Sanford Health recognized as first campus community partner

Sanford Health was recently announced as NDSU’s first campus community partner and recognized at a flag-raising ceremony April 25. With Sanford acting as a pilot for the new program initiated by President Dean Bresciani, it is expected that other community partnerships will be acknowledged in the future.

“We wanted to start with Sanford to get the message across that this is a collaboration, also on the academic and research mission of NDSU,” Bresciani said. “Obviously Sanford has a research wing and is interested in a number of health-related agendas, so they were a strong fit for the message we wanted to get across.”

The new program will recognize a variety of collaborations with the university that benefit the surrounding community. The first project with Sanford, named the Center for Life Sciences Research and Applications, will feature research on breast cancer and other rare diseases in children.

Bresciani recognizes that is it not often that people say ‘thank you’ to major organizations and corporations that collaborate with, in this case the university, on projects to benefit not only involved organizations, but the community.

“Fargo-Moorhead has a number of major organizations in the area that are a part of what makes this a great place to live,” Bresciani said. “It is part of the success and growing size and vibrancy of the community. It occurred to me that a lot of these corporations work closely with NDSU and are a part of our success, as well as the community’s, and we’re a part of their success.”

Vice President for Public Affairs and Chief of Staff of Sanford
Health, Mike Begeman, states that Sanford always strives to be community partners in all of the communities the company serves. It is a great opportunity for Sanford, according to Begeman.

“I think that was a really nice gesture on NDSU’s part to recognize our involvement as an employer and as a business in the community,” Begeman, said. “We know that there are many, many businesses in Fargo that are contributing and supporting community efforts as we are, and we value that.”

President Bresciani speculates there will be other community partners that will be recognized in the future as well. Microsoft has had a growing relationship with the university within the past few months and is one candidate that stands out for the next partnership. Bresciani says the collaboration between NDSU and Microsoft has a lot of exciting potential for NDSU and local community.

“We’ll certainly continue the program,” Bresciani said. “It’s been extremely well-received within the community and on campus, and we just think it’s a nice gesture.”

When asked if Stop-N-Go and Scheels – businesses that have been involved in big projects on campus such as Building the Competitive Edge for Bison Athletics – are candidates for recognition as community partners, Bresciani replied, “Absolutely.” There is a long list of collaborative organizations who will be potential future campus community partners.­­