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Richfield Sun-Current – Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 – www.minnlocal.com
In the Community, With the Community, For the Community
U of M president addresses Rotary Club of Burnsville Provides update on first four months in position, plans for school’s future BY MICHAEL RICCI – SUN NEWSPAPERS As the 16th president of the University of Minnesota, Eric Kaler jokingly said he was channeling that other 16th president, prompting another to plead that he and his wife do not attend the theater. Following this lighthearted introduction, UMN President Eric Kaler spoke before members of the Burnsville, Apple Valley, and Eagan Rotary Clubs, as well as members of the Dakota County Chamber of Commerce 12 p.m. Monday, Oct. 31, at the Nicollet Inn, 14204 Nicollet Ave., Burnsville. Kaler provided an update on his first four months in his new position as president and discussed his vision and priorities for the university in research, teaching and outreach. One point of emphasis made by Kaler centered on students in the past and the dramatic changes that have occurred to right a wrong.
‘We must strive to keep the U accessible to all qualified Minnesota students, regardless of their family income’ “Let’s be honest, 15 or 20 years ago, the undergraduate experience at the U was not all that it should have been,” Kaler said. “We know from alumni surveys that people who went to college at the U felt disengaged, and that was reflected in poor retention rates and awful graduation rates.” But, Kaler said, this has changed very dramatically. The president proceeded to reference two students who have stood out in their respective fields, but only as a teaser. “Two special students? Sure. But our entire incoming freshman class is totally special,” he said. “It is, by all measures, the best qualified group of first year students in U history.” Kaler added that the U had around
40,000 applicants this year and enrolled around 5,400. He also indicated that the ACT scores this year were the highest ever. Turning his attention to the university’s presence as the state’s only public research university, Kaler stressed the importance of such a facility. “Why should you care about having a research university in your backyard? Because all of the university’s campuses are homes for the innovation that makes Minnesota work, that contributes to the success of those 20 Fortune 500 companies in the state, but mostly to the hundreds of start-ups and thousands of small businesses.” Kaler then outlined the key principle of his administration: excellence, access,
diversity and research. Kaler desires for the university to be synonymous with other research universities, such as Berkeley, Michigan, North Carolina and the University of California-Los Angeles. “We must strive to keep the U accessible to all qualified Minnesota students, regardless of their family income,” he said. With regard to diversity, Kaler said, “We must work with our K-12 system to close the alarming decline in sciences and math teaching and learning, and the deplorable achievement gap between white students and children of color.” Concluding with the topic of research and its importance, the president said this is a “our investments in our research enterprise drive a high rate of return.” Kaler cited statistics that indicated the UMN’s annual economic impact on the sate was equal to the combined impact of all eight research universities in the Boston metropolitan area. “Last year our impact was estimated at $8.6 billion,” he said. “According to a 2003 study done by a Boston consulting firm … the economic impact of all those schools was about $7 billion annually.”
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