NDSU announces proposed job cuts, reducing number of colleges

Fargo, North Dakota – The future of North Dakota State University may hold significant changes.

A reduction in the number of colleges and employment losses may be forthcoming as part of the university’s new strategic plan, according to President Dr. David Cook on Wednesday evening.

“We’ve had some challenges with enrollment, and with that we are doing some hard things. This is a hard day,” said Dr. Cook while speaking with our Tom Tucker about the news.

What universities would close, and how many jobs would be lost as a result? We’ll explain that to you.

There would be a dissolution of the colleges of mathematics, science, human development, and education. Five new colleges would be established in their stead, including a newly established college of arts and sciences, as well as colleges of business, engineering, and agriculture.

“We’re creating some synergies academically with the kind of education programs we want to offer that meet workforce needs of North Dakota,” added Cook, who says the moves could be fully in place by July 1st of this year.

Regarding the job reduction, this decision may result in the termination of 34 staff workers from NDSU.

“You’re going to lose two deans. We’re talking about 34 and a half FTs or people that would lose their positions with this,” said Cook. “That’s truly why this is a hard day.”

However, the newly elected President did express some optimism about upcoming initiatives and the strategic plan’s overarching objective.

“The exciting part which is really the part of the NDSU transform plan is a strategic investments,” said Cook. “While we’re going to shut down some programs because they might’ve been a good thing to do five or 10 years ago, we’ve got to do new academic programs. So we’ve started outlining new academic programs that this state needs.”

We’ll soon have more information on what those initiatives would include. Regarding the broader strategy, Cook states that the university would seek input before deciding whether to proceed with the suggested changes, which might happen within the next few weeks.