Italy Can Wait: Introducing Bob Bruininks
3/10/2003 | | Photo by Dan Marshall |
By Burl Gilyard
On a late January day, new University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks arrives at the State Capitol to plead the University’s case before the Senate Higher Education Budget Division Committee. At one point, Senator David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) praises the Board of Regents for hiring Bruininks, a 35-year veteran of the University, from within its ranks. Bruininks doesn’t miss a beat. "Thanks," he replies. "I hope you still hold that view a few months from now."
When he was officially tapped for the president’s job in November, Bruininks inherited an uphill battle for state funding in the bleakest economic climate in years. As a staffer clicks through a PowerPoint presentation, Bruininks details the unique assets of the University: its research mission, its graduate and professional programs, and its role in the state economy. As he talks, it’s clear that this is no script for Bruininks. He intimately knows and understands the University community, which has been his professional life for more than three decades. Bruininks tells legislators matter-of-factly, "The failure of this state to invest in higher education will have some very serious trade-offs."
Bruininks, now 61, hadn’t planned it this way. He wasn’t supposed to be sitting in this chair, wearing this hat, and shouldering this burden. He was supposed to be off on a yearlong sabbatical, traveling in Europe, and taking a lot of deep, cleansing breaths. But when President Mark Yudof announced his departure last spring, Bruininks—who had been serving as executive vice president and provost—was chosen as interim president.
His wife, Susan Hagstrum (M.A. ’77, Ph.D. ’87) quips, "Life happens when you’re making other plans." Nevertheless, she had an inkling that things would turn out this way: "When Mark Yudof announced his departure, I thought, ‘I bet I know what’s going to happen.’ My initial thought was ‘There goes Italy,’" recalls Hagstrum. "He and Mark worked so well together. They created wonderful new opportunities for students and staff at the University." Although Bruininks had not declared himself a candidate, the regents unanimously named him in November for the permanent president’s job.
Although born in Michigan, Bruininks began feeling like a native long ago. He began his University of Minnesota career in 1968 as an assistant professor in educational psychology and eventually served for six years as the dean of the College of Education and Human Development. He has been almost universally characterized as a man who eats, sleeps, and breathes the University of Minnesota, as if he murmurs "Ski-U-Mah" softly in his sleep. Colleagues who have worked with Bruininks over the years praise his gift for combining creativity and pragmatism.
Institute of Child Development Professor Richard Weinberg (Ph.D. ’68) has worked with Bruininks since 1970 and become a close friend. "Bob brings a kind of unique experience as an academic. He truly has been an entrepreneur; he created the Institute on Community Integration [a federally designated University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities]. Bob was very entrepreneurial and brought in literally millions and millions of dollars into that setting," says Weinberg. "The advantage of having gone up the ranks is that he can see the perspective of every level at which he has operated. . . . He can really hit the ground running. It’s not going to take him a couple of years to know what makes this place tick. He helped make it tick."
Similarly, current College of Education and Human Development Dean Steve Yussen (Ph.D. ’73) argues that Bruininks’s stewardship of his college during tense budget battles bodes well for his leadership of the University. "He really saved the college in some respects. He preserved its excellence and I know he’ll do the same for the University," says Yussen, who adds that Bruininks’s effectiveness as a manager flows from his people skills. "He’s very effective with people. He’s patient, but he gets things done. He’s extraordinarily creative."
Lakeesha Ransom (M.A. ’01), an at-large member of the Board of Regents, recalls that it was Bruininks who encouraged her to apply for the regent position. Ransom says she believes Bruininks is dedicated to a diverse University community. "I think he’s committed to making the University accessible to people from all groups with this new U Connects initiative," which pairs unsold or unused University event tickets—athletics, cultural, or educational—with young students in mentoring programs around the metropolitan area, says Ransom. "He’s very much committed to civic engagement and outreach."
In an age when many universities turn to leaders who look more like CEOs than college professors, Board of Regents Chair Maureen Reed (B.A. ’75, M.D. ’78) believes that Bruininks is the perfect president for uncertain times. "Bob is superbly equipped to guide the University through this particular time. We are not just looking for a leader who will pull in the belt another notch," says Reed. "The institution needs to be strengthened at the same time as we are making difficult budget decisions."
