TODAY at Minnesota State Mankato is published in May, August and January and mailed to 90,000 alumni and friends. The mission of TODAY is to entertain, inform and connect readers to campus.
Fall 2007
Volume 9 Issue 1
Richard Davenport admits that the vision he has for Minnesota State University, Mankato, a vision that's best described as bold, is easier said than done. At the same time, he says with utmost confidence, status as a flagship institution for Minnesota and a world-renowned university are inevitable.
Davenport knows full well he's talking big, talking bold—even talking head-to-head against certain trends. For instance, he has stated publicly his vision to boost enrollment by the thousands. This at a time when statistics show fewer younger people in general and diminishing out-state high school graduation rates.
He admits freely that he's a believer in aiming high. A quick glance at the major strides the University has taken under Davenport during his five years as president reveals an appreciation—if not an appetitee—for the bold.
Certainly a key factor in Davenport's legacy will be his role as president when the University became a doctoral institution, a goal desired for decades and which required changes in state law. When those changes were made in 2006, several Minnesota State Mankato departments were well-positioned to hit the ground running. This fall will mark the launch of two doctoral programs with more on the horizon.
And that development alone, Davenport says, changes everything. It puts the University in a different and more prestigious arena for students, faculty, even alumni.
"The stage has been set now for Minnesota State Mankato to take some of its boldest steps yet into its future," Davenport says. "A stage that firmly establishes us as a prominent, highly desired and very exciting place to work and study. We are set, on the world stage, to move on to a newer, higher level."
And speaking of the world stage...
Through Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Scott Olson, Davenport has established a new approach to going international—bringing the University's varied international components under one roof in order to have a stronger and more cohesive global approach to research, study, students, alumni and social contributions.
Bold. Global. Add to those a proven diligence on the part of all who helped the University gain reaccreditations, a forward-thinking administration and a great relationship with faculty and, he says, now is the time to embark on a major expansion in size and stature.
"My goal is always to think very, very boldly and courageously, but then I have to step back and ask, is this achievable?" Davenport says. And this particular vision—which includes eventual enrollment of 18,000 to 20,000 students, construction of new student and academic buildings, stronger name recognition and a more diverse mix of students and faculty, and enhanced academic and student services—is, he says, entirely achievable.
"If I thought it was false, or if I felt that it was not congruent with the nature of this institution, the culture of the institution, I wouldn't be promoting it."
What Davenport is promoting beyond the buildings and the thousands more students is, naturally, an enhancement in the quality of education Minnesota State Mankato students experience. Yet to draw the best and brightest teachers and students, a university needs at the very least the capacity to house it all. The campus of Davenport's vision is one with more students and faculty, more buildings and even higher-caliber education.
The Minnesota State Mankato of Davenport's past was one he saw from a distance as having its act together. As far back as thirty years ago, Davenport held positions in St. Cloud and Winona State and always looked upon then–Mankato State as the place to be.
He credits his predecessors—Richard Rush, Margaret Preska, Douglas Moore and Jim Nickerson—with guiding the institution forward over a combined period of twenty–five years. When Davenport came to campus as president in 2002, he was able to start a long process of getting to know the campus culture—to discover its authentic and reliable strengths and needs, rather than switching the course prematurely.
He saw strengths everywhere: from faculty whose commitment exceeded what Davenport expected to see at a state institution, to students whose work ethics were strong and who seemed to value the access to faculty. "I observed that as being real, not just an artifact of something that I thought I saw early on," Davenport says.
And he saw a good relationship with the Mankato community. Shortly after he was hired, Davenport was preparing for a community reception at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center.
"I thought, well, a few community leaders will show up," he says. "There was a line way outside waiting to greet me. It was just an unbelievable acknowledgement and recognition of how important the University is to the community and vice versa. That told me a lot of groundwork had been laid in terms of community relationships."
Among other things, Davenport discovered that not a lot of people knew about the University or the myriad experiences of national or international interest taking place here. He felt it needed stronger marketing and stronger name recognition and he went to work establishing what he now calls a world-class marketing and public relations staff.
An enhanced marketing plan was part of several strategic priorities he and a campus-wide committee developed as the first concrete products of the Davenport vision.
They included developing a campus facilities master plan, an enrollment management plan, academic and athletic master plans, and a fundraising plan. These were goals and priorities that could be achieved in three to five years (save for the longer-range plan to enhance diversity), and it was understood that when one priority was achieved, another could take its place.
With these plans in motion, Davenport says, it's time to take steps beyond. Last spring, he met with more than 100 campus representatives to refine where to go with student enrollment.
