School of Medicine & Health Sciences ramps up outreach across the state via 'North Dakota 85'

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – In an effort to recruit more North Dakota applicants to its many healthcare programs, the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) is hitting the road this academic year.

Visits to all corners of North Dakota are scheduled by SMHS staff, who will pitch parents, college undergrads,  high schoolers, and even middle school students on the wide array of healthcare training programs available at North Dakota’s only comprehensive school of medicine and health sciences.

Included among the dozens of stops SMHS staff are making across North Dakota in 2025-26 are the following:

• Oct. 14: University of Jamestown Career Fair, Jamestown
• Oct. 14: Sanford Aspire Future in Focus, Bismarck
• Oct. 16 - Oct. 17: UND Fall Open House, Grand Forks
• Oct. 20: High School visit, Park River
• Oct. 22: Northern Valley Career Expo, Grand Forks
• Oct. 24: Scrubs Camp, Harvey
• Oct. 28: Legacy High School, Bismarck
• Oct. 29: Century High School, Bismarck
• Oct. 29: Scrubs Camp, McVille
• Nov. 4: Dickinson State University, Dickinson
• Nov. 5: Nueta, Hidatsa, Sahnish College, New Town
• Dec. 2: Health, Tech, & Trades Expo, Fargo
• Dec. 8: Scrubs Camp, Park River
• Dec. 9: Scrubs Camp, Park River
• Feb. 21: Health Care Saturday, Grand Forks
• Feb. 25: Scrubs Camp, Cavalier
• March 20: UND Admitted Student Day, Grand Forks
• March 22-25: ND HOSA State Leadership Conference, Grand Forks
• March 25: Scrubs Camp, Beulah
• March 26: Scrubs Camp, Northwood
• March 26: Scrubs Camp, Turtle Lake
• March 27: Scrubs Camp, Devils Lake
• April 1: Scrubs Camp, Williston
• April 1: Scrubs Camp, Grafton
• April 8: Scrubs Camp, Grafton
• April 10: Admitted Student Day, Grand Forks
• April 11: Health Care Saturday, Grand Forks
• April 14: Nueta, Hidatsa, Sahnish College College & Career Fair, New Town
• April 17: UND Junior Preview Day, Grand Forks
• April 20-24: High school visits in Hettinger, Bowman, and elsewhere

“Our school’s mission is to serve North Dakota for the benefit of its people and to enhance the quality of their lives,” said UND’s Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Dr. Marjorie Jenkins. “We intend to do just that by reaching out to schools and programs across the state and working even harder to recruit students to UND and help prepare them for healthcare careers.”

Even though 79% of family physicians and half of all physicians practicing in North Dakota are UND alumni, added Jenkins, she wakes up every day thinking about how UND can better serve the parts of North Dakota whose healthcare needs remain unmet.

"Part of our answer to this challenge is to continue to grow our own providers and to find ways to incentivize our graduates to practice closer to home,” Jenkins said of the effort she is calling "North Dakota 85." "We believe recruiting and graduating more North Dakotans increases the likelihood that these providers will practice in North Dakota in the future."

And she’s looking forward to helping make that goal a reality.

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Brian James Schill
Director, Office of Alumni & Community Relations
UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences
701.777.6048 direct | 701.777.4305 office
brian.schill@UND.edu  |  www.UND.edu