St. Cloud State University’s interim president has optimism for the more than 150-year institution that’s had a rocky couple of years. 

As students were wrapping up their second week of classes, Interim President Larry Dietz sat down with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS to talk about his first couple months on the job. 

“It’s going great,” Dietz said with a smile and chuckle. 

Dietz has more than five decades of experience in higher education — he joins SCSU from retirement. 

“My answer to the chancellor when he said, ‘What’s your motivation to come here?’ and I said, ‘I’ve got some experience, and I simply just want to help,'” Dietz said. 

That help is needed due to recent and current challenges facing the university. 

• SCSU said it had an $18 million operating loss last year
• It’s had shrinking enrollment for nearly a decade — losing nearly 5,400 students in that time
• Cuts have been made to both programs and faculty — losing 42 degrees and 50 minors programs and cutting around 54 full-time positions

“Universities are special places, but there is a financial side too that that’s you have to be aware of and be responsible for,” Dietz said. “My heart goes out to those individuals.”

“Those are real people, with real families, [but the] institution had to do something, and so that plan has been put into place, and it will end up, in my estimation, making this a strong institution, but one that lives with within its means,” Dietz said. 

He did say morale is getting better when asked about the climate of the campus. Dietz recently addressed staff and faculty to share his focus for the future. 

To build what he calls a “foundation for the future,” Dietz said he’ll be focusing on his ‘Four R’s: Retention, Recruitment, Revenue and Relationships.’

“I would say the retention is huge, and that’s not just with students, but that’s with faculty and staff as well,” Dietz told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. 

“We want to have as strong of a support system as we know how to have to support those students. That’s what we’re here for. We’re here to help change their lives.”

While they won’t have the official fall enrollment number until about a month into the school year, they expect around 10,000 students — far from its peak in the fall of 2010, with more than 18,319 students.

Still, they’re feeling good about this year as there are around 100 more students living on campus compared to last year.