How Dickinson State Rebuilt Its Nursing Program Ahead of Schedule

While program cuts almost always make headlines, the quiet work of rebuilding programs rarely gets the attention it deserves. The hard work of sequencing curriculum, recruiting faculty, securing clinical placements, and aligning with workforce demand happens unnoticed by the outside world. At Dickinson State University in North Dakota, they’re rebuilding programs at a speed almost unheard of in higher education—two years ahead of schedule.

Dr. Holly Gruhlke, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost at Dickinson State, sat down with AcOps to talk through how the university relaunched roughly 21 programs, including a Bachelor of Science in Nursing now entering its first cohort this fall, with a full roster and a waitlist on the way. Her approach offers a clear-eyed look at what it actually takes to move fast in academic operations and meet student and employer needs.

Sequence Programs Around Workforce Signals, Not Internal Timelines

The nursing relaunch at Dickinson State did not happen in the order most people assumed. The BSN launched before the LPN, not after — a sequence shaped by what the community was signaling, not what was easiest to stand up first. As new programs often come with expectations for enrollment, Dr. Gruhlke explained: "when you think of sequencing out with the enrollment pressures, you look at what's the greatest need."

For Dickinson State, the clearest signal came from advisory boards. Every academic program at the university is required to maintain one, and those boards include industry partners and faculty from peer institutions. "The advisory boards, you're hearing it from the horse's mouth," Dr. Gruhlke said. "You're hearing what's going on, what they're needing for skills, or where the skills gaps are." Secondary sources like North Dakota Job Service postings and Lightcast market research supplement those conversations, but she notes that nothing replaces direct dialogue with the people who will eventually hire the graduates.

The workforce-first sequencing has already paid off at Dickinson State. The BSN first cohort starts this fall and is already full. "I think by the time next month rolls around, we're going to have a waitlist," Dr. Gruhlke said.

Treat Clinical Placement as a Relationship Exercise, Not a Logistics Problem

For nursing programs at rural institutions, clinical placement is often the sticking point, and DSU is no exception. The competition for placement sites in southwest North Dakota includes ADN programs and online nursing programs that draw from the same communities. But Dr. Gruhlke frames it as a matter of building the right relationships. "Clinical placements in a rural setting are a challenge," she said, "but we have such strong relationships with our community partners and our industry partners."

Her approach to building those partnerships is direct: every clinic, long-term care facility, and hospital in the region needs a seat at the advisory board table. The pitch to healthcare partners is straightforward: "I understand you need workforce but I can't give you workforce unless I can train them in your facilities." That framing makes the partnership transactional in the best sense: DSU gets clinical access, and facilities get a pipeline of nurses who already know their environment.

Students sometimes travel up to an hour to reach clinical sites in Bismarck or the surrounding region, but Dr. Gruhlke reframes that too. The exposure to different care settings makes them better nurses. Her broader advice to institutions in similar situations: “First go to the clinical placement sites that you're looking at, and establish a stronger relationship.” And to healthcare facilities themselves: “Don't do exclusive partnerships with institutions. Let everybody have a seat at your table, let everybody have opportunity.”

Use Accreditation Feedback as an Opportunity, Not a Verdict

In the midst of launching new programs, institutions still have to keep up with the behind-the-scenes work of meeting accreditation standards. While many do not see accreditation monitoring as a positive, Dr. Gruhlke sees it as an opportunity. Dickinson State received feedback from their accreditor, HLC, on two critical areas: faculty development engagement and the integration of assessment data into budgeting. Rather than taking this feedback personally, the leadership team chose to treat both as operational inputs rather than institutional judgments. "We know we can't really make any improvements without data and information," she said, "and so when a team comes in and says, ‘Here are the areas you need to look at, and here are the reasons why,’ you can either sulk about it and say, ‘No, they're wrong,’ or go, ‘Well yeah, there's something to that.’"

The results were tangible. Implemented changes led to faculty development engagement that reached roughly 90%. This investment also became a retention tool. Faculty who participate in professional development are more likely to stay, which matters in a field where the salary gap between academia and clinical nursing is significant. On the assessment side, Dr. Gruhlke built an integrated plan that ties outcome deficits directly to budget decisions: "I'm looking at the deficits as, where do I need to apply resources so that our students are successful?"

From this reframing came new ideas such as the dean of the School of Applied Sciences proposing a low-cost cadaver lab. Dr. Gruhlke approved it. "I haven't seen so many students engaged in research in my entire career at Dickinson State," she said, "and that's because people are buying in on these things." The framing she applies across the board: "It is feedback that was helpful and we're using it as a building block, not a setback."

Surface Ideas Through Conversation, Not Just Process

Scaling small wins requires more than a good idea. It requires a structure that gets ideas in front of the right people before they get buried. Dr. Gruhlke runs a monthly VPAA Council that brings together deans and student success coaches as a space for cross-unit learning. "I think when you have those conversations, people hear, well, that group did this, I have an idea," she said. "And they start to ask questions such as, ‘How do I make these ideas a reality?’"

The council is backed by an equipment funding pool under the VPAA budget where teams can submit ideas aligned to the strategic plan and request resources to act on them. The cadaver lab came through this process. So did other investments that might not have made it through a more formal budget cycle. The key, Dr. Gruhlke says, is getting people in the same room. "A lot of the time with problems, people don't get in the room and talk to each other enough. We email too much, a lot is lost in digital communication. When we get in the room and we're just chatting casually, a lot of really good ideas and gems come out."

Fostering Success in Spite of Challenges

Dickinson State's experience is a useful case study not because the conditions were easy, but because they weren't. Rural clinical access, budget constraints, retrenchment history, and accreditation scrutiny can be viewed by some as challenges. What moves programs forward is a philosophy that Dr. Gruhlke keeps returning to: "Focusing on workforce and student outcomes is the only way we're going to drive enrollment." For academic operations professionals building or rebuilding programs under similar pressures, remaining focused on the mission and embracing a growth mindset are key to moving forward.