Minot State University continues to monitor all aspects of COVID-19 and how the pandemic has altered MSU, North Dakota, the country, and the world. The University has dedicated a site for information including remote instruction, travel guidance, cancellations, frequently asked questions, and general state, local, and national COVID-19 updates. Access to the site can be found at: MinotStateU.edu/health/covid-19/

The Minot State University Development Foundation partnered with Market Pharmacy to help deliver medicine to individuals who have ordered online or by phone during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deliveries ran Monday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout the month of April. Minot State Development Officer Jeremy Feller reached out to Market Pharmacy the idea was brought forward by Andy Carter, Minot State director of athletics. He hopes to contact all Minot area pharmacies to offer the service.

“Andy and Rick (Rick Hedberg, MSU Development Foundation executive director) decided athletics and advancement could work together to meet these needs. We are working on contacting other pharmacies who need this service,” he said. “We aren’t charging anything for this, we just want to be able to help where it is needed.”

The deliveries were set up through the pharmacy as patients contacted the pharmacy via online or phone and all financial transactions were done prior to distribution.

Along with the Development Foundation’s medicine delivery, Minot State Athletics partnered with Marketplace Foods to deliver groceries. Beaver Athletics coaches and administration volunteered time to deliver groceries throughout April.

The Minot State University Academic Support Center (ASC) has adjusted all of its services to an online platform and is now offering Zoom Chat to help provide an interactive environment.

The services will allow students to join Zoom meetings held during the ASK the ASC hours, Monday, Wednesday, or Friday from 1-3 p.m. and Tuesday or Thursday from 9-11 a.m. Students can access the site at: MinotStateU.edu/asc/schedule.shtml and choose the meeting day and time. After selecting the day and time, students start in the Zoom waiting room until an ASC staff member invites them to a meeting space. The session will then be one-on-one.

“The Academic Support Center staff know students have questions about online classes, MSU resources, and registering for classes for the summer and fall. We wanted to provide students with a way to meet with a staff member and ask their questions,” said Beth Odahlen, Academic Support Center director. “This will also provide a way for ASC staff to help provide resources and information. We know it can be confusing trying to find information online and how to contact staff and faculty.  The ASC provides a way to get the help students need quickly and with a live person.”

The Northwest Arts Center at Minot State University opened their annual Juried Student Art exhibition online.

Open to all Minot State University students, the Juried Student Show has been a campus tradition since the early 80s. Normally exhibited in The Walter Piehl Gallery in the Northwest Arts Center, the show gives students the opportunity to participate in a professionally-styled exhibition where a qualified external juror selects and designates work for artistic awards of distinction.

“The show is an annual experience for students to learn the process of preparing artwork for an exhibition, submitting work, and experiencing the results of a juried show. Beyond building professional skills, it is intensely rewarding for students to see their work on display in a gallery,” Greg Vettel, Northwest Arts Center director, said. “With the disruptions to the campus and our way of life, moving the JSS online reclaims some opportunity and normalcy for our students in uncertain times.”

The competition invites area and regional artists, educators, and other art professionals to serve as jurors each year. Ian Mabry, assistant professor of art at Dickinson State University, is serving as 2020 juror. With a focus in ceramics, Marby brings an eye to three-dimensional work to his jurying, perhaps and irony in the current situation.

The Juried Student Show is available at the Northwest Arts Center’s WEBSITE and through their and the Minot State University Art Department social media handles. The Northwest Arts Center can be found on Facebook @NorwestArtsCenter, Twitter @arts_northwest, and Instagram @northwestartscenter. The Minot State University Art Department can be found on Facebook @MSU-Art-Department and Instagram @minot.state.art.

The show runs through May 15. This program is funded in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

As people stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic, they are logging on to streaming services in record-breaking numbers.

Minot State University’s film studies minor offers perspective into the content being consumed.

