Panel picks three finalists for N.D. Board of Higher Education opening

BISMARCK (AP) — A screening committee on Monday recommended a Microsoft executive, a tribal community college administrator and a Bismarck school board member as finalists for an opening on North Dakota’s Board of Higher Education.

The five-member panel unanimously agreed to support Don Morton, a Microsoft Corp. executive in Fargo; Carmelita Lamb, the chairwoman of the teacher education department at Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt; and Scott Halvorson, a Bismarck School Board member who is a former teacher and administrator.

Morton is a former football coach at North Dakota State University. Lamb, a native of Texas, is a member of the Lipan Band of Apache tribe. She earned her master’s degree in animal science from NDSU.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple will choose from among the group to succeed incumbent Mike Haugen, who is leaving the board July 1 after serving one four-year term.

Haugen was eligible to apply for a second term, but declined. A Fargo resident, Haugen is a former commander of the North Dakota National Guard.

The three finalists were picked Monday from a group of six applicants. Wayne Sanstead, North Dakota’s superintendent of public instruction, is the screening committee’s chairman.

“I’m impressed with the fact that we cover education thoroughly in all three individuals, that we cover public involvement and commitment,” Sanstead said in an interview. “It was evident ... that these folks have given a lot to community and to the state.”

Other committee members are Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle; Dakota Draper, president of the North Dakota Education Association; state Sen. Ralph Kilzer, R-Bismarck, the North Dakota Senate’s president pro tempore; and state House Speaker David “Skip” Drovdal, R-Arnegard.

The Board of Higher Education has eight voting members. The governor appoints seven to four-year terms, and each is eligible for one reappointment. The eighth voting member represents students and is appointed by the governor for one year.

The board oversees North Dakota’s system of public colleges, which includes six four-year universities and five two-year colleges.

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