CAMPUS NEWS
Construction begins on new residence hall
A new residence hall under construction will be named Catherine Cater Hall, to honor the much-beloved late professor emeritus of English.
The $39 million project will feature 440 beds. The suite-style residence hall is intended for second-year students.
“This building is important to NDSU and the state of North Dakota,” said President Dean L. Bresciani. “Students who live on campus perform dramatically better on an academic level than students who don’t live on campus. Keeping sophomores on campus is an important piece to our retention and graduation success, and our state never before has more needed NDSU graduates to get their degrees and go into the workforce than what we are experiencing today.”
Each residence floor of the 148,000-square-foot building will have a huddle room, study room and a lobby. The first floor will feature a two-sided fireplace, media room, games room and conference space.
Cater joined the NDSU faculty in 1962. She established and directed NDSU’s Scholars Program, served on numerous university committees, chaired the graduate program in English and helped develop NDSU’s first interdisciplinary courses.
She was required to retire at age 65, but continued to teach philosophy, direct humanities tutorials and mentor students on a volunteer basis for many years. During more than five decades of teaching, she received almost every teaching award at NDSU. She died in 2015 at age 98.
“When you met Catherine Cater, you walked away feeling like a better human being,” Bresciani said. “She was someone who could quietly, subtly, but firmly and strongly instill in you a better sense of being.”
Tom Isern, University Distinguished Professor of history, described Cater as a dedicated teacher, scholar and mentor who was committed to the liberal arts. He said she had dignity and an enduring faith in the potential of young people. “She sought every day to change the world,” Isern said.
Catherine Cater Hall is scheduled to open in fall 2019.
Expansion planned for Sudro Hall
The College of Health Professions and the NDSU Foundation and Alumni Association have launched a philanthropic campaign to expand and update Sudro Hall for 21st century learning and research.
An expanded and updated Sudro Hall will accommodate collaborative learning, where students work within interdisciplinary teams just as they will in hospitals, clinics and other health care settings.
Sudro Hall received minor renovations and two modest expansions in 1969 and 2002. The building cannot support all of the college’s growing programs, and it was constructed in an era when health care education was delivered very differently than today.
The Sudro Hall expansion project will support an increasing student enrollment, nurture collaborative learning and research, and bring together all of the college’s growing health care programs: the School of Pharmacy, School of Nursing, Department of Allied Sciences and Department of Public Health.
Inside Sudro Hall’s laboratories, promising research is underway by faculty and students whose work is attracting highly competitive, national grants. The expansion project will build the college’s research capacity and include safety and security improvements.
Since 1995, the college’s enrollment has grown from 650 students to more than 2,000 students, making it NDSU’s second largest college by enrollment.
For the past five years, about 92 percent of NDSU nursing graduates have reported their intentions to seek a license to practice in North Dakota, and about 90 percent of North Dakota’s practicing pharmacists are NDSU graduates.
The image above is an early rendering of a possible design for the expansion.
Churchill Hall renovation complete
A newly renovated Churchill Hall was rededicated at Homecoming.
- Built in 1930, it is NDSU’s oldest residence hall.
- The $11 million interior remodel includes new mechanical and electrical systems, flooring and an elevator.
- The building houses 207 male, first-year students.
Painting the Town
A group of 15 NDSU students spent a recent weekend in Zeeland, North Dakota, painting Zeeland Hall, a 1936 Works Progress Administration building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The students were led by Tom Isern, University Distinguished Professor of history.
“This paint job is important, first, because we are helping to restore and revitalize a great, historic building, a North Dakota treasure,” said Isern, who wrote the building’s nomination to the National Register along with Heather Fischer, a lecturer in architecture and environmental design.
“It’s always a good thing when you can put our students to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of a North Dakota community; it teaches citizenship in the most direct way possible,” Isern said. “This is a history lesson, too. Students are learning the importance of heritage buildings to small towns, and hearing about the rich history of community life that takes place in them.”
Bresciani encourages young scholars at school visit
It’s fairly common practice for k-12 teachers to introduce their students to other states and universities, judging by the many requests we get from schools all over the country asking for T-shirts and banners and NDSU memorabilia. And as NDSU has become more well known, more such requests. We love them all.
