Interim President Ashish Vaidya will moderate a panel of community and business leaders for 2017 Spring Convocation. Photo by Nick Lenz ’11
St. Cloud State will celebrate community engagement and partnership at the President’s 2017 Spring Convocation at 9 a.m. Jan. 4 in Stewart Hall’s Ritsche Auditorium.
Convocation links
A panel discussion with community and business leaders moderated by Interim President Ashish Vaidya will focus on “The Role of Reciprocal Partnerships in Building the 21st Century Engaged University.” Panelists are Mayor Dave Kleis ’89; District 742 Superintendent Willie Jett; CentraCare President Kenneth Holmen; and Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation President Patti Gartland ’80. [UPDATE: Due to illness, Jett was unable to attend.]
The event will include opening remarks from Vaidya and Interim Provost Dan Gregory.
“I am grateful to these leaders in our community for joining me in a conversation about what makes a successful partnership between community and the University,” Vaidya said. “The work being done across campus to help students succeed has a direct impact on our community and our region. It will be a great experience to hear directly from our partners about what the accomplishments of our faculty, staff and students means to them.”
Campus and community members are invited to attend. Parking is available in the 4th Avenue Parking Ramp.
2017 Spring Convocation marks the launch of spring semester and is managed by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), St. Cloud State’s engine for inquiry and critical engagement. CETL workshops take place Jan. 3-9 and will focus on the Our Husky Compact dimension of the year: Engage as a member of a diverse and multicultural world.
“To embrace learning we must come together and engage our whole selves as diverse and multicultural beings,” said CETL Director Lalita Subrahmanyan. “We hope the workshops foster thoughtful dialogues and spawn fruitful inquiry to maximize student learning and success.”
About the panelists
Mayor Dave Kleis
Mayor Dave Kleis is a Magna Cum Laude 1989 graduate of St. Cloud State University, and a 9 year veteran of the Air Force and Air Force Reserve. He served the St. Cloud area in the Minnesota Senate from 1994 through 2005, 7 years as Assistant Senate Minority Leader.Dave was first elected as mayor of St. Cloud in November 2005.
Superintendent Willie Jett
Superintendent Willie Jett has a master’s degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh, where he also was a Division I assistant basketball coach. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education while playing guard at the University of Illinois-Chicago from 1985-88 and was an all-state point guard at Osseo High School. Jett was an assistant principal from 2001-06 at Park Center High School in Brooklyn Park, and served as an interim principal at North View Junior High in 2006 in Brooklyn Park. From 2006-11, he was principal of Hopkins High School.
CentraCare President Kenneth Holmen
Before becoming president and CEO of CentraCare, Dr. Ken Holmen was a vice president with Bloomington-based HealthPartners, which controls Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where he was chief medical officer. He became an anesthesiologist in 1983 and was CEO of his practice from 1996-2004. Holmen graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1978.
GSDC President Patti Gartland
A graduate of St. Cloud State, Patti Gartland is a lifelong resident of the greater St. Cloud community and has more than 30 years experience in community and economic development, private sector business, and higher education. Prior to joining GSDC, Gartland served as the City Administrator for Sartell for nearly 12 years. In 2014, she was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Metropolitan Airports Commission in one of four seats representing outstate Minnesota.
