Northern eyes stadium, Donaldson renovation

Nine projects under review to increase enrollment

Montana State University-Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel is looking at nine initiatives — including establishment of a veterans center at Donaldson Hall and construction of a football stadium.

The chancellor revealed the list at a deans-level meeting last week at Montana State University in Bozeman. He stressed in an interview Friday with the Havre Daily News that everything is very tentative.

“We just need to do our due diligence,” Kegel said. “And that is what we are trying to do, figure out if all these things we are talking about make sense.”

Since being appointed chancellor 18 months ago, Kegel, who has been at Northern since 1982, has a clearer vision for Northern and where he wants to take it.

“I’ve talked to more people inside and outside,” Kegel said.“I understand who we are a little better as an institution.”

They include resurrecting old programs, starting new ones, revamping old facilities and building new structures, were just ideas being considered.

These nine initiatives, which are all part of a broader aim to increase recruitment and retention at Northern, are being looked at by a team of nine campus division directors and deans that Kegel refers to as the strategic advancement team.

Each member of the team, chairs a “charge group” and has a group of volunteers operating under them from the campus and the broader community.

The committees are tasked with conducting a small-scale feasibility study of their initiative, looking at the success of the programs on other campuses, the cost and sources of funding and how they can tie in with other departments, programs and life on the campus.

Research will then be done, objectives laid out and the goals put forth by each committee and the progression of those goals monitored by those members as well as the chancellor.

The nine initiatives are:

A veterans success center

For 27 years, through its Upward Bound program, Northern has worked to prepare veterans for college life.

Kegel said he wants to take things a step further by opening a care center that would provide veterans with the resources they need in terms of emotional and psychological support.

Those veterans under such a scenario would be housed in Donaldson Hall, where services be available to them.

He said Northern’s nursing and psychology programs could also play a role.

Northern has a very high job placement rate, Kegel said, especially in its technical programs, which could help veterans find jobs once they graduate.

Donaldson Hall, a four-floor building constructed in 1936, is an iconic building on the campus. It once served as a girls dormitory and throughout the years has been used for a variety of purposes,

In recent years, however it has fallen into disrepair and has been shuttered.

“I need to do something with Donaldson Hall. I want to do more with veterans and that would be to me a niche for us to work at,” Kegel said.

A charge team has been appointed to do everything from talk to architects about floor space and design to inquiring about the type of support they could get for funding and how other programs on the campus can work to make the program successful.

Kegel said he hired an architect to look at the building who said that it has a sound structure and a new roof, but the building's antiquated heating system would need to be replaced.

“He said that there is no reason you couldn’t start an inside renovation of it,” Kegel said.

The stadium

An on-campus stadium where the university’s Northern Lights team can play is a big dream for Kegel, a football fan.

“I go to the campuses and the first and most iconic structure on every one of those campuses is the staduim on the campus,” he said.

Though the Northern Lights play home games, Kegel said the rest of the campus often lacks the whole “game-day feel,” the fervor that comes with having a hometown football game being played on campus.

“I want that event atmosphere,” Kegel said.

The Northern Lights play home games at Havre Public Schools’ Blue Pony Stadium. Kegel said he wants home games to be more than just a home game, but an event that is felt throughout the campus before and after kickoff.

Kegel said he is now working with two architects who have drawn up preliminary plans for a stadium.

If built, he said, the entrance area around the field would be used for large-scale events such as the start of Northern’s annual pheasant hunt. Kegel said he envisions the upper floor being used for Northern’s conditioning and wellness programs.

In the interim, Kegel said, he and others are discussing the possibility of donations of turf that could be used to make the field playable.

“We could bowl it out, do the preliminary planning that would be the dirt, the site work and then when we are doing that, we could literally plant in the scoreboard, and you would have what you need to play a football game.”

Kegel said at some point aluminum bleachers could be added. He said such an arrangement would be “an instant upgrade.”

Equine and

horsemanship program:

When Kegel came to Northern 34 years ago, he was the rodeo coach. Since then, he said, he has kept an eye on the program. He said he is impressed with what Doug Kallenberger, Northern's current rodeo coach, has been able to do.

