Letter FROM THE PRESIDENT northern today 3 SEVERAL ISSUES AGO, in “Northern Today,” we shared our strategic plan for Northern State University. I am proud to report that thanks to solid execution of this plan, our fall headcount set new records for the university. We had an overall enrollment of 3,580 students this fall, including 408 new freshmen. As an outcome of that enrollment growth, on campus we are living with residence halls that are clearly over capacity. This has created a new set of challenges that must be addressed prior to fall 2012, and we are examining several possible housing solutions. We have also seen significant growth online here at NSU. Last year we had an online enrollment of 1,008 students, and this year we have 1,426 students taking classes online. This is an area that should continue to grow, as we are developing more online components of our classes and increasing our marketing for those course offerings. And the good news continues. Thanks to the generosity of our alumni and friends, we have made our WolfPACT scholarship even stronger. Not only is it the highest guaranteed scholarship offering in our region, it now offers more money to students when they need it most – during their junior and senior years. Finally, earlier this month I visited with all faculty and staff, highlighting some of these accomplishments and taking the opportunity to look ahead a bit. We have a great deal of forward momentum right now, in virtually all areas of our campus. Thanks to strong enrollment numbers, we currently have the opportunity to expand some offerings and more aggressively compete for sponsored research dollars. We are also continuing to fulfill our mission for the Center of Excellence in International Business by expanding our full-time international student base through additional student recruitment overseas. As the only institution in the state granting the bachelor’s degree in international business, this is a growth pattern that should certainly continue to help us for years to come. Let me close by publicly thanking our faculty and staff for their tireless hard work and dedication during these difficult state budgetary times. Without their efforts, I would have very little to share with you today. Go Wolves, “We had an overall enrollment of 3,580 students, including 408 new freshmen. On campus we are experiencing residence halls that are over capacity.” PRESIDENT JAMES M. SMITH “Thanks to the generosity of our alumni and friends, we have made our WolfPACT scholarship even better.” WOLVES UPSET BUTLER Three-pointer at buzzer lifts NSU over Division I team The Northern State University men’s basketball team made history in Hoosierland in a moment straight out of the movies. The Wolves beat the Butler University Bulldogs – a Division I team that has finished second in the last two NCAA championships – in an exhibition game in Indianapolis on Nov. 2. The victory was clinched by a game-winning three-pointer from senior Alex Thomas. It was a triumph that mirrored the win in the 1986 film “Hoosiers” – part of which happened to be filmed in Hinkle Fieldhouse, where the Wolves were playing. Visit the NSU athletics website, nsuwolvesathletics.com, for more information. AS I LOOK AT THE CALENDAR, I have a hard time believing that our fall semester is almost over – inside this issue you will see just a few of the highlights from the past months. Please let me take a moment to share some of the other successes I have seen from across the campus community. Photograph courtesy of Ryan Hilgemann
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