2020 Fall SCSU Convocation from UTVS Television on Vimeo.
Good morning. It’s great to see you – virtually or in person! It’s exciting to be together again to launch a new academic year in this time of unprecedented drama, unpredictability and promise.
First would like to welcome all the new staff and faculty who have joined us this fall. We are glad you are a part of our Huskies community.
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It’s interesting to note that a year ago at convocation – six months before COVID began to spread – I said these words: “There is no doubt that the world has changed dramatically for those of us working in higher education. We may not like how things have changed but honestly, there is no going back to the way things were before. This is our reality.”
Who knew that statement would have multiple meanings for us at this moment in time?
If we’ve learned one thing these past few years, it is there our world is in constant motion, constant change. And the realization that is honestly the norm of our lives
I was asked a few months ago, how are things at St Cloud State. I paused for what seemed an eternity. How should I answer that question? Should I talk about our focus on the future – the It’s Time framework that will prepare us to respond successfully to enrollment and fiscal challenges? Should I talk about how COVID has unraveled our normal expected ways of operation? Should I talk about how the death of George Floyd has laid bare historic racism we can no longer accept. So I finally said “how much time do you have?” and smiled.
Well today is the day for us to talk about all of those things!
Remember back to March.
That first week was when our world, our day to day personal and work lives, and our communities changed. We learned that our country, our state, our university was really, really facing a global pandemic. Of course we didn’t truly understand the reality of what we were facing. We’d never experienced a pandemic before.
Do you remember that day in March when we announce that we were going to close campus and work remotely? An entire campus operation!
Since March, it’s been a steady stream of new information, data about new cases, new research that comes out daily, and every day we had to figure out how to adapt and keep ourselves an each other safe. Figuring out masks, staying physically distant, remembering to take the health assessment everyday. The phrase new normal is in every single aspect of our lives.
You made the transition from working at a bustling campus environment to providing remote learning for students in a wide variety of living and study conditions and providing student support and campus business operations.
Our amazing faculty and staff helped each other learn and apply creative new ways to push on and make a difference for students reeling from the changes and uncertainties affecting their world.
We are an extraordinary university that has always and always will be a place where academic excellence and student engagement are hallmarks. We never lose sight of the fact that students are the heartbeat of our campus.
Here is snapshot of what we accomplished.
Now, Zoom meetings are now the norm.
Let’s face it, we’ve been constantly using technology via multiple platforms to communicate: email, texts, Facebook, WeChat, it’s a lot!
I don’t know about you but sometimes tech fatigue sets in and the results are unintended.
We’re bringing Huskies home this week to a campus community ready to welcome students, faculty and staff back to learn, live, teach and protect the pack.
In a summer like no other, our faculty and staff prepared to welcome students back, working hard to address the inevitable challenges COVID-19 has brought about.
All our offices and departments developed action plans to provide a clean, sanitized and safe campus for campus community and visitors to teach, learn, live and gather.
We care about each other and take on the shared responsibility we have to adherence to state and federal guidelines that will help mitigate the spread of the virus.
I hope you do not underestimate the extent to which you have adapted and what you have accomplished – these past 6 months have been intellectually, emotionally, socially and financially challenging. I know you’re tired and weary.
I want to acknowledge that and thank you for persevering and doing your best day after day on behalf of our university and students.
As you know, COVID-19 wasn’t the only incredible upheaval of these past few months. Just after spring semester closed, another shockwave reverberated across the globe.
8 minutes and 46 seconds. In 8 minutes and 46 seconds a police officer’s knee was pressed down on George Floyd’s neck and we watched his life taken by this police action.
Mr. Floyd’s death represent the ongoing reality of a 400 year old, deep rooted racism and bias, and racial profiling experienced by members of our African American community and other communities of color. This reality isn’t a “Minneapolis problem”, it is the daily lived experience of racism that our friends, colleagues and students of color experience. His death laid bare the on-going pain, anguish and anger of having yet another discussion about how to stay safe in public spaces, racial profiling. Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, and Ahmaud Arbery). When will this change?
The heartbreaking end to Mr. Floyd’s life must be the catalyst for us, as individuals and members of our university, to continue our work for diversity, equity and inclusion. As members of a higher education institution, that prides itself in the power of knowledge to change our lives and our world for the better, we have a responsibility to not only educate ourselves about the historical and on-going issues of racism and prejudice but also to act to change this lived reality of people both known and unknown to us.
Committed faculty already were working on anti-racism pedagogy, building on a history of efforts to dismantle systemic racism and all forms of discrimination to create a welcoming, nurturing environment to allow all our students to thrive.
2020 is our year to act with an on-going commitment to advance equality and social justice in all its forms.
This year we commemorated the 100th anniversary of the women’s right to vote in America, but we know that women still struggle for equal opportunities and the #metoo is a reality for far too many women.
Similarly, we just this past month observed the 55th anniversary of Lyndon
Johnson’s signing of the Voting Rights Act to allow African Americans the right to vote, a law that followed the 1964 Civil Rights Act that banned segregation in schools and public places. Vote and protect the right to vote.
This year we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the ADA, the landmark law to undo centuries of segregation, stigmatization, and discrimination on the basis of disability.
It’s time we “see” each other and value our diversity and uniqueness. This is the only way forward to a better, more just lives for us all.
While we never imagined how this past year would unfold, one year ago and again at Spring Convocation, we laid the foundation for implementing a new framework to address the demands and changes of a rapidly evolving higher education. We declared, “It’s Time to boldly alter the way we operate with a new path for the future.”
