As we enter the second half of the academic year, I look back with pride on an autumn and winter once again filled with focused hard work that led to amazing achievements. Our college’s commitment to serve as a model for most “impact-full” engagement—one component of our guiding vision and mission—continues to take shape in multiple collaborations and initiatives that reach across our departments, centers, and administrative units, linking us with outside communities both far and near. In one initiative a team of faculty, students, and staff brought clinical talents, much needed supplies, and assessment and referral abilities to hard-hit areas of the Gulf Coast. Other members of our college community offered their unique skills and support to those affected by a tragedy closer to home—the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.

Now