{"id":44358,"date":"2025-09-25T16:48:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/?p=44358"},"modified":"2025-10-31T12:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:33:07","slug":"record-enrollment-just-part-of-the-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/und-today\/2025\/09\/record-enrollment-just-part-of-the-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Record enrollment just part of the story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago at UND, budget cuts and program closures \u2014 not enrollment records \u2014 were top of mind. Here\u2019s how that changed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Then-Interim
Then-Interim President Ed Schafer, former governor of North Dakota, unveils UND’s new Fighting Hawks logo on June 24, 2016. The challenging budget and other decisions made by Schafer and his successors helped set UND up for its current success, observers say. UND archival image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today\u2019s news about UND\u2019s record enrollment is sure to result in positive headlines around the state.<\/p>\n

But make no mistake: There have been other headlines in UND\u2019s recent past. And in describing them, the word \u201cpositive\u201d would not be the first that comes to mind.<\/p>\n

Consider these trumpet blasts from the pages of the Grand Forks Herald, from as recently as 2016 and 2017:<\/p>\n

Layoffs, budget cuts part of UND budget plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

UND medical school outlines budget cuts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Losing steam: Decades-old boilers at UND need about $20 million in replacements, repairs<\/strong><\/p>\n

UND cuts women\u2019s hockey, men\u2019s\u00a0and women\u2019s swimming<\/strong><\/p>\n

UND athletics announces elimination of baseball, men\u2019s golf<\/strong><\/p>\n

UND Arts and Sciences announces budget cut proposals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s great news about UND enrollment is a story, all right. But even more striking is the tale of UND\u2019s extraordinary renewal over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n

From a University with \u2013 in the words of its own 2016 Master Plan \u2013 \u201cpoor and inadequate\u201d 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\u2019s best retention numbers, R1 status and<\/em> record enrollment.<\/p>\n

How did that happen?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what today\u2019s package of UND Today stories is all about.<\/p>\n

In comparison to where it was in 2017, when Dr. Casey Ryan was first appointed to the State Board of Higher Education, \u201cUND is knocking it out of the park,\u201d Ryan said. A physician and former Altru Health System president, Ryan served on the State Board for eight years, including two years as chair.<\/p>\n

In Ryan\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Not to mention a responsive Legislature, generous donors and the University\u2019s highly competent faculty and staff, Ryan said. And as a result, \u201cI see people on campus who are happier, people who are smiling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a remarkable story, and in multiple ways, \u201cit has exceeded all expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
President Mark Kennedy gets ready for a visit to UND by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on April 6, 2018. The placards behind Kennedy, who served as president from 2016 to 2019, describe the upcoming Merrifield Hall renovation, work on University Avenue and other infrastructure projects that have since that time transformed the campus. UND archival image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2016: The beginning<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat meant Schafer had to make the first really tough decisions,\u201d 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\u2019s other pressing needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words, he made the cuts in such a way that UND was able to focus budgeting on priorities,\u201d those priorities including the research enterprise, deferred maintenance and high-potential degrees and programs, Johnson said.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 and the number of FTEs continued to decrease over the next few years.<\/p>\n

The cuts shook the University and badly hurt morale, said Janelle Kilgore, vice provost for Strategic Enrollment Management, who was serving in UND\u2019s Financial Aid office at the time. Moreover, the physical environment didn\u2019t help: Kilgore recalls prospective students touring the campus in those years, passing through too many old and deteriorating buildings \u2013 and being visibly underwhelmed.<\/p>\n

But then, the mood and the environment started to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d Kilgore said.<\/p>\n

\"Andy
UND President Andy Armacost (right) and Gen. John Raymond, chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force, sign a Memo of Understanding on Monday, Aug 9, 2021 on the UND campus. The agreement made UND the first participant in the Space Force’s new University Partnership Program. UND archival image.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The road to renewal<\/h2>\n

So:<\/p>\n