NEWS | March 2007 - all articles
This page includes all articles in the March issue of NEWS. Return to summary of articles
Students become citizen lobbyists for need-based aid
Business a vital partner in STEM education
Minnesota Measures report serves as state policy tool
LearnmoreMN launches advertising in April
BRIEFS
Students become citizen lobbyists for need-based aid
Each year students get involved in advocating for the legislative agenda put forward by the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC) on behalf of its 17 institutions. Day at the Capitol, held on five days Feb. 28 through April 12, gives students an opportunity to become effective citizen lobbyists while urging their hometown legislators to support financial aid for Minnesota students — specifically the State Grant Program. Students receive a policy and lobbying briefing and attend meetings set up for them with legislators. It can be a powerful experience for the more than 300 students participating in 2007.
For Meredith Browne, a junior from Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, this was her third time attending Day at the Capitol. "Both my representatives were brand new. I felt like I was presenting new material about the State Grant Program to them, where in the past they were telling me. I was the informed one this time," she said.
Dan Aubin from Concordia University in St. Paul is very clear on why he participates in Day at the Capitol. "The prospect of paying my student debt without the State Grant I receive would be terrifying. I wouldn’t be able to go to school where I want to but where the tuition was lowest," he said. "This experience educates you about how the legislative system works and how doors can be open for constituents. Many students don’t realize that they can do more than vote."
Concordia University students Shae Wallin and Kevin Olson had slightly different takes on the event. Wallin found her experience to be constructive even though one of her legislators wasn’t willing to meet. "The representative I did see was really supportive of giving money to students rather than institutions." Olson attended because he thinks legislators need to hear students’ stories: "My dad’s been laid off for awhile and my mom doesn’t make that much. My State Grant is crucial!"
Zack Kenz, the Student Association president from Concordia College in Moorhead, was glad to meet one-on-one with legislators. "It’s good to see their reactions and to show them whom they’re impacting," he said. "The two representatives I met with were very receptive." Kenz valued the training he received about how to make the most of a meeting with legislators. "Sometimes you have to wiggle your way in. But they will give you their undivided attention, even if it’s just for a few minutes."
Read more about the MPCC legislative agenda and need-based aid
Business a vital partner in STEM education
The students attending the 17 member institutions of the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC) who have declared undergraduate majors in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degree programs are recruited nationally for leadership positions in business and industry, due to the strength of MPCC schools in the sciences and math. However, the status quo is not sufficient for the future.
The demand for STEM discipline graduates will mushroom in the next ten years with the projected 20 to 33 percent increase in scientific and technical occupations. Demand will be compounded by the retirement of baby boomers currently at the helm in these fields.
The need to increase the number of students choosing STEM majors has been a clarion call from the corner offices of business. That call is now being clearly heard in the halls of academia and government.
In January, the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering sponsored the symposium "Engineering Minnesota’s Future." In the keynote address, George W. Buckley, chairman, president and CEO of 3M, said, "We are in a global innovation economy…we must encourage innovative thought and recognize the foundational role of mathematics."
Undergraduate research clearly shows students the foundational role of mathematics. Whether the topic is science- or sociology-based, its analysis becomes mathematical at some point and usually requires technology competence. Research also develops cross-disciplinary analysis and critical thinking skills. The Minnesota Private Colleges Scholars at the Capitol event provides a venue to showcase the student research done on all our MPCC campuses.
Ronald Bennett, Ph.D., dean of the St. Thomas School of Engineering, emphasized the importance of cooperating with industry when addressing skill development and course and degree offerings. "St. Thomas has been intentional about asking industry what it needs from STEM graduates," he said.
Recognizing the need to be proactive in meeting the challenges of the global economy and changing demographics, Gov. Tim Pawlenty convened the Minnesota Biosciences Education-Industry Partnership Council in 2005. Members of the Council include representatives from each of the higher education systems K-12 specialists, industry associations and businesses that need to employ individuals with STEM degrees.
At a recent Biosciences Education-Industry Partnership Council meeting, discussion turned to the important role of internships in STEM education. Peter Nash, CEO of Camas, Inc., currently in the review process with the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics for licensure of its product to prevent bovine respiratory disease, shared an example of the success his company had with interns. "We secured interns from Gustavus Adolphus College to do lab assessments during development of our product. It was productive as well as cost effective for us and a positive experience for the students," he said.
Camas executive Brad Mitteness, who formerly worked with business development at the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI), noted the importance during product development of "leaps in innovation." "These leaps require innovative thinking across disciplines," he said.
The rigorous STEM studies provided by a liberal arts education can help graduates hone cross-disciplinary analytical skills which support the innovative thinking necessary for leaps in process and product development. This is one of the many strengths that Minnesota’s Private Colleges bring to the partnership between business and education. Working together, we can expand the STEM graduate pipeline that will enable Minnesota to compete and succeed in the global economy.
