New faces at Northern lead NSU Academy, Innovation Center, empowerment

Elisa Sand, Aberdeen News
·3 min read
Three new faces at Northern State University are, from left, Eric Kline, Northern Academy director; Josh Latterell, director of the Northern Innovation and Startup Center; and Joshua Citrak, director of innovator empowerment.
Three new faces at Northern State University are, from left, Eric Kline, Northern Academy director; Josh Latterell, director of the Northern Innovation and Startup Center; and Joshua Citrak, director of innovator empowerment.

Three new faces at Northern are leading some changes on campus.

Eric Kline has been hired as the director for The Northern Academy; Josh Latterell has been hired as director of Northern's Innovation and Startup Center; and Joshua Citrak has been hired as director of innovation empowerment.

Northern Academy is for dual credit students

Kline is a past K-12 administrator, most recently superintendent of Aberdeen Christian School before he resigned to start a leadership business in Sioux Falls.

The Northern Academy is a program that aims to provide more college experiences to high school students taking dual credit college courses.

Kline said the goal of the Academy is to take students who are taking dual credit courses on campus and provide coaching, mentoring and other resources.

While it's easy to take online courses, Kline said he's excited to build a community face to face. Students in the academy will be referred by local high schools. A limit of 50 will be accepted. If they qualify to take dual credit courses, they can qualify for the academy, which also comes with scholarship opportunities to help cover books, and on-campus meals.

The funding is available through the South Dakota Education Access Foundation. While similar academies are available across the country, this is a first for South Dakota's universities.

"This is a way to bring that transition experience to the students," said Erin Fouberg, associate vice president for academic affairs.

Doug Ohmer, dean of Northern's School of Business also sees the advantage in the academy because they are coming on campus and have more opportunities to interact with others.

Innovation and Startup Center aims to build digital economies

Northern and the Aberdeen Development Corp. announced their partnership with the Center on Rural Innovation in spring. The group is a nonprofit that partners with rural leaders across the country to build digital economies in rural America.

More:Innovation and startup center planned for Northern State campus. But what will it do?

Through the partnership, Northern is creating an innovation and startup center. This will eventually be housed within the new building that will replace Lincoln and Briscoe halls, but is currently set up in the Beulah Williams Library.

Latterell said one of the goals of the Innovation and Startup Center is to engage in rural areas.

His goal now, he said, is to create programming and bring in outside speakers.

The Innovation and Startup Center is also a place for anyone in the region to explore tech-based business ideas. Latterell said once a business gets to a certain size, they can move into space set up by the Aberdeen Development Corp.

Fouberg said Latterell is uniquely positioned to lead the Innovation and Startup Center because he's also an entrepreneur.

"What we've learned is innovation centers are most successful when entrepreneurs are running them," she said.

Ohmer said the Innovation and Startup Center is a place where people can try out those business ideas and see if they can make them work.

Citrak will be developing micro credential opportunities

As director of innovation empowerment, Citrak said he's tasked with setting up micro credentialling opportunities. Previously employed in IT, Citrak said micro credentials are not as well known in the Midwest.

As a programmer, he said, he'd take micro credentials courses to earn badges and stay relevant in his field of work.

At Northern, Citrak said, the vision is to develop Northern students into lifelong learners.

"With micro credentials we can be more flexible," he said.

Partnerships can also be developed with local employers who are looking to provide education on specific skills.

Citrak said he will develop some courses and there are stipends available for others to develop courses.

Citrak said the advantage with micro credentials is they can be developed quickly, allowing the university to respond more quickly to the needs of the community.

Citrak, who joined Northern in September, said his position and the micro credentialling program is funded through a three-year grant. These courses will be offered initially to Northern students.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Northern State University has three new venutres on campus