“Our film minor offers students a deeper insight and appreciation for something we all do every day: watch TV, watch YouTube, watch Netflix,” Jean-Francois Mondon, Minot State associate professor of French, German, Latin, and linguistics, said. “We put so much TV-watching in our lives, why not learn something about films so as to make the experience even more meaningful?”

When people think of film studies, they often first think about film production. While important, another major leg of the University’s minor is the analysis of films as works of art. A blend of required and optional coursework includes a wide range of choices such as Film Genres, French Film, German Culture, and Digital Design: Motion.

With several different options across the humanities, the minor shows how cross-disciplinary film studies is. By using film as a jumping off point to discover and analyze nearly any aspect of life, the minor can benefit any student, regardless of major.

Minot State University’s Department of Special Education is offering a new online master’s degree in disability human services where graduates will be able to attain the knowledge and skills necessary to strategically create and nurture the environment and culture of learning in a human services agency.

The degree blends coursework from a variety of fields including education, human services, management, and human resources. Topical areas include a firm grounding in strategic management, disability law and policy, human resources, and accounting. Students will also receive high-quality instruction in the latest trends related to serving people with severe disabilities across the lifespan and will learn research skills to allow them to be effective problem solvers.

While Minot State’s Master of Science in Disability Human Services is new, the University has been at the forefront in offering programs for intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) for decades. The degree it replaces had been offered by the Department of Special Education for the last 30 years in a variety of formats, including face-to-face and an array of online options.

“During the last couple of years, MSU faculty collaborated with industry leaders to update and reconceptualize the program to effectively prepare students to take on administrative leadership positions in private and public human service organizations and state agencies,” said Holly Pedersen, special education department chair. “These leadership positions require professionals who can problem solve and be strategic based on how services are delivered at a time when resources are often limited.”

Faculty consulted with Melody Baker, agency training director at Kalix, which provides residential and vocational services for people with IDD in Minot. Baker provided insight into what constitutes effective leadership at a human services agency and offered many important philosophical and practical suggestions for developing a human services organization into a learning organization.

Minot State University has canceled large-scale, on-campus events effective immediately through the end of the semester. A complete list of closures, cancellations, and postponements is available ONLINE. Below is a list of May cancellations with postponed dates in parentheses:

• May 1-2: Baseball vs. Minnesota Crookston
• May 8: Nursing Department Scholarship Day
• May 10: Western Plains Children's Choir Spring Concert
• May 11: Late Night Finals Breakfast
• May 13: Employee Recognition (postponed to fall, date TBA)May 14: Minot High School Choir Concert
• May 15: Commencement
• May 16-23: Costa Rica Trip (postponed to May 2021)

Flat Tail Press
The gallery is located in the landing space on second and third floor of the Minot State Student Center, west entrance. It is open while the Student Center is open.

• The Altered Landscape in Blue: Experience "The Altered Landscape in Blue" through May 15.

Northwest Arts Center

• Juried Student Show: The Juried Student Show has been a campus tradition since the early 80s. Normally exhibited in The Walter Piehl Gallery in the Northwest Arts Center, the show gives students the opportunity to participate in a professionally-styled exhibition where a qualified external juror selects and designates work for artistic awards of distinction. Ian Mabry, assistant professor of art at Dickinson State University, is serving as 2020 juror. The Juried Student Show will be available at the Northwest Arts Center’s website and through their and the Minot State University Art Department social media handles from April 17 through May 15.

Robert Kibler, world languages and cultural studies, had his paper, "Encounters Beyond the Horizon: Mungo Park’s 1795 Expedition Down the River Gambia, and the Reinstantiation of a Linnean Tragic Vision" accepted for presentation at the Canadian Society for Eighteenth Century Studies. 

Samuel Stinson, assistant professor of English, will have a book chapter entitled “Axiology and Transfer in Writing About Writing: Does it Matter Which Way We WAW?” published in the Fall 2020 edition of Composition Forum.

Deb Wentz, executive assistant in the President's office, was named Minot State University Staff Senate's March High Five Award winner.