Minot State University (MSU or MiSU) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private unive ...

Minot, North Dakota Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 2 ...

. Founded in 1913 as a

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

, Minot State University is the third-largest university in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Minot State University was founded in 1913 and has evolved from a normal school to a university. Three colleges comprise the university's academic offerings: Arts and Sciences, Business, and Education and Health Sciences. Nine master's degrees and one education specialist degree are offered in such areas as communication disorders, management, and mathematics. There is a mix of liberal arts and professional programs offering more than 60 majors at the undergraduate level. MSU is a member of the

North Dakota University System The North Dakota University System (NDUS) is the public system of higher education and policy coordination entity in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The system includes all public institutions in the state including two research universities, four ...

, which comprises eleven institutions representing doctoral, master, baccalaureate, and community colleges. The State Board of Higher Education consists of nine members and is the governing board of the System. Minot State University has a Board of Regents acting as an advisory board and champion for the institution. Minot State's mascot is the beaver and the

school colors School colors (also known as university colors or college colors) are the colors chosen by a school as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms of sports teams. They can promote connectio ...

are red and green (though Maroon has sometimes been used in the past). The campus newspaper is called the ''Red and Green''. MSU's campus is at the base of North Hill, just west of Broadway. Oldmainmsu

History

MSU was established in 1913 as Minot Normal School, a two-year

devoted to preparing teachers for service in northwestern

. In 1924, the Normal School at Minot began issuing

baccalaureate degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

s, which necessitated a name change to Minot State Teacher's College. Over time the range of academic offerings expanded. The school's name was shortened to Minot State College in 1964 and it became a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

sometime in the eighties.

Academics

Minot State University awards undergraduate degrees in more than 60 courses of study and graduate degrees in 10 fields of study. MSU is composed of four main academic divisions: * College of Arts and Sciences ** 7 academic departments * College of Business ** 3 academic departments * College of Education and Health Sciences ** 4 academic departments * Graduate School

University rankings

It was ranked 976th on the 2013–2014

PayScale Payscale is an American compensation software and data company which helps employers manage employee compensation and employees understand their worth in the job market. The website was launched on January 1, 2002. It was founded by Joe Giordano a ...

College Salary Report and 1346th on the 2013 PayScale College Education Value Rankings.

Accreditation

Minot State University is fully accredited by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...

. Business Programs at MSU and in the College of Business Graduate School are fully accredited by the IACBE. The Bachelors & Master's degrees in Business Education are accredited by NCATE. Other accreditation: * National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education *

National Association of Schools of Music The National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) is an association of post-secondary music schools in the United States and the principal U.S. accreditor for higher education in music. It was founded on October 20, 1924, and is based in Reston ...

* Council on Education of the Deaf * Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association *

Council on Social Work Education The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is a nonprofit national association in the United States representing more than 2,500 individual members, as well as graduate and undergraduate programs of professional social work education. Founded in 19 ...

–Baccalaureate level *

International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education The International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE), formerly the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education, is an educational accreditation agency for college and university business programs founded in 1997. It ...

* National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, Inc. *

National Association of School Psychologists The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is the major national professional organization for school psychologists in the United States. Mission and purpose Its stated mission is to "represent and support school psychology thr ...

* North Dakota Board of Nursing

Gordon B. Olson Library

Completed the spring of 1992, the Gordon B. Olson Library presently serves an enrollment of more than 3,000 students. The three story facility features seating for 800 students, room for more than 500,000 volumes, as well as computer labs, and a microforms area. Dr. Gordon B. Olson came to Minot State University during the summer of 1967 and led the university through a period of growth and change. In 1967 enrollment was slightly more than 2,000. During Dr. Olson's tenure, MSU added a significant number of undergraduate and graduate programs. New undergraduate degrees included nursing, social work, and criminal justice. Graduate programs expanded from only one program in 1967 to 13 programs this year. Each of these programs addresses societal needs and the needs of students who pursue careers in these fields.

Athletics

Minot State University athletics compete in the

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its ...

(NSIC) which is a part of

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

MSU's sports program offers football, both men's and women's club hockey, basketball, cross country, indoor/outdoor track and field, golf, baseball, wrestling, women's soccer, volleyball and fast pitch softball. Minot State's ice hockey team won the ACHA Men's Division I national championship in 2013.

Wellness Center

The Minot State Wellness Center’s tagline is “Be well” and promotes a comprehensive approach to wellness and healthy living on campus for students, faculty, and staff. Their 8 Dimensions in Wellness approach promotes wellness in all areas: emotional, physical, occupational, intellectual, social, spiritual, environment, and cultural. The Wellness Center features rock climbing, exercise equipment, weight rooms, intramural gym space, group exercise classes, and wellness events with unlimited access for students.

