![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/01\/v33n02-Hensrud-PQ-02.jpg\")
<\/a>We must continually intensify our focus on student success, with an ongoing examination of our academic priorities and an eye on global change.<\/p>\nWe must uphold faculty excellence through professional development and sharpened recruitment.<\/p>\n
We must embrace strategies to protect fiscal sustainability through enrollment growth and enable continued improvement of our campus facilities.<\/p>\n
… Above all, we must continue to listen –
\nto one another, to our students and to the communities and employers we serve.<\/p>\n
In combination, the phrases “building bridges” and “transforming lives” convey the almost unlimited possibilities of our work.<\/p>\n
…We are building bridges to and for our communities through teaching, learning
\nand research.<\/p>\n
Our academic programs support sustainability in the most holistic sense, not only through environmental stewardship but in health care, commerce, education, the arts and sciences, social services, criminal justice and trades and manufacturing.<\/p>\n
Northwest Technical College is building bridges as a hub for multiplying initiatives to create the highly skilled workforce this region needs in order to thrive and grow.<\/p>\n
We are actively working to strengthen the bridge of partnership between the university and the college, which offers so many opportunities to better serve our students.<\/p>\n
Our institutions are a bridge that connects our region to a higher quality of life, through the arts, athletics and other enrichment.<\/p>\n
… And we emphatically seek to build bridges to diverse peoples:<\/p>\n
•<\/span> Through recruitment and support of American Indian students, other students of color and international students, as well as diverse faculty, staff and administrators;<\/p>\n•<\/span> By appreciating our individual differences and insisting on mutual respect;<\/p>\n•<\/span> And by continuing to build campus cultures that promote and celebrate diversity in all forms.<\/p>\nWe are constantly building bridges to knowledge and opportunity for our students.<\/p>\n
… As for the goal of transforming lives, both for our students and for people throughout the region, we see it happen every day.<\/p>\n
You make it happen.<\/p>\n
… We will seek to define and express our institutions’ distinctiveness in order remain compelling to prospective students and employees.<\/p>\n
At BSU, I suggest we look to the distinct intersection of our north woods location; our increasing emphasis on American Indian enrollment, languages, culture and governance; and a breadth of academic programs that support sustainability, both environmental and otherwise.<\/p>\n
… Ultimately, what we are building together is a bridge to the future.<\/p>\n
Many of our students will live to see the 22nd century. It is up to us to prepare and inspire them to meet the challenges and opportunities they will encounter, both as individuals and as contributing members of an increasingly diverse society.<\/p>\n
I find that prospect thrilling, and I hope you do, too.<\/p>\n
Thank you all for inviting me to join with you, and do my best to lead you, in this great endeavor.<\/p>\n
And thank you for making this such an unforgettable day for me and my family.<\/p>\n
May we all – students, staff and faculty; alumni; elected, civic and business leaders; and our many other partners and friends – be united in this common purpose: to build bridges and transform lives.<\/p>\n
Our power for good is enormous, and together our success will be certain.<\/p>\n
Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During her Oct. 14 inauguration as president of Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College, Dr. Faith Hensrud challenged the schools to build a bridge to the future through transformative teaching and service to students and the Bemidji region.<\/p>\n
\u2022 More:\u00a0Inaugural Remarks from Participating Dignitaries<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[958],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26567"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26695,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26567\/revisions\/26695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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