"We came forward with a very bold vision and goal," he said. "There's no reason, with increased name recognition, with unbelievably good marketing and PR, why we can't combine all of our planning—campus master plan, student residence hall planning, academic master plan, international master plan—all of the pieces, and grow. And we decided we would.
"I issued a challenge to increase enrollment from 18,000 to 20,000 students. Easier said than done," Davenport says. "We need to combine the goal of higher enrollment with the campus master plan, and that involves putting up new buildings, academic buildings and student residence halls."
The foremost concern amid all the talk of growth and expansion is at the basic mission level: Will all this construction and these numbers be at the expense of excellence, that nearly private-school caliber of access to education? Davenport insists not.
"Right from the very beginning we talked how underpinning anything we do is the emphasis on quality," he says.
At last spring's gathering, a fairly basic presentation showed the context for the current decision to grow. It was a slide show of campus buildings that began with photos from 2007 and moved backward in time.
"It showed that in 2007 this is what we have, and in 2006—blip, one less building. Pretty soon, when you get to 1988, you see all these buildings and projects gone," Davenport says.
"Our point was: If the administrators and leaders back in 1987 had thought they should stay, as an institution, without expanding the campus and adding the learning laboratories and so forth, that's what we would have today. We said 'That was 1987. Here's 2007. Here's what we're planning for the future.'"
In terms of construction, Davenport said, Minnesota State Mankato is actually 350,000 square feet short of where it should be in terms of adequate building space for a campus of its enrollment—a fact that can effectively be used to lobby for new construction. "I think we are probably the lowest of all the state universities in terms of having sufficient academic space," he says. Meanwhile, construction is already underway on the new 600-bed Sears residence hall and the 80,000- square-foot addition to Trafton.
Davenport wants another, similar residence hall constructed, or have the University explore other housing options. The key goal is to get enough student residence space to demolish Gage Towers, versus spending $30 million to renovate them.
In addition, a campaign is underway for a new College of Business building. The University is also proposing a new building for the College of Allied Health and Nursing, which may not come on line till 2012. New buildings will also be sought for the College of Education and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
And there are hopes that private developers will help in terms of providing housing as well.
"So we'll probably not increase our capacity for on-campus housing too much, but we will be looking to the private sector to provide housing, and they've all been doing a good job of that. Private housing developments already serve our students well. I would look for maybe some additional expansion on that."
All involved in the enrollment management summit knew that the out-state high school graduate numbers are on the decline. Thus, a new emphasis on recruitment.
Roughly speaking, the University recruits a third of its student body from the Twin Cities metro area, a third from out-state and a third from Southern Minnesota. "So we decided—and we've been working on this with our public relations and advising staff—that we're going to be very, very aggressive in the Twin Cities, recruiting the traditional high school population."
This will boost the number of incoming students—"but not as dramatically as you might think, and we'll increase at a rate consistent with our ability to provide services."
The University will also focus on doubling its international student population from the present level of 500 to 1,000, Davenport says. And staff will embark on recruiting ethnic minorities and other under-represented populations as well.
Davenport is also looking to increase the number of graduate students, and considering reciprocity and out-of-state tuition waivers to attract the out-of-state student. And enhancing the Greek System to sharpen recruitment potential for students seeking a rich campus life is a move that would help shed the notion of Minnesota State Mankato as a "suitcase campus."
Another critical means to achieving those high numbers is student retention. And while the University is at seventy-eight percent retention today—the highest for a public institution in the state other than the University of Minnesota—Davenport says a goal of eighty percent is manageable and achievable, and a retention rate of ninety percent is not unattainable.
"If we're losing twenty-two percent, imagine the impact on enrollment if we increase retention," he says.
"What we want to do is create the best experience, recruit the students, keep them here, provide them with the best tools of learning we can buy. When we do, our reputation will soar. We'll be seen as the institution to emulate."
"We have to be very careful in how we publicize and promote what we do. We have to be sure that what comes across is real and it's doable. That it's not puffery," Davenport says.
He acknowledges obstacles, the most significant one of which is, predictably, funding.
"In addition to that, since we're part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, it'll be important to sell the System on our bold vision. Obviously there are other state universities.
"We need the support of the System to be successful."
The general time frame for implementing these goals is ten years, Davenport says, but the time to start is now, and the University is well underway in terms of enthusiasm as well as mechanics.
"My whole feeling is that we're ready. It's all there. There's just absolutely no doubt. In Minnesota, we will be the state university."
Joe Tougas is a freelance writer and editor in North Mankato.
