News

DCB and MSU will continue as a shared college system

By Scott Wagar

02/04/2014

Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) and Minot State University (MSU) has made the decision to continue its cooperative management between the two colleges instead of granting DCB to be a stand alone college.

“Our students, faculty, staff and community feel we have a win/win situation in place with our collaborative efforts with MSU and that DCB being an affiliate of MSU lends strength to these cooperative initiatives,” said Dr. Ken Grosz, dean of Dakota College at Bottineau.

“Examples of how we work together can be seen in the articulation of credits between the institutions, the career and technical education programs we conduct on the MSU campus, the developmental education coursework we deliver to students in Minot, the Passport Program that serves as a gateway for admission to MSU for underprepared students, and other cooperative efforts that take place on almost a daily basis,” Grosz continued

“There also seems to be a feeling that our affiliation with MSU, and the strength their administration’s expertise lends to DCB enhances the growth and potential of our local college in the long term,” Grosz added.

In 2012, the former chancellor of the state board of higher education, Dr. Hamid Shivani, originated an idea to make DCB independent of Minot State University because he felt the college met all the elements to be a stand alone college.

Shivani also felt that with the retirement of the president of Minot State University, Dr. David Fuller, on July 1 of this year the timing to separate the two colleges from MSU would allow for a more efficient transition between Fuller and the new president.

In November of 2013, the board of the university system made the decision to canvass the community members of Minot and Bottineau, along with it’s colleges, to receive their personal views on the subjects.

From those forums, Dr. Larry Skogen, chancellor of the State Board of Higher Education, along with Grosz and Fuller, stated that it appeared the two cities and its colleges were pleased with the present arrangement.

“After we conducted the four meetings in December with campus and community, Chancellor Skogen, Dr. Fuller, and I met to review what we had heard,” Grosz said. “It was our unanimous opinion that our constituents felt we ought not request the State Board of Higher Education to grant Dakota College (DCB) independent status, but rather recommend to them that Minot State (MSU)  and DCB stay together. And that is the proposal we gave the board on Thursday in Devils Lake.”

With the decision made on whether or not DCB should stand alone, Grosz feels the best decision was made on the topic.

“I have been asked by a number of our staff and faculty which of the options I favored, stay aligned with MSU or become independent,” Grosz said. “At that time, I thought we ought to become independent.  However, it’s obvious to me now that the consensus of our stakeholders is that we preserve the status quo; so, that’s what we intend to do.”