NDSU recognized Scheels as a Campus Community Partner during flag raising ceremonies Sept. 12.
“We realize that although we are a top 100 research university, we are also part of something much bigger, which is our Fargo-Moorhead community,” said NDSU President Dean L. Bresciani. “What makes that particularly exciting is the firms and organizations that partner with NDSU to make the Fargo-Moorhead area one of the most vibrant, successful, prospering communities in the nation.
“One of the exemplars of that is the Scheels organization, now literally one of the most successful sporting goods retail firms in the nation. Scheels is an exemplar of giving back to the community of which they are a part,” Bresciani continued. “Our success and their success are intimately tied.”
In 2012, Bresciani established the Campus Community Partner program to recognize private sector collaborations with the university that benefit the community.
Scheels, a strong supporter of NDSU, is an employee-owned, privately held business with stores in 11 states. The business has more than 5,000 associates.
“We are just proud to be a Bison partner,” said Steve D. Scheel, Scheels CEO, noting his father led the fund drive for NDSU’s Askanase Hall, the company participated in the downtown Barry Hall project and the firm has signed on as a partner for the Scheels Center for Bison basketball. “Our philosophy is: When we do well in the community, we do well in business and we can do good in the community.”
The Scheels corporate flag will fly with the NDSU flag for the next several months at the NDSU Flag Plaza located in the southwest corner of campus at 12th Avenue North and 18th Street.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.