Concordia College has announced a gift to the school that it said will transform how business students receive their education.

The donation was revealed during a Thursday gathering of administrators, faculty and students at the liberal arts college in Moorhead.

Concordia President Colin Irvine announced the “transformative” milestone, a $20 million gift to the Offutt School of Business from an anonymous donor.

“This truly historic contribution will greatly enhance our capacity to attract, teach, to inspire and to equip the next generation of business leaders,” Irvine said.

Terry Brandt, vice president for advancement, said the gift — the largest gift ever given to the business school and one of the largest ever given to the college — is more than a financial contribution.

“It is a profound investment in the future of education at Concordia College. It will open doors, it will create opportunities and significantly enhance the experience and impact we offer our students,” Brandt said.

Irvine said the donation builds on other major steps made in the last year , including the opening of the Sanford Heimarck School of Health Professions.

Following that, a $10 million anonymous gift helped the school launch 22 new or reimagined academic programs, five new or expanded co-curricular programs, and infrastructure investments, including a new outdoor track, new turf and lights for the football field, he said.

Those investments have helped prompt a boost in enrollment, Irvine said, with more than 600 new students registered this fall, marking the school’s largest class since 2018.

Susan Larson, Concordia provost and dean, said the $20 million gift will lay the groundwork for expanding graduate program offerings, including a master of business administration degree and graduate certificates in management and business analytics.

At the undergraduate level, Concordia will expand programs that integrate real-world experiences with rigorous academic learning, she said.

“We have had exciting conversations in the past year on areas around econometrics, business and sustainability, and sports and arts management,” Larson said.

The gift will also bring upgrades in classroom technology, she said, and will prioritize scholarships for lower-income students.

Concordia broke ground in June 2011 on the Offutt School of Business, named after former chairman of the Concordia Board of Regents Ron Offutt, who contributed the lead gift toward the $50 million fundraising campaign.

The business school opened its doors in January 2013.

Chris Mason, dean of the Offutt School of Business, said since then, the school has graduated more than 2,000 students.

“This generous donation ensures that our future students will continue this legacy armed with an education that not only meets the demands of today but anticipates the challenges of tomorrow,” Mason said.

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A school bus driver was arrested Wednesday morning for allegedly driving while impaired in northeastern Minnesota.

According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, 17 South Range students were on board the impaired driver’s bus when he was pulled over near Saginaw.

In a news release, the sheriff’s office said a “concerned citizen” called just after midnight Wednesday to report an off-duty St. Louis County School District bus driver was consuming alcohol. The citizen was concerned “he was highly intoxicated and would not be sober by morning when he would likely begin his route.”

Deputies contacted the driver at his home at 6 a.m. Wednesday and the driver assured them he would not work later. The sheriff’s office also informed the school district.

An hour later, the school district told deputies that the driver was, in fact, on his route. Deputies pulled him over “without incident” on Independence Road just north of Seville Road in Saginaw, according to the news release.

The driver was arrested on pending charges of second-degree DWI and operating a school bus with evidence of alcohol present in the person’s body, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office said all 17 children on board were students at South Ridge School near Alborn and were “uninjured and doing well.” Their parents were notified, and school district staff arrived to “take custody” of the bus and children.

While the sheriff’s office said official blood test results “will not be available for quite some time,” a preliminary breath test recorded the driver had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 — twice the legal limit to drive a typical motor vehicle. However, Minnesota law forbids school bus drivers from having any amount of alcohol in their system while operating a school bus.

On Wednesday, the driver remained in the St. Louis County Jail.

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Justin Jefferson has long been motivated by the idea of wearing a gold jacket at the end of his career. He knows he can’t reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame without being on the field, however, and that’s why he never once considered holding out as he navigated his contract negotiations with the Vikings.

After not being able to come to an agreement with the Vikings last offseason, Jefferson made it a point to let his play on the field do the talking. He even pushed himself to return to action last season after suffering a hamstring injury when other players in his position might’ve considered shutting it down.

It ended up working out for Jefferson, as he signed an historic four-year, $140 million extension with the Vikings this offseason. His average annual value of $35 million is higher than any receiver in the NFL. The fact that he got there without any drama attached to his contract negotiations speaks to his leadership.

“It was for my teammates to really show that I’m not all about the money,” Jefferson said. “That’s not something that I grew up on and not something that I wanted my teammates to have over my name. Just being around and having a smile on my face and coming to work every single day even when I didn’t have that contract. I knew that contract was going to come whenever it comes, and I wasn’t going to let that stop me from coming out here and being great.”

The way that Jefferson went about his business has become the exception to the rule across the NFL. A few of his peers have went public with their contract negotiations over the past couple of months, for example, holding out as leverage with hopes of signing a lucrative extension.

You saw it happen with CeeDee Lamb and the Dallas Cowboys, then Brandon Aiyuk and the San Francisco 49ers before both players got paid. You’re seeing it happen with Ja’Marr Chase and the Cincinnati Bengals as he looks to get paid, as well.

Asked what it’s been like to watch Chase go through the process, Jefferson emphasized how much he feels for his former college teammate.

“It’s tough,” Jefferson said. “I understand it. I hope everything goes well on his end. I hope he’s back there on that field and able to compete like he always does.”

The professionalism displayed by Jefferson last season by not holding out was much appreciated by his teammates in the locker room.

“I would’ve been behind him no matter how he handled that,” safety Cam Bynum said. “I’ll never knock somebody for holding out, because it’s a business. He’s a real one, though, for not holding out in his situation. Just being a team guy through all of it says a lot about him.”

As for head coach Kevin O’Connell, he talked at length about Jefferson and his leadership, emphasizing how that’s reflected in the way he carried himself throughout his contract negotiations.

“Just how he handled that, I think his teammates were watching everything with him,” O’Connell said. “They always are, and he knows that.”

Maybe the best part for Jefferson now that everything is signed, seal, and delivered is he can enter this season without anything hanging over his head. Not that he was going to let anything stop him from playing the game his loves.

“It was all about talking to the right people and making sure I’m doing the right things,” Jefferson said. “Not letting that hinder me from being on that field.”

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