While North Dakota’s workforce shortage is serious, it’s also the kind of problem that UND can and will help solve, as today’s Special Edition of UND Today makes clear

By Tom Dennis
Editor, UND Today

We are so lucky to live in North Dakota.

True, there’s a distinct lack of oceanfront views, and even the state Tourism Department once sponsored a tongue-in-cheek billboard that read, “North Dakota Mountain Removal Project completed.” But while North Dakotans know all about their state’s comparative weaknesses in scenery, they’re also aware — and rightly proud — of its exceptional strengths.

Here’s one:

Problems have solutions here. That very much includes the state’s workforce shortage, the issue that Gov. Kelly Armstrong campaigned on and ranks among the top concerns of the state Legislature.

And with that in mind, this Special Edition of UND Today is dedicated to the proposition expressed in the headline: UND is on the case.

Don’t misunderstand; the workforce shortage is an extremely serious issue. Earlier this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released its Worker Shortage Index, an interactive map that “shows which states are suffering the most.”

In two and only two of the states, the crisis is listed as “Most Severe.” They are North Dakota and South Dakota, and while North Dakota’s index of 0.47 is slightly better than South Dakota’s 0.43, it still means North Dakota has only 47 available workers for every 100 open jobs.

In other words, ours is the second-worst workforce-shortage in America.

But think of it this way: Compared with high crime rates, poorly performing schools, frightful levels of homelessness and similar modern complaints, a workforce shortage is an enviable problem for a state to have. That’s because it’s much less intractable than those other concerns — and smart policymaking can make a difference.

That’s already happening, and UND is proud to be playing a part. For example, and as one of the stories in today’s Special Edition reports, the new STEM Complex and proposed Health Professions Collaborative Facility are designed to not only increase the number of graduates in those essential fields but also boost those graduates’ effectiveness and productivity once the new pros are on the job.

Elsewhere on campus, UND students already are being prepared to meet real-world challenges and bolster North Dakota’s STEM workforce development, as another of today’s stories reports. A third story describes North Dakota 85, the School of Medicine & Health Science’s initiative to raise to 85 percent the number of North Dakota residents enrolled in the school’s physician and physician-assistant programs.

And our story today about UND’s extensive online programs describes how, as the story puts it, “distance learning has long been a strategic tool for strengthening North Dakota’s workforce, extending UND’s reach and generating economic benefits statewide.”

As mentioned, UND is on the case.

In September, we published a Special Edition of UND Today titled, “Ten Years Later: The University’s Road to Record Recovery.” UND is enjoying record enrollment at the moment, the series noted. How did that growth come about?

In particular, what were the decisions — some of them very difficult, involving budget cuts and program closures — during the state’s financial crunch in 2016-17, that helped set UND up for its current enrollment success? How have state support, infrastructure improvements, research spending and other recent trends factored in?

Today, we’re extending that outlook to offer thoughts about the next 10 years. And because the state’s workforce shortage is top-of-mind for the elected leaders of North Dakota, it’s top-of-mind at the University of North Dakota, too.

The stories in today’s Special Edition explain how.

Thank you for reading UND Today, and your interest in and support of UND! Feel free to contact me at tom.dennis@UND.edu with any comments or questions.

Don’t miss the full series …

>> UND is on the case. While North Dakota’s workforce shortage is serious, it’s also the kind of problem that UND can and will help solve.

>> The North Dakota magnet of online education. UND’s online programs keep North Dakotans rooted and thriving in-state, while drawing people and positive attention from far and wide.

>> STEM U: New buildings promise to engineer student success. How UND’s STEM Complex and proposed Health Professions Collaborative Facility will grow key components of the state’s workforce.

>> STEM U: How UND educates the workforce of the future. Workforce preparation takes place in labs, classrooms and the Alaskan Arctic, among other locations across UND and beyond.

>> Growing our own physicians and physician assistants. With ND85, UND hopes to raise the number of North Dakota residents enrolled in M.D., P.A. programs at its School of Medicine & Health Sciences.

>> VIDEO: How UND is leading the way in STEM. The deans of UND’s College of Engineering & Mines and College of Arts & Sciences join President Andy Armacost for a conversation about STEM training.

More from Author

Tom Dennis
is the editor of UND Today and the associate director of communications for UND. A graduate of Williams College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Dennis served for 20 years as the Grand Forks Herald’s editorial-page editor before coming to UND.