In the north end of Kirkwood Mall sits a booth selling Bismarck State College clothing, cups and keychains.

The items for sale are secondary to the booth's purpose. What is given away meets those needs. The brochures and course catalogs, along with information available from the kiosk attendant five afternoons a week, was the motivation for setting up shop in the mall.

"We're looking at nontraditional ways for people to know who we are," President Larry Skogen said. "They get engaged, stop and take a look. Maybe the student has not made a decision about the fall semester."

The kiosk represents part of Skogen's philosophy on education. He is starting his first full school year as the head of Bismarck State College, after replacing Donna Thigpen in March. BSC begins classes on Monday.

"One of the things I talk about is engage, connect and deliver," Skogen said. "I have to engage people. How will they know who we are? Connect is to ensure a lifetime connection. Deliver is accountability issues."

These three ideas are a pathway to success. He looks at the decisions the college makes in areas such as recruiting, marketing and course offerings, and how it meets these three ideas.

It's a message well-received by campus administrators.

"I think it makes you focus on what you're about, how to market and recruit," Executive Vice President Dave Clark said. "We all know the challenges in higher education."

He doesn't micromanage and expects people to fulfill their responsibilities and handle issues and decision-making as close to the source as possible, he said.

"I think he has come in with a lot of energy and vision," Clark said.

In the five months since he began, he's been busy. Since he took office, the energy management program moved forward to offer a bachelor's degree in January, the energy program was recognized as a national training center and the new National Energy Center of Excellence was identified as a location for the state's energy corridor project.

"I haven't had a lot of reflective time," Skogen said.

He knows his predecessor set him up well to succeed. Thigpen left Skogen the National Center for Energy to complete, just as she was left with the Jack Science Center to complete when she started at BSC.

"Larry joked he's in a marathon and he's come in the last three miles," said Kelvin Hullet, president of the Bismarck-Mandan Area Chamber of Commerce.

From dinner to committee meetings to press conferences, Hullet has had opportunity to interact with Skogen on many levels.

"Our impression is that he hit the ground running," he said.

He also seems to have a good idea of where BSC was and where it wants to go, he said.

The chamber is talking with him about expanding online education, and they have worked together as the college expands its energy program.

He is impressed with how Skogen fit into the community.

"He is a native of North Dakota, and even though he left and was in the military, it's like he never left," Hullet said. "It feels like he belongs at Bismarck State College and North Dakota. He has a true love for the state and community."

Skogen grew up in Hettinger and has a bachelor's degree from Dickinson State University. He also has degrees from Central Missouri University and Arizona State University. He came here from New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M., where he was academic dean and deputy superintendent. He applied for the BSC presidency to be closer to family in Spearfish, S.D. He has a wife, Alison, and two grown sons.

Hullet said he liked that Skogen stepped up in the community about the aquatics center, offering the site to be at BSC. It is an important quality to take the lead instead of waiting to form partnerships: "Those kinds of things make a difference," he said.

In addition to the business community, Skogen is working with the school district. Bismarck Superintendent Paul Johnson is working with Skogen on the district's plans for a new career and technical education building. The building will be on land leased from BSC, and both schools will use the building. They both use the technical center to offer career and technical education classes, such as welding, construction and automotive.

Johnson sees Skogen with other members of his staff when they meet. They are there to provide information, he said.

"He knows he can't know everything," Johnson said. He listens and asks a lot of questions, Johnson said.

He also has seen Skogen in other places, like the school district's community forum and music events at Kiwanis Park.

"Everywhere you went, there was Larry Skogen," Johnson said.

Learning about BSC and the community has been fun, Skogen said. "It's certainly fulfilled my quotient for adrenaline," he said, but the community invigorates him.

It also helps having the support of the community.

"Town-gown relationships are difficult," he said, about the college and community relationship. "We don't have that problem here. The towns have embraced the college, and the college has embraced the towns."

Many people he talks to have either attended BSC or have a relative who has attended, he said.

He wants to build on BSC's strengths, like the community relationship. Responding to community needs fall into this role as well. The bachelor's degree in energy management is a "sign of the times," he said. People in those areas need more education and the college has a niche in that area that it can fill.

BSC's role is to serve its students, the community and, on a larger scale, students in niche areas.

The community college has a role in the transition of students in and out of the higher education system. What it needs to do is prepare students for whatever their goal is after their stay at BSC.

This is part of accountability, he said. The college judges this on how well students are prepared to pass their certifications or other licensing requirements. This is part of what BSC needs to deliver to the students, he said.

"Our No. 1 strength has got to be the people," he said.

He is a little embarrassed about all the publicity the energy programs receive. While he feels it is deserved, he fears it could overshadow other programs, he said.

"I'm not apologizing for the focus on energy, because it's paid dividends," he said. "Bismarck State is so much more than that."

He is impressed with the variety of strong programs at BSC. The college has strong liberal arts programs, as well as technical education classes. Usually a community college is strong in one area and weak in the other, he said.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)