One request a few years ago from Julie Kunitada in Mesa, Arizona, included a description of her kindergarten students. “Wonderful students whose eyes are brightened by all they learn,” she wrote. But she’d noticed a trend. When she asked her kindergarten kids what they want to be, most described jobs that don’t require education beyond high school. Her goal was to plant the seed that they could succeed in college and beyond. “This year,” she wrote in the summer of 2012, “I would like to start a new unit that will be taught throughout the year. I would like to introduce a ‘University of the Week’.”
Her request of President Bresciani was modest. Could he send a few items with the school name on it, and if possible a T-shirt, size medium, that she could wear during the lessons. “With these items I will teach social studies classes on your university and state. I will tell them about all the great options your university has to offer.”
Her request went directly to the soft spot in the educator in him. “We receive many such requests,” Bresciani wrote back, “but few that touched me as much as yours.” And of course he sent plenty of items for the class to have during the unit on North Dakota State University. Bresciani’s first letter back closed with a request to stay in touch, and expressed the hope that they could “ignite a future scientist, engineer, agriculturalist or performance artist … ”
Sometimes the small acts of kindness and connection are the best.
They have indeed stayed in touch. NDSU has been part of Kunitada’s class each year, and this spring while on a visit to Arizona, President Bresciani teamed up with Kunitada to teach one of the classes in person. It’s hard to say whether the kids were more excited to meet him, or he was to be teaching a class of sweet, eager kids.
The dedication of the teachers to show these kids, especially these kids who may not otherwise be encouraged to envision bright futures, strikes a chord for Bresciani.
“It’s important for me that NDSU keeps showing up to make sure those kids know that door is open for them.”
(caption for photos: President Bresciani visited Julie Kunitada's kindergarten class in Mesa, Arizona, to talk about NDSU and to teach the students how to share their Bison pride. Horns up! )
H. Roald Lund awarded honorary doctorate
Longtime NDSU faculty member and administrator H. Roald Lund was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Agriculture during NDSU spring commencement ceremonies.
An honorary doctorate is the most prestigious award presented by a university and recognizes distinguished contributions to a specific field or service to society. Lund is the 161st recipient of an honorary doctorate from NDSU; the first was awarded in 1939.
Lund was born on May 15, 1933, and his family farmed near Hillsboro, North Dakota. He attended grade school in Christine, North Dakota, and high school in Nome, North Dakota.
He graduated from what was then called North Dakota Agricultural College with his bachelor’s degree in agronomy and agricultural education in 1955. He continued on campus, earning his master’s degree in agronomy in 1958.
After military service in the Army, Lund returned to NDSU and was named an assistant professor of agronomy and assistant breeder for the Hard Red Spring Wheat Breeding Program. He later earned his doctorate from Purdue University and again returned to NDSU as an associate professor and corn geneticist.
Lund was named assistant dean of agriculture and assistant director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station in 1969. He became associate dean and associate director in 1974, and, in 1979, he was selected as dean and director, a position he held for 15 years.
Many important projects became reality through his vision and leadership, including Hultz Hall, Van Es Laboratory, Robinson Hall, the North Dakota State Seed Department building, Northern Crops Institute, Loftsgard Hall, Industrial Agricultural Communications Center and the USDA-ARS Northern Crops Science Laboratory.
Lund served on several committees of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grand Colleges, held leadership positions in the North Central Regional Association of Experiment Station Directors and was a committee member on the Council of Administrative Heads.
Lund retired from NDSU in December 1998, after spending more than 37 years at the university as a teacher, researcher and administrator.
He was honored with the Harvest Bowl Agribusiness Award in 1998, and he was recognized in 2013 when the atrium of Loftsgard Hall was named the H.R. Lund Atrium. The H. Roald and Janet Lund Excellence in Teaching Award is presented annually in the College of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Natural Resources. In addition, Lund established the H.R. Lund Freshman Plant Sciences Scholarship.
“Dr. Lund had an outstanding career leading the College of Agriculture and the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station for more than 25 years,” said Ken Grafton, vice president for agricultural affairs, dean of the College of Agriculture, Food Systems and Natural Resources and director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, who nominated Lund. “His can-do attitude, his vision on the future trends in agriculture and his ability to convince others to support projects and programs benefitted the entire state. He laid the foundation on which we have attained continued success.”
