2007-12-10 10:29:18 . . . I believe I am the first Ethiopian to attend UND. I would like to know if there was any student before 1983. Please let me know.

2007-12-10 10:29:18 . . . In 1977,I was beginning my sophomore year at UND and out of curiosity, I took my first flight at UND Aviation. That day I shook hands with John Odegard, George Hammond, Dana Seiwert and Lee Barnum. Today, I am a Captain of a 757 and 767, having served as a Naval Aviator as well. Thank you to Tom Clifford, John and Diane Odegard, Dana Seiwert, George and Alma Hammond and all the people who have poured their heart into education UND! GO SIOUX!

2008-02-19 10:48:02 . . . I am convinced that I am the first Lost Boy of Sudan who set foot on UND Campus or to attended UND in fall of 2005. Two years later, another Lost Boy attended the UND Graduate School. In addition, I was the second Sudanese to attended UND, the first to take sociology and Peace Studies at UND.

2008-02-19 10:48:02 . . . KEN BAKER AND THE FLOOD OF 1997 [A condensed version of this article appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of the Alumni Review, the magazine of the University of North Dakota Alumni Association and Foundation.] By David Vorland As Grand Forks and East Grand Forks commemorated the tenth anniversary of the Red River Valley Flood, I was reminded of the scene on campus during the morning of Friday, April 18, 1997. It looked like Yellowstone Park. Geysers of steam were erupting as the swollen English Coulee entered the utility tunnels. Then executive assistant to President Kendall Baker, I was on my way to an emergency meeting. During the night, water had begun to penetrate the Red River dikes. The scale of the coming disaster was not yet evident, but the battle seemed lost. The president told the assembled deans that UND was about to do something it had not done since 1918. The semester would end early and the students would be sent home. A policy was hammered out allowing credit to most students with passing work. Soon thousands of cars were streaming out of town. Some officials criticized Baker’s decision, which had eliminated the largest pool of sandbaggers. But, with the collapse of the city’s water and sewer systems, evacuation was ordered the next day for nearly all residents. Then on Saturday afternoon, a fire downtown became so massive that weather satellites could see it during the night. The irony of a fire within a flood turned the situation into an international news story. UND has also recovered. Repair costs totaled $60.9 million, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency covering $39.4 million. The balance came from a $10 million state appropriation, insurance, and internal reallocation. Seventy-nine buildings had been flooded, but much of the campus remained dry. It became a haven for emergency, service and government agencies. City, state and federal crisis managers operated out of the Plant Services complex for weeks. The City Council met for the first time at the Fritz Auditorium. The local newspaper set up temporary shop in the Union. Some 2,000 displaced residents and recovery workers spent the summer in the dormitories. Despite this, the University was only a modest focus of the recent community observance. To Baker, president of Ohio Northern University since 1999, this apparent amnesia was to be expected. The event centered on those who had lost the most. In both cities, some residents and businesses suffered damage similar to that inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. Anticipating that UND’s story might be forgotten, Baker had asked staff members Jan Orvik and Richard Larson to document the campus experience. Their 166-page book, The Return of Lake Agassiz, was published in 1998, and is still available through the bookstore. Perhaps most vivid in the volume are the memories of those who, with President Ken and First Lady Toby Baker, stayed on campus around the clock during the first days of the disaster. At first numbering no more than 20 volunteers, they struggled to protect critical generators, equipment and facilities. Soon other faculty and staff joined them, often commuting long distances. The days after the flood were critical to UND’s future, especially with respect to human capital. Would students return, and would the faculty and staff be there to resume teaching and research? Strong leadership would be necessary for that to happen. The University reopened on May 8. Amazingly, just four days later instruction began with the first offerings of the 1997 Summer Session. Skepticism had greeted President’s Baker’s absolute insistence that summer classes go on as scheduled. But UND people made the seemingly impossible happen, working feverishly from a temporary “Twamley Hall” in the Rural Technology Center. By mid-August, more than 2,800 students had taken at least one class. That number was greeted as a remarkable success, adding credibility to the effort to stabilize fall enrollment. Come September, enrollment was 10,395, down from 11,300 in 1996, but better than typical after a disaster. President Baker also came to believe the post-flood University should both diversify its sources of revenue and contribute more to the community’s economic recovery. He convinced the city to extend utilities to the Bronson Property, the mostly vacant area north of the main campus. Commercialization was now an option, and Barnes and Noble became UND’s first business tenant. When the late Ralph Engelstad announced he was building a world-class hockey arena there, the Bronson Property’s success was assured. Since then, an explosion of development has occurred, including academic, athletic and wellness facilities, new businesses, and residential housing. The Bakers were on campus in July to participate in an oral history project as part of UND’s 125th anniversary. Friends can contact them at k-baker@onu.edu. -end-