Two Grand Forks residents among finalists for state Board of Higher Education

GRAND FORKS — Two Grand Forks residents are among six finalists to fill two seats on the state Board of Higher Education, State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler announced this week.

A nominating committee selected the six finalists, and the names will next go before Gov. Kelly Armstrong to make the final two appointments, which then must be confirmed by the North Dakota Senate.

The selected nominees will fill the board seats currently held by Casey Ryan, a Grand Forks physician who is finishing his second four-year term on the board and is not eligible for reappointment, and Jeffry Volk, a retired Fargo consulting engineer, who is eligible for a second term.

The finalists for Ryan’s seat are:

• Levi Bachmeier, business manager of the West Fargo school district and education adviser to former Gov. Doug Burgum,
• Russel Crary, a Grand Forks real estate developer, and
• Rich Wardner, of Dickinson, a former North Dakota Senate majority leader and retired K-12 teacher and coach.

The finalists for Volk’s seat are:

• Beverly Johnson, of Grand Forks, a retired physical therapy professor and clinical education director at the UND medical school,
• Warren Sogard, owner and chairman of American State Bank and Trust Co., of Williston, and
• Volk, the incumbent.

The nominating committee met Tuesday to review a dozen applicants for the two openings, according to a release. Baesler is chairwoman of the nominating committee, and other members are Jon Jensen, chief justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court; Nick Archuleta, president of North Dakota United, which represents teachers and state employees; House Speaker Robin Weisz, R-Hurdsfield; and Senate President Pro Tempore Brad Bekkedahl, R-Williston, the release said.

The Board of Higher Education has eight voting members and two nonvoting members who represent the system’s faculty and staff. It oversees the North Dakota University System’s 11 colleges and universities.

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