Online Nursing Students Experience the UND Campus

One of most enjoyable parts of our jobs as recruiters for The Graduate School is providing campus tours to prospective and new students. On Wednesday, Mike Hinschberger, our Graduate Recruitment Associate, and I gave a tour to our new Advanced Public Health Nursing students who take their courses online.  As a part of their orientation into the Nursing program, these students came from as far away as Alaska to spend a few days on campus.  This visit is a great way for our online students to meet their professors as well as fellow students they will be working with over the course of the next few years.

We like for our online students to get involved at UND and are excited when they come to visit us!

The weather cooperated as we made our way around campus.  We started at the Northern Plains Behavioral Research Center and made stops at “The Ralph”, the UND Bookstore, The School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The Memorial Union, and Twamley Hall.  In between these stops, we took some time to admire the beauty of our campus.  Our maintenance and grounds crews do an incredible job of beautifying campus and making it enjoyable for everyone.

Advanced Public Health Nursing students tour campus

It was also the first day I had walked around campus since the start of the fall semester and it was nice to see so many students around again.  Many in our group commented that they will have to come back for another visit so they can spend more time taking in the atmosphere.  We hope they do!

I wish all of our students, both online and on campus, a great semester!

David Konerza, Graduate Recruitment Specialist

Research proposals coming thick and fast

Tomorrow is the abstract deadline for the 2010 Graduate School Scholarly Forum. It seems like months since we announced the call, and today they are flowing in. There is no doubt that UND’s graduate students and faculty are working hard in research and scholarship, creating new knowledge and expanding our understanding across all academic disciplines. I’m excited to share some of these projects with our readers in the weeks leading up to the conference. Mark your calendars for March 9 & 10 to make sure you stop by the Memorial Union to witness the scope of activity. Once the schedule is finalized, it will be on our web site and the blog. Stay tuned!

International student body

Figures were released recently from our Office of International Programs showing the statistics of our international academic community on campus – that is our undergraduate, graduate and scholars/faculty – the great news is that UND is showing record numbers. For The Graduate School, international students make up approximately 10% of our student body. I thought it would be interesting to compare the data provided for our on-campus students with our web site metrics and inquiry data. Call it “gazing into the proverbial crystal ball” to see from where our future international students might come.

According to the report from OIP, the top 10 countries which send graduate students to UND include India, Canada, China, Cameroon, Nepal, Iran, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ukraine. When I compare this list against the top 10 countries that visit our web site, it shows a very similar picture – with the exception of Japan and Saudi Arabia over South Korea and Sri Lanka which appear as a very close 13th and 14th on our list.

It is quite a different view, however, when we analyze our inquiry data – that is, countries from where students are inquiring about our graduate programs . China, India and Canada remain as the big three. But others include Pakistan, Indonesia, Chile, Nigeria,Vietnam, Ghana and Hong Kong. It will be interesting to review our international student body in the Spring and next Fall. Will we see new countries at the top of that list, and as a result, a shift in our international makeup?

Congrats UND!

Some of us in The Graduate School had the pleasure of attending a special event last weekend at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The University of North Dakota partnered with the Minnesota Twins to host a pre-game picnic for past, present and future students of UND.

It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet new friends of the university. In my short time at the registration table, I spoke with current students and alumni from colleges around campus including Arts & Sciences, Business & Public Administration, Nursing, and Education. There were also graduates of the Schools of Law and Medicine & Health Sciences, Aerospace and Engineering. About 800 guests enjoyed songs from the Varsity Bards, welcomes from President Kelley and Twins great, Tony Oliva. A great time was had by all, and it was wonderful to see the breadth of the university mingling at a very “Green” picnic.

The UND Varsity Bards entertaining picnic guests at the UND Day at the Dome