who attend the Grand Forks Park District’s Movie in the Park occasionally hosted there.

But UND’s regional impact is not limited to infrastructure. The University has also played a significant role in bolstering workforce numbers and driving industry innovation.

Community-centered learning in health care and beyond

In health care, UND’s commitment to community extends across the state. Marjorie Jenkins, dean of the School of Medicine & Health Sciences and vice president for Health Affairs, underscored the college’s purpose: “To serve North Dakota for the benefit of its people and to improve the quality of their lives.”

Jenkins highlighted the crucial role of advanced practice providers in rural care, noting that North Dakota allows PAs and nurse practitioners to practice independently — a key factor in staffing 36 critical access hospitals and 57 critical access clinics statewide.

Similarly, noting the importance of rural medicine in North Dakota, medical student Abby Lund Da Costa described her six-month Rural Opportunities in Medical Education (ROME) program rotation in Devils Lake as “the best decision I made in medical school,” adding, “I would love to serve rural North Dakota — that is my ultimate career goal.”

Jenkins put UND’s impact in perspective: one in two physicians in the state are UND alumni, including 79% of Family Medicine doctors. Along with this, she noted that Altru’s eagerness to open its doors to UND medical students has been invaluable.

Dr. Josh Deere, president of Altru Health System, who was also a part of the discussion, said that he envisions continued growth regarding the partnership.

“There are new opportunities and programs we can develop together that will only help our state,” he said.

“It’s our job as educators and employers to create an environment to connect the abbeys of the world to purpose,” he later added. “So, we need to figure out how to do that, and it’s going to relate to our patients and our communities having the best health care that we can deliver as a community in the state.”

Moreover, student experiences in the private sector have yielded equally successful results.

Armacost invited John Oncken, CEO of True North, to discuss how UND graduate students partnered with his company and John Deere to build a real-world return-on-investment calculator for agricultural producers.

The collaboration resulted in a functioning tool that impressed the John Deere team and paved the way for further projects.

“The results were really cool,” Oncken said — and for students, the experience was career-shaping.

“For you to have the perseverance and vision about how student work and faculty work can contribute to your area of business, it’s really commendable,” said Armacost, who added that he hopes that the University can continue to engage with private companies.

UND’s ‘moonshots’ and the future

Another one of UND’s recent successes offered a fitting bridge to the future.

A brief video was shown, celebrating the launch of UND’s first two satellites — UND ROADS-1 and UND ROADS-2 — which launched on a SpaceX mission and are now preparing to attempt an in-orbit docking experiment guided by GPS.

Building on that, Armacost referenced John F. Kennedy’s 1961 address to Congress, in which he announced his goal of landing a man on the moon. He said that UND similarly has its own “moonshots,” which he hopes can be accomplished in the future.

The first aim is to launch a campus enterprise focused on AI and humanity — advancing state-of-the-art technology while ensuring it serves the community. The University, Armacost explained, is the ideal place for a humanity-centered approach to technology development.

“It’s so easy for the technology companies to focus just on the technologies and what we do at UND with our focus on philosophy and ethics and history and literature as well as science and engineering, we’re a place where that combination can happen better than anywhere else,” he said.

The second “moonshot” aims to foster innovation throughout the University, while also enhancing the University’s economic impact in Grand Forks and North Dakota. Armacost set the goal of launching four companies based on UND intellectual property by leveraging the University’s expertise and entrepreneurial resources, such as those found at the Center for Innovation.

Closing the event, Armacost returned to his quilt metaphor. Community, he said, remains a constant strength for UND. It remains a place of shared purpose, comfort and utility.

“Hopefully those stories inspire each and every one of you about the possibilities of collaboration between the University of North Dakota and all the members of our great Grand Forks community and beyond,” he said, reflecting on the event’s guests.

Watch the full Wake Up to UND 2025 program below.