By: Jeff Beach (ND Monitor)
The leader of Dakota College at Bottineau will serve as interim president at Lake Region State College.
The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education on Thursday approved Carmen Simone, the campus dean and CEO at Bottineau, to take over July 1. Simone will step in for Doug Darling, who is retiring June 30 after 12 years as president at Lake Region in Devils Lake.
The two-year schools are about 100 miles apart in north-central North Dakota.
“Dr. Simone has an extensive history of increasing administrative and leadership responsibilities in higher education, and specifically among two-year institutions,” board chair Tim Mihalick said in a news release.
Simone earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota. Simone has served as dean and CEO at Dakota College at Bottineau since August 2022.
She was a finalist in the Dickinson State University presidential search earlier this year.
Shane Molander, who was named president of Dickinson State University in March, will start earlier than planned.
The State Board of Higher Education on Thursday approved a Friday start date for Molander rather than July 1, the start of the fiscal year.
Ty Orton, executive director of the Dickinson State University Heritage Foundation, has been the acting president.
Molander replaces Stephen Easton, who resigned last summer as the school’s nursing faculty resigned.
The state board, which oversees North Dakota’s 11 public colleges and universities, on Thursday also elected new leadership.
Board member Kevin Black was elected as chair, and D.J. Campbell of Mandan as vice chair.
Their terms will start in July.