Kegel said he has been looking at equine and horsemanship programs at universities across the country and that, given the prevalence of horses and the popularity of horsemanship, such a program would be an ideal fit for Northern.

The idea has received encouragement from horse enthusiasts, he added. Kegel said he has heard from a family in Havre who is interested in donating land to build a facility.

He did not disclose the name of the family or where the property is located.

Kegel said the group tasked with looking at the proposal will look at how such a program will connect with other programs on campus such as agriculture business.

Such a program, he said, could be attractive to potential recruits.

“That is what it does,” Kegel said. “It brings kids in to do their horsemanship stuff on the side. They love doing that. They get what they want out of that, but they also get a marketable degree to go with it.”

Native American

Culture Center:

Northern is situated in an area near five Indian reservations and has a native student population of 12 to 15 percent.

But, Kegel said, he is aiming to up that number to 25 percent.

He said the Little Rivers grant, which will provide Northern $2 million over five years for services to help keep students at Northern, will help with retention.

Kegel said the grant has allowed them to hire a director with several personnel beneath her. Already, he said they have been reaching out to K-12 schools and the tribal colleges.

However, Kegel said, when he talks to Natives, a common problem is that they feel they do not belong at Northern.

A Native American or Plains Indian culture center, Kegel said, could show that Northern is their college.

The center would likely be lodged in either the lower floor of Donaldson Hall or an underutilized part of Pershing Hall.

The university’s collection of native artifacts, now part of the Toni and Lou Hagner Museum of the Plains Indians in the college library, could be moved to a center.

It would include art, counseling and tutoring services. It would also serve as a headquarters for both the Northern Sweetgrass Society and the school’s diversity programs.

Resurrecting the fine arts

at Northern

Though many associate Kegel with the school's technical and automotive programs, he said he has long had an appreciation for the arts and literature.

Over the years, Kegel said many of Northern’s fine arts programs have languished. He said he hopes to bring some back, especially as it relates to theater and music.

Kegel said a charge group has been established to look into how to possibly go about doing that.

Great Falls outreach

Another charge group is looking at how to better market Northern to both the Great Falls College and the Great Falls Public School system.

Great Falls serves as a large pool of possible recruits, Kegel said, one that is becoming all the more important as the population along the Hi-Line has dwindled.

“Our presence needs to be known and felt at a different level than it is today, because as a pool, that’s the biggest pool we have,” Kegel said.

Kegel said he has already hired someone based in Great Falls to help strengthen the collaboration between Northern and Great Falls.

This liaison, Kegel said, is in daily contact with Tracy Jette, the director of Student Success at Northern and with him on a monthly basis.

Building relationships

Throughout his time at Northern, Kegel said, he has formed close relationships with those in industry. Such relationships have allowed him to raise money from the private sector for a project he said would not have otherwise been possible.

“I’m one of those guys who will stand up and tell you that education caters to the industry,” Kegel said. “That is what we do. We cater to supplying a competent person, personnel to whatever the needs are in the workforce.

These relationships have led to a high number of job offers for graduates in those technical science fields, he said.

However, such relationships are still needed between industry and Northern’s other programs.

Kegel said he wants a charge group to identify those in public and private industry whom the college can foster those relationships with.

Student life

Another area often overlooked which Kegel is seeking to improve is student life.

Kegel said that a team was doing cleanup Friday on campus.

An upgrade for Morgan Hall, one of Northern’s dormitories, has been approved. Two bathrooms will be redone this summer, and the common areas of both dorms will get new carpeting.

Four-year schedule

Another charge group will look at designing a “properly configured, four-year schedule for students.”

Kegel said Northern frequently has a problem where classes fill up and close and students, usually freshmen, don’t know what to do next.

“In reality if we had this thing planned out, and we were truly looking at the numbers, and we knew how many kids we were carrying and retaining, the available sections would be in place before a crisis,” Kegel said.

A group he said will look at what software is needed to post a four-year sequential schedule on Northern's website.