College of Arts, Humanities and Social
Sciences
State of the College Address
September 23, 2015
Kent Sandstrom
Dean of AHSS
AHSS and AY 15-16
A Big Year for the College
Strategic Planning – We need to grapple with
questions about our identity, values, mission, and
aspirations. These questions include:
Who are we?
What do we do?
What do we say?
Where are we going?
What challenges do we face in getting there?
What Did We Do?
Research and Creative Activities
 151 Peer-Reviewed Publications and another 45
forthcoming (accepted for publication)
 7 monographs/books and 2 edited volumes
 73 journal articles, 33 chapters, & 4 proceedings
 32 other (essays, poems, non-refereed articles)
 232 National, Int’l, or Regional Presentations (plus
34 local presentations)
What Did We Do?
Research and Creative Activities
 359 Juried Presentations/Performances/Exhibitions
 36 national/int’l concerts/performances – 6
juried, 16 invited, 14 other
 57 regional concerts/performances – 25 invited
and 32 other
 24 nat’l/int’l exhibitions – 2 juried and 11 invited
 22 invited regional exhibitions or performances
 25 local exhibitions and 195 local concerts/
performances (62 invited)
What Did We Do?
Research and Creative Activities
 94 Grants, Contracts, Fellowships and
Research Awards for $1.2 million
 58 External grants for $927,500
 24 Internal grants for $119,500
 12 Awards and fellowships for $155.2k
What Did We Do?
Teaching Activities AY 14-15
 Student Credit Hours=
 Production FTE =
 AHSS Majors =
92,176
143.5
1,856
 Graduate students =
297
 Degrees Conferred* =
435
*349 baccalaureate degrees and 86 graduate degrees
What Did We Do?
Some Notable Grants
 Dr. Carrie Anne Platt – Awarded an NEH Enduring Questions
Grant to support research focusing on how discussions of the
"educated person" have shifted over time and how these
discussions shape debates over college curricula.
 Prof. Malini Srvistava – Awarded multiple grants, including an
eFargo grant to support research and outreach efforts for
improving efficiency in the production, distribution and
consumption of renewable and non-renewable energy
resources in the City of Fargo.
 Dr. Yue Ge – collaborative NSF grant with Purdue and Virginia
Tech on a $2.5M research project entitled "Hazards SEES:
Bridging Information Uncertainty and Decision-Making in
Hurricanes Using An Interdisciplinary Perspective." Dr. Dan
Klenow is also senior personnel on the grant ($250k award).
How Were We Recognized?
Distinguished Awards*
 National Ceramics Artist of the Year (Michael Strand)
 Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Award
(Kevin Brooks)
 Faculty Service Learning Award (Gary Goreham)
 Faculty Fulbright Award (John Cox)
 Bush Fellowships (Malini Srivastava and Michael Strand)
 Bolley Academic Achievement Award (Duane
Champagne)
 Tapestry of Diversity Award (Kelly Sassi, Alicia Kauffman)
 Department Advance/FORWARD Award (English)
* Members of our college have received more than 30
distinguished scholarly and university awards since 2012
How Were We Recognized?
Distinguished Scholarly Awards
 Dr. Carrie Anne Platt, 2015 CSTAND Outstanding
Educator Award
 Dr. Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik, 2015 CSCA Top Paper
and Panel
 Dr. Stephenson Beck, 2014 Stanley L. Saxton
Applied Research Award
 Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, 2014 Outstanding
Academic Title by Choice magazine for his
coauthored book entitled Decolonizing Social Work.
What Goals Did We Realize?
Key College Goals Attained in AY 14-15
 Successfully granted tenure and/or promotion to 12
faculty members of the college.
 Implemented Dean’s Fellowship and Dean’s
Challenge Grant programs to support mentoring and
enhance research activities in the college.
 Hired an Associate Dean for Faculty Development
 Partnered with NDSU Extension to hire a Director of
the Center for Community Vitality, who is housed in
AHSS and the Department of Communication.
 On-boarded the UNITE Hires and began
development of two new interdisciplinary programs.
What Goals Did We Realize?
Key College Goals Attained in AY 14-15
 Established the Red River Valley Writing Project
(coordinated by Dr. Kelly Sassi of the English
Department) as a site for the National Writing Project
 Hired a Director of Development and increased
development efforts in the college, as reflected in the
$3.6M Falck Endowment for Visual Arts.
 Enhanced gender equity in leadership roles and
supported key leadership opportunities and training
for women in the college
 Continued to expand our alumni outreach and
recognition efforts
What Did EM Do?
Dep’t of Emergency Management
 Served 65 undergraduate majors and 12 grad students
 Published 9 peer-reviewed works and delivered 10
scholarly presentations at national and international
conferences
 Secured $478,760 in external funding including an
interdisciplinary National Science Foundation grant (Yue
Ge) and an international teaching contract (Dan Klenow
in collaboration with Yue Ge and Carol Cwiak)
 Dr. Jessica Jensen was invited to serve on the editorial
board of a major Disaster/Emergency Management
journal, and all faculty served as referees for major
journals in the past year.
