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March 23, 2016

BEMIDJI — Al Thompson said he would boost recruiting and promote diversity if he were named the next president of BSU and Northwest Technical College.

Thompson, currently vice chancellor for student affairs and chief diversity officer at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, met with campus and community leaders Tuesday in the second of three public forums introducing Bemidji to the finalists for the BSU/NTC presidency.

“I want to roll up my sleeves and involve people from the community,” Thompson told the small audience Tuesday morning inside the Beaux Arts Ballroom. “You can’t do your position, regardless of the position, if you don’t know your community.”

Thompson started by shaking hands with everyone who came, and asked as many questions during the hourlong forum — about the school’s relationship with the city, and about the residents’ relationship with the area — as the audience asked him.

To read about BSU/NTC presidential candidate Rodney Hanley, click here. 

“I fell in love with the place during the summer,” City Councilor and BSU alumnus Michael Meehlhause told him. Downtown is thriving like no time recently, he said, “but I can drive 10 minutes and be alone in the woods.”

Thompson said: “That’s impressive,” and that he would look into adding courses in which students would interact more with their surroundings — Lake Bemidji and area forests.

Thompson holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Iowa, and a doctorate from Saint Mary’s University in Minneapolis. He has held leadership positions with Eastern Washington University, the University of Wisconsin La Crosse and the University of Wisconsin Platteville.

Recounting his drive to Bemidji from the Twin Cities, Thompson said he didn’t see any billboards for BSU until he was north of St. Cloud — evidence, he said, that the university could do a better job drawing students from the southern half of the state.

“We need to build excitement and enthusiasm as a marketing and recruiting tool,” Thompson said, adding that increased enthusiasm would help retain students and keep them engaged after graduation.

“You need them to remember something they’ll want to come back to,” Thompson said of alumni, mentioning football games and homecoming parades.

Thompson has held a few jobs that involved promoting campus diversity — most recently in La Crosse where he was assistant to the chancellor for affirmative action and diversity.

He brought up BSU’s struggle recruiting Native American learners, who comprise 4 percent of the student body compared to 11 percent of Bemidji’s population — and that’s not including the nearby reservations.

“One of the first things I would do is meet tribal leaders on their land and be honest about what I can and can’t do, what the institution can and can’t do,” Thompson said. He said another priority would be making the American Indian Resource Center an “attraction point” by bringing more activities there.

“We need to bring a cultural understanding and make it feel like home,” he said.

Thompson is being considered for the presidency alongside Rodney Hanley, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fisk University in Nashville, and Faith Hensrud, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin Superior.

Hensrud’s forum — the last of the three — begins Wednesday at 7 a.m. in the Beaux Arts Ballroom.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees is expected to make a selection April 20.