Sep 25, 2007 - 04:02:57 CDT
Associated Press Writer
By DALE WETZELBy DALE WETZEL
Valley City State University's president is stepping down in June, becoming the fourth of North Dakota's 10 college presidents to recently announce plans to depart.
Ellen Chaffee, 63, has been Valley City State's president for 15 years. From August 1993 until September 2002, she was the chief executive of both VCSU and Mayville State University. During her "state of the university" speech Monday, she said she will leave June 30.
In an interview, Chaffee said she had no future job plans. She was a finalist for the presidency of Keene College in New Hampshire two years ago but decided to withdraw.
"I can't bring myself to use the words 'retire' or 'resign,'" Chaffee said. "I've thought about this in previous years, and I've held off for other reasons. There comes a time when it's just your time. ... If something comes along, I'll be interested to hear about it, but I'm not looking for anything."
VCSU has about 980 students and a two-year budget of $16.3 million. It offers degrees in teacher education, information technology, business and other fields. It is one of six four-year universities in the state system, which also has five two-year colleges.
During Chaffee's tenure, VCSU became known as a "laptop university," becoming one of the first colleges in the nation to issue laptop computers to its students. It offers a master's degree in education online.
The school has worked closely with businesses, playing a role in recruiting Eagle Creek Software, a Minnetonka, Minn.-based company that provides consulting and support for customer service computer software. Eagle Creek maintains an enterprise center in Valley City.
Chaffee established a university foundation, and its assets have grown from $2 million to about $6 million in just over a decade.
"I loved working with the people of the university and the community to help make exciting, innovative things happen," she said. "I have not found another place that is so rich in people with ideas, and commitments, and willingness to work together to do what would otherwise be impossible."
The Board of Higher Education is already recruiting new presidents for three of the university system's 11 institutions. The presidents of the University of North Dakota, Dickinson State University and Lake Region State College in Devils Lake are retiring.
Chaffee worked at North Dakota State University during the 1970s as an assistant professor and associate dean of students. She holds a master's degree in counseling from NDSU, and master's and doctorate degrees from Stanford University in administration and policy analysis.
She served as the North Dakota University System's vice chancellor for academic affairs from 1985 to 1993, before taking the presidencies of Mayville State and VCSU. She stepped down from the Mayville position in 2002, after a consultants' report said the two schools each needed their own president.
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