Join the Native American Cultural Center and Native American Cultural Awareness Club at the 32nd annual Spring Honor Dance and Powwow in the MSU Dome April 22-23, 2022.

The two-day celebration will feature standard dancing, drumming, and an honor parade for the Minot State graduating class of 2022, with additional events planned prior to the Friday night Grand Entry.

“Minot State will be adding to the Spring Honor Dance and Powwow Celebration by honoring the North Dakota Tribal Nations with events prior to the two-day powwow. These events — tipi raising, Indigenous gardens planting, and dance and drum lessons — will be offered to local schools, communities, and residents,” said Annette Mennem, Native American Cultural Center director.

New this year, a roundtable discussion with the North Dakota Tribal Nations, hosted by Minot State student affairs, is scheduled for the morning of Friday, April 22. The events are free and open to the public, and vendors will be on site during the powwow selling authentic Native American clothing, crafts, and food.

A full itinerary will be released at a later date.

Minot State University has partnered with Magic City Day Care Center to bring daycare services to the MSU campus, the University announced Thursday.

Magic City Day Care Center began offering services in Dakota Hall on Thursday, July 1. This partnership will benefit both the Minot State community as well as the greater Minot community.

“I can’t stress enough how welcomed, loved, and supported we feel coming to MSU,” said Sarah Seay. “Everyone is so friendly and attentive to any need we have had in preparing our center for opening day.”

Seay is co-owner of Magic City Day Care Center along with her husband Erik and serves as the operations manager.

“Opening an on-campus childcare center is a significant event in the history of Minot State University. This has been a topic of conversation and on our wish list for several decades,” said Kevin Harmon, Minot State vice president for student affairs. “The Magic City Day Care team has been a determined group in turning a concept into a reality in just a few months.”

This long-standing goal will enable Minot State to better serve students and employees as well as offer many collaborative learning opportunities for MSU students.

Magic City Day Care Center is located in the lower level of Dakota Hall. The historic building was built in 1931 and has served as a residence hall and the main office for MSU Residence Life as well as the Minot State Military Resource Center. Both departments have been relocated to buildings on campus with Residence Life moving to the MSU Student Center and the Military Resource Center moving to Model Hall.

The partnership exemplifies the University’s commitment to serving the community, enhancing education experiences for students, and improving the quality of life on campus for students and employees.

We are excited to introduce our new Buckshot chatbot from OCELOT. On July 8, we are officially launching the bot on the Minot State website to help students get their questions answered in a fast and convenient way. The bot will soon have live chat capabilities for students to chat with staff department representatives if they need more assistance than Buckshot can provide.

Minot State is piloting this bot for one year so your feedback is very important. Please feel free to ask Buckshot a question to help us with the testing process as we continue to refine the bot. If you have suggestions for questions or responses, please email LIZ KREBSBACH.

Minot State University Staff Senate is inviting all staff and faculty, along with their families, to the 2021 Fall Kick-Off Celebration on Aug. 18 from 4:30-7 p.m. at the Roosevelt Park – Shelter 2. Shelter 2 is just east of the Roosevelt Park Pool. Members of Staff Senate will grill hamburgers and hotdogs as well as salads, chips, and desserts will be available. There will also be lawn games — including a cornhole tournament — activities for kids, and door prizes provided by local merchants. Providing entertainment — and back by popular demand — is our very own Brent Winiger! Brent says members of the campus community can contact him for song requests in advance of the Kick-Off for “the greatest multigenerational, feel good, foot tapping, world changing, sing-a-long songs of all time!” Those requests for songs can be made by EMAIL.

Futurepalooza is planned for Sept. 13 and will give an opportunity for approximately 700 local students to speak with professionals from post-secondary institutions and from professionals within career fields as part of a joint, two-part roundtable career session and college fair. Minot State has a table as part of Dakota Association for College Admission Counseling (DACAC) fairs. The enrollment services representatives must staff that table. Enrollment services is asking members of the Minot community to volunteer their time and share their career knowledge at roundtable sessions lasting approximately 15 minutes. If you would like to participate as part of the roundtable career discussions, please sign up HERE.

DACAC rules do not allow the career roundtable portion to be a recruitment opportunity. Thus, any faculty participation should focus on careers that can be pursued with the expertise gained be completing their program(s). Please contact Heather Halverson at 701-858-4216 or by EMAIL before or on Sept. 7 for more specific information.

Convocation Mini Sessions are back! Sessions will be held Aug. 23 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. with 30 or 60 minute times available. If you would like to present a mini session, email CELESTE SIMMONS. Please include the mini session title, session length of 30 or 60 minutes, presenter name, and a brief explanation of the mini session.

Northwest Arts Center
The gallery is located on the lower level of the Gordon B. Olson Library, with its own entrance on the south side of the library. The arts center is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 1-5 p.m., and by special arrangement. It is closed holidays.

• Me, Myself, and the Darkness: The Northwest Arts Center presents "Me, Myself, and the Darkness," an exhibition by North Dakota artist and photographer Johnathan Campbell, on view in the Walter Piehl Gallery from Aug. 3-31. As a teenager, Campbell was introduced to the basics of photography and darkroom printing by his mother. He carried that interest to the University of North Dakota where he earned a degree in visual arts in 1995. After working in the paleontology field as a fossil preparatory, a 20-year hiatus, Campbell picked up his camera again in 2014. His current primary area of expression is long exposure photography, with an emphasis on creative light painting. Campbell’s re-exploration of light manipulation often finds him as the artist and subject of his work.
• Me, Myself, and the Darkness Closing Reception: Join us for the closing reception of "Me, Myself, and the Darkness," an exhibition of photography by Johnathan Campbell, on Tuesday, Aug. 31 from 6:30-8 p.m. There will be an artist’s talk at 7 p.m. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. We welcome you to attend. Masks are not required, but individuals who are not fully vaccinated or deemed vulnerable are encouraged to continue to wear masks.

Flat Tail Press
Flat Tail Press is an educational printmaking studio at Minot State University. The gallery is located in the landing space on second and third floor of the Minot State Student Center, west entrance. It is open Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-12 p.m.

Hartnett Hall Gallery
The gallery provides exhibition space for students, faculty, and community artists, and is located on the second floor on the west side of Hartnett Hall in Room 233. The Hartnett Hall Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Emerson Eads, assistant professor and Director of Choral Activities at Minot State University, had been awarded third place in the American Prize in Composition, 2021, in the vocal chamber music division, for his song-cycle "The Gleaners" for soprano, mezzo-soprano, string trio, and piano. It was commissioned by Northwest Art Song and premiered by soprano, Arwen Myers; mezzo-soprano Laura Beckel Thoreson.

Eads has been selected as a national finalist for the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music, 2021, in the solo and composer division for the recording of his "Mass for the Oppressed."

Joseph Jastrzembski, professor of history and executive director of the Minot Area Council for International Visitors, as part of the U. S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, facilitated a virtual meeting on "COVID 19 and Minot" for emergency response and disaster management professionals from Japan, Ethiopia, Brazil, Lebanon, and other countries. These visitors met with the mayor, council members, and state and local public health officials to discuss pandemic response and public mitigation measures. Their overall program was arranged by World Learning with the Minot segment arranged by the Minot Area Council for International Visitors.

Corrina Lemer, purchasing associate at the Gordon B. Olson Library, was named Minot State University's Staff Senate's July High Five Award winner.

Dion Udokop was selected as the ASC Student of the Month for June. She has contributed to the Academic Support Center’s programs most recently as a new student programs leader, and has previously been a peer mentor and office assistant.