Changes, changes and more changes..............

Lake Region State College is a wonderful resource for its students, community, and state. Since becoming President of LRSC, I have been working with the administrative council to develop plans to best move the college forward, continuing the excellence we currently have and preparing for even better times.  

The administrative council set the top three priorities for the coming year:

1.       Implementing Pathways

2.       Completion of Erlandson expansion and renovation

3.       Matching Fund campaign

That means a few organizational structure changes will be taking place this summer in preparation for the upcoming academic year. We will be working with the departments involved to develop a schedule for the moves.

Office Name changes:

First, naming of offices has changed. The offices of Administrative Services, Student Services, and Instructional Services are now Administrative Affairs, Student Affairs, and Academic Affairs. These names mirror our sister institutions within the state and nationwide.

Office locations:

In many community colleges the communications and outreach positions are affiliated with Advancement as these job missions work on advancing the college, its image, and its message.

Erin Wood, director of marketing and communications, will be moving to the Advancement/Foundation Office area and now reporting to the Vice President of Advancement. She will continue her current duties and also assist the Foundation in donor relations and campaigns. Katie Mertens will be taking on some additional communications and PR duties to assist Erin. Joycelyn Hagen also will be joining the Advancement Office. She will continue to be located in the President’s Office area; however she will be located nearer to the Welcome Center Window to assist customers entering the college. The Welcome Center window will permanently reopen during normal office hours to bring the inviting, welcoming atmosphere back to the front entrance.  

The president’s office reception area will be expanded by moving the wall that currently separates the President Office reception area and rest of the office areas past the area where Joycelyn currently has her work space. This will allow room to create a reception area in the President’s Office that Joycelyn and Bobbi Lunday can share comfortably. The doorway that leads from the President’s reception area to the mailbox area will be walled off to create room for additional office space. 

The current marketing and communications office will become the Academic Affairs office. Vice President of Academic Affairs, Lloyd Halvorson, Brandi Nelson, Jennifer Jenssen, and Anne Rasmusson will now be housed in that area.

Financial Aid will move to the area currently occupied by Lloyd Halvorson and Jennifer Jenssen. A wall will be installed to create a private one-on-one environment for students seeking information and counseling from Financial Aid.

The remainder of space that currently is Instructional Services will become the Center for Distance Education and Outreach Services. Director Dan Driessen, online advisor Andy Wakeford, Anne Dumont, Lois Bachmeier, and the new instructional design position will be housed in this area.

With Financial Aid moving to a more private area, Student Affairs will be restructuring office configurations in its areas, which will be announced at a later date.

Precision Agriculture and Adult Farm Management is scheduled to move to the former Twete Inc., building north of campus later this summer (late July to early August).

New positions

The funding formula approved by the legislature gives LRSC an opportunity address needs in many areas of the campus, including staffing in critical need areas. Administrative Council has approved the following positions recently to meet those needs:

Academic Affairs

Instead of replacing the Assistant VP (Lloyd Halvorson’s former position), Brandi Nelson will serve as Director of Academic Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness  supervising some of the non-program areas of Academic Affairs and Dan Driessen will supervise some of the CTE programs.  A Program Coordinator/Administrative Assistant, Anne Rasmusson, will replace Brandi Nelson.

The Adult Learning Center had another record year with over 75 graduates.  Director Nicole Claussen has received additional funding from DPI to hire another GED Instructor. This faculty position will be shared with Academic Affairs.

Student Affairs

A Power Skills Coordinator (formerly Academic Skills Center)/Disability Services Coordinator will be hired to provide services to non-Trio students. This position is critical for implementation of Pathways and will focus on retention and completion.

Administrative Affairs
Our growing institution has reached the point where we need a Human Resources Specialist. An HR position will be added this year.

Institutional Advancement/Foundation

A Campaign Project Manager – will be added on a temporary contract to manage the campaign to raise 2 million dollars and receive the 1 million dollars in matching funds appropriated by the legislature.

 A Resource Developer (grant writer) will also be added to write and coordinate grants to assist in securing the 2 million dollars and the 1 million in matching funds