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Provides opportunity to hear concerns and points of interest from community leaders

As part of an early effort to survey needs throughout the system, Minnesota State officials, including Chancellor Scott Olson, stopped in Austin Wednesday to conduct a listening session at Riverland Community College.

It was one of nine listening sessions making up the tour and Riverland was the second stop. With half of the Minnesota State system’s funding coming from the State of Minnesota, Olson said it was important to conduct this tour in order to realize how schools can better serve their community needs.

“This is a listening tour for us to hear from members of the community, business industry, non profits, health care, K-12 education teachers and employees of Riverland,” Olson said. “What is the future here?”

Each year, Minnesota State officials make a tour of the state, alternating between listening sessions like Wednesday’s meeting to help determine the system’s budget priorities, and tours that look at infrastructure needs in determining funding requests during bonding years.

In either instance, Olson said it’s important to be on the ground and be in the communities when having these conversations.

“I think it’s critically important to get out and see on the ground what the situation is and listen to the local folks,” Olson said. “It’s really enjoyable.”

During Wednesday’s session, officials heard of a number of concerns from people at Riverland, the community of Austin and from outside including from Owatonna.

Those concerns include creating more accessible pathways for students, career opportunities, ways to create stronger opportunities for classroom credit and internships and the stronger maintenance of existing programs that provide employment to critical sectors of the community.

Joe Bower, president of the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce, referenced the North Star Promise program that provides free college tuition for Minnesota residents with a family Adjusted Gross Income of below $80,000.

While the promise of the program is a positive step forward in opening doors to those who might not otherwise go to college, Bower wondered about future benefits for the community and making sure students have jobs when they are done.

“How do we keep students from leaving Minnesota and working in Minnesota?” he asked.

For Riverland officials, the opportunity to host such an event benefits them both in understanding what Minnesota State is looking at, and it allows them to hear more of what the communities of Albert Lea, Owatonna and Austin are looking for.

“They’re not here on a regular basis and they don’t see what is happening,” said RCC President Kat Linaker. “They don’t see the number of our students walking in our hallways. It’s good for them.”

“It’s good for us because it helps us understand what’s happening at the system level and the legislative level,” Linaker said. “I think the system creates a really strong partnership that serves the needs of the folks in the local region and we can’t do that if we’re not a team the way we are.”

The Minnesota State group toured the southern part of the state this week, including stops in Marshall and Winona before working their way north. Once the tour’s done, the work of consolidating the information taken from the meetings will begin.

“The next step is to try and look for consistencies across all of the campuses we visit,” Olson said. “What are the themes that run through it? What are the things that seem to be most important? Then we have to fashion that into a story we’re going to tell our local legislators and to the whole legislation in need. This is what Minnesota says it needs.”

Meanwhile, Linaker said RCC officials would take a lot away from this opportunity as the school works on its own strategic plan.

“We’ll be taking notes, paying attention and then fold it into all that data we’re gathering,” Linaker said. “Every chance I get is worth every minute.”