What a terrific start to Fall 2022 for St. Cloud State University! Our campus has been brightened with fall colors and bustling with new and returning students eager to engage in academics and activities. We are enjoying a sense of renewed pride and passion for the traditions and strengths we share as a university of leaders, scholars, teachers, and learners.
We kicked off the semester with numerous in-person festivities of the Huskies First 4 and our New Student Convocation welcoming incoming students and their families to our Husky community. This fresh start brought with it a sense of being reunited in spirit and purpose. Classrooms are abuzz with teaching, exploration, discovery, and innovative learning.
We are more than 10,000 students strong with a network of over 125,000 alumni worldwide whose accomplishments make us exceedingly proud. We are expanding our regional reach with the introduction of new online Master’s degree programs in business and education, and have welcomed our largest incoming graduate class overall. We are market relevant with the introduction of programs like Esports – meeting student interests and career opportunities of the future. We’ve doubled the number of advisors who serve as guides for building academic programs of study, as well as a support system for those times in the semester when students need encouragement or a problem solved to continue moving forward. Thanks to our focus on student success, we have welcomed greater numbers of returning students excited about building toward their future success in their careers and in life.
Among our campus leaders, faculty and staff, there is a renewed sense of purpose as we are working through our It’s Time strategic framework for the future. It’s Time is our call to action to boldly re-examine how we deliver an education in innovative, focused, effective ways. We are focused on ensuring a quality experience that supports student success. We continue to build on our strong foundation of academic distinction, with expert faculty who are teacher-scholars working directly with our students and industry partners, in an environment that prioritizes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Like so many institutions similar to ours nationwide, we are confronted with challenges of changing student demographics, ever-evolving workforce needs, and overall expectations of today’s learners. We have weathered the storm of a pandemic, as our campus community buckled up to protect the pack and navigate many unexpected turns. All the while, our campus leaders, faculty, and staff never
lost momentum in ushering in a period of change to improve our processes and our quality, removing barriers and changing the culture of our institution to respond to the challenges we face. We continue to deliver and expand on market-relevant degree programs to meet workforce demands. We are reshaping the way we deliver continuing education opportunities to the workforce and offer our expertise and state of the art facilities to problem solve and meet the needs of our industry partners.
On the pages of this magazine you will find stories about students, administrators, faculty, staff and alumni who exemplify the special qualities of our campus community where students are supported, inspired and encouraged to achieve their potential. Where leaders and professors welcome their role as mentors and partners in the amazing journey of higher education we offer.
You will read about our graduate named 2022 Minnesota Teacher of the Year who cherishes her own educational journey where teachers and mentors brought her through a traumatic childhood and into a life of light, joy and purpose. Now she’s helping to give her own students the confidence to discover their own strengths and abilities and pursue their own dreams.
You’ll learn about the SCSU Community Garden where a wide array of vegetables, fruits, flowers and relationships grow and flourish while campus and community connections are built.
You’ll read about some of the dynamic new leaders on campus who have joined and infused their unique experiences and ideas into our bold It’s Time framework. Together we are investing deeply into helping our students grow and develop their potential.
And you’ll learn about the extraordinary group of faculty and staff who have become a team of mentors supporting students in new ways, working together to personalize and enhance learning experiences in ways that align with their mentees’ goals.
I am proud to lead a university community who value and embrace our responsibility to welcome a diverse community of students into personal and specialized educational journeys that will prepare them for work, life and citizenship in a world of challenges and rich opportunities.
