Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System Office

The document presents Minnesota State's Equity 2030 strategic initiative, which aims to close equity gaps in educational outcomes for first-generation, low-income, indigenous, and historically underserved students across all its colleges and universities. Key strategic approaches include 'Equity by Design' for understanding and addressing disparities, implementing an 'Equity Scorecard' to monitor progress, applying an 'Equity Lens to Policy Review' to foster equity-minded policies, and 'Shaping the Students Journey & Path' through guided learning pathways. The overarching vision is to foster institutional change and ensure equitable employment outcomes for students.

The 'Equity 2030' strategic vision for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities outlines a bold commitment to close educational equity gaps by the year 2030 across race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography. This initiative, developed from a year-long 'Reimagining Minnesota State' process initiated in 2018-2019, aims to enhance access and student success. Key strategies include leveraging system-wide best practices for scalability and building external partnerships to provide comprehensive support for students facing non-academic challenges such as food insecurity, housing insecurity, childcare needs, and mental health issues. The plan emphasizes strategic investments to expand institutional capacity, driven by both social justice and economic imperatives to ensure the state's talent needs are met.

The committee and board meetings in April 2022 covered numerous agenda items across multiple committees. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee reviewed minutes from March 15, 2022, and featured a campus story presentation on Equity 2030 from Winona State University. A joint meeting of the DEI and Workforce and Organizational Effectiveness Committees presented the preliminary framework for assessing and monitoring campus climate. The Audit Committee reviewed minutes from November 16, 2021, discussed the FY2022 Committee Workplan, the revised Office of Internal Auditing Charter, and results from the Federal Compliance Testing over Student Financial Assistance and Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Programs. The Committee of the Whole received an update on the NextGen Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) replacement project. The Joint Finance and Facilities Committee reviewed and recommended approval for several contracts exceeding $1,000,000, including a Facilities Use Agreement with Anoka-Hennepin Schools, the East Campus Air Handling Unit Replacement at Century College, and upgrades to access controls at North Hennepin Community College. This joint committee also reviewed the FY2024 Capital Budget Guidelines (Second Reading). The Finance Committee separately reviewed contracts, including lease agreements and software agreements, and discussed a proposed amendment to Board Policy 7.3.

The meeting began with the Chancellor announcing the creation of the Minnesota State Transfer Guarantee, which ensures admission to any Minnesota State university for students graduating from a state college with an Associate of Arts degree and a GPA of 2.0 or better (2.4 at Winona State). The Chancellor also reported on efforts to protect concurrent enrollment instruction following changes in Higher Learning Commission standards. Furthermore, commitment was reaffirmed to ensure campuses are places of hope and opportunity for all students amid increasing polarization regarding race, ethnicity, and identity. Key financial actions included the approval of the FY2018-FY2019 biennial budget request and the 2017 capital bonding request. The Board adopted changes to the allocation framework components, including rewarding performance on student success metrics and adjusting calculations for instruction, student services, and facilities. The Board also authorized a revenue bond sale for project costs and to refund previous bonds. First readings were held for proposed amendments to Policy 5.22 (Acceptable Use of Computers) and proposed new Policies 6.9 (Capital Planning) and 6.10 (Design and Construction). Updates were received from the Finance and Facilities, Audit, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Academic and Student Affairs Committees.

The combined meeting schedule for the Board of Trustees covered several committee sessions and a full board meeting over May 18-19, 2021. Key discussions included an update on marketing and engagement results, an update on the Human Resources Shared Services (formerly HR-TSM) project, and proposed actions to address observations from the Internal Auditing report, including potentially offering campuses a tiered service option starting in January 2022. The Audit Committee session included a discussion of Audit Results for Federal Student Financial Aid and CARES Act funding, which resulted in an unmodified opinion on compliance but noted several significant deficiency findings. The Academic and Student Affairs Committee session involved updates on proposed amendments to Board Policies 2.9 and 3.29, and action items recommending approval of mission statement changes for Dakota County Technical College and Inver Hills Community College, as well as a discussion on Workforce Development and Engaging the Future of Work. The Finance Committee agenda included first readings for Revenue Fund Bond Refunding (2011 Issuance) and the 2022 Capital Program Recommendation, along with several contract approvals and second readings for amendments to Finance and Administrative Authority policies.