The Progress is Amazing
The Progress is Amazing
In spring 2004, nine months into the formation of M State, Peeders provided an update on how the transition was going, writing in the college’s quarterly newsletter that, “The progress is amazing… Programs are being aligned. Campus policies, procedures and processes are being merged. An update of the college’s strategic goals through an institutional planning process has begun.”
“An immediate goal,” he added, “is the deve
lopment of college mission and vision statements that will accurately reflect and include all four campuses. Institutional assessment and assessment of student learning are other major emphases.”
The process of merging four unique campuses was challenging in many ways, but there was optimism in the campus communities about the new learning and career opportunities the merger could lead to.
In May 2004, more than 1,200 students became the first graduates to earn M State degrees, certificates and diplomas.
A little over a year later, the college’s new president, Ann Valentine, continued her predecessor’s focus on joining the four campuses together. In the summer 2005 edition of the college newsletter, she wrote about M State being a “large and complex organization” with many ideas, voices, forces and people.
“We want to join with each other and our communities in one response as we serve our communities together,” Valentine stated. “Our campuses in Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Moorhead and Wadena are each complex and unique, but each has the common goal of service and responsiveness… As we face the future, we look ahead with energy, enthusiasm and well-founded confidence.”
That confident, enthusiastic energy has continued to reverberate down the halls of M State and across the college’s four campus communities over the past 20 years. M State has consistently grown and progressed in pursuit of the best possible alignment between the college’s offerings and evolving student and community needs. Today, the college offers over 70 career and liberal arts programs that cover a wide range of career fields, with courses offered on campus, online, and in mixed formats.