This week’s Hotline! includes the following articles:

• VCSU President’s Column: VCSU to host N.D. science/math teachers
• Track fundraising now underway
• Skype now available for campus tours
• Use 5-digit dialing when calling within NDUS, state government
• Fisheries and wildlife group attends Wildlife Society conference
• Tyre moderates Women in Ag panel at Winter Show
• Viking sports update
• What’s happening at VCSU and around Valley City…

The VCSU Hotline! online newsletter is published every Monday during the academic year. Deadline to submit articles (photos encouraged) is 3 p.m. the Friday before publication.

VCSU President’s Column: VCSU to host N.D. science/math teachers

Margaret Dahlberg, Ph.D., interim president

Spring break is here, and most of our students are gone for the week—either traveling, working, or with family. We hope everyone is safe and returns to campus refreshed and ready to finish the semester next Monday.

Meanwhile, campus is certainly not closed! Enrollment Services has campus tours scheduled each day for prospective students, and some of us are finishing projects or catching up on paper grading. Every office is busy continuing our work with students to make sure they are supported effectively as they move toward graduation.

Spring break is a great time for conferences, and this year, on Friday and Saturday this week (March 16–17), Valley City State University will host more than 250 K-16 teachers, presenters, and exhibitors attending the collaborative STEAM conference of the North Dakota Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the North Dakota Science Teachers Association. The event will require the use of 25 classrooms on the VCSU campus, making use of every building on campus except Foss Hall and the Bubble.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math—an approach to learning that integrates these fields in support of each other. Sometimes this is referred to as STEAM, and the “A” integrates the arts into this approach. In life, at work, we often synthesize knowledge of math, writing, and other fields as we make decisions or complete a project. STEAM offers the same type of combination, helping students improve their math or writing skills while they solve a physics problem, for example, or create an experimental design.

The conference theme this year, “Building Bridges to the Future,” underlines the importance of this approach to student learning: engaging our students in science and math during their formative years is essential to building a successful future world for all of us.

This type of teaching is not easy, as it requires careful planning and research to arrange lessons to develop integration. But it is well worth the time when students become engaged in their learning and develop positive attitudes about science and math. The STEAM conference is an exciting opportunity for math and science teachers to explore these new teaching approaches, meet their colleagues across the state, and learn from each other.

Some of the topics keynote speakers and presenters will focus on include “How to Create a Playful Pedagogy,” “The Future of STEM,” “The Uncanny Physics of Superhero Comic Books,” and “Paper Airplanes in the Classroom” (presented by John Collins, the “paper airplane guy” who holds the current Guinness World Record for paper airplane distance). Kirsten Baesler, state superintendent of public instruction, will provide the opening remarks.

Please help us welcome these dedicated teachers to our campus. By engaging students in STEM education, they are helping “Build Bridges to the Future.” This conference is organized by Dr. Jamie Wirth, associate professor of mathematics education and director of the Great Plains STEM Education Center (GPSEC) at VCSU, and Dr. Gary Ketterling, assistant professor of science and GPSEC education coordinator, along with the support of many VCSU faculty and staff. This year’s conference is supported by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, the North Dakota STEM Network, and Discovery Education.

Track fundraising now underway

The VCSU Foundation has announced a fundraising campaign to secure resources for a major renovation of the track and field facilities at Lokken Stadium on the university campus.

According to Larry Robinson, executive director of the VCSU Foundation, “We are experiencing both surface and sub-surface issues with the track. Although short term repairs have been made in recent years, we intend to do a complete makeover during the summer of 2018.”

The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education has authorized the foundation to conduct the campaign to cover the costs of the renovation, estimated to exceed $1 million.

Robinson reports that a private party has committed $800,000 to the project, with fundraising efforts to cover the remaining balance already underway.

Read more at www.vcsu.edu/news/news.htm?id=10603 or stop by the Foundation Office to learn more about this giving opportunity.

Skype now available for campus tours

Enrollment Services has started using Skype as an option for giving campus tours. Instead of the traditional walking tour given to campus visitors, prospective students now have access to check out the VCSU campus from miles away. 
 
Pictured are VCSU students Emma Maguire, a Viking Ambassador, and Isaac Yturralde, a Viking football player from El Paso, Texas, giving a Skype tour via cell phone to a prospective student and football player, also from El Paso.

The enrollment staff is excited to provide this opportunity to those who would otherwise need to travel a great distance for a tour. They’ve given a handful of Skype tours thus far and look forward to doing more.

Use 5-digit dialing when calling within NDUS, state government

To save money and avoid long-distance calls, use five-digit dialing when calling individuals and offices at North Dakota University System institutions, the system office and state government.

If you know the last four digits of the person or office you are calling within our system, you can call them with just five digits.

Find the first digit of the institution being called using the chart pictured here, followed by the four digits of the person or office you are calling. This works similar to our internal calling system using the number “3” plus the four-digit extension.
 
The advantage for VCSU is that using the five-digit system is a local call, while using the long-distance format of 9+701+XXX+XXX incurs a long-distance call charge.

Joey Nix from Technology Services is updating each campus phone by attaching the five-digit dialing sticker alongside the “Dial 9911” sticker. If you don’t have these stickers, just email Joey, and he’ll make arrangements to get the stickers placed.

Fisheries and wildlife group attends Wildlife Society conference

Eleven fisheries and wildlife science students, along with professors Bob Anderson and Lauren Dennhardt, attended the North Dakota Chapter of The Wildlife Society (NDCTWS) Conference in Mandan, N.D., February 7–9. Students participated in all aspects of the conference and also participated in the Student/Professional Luncheon.

