CLEVELAND, Ohio – WDAY Radio Guest Host and Cass County Commissioner Tim Flakoll was honored with the Midwestern Higher Education Compact’s Phillip Sirotkin Award.
Twelve states including North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota are part of MHEC which brings together leaders to strengthen postsecondary education, advance student success and promote regional economies. Its contracts, research and programs, initiatives are available to all public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education in the Midwest.
MHEC said Phillip Sirotkin the early visionary behind the regional higher education compact in the Midwest.
“Tim has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to higher education and students across the Midwest,” MHEC President Susan Heegaard said. “He played a key role in North Dakota becoming the second state to join the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement, which increases student access. He also has been a tireless advocate for open educational resources and has drawn on his experience as a North Dakota legislator to offer valuable insight for higher education policy. Receiving MHEC’s highest award is a testament to Tim’s outstanding contributions and leadership.”
While being the first North Dakotan to accept the award at MHEC’s annual meeting last weekend, Flakoll reflected on his childhood in Forbes where he said he was indifferent to school.
“I wish my mother and father were here to see me receive this award,” Flakoll explained. “When I was a college freshman, I told my mother I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, and she simply said to me, ‘Tim, do the best you can.’ I have tried to live by those words.”
Flakoll served in the North Dakota State Senate from 1998 to 2016 and was on the Senate Education committee for 18 years including as vice-chairman and chair from 2012 to 2016. Flakoll also served as provost for Tri-College University of Fargo-Moorhead and was named provost emeritus by North Dakota State University in 2024. He served as MHEC chair from 2017 to 2018, vice chair from 2016 to 2017 and past chair from 2018 to 2019.
