President's Report to the Board of Regents
Thank you, Chair Mayeron
As we embark on what should be an exciting new academic year, I am pleased to provide you all with some important updates as part of my September President’s Report.
With this being my first fall semester here at the University of Minnesota, I am thrilled to see the extraordinary energy and enthusiasm emanating across our five campuses.
Over these past few weeks, we welcomed more than 10,000 new students to our University community, joining the tens of thousands of returning students for the fall semester.
Our incoming class hails from more than 70 countries and 48 U.S. states.
On the Twin Cities campus, we have the largest and most diverse incoming class in campus history, with 7,300 first-year students and 1,700 transfer students.
Collectively, our Greater Minnesota campuses also showed enrollment growth.
And while this class of new U of M students brings diverse, global experiences to our five campuses, two-thirds of them hail from within the great state of Minnesota.
Suffice to say, this is an exciting moment in time for our University on so many levels.
Next week, we have an opportunity to come together and celebrate the University’s tremendous 173-year history as part of the presidential inauguration festivities.
On Wednesday, I am excited to honor our shared achievements in research, education and outreach, while recognizing the impact this University has on our state, our nation and our world.
As a community, we also have an opportunity to look ahead and collaboratively shape a bold new vision for our five-campus system.
Over these past three months, I have been traveling across the state, engaging with students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters who share a deep affinity for this University.
I visited all of our Greater Minnesota campuses last month.
I also connected with diverse groups of Minnesotans at Farmfest and the State Fair, where I got to enjoy some tasty fair treats, including new apple varieties in the horticulture building, grilled peaches and Gopher Dairy Bar chocolate milk.
I met with our Strategic Safety Advisory Committee.
And this past Saturday, after cheering on our Golden Gophers to victory against Rhode Island, I was able to tour the University’s new off-campus safety center in Dinkytown.
This tour was especially exciting for me because, over the past 20 years, my scholarly research has focused primarily on best practices for community violence prevention.
I was very impressed with the partnership, engagement and strategy that has gone into enhancing the safety of our students and the neighborhoods in which they live near campus.
I teamed up with parents, police and community members, and together, we spent our Saturday night participating in a safety walk through Dinkytown.
I was immediately struck by the sharp contrast between the stories and news reports I have heard about Dinkytown since I arrived here, and what I actually experienced Saturday night.
I saw a lively and vibrant neighborhood, with students camped out on their porches, enjoying time with their classmates and friends.
We chatted, and many of them expressed how much they love living in Dinkytown and how PROUD they are of their neighborhood.
It was a strong reminder that many of our students are attracted to the Twin Cities campus because of the opportunity to live and learn in a major metropolitan area.
As a University, we have a responsibility to provide the safest experience we can for our students during these formative years.
I am proud of our UMPD and other Department of Public Safety colleagues for providing exceptional services to our diverse campus community.
I am also proud of them for providing valuable training opportunities so that our students are prepared to safely and successfully navigate their campus and neighborhood environment.
The skills our students gain as part of these safety trainings will help prepare them for their next chapter in life.
As Chief Clark will point out during his presentation here shortly, Dinkytown is located within the Second Police Precinct, which is historically one of the safest of the 5 precincts.
And yet despite our best efforts, there will unfortunately be some crime in Dinkytown, in broader Minneapolis, and in every community across America.
Large and small, urban and rural.
But as someone who has devoted their career to studying the root causes of community violence, it is important for us to remember that most violence is preventable — not inevitable.
Our University is taking a proactive approach to community violence prevention, working collaboratively with communities to identify and implement smart, evidence-based solutions.
In Dinkytown, for example, people are coming together to light the streets.
Businesses are working more closely together.
Community groups are walking the neighborhoods, including the Somali Moms, who are afoot in Dinkytown until 2 a.m. on the weekends.
And now we have our new off-campus safety center, which is bringing key resources and community to the heart of Dinkytown.
We still have plenty of work to do to ensure the safety of our people and our communities, but I am very pleased to see the positive momentum we are building in this space.
We are refreshing safety campaign posters in our residence halls.
We are sending postcards with safety tips and resources to students living on campus.
We are creating classroom emergency preparedness posters, which are designed to share just-in-time resources for faculty and instructors to respond to emergencies.
And we are providing a handout for families about the University’s safety efforts during the upcoming Family Weekend.
I look forward to participating in future safety walks and engaging more closely with the dedicated parents, police and community groups who are working intensely to improve the neighborhoods they care so deeply about.
We can all work better together to create safer, more vibrant communities — not only in Dinkytown, but across this great state.
The safety and wellbeing of our U of M community will always be a top priority for me, and I will continue to support efforts that are designed to support and strengthen the neighborhoods that our students, faculty and staff call home.
Thank you for your time and attention this morning.
Chair Mayeron, that concludes my report.