Panelists discuss campus-community partnerships at Spring 2017 Convocation. From left are Dave Kleis ’89, St. Cloud mayor; Ashish Vaidya, interim SCSU president; Kenneth Holmen, CentraCare Health president; and Patti Gartland ’80, Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation president. Photo by Nick Lenz ’11
“It’s all about relationship building,” said Patti Gartland ’80, president of the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation.
That’s her take on how the City of St. Cloud and two of its largest organizations, St. Cloud State and CentraCare Health, can prosper, together.
Convocation links
Gartland, a 30-year veteran of municipal and regional service, shared the Ritsche Auditorium stage Jan. 4 with Dave Kleis ’89, St. Cloud mayor; Ken Holmen, CEO of St. Cloud-based CentraCare Health; and Ashish Vaidya, St. Cloud State interim president.
The panel discussion on partnerships is part of Convocation, the four-day, employee-learning assembly that precedes the Jan. 9 start of the semester.
Vaidya prefaced the discussion with a reminder that the strategic plan calls for St. Cloud State to be “more responsive to changes in the world, more oriented toward student success, more accountable to community partners and more engaged in the success of our state and its people.”
He said the University is a steward of place, an anchor for the larger community.
Holmen, a former anesthesiologist, leads another community anchor: CentraCare Health and its 10,000 employees and 700,000 patients.
“Institutions are always wrestling with siloed thought processes because we are proud of the past, living in today and nervous about tomorrow,” Holmen said. “The challenge for us is to somehow think differently.”
One element of new thinking, according to Gartland, is finding new and innovative ways to attract, retain and develop workers in greater St. Cloud. She said area businesses should find more experiential learning opportunities for students.
Holmen encouraged St. Cloud State graduates to develop “translational leadership” skills, the ability to move comfortably across multiple disciplines, among diverse groups.
Holmen said CentraCare needs St. Cloud State expertise in areas such as data interpretation, financial management and personnel management.
Panelists mentioned that St. Cloud State faculty are collaborating with community organizations. King Banaian, for example, chairs the city’s seven-member Economic Development Authority. Additionally, Banaian and fellow economist, Rich MacDonald, are developing new measurement tools for the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation. One of the longest-running community collaborations is the St. Cloud Area Quarterly Business Report, authored by MacDonald and Banaian.
Kleis noted that partnerships have solved past problems. When he took office in 2005, tension among campus, city and community leaders regarding student behavior in the University-South Side neighborhood had strained relationships. As the years passed, collaboration through multiple channels, including the Neighborhood University Community Council, improved the neighborhood climate.
“Now there’s a tremendous relationship between the neighborhood, the University and the city,” Kleis said.
Convocation is managed by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), St. Cloud State’s engine for inquiry and critical engagement. CETL workshops are Jan. 3-9. They focus on the Our Husky Compact dimension of the year: “Engage as a member of a diverse and multicultural world.”
