President's Report to the Board of Regents

Thank you, Chair Huebsch.

Throughout the spring semester, our University community has come together to navigate the challenges facing our state and higher education, continued to advocate for the long-term sustainability of our Medical School and prioritized the safety and well-being of all.

We’ve done this while advancing our three-part, land-grant mission of teaching and learning, research and scholarship and outreach and public service.

Recently, we’ve made a concerted effort to be a bit louder and prouder in highlighting these mission advancements and sharing the good news of how our University turns achievements into value for Minnesota, the nation and the world.

The University’s success starts with its academic excellence. 

We are strong and are getting stronger.

We have top programs in the country for: transportation science and technology (#3), communications (#4), ecology (#5) and biotech (#7).

Our Medical School is distinguished nationally as a Tier 1 institution for Primary Care education and ranks #2 nationally for training Native American physicians.

And the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication is ranked #6 globally.

For these successes and more, we owe a debt of gratitude to our accomplished faculty.

This week, we recognized 21 of them at the Distinguished Teaching Awards celebration.

Faculty—as well as staff and students—are also playing important roles in advancing our Strategic Roadmap Elevate Extraordinary 2030.

In the last several weeks, we have made progress in three key areas.

First, we launched an AI Hub to advance artificial intelligence innovation, education and workforce development across Minnesota. 

As we convene partners across academia, industry and government, we’re developing leading programs and an ethical and responsible framework.

Second, we announced a new partnership between Second Harvest Heartland and the University of Minnesota Foundation to further the vital work we’re doing to address food insecurity.

This partnership expands the Boynton Health Nutritious U Food Pantry, increases fresh food availability, selection and service hours and streamlines operational costs. 

Later this year, we plan to launch similar partnerships in Morris, Duluth, Crookston and Rochester.

Third, we became one of only 45 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. to adopt the Okanagan Charter.

This means we made a commitment to embed health into all aspects of University culture and to lead health promotion locally and globally.

I would like to recognize and thank our student representatives who recommended that the University consider adopting the charter—your voices can and do make a difference—thank you!

In addition to advancing Elevate Extraordinary 2030, we are making great progress on another Board Priority: our University marketing communications strategy.

In our 175th year, we are planning activities at the State Fair and County Fairs across Minnesota, and we’ll be rolling out a new brand this fall to showcase how the University is delivering on its mission and engaging all of Minnesota in the process. 

Vice President Gade will have a full update for you later in the meeting.

Aligned with the vital work being done around Elevate Extraordinary 2030 and marketing communications, we continue to focus on attracting, retaining and preparing students to build Minnesota’s future workforce.

To attract students and deliver more for them than any single campus could on their own, we are in the process of unifying our enrollment marketing strategy. 

So while there will be a distinctive mission for each campus to position all of them for long-term success, we will act as one University.

We are hiring for a vice president of Enrollment Management who will lead this process. 

To retain and prepare students, we are responding in real time to the needs of our state.

For example, Minnesota Carlson has refocused its curriculum around supply chain and operations, and we have increased the College of Science and Engineering undergrad footprint by 16 percent in the last three years—well on our way to meeting our goal of a 20 percent increase between 2023-2028.

We have also reinvented ourselves to sustain and strengthen our land grant mission.

In March, I spoke about how we’re doing this at the Minnesota Chamber Foundation’s Workforce Summit.

We’re expanding experiential—or real world—learning to ensure our graduates will be workforce ready.

We’re collaborating with businesses to upskill talent for AI.

We’re reimagining the St. Paul campus—a main attractor for the agriculture-focused student and key for the Ag industry’s future. 

And we’re championing the value of a University education throughout Minnesota and beyond.

As we go forward, we’ll be working toward ambitions that exceed all expectations:

Building on 175 years of strengths to modernize for the future.

Advancing our academic mission to compete nationally and globally.

Growing our economic and volunteer impact to make an even greater contribution to Minnesota.

And making strides toward one University—this includes a shared calendar for all campuses, alignment among our alumni communities and centralization throughout the University of Minnesota Foundation.  

At 175 years strong, the University of Minnesota has something to celebrate across every campus, college and unit.

Look at the recent success of our student athletes across the University: 

This year, the University of Minnesota had more connections to Team USA than any other NCAA school—and seven of them are now Olympic gold medalists.

Our UMD men’s hockey team returned to the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in program history.

Our Gopher Women’s Basketball team advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in 21 years.

And our UMD Women’s Basketball team capped a historic season with a Division II Elite Eight run.

Elite performances extended to the Cathedral of Saint Paul as well—there, on the first weekend of spring, choirs from across our University joined together in song.

They celebrated the University’s artistic excellence and performed Hail Minnesota with great pride! 

We also took a unified University approach to our annual Day at the Capitol.

Students, faculty and staff from a variety of campuses, colleges and units came together to represent our University in maroon and gold.

That morning, we held a press conference advocating for three capital investment projects—modernizing University facilities, reimaging our St. Paul campus and renovating Minnesota’s one and only dental school.

All together, we participated in 74 meetings with state legislators.

Earlier this spring, I had the opportunity to connect with Olympic gold medalist Abbey Murphy—the all-time leading goal scorer for Gopher women’s hockey.

I wanted to know how our University helped prepare her to compete on a global stage. 

We’ve captured her answer in a video I’ll share with you just a moment. 

I hope it leaves you feeling both a sense of pride in the value of our University education and all the ways our students are positively impacting Minnesota, the nation and the world.