Members present:    Prince Amattoe, Ferolyn Angell, Mary Elizabeth Bezanson, Ken Crandall, LeAnn Dean, Pam Gades,
                                    Bryan Herrmann, Margaret Kuchenreuther (chair), Maddy Maxeiner, Lowell Rasmussen, Joe Timmerman,
                                    Jim VanAlstine, Brian Welle

Members absent:     Melissa Nelmark

Guest:                        Sam Schuman
 

(In these minutes: continued discussion of campus planning)

The meeting began at 8:00 a.m. with introductions.  The minutes of September 22, 2000 were approved. (Motion by Joe Timmerman, second by Bryan Herrmann)

Margaret Kuchenreuther talked about the strategic planning for this group and reminded everyone of UMMís mission. Kuchenreuther asked the committee to think about three or four things the committee should work on this year. She asked the committee to think about our strengths and weaknesses and talk about our priorities and asked for discussion from the committee.  Bezanson expressed concern about President Yudofís attitude toward UMM. She believes itís much more complex than we know. Schuman noted there are things that UMM is profoundly affected by and others over which we have virtually no control, an example would be the level of public support UMM receives. However, we can control the private funds we receive.   Amattoe asked if research scholarships would bring a percentage of money into the system. He would like to see these types of scholarships available to students at UMM. Schuman stated we could probably make a case to increase the general scholars for Morris, but expressed concern about the demands we already make on our instructors in terms of helping students with research.
Bezanson doesnít think that people in Minnesota know that the University of Minnesota is all of us, not just the Twin Cities campus. Maxeiner stated that when she and Sam meet with the University Foundation people, she reminds them to be very clear in the language usedóthat they include all campuses because we need to be more widely publicized. But to do this, we need more resources. VanAlstine stated that it is not just the sole responsibility of our administration making to make sure people know who we are. This has to be done by everyone who has an opportunity. Rasmussen stated that UMM would need a well-established plan to justify why we would need additional dollars. The discussion then went back to things we canít control, such as:

       1. the number of high school graduates in the state of Minnesota
       2. the character of the town we live in
       3. inflating costs
       4. instructional technology
       5. health insurance

Rasmussen stated that currently we are using Capital money, bonded over 30 years, to pay for new computers that are virtually obsolete in three years. Heís concerned about using our money in this way.

Schuman also added a factor that we canít control, but that all private liberal arts colleges are facing now, is the increase in tuition. However, as their bottom line goes up considerably more than ours, he believe that our position as a high quality, small, selective, human scaled liberal arts college will look better and better every year compared to private colleges.

Bezanson stated we can control the kind of attitude our students have for us when the leave. We want them to leave feeling positive about us. Rasmussen stated we need to be concerned about customer service in general, not just to our graduating seniors. He believes with our size and student body, we can out perform any Twin Cities program with customer service. Kuchenreuther added that faculty and staff need to be happy in their own jobs. Schuman responded that out of 350 employees at UMM, approximately 140 of those are faculty. Everyone else makes as much of a difference than just how students are treated by faculty. All employees need to understand that serving students is their job.
Kuchenreuther concluded with saying we need to think more concretely about the best services we can provide, the visibility and resources available to us, and what we can do as a committee.

The committee will meet again on Friday, October 6 at 8:00 a.m. in the Behmler Conference Room. Agenda items will include continuing discussion of campus planning and UMM street names.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.
Submitted by Carrie Grussing