In Good Hands

Amid the challenges confronting higher education nationwide, NDSU President Dave Cook is leading with purpose, integrity, and vision.

Story by Micaela Gerhardt | Photos by Justin Eiler | March 25, 2025

Close collaborators characterize NDSU President Dave Cook as a highly capable leader with a strong sense of humility. Like many born-and-raised Midwesterners (Dave is from Ames, Iowa), he’s not one to sing his own praises.

For example: Asked how his strengths have aligned with campus needs, Dave describes instead how University partners have supported him in areas like fundraising and athletics where he has less expertise.

Dr. Kate Cook, his wife and NDSU first lady, quickly points out that he hasn’t really answered the question.

“I answered the opposite,” he banters, noting the critical role philanthropy plays in higher education funding (the NDSU Foundation raised more than $69 million for campus in 2024) and the continually evolving landscape of college athletics (nationwide NCAA rulings on student-athlete compensation and the transfer portal have made recruitment even more competitive).

“I have the great benefit of drawing on the support of our campus partners and the broader community,” Dave said. “Together, we have the strength to help us get to where we need to go.”

Dave’s leadership philosophy centers on collaboration and campus involvement. His nearly 25 years in faculty and administrative roles at the University of Kansas and Kate’s background in special education — plus their own college-aged children — fuel their passion for showing up to support NDSU students.

The Cooks regularly eat their meals with students in campus dining centers. They have volunteered on Move-In Day and at campus blood drives, attended concerts and theater productions, cheered on the Bison in sporting events from volleyball to wrestling, and hosted Friendsgiving for those staying in residence halls over holiday break.

The launch party for NDSU’s art and literary journal, Northern Eclecta? Both present. Three Minute Thesis Competition? Kate served as a judge. The student-led Power to Sell podcast? Dave guest starred.

“I have a big spot in my heart for the students,” Dave said. “They work so hard and when you show up and cheer them on, they’re grateful. They want you to come back — and we do.”

Since his appointment as NDSU’s president in May 2022, Dave has also prioritized building a coalition of campus leaders who each bring their own expertise and passion to the table.

“How do we make NDSU better five, 10, 20 years from now? I think that’s a big part of what my role and responsibility is,” Dave said. “Part of that is listening to your community and building a team who can articulate a vision — one that brings our campus, community, alumni, benefactors, students, faculty, and staff together — and that takes time.”

Transformation doesn’t happen overnight, but Dave’s efforts are reflected in new shared governance initiatives, strategic priority work teams, the NDSU Leadership Assembly, and the Industry and Workforce Ad Hoc Committee, which is dedicated to fostering industry partnerships and meeting North Dakota’s workforce needs.

“Hard choices have to be made, and leaders are here to make those hard choices.”

Dr. Lisa Montplaisir ’92, ’95
Faculty Senate President

When Dave arrived, NDSU faced a significant budget challenge that required quick and thoughtful action. With a downward trend in enrollment, NDSU had been losing operational revenue from both tuition and state funding.

After eight months assessing options and seeking consultation, Dave announced NDSU Transform, an initiative to build a stronger and more secure foundation for NDSU and the people it serves on campus, across the state, and beyond.

NDSU Transform merged NDSU’s seven academic colleges into five academic colleges in July 2023. It began phasing out 24 academic programs, which included reductions in personnel.

“We have to move forward for the best interest of NDSU,” Dr. Lisa Montplaisir ’92, ’95 said. “That doesn’t discredit the faculty or programs that were cut — I know there are colleagues who are hurting — but it’s a recognition that hard choices have to be made, and leaders are here to make those hard choices.”

Lisa, a professor in biological sciences, earned two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s degree from NDSU. She has served as a full-time faculty member and discipline-based research educator at NDSU for 25 years; the faculty advisor to the State Board of Higher Education for the past three years; and NDSU faculty senate president since spring 2024.

Raised with the motto, “Do something or don’t complain about it,” Lisa pursued a role in faculty senate leadership to be part of the solution. As a senior faculty member, she wanted to gain a better understanding of the administration’s decisions and help advocate for her fellow faculty and staff.

Shortly after her appointment, Lisa participated in a shared governance summit that included the president and other University leadership. A moderator helped them debrief the previous academic year.

The conversations have been ongoing, and Lisa notes positive outcomes in the appointment of communications professor Carrie Anne Platt as vice provost for faculty affairs and more actionable calls for faculty and staff input.

“It’s hard for me to express how impressed I am with President Cook,” Lisa said. “There are certainly people who would think about the challenges in front of us — and there are many, and they’re big, and they take more than just the current administration and current population of NDSU to address — but with any great challenge comes ways in which people rise to the occasion to find solutions.”

Dave is not alone in this effort. Across campus, leaders stand in his corner, working together to advance his presidential priorities:

Enhancing enrollment, retention, and student success
Elevating NDSU’s status as a top-tier R1 research institution
Investing in the well-being of the people who power NDSU’s mission
Embracing NDSU’s critical role as a land-grant university to serve our state

“We can overcome any challenge because we’re committed to working together.”

Seinquis Leinen
Senior Director of Strategic Enrollment Management

With support from administration, NDSU faculty and staff across departments are working to ensure the University is addressing year-to-year enrollment trends, providing an accessible and high-quality education to current and prospective students, and meeting North Dakota’s workforce needs by retaining graduates in-state.

Under Dave’s leadership, Seinquis Leinen became the senior director of strategic enrollment management in fall 2023. She has served in NDSU’s Office of Admission since 2014 and, in her new role, is increasing communication, consultation, and collaboration across campus.

“When I think of what it means to be a leader, it’s someone who is willing to engage lots of people to make informed decisions, but also take care of people,” Seinquis said. “That’s why I have such a deep appreciation for President Cook and why I enjoy working under his leadership.”