Minnesota Measures report serves as state policy tool
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The Minnesota Office of Higher Education released Minnesota Measures last month, a report on higher education performance results on 18 preliminary measures identified as important to the state. Findings will help guide higher education policy decisions around some measurable results. The following results are particularly relevant.
| Key Indicator |
Behind the Data |
| Minnesota needs more students, especially more diverse students, to enroll in college. | |
65% of 2004 Minnesota high school graduates enrolled in college immediately after graduation. In-state enrollment rates by race and ethnicity show that fewer students of color go on to college in the fall after their high school graduation as compared to their white peers:
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In 2005-06, 22% of Minnesota K-12 students were students of color compared to 14.1% of new entering college students in Fall 2005. Less than optimal enrollment rates of students of color can be found in all sectors of higher education except private career schools.
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| All Minnesota institutions need to do a better job of ensuring that students graduate. | |
| In 2005, 36% of students enrolled in Minnesota’s four-year institutions completed a bachelor’s degree within four years; 57% completed within six years. (Indicator 1C) |
There are benefits to students (in income) and the state when students complete their degree. Increasing Minnesota’s college completion rate by 1% for a single cohort of students would yield an estimated $250,000 in additional income tax revenue for the state each year. Source: MPCRF analysis, 2007 |
| To remain competitive, Minnesota needs a highly skilled workforce. | |
| Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) are considered valuable in the new economy. Only 18% of total bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2005-06 by Minnesota institutions were in STEM fields. (Indicator 2B) |
The University of Minnesota awards 28% of its bachelor’s degrees in STEM disciplines as compared to 16% at private colleges and 11% at state universities. Many other countries confer a significantly higher percent of bachelor’s degree equivalent awards in STEM disciplines (Korea, 40%; Germany, 33%; Finland, 32%; Japan, 28%). Sources: IPEDS, 2006; OECD, 2006 |
| To remain economically viable, Minnesota needs a highly skilled workforce now. | |
| 36% of adults aged 25-34 have completed a bachelor’s degree. (Indicator 1G) | Minnesota institutions awarded 29,108 bachelor’s degrees in 2005-06. To replace retiring baby boomers and fill new jobs, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded must grow to more than 37,000 by 2015 (+3.5% each year for the next 8 years.) Sources: MPCRF, 2006; IPEDS 2006 |
The Minnesota Measures report points to areas the state must focus on to succeed. It also demonstrates that the members of the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC) are crucial to the state’s success. Of the 2005 high school graduates enrolling in a four-year institution in Minnesota, 37 percent chose a private college — more than either the state universities or the University of Minnesota. MPCC institutions also have a much higher four-year graduation rate than the public institutions. Excluding MPCC institutions from the calculation of the state’s postsecondary graduation rates would lower the state’s four-year graduation rate to 24 percent and the six-year graduation rate to 50 percent at four-year institutions. Read more about Minnesota Measures
LearnmoreMN launches advertising in April
Watch for advertising about the LearnmoreMN Web site starting next month. These ads are targeted at audiences who need more information about the importance of higher education to our state’s future. They will run in business and ethnic publications, online newspapers/publications and radio, April through June.
The ads aim to help build public awareness of LearnmoreMN and the importance of school success for all Minnesota children. More high school graduates must go on to college to keep pace with our state’s need for college-educated workers. The two ads dramatize the challenges that face students which we as a state need to address. In one, a giant backpack dwarfs two students, with the headline "Getting an education shouldn’t be so imposing." In the other, a middle-school-aged girl looks up at a tall desk with an out-of-reach computer, with the headline "An education shouldn’t be inaccessible."
The print ads will run in business publications including Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Minnesota Business, Twin Cities Business, Business North (Duluth), Business Central (St. Cloud), Connect Magazine (Mankato and South Central MN) and Prairie Business (Fargo/Moorhead).
And because high school and college graduation trends are especially challenging among students from low-income families, new immigrant groups and communities of color, several ethnic publications were also chosen for the print ads. They include Asian Pages, Hmong Times, La Prensa, Gente de MN, Insight News, Spokesman-Recorder, One Nation News and The Circle.
A number of online ads also will appear on startribune.com, mpr.org, twincities.com (Pioneer Press), twincities.bizjournals.com, blackmusicamerica.com and businessnorth.com. In addition, underwriting messages will run on MPR broadcasts.
In other LearnmoreMN Web site news, a new discussion forum topic on improving school success was posted by Tom Kingston of the Wilder Foundation. Read the post and weigh in with your views. Recently added pages include: "Testimonials" — a compilation of comments about the site, and "What’s New" — a brief summary of the newest articles and facts, are new pages on the site. Visit LearnmoreMN today.
BRIEFS
- The MN Private Colleges Tour — Where Diversity Matters, is slated for the week of April 16 at five Twin Cities high schools. Ethnic graduates from Minnesota's Private Colleges will share their life stories and encourage high school students to take steps now to go on to college. More about the tour
- I Can Make it Happen, a new advertising / outreach campaign targets middle schoolers and encourages them to plan to turn their dreams into reality by going to college. MPCC has been a donor and supporter, along with the other branches of higher education, with the Office of Higher Education as the lead donor and facilitator.