What Did Theatre Do?
Department of Theatre Arts
 Served 57 majors; Engaged in 11 juried performances/
presentations and 24 local and university performances;
Delivered 22 national presentations; Continue to
explore ideas that put theatre in a broader societal
context through the Bush Foundation grant ($50k)
 Increased NDSU student attendance for all main-stage,
newfangled and TBD shows.
 In the fall, 225 students from 10 high schools attended
Drama Day for Little Shop of Horrors and in the spring,
175 students from 12 high schools attended Drama Day
for Next to Normal.
 AND!!!
Audrey II made the
cover of
Tech Expo Magazine
What Did HPRS Do?
History, Philosophy & Religious Studies
 Served 120 majors and 20 graduate students
 Implemented public history projects on Probstfield Farm
(film) and immigrant architecture (Fr. Sherman photo
collection)
 Conducted student research projects on Dakota War sites
from Ft. Abercrombie to Killdeer Mountain
 Garnered grants from the NEH, National Park Service ,
North Dakota Humanities Council, and Fulbright
 Faculty presentations delivered throughout the West on
the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act
 Developed new and revised courses on Imperial Spain,
women’s history, and public history
What Did HPRS Faculty Do?
Several notable faculty pubs, including 7
articles, 3 chapters, and two recent books:
 Brad Benton, The Native Conquistador: Alva
Ixtlilxochitl’s Account of the Conquest of New Spain
(University Park, PA: Penn State University Press,
2015)
 Dennis Cooley, The Ethics of Death: Religious and
Philosophical Perspectives in Dialogue (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 2014)
What Did SOC/ANTH Do?
Dep’t of Sociology & Anthropology
 Served 84 majors and 26 graduate students
 Published 13 peer-reviewed works; Delivered 26
scholarly papers at regional, national, and international
conferences
 Received 10 grants ($370k in awards;112k annual exp.)
 Dr. Christina Weber authored a monograph and won
the AHSS Outstanding Service Award
 Dr. Kristen Fellows piloted a field school in the West
Indies taking a graduate student on site for fieldwork
 Dr. Gary Goreham received the NDSU Service Learning
Award
What Did ALA Do?
Architecture & Landscape Architecture
 Served 302 majors and 44 grad students
 Received 9 grants ($68.1k) and published 14 peerreviewed articles
 Prof. Mike Christenson completed his book,
Beginning Design Technology (Routledge, 2016).
 Prof. Malini Srivastava received a grant from the City of
Fargo and North Dakota for eFargo: Georgetown
Energy Prize: currently 6th place out of 50.
 Profs. Matthew Kirkwood, Kathleen Pepple, and
Dominic Fischer engaged in community outreach work
with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe
What Did ML Do?
Department of Modern Languages
 Served 44 language and international studies majors
and delivered 6 papers at regional, national, and
international conferences
 Dr. Gwen Stickney edited two volumes of Bulletin of the
Comediantes
 Grants were won from the French American Cultural
Exchange (J. Hageman) for a French film festival
(spring 2016) and from North Dakota Humanities
Council (C. Hawley, C. Pearson) for the Quijote Café
 Four ML faculty members (J. Hageman, C. Hawley, P.
Homan and C. Saar) serve as officers on regional and
national professional organizations
What Did CJPS Do?
Criminal Justice & Political Science
 Served 322 majors and 17 graduate students
 Published 9 peer-reviewed articles and had 10 additional
works accepted for publication
 Delivered 19 scholarly papers at regional, national, and
international conferences
 Received 6 grants for a total of $288k ($73k in FY15
research expenditures.
 Dr. Carol Archbold received the Walter and Verna
Gehrts Endowed Professorship Award and Dr. Kjersten
Nelson received the 2015 AHSS Outstanding Teaching
Award.
What Did Art Do?
Department of Visual Arts
 Served 67 majors and 50 minors and established an Art
Ed major.
 Successfully completed and granted a 10-year
accreditation with the National Association of Schools of
Art and Design.
 Delivered 25 juried or invited national or international
presentations, and engaged in 33 juried or invited
exhibitions and projects.
 Prof. Meghan Kirkwood led a one-month long study
abroad trip with six students to South Africa. Students
worked in a variety of media and engagement projects.
What Did COMM Do?
Department of Communication
 Served more than 400 majors and 38 grad students
 Received 5 grants ($124k), including 1 NSF grant
 Published 44 scholarly works: 27 articles, 14 chapters,
1 textbook, 1 scholarly book, and 1 edited monograph.
57% of their peer-reviewed publications appeared in
journals listed on the ISI (Web of Science) master list.
 The Department’s partnership with NDSU Extension’s
Center for Community Vitality is generating faculty and
student engaged projects on rural leadership and
community development
What Did COMM Do?
