Interim President's Report to the Board of Regents
March 7, 2024
Thank you Chair Mayeron and members of the Board.
It’s been a busy month for the University of Minnesota, and certainly no less for all of you.
So I’d like to start by congratulating you on your choice of Dr. Rebecca Cunningham to serve as the 18th President of the University of Minnesota.
There’s no question that she’s immensely qualified to steer the U of M forward.
And I’ll add my voice to the chorus of compliments regarding the Board’s selection process.
• The Presidential Search went as planned and on schedule.
• And it yielded three finalists who all agreed to be public—the first time this has happened in anyone’s memory—enabling the full University community to be able to judge the merits of each candidate right along with all of you.
As a Star Tribune editorial last Wednesday pointed out: “the search process was a testament to transparency that resulted in three exemplary finalists…”
Also, each of the finalists spoke about how smooth their trips around the state were and how well they were treated.
I commend the Board of Regents staff for your planning, execution, and hospitality. And I also offer heartfelt thanks to our colleagues at Morris, Crookston, Duluth, and Rochester for making those visits so successful and memorable.
Rest assured, I will do everything I can over the coming months to ensure that Dr. Cunningham has the smoothest of transitions to the U of M.
Together, we can keep this great university on a positive trajectory in terms of our mission and in terms of a public perception that deservedly matches our success.
I’d now like to provide you with an update on the priorities I was given by the Board for my year as Interim President. A consistent theme in these mutual priorities was the idea of seeking to accomplish a “public reset” in terms of how the University is perceived by others:
Public Outreach
I’d like to share a brief update on our marketing efforts for this year, which have been led by Chief Marketing Officer Ann Aronson and her team.
We launched the “Dear Minnesota” campaign in the fall to reverse the trend of declining perceptions about the University’s research mission and to improve our favorability among Minnesotans.
We’ve now conducted early market research to measure the campaign's effectiveness among the general public and opinion leaders.
After just this short period, results show significant, double-digit improvements:
• Favorable feelings about the University of Minnesota are up 11%
• Those who believe that University of Minnesota research is important climbed 12%
• Those who believe that the University is doing a good job of conducting research increased 7%
All of these metrics are statistically significant and projectable across the state of Minnesota with a 95% confidence rate.
We've also seen broad use of the campaign by campuses, colleges, and units across the University.
We will be conducting more market research towards the end of the campaign as well to measure its performance.
I’d like to talk further about our legislative work. As you know, the Minnesota Legislature began its session on Feb. 12 and we have hit the ground running, with hearings and presentations in front of a number of committees.
Led by Melisa López Franzen and her team, we have presented informational overviews of our capital budget request and supplemental budget requests to the:
– Senate Higher Education Committee,
– House Capital Investment Committee,
– House Higher Education Committee, &
– Senate Capital Investment Committee (which I attended with Chair Mayeron on Tuesday)
Our first of two hearings with the House Higher Ed committee overlapped with our annual U of M Day at the Capitol— where students, faculty, staff, alumni (and nearly all of you) showed up to show their support for the University of Minnesota.
The day started with our Marching Band playing on the steps of the Capitol to kick off a rally that featured testimonials of students from across the System.
After a chance for advocates to meet with legislators, the event featured an afternoon showcase in the “Vault” at the Capitol.
Two members of the Gopher football team even brought along Floyd of Rosedale—our hefty trophy gained from beating Iowa last fall—which added to the spirit of the occasion.
I’ll continue to be engaged with state and federal legislative leaders throughout the session.
I’d also like to recognize and thank our two faculty legislative liaisons for this year—Professors Donna Spannaus-Martin and Robert Blair.
We continue to need everyone’s voice as we speak on behalf of a stronger and better University of Minnesota.
Cloquet Forestry Center Update
In early 2023, the University announced its intention to return the land on which the Cloquet Forestry Center resides to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Related conversations and discussions have continued and progressed since that time.
As a next step in that process, the University hosted a public engagement session last month at the Cloquet Forestry Center.
It was a welcome opportunity to engage with members of the Fond du Lac Band, local community members in the broader Cloquet area, as well as our forestry program alumni and others in the forestry industry.
The overall tone of the session was respectful, providing space for a number of different speakers to express a diverse range of opinions.
There was an overarching sentiment of optimism that—with the land under the care of the Fond du Lac Band—close collaboration between the U of M and the Band will allow mutually beneficial research, education and outreach to continue on the land going forward.
I’m pleased to share that legislation was introduced in both the House and Senate, and that we recently met with the State and Local Government committee as a next step regarding the return of the land to the Fond du Lac Band.
UMD Chancellor search
We’re also making great progress on the search for the next chancellor of our Duluth campus.
Next week, three finalist candidates will visit UMD and participate in interviews with key stakeholder groups.
Each candidate will also present on their vision for the future of UMD and take questions during a public forum. Additional details can be found on the UMD chancellor search website.
I’m grateful for the search committee for their work in reviewing applications, conducting first-round interviews and ultimately recommending the three finalists who will be on campus next week.
Special thanks to Chancellor Lori Carrell from the Rochester campus and Lisa Erwin, UMD’s vice chancellor for student life, who served as co-chairs of the search committee.