Facilities

Campus facilities include an amphitheatre, indoor theatre, recital hall, the Gordon B. Olson library, a football field, the MSU Wellness Center, and the MSU Dome arena. The Student Union includes a bookstore, convenience store, dining center, and lounge areas. MSU has four student residence halls and three apartment complexes.

Notable alumni

* Dale Brown – former

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

basketball head coach (1972–97) * Arthur G. Crane – former

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

(1949–51) *

Ernst Ising Ernst Ising (; May 10, 1900 in Cologne, Germany – May 11, 1998 in Peoria, Illinois, USA) was a German physicist, who is best remembered for the development of the Ising model. He was a professor of physics at Bradley University until his r ...

– physicist credited with developing

Ising model The Ising model () (or Lenz-Ising model or Ising-Lenz model), named after the physicists Ernst Ising and Wilhelm Lenz, is a mathematical model of ferromagnetism in statistical mechanics. The model consists of discrete variables that represent ...

(1947–48) *

Gary Cederstrom Gary L. Cederstrom (born October 4, 1955) is an American retired Major League Baseball umpire who worked in the American League from 1989 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues from 2000 to 2019. He wore number 38 throughout his career and was ...

–

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

* Scott Deibert – former

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

player *

Josh Duhamel Joshua David Duhamel (; born November 14, 1972) is an American actor and former fashion model. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera '' All My Children'' and later starred as Danny M ...

– Emmy Award-winning actor and model *

Ray Giacoletti Raymond Bryan Giacoletti (born April 14, 1962) is a retired men's basketball coach, having served as head coach at Drake University, and The University of Utah. He played collegiate basketball at Minot State University in North Dakota from 1980 to ...

– former

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

(1997–2000),

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanf ...

(2000–04),

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

(2004–07) and

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

(2013-16) basketball head coach *

Rocky Hager Ralph Earl "Rocky" Hager III (born August 29, 1951) is American football coach and former player. Rocky is currently retired from coaching as of the 2021 football season. His final stop on his storied career was an assistant coach at The College o ...

– former

(1997–2003) and Northeastern University (2004–09) football head coach * Brynhild Haugland – longest-serving state legislator in history of United States * Joan Heckaman – current member of

North Dakota Senate The North Dakota Senate is the upper house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, smaller than the North Dakota House of Representatives. Per the state constitution, North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts appo ...

, 23rd District (2007–Present) * Randy Hedberg – former NFL

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, later MSU football head coach (1982–89) * Mikey Hoeven – former First Lady of North Dakota, wife of Senator

John Hoeven John Henry Hoeven III ( ; born March 13, 1957) is an American banker and politician serving as the senior U.S. senator from North Dakota, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Hoeven served as the 31st governor of Nort ...

* David C. Jones,

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

– former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1978–82) *

Douglas Kary Douglas Kary (born December 29, 1951) is a Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Repub ...

– current member of Montana House of Representatives, 48th District (2010–Present) * Stanley W. Lyson – member of

, 1st District (1999–2014) *

Mary Manross Mary Manross is an American politician who served as mayor of Scottsdale, Arizona. First elected in June 2000, she served two terms and lost her campaign for a third term as mayor in the November 2008 runoff mayoral election to her opponent, fo ...

– former mayor of

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

(2000–08) * Mary Sherman Morgan – rocket fuel scientist credited with invention of liquid fuel Hydyne in 1957, which powered Jupiter-C rocket that boosted first U.S. satellite * David O'Connell – member of

, 6th District (1989–2014) * Sean Ortiz –

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

defensive lineman,

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

(2008–12) * Charles Payne –

Fox Business Channel Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue ...

contributor (''Cavuto on Business'', ''Cashin' In'', ''Bulls and Bears'') * Wade Regier – former Minot State Beavers men's ice hockey coach (2010–2021), ACHA D-I National Championship (2013) * A. R. Shaw – former educator and mayor of

Mandan, North Dakota Mandan is a city on the eastern border of Morton County and the eighth-largest city in North Dakota. Founded in 1879 on the west side of the upper Missouri River, it was designated in 1881 as the county seat of Morton County. The population w ...

(1968–72) * John Warner – member of

, 4th District (2004–2014) * Lisa Wolf – member of

North Dakota House of Representatives The North Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and is larger than the North Dakota Senate. North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts apportioned by population as d ...

, 3rd District (2007–2010)

References

External links

*
Minot State Athletics website
{{authority control Public universities and colleges in North Dakota Tourist attractions in Minot, North Dakota Educational institutions established in 1913 Buildings and structures in Minot, North Dakota Education in Ward County, North Dakota 1913 establishments in North Dakota