Dickinson State University President Scott Molander, left, and North Dakota State University President Marshall Stewart talk with DSU nursing coordinator Melissa Wagner on June 18, 2026, in Fargo after announcing a nursing education partnership between the two schools. (Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
FARGO (North Dakota Monitor) — A new partnership looks to help nurses advance their education and careers while staying in western North Dakota.
The partnership between North Dakota State University and Dickinson State University announced Thursday in Fargo will allow DSU students who have earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing to enroll in NDSU’s family nurse practitioner graduate program.
The students in the NDSU program typically meet for in-person class time one day per week while spending the other days doing clinical work in healthcare facilities, said Mykell Barnacle, interim associate dean of the NDSU School of Nursing.
The partnership means the Dickinson State graduates will be able to do their in-person course work on the DSU campus and complete their clinicals near where they live.
The program requires 1,000 clinical hours. Allowing students to complete those hours in their home community benefits the students, the care provider and those receiving care.
“We’ve always been very proud of our tradition at NDSU of our nurse practitioners being very highly prepared. We’ve also had a really strong emphasis on a rural curriculum at NDSU, and so that works well with our expansion to DSU graduates,” Barnacle said.
Barnacle said one DSU graduate already has been accepted for the fall semester but typically there would be four to six students. The in-person class time allows the students to build relationships with one another.
“It’s a rigorous program, so it’s nice to have support — people who are going through the same things you’re going through that you can connect with,” Melissa Wagner, nursing program coordinator for Dickinson State.
Barnacle said NDSU runs a similar program in Bismarck. The instructor in Bismarck will be used to launch the program in Dickinson.
“Graduates of the program will be prepared to address primary care needs in the communities of North Dakota that often face provider shortages,” Barnacle said.
Dickinson State President Scott Molander said it’s important that nurses who want an advanced degree can do so while serving their home community.
“That’s really, really important,” Molander said. “This will allow western North Dakota to retain talent.”
Wagner is heading up a program that was in turmoil in 2024 when all of its faculty resigned. Nursing administrators from Mayville State University helped shore up the program, but Wagner said that relationship is ending.
“They stepped up when we really needed it,” Wagner said of Mayville State. “They saved the program.”
Comments