Focus
Thank you, Minnesota

Terry Collins
General College Interim Dean

There’s nothing subtle about spring on campus. Parkas have given way to shorts and flip-flops, bikes and skateboards are back in droves, and frisbees sail around the mall in the long afternoons. Signs of life abound. As we get ready to close up General College at the end of June, after 74 years, we are roused toward hope by the vitality all around us.

We are well on the way toward realizing the major structural changes to emerge from the University’s Strategic Positioning process. The academic heart of General College will be reconfigured on July 1 as the new Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning. Our advising and student support services will re-emerge in the Student and Professional Services department. We look forward to another year of intense program building in the new College of Education and Human Development.

Amid these changes, we worry about the central values of access and diversity in the University of Minnesota. Many friends of General College wonder whether the strategic positioning initiative signals a retreat from these core values.

So far, half of the answer is clear. As you may already know, President Bruininks has announced new scholarship support under the Founders Opportunity Scholarship Program. This ambitious program provides full tuition and fees for students (both new freshman admits and transfer students) from economically challenged families. This is a very exciting program, among the most meaningful steps on access I’ve seen during my three decades in GC. It goes a long way toward insuring that the University will remain economically accessible to all Minnesotans, even as tuition and related costs continue to increase.

While the news is indeed good on access as measured by affordability, other dimensions of access and diversity will be determined during the coming year as key decisions are made about recruiting and admissions. The freshman-admitting colleges at the University will be challenged to build diverse student profiles. Both President Bruininks and Provost Sullivan have spoken their commitment to maintain diversity in the University. How these assurances translate into practice will be clearer as we move ahead.

We in GC hope to contribute constructively to future decisions on a range of topics, among them how the University engages middle-school and high-school students on matters of preparation; the proper role of high-stakes ACT test scores in admissions; and the obligations of all of the undergraduate colleges to act responsively in shaping their classes consistent with the institution’s public statements on diversity and access.

As we end this first transitional year, the seriousness with which University leaders have addressed issues of affordability and access convinces me that we are moving in directions consistent with the values held deeply in General College. But there is a lot of work to do. For the University to have created GC in 1932, during our nation’s Great Depression, was wonderfully optimistic and visionary. That optimism is our legacy. The University of Minnesota is a treasured public asset whose leaders will be stronger if they hear from us in the future on matters we hold dear.

Heidi Barajas has been named chair of the new Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning. We’re all grateful to Heidi for taking on this big job. Read more about her on the next page.

This is the final issue of Access. Laura Weber has done a splendid job as editor for the last five years. She will be moving to the new College of Design over the summer, and we wish her well in her new position as director of communications.

It’s time to say thank you.

Thank you to the generations of Minnesotans whose taxes built and sustained the University of Minnesota and General College.

Thank you to the generations of parents who have trusted General College with your children’s education.

Thank you to colleagues in the University whose support for General College has been so heartfelt for so long.

Thank you to University workers who have cleaned our floors and classrooms, who have landscaped our buildings, who have shoveled the snow from our steps, all of whom have made it possible for us to do our work in General College.

Thank you to thousands of generous donors who have supported General College, for making the remarkable decision to share your hard-earned money for scholarships for our students.

Thank you to the generations of staff and faculty whose creativity and effort nurtured General College as a vibrant intellectual and social community. Thank you, especially, to the current staff and faculty of General College, who have worked this year under difficult conditions, with uncertain futures, and who made me proud to come to work every day.

Above all, thank you to the students of General College. You give us joy and purpose.

Gratefully,
Terry Collins
Professor and Interim Dean