Dustin Monke

49 apply to be DSU president

Forty-nine people have applied for Dickinson State University’s president position, according to the North Dakota University System, and few have any connection to the university or the state.

There is one internal applicant, one from a different North Dakota university and one Dickinson State University alumnus. About half of the applicants are from the upper Midwest or Rocky Mountain states, and two others have North Dakota connections.

“We have a great pool of interesting and qualifi ed candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds,” DSU presidential search committee chair Kari Reichert said in an email to The Press. “(Washington, D.C.-based) AGB Search consultants are impressed with the strong interest in DSU from across the country. It is an exciting time for the campus and community.”

Notable applicants include:

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Aaron Tippin, a country music great, arrives Thursday night for unplugged session during Alive @ 5

Submitted Photo Aaron Tippin, singer of “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly,” poses with his signature American flag guitar. — Submitted Photo
Aaron Tippin, singer of “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly,” poses with his signature American flag guitar.

Aaron Tippin is different than most country music stars. He spent much of past week relaxing in a northern California campground not far from the Pacific Ocean with his band and tour members. At night, they’d grill food and spend time hanging out by a campfi re.

“That’s exactly what I like,” he said.

The 57-year-old, who is in his 25th year as an entertainer, will be in Dickinson to perform Thursday night in what is being billed as a mostly “unplugged” session at the Alive @ 5 downtown street fair.

One of the biggest country music stars of the 1990s, Tippin has been performing off-and-on with the Roots and Boots Tour alongside Joe Diffi e and Sammy Kershaw, two of his ’90s country contemporaries. He was also recently involved in some large-venue concerts alongside Keith Urban and Hunter Hayes.

However, the chart-topping singer-songwriter said he has always enjoyed performing in front of smalltown crowds. In fact, he even makes his home in a middle Tennessee hamlet of less than 200 people on the far outskirts of Nashville.

“There’s nothing like being able to sit and stare right into their eyes with a guitar and just play a song,” he said Wednesday during a phone interview.
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If you want Trump to win, I can’t help you

Here’s some thoughts I had after watching the Republican presidential candidate debates on Thursday night:

— Jeb Bush is in the race because someone told him to be, though he looks like he’d rather be home watching TV.

— Rand Paul isn’t much of a hugger.

— Marco Rubio could likely be our first Latino president — just maybe not in 2016.

— There are 17 so-called Republicans who want to be president. Seventeen!!! It’s crazy. More than half of them should go home now because they can’t win, a couple of the underdogs should get more attention because they deserve it and there may actually be a president in the bunch. (Maybe.) That said …

— That potential president sure as heck isn’t Donald Trump — and the people who think otherwise are part of the problem we have with choosing leaders in this country.

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Coston stepping down as DSU president

D.C. Coston is stepping down as Dickinson State University’s president on Aug. 15.

In an email sent to DSU staff Monday evening and obtained by The Dickinson Press, Coston said health reasons led him to the decision.

The NDUS board will hold a special meeting at 10 a.m. MDT Tuesday in Bismarck to appoint an interim president to begin serving in the role by Aug. 17. DSU’s fall semester begins Aug. 24.

When Coston announced his plan to retire in February, he said he anticipated stepping down when his full-time replacement was hired. He reiterated that plan in his email.

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