With brief lesson in art, UND President Andrew Armacost outlines how working together 'really matters'

Sep. 26—GRAND FORKS — UND President Andrew Armacost gave a brief lesson on art history, specifically the technique of pointillism, during his annual "Wake Up to UND" address Tuesday morning.

Pointillism creates art through the process of merging small, distinct dots, patches or colors, which up close don't appear to be much more than vague and indistinct patterns on canvas. However, take a few steps backward and those patterns become clear, showing the full and complete image — the artist's true vision.

Among the best examples, Armacost said, is the late 1800s painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," by Georges Suerat. Up close, it's just a patchwork of textured browns, greens, blues and pastels. From a distance, it's an intricate and clear view of more than two dozen people enjoying a sunny day along a riverbank.

Along with hundreds of Rubik's Cubes left at each of the 380 seats for the event, Armacost used the process of pointillism to lay out a metaphor about working together to create something bigger for the university and the community at large.

"We are individuals. Call us dots — individual dots," he said. "But together, the work we do, the connections we form, actually create something that is much bigger than just the individual dots."

The Rubik's Cubes — each of which were patterned with UND colors and logos — also represent something bigger, he said, since many artists today can create full-scale color images using a number of those classic toys placed together.

"Here we see the image of all of these pictures coming together, how we can manipulate the Rubik's Cube, to get something bigger that really represents what it means to be whole and connected across the community," he said while showing an example of Rubik's Cube art.

And with that short tutorial, Armacost launched the annual "Wake Up to UND" speech, a State of the Union-style discussion that broached a number of topics and was highlighted by videos and on-stage guests over the course of the next hour. The sold-out Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event was held at UND's Memorial Union, where guests helped themselves to a breakfast smorgasbord just before Armacost took the stage.

He led with data about UND's growing enrollment. Last week,

it was announced that UND had surpassed 14,000 students

, an increase of a little more than 2% over the previous year's fall semester. All told, UND enrollment is 14,172, a rise of 296 students from last fall. It's the fourth consecutive year of growth, starting with 13,581 students in 2019.

"Enrollment this fall semester is at a 10-year high," Armacost said. "When you think about the national trends, during the pandemic, we had a reduction across the nation in undergraduate enrollment. So we are bucking the national trend."

He credited the community as a whole, speaking directly to those in attendance.

"We are continuing to grow and it's due to the great support of the community, the environment that it offers. And not just on campus, but the city of Grand Forks, which attracts students to us. Congratulations to each of you for making that happen."

Donors play a role as well, he said, noting that the university's endowment for scholarships stands at $172 million. That's not entirely used for scholarships each year, but instead is the basis upon which interest accumulates; that interest is then used for scholarships.

"It's a significant amount, but we're certainly trying to increase that as well," he said.

Further, funded research has grown from $111 million to $147 million annually in just a few years, he said. Federally, UND attracts more than $60 million each year in grants.

"This is an exciting news story," he said, describing it as "a huge opportunity for us to feed the economy."

UND's overall economic impact to the community and region is $1.47 billion, he said.

"That's by attracting people to campus to work, faculty and staff. There's also a secondary employment that happens as a result," he said. "In all, the university supports about 10,000 either direct employees or what we call indirect employees. That's a significant impact on the city of Grand Forks and also the state."

But, "it's not all about the money," he said. "It's about how the city of Grand Forks makes our campus better."

He then outlined a number of initiatives on campus, including:

* An update on Merrifield Hall's renovation project — the interior is in "desperate need of an upgrade," Armacost said — and the new STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) facility that will replace the Hyslop Center.

* Interviews with a number of faculty and staff. In one, Cheryl Hunter, dean of the College of Education and Human Development, outlined examples of experiential learning, including a UND garden that provides hundreds of pounds of fresh produce to a campus food pantry.

* Interviews with UND students who recently worked as interns in the community.

* A video that noted a high rate of volunteerism among UND students. Armacost said UND athletes have led the nation in volunteer hours the past two years.

The address ended with Armacost returning to his opening metaphor about art, collaboration and working together.

"That metaphor should stick with you. How we paint the picture, how we piece the dots together, how we coordinate and work together, really matters," he said. "We can create a beautiful painting together as long as we connect and really pay attention to the work that we're all doing, as one community and as a great University of North Dakota."

As he spoke, video boards showed the coming together of hundreds of photos, which were then miniaturized and reformed into a photo collage that took the distinct shape of the UND logo.

The Pride of the North — UND's marching band — then appeared from behind the stage and played two quick numbers, with Armacost joining on cowbell.

As the crowd dissipated, he said his goal was to give UND highlights, while hopefully helping attendees understand that Tuesday's talking points are only "the tip of the iceberg" of university happenings.

"It was incredible to see the community come together today like this. When you have the Chamber hosting an event like this, we're proud to be part of it. It was thrilling to be able to share the message of UND with everybody at once," he said.