State Director of Higher Education Visits Bethel

Larry Pogemiller, director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (MOHE), and Diane O’Connor, associate director of MOHE, visited Bethel on March 20, meeting with faculty and administrators to tour Bethel’s nursing department and discuss Bethel’s approach to higher education. The visit was sparked by a meeting between O’Connor and Edee Schulze, Bethel’s vice president for student life. The group discussed Bethel’s approach to programming, funding, staffing, and emphasis, and spent particular attention on the efforts of the nursing program, where Beth Peterson, nursing department chair, demonstrated the use of technology in nursing education. Pogemiller expressed specific interest in holistic education, especially for nurses; faith perspectives in the context of nursing care; and Bethel’s perspective on serving the broader community, and even the international community, through professional programs such as nursing, education, and business. He also noted Bethel’s success in providing nursing students with study abroad and local service opportunities through faculty commitment to enriching educational experiences. “Mr. Pogemiller was knowledgeable about our success in study abroad programs,” says Richard Sherry, executive assistant to the president. “I was very pleased to see how engaged he was in understanding Bethel.”