Bruininks confesses that he has spent some time studying the legacies of his 14 predecessors. A quote from President Malcolm Moos (1967–74) sticks in his mind. "He once remarked that presidents were often running for their life. He said, ‘When a bear chases you up a tree as president, the only thing you really should do is enjoy the view,’" recalls Bruininks. "I don’t know if bears come in herds; they usually are loners," deadpans Bruininks. "We certainly have more than a few to manage at the present time."
But when it comes to outsmarting anything in a threatening guise, Regent David Metzen (B.A. ’64, Ed.D. ’73) believes Bruininks is ideally suited for the job. "He’s had the courage to make tough decisions over the years and still be respected by his staff, which is tough to do. There’s no question that we have some very, very difficult decisions to make over the next few years. And he’s got the courage to do that," says Metzen. "Sometimes you can make more courageous decisions when you’re not looking for another job. This is his last job. I think he’s the right person at the right time."
On the Issues
President Bruininks discusses tuition increases, private giving, alumni support, and an on-campus stadium.
Q: How are you different from former president Mark Yudof? What will you tackle that Yudof didn’t?
A: Yogi Berra, the famous baseball player, has a son. His son was asked, "Mr. Berra, are you at all like your father?" And he said, "Yes, but in different ways." I think that is true with respect to President Yudof and myself.
We will continue to invest in academic areas that we think are important to the future of the University and the future of the state, areas that have to do with biotechnology, medical education, and research. But I also believe that we need to make some very important investments in other areas of the academic life of the University of Minnesota, areas that have to do with maintaining the strength of the humanities, the arts. In short, we need to ensure as we go forward that the University of Minnesota has a strong and vibrant academic culture.
Q: How will you communicate the U’s needs to legislators and the governor in the current fiscal environment?
A: We’ve asked the state to share with us on a 50–50 basis the investment that we think is necessary to keep the strength of the University and to move the University forward in the next several years. It’s the lowest request we’ve put before the state in the last 10 years, and it’s a request where we have said we will do some very heavy lifting. We will reduce costs and we will reallocate resources to the tune of $50 million over the next two years, in addition to $25 million in budget reductions that we have taken for the current fiscal year.
I think the University of Minnesota is an incredibly strong institution. The quality of the University of Minnesota in my judgment has never been higher. We are academically—and I think financially—strong due in very large part to the entrepreneurial spirit of our faculty and staff and the general support of the state of Minnesota. But I don’t want to underestimate the difficulties that face us in the next several months. This will be a very, very difficult time in which we are going to ask everyone in the University community to share in this sacrifice needed to balance the budget and maintain the long-term strength of the University of Minnesota.
Q: The University is being pushed toward a high-tuition, high-aid model. Do you believe that continued double-digit tuition increases are a sustainable way to increase revenue?
A: I think it is a trend and to some degree this trend will continue, but I also believe that it is very important for educational and political leaders to take some pause and assess the impact of this trend on students, on access to students for higher education, and the connection of higher education to the state’s economy and quality of life. It will not be sustainable in the long term to increase tuition at double-digit rates, even with increases in student financial aid, without seriously jeopardizing student access to higher education and without jeopardizing the core capacity of the University of Minnesota to support its research and public mission.
I don’t have a problem with strong student financial-aid programs. But they are absolutely no substitute for providing core support to a place like the University of Minnesota. Many private institutions have very high tuition but do not have the academic programs of the University of Minnesota. They do not have the engineering programs, they do not have the health-related professional programs. These are critically important investments for this state to maintain its competitive edge and, really, its quality of life.
Q: What diversity issues are important to you and your administration?
A: Our institution has been a leader, I think, in so many areas that celebrate the diversity of our culture and the diversity of our people, and we’ll continue to do so. We think it’s important to the quality of education here to recruit a very diverse student body and we’ll continue to work hard to do so. I know those issues are very much under scrutiny and, in some cases, legal challenge today, but we are not a University that sets and practices quotas. We embrace the widest range of opinions and cultural perspectives, and I know we’re going to continue to do so. It’s very much a part of the fabric of the University’s policies from the Board of Regents, and it’s a very deep and strong commitment of this administration.
