What’s Coming up for CLA

Crisp weather, football, and trees blazing maroon and gold⁠—fall on campus is one of my favorite times of the year. Fall also brings with it the annual State of the College address, where I recap CLA’s accomplishments in the past year. Any way you look at it, 2018-19 raised the bar. It was the college’s best-ever fundraising year and our 4-year graduation rate is at an all-time high. In honor of our 150th anniversary, Governor Mark Dayton declared CLA Day in the state of Minnesota, as did Mayor Jacob Frey in Minneapolis. We even had the I-35W bridge lit maroon and gold in our honor. It was a truly special year of reflection, remembering, and looking forward. I hope you, as alumni, felt part of the celebration, and I hope you enjoyed the 150th-anniversary commemorative magazine we mailed to you in August.

The State of the College address also gives us the opportunity to outline initiatives and areas of focus moving forward. In my remarks, I discussed three initiatives. One is strengthening our culture of excellence in teaching and learning. Another is making the reduction of achievement and opportunity gaps across groups (for example, 4-year graduation rates across income levels, across first-generation and other students, across racial and ethnic groups) something we engage with at all levels of the college. And the third is the Civic Readiness Initiative. 

Our Civic Readiness Initiative is our effort to help our students build their skills to engage in productive conversation across differences, whether political, ideological, social, economic, racial, ethnic, religious, or other ways in which our students engage with diversity. In my conversations with alumni, I have heard from those with political views across the board, whether conservative, liberal, something in between, or something else entirely, that they are concerned with the nature of our public life and civic communication. And they are worried about what they perceive happening on college campuses when they hear about speakers shouted down or students wary of expressing their views. I share those concerns and worries. 

The Civic Readiness Initiative is CLA’s effort to move things in a better direction, sending into the world graduates who are able to converse and engage with those who differ philosophically and demographically. This effort is not about calling for passive or timid “civility.” Our effort embraces robust and passionate debate, discussion, and dialogue and aims to build those skills in our students and provide them with models for how respectful and productive dialogue is done well. If my description of this initiative interests you and you have some thoughts to share, please send me a note at cladean@umn.edu. 

As ever, I encourage you to stay connected to the college through the UMN Advocates Program or through the Maroon and Gold Network. By participating in this digital network, you can directly help today’s undergraduate and graduate students with your advice, wisdom, and guidance. Our students benefit greatly from your involvement and I know alums find the experience highly rewarding. I encourage you to check out the network. 

Please know I am grateful for your support and involvement on behalf of CLA and the U. Do let me know if there are issues of importance to you, questions you may have, or ideas you would like to share. You can always find me on Twitter or Facebook or on the Dean’s Corner website.

Have a great fall. SKI-U-MAH!

John Coleman
Dean, College of Liberal Arts