Department of Communication
 Dr. Elizabeth Crawford Jackson, 2014 Outstanding Title
Award for Tobacco Goes to College (McFarland)
 Dr. David Westerman published his co-authored textbook:
Introduction to Computer Mediated Communication
(Kendall Hunt)
 Dr. Charles Okigbo published edited book: Strategic
Urban Health Communication (Springer Science)
 Dr. Ann Burnett, AHSS Outstanding Educator
 Ms. Nancy DiTunnariello, AHSS Outstanding Graduate
Student Research Award
 Ms. Whitney Anderson, 2015 AHSS Outstanding
Graduate Student Teaching Award
What Did Music Do?
Challey School of Music
 Served approximately 170 majors, including 48 graduate
students
 Renamed the School of Music to the Challey School of
Music after a lead gift of $2,000,000 and an overall
fundraising effort of $3,500,000.
 Delivered 319 performances, including an invited
national conference performance for the Wind
Symphony, a concert tour of Iceland and Scotland by the
Concert Choir, the inauguration of a national Piano
Chamber Music Festival, and a Minneapolis
performance of Messiah.
What Did English Do?
Department of English
 Served 80 English majors, 61 English Education
majors, and 39 graduate students
 Received 12 grants ($102k), many related to the Red
River Valley Writing Project; Published 20 peerreviewed books, articles, and chapters; Presented 29
papers at scholarly conferences; Promoted 2 faculty
 NDSU’s Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project extends
across 19 universities in 12 countries on 4 continents,
giving students in NDSU English courses experience at
preparing texts for translation, working with translation
students in editing translated texts, co-authoring texts
with subject-matter experts whose first language is not
English, and/or conducting usability tests internationally.
What Did ENG Faculty Do?
Books Published by English Faculty:
 Dr. Sean Burt (English/Religious Studies) published
The Courtier and the Governor: Transformations of
Genre in the Nehemiah Memoir (Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht Publishers)
 Dr. Adam Goldwyn co-translated Allegories of the
Iliad (Harvard University Press)
 Dr. Gary Totten published African American Travel
Narratives from Abroad: Mobility and Cultural Work in
the Age of Jim Crow (U of Massachusetts Press)
What Did WGS Do?
Women’s and Gender Studies
 Taught over 1500 students in WGS 110 (up from 60 in
2008)
 Awarded over $5000 in Loveland scholarships
 Hosted the Red River Women’s Studies conference
 Received an internal grant to improve online WGS 110
 Moved into their new space (Morrill 114)
What Do We Say About Ourselves?
Our Values and Identity Narratives:
 We do a lot of heavy lifting for the university,
particularly in the realms of Gen Ed and university
service. But we’re far more than a service college.
 We’re increasingly characterized by a culture of
collaboration, as reflected the interdisciplinary
initiatives we’ve developed and in our willingness to
partner with colleagues outside of our disciplines and
colleges.
 We’re supportive of risk taking and innovation in our
teaching, service, research, and creative activities.
What Do We Say About Ourselves?
Our Values and Identity Narratives:
 We provide many venues and opportunities for students
to have a prominent voice on campus and in the
community (e.g., BIN, the Spectrum, the Lincoln
Speech and Debate Team, the Fargo History Project,
Performing arts activities – plays, bands, choirs, etc.)
 We’re deeply involved in community engagement and in
fulfilling the land-grant mission of the university.
 Our college is comprised of many caring and
passionate people who are devoted to creating just and
equitable relationships, not only in their departments but
also on campus and in broader social arenas.
Where Are We Going?
Our Context and Its Challenges
 Increased Emphasis on Workforce Preparation
and Occupational Training
 STEM’s Hegemony and Its Eclipse of the Arts
and Humanities
 Declining National Enrollments (and Funding
of) the Arts and Humanities
 Declining Campus Enrollments in the
Humanities and in Some Social Sciences
Where Are We Going?
Key Goals and Priorities:
 Build on the strengths of our successful and
distinctive programs
 Increase mentoring efforts and facilitate faculty
success and professional development
 Continue to step up our fundraising and alumni
outreach efforts
 Devote more energy to student recruitment
 Encourage a higher level of faculty involvement
in sponsored research
Where Are We Going?
Key Goals and Priorities:
 Strengthen networks of support for
interdisciplinary programs and initiatives
 Increase the diversity of the students, faculty,
and staff in the college
 Sustain efforts to enhance and support gender
equity, especially in leadership roles
 Expand the number of grad students and grad
programs, particularly in areas such as design,
social innovation, and social engagement
Key Points to Remember
 We’ve continued to make notable progress in
attaining key goals and setting the stage for
future success
 We’re increasingly visible to university leaders
 We have a solid leadership team in the college
 We embrace and enact the best features of
higher education
 We’re developing a college-wide plan (and
strategic priorities) for the future
Conclusions
 We need to engage in the process of planning
together, with a spirit of collaboration, because
that will make us stronger.
 The college needs your thoughtful input and
steadfast involvement as we grapple with
important questions about who we are, what
stories we should tell, what we should hope for,
and how we should try to pursue those hopes.