It’s time to push ourselves to think differently to meet today’s learners where they are at, and to continue to provide them with the world-class education that St. Cloud State has been known for, and will continue to be known for in the future.
It’s time to ask the tough questions and to have the hard conversations about how our everyday work lives can be different and better. And how we can make our students’ lives better.
It’s time to imagine a new St. Cloud State. It’s time to focus on the changes that will take our challenges and turn them into our opportunities.
Build on our strengths. It’s time to be bold, push the boundaries and take control of our future.
We declared It’s Time to redefine what an RCU is to us – and make St. Cloud State distinctive in order to be competitive in the new landscape of higher education. Together, we reimagined the definition of regional university.
While we will continue to recruit in Minnesota, we will also expand our recruiting areas beyond Minnesota in response to the changing demographics of Minnesota. We will expand our recruitment efforts in the Midwest, select areas in the United States and internationally.
To be a distinctive regional comprehensive university we will:
- become a university recognized as a leader in four academic areas;
- have a designated number of top-ranked and nationally recognized degree programs in each college and school;
- grow masters and doctoral programs;
- pursue a strengthened position in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences programs for the 21st century; and ensure that liberal education program is integrated and connected with student’s academic path and promotes personal and professional success; and
- provide an exceptional education via academic programs with distinctive characteristics to foster student growth and success.
As “teacher/scholars” faculty will integrate research, scholarship and creative works (RSCW) with instruction and will have a differentiated workload to promote their RSCW. We will create centers and institutes organized to conduct applied research and scholarship that addresses social and educational issues.
B. Applied Research Centers and Institutes. We are an anchor institution with responsibility to play an active role in addressing the unique needs, opportunities and challenges of our region through applied research and scholarship.
We must move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to first meet students where they are and engages them achieving their personal and professional aspirations.
During the Spring 2020 semester, I will be charging Academic Affairs to begin to:
- Identify the future portfolio of our four areas of strength and how that portfolio will be unique in its approach. This will include identifying interdisciplinary intersections and ways to implement global experiences for our students and faculty.
- identify programs to be advanced as nationally recognized programs
- begin to create pathways for all programs to advance the six
- Create a process to identify additional research centers and institutes to develop.
- take steps to advance LEP and strengthened our Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences programs for the 21st century
- continue work on Huskies Advance
- Create the plan to implement our Husky Coach program.
5) Prioritizing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
We will prioritize the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and engage in intentional actions to address systemic inequities throughout the university. DEI values, practices, and strategies will be embedded into the fabric of institution and campus community.
These five pillars of a newly defined Regional University will inform and guide all the It’s Time activities
2020 is our year for action and we have begun and will continue to engage the campus to implement the It’s Time framework.
A. Retention via personalized educational pathways.
Huskies Advance Pathways.
To this end, the Huskies Advance – students will choose from 5-6 areas – to help define their educational experience through informed and deliberate curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular choices.
Once completed, Huskies Advance Pathways will result in a credential that is a companion to their degree and will set a student apart in their career.
Retaining the New RCU Student – Husky Coaches.
In addition to retention efforts that we have implemented over the last 4 years, we will expand this strategy with the implementation of Husky Coaches, who are assigned to students as soon as they are admitted and remain with them through graduation.
We will prioritize the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and engage in intentional actions to address systemic inequities throughout the university. DEI values, practices, and strategies will be embedded into the fabric of institution and campus community.
Doing so means focusing on equitable outcomes. In addition, there must be a recognition of and intentional actions taken, to address inequities embedded within the institution’s metrics, structures, policies, and decision-making processes, as well as recognition of the historical and systemic oppression within higher education and our own institution.
In order to make meaningful progress, we must include a diversity of people within the policy and decision-making processes, educate all faculty and staff in multicultural counselling and/or education, and emphasize the creation of a campus climate that supports all members of our campus community.
The leads will begin engaging others in this work – more details will be forthcoming.
How we treat each other, our actions matter. Ask, don’t assume. Inquire to understand and build empathy.
Let’s discard the old memes – it’s no longer one group against another. We are all in this together and must support, challenge and engage each other as members of the same community. Working together on behalf of our students and SCSU.
Show grace – quick to forgive – yourself and each other.
I want SCSU to be known for doing the unexpected – doing the unexpected on behalf of our students, faculty and staff – on behalf of St Cloud State University.
Figuring out how to hold a safe and in person commencement for our spring and summer graduates and their families was doing the unexpected. Thank Holly Schreiner.
It was a remarkable and long day with 6 separate ceremonies. Made possible by the hard work of so many staff, faculty and administrators.
Was it worth it? To answer that question all you had to do was watch the moment when GaBrina Cornelious’ father surprised her on stage during the 7:30 p.m. commencement ceremony. Her father, Sgt. Cornelious missed her undergraduate ceremony in 2017 when she graduated with her bachelor’s degree, but was able to get a 48-hour leave to fly here to see her cross the stage on Friday.
Yes. What we do matters. Our students’ accomplishments are moments to celebrate and moments they will never forget. That is Husky Pride.
Today we pause to honor the remarkable work everyone here has done to keep us all moving forward.
Now is the time to think beyond the currently struggles and look ahead – to embrace change and thrive in this incredible point in time.
To embrace the path to social justice for all.
To build a university to withstand whatever comes our way.
We are an extraordinary university and you make that it so.
Thank you for all you do.
