{"id":19992,"date":"2021-03-11T15:58:03","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T21:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/?p=19992"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:56:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:56:21","slug":"president-armacost-testifies-before-nd-house-appropriations-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/2021\/03\/president-armacost-testifies-before-nd-house-appropriations-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"President Armacost testifies before ND House Appropriations Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"

UND supports needs-based budget backed by Senate, North Dakota University System<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
UND President Andrew Armacost testified Monday before the North Dakota House Appropriations Committee.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UND President Andrew Armacost on Monday made his second appearance before a committee of the North Dakota Legislature, presenting his case for the University\u2019s budget during the 2021-23 biennium.<\/p>\n

This time it was the House Appropriations Committee which heard testimony from the North Dakota University System (NDUS) and the 11 institutions of higher education that comprise it. NDUS supports SB2003 as passed by the Senate.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Andy Armacost<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been great stewardship of federal and state money, and the resources that have been given to the campus to battle through the challenges we\u2019ve faced,\u201d Armacost told members the House committee. \u201cWe\u2019re always looking for self-sustained growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also appearing to present testimony for UND were Student Body President Matthew Ternus; Jed Shivers, Vice President for Finance & Operations; and Karla Mongeon-Stewart, Associate Vice President for Finance.<\/p>\n

UND\u2019s Merrifield Twamley project was not included in the NDUS needs-based budget, President Armacost proposed $5 million to start design work for UND\u2019s Merrifield Twamley project. \u201cThat really gets us to the design phase and also gets us to a guaranteed maximum price,\u201d Shivers said. \u201cAnd if the federal government comes through with (funding for) shovel-ready projects, it will enable us to be ready to go because we\u2019ve done the design work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jed Shivers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Committee members showed particular interest in UND\u2019s research, asking Armacost about areas in which the University was strongest and where it needed additional funding. Energy, medicine and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) were three areas in which Armacost said the University excelled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I foresee is a continuum of opportunities \u2013 which tends to be behind-the-scenes activity \u2013 where people are coming up with new technologies and new ideas for products,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I envision is a pipeline of research coming out of the universities and then taking advantage of state programs to get those technologies to the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armacost identified opportunities in space and national security research as two areas in which UND is poised to make significant contributions if funding is available. He noted that in recent months, the University has seen interest from the U.S. Space Force, NASA and the Space Development Agency.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Karla Mongeon-Stewart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe can do things using the (Northern Plains) UAS Test Site and the research capabilities of UND to test capabilities that could deploy to space at a later date,\u201d Armacost said. \u201cThese would be things like satellite-driven communication systems and computing systems. You would have a network of satellites in the sky that we would test on the ground with the UAS Test Site. This is an exciting opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armacost also briefed legislators on challenges UND faces from the COVID pandemic; successful efforts to improve graduation and retention; trends in education and enrollment; future capital projects; and the need for continued support of the North Dakota Higher Education Challenge Grant, the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) as State Energy Research Center and state programs supporting the Center for Innovation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UND supports needs-based budget backed by Senate, North Dakota University System<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":20003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[138,109,55],"class_list":["post-19992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-und","tag-center-for-innovation","tag-grand-challenges","tag-john-d-odegard-school-of-aerospace-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Armacost testifies before ND House Appropriations Committee - UND Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/2021\/03\/president-armacost-testifies-before-nd-house-appropriations-committee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Armacost testifies before ND House Appropriations Committee - UND Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UND supports needs-based budget backed by Senate, North Dakota University System\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/2021\/03\/president-armacost-testifies-before-nd-house-appropriations-committee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UND Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-11T21:58:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T18:56:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/03\/Armacost_house_02-web-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"475\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/und-today\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/president-armacost-testifies-before-nd-house-appropriations-committee\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/und-today\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/president-armacost-testifies-before-nd-house-appropriations-committee\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"President Armacost testifies before ND House Appropriations Committee\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-11T21:58:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-15T18:56:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/und-today\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/president-armacost-testifies-before-nd-house-appropriations-committee\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":551,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/und-today\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/president-armacost-testifies-before-nd-house-appropriations-committee\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/und-today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/7\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Armacost_house_02-web-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Center for Innovation\",\"Grand Challenges\",\"John D. 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