Campus update

Notes from the All Campus update................


Strategic Plan
The Administrative Council reviewed all of the input from the faculty, staff and administrative council retreats as well as the NDUS Pathways for Student Success initiative from the Chancellor and utilized the input to develop our strategic plan and operational plan for the year. Brandi and Erin worked hard to keep us focused on our mission and to clearly layout key objectives for the plan. Here are the links to the strategic plan and operational plans for 2012-2013.

http://www.lrsc.edu/upload/resources/1925/strategic-plan-final.pdf

http://www.lrsc.edu/upload/resources/1927/operational-plan-final.pdf


Wind Tower update

The mechanical and structural work is complete.  The collection line from the turbine to the campus is completed, but needs to be terminated on both ends. We are still on schedule for delivery of key electrical components (transformers and interconnection equipment) in December.  GE is scheduled to have their commissioning team on site the week of January 15^th. Commissioning usually takes about a week and we hope to have the turbine in operation shortly after that.

 

 

CTE 5 Year Evaluation visit

We will be having our 5 year review with the State Board of Career and Technical Education on December 4^th and 5^th. They review all aspects of our CTE programs and will have a team on campus the next two days. Program faculty have completed and submitted a self-assessment on their programs and the visiting team will be verifying the information submitted. This is a very positive process and we usually get more feedback about what we are doing right than suggestions for improvement.


Upcoming Oman Trip

We have had groups of students from Oman in our Sim Tech program here for the past 5 or 6 years. RAFO has visited our campus 3-4 times. Cory Mitzel has been to Oman once to review the program and see where his graduates are working, and it is time to return and visit the sites where his graduates are working to see how they are doing and gather feedback on his curriculum. When RAFO was here for their last visit, they were interested in our Automotive Technology Program and the possibility of LRSC providing training in that field. Cory Mitzel, Randy Olson, Nicole Claussen, and I are scheduled to travel to Oman Jan. 1-11-2013.

Facility update with the boiler project

All three boilers have been installed and are online. They are working on removing the last of the equipment from the boiler room next to the Instruction Office. Don has reported that the new boilers have been operating at a much more efficient level than the old boilers and he is very pleased with them so far.  They are still working on some of the electrical controls. A propane backup system is being installed.


IT update on R cards and new staff  

New help desk employee Zach Buchhop was hired in November.  The new LRSC ID card "R Card" can be used as a debit card in the cafeteria, bookstore, Lower Deck and as your library card. If you wish to have one stop in IT and they will take your picture and issue your card. The cards can be reloaded online using e-checking, credit, or debit cards. There is no service charge. You can put funds on the card using cash in the Business Office. The online access allows you to check your balance and see an itemized list of charges.

 

Business Office update

Joann Kitchens introduced Jennifer Halvorson, new staff person in the Business Office. Jennifer is currently training in accounts payable and payroll. Nicole Lundquist will be adding the Dakota Precision Ag Center funds accounting to her duties.

Enrollment update

Dan Johnson reported that we currently have 680 students registered for spring semester (about 1/3 of the number we anticipate). The next Registration Day is scheduled for December 12th.


Staff Welfare update

The Staff Welfare sponsored Holiday party for the campus is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11th, from 3:00-5:00 in the cafeteria. Staff welfare is purchasing coats for staff that have reached the 1 year anniversary of their employment with LRSC. They have sample coats to try on for size in the President's Office.

Presidential Search update 

The link to the search page is on the LRSC homepage with links to the timeline and other documents. The search consultants have posted the opening and it will be in some of the local papers in the coming weeks. 

DPAC update 

Dr. Gunderson reported that the renovations will begin next week on the former Twete Building north of campus. The Dakota Precision Ag Center and staff will be housed there. They are actively recruiting staff and hope to begin hiring soon. They are also working on reactivating our AAS degree in Agriculture.
 

Key Event wrap up report

Laurel Goulding reported that the Key Event raised  $97,000 for LRSC. The CCF is also working to promote giving utilizing the  new option ND Tax Credit Endowment.  Currently gifts of $5000 or more given to eligible ND recipients are eligible for a 40% tax credit plus a reduction on federal tax liability. This could mean a net cost of $2000 or less for a $5000 gift.

2013 Legislative Session

Governor Dalrymple will make his budget presentation to the legislators on Wednesday, December 5th. Interim President Darling will be presenting the proposed campus budget and capital projects request the House Appropriations committee during the week of January 14-17th. We hope to make our case for the renovation and expansion of the Erlandson/Technical Center.

LRSC Band

The LRSC Band will have it's first concert on Sunday, December 9th at 7:30 pm in the Robert Fawcett Auditorium.

