A new director has been hired to oversee the TRiO at DCB program that started in the fall of 2015. The program is the result of a five-year federal Department of Education grant. The new director, Nathan Bigerstaff, is a Southern Illinois native, attending Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville where he received both his bachelor of arts in English and master of arts in communication. He started his TRiO career at Kaskaskia College as a learning specialist where he developed the tutorial and peer mentoring programs. He then moved to California to work at the University of the Pacific as a program coordinator. There he led academic workshops, supervised the tutorial services, introduced a community service aspect to the program, and co-authored a successful Upward Bound grant.

TRiO at DCB program seeks to provide academic and general support services to low-income, first-generation or disabled college students. The goal is to increase student success throughout the DCB campus, to increase student grade point average and graduation rates, and enhance faculty, staff and student relationships. The program also facilitates career awareness and readiness, helping students transfer from two-year to four-year colleges or into their field of work. Today this funding has allowed Dakota College at Bottineau to provide support services to over one-hundred students.