BEMIDJI — Faith Hensrud said the presidency at BSU and Northwest Technical College is “a logical next step” in a career that includes time in the military and the private sector, and nearly 25 years at the University of Wisconsin Superior.
In the last of three public forums introducing Bemidji to the schools’ presidential candidates, Hensrud told an assemblage of campus and community leaders Wednesday that expanding course offerings and helping students feel at home are tasks critical to the future of the two campuses.
“First-generation and low-income students especially will ask themselves: Do I belong here?” said Hensrud, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Wisconsin Superior. “If they go home at Thanksgiving and say ‘I don’t know about this,” their parents might not have the tools to help them rise above that.”
Attracting and retaining students, she said, “is at the forefront of everyone’s mind.”
Hensrud said she would look into building a sturdier bridge between BSU and NTC, so students at the technical college can more easily transfer to the university. Her plan also includes expanding course offerings in fields that are yielding the most job opportunities: science, technology, engineering, math and health care.
“Tech students have many of the same needs as four-year students,” Hensrud said. “They need to be able to communicate, need to be able to think, need to be able to live in a global community. Some will want a four-year experience, and we need a really sound method for transfer.”
Hensrud is herself a first-generation college student.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, a master’s degree from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
Everywhere she has gone, Hensrud said she has been a leader who values relationships.
She served in the Army as a second lieutenant and transportation officer, and later worked as a driver supervisor at Schneider National trucking company in Green Bay.
Before getting into college administration she taught business classes at Wisconsin Superior and management classes at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in Superior.
In the past few years Hensrud has been at the center of a wave of cuts at Wisconsin Superior, caused by diminishing funding from the Wisconsin State Legislature. The school consequently cut ties with 53 faculty and staff and decided to outsource its custodial jobs hoping to save money.
Hensrud said some of the faculty and staff chose to retire or soon found other jobs — but not all.
“It was not a pleasant process … and it’s not something I would want to do again anytime soon,” Hensrud said. “You see these people and you know every one. The biggest challenge is how do you communicate and show you’re empathetic about their situation — and then have to make that decision?”
Colleges in Minnesota aren’t facing the same kind of cuts. Hensrud said she’s familiar with the Bemidji area and is getting more familiar with the two schools she hopes to oversee.
“We’ve spent time in this region and appreciate it for what it is,” Hensrud said. “I see a growing, viable community that I can be a part of.”
Hensrud is being considered alongside Rodney Hanley, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fisk University in Nashville, and Al Thompson, vice chancellor for student affairs and chief diversity officer at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point.
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees is expected to decide April 20 who will succeed Richard Hanson and become BSU’s 11th president.