South Dakota Reciprocity
South Dakota recently announced that they will be ending the reciprocity agreement with Minnesota. The current agreement impacts both the U of M system and the Minnesota State system.
Under our agreement, currently-enrolled students are grandfathered in. We are thus committed to ensuring that current South Dakota students will have their reciprocity rates continued through graduation.
Because this news comes so late in the admission cycle, we are planning to allow South Dakota undergraduates who enter in Fall 2024 to pay the reciprocity rate.
Because Crookston and Rochester do not charge a differential for out-of-state tuition, no adjustments will be necessary on those campuses.
The Duluth campus will be requesting to include South Dakota as part of the previously planned (and board approved) Midwest Tuition rate that they are planning to roll out this upcoming fall. That request will be part of the Board's upcoming spring budget approval process.
For the Morris and Twin Cities campuses, we intend to offer tuition waivers for South Dakota students entering in Fall 2024 to bring their tuition to the reciprocity rate for four years for incoming new freshmen and three years for transfer students.
Because graduate and professional programs (PhDs, MBAs, etc.) have tuition rates that are set separately and often independently, conversations are underway about the university’s approach and plans for these students.
We plan to roll out communications to impacted students (or potential students) shortly, and will continue to keep the board apprised of any further developments in this area, including decisions for students entering beyond fall 2024.
Travels to meet with donors, alumni
Since our last meeting I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Southwest Florida, Palm Springs, and the Phoenix area to speak with alumni and donors.
These were insightful and fruitful visits, organized by Kathy Schmidlkofer and her team at the University of Minnesota Foundation.
I was excited to hear from many participants that our public outreach work over the past several months seemed to be generating renewed enthusiasm.
They feel we are on a positive trajectory in terms of our mission and in terms of a public perception that deservedly matches our success.
I also left all of these meetings struck by how much our alumni, donors, and friends value this great university.
It’s clear that our support extends deep and wide into the Sun Belt.
That concludes my report, Chair Mayeron.
Public Safety Update – spring semester
Thank you Chair Mayeron.
When I became Interim President last June, I was well aware of public safety concerns for our students, staff, faculty, and visitors.
It’s an issue that many campuses face. It’s also an issue that’s nuanced and frankly more complicated for our Twin Cities campus—being embedded in a large metro area and with law enforcement handled by multiple jurisdictions.
Ensuring public safety on and near our campuses has been one of my highest priorities, and I’ve been engaged with these efforts since the summer.
I’ve attended public safety meetings, worked closely with Chief Clark on both immediate matters and longer term initiatives, and had an opportunity to participate in a safety walk in Dinkytown in the fall.
Despite all of our best efforts, occasionally there are incidents of concern on or near campus that affect our students and our greater community.
But I’d like to thank all of our teams who work tirelessly to make our campuses safe.
Chief Clark and our U of M Public Safety Department deserve a special thanks for their efforts, which have included a lot of overtime for public safety officers.
And now I’d like to hand this over to Chief Clark for a recap on 2023 crime statistics, 2023 successes, and infrastructure investments that we’ve made using our one-time funding from the state; and also a look at some initiatives for this spring.
_______________
Next, I’d like to introduce Katharine Bonneson, Associate Vice President in Health, Safety, and Risk Management, to discuss the U of M systemwide safety plan.
In addition to the great things happening in Public Safety—some of which Chief Clark covered today and will continue to report on in the future—our teams have been focused on updating the systemwide safety plan in the areas of IT security, lab safety, environmental safety, public health, mental health, and the prevention of sexual misconduct.
This is important work and supports the emphasis the Board has placed on safety, in the broadest sense of the word.
I thank Katharine and the staff who have worked on these updates, as well as those who provided feedback during consultation. Some of the public safety elements of the plan are still in development and we will report back on those in the near future.
Before we transition to Katharine's presentation, I want to mention one additional safety-related project currently underway. In alignment with our MPact 2025 strategic plan goal to “assess and enhance our campus safety protocols and organizational structures,” we have issued a request for proposals to bring in an expert to help assess our current safety organizational structures on the Twin Cities campus— comparing them to benchmarks, and ensuring alignment with our strategic objectives.
I will turn it over to Associate Vice President Katharine Bonneson for remarks on our safety plan.
Thank you, Chair Mayeron, and thank you Associate Vice President Bonneson, for that update on our systemwide safety plan.
As I mentioned earlier, doing all that we can to ensure safety on our campuses—and in the neighborhoods near our campuses—remains a top concern of mine.
Systemwide, our various teams have also clearly been dedicated to this issue.
I’m excited about the two pilot programs we are exploring for the Twin Cities campus presented to you today. They represent responsive and creative ideas for bringing University of Minnesota resources directly to the community.
The program to expand assistance to MPD in the outlined area is a logical step in our commitment to the safety of the many students living in that area.
As well, the safety center will be a multifunctional space that all in our community can access for safety resources, support, and programming provided by the DPS Community Engagement Team.
Going back to the refrain that “Safety belongs to all of us,” our safety plan—and these new proposed programs—show what strides can be made when we all work together.
That concludes the report. Thank you, Chair Mayeron and members of the Board.
