Minot State, Dakota College ask appropriations panel for tunnel repairs, campus renovations and regional health training center

Minot State University and its affiliated Dakota College at Bottineau told the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division that several capital projects will require additional state funding to proceed and to protect campus utilities.

Steve Shirley, president of Minot State University, told the committee the most urgent need is additional money to finish demolition-related work at Dakota Hall and shore the steam and utility tunnels that run under the building. He said the university received $765,000 in the previous session but now expects the total package to be about $1.4 million after engineering reviews and asbestos abatement. "The structural integrity of the tunnels will not support the overfill," Shirley said, describing the century‑old tunnels and the need to shore them so they continue serving adjacent buildings.

The Minot State presentation also covered three related capital priorities: an $8,132,000 academic facilities renovation to update science, nursing and cyber defense labs; a $3.1 million carryover request to authorize revenue bond sales for student center second‑floor work (student fees, not general funds); and a combined request with Dakota College to acquire a downtown Minot facility for a Regional Health Sciences Institute. The joint request to purchase and outfit the Trinity Health Center West building at Broadway and Burdick was presented as a way to expand short‑term workforce training and shared simulation resources for nursing, allied health and technician programs.

Carmen Symone, campus dean and CEO at Dakota College at Bottineau, told the committee that Dakota College rents program space in the Trinity building and is paying $3,500 a month under a short‑term lease. She said the lease expires in June and that if the building were sold to another owner the college risks losing its current space for nursing and allied health training. "We are now paying $3,500 a month to rent that facility, which is a very good deal," Symone said.

Shirley and Symone emphasized that the downtown facility would house primarily one‑ and two‑year certificates and associate programs that can respond quickly to workforce needs — nursing assistant, pharmacy technician, dialysis technician, and similar occupations — while maintaining four‑year nursing and science instruction on Minot State's main campus. Shirley said the state board of higher education and the board's budget committee ranked the joint Regional Health Sciences Institute concept highly during the system prioritization process.

Minot State also asked the committee to continue support for a challenge grant program the university uses to leverage donor gifts and said recent fundraising produced a $55 million capital campaign. Crystal Lambrecht, Minot State's vice president for administration and finance, reviewed the university's biennial operating request and noted inflationary increases in insurance, software and utilities that are driving a larger budget ask.

Why it matters: Minot State said the tunnel shoring is necessary to protect utilities that serve multiple buildings, and the downtown purchase is pitched as a way to increase health‑care workforce training capacity in north‑central North Dakota. Dakota College leaders said losing the Trinity lease would make it difficult to sustain current nursing cohorts that are already licensed to expand.

The committee asked follow‑up questions about sequencing — whether on‑campus renovations or the downtown conversion should take priority — and about the university's matching commitments. Minot State and Dakota College said they would provide additional written information on letters of support, the joint request's detailed budget, and any donor commitments.