Getting ready

It is amazing how fast a summer can go. Seems like just a few weeks ago we had commencement and now we are in the final stages of getting ready for the start of a new academic year. I spent some time walking around campus this past week and there are alot of things to get done before we welcome back the faculty/staff on the 24th and new student move in on the 30th. The residence hall projects (Emry and Zimmermann this summer) seems to have gone more smoothly and we are all confident that the major renovations will be completed although lots of clean up etc. There are some new sidewalks that have been installed - a constant update and we will have some new lights up around campus. Of course the major project we are preparing for is the total renovation of the Science Center. Everyone has been busy moving out and throwing out the accumulation of some 40 years. We will open bids for the project on Aug 13th and the actual work should start around Sept 1 with total completion of the project to take approximately one year. We are doing some work in Heston Hall - elevator retrofit or something like that. The student services center in the Trojan Center has been renovated and up dated and yes even the VP for Academic Affairs and the President's office are being painted and updated.

Before the start of the academic year we will also have newly designed banners up around campus with a new athletic logo unveiled. A new TROJAN mascot will be on the banners around the athletic complex. There will also be new billboards going up on Interstate 29 and a new lighted sign on HWY 34 is now welcoming visitors to Madison - Home of Dakota State University.

Our enrollment projections look very good for this fall with enrollment of new first year students and transfers up 11% compared to a year ago. I am confident that we will set a new overall enrollment record again this fall.

We are reinvigorating our DSU 2.0 Capital Campaign and will be spending a great deal of time working on establishing relationships and asking for investments in the university. I am also committing myself to more regular blogging!