Jill Holmstrom, Heather Phillips are Moorhead’s Board of Trustees Award Nominees
Congratulations to Minnesota State Moorhead’s Dr. Jill Holmstrom and Heather Phillips on their nominations for the Board of Trustees (BOT) Awards for Excellence. The awards acknowledge and provide systemwide recognition for consistently superior commitment to student learning and to encourage the ongoing pursuit of excellence at the colleges and universities of Minnesota State.
The 2025 Board of Trustees Awards ceremony will be a luncheon held on April 16, in St. Paul.
Dr. Jill Holmstrom, Nursing and Healthcare Leadership
Dr. Jill Holmstrom was selected as an Outstanding Educator at the 2025 Board of Trustees Awards for Excellence. Dr. Holmstrom has helped build a strong and respected nursing education program through her work to transform course content, establish new programs and offerings, launch a virtual simulation lab, and support students.
- Dr. Holmstrom played a key role in developing the BSN program, working tirelessly to create external partnerships with healthcare organizations in the region and beyond.
- Given her extensive background in nursing education, she was selected to serve as director/coordinator of the RN-BSN program; she has created new partnerships with technical and community colleges [DAP partnership] so students from community colleges, particularly non-traditional and diverse students, can transition seamlessly to the RN-BSN program.
- As co-chair of SNHL, she is providing resources, education, and leadership to move the nursing program toward a new model and framework for nursing education using a competency-based approach.
- Dr. Jill Holmstrom and Dr. Jitendra Singh collaborated to create a new double major (RN-BSN-HSAD) for nursing and healthcare administration. The new program equips students interested in the senior support industry with two majors, three certificates, and a nursing home administration license.
Congratulations, Jill!
Heather Phillips, Director of Housing and Residence Life
Heather Phillips was selected as an Outstanding Service Faculty at the 2025 BOT Awards for Excellence. To improve the student experience, Phillips directed the transformation of residence halls through renovations that resulted in a modern, welcoming environment and helped introduce new learning opportunities, such as living-learning communities.
- During Heather’s 15+ years at Moorhead, she’s spearheaded updates and improvements to enhance the living experiences of our students. Among the upgrades are removing built-in furniture in Grantham Hall, updating Dahl Hall in a two-year construction project, improving public space in West Snarr, transitioning Nelson Hall from double occupancy rooms to single rooms, and upgrading Holmquist Hall.
- In addition to managing a multimillion-dollar operation, Heather has excelled in crisis management, including flooding, housing the National Guard, the H1N1 outbreak, COVID-19, and dealing with various mental health crises in the halls to meet student and community needs.
- Heather wrote and enacted our first-year live-on requirement, coached residence education staff to meet the evolving programming needs of students, and absorbed learning communities within her department.
- She’s dedicated to improving the student experience living on campus while being mindful of our residence hall room and board rates. Student laundry is now “free” and incorporated into room rates; she’s worked with IT to bring internet services through campus rather than a third-party provider; she advanced equity and inclusion by adding braille door signs, an accessible ramp in East Snarr, and other code updates. West Snarr was one of the first buildings to have a common sink area and multiple shower and toilet rooms within the bathrooms, eliminating the need for gendered floors and bathrooms.
Congratulations, Heather!