Renewing the U
By Shelly Fling
This spring, University President Bob Bruininks announced-and the Board of Regents approved-a set of recommendations for sweeping changes across the Twin Cities campus, including folding three colleges into three other colleges. These changes are intended not only to save money and create new opportunities for students and faculty, but to position the University to become one of the top three public research universities in the world.
“Minnesota needs a strong and vibrant research university to sustain its economy and its unparalleled quality of life. It's just that simple,” Bruininks said in mid-May, a few days after delivering his recommendations to the regents. Bruininks expounded for Minnesota readers on his plan for transforming the University:
Q: Why does the University need to be a top-three public research institution in the world?
A: The University is Minnesota's only research and advanced educational institution. We have a thriving economy that is based largely upon research and innovation-the medical device industry, health care industry, food production and processing industries, just to name a few. These are all fields that require the advancement of knowledge to sustain economic growth.
In the center of any vibrant economy you are going to find a great research university, a place that acts as a magnet to draw talented people, that keeps people here, that connects talented people to the needs of our economy and our cultural and civic life. Minnesota needs a first-rate, outstanding research university. We need to be among the best, and when we ask ourselves what that means: We want to be in the top group of public research universities internationally.
Q: What is keeping the U from moving up among public research universities?
A: I think one obvious thing is we have lost serious ground in terms of the level of support from the state. At one time Minnesota was roughly fourth in the per capita expenditure in higher education. We are now close to 26. We're average, and we used to be above average. So the decline in state commitment is a disturbing trend and it must be reversed if we're going to achieve any level of aspiration.
The second thing is that we have not grown the student profile in critically important fields. We're way behind other states and other countries in engineering sciences and in the natural sciences and biology and the health sciences. I don't think our student results are good enough. We need better graduation rates, better achievement levels, we need to retain more of Minnesota's most capable students and attract others.
Q: How does building an on-campus football stadium fit with transforming the University into a top-three institution?
A: I don't think the football stadium has much to do with making the University a great research and educational institution, but I do think it has a great deal to do with creating a deeper sense of community here at the University. If you think about it, we could have as many as 400,000 people in a football season-and that's not the only use of a stadium-visiting campus. That's an opportunity to reach 400,000 people with the academic mission and the cultural life of the University.
Q: If academic standards are raised, do you feel that athletics programs that traditionally don't have the highest academic profile are going to struggle?
A: One of the big problems in intercollegiate athletics at the University is that some of our student athletes do not transition from General College into degree programs, and this proposal is designed to facilitate that transition. Other institutions compete athletically and do very well, and their students graduate at higher rates. So I don't have any doubt that we can make this transition and actually improve academic outcomes for student athletes.
Q: Will your recommendations that aim to ensure that the University continues to have a diverse student body address the concerns of those who say that reducing General College to department status will deny access to low-income students and students of color?
A: The issue of whether the University will provide access and opportunity to people from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds I think is really important. And we are wise to give that special consideration.
The University is not going to reduce its enrollment. By improving the rates of success, that is, more timely graduation, we will actually increase access; if students make more timely progress toward graduation, more students can take advantage of the University. And we are outlining a whole range of strategies that we think will help maintain high levels of diversity.
The first thing is a much-strengthened financial support program for low- and moderate-income students. Second, we're substantially increasing our investment in recruitment of people from first-generation backgrounds [students who are the first in their families to attend college], immigrant backgrounds, and students of color from a wide range of economic backgrounds in our state and beyond. Third, we're outlining a very ambitious pre-K-12 strategy aimed at increasing the aspirational levels of young people to pursue careers in post-secondary education. A new vice president of diversity-an upgrade of a current position, dedicated broadly to academic and multicultural affairs-will give real leadership to the University's efforts to recruit and support a diverse community of faculty, staff, and students. And one other thing, we're increasing the ability to transfer to the University of Minnesota from the 10 community colleges, for example, in the metropolitan area and other institutions of higher education.
Q: Can the U become a top-three institution without new state funds?
A: No, it really does require very substantial and sustained state investment. But it requires more than that-it requires thoughtful use of our current resources. It requires a deep commitment to raising new private funding, long-term funding. So there isn't a magic bullet here. We have to do several things at once to improve the University long term. But I honestly believe the better days of the University of Minnesota lie ahead of us, and I'm quite optimistic that the state will be our partner. And I'm quite confident that we enjoy very, very high standing among private individuals and the private sector, two other important areas of long-term support for the University. So I'm quite confident that the University can make very substantial strides toward meeting its long-term aspirations.
Q: What do you say to alumni of colleges that are being divided up and reorganized who now feel severed from the University?
A: We need to remind people we are not closing academic fields. We are integrating academic fields in new combinations that we think will give the University much greater strength and vitality in the future.
So I would say to people, let's come together and celebrate this renewal that is taking place at the University of Minnesota. Isn't it magnificent to have an opportunity to create incredible opportunities for our students and maybe even invent or reinvent entire fields of research and education? Important centers of leadership have an opportunity to come together and reinvent themselves in new ways that will put Minnesota in the preeminent position not only nationally but around the world.
Shelly Fling is editor of Minnesota.
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