The ability for enrollment management and University leadership to work together and adapt to changes quickly was put to the test in spring 2023, when the Minnesota Office of Higher Education launched the North Star Promise. The North Star Promise provides free college tuition for Minnesota residents whose family adjusted gross income is below $80,000 at all public Minnesota state colleges and universities and Tribal colleges.

This competitive tuition award package caused both enrollment and workforce concerns at NDSU, where Minnesota residents make up about half of all students enrolled, 40% of whom choose to live and work in North Dakota after graduation (2023 NDSU Career Outcomes Report).

In response, the NDSU Foundation Executive Governing Board approved the Tuition Award Program for NDSU students. The Tuition Award Program currently has enough funding to provide scholarship packages for eligible North Dakota and Minnesota students through the 2026 to 2027 academic year — and it’s a significant reason NDSU stabilized enrollment in fall 2024 for the first time in several years.

“As a campus led by President Cook, we’ve talked a lot about how to optimize our scholarship strategy,” Seinquis said, describing how unrestricted scholarships support the needs of a changing student demographic. “We cannot do what we do without the support of our alumni and friends who give back. I continue to be blown away and am incredibly grateful for their support.”

NDSU students are demonstrating an increasing need for scholarships. In fall 2024, the University’s largest enrollment growth occurred in Pell-eligible first-year students (19% increase) and Pell-eligible transfer students (54% increase).

Seinquis says NDSU’s recent enrollment stabilization is the result of campuswide efforts to enrich support for students paired with philanthropic investments in scholarship dollars and NDSU’s learning environment — including new facilities like the Peltier Complex, Richard Offerdahl ’65 Engineering Complex, and Challey School of Music addition.

“Bison stick together. They can weather any storm,” Seinquis said. “Our community embodies what it means to be a Bison, and I think we can overcome any challenge because we’re committed to working together.”

With benefactors and the state legislature behind them, Dave and his fellow campus leaders are bravely facing headwinds and paving a way forward for the Herd. Through it all, students remain at the forefront of their work and decision-making.

“People come here with a dream, and so how do we support them through that?”

Becky Bahe
Director of the Career and Advising Center

One of Becky Bahe’s earliest memories of Dave’s student-focused approach occurred just months into his role as president.

In August 2022, the Career and Advising Center’s student employees and staff were tie-dyeing T-shirts as part of their fall training day. They spontaneously invited Dave to join them, and when he texted Kate to see if she wanted to come too, she arrived at a moment’s notice. Becky later learned it was the day Kate had moved into the presidential residence, and she had been in the middle of unloading the car.

“What I love is that they’re regular human beings — Dave was wearing a white button-down shirt and Kate had a baseball cap and her sweats on and they were all in,” Becky said. “And even [later] when they were going through incredibly hard things, they still were present. Their emphasis is this campus and continuing to make NDSU a great place.”

Becky joined NDSU in 2005 and was promoted to director of the Career and Advising Center in 2020. She was named the inaugural President Dean L. Bresciani Endowed Chair in Leadership in 2024 and currently serves as co-chair of the President’s Council on Retention.

When council members, including Becky, recommended adding professional advising services for students, Dave and NDSU provost Dr. David Bertolini approved the initiative, resulting in 15 new advising staff hired between March and July 2024 and a more centralized reporting structure.

The new advising staff support mostly first- and second-year students. This helps alleviate the advising load for NDSU faculty, whose responsibilities include teaching, research, and service to the University. Faculty advisors continue to guide third- and fourth-year students who are in more specialized degree programs.

“It’s a significant change, and it couldn’t have happened without incredible leadership,” Becky said of NDSU’s reinvestment in student retention. “There were moments I thought we were stopped in our tracks, but it was truly the president and provost who said, ‘This is happening.’ We wouldn’t be where we are now without their support.”

Similar professional advising models have emerged across the U.S. as it has become more complex to navigate curriculum requirements, course scheduling, and university policies and procedures. Students now come to college with more college credits, making the path toward graduation less standardized than before.

Despite NDSU’s new approach, Becky says the heart of the University’s efforts in the Career and Advising Center remain the same.

“Our goal should always be about retaining students, because people come here with a dream, and so how do we support them through that?” Becky mused. “Students need support. They need information. They need to know people are there in the good times and the bad — but how we go about meeting those needs and developing those relationships changes over time.”

This metaphor applies University wide. The mission is the same, but the approach is different. Through Dave’s leadership, NDSU is adapting to better support the success of its students and graduates and to better meet the needs of an evolving North Dakota.

“We believe so much in this institution.”

Dr. Kate Cook
NDSU First Lady

In the conference room adjacent to his office in Old Main, Dave answers question after question with consideration and high regard for the entire NDSU community and state of North Dakota.

He lights up when asked to share how Lisa, Seinquis, and Becky have supported his vision and made an impact.

Lisa is passionate, an advocate, and willing to do hard work to find solutions. Seinquis is courageous, receptive, and very competitive. Becky is diligent, caring, and aware of student needs.

Asked about campus leaders, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and benefactors, Dave spills over with good things to say, but modestly redirects most questions about himself.

Kate deflects attention too. She has been undergoing breast cancer treatment since her diagnosis in September 2023, but is quick to note that the journey is not just about her. She says she and Dave have met many people who have been affected in some way by the disease, including at least one NDSU student battling cancer.

“We don’t think we’re special because of what we’re doing,” Dave says. “We just happen to be in the position.”

“We believe so much in this institution,” Kate adds. “Dave talks about, ‘There are hard days,’ but the hard work today will make this University better and stronger in the long run.”

If his first three years at NDSU are an indicator of what’s to come, it’s that Dave is committed to tackling new and existing challenges through shared governance and intentionality.