VCSU student Dalton Scheuring was awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate Wildlife Student Award and Scholarship at the awards banquet.

The NDCTWS provides a forum for discussion of ecological issues among natural resource professionals; enables its membership to pursue conservation of natural resources; and informs the public on ecologically wise uses of natural resources in support of a conservation ethic. The NDCTWS is specifically concerned with approaches to effective management of North Dakota's plant and animal communities.

Tyre moderates Women in Ag panel at Winter Show

Brenda Tyre, assistant professor in the Business Department, served as moderator for the Women in Ag panel discussion at the North Dakota Winter Show on March 7. The panel consisted of Val Wagner, Common Ground, Marie Hvidsten, Rural Leadership North Dakota–NDSU Extension Service; Marcy Svenningsen, former member of North Dakota Farm Service Agency State Committee and formerly with the Farmers Union; and Alecia Nord, Farm Bureau and member of the executive board of American Ag Women, North Dakota Chapter.

Tyre described the event as “a great discussion with a group of very knowledgeable and talented women” covering “opportunities for women and the role women can serve in advocating for agriculture.” The panel encouraged women to look at leadership roles in their communities and organizations. Audience members were reminded that they do not need to be experts to be involved; people are willing to train them. The panel also discussed the busyness of people’s lives and how to balance work, community, and family obligations.

Viking sports update

Women’s Basketball
Thursday: University of St. Francis 56, VCSU 47
The VCSU women’s basketball team had its season end Thursday with a loss in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament. The Vikings finished the season with a school record 25 wins, posting a 25-5 overall record this season.

Baseball
Wednesday: VCSU 15, Concordia (Neb.) 4
Thursday: Olivet Nazarene 3, VCSU 1
Thursday: Concordia–St. Paul 8, VCSU 6
Friday: Mount Marty College 13, VCSU 3
Saturday: Northwestern College 6, VCSU 5
The Viking baseball team has posted a 1-4 record so far during its spring trip to Tucson, Ariz. VCSU is now 4-9 overall. The Vikings play five more games in Tucson this week.

Softball
Sunday: VCSU 8, Robert Morris 0
Sunday: Park University 19, VCSU 2
The Valley City State softball team split a pair of games on its first day in Tucson, Ariz. The Vikings (10-4 overall record) will play 12 more games in Tucson this week.

Upcoming events (all games in Tucson, Ariz.)
March 12: Baseball vs. Northwestern College
March 12: Softball vs. Indiana Tech/Dordt College
March 13: Softball vs. Dordt College/College of Saint Mary
March 13: Baseball vs. Dordt College (doubleheader)
March 14: Baseball vs. Doane University
March 15: Softball vs. Indiana Tech/Robert Morris
March 15: Baseball vs. Doane University
March 16: Softball vs. College of Saint Mary/Embry Riddle
March 17: Softball vs. Gustavus Adolphus/Ottawa University (Ariz.)
March 18: Softball vs. Bellevue University (doubleheader)

What’s happening at VCSU and around Valley City…

Monday, March 12
Spring Break Week
8 a.m. Viking softball vs. Indiana Institute of Technology, Tucson, Ariz.
10 a.m. Viking softball vs. Dordt College, Tucson, Ariz.
11 a.m. Viking baseball vs. Northwestern College, Tucson, Ariz.

Tuesday, March 13
12:05 p.m. Rotary, VFW
3:30 p.m. Viking softball vs Dordt College, Tucson, Ariz.
5:30 p.m. Viking softball vs College of Saint Mary, Tucson, Ariz.
6 p.m. Viking baseball vs. Dordt College, Tucson, Ariz. (doubleheader)

Wednesday, March 14
noon Kiwanis, Valley City Town & Country Club
8:30 p.m. Viking baseball vs. Doane University, Tucson, Ariz.

Thursday, March 15
7 a.m. Optimists, Vicky’s Viking Room
11 a.m. Viking softball vs. Indiana Institute of Technology, Tucson, Ariz.
Toastmasters, Student Center Norway Room
12 noon Viking baseball vs. Doane University, Tucson, Ariz.
1 p.m. Viking softball vs. Robert Morris University, Tucson, Ariz.

Friday, March 16
VCSU hosting STEAM Conference (March 16–17)
11 a.m. Viking softball vs. College of Saint Mary, Tucson, Ariz.
1 p.m. Viking softball vs. Embry-Riddle, Tucson Ariz.

Saturday, March 17
St. Patrick’s Day
11 a.m. Viking softball vs. Gustavus Adolphus, Tucson, Ariz.
1 p.m. Viking softball vs. Ottawa University, Tucson, Ariz.

Sunday, March 18
11 a.m. Viking softball vs. Bellelvue University, Tucson, Ariz. (doubleheader)

Monday, March 19

Tuesday, March 20
First day of spring
12:05 p.m. Rotary, VFW

Wednesday, March 21
noon Kiwanis, Valley City Town & Country Club

Thursday, March 22
7 a.m. Optimists, Vicky’s Viking Room
noon Toastmasters, Student Center Norway Room
8:30–10:30 p.m. Vikings for Christ, Student Center Skoal Room

Friday, March 23
1 p.m. Viking softball vs Presentation College, Aberdeen, S.D. (doubleheader)
2 p.m. Viking baseball vs Presentation College, Aberdeen, S.D. (doubleheader)

Saturday, March 24
1 p.m. Viking softball vs Waldorf University, Aberdeen, S.D. (doubleheader)
2 p.m. Viking baseball vs Waldorf University, Aberdeen, S.D. (doubleheader)
Viking track & field @ Yellow Jacket Spring Open, Black Hills State, Spearfish, S.D.

Sunday, March 25
Palm Sunday