Alexandra Sickler named Archie Unterseher Endowed Professor
Alexandra Sickler
The University of North Dakota School of Law is proud to announce the Archie Unterseher Endowed Professorship title to Alexandra Sickler, J.D., a tenured professor of law. Established through an endowment created by the Oxbow Foundation of Minneapolis, this is now the largest endowed professorship at the UND School of Law.
This position honors a professor who has displayed excellence in teaching and/or research in the areas of business, commercial and/or transactional law. Sickler will hold the position for a three-year term, which may be extended for additional terms.
Michael McGinniss, dean of the School of Law, considers this decision a highlight of his deanship before its completion on June 30. “Professor Sickler is an experienced and highly innovative teacher who has an excellent reputation among our students for her dedication to their learning and the practical value of the knowledge and skills they develop in her courses,” he said.
Sickler has served UND for the past decade, teaching courses in contracts, bankruptcy, and commercial law. Dean McGinniss praises the respect she has earned on a regional and national scale. Internally, Sickler has received the UND School of Law’s 2018 Teacher of the Year Award, been a two-time speaker at the School’s graduation banquet and was selected as the May 2022 commencement speaker. The funds that accompany her new title will allow Sickler more resources to support her educational goals and provide opportunities to elevate UND’s law school in research, publications, and presentations.
“I’m honored to have been selected for recognition in this way and hope to leverage this support to bolster student knowledge in ways that will ultimately contribute to critical economic and industry sectors in the region,” Sickler commented. “The Untersehers are part of our extended UND School of Law family, and I am beyond grateful that the Oxbow Foundation has chosen to support student learning through an endowed professorship.”
The Oxbow Foundation receives it funding from Oxbow Industries, LLC, a holding company that invests in leading private companies to support management in their continued growth of the business. The Foundation named the School of Law position in honor of Archie Unterseher (1934-2017), a 1959 graduate of the College of Business & Public Administration’s accounting program. Unterseher attended UND on a GI Bill grant and joined Nash Finch Company for a 44-year career. He and his wife, Rosa, raised four children and ten grandchildren, four of whom obtained degrees from UND.
The Foundation released a statement about Oxbow’s decision to honor Unterseher in this way: “Archie was a first-generation UND college graduate from Hazen, North Dakota. He was very proud of his western North Dakota upbringing and his UND experience. As a strong believer in advanced education, he enjoyed a successful career built off his accounting degree from UND.”
The Oxbow Foundation also recently established an endowment for the Nistler College of Business & Public Administration. The Archie Unterseher Accounting Faculty Fellowship will be awarded every three years to a faculty member selected by the dean of the College once the payout from the endowment can support a stipend. To establish both endowments, the Oxbow Foundation took advantage of the North Dakota Challenge Grant match which provided $1 in state funding for every $2 pledged.
“The Oxbow Foundation’s generosity is matched by their ingenuity to use the Challenge Grant to support faculty at UND. This is the perfect way for a donor to make an even bigger impact with their gift, as Oxbow Foundation has done. We can’t thank them enough for their generosity in honor of Archie. We are also grateful to the state legislature for their continued support of the North Dakota Challenge Grant program. This public/private partnership has been incredibly important to UND.”
To establish an endowment in honor of a loved one or to take advantage of the North Dakota Challenge Grant, contact the UND Alumni Association & Foundation at 701.777.2611 or reach out to a development officer (UNDalumni.org/staff-directory). For more information about UND’s School of Law, visit law.UND.edu.