SBHE & Wind Turbine Construction update

Wow - what a busy week. The search consultants from AGB were on campus gathering input for the Presidential Search. They met with students, faculty, staff, and community members. The search committee held their initial meeting on Wednesday afternoon.  The ND State Board of Higher Education arrived Wednesday and we hosted a social for them Wednesday evening. SBHE committees met on Thursday morning and the full board met Thursday afternoon. The campus did a great job of hosting the SBHE and Chancellor. We received many comments from them praising our Food Service and Physical Plant staff and their work to host the Board.

Construction is proceeding on the LRSC wind turbine.  Mother Nature has been reminding us daily who really has the power.  The day the major components of the turbine were delivered, we received 7-8 inches of wet heavy snow.  Construction crews had to deal with extremely muddy conditions as the snow melted. The very large construction crane arrived last week to erect the tower assembly. We then had 5 days of high winds that wouldn't allow the use of the crane. This was followed by freezing rain and snow last Friday and Saturday. The crane boom was completely covered with ice and was unusable until the ice melted and fell off. This also caused dangerous conditions with the ice falling from the crane and no work could be done at the site. We installed a web cam to record the construction at the site. The icing conditions also knocked this out, first by covering it with ice and then striking it with falling ice from the pole it is mounted on.

Despite all these challenges, late yesterday the base section of the tower was set in place. The wind is too high today to continue, but based on the weather forcast, they plan to continue the erection this weekend.

After the tower is completed, the nacelle with the new LRSC logo will be placed on the tower.

 

 

 

After the nacelle is placed the rotor and blades will be assembled and installed.

 





You can check for progress on the LRSC website at www.lrsc.edu.

Lake Region State College receives TAACCT grant for $2,990,355.

Dr. Paul Gunderson, Melinda Martin and Julie Schuler took the lead on writing and submitting this exciting grant. This grant project takes the work of the (2) Centers of Excellence projects and delivers training on precision agriculture.

The project creates career pathways through coursework and training of a grassroots technology, precision agriculture demanding to be developed in the agricultural state of North Dakota. This proposal has as its major purpose to deliver training and assistance to Trade Adjustment Assistance-impacted workers, unemployed veterans, and other unemployed and underemployed people seeking to increase their skills for new and higher-paying jobs in the state of North Dakota. Lead and fiscal agent Lake Region State College will provide online learning and personalized instruction implementing a modular curriculum for skill development in basic computers, human relations in the workplace, and agriculture production and electronics, allowing multiple entry and exit points for participants.

This week faculty and students recognized Constitution Day with information and a Q & A about the constitution.

Candidate for the US Senate, Heidi Heitkamp, toured the campus and visited with students. She talked briefly about why she was running for Senate and spent the rest of the time answering students questions.

The Adminstrative Council agreed to replace the remaining boilers for the campus heating system that were not included in the wind turbine project utilizing one-time, carry over funds from last year and an Energy Performance Contract with ESG.

The Foundation and campus community are gearing up for the annual fund raising Key Event scheduled for October 26th. This years theme is "Casino Royale".

Back to School

Hello - I'm Doug Darling. I am currently serving as Interim President of Lake Region State College. I plan to post campus updates to this blog twice each month to keep the campus and community informed about what is happening at Lake Region State College.

The smell of freshly combined grain fields, the sounds of football practice echoing across the parking lot, and the hallways filled with eager, new college students are all signs of the beginning of the new school year. The hallways are bustling with activity as the fall semester gets underway.  I love this time of year!

We had a busy, but great summer.  New for this fall - Women's Volleyball is back! The team scrimmaged an alumni team on Saturday, August 25th at 1:00pm. We had a great turnout of alumni and fans!

Also added this fall, Pep Band and Concert Band! Gary Fulsebakke will be teaching music courses and directing the band. We plan to have a pep band at athletic events later this fall as well as a concert or two featuring the concert band.

Our staff retreat this summer focused on "Do It Like Disney" using the 7 keys to Disney's Success to provide better service to our students and other "guests".

Several newsworthy items to report on include:

 Our IT program along with the IT programs at WSC, DCB, Valley City State University, and Turtle Mountain Community College received the NDCTE Director's Award of Excellence for their collaboration in forming the Northern Information Technology Consortium. This consortium enables all five campuses to offer additional options in IT courses to their students and VCSU brings the option of a four year degree to the member campuses.

Julie Traynor, Director of the Dakota Nursing Program, was named President of ND State Board of Nursing.

Rodney Armstrong, Adult Farm Management Instructor, was selected as the Adult Farm Management Instructor of the year by his peers at the ND CTE Professional Development Conference.

Finally! Our dream of a wind turbine to serve our Wind Energy Technician Program and to power the campus is going to come true. We signed the final documents! The turbine has been ordered and the construction is being bid as I write this.  We hope to begin construction in the next few weeks and the turbine is scheduled for delivery in November.