Acting president named for Dickinson State University

A sign marks the entrance to the Dickinson State University campus. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

The executive director of the Dickinson State University Heritage Foundation will be the college’s acting president during the search for an interim president.

The State Board of Higher Education named Ty Orton as acting president after meeting in executive session Wednesday.

A timeline from the State Board of Higher Education says the interim job will be posted Aug. 7 with the application period closing Aug. 21.

The members of the search committee are board members Tim Mihalick and Danita Bye, Jerry Rostad, North Dakota University System vice chancellor of strategy and strategic engagement, and Mark Gorenflo, the University System chief of staff.

Chancellor Mark Hagerott said the timeline can be changed but he would like to have an interim president by early September. The fall semester starts Aug. 26.

“We want to get things stabilized as soon as possible,” Mihalick said.

Hagerott said a search process for the next long-term president would be much larger, including representation on a search committee from Dickinson State students.

Dickinson State President Stephen Easton announced his resignation July 15 , days after the college’s entire nursing faculty resigned. Easton’s last day as president is Friday.

Easton had been a controversial leader in his more than four years as president of the college. He spoke out against tenure for faculty and led a reorganization that eliminated some programs.

“He’s a good man,” Hagerott said of Easton. “He took a hard job. This came as a shock to me.”

During Wednesday’s meeting of the State Board of Higher Education, Easton thanked the board for its support.

“I am a firm believer in Dickinson State,” Easton said.

Hagerott had proposed Easton become a faculty member, but Easton said he felt that would be a distraction.

Board members thanked Easton for his work as president. “It’s not been an easy situation,” board member Casey Ryan said.

Easton’s salary was $240,774 plus housing.

Orton accepted the position of executive director of the Dickinson State Heritage Foundation in December 2015, according to his bio on the Dickinson State website. His background is in fundraising and also as a basketball coach.

He will be paid $5,000 per month in addition to his current Dickinson State salary of $176,999.

Orton earned a bachelor of education degree from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, in 1998 and a master’s degree in exercise physiology from Adams State University in 2003.

Orton began his fundraising career in 2002 at McCook Community College in Nebraska, where he was the head men’s basketball coach.

Dickinson State is getting administrative help from Mayville State University nursing program administrators. Those administrators are trying to hire nursing faculty to be able to continue offering nursing classes.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.