University of Minnesota
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University of Minnesota From the President and Board Chair The University of Minnesota is an integral part of our idea of Minnesota – a relatively small population of five million in a challenging climate that has built a high quality of life and nurtured an uncompromising aspiration for innovation and leadership. Since its founding, the University has been a statewide resource that makes a significant impact on the economy, society, and culture of Minnesota. Through its land-grant mission – teaching and learning, research and discovery, and public engagement – it has been dedicated to advancing knowledge and serving as a partner for the public good. As we begin the 21st century in a fiscally austere environment, our challenge is to ensure the continued excellence, strength, and vitality of the University for our students and for the people of Minnesota. To fulfill our mission in this new century, the University has embraced four over-arching goals: . Maintain excellence and push the boundaries of knowledge. The University of Minnesota is actively committed to maintaining and strengthening excellence by investing in its outstanding academic programs and building a culture that supports interdisciplinary work. Enhance the educational life of students. The University is committed to enhancing the experience of its undergraduate, graduate, and professional-level students by: improving access to the University and affordability, enhancing teaching and learning, promoting better progress and improved graduation rates, and maintaining and improving student satisfaction levels. Achieve improved stewardship and accountability. The University is dedicated to good stewardship of its public and private resources and to accountability to citizens and members of its own community. Create effective public engagement. The University has made a renewed commitment to its public mission, one that reflects the changing conditions of public higher education, the needs of society, and the most current means of communication and public engagement. As one of this country’s and the world’s premier research institutions, the University of Minnesota will continue its 153-year legacy as an open door to the power that knowledge provides and a crucible for new ideas, discoveries and connections. Robert H. Bruininks David R. Metzen President Chair, Board of Regents University of Minnesota: 2003-04 Accountable to U 5 1: Profile of the University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota is a statewide The University of Minnesota is one of the resource that makes a significant impact on the state’s most important assets. As a top economy, society and culture of Minnesota. research institution, it serves as a magnet and a For 153 years, it has been dedicated to means of growth for talented people, a place advancing knowledge and serving as a partner where ideas and innovations flourish, and for the public good. where discoveries and services materially advance Minnesota’s economy and quality of With more than 63,000 students enrolled in life. high-quality programs in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Crookston, Morris, and Rochester, the As a land grant institution, the University is University is a key educational asset for the strongly connected to Minnesota’s state and the region. communities, partnering with the public to apply its research for the benefit of the state. A. 10 Things To Know About the University of Minnesota 1. The University of Minnesota awarded 20,000 jobs in Minnesota’s private more than 11,500 degrees in 2002-03. Ten economy. percent of all degrees awarded were in engineering, and 41 percent of the degrees 3. In economic terms, the University also awarded on the Twin Cities campus were provides significant return on the state’s graduate and first-professional degrees investment. A recent study showed that (e.g., M.S., Ph.D., M.D., D.D.S.). the University leveraged $16 for every University graduates play a unique role in dollar of state investment in 2001. That keeping Minnesota competitive and means Minnesota realized nearly $10 connected in our increasingly knowledge- billion in economic activity from the based economy and global society. state’s $600 million annual investment in the University – an outstanding return. 2. The University of Minnesota is the state’s only major research University. This sets 4. State appropriations provided 30.8 percent Minnesota apart from the many states that of University of Minnesota revenue in FY have at least two major research 2002, making it the most important, and institutions (e.g., Michigan and Michigan the most flexible, source of funding. State; Iowa and Iowa State). Its research Grants and contracts provided another 24.3 comprises 98.8 percent of sponsored percent of revenues while tuition and fees academic research in Minnesota – more provided 14 percent. Private fundraising is than one-half billion dollars each year. an increasingly important source of This accomplishment creates an estimated funding within the University’s diverse revenue mix, but this source represents less 6 University of Minnesota: 2003-04 Accountable to U than 5 percent of the annual operating Board of Regents, which is elected by the budget. Most private funds are dedicated legislature. Eight members are elected to to the support of specific activities and represent Minnesota’s eight congressional cannot be used for general budget needs. districts and four are elected at large. In 2003, the University completed a six- year fundraising campaign that raised more 8. The statutory mission of the University of than $1.6 billion in private donations and Minnesota is to “offer undergraduate, pledges. graduate, and professional instruction through the doctoral degree, and…be the 5. Total enrollment at the University of primary state-supported academic agency Minnesota’s campuses for fall 2003 was for research and extension services.” 63,769. Sixty-three percent of registered (Minnesota Statutes 135A.052). students were undergraduates. Non-degree seeking students represented over 10 9. The University of Minnesota is a multi- percent of total enrollment. campus university, one with no separate “system” office. This is an economical 6. The Twin Cities campus ranks consistently management structure, since the within the top six public research University’s senior officers double as the universities in the nation, according to a chief operating officers for the Twin Cities University of Florida study. It is also campus. among the nation’s most comprehensive institutions, one of only four campuses 10. The University of Minnesota has four nationally that have agricultural programs established campuses (Twin Cities, Duluth, as well as an academic health center with a Morris, Crookston), a developing major medical school. The University cooperative campus in Rochester, six prides itself on strong programs and agricultural experiment stations, one departments – from theater and dance to forestry center, 18 regional extension chemical engineering and economics – and offices, and extension personnel in its breadth provides unique counties throughout the state. The interdisciplinary strengths, particularly in University’s public service programs (e.g., the life sciences. Extension Service, clinics in medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine, 7. The University of Minnesota was founded outreach to K-12 education) touch more in 1851, predating statehood by seven than 1,000,000 people annually. years. It is governed by a 12-member B. Academic Priorities “Founded in faith that men are ennobled by understanding Dedicated to the advancement of learning and the search for truth Devoted to the instruction of youth and the welfare of the state.” These words, composed by Hartley Burr campus. The University remains committed to Alexander and adopted by the Board of these great purposes, which are, appropriately, Regents of the University of Minnesota in carved in stone. The University is an integral 1936, are inscribed over the Northrop part of our idea of Minnesota – a relatively Auditorium entrance on the Twin Cities small population of 5 million in a challenging University of Minnesota: 2003-04 Accountable to U 7 climate that has built a high quality of life and future is still tied to a strong University of nurtured an uncompromising aspiration for Minnesota, and I see no way for the University innovation and leadership. to continue to succeed without adequate state and private investment.” That idea of Minnesota has always been premised on the importance of education, and Academic Research and Education: the University has benefited at the same time it has served this state. Today, through the Maintaining Excellence, Pushing the education of the more than 63,000 students it Boundaries of Knowledge has enrolled, through the half billion dollars of The University of Minnesota is actively external support for path-breaking research its committed to maintaining and scholars do each year, and through the many strengthening excellence by investing in its and varied ways it connects its work to the outstanding academic programs and needs of the community, the University of building a culture that supports Minnesota is even more relevant to the people interdisciplinary work. of the state, the nation, and the world. The University has many highly ranked According to University President Robert academic programs, and it is critical that we Bruininks, “Our challenge today is to move continue to provide significant support to these ahead, to set high