Originally Posted by
Hammersmith
My exercise isn't ground up, but it tries to be a reworking of the whole thing given the existing infrastructure. I believe in specialization; pick a narrow field, but be damned good at it.
NDSU & UND stay mostly the same. Maybe trade some programs in a perfect world(say swap the NDSU health science programs for all of UND's engineering programs, or something like that). Strip most(90%) of the grad programs from the other campuses.
Dickinson becomes a liberal arts campus with an emphasis in natural & earth history and natural resources. Geology, anthropology, paleontology, etc. plus maybe a 4-year petroleum engineering program or the like. Make use of the nearby fossil beds, oil/coal/nat gas, and the only decently interesting geology in the state. Minot would be a duplicate of Dickinson except with a different focus. Maybe something in the humanities. Languages, poli-sci & international relations, perhaps. Maybe something more useful. Perfect world might be the law school, but I doubt that would fly.
Bismarck and Valley City become strictly 2-year prep schools for students that wouldn't do well going straight to the big 4-year schools, esp. NDSU & UND. High rigor, but small class sizes and more comprehensive student support. The two schools would work closely with the 4-year schools so that students would transition seamlessly.
Williston and Wahpeton become hard-core trade schools and drop the 'trying to be everything' mindset. Both have the same core sets of programs, but Williston focuses on natural resource tech(partners with Dickinson), while Wahpeton focuses on high-tech(partners with NDSU). I don't know what to do about NDSCS-Fargo. Leave it alone, fold it into NDSU, spin it off into a separate campus? All options have issues.
Devil's Lake becomes an outpost for limited classes where online just doesn't cut it. Four to nine week classes taught by instructors from other campuses. I'm thinking a limited welding class held every couple years, or a practical intro to health careers. Stuff like that where 75% of the coursework could be done online, but sometimes you just need to get your hands dirty. Maybe a dozen permanent staff, plus visiting instructors. One small dorm(not full time), one regular classroom building, one trades classroom building, one support building.
Bottineau becomes purely an outpost for NDSU forestry students to do short-term learning in ND's only forest. One dorm(only for a few weeks a year), one classroom building, maybe one building to handle everything else. Classes normally held during the summer for 4-6 weeks, and single weeks during winter break and spring break. Maybe a half dozen permanent staff to maintain the buildings and grounds.
Mayville is closed completely. It's just too close to NDSU, UND, VCSU & LRSC.
There, a plan that I'm sure has tons of holes and is completely impractical. You probably notice there are pairs of almost everything. Perfect world would be one of each. The pairs are a nod to the political reality of east vs west in the state.