Star Tribune
University of Minnesota announces pick for next Duluth chancellor
The University of Minnesota announced Wednesday that it has picked its next Duluth chancellor: Charles Nies, a higher education administrator based in California, who has Minnesota ties.
The announcement came weeks after Nies and two other finalists appeared at public forums on the U’s Duluth campus, which enrolls about 9,400 students and employs about 1,700 people.
“I am honored to be able to serve in the role of chancellor at the University of Minnesota Duluth — having grown up in Minnesota, this will be a coming home opportunity,” Nies said in a statement.
Interim U President Jeff Ettinger recommended Nies for the job, calling him an “experienced, strategic leader who is ready to tackle UMD’s challenges and celebrate its success.”
If the Board of Regents approves Nies’ selection in May, as is expected, Nies will take over when the campus is trying to navigate a tough time in higher education. Undergraduate enrollment in Duluth has dropped by about 300 students per year since 2018, partially because of the pandemic and because of demographic changes that are leaving many schools in the country with a smaller pool of potential recruits.
Nies currently works as the vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of California, Merced, which enrolls more than 9,000 students. He has been working at the school since 2006 and held multiple leadership roles there. Before that, he worked at Miami University in Ohio and Washington State University.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and has multiple other degrees, including a doctorate in education administration and leadership from Washington State University.
“I am also excited to join the Duluth and University of Minnesota communities,” Nies said. “UMD is filled with wonderfully creative and brilliant students, faculty and staff, and I look forward to the discovery that has been and will continue to be our mark of excellence.”
Nies is expected to begin work in July. He will take over for interim Chancellor David McMillan, whose own selection was controversial, in part because McMillan had served on the U’s Board of Regents. McMillan applied for the job after an earlier search failed to produce a successor for Chancellor Lendley Black, who retired.
The U said this search drew 54 applicants. It hasn’t yet released information about the costs of the search or the terms of Nies’ contract.
Star Tribune Staff Writer Jana Hollingsworth contributed to this report.
Mohamed Omar is the new board chair of Hennepin Healthcare System, the organization that runs HCMC, making him Minnesota’s first Somali American hospital board leader.
The health care system board permanently appointed Omar to the position Wednesday at their regular meeting. He had served as interim chair since Babette Apland stepped down in September.
Omar has been on the volunteer board for three years, working on the finance, investment, audit and compliance committees. He is the chief administrative officer at the Washburn Center for Children and previously was chief financial officer at the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
In a statement, Omar said he was excited to lead a hospital board in the state with the largest Somali American population in the U.S. He said he shared the health system’s dedication to providing “equitable, high-quality care.”
“My commitment is to deepen our community engagement, build more authentic connections between patients and team members, and build a confident future together,” Omar’s statement said.
CEO Jennifer DeCubellis and Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, praised Omar’s selection to lead the board. They said more inclusive leadership with a commitment to ending health disparities are key to HCMC’s success.
Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando, who is also on health system board, said she was excited to work with Omar. She said county leaders are dedicated to good stewardship of the “state’s last public safety-net hospital.”
“As the first Hennepin County Board Chair of color, I know how impactful it is for our communities to see themselves represented in public leadership,” Fernando said.
DULUTH – The Superior National Forest has lifted its forestwide campfire ban, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Friday.
Recent rain and humidity have improved conditions across the national forest’s 3 million acres, forest officials said in a news release.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also lifted fire restrictions in Cook, Koochiching, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Fire danger is still a concern this time of year, said Karen Harrison, DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
“As leaves fall and vegetation continues to dry out, it’s important for people to be cautious with anything that can cause a spark,” she said.
The national forest imposed its broad campfire ban nearly two weeks ago, after a third wildfire, named for Bogus Lake, was discovered on forest land. No significant fire activity has been reported in recent days for any of those three fires. A fourth fire inside the forest, the 8.5-acre Pfeiffer Lake Fire, started Oct. 17. It was contained within 24 hours, the Forest Service said.
Much of northeast Minnesota is still classified in the “severe drought” stage by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied ‘’Yes, I do.’’ She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don’t want ‘’a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’’
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History’s two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ”the duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini’s urging, in October 1922, thousands of ”Blackshirts,” or ”squadristi,” made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ”Brownshirts.” Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.
