Excitement for Minnesota State University, Mankato is running high these days, no matter how far ahead you look. In just a few weeks, we’ll begin offering the first of our doctoral programs, certainly an exciting and historic step. Within one year, we’ll have a new residence hall, a new addition to the Trafton Science Center and several more projects in the planning stages. In ten years we’ll be well on our way toward being a flagship institution of wide renown, heightened enrollment and sterling academic experiences.
Naturally, a great deal of satisfaction comes with envisioning such progress and changes. But looking forward is only part of the satisfaction. It’s important for me to know that the growth I’m proposing is consistent with the institution’s identity, its proud history. And after visiting with some special alumni recently, I’m as convinced as ever that our plans for growth are on the right track.
In July, I had the pleasure of addressing the first-ever all-school reunion among alumni of the Mankato State Teachers College, who traveled from around the country to gather here. Before becoming Mankato State College in 1957, the institution had been Mankato State Teachers College since 1921. And the July reunion brought together about 150 alumni from nearly every year of that era.
Sponsored by the Minnesota State University, Mankato Alumni Association, the event was a day-long journey through great times of the past, a day in which old friends and classmates were able to put some touches of fresh color onto black-and-white memories. For those who hadn’t been to Mankato since they were students here, it was a dramatic day, if only visually. Those alumni saw what had been a teachers college transformed into a major state university and transported to a sprawling, scenic hilltop.
In the morning, they toured this “new” university, walking amid the prize-winning architecture of late and noticing the extraordinary number of services and opportunities available to students of 2007. The pride was palpable—and audible—as they toured facilities from the many labs in the ever-expanding Trafton to the breathtaking Ted Paul Theatre.
Later, as I talked with these alumni and elaborated on the general vision my staff and I have for Minnesota State Mankato, it became clear that our University’s past and its future are extraordinarily compatible. This reunion, after all, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the changeover from Mankato State Teachers College to Mankato State College. Then, as now, students were witness to an expansion of what their institution had to offer, and history has proven these steps extraordinarily successful.
As many others do, I find summer a good time to reflect on the previous year, evaluate what worked and what did not, and ultimately seek a rejuvenation as I approach another academic year. Underscoring so much of my work here will be the goal of making sure Minnesota State Mankato is prepared to take the dramatic steps necessary in our vision. I found such rejuvenation on that July weekend.
Today’s vision for Minnesota State Mankato would not be as clear without the great hearts, minds and contributions of our alumni—no matter how far back you look.
