Provost hears out student’s academic problems at MSU

By EMMA JOHNSON News Director

On Thursday, Provost David Hood sat down to discuss academic problems with students and potential solutions at Minnesota State.

Hood said the monthly conversations were started after Hood met Student Government President Emma Zellmer as a way to have authentic dialogue with students.

‘I asked [Emma] to come up with some suggestions on how we might facilitate conversation and we landed on coffee,” said Hood. “I think it’s been an amazing way for me to stay grounded and connect with students to understand their true experience.”

Thursday’s talk was heavily focused on students’ concerns regarding graduating on time and what obstacles can hinder that.

Senior James Ziegeweid attended the meeting as a way to follow-up with a concern at a previous meeting. Ziegeweid mentioned faculty has not been submitting required textbooks on time.

“In our last meeting, we kind of talked about that and asked him if you’d be able to more or less send that out and make sure that that was being enforced,” said Ziegeweid.

Senior Tyler Pickel raised awareness about the aviation program limiting course availability, making it difficult for students to graduate on time. Pickel said speaking with the provost is important for letting students get to know higher faculty.

“I’m sure there’s some schools where you have no idea who your provost is, and they aren’t ever out and about outside their office,” said Pickel.

“The fact that Provost Hood is even willing to make his face known, sit in a public area and receive criticism and complaints is amazing.”

Hood said having these discussions ensures everyone’s voice counts.

“I think it really reinforc- es that MSU is a community. If we’re not connecting with them intentionally all the time, then we could very easily lose touch,” said Hood.

Ziegeweid said that being able to speak with the provost is an opportunity to share his perspective and to be heard by individuals in power.

“It almost adds more of a human element to them because oftentimes, we think of them as just individuals who are at the top of the university and are just kind of making the decisions, but having actual input from students is something that’s so beneficial and overall is really great for the university,” said Ziegeweid.

Coffee with the Provost meets the third Thursday of the month, alternating between the CSU Lounge areas located by the Student Government office and the LGBT Center from 2-3 p.m.

The next meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 16 outside the Student Government office.

Center is the home base for international students where they can receive support.

“Each international student has their immigration advisor, they have staff providing support in terms of referring them to financial support, we have some emergency assistance for students,” Dahlman said. “We also have staff that works with student organizations and peer mentors that help other international students. When students don’t know where to go, always go to KIC and sign up for their newsletters.” tion. Industry 4.0 is a conceptualization of the technological needs of the near future, which rely heavily on collaboration and rapidly developing digital technology.

According to Dahlman, the plan for MSU in terms of the international student population is to recruit students from every country in the world.

“The university is committed to welcoming more and more international students here. We have plans to go to different locations in the world. Right now we have 97 countries but we don’t put any limits on the number of how many countries we have. We would like to have students from every country in the world, which is about 200,” said Dahlman.

“So, a lot of that will be computer fields, manufacturing, and other areas. But really polytech is any program that is career focused with a technical component. So that could include, and I would say especially where the humanities overlap with technology. Our approach is we typically are looking at programs that do project-based learning,” Martensen said.

Martensen said the need for project-based learning is necessary for modern college students because it offers real industry experience and connections that will ultimately stand out to employers more.

“Traditionally, higher education has not deviated too much from classroom and siloed learning. But there has been growing evidence that greater integration across dis- ciplines with hands-on learning and practical applications creates a new kind of graduate that is able to adapt to the fast pace of change in technology and society,” he said.

“Employers are looking for graduates with particular skills who can immediately contribute to their organizations and quickly advance in their careers. MinnPoly programs contribute to that in a way that blurs the lines between academia and industry.”