Minnesota State University Moorhead looks ahead to new Foundation Alumni Center

MOOHEAD, Minn. • Dragon alumni will soon have a place of their own.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited Minnesota State University Moorhead Foundation Alumni Center was held in April in the Center for Business atrium.

The center, located across Eleventh Street from Bridges Hall and the campus gates, is the culmination of years of dreaming and planning.

“We are grateful for the many generous donors who funded the project so that current and future Dragons will have a place to gather when they come home,” President Anne Blackhurst said in a statement.

When completed, the 18,500-square-foot facility will serve multiple purposes. In addition to serving as the anchor for alumni returning to campus, it will provide space for students and community members to interact.

A lobby and event space for up to 300 people will allow for programs, presentations and reunions gathering on campus. These warm, inviting spaces also will be used for hosting other mid-size events by the university and community. The center’s high-profile location will welcome people to socialize and engage with MSUM.

The building also will be home to the MSUM Foundation – offices for staff who focus on development, engagement and caring for the gifts that are given to support the university. continued from Page 33 lions of dollars to infrastructure construction, primarily for roads and bridges, and those monies were really needed particularly during the oil boom in the mid 2000s when a lot of the roads in the West were in very, very bad shape. So there certainly are things that are positive in the industry despite the challenges.

At its essence, the university and its supporters want the Alumni Center to be a place that supports relationships and inspires possibilities.

Philanthropy will take center stage. Here current students will witness the generosity of alumni and donors and see firsthand the transformative power of their giving. When donors meet their scholarship recipients, they see the difference that gift makes. And students are inspired to give back when they become successful alumni.

“The most important purpose of the Alumni Center will be the connections it fosters between MSUM’s alumni and current students. That’s where the magic happens,” Blackhurst said.

This new facility will further connect MSUM to the community by inviting neighbors to meet students, faculty and staff in meaningful and transformative ways.

The project is paid for through private fundraising by the MSUM Foundation. Together, the Foundation staff and its Board led MSUM’s recent Vision 2020 campaign, which raised more than $59 million – including funding for the Alumni Center.

MSUM has more than 100,000 alumni, former faculty and staff, parents and friends, and a $42.5 million endowment. Construction on the Alumni Center is expected to be complete in summer 2023.

Q: What are you most excited about for the industry? What helps you get up in the mornings?

Personally, just everything. When you look at the construction that has been built, maintained or repaired in North Dakota, and being a very small part of that process, whether it’s representing them at the legislature or at the regulatory agency, (it’s very gratifying).

By and large our roads are good. We’re going to have historic flood protection in a few years in Fargo-Moorhead and in Minot. When you look at the vertical buildings on the campuses that are helping to educate, those are all built by the industry I represent. It makes it very easy for me to get up and go to work when I see what construction can do for the economy – not only today but well into the future.