Q: What can alumni do to help the University?
A: I just finished a trip that brought me in contact with several hundred alumni of the University of Minnesota who live in the winter months in Florida. I was struck again by the powerful support that we receive from the alumni of the University of Minnesota. We probably have the largest group of living alumni of any college or university in the United States; I think it’s close to 400,000 people. They support us financially, and they’re very much a part of supporting the public case of the University of Minnesota, whether it’s with the state legislature or the national Congress or in the general public marketplace.
We want to, in fact, strengthen our connection to the alumni, and I’m delighted to see the alumni association make the growth of membership one of its primary goals. I would like to see every living graduate of the University of Minnesota become a member of the alumni association and maintain very, very strong connections to the University of Minnesota.
Q: Can the University expect private giving to increase in the current economic climate?
A: I think the economy will have some dampening effect on private giving. But we’re finding, as a result of our most recent campaign, that we have many more people who are interested in giving to the University of Minnesota than was the case several years ago. I think that’s largely a result of increasing membership and interest in the alumni association and the increased number of people who have made very important financial contributions to us as a result of the very successful Campaign Minnesota [which has exceeded its $1.3 billion goal]. I think we have more supporters of the University of Minnesota today than at any time in our history, and I think in the long term that’s going to be very, very beneficial to maintaining access to the University and its quality.
Q: What importance do you place on bringing football back to campus?
A: I, and I think most members of this University community, would prefer that Gopher football return to the University of Minnesota campus. In our current location there is little or no identity between the stadium and the University of Minnesota. You would be hard-pressed to even find a University of Minnesota sign on game day. . . . We’ll continue to talk with the leadership of the state in the next few months, but I’m not prepared to put any academic values and academic priorities at risk to achieve a stadium at this time.
We are first and foremost an academic institution. And in light of these very severe economic challenges we face in our state, I think we have to take some time and make sure that this is done in the right way. My sense is we have not been well served with the arrangement that we have now. I would very much like to see Gopher football back on campus and played in a way that better advances our academic and athletic interests.
Q: You’re a first-generation college graduate. What are your beliefs about the power of education, and how do they inform your leadership of this institution?
A: The power of education, I think, is evident in so many ways in my life and the lives of our students and our faculty. The opportunity to attend a public institution of higher education absolutely transformed my life and opened up whole new worlds of opportunity for me that I truly treasure and celebrate every day. It broadens your understanding of the world, it creates enormous opportunity, but fundamentally it gives people choices and the opportunity to exercise choices throughout their lifetime that would otherwise not be the case.
This article copyright 2003 by Burl Gilyard, who retains ownership and copyright of the article. No reproduction or redistribution of this article is permitted without permission from the copyright holder.
Burl Gilyard (B.A. ’92) is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer.
 | | | |  | | About Bob Bruininks | Born: February 22, 1942, in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Family: Married to Susan Hagstrum (M.A. ’77, Ph.D. ’87), an educational consultant; three sons
Education: B.S. 1964, Western Michigan University, special education, music, and social science; M.A. 1965 and Ph.D. 1968, Vanderbilt University, education
University experience: Faculty member since 1968; Dean of the College of Education and Human Development, 1991–97; Executive Vice President and Provost, 1997–2002
Inauguration theme: "Advancing Knowledge: A Partner for the Public Good"
First trip as president: To Ecuador to visit the Minnesota Studies in International Development study abroad program
Hobby: Showing American saddlebred horses
Favorite office decoration: "Wilma," a 17-pound, 6-ounce mounted walleye he caught at Loon Lake on the Minnesota-Ontario border on July 4, 1989
Book selection for the U Reads program: Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl. "His central thesis is that what matters to all of us is the unending search for the central values and meaning of life, and living regardless of station or circumstances. I cannot envision a more important commitment that we can make to ourselves and to future generations."
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