Lund’s commitment to NDSU and the agriculture industry are well known. “Looking back during Dr. Lund’s tenure as dean and director, it is obvious to see that his vision of agriculture that required our faculty to have access to modern facilities so we could apply and conduct research utilizing new technologies was very forward looking,” said Richard Horsley, professor, department head and barley breeder. “What will be the next big break for agriculture? I don’t know, but maybe we should ask Dr. Lund as he has been right for over four decades.”
Neal Fisher, North Dakota Wheat Commission administrator, said, “Dr. Lund and his wife, Janet, continue to be enthusiastic ambassadors for all things NDSU, through their dedicated involvement in a broad range of campus activities, programs and regular participation in student scholarship events. Dr. Lund is very deserving of this great honor.”
Lund’s many honors include awards from Alpha Zeta, FarmHouse, the U.S. Durum Growers Association, North Dakota Crop Improvement Association and the North Dakota Grain Growers Association, and State and Honorary Farmer Degrees.
Teacher of the year!
Fargo South High School language arts teacher Leah Juelke was named North Dakota’s Teacher of the Year for 2018. Gov. Doug Burgum and Kirsten Baesler, Superintendent of Public Instruction, presented the award during a ceremony at the school.
“I’m kind of still in disbelief,” said Juelke, who has taught at Fargo South since 2013 and was named the district’s 2017 Teacher of the Year in March. “I am truly honored.”
One of Juelke’s writing projects, called “Journey to America,” helps her immigrant students strengthen their English skills while also helping other teachers and students understand their cultures and backgrounds. Some of the students wrote about refugee camps or having family members who were killed.
The Journey to America project led to more than 30 South students’ stories being included in a book, “Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from A Fargo High School,” published by Green Card Voices, a nonprofit organization in Minneapolis.
Juelke earned a bachelor’s degree in English education at NDSU in 2006, and a master’s degree in education in 2012.
Coach: Living my childhood dream
On March 18, 2017, the Roseau, Minnesota, girls’ basketball team completed a perfect 32-0 season, and won the Minnesota Class 2A state championship. Not surprisingly, Coach Kelsey Filpula-Didrikson was honored as Minnesota’s Girls Basketball 2A Coach of the Year.
All the while her team is winning basketball games, Coach’s broader focus is to develop young women who are confident, compassionate and dedicated leaders who will be team players as they go on to college, career, family and the future.
Her personal aim is more in the here and now. “I just love being an English teacher and coach,” she said. “I’m living my childhood dream.”
Filpula-Didrikson earned a bachelor’s degree at NDSU in 2008 in English education, and came back for her master’s in education, which she completed in 2016.
As an NDSU student, Filpula-Didrikson was active in Bison Ambassadors, Blue Key and Campus Crusade for Christ. The many lessons she learned during her time at NDSU seem close at hand, whether she’s teaching or coaching.
“I had a wonderful college experience at NDSU for both my bachelor’s and my master’s degrees that leave me very prepared for my work in the classroom,” she explained. “Everyone at school knows I love the Bison. During the 2015-16 season, when we’d watch film as a team, I’d always show the clips from Bison football promotional videos – especially the one going into that season’s football championship game. I just loved the emphasis on family, a strong culture, pride and team. I wanted to share those things with my players and develop that same philosophy within my program.”
Clearly, she’s succeeding. “It’s humbling knowing how special and rare it is to be a part of an undefeated state championship. It’s an honor to represent the community of Roseau; in a small town, the whole community is along for the journey,” she says.
When she’s not teaching English in the classroom, Filpula-Didrikson has led Roseau to three section titles in the past three years, compiling an impressive record of 78-15 during that stretch.
“We’re still hungry,” she said of her squad. “Piggy-backing off of the Bison’s ‘Stay Hungry’ theme, our slogan for the upcoming season will be ‘Still Hungry.’ We’ll keep showing Bison clips, keep talking about family and servant leadership and keep building our program’s culture.”
Filpula-Didrikson and her husband, Thor Didrikson, who earned a degree in animal and range sciences in 2008, have three children — Jonas, Marley and Elin.
To read class notes and obituaries, and to submit information, visit ndsu.edu/classnotes.
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