A simple question changed the trajectory of Nicholle Bieberdorf’s career.

While working as a floor nurse at Bemidji’s North Country Health Services hospital, she encountered Northwest Technical College nursing faculty leading a tour for their students. She approached the instructors and asked, “How do I do what you do?”

That query sparked two decades of curiosity and exploration that led to a new dual role Bieberdorf has held since July as NTC’s dean of allied health and Bemidji State University’s senior nurse administrator.

Bieberdorf began teaching part-time at NTC while still working as a floor nurse, and in 2003 she moved into teaching full-time. After nearly ten years in the classroom, she returned to the hospital — which had since merged with Sanford Health. Bieberdorf served as Sanford’s education coordinator, supporting the launch of their new electronic patient records. She later moved into a project management role, during which she spent another year teaching part-time at NTC, before spending five years managing Sanford’s cardiology clinic.

In the summer of 2022, she moved back into higher education as NTC’s dean of nursing, health and human services. Within a year, she was dean of all academic programs at NTC.

Karla Eischens, president and CEO of Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota, praised Bieberdorf’s leadership during her time at Sanford.

“Nicholle demonstrated the ability to lead through change,” Eischens said. “Whether implementing new technologies or improving processes, she approached every challenge with creativity and confidence. Her forward-thinking mindset made her an invaluable leader.”

Bieberdorf’s new dual-leadership role not only reflects the unique alignment between BSU and NTC, where several administrative offices serve both campuses, but also positions her to lead collaborations with Sanford.

At NTC, Bieberdorf supervises the college’s academic programs in practical nursing, traditional registered nurse, licensed practical nurse step-in, nursing assistant, dental assisting, medical coding and health and administrative leadership. She also helps lead the college’s accreditation efforts.

She describes her role at BSU as a daily operations manager, where she also oversees accreditation and serves as the university’s liaison with state boards of nursing in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. She also collaborates closely with nursing faculty to manage scheduling, budgets and other resources.

“Each year has been something different,” Bieberdorf said. “I love strategic thinking, and when there is a big picture goal, changing my role or seeing how I fit is a natural challenge — and it’s fun.”

Kaileigh Rybak, Sanford Health’s director of heart and vascular, said she sees Bieberdorf bringing the same commitment to her work for BSU and NTC that she displayed during her time with Sanford.

“She helped establish programs and set a foundation for continued growth, and she has applied that same leadership at BSU and NTC,” Rybak said. “We are working together to build a skilled workforce for our region, and Nicholle’s ability to bridge clinical practice and academic training has made her an invaluable partner.”

Demonstrating the power of partnership, Bieberdorf has been a key figure in the launch of BSU’s Operation LEAD consortium. Nursing graduates at participating two-year colleges gain automatic enrollment into BSU’s bachelor’s degree program in nursing, along with access to increased scholarship opportunities and student support services. The steadily growing Operation LEAD includes four Northern Minnesota two-year colleges— including NTC—and BSU intends to ink partnerships with every two-year college in Northern Minnesota this year while pushing into adjacent states.

Dr. Jeffrey Bell, dean of BSU’s College of Sciences and Health, says Bieberdorf’s presence is already making an impact on Operation LEAD.

“Operation LEAD is starting to shift enrollment patterns in our RN-to-BSN courses, a program that had already grown by more than 30% in the last four years,” Bell said. “Nicholle has helped identify some important schedule changes that are helping us respond to further growth we are seeing from Operation LEAD students. She’s also helped create a long-term staffing plan so we can support our students and improve the health care our graduates will provide to Northern Minnesota.”

Bieberdorf points to Sanford Health as a vital part of the Operation LEAD equation, providing difficult-to-match opportunities for students to work directly with the nation’s largest rural health care provider.

“Sanford has grown in the last few years, and we have been able to place students in specialty areas for observation or clinical experiences that they wouldn’t necessarily have access to in other rural areas,” Bieberdorf said. “The fact that we work with a Sanford hub makes for a rich experience for our students.”

The quality of those experiences for BSU and NTC nursing students is bolstered by Bieberdorf’s relationship with Renee Axtman, Sanford Health’s chief nursing officer.

“She and I meet regularly to talk about experiences that our students are having in the clinical sites, and how the staff members there are experiencing our students,” Bieberdorf said. “We talk a lot about how we can collaborate to make better experiences for both staff and students, and how we might move into other areas to elevate nursing education.”

Sanford’s role extends well beyond clinical rotations. Sanford hosts BSU and NTC faculty for meetings each fall to strengthen alignment, and Sanford Bemidji serves as a key capstone placement partner. Sanford typically supports between one and two dozen BSU senior nursing students in their final preceptorships.

Bieberdorf’s unique role allows her to lead both BSU and NTC through separate, but closely interrelated, paths that ultimately lead to the same destination — improved health care for rural Minnesotans.

“It’s my job to make sure both institutions thrive. We are so fortunate that Sanford Health and its predecessors have been key partners and supporters for as long as our programs have existed.”

Eischens says Bieberdorf’s broad experience in both a hospital and a higher education setting will lead to creative programs that improve health education and care in the region.

“Nicholle is deeply committed to everything she does,” Eischens said. “She combines her experience at Sanford with her work at the college to identify and shape collaborative opportunities that few others could envision.”

John L. Hoffman, president of BSU and NTC, says this uncanny ability to navigate the challenges that come with leading different, but aligned, programs while building upon existing relationships at both institutions made Bieberdorf an obvious choice for the role.

“Sanford Health is our signature health care partner, and they have raved about how the NTC-Sanford partnership has grown since Nicholle joined us,” Hoffman said. “By expanding Nicholle’s role to lead nursing at both NTC and BSU, we continue to advance our partnership with Sanford, for the benefit of our students and the north.”

Bieberdorf calls the new position a dream job. She sees tremendous opportunities, not only for the nursing programs at BSU and NTC but also for Sanford Health and other health care partners in the region.

“Paying attention to our relationships and keeping our connections benefits us all,” she said. “If Sanford has an education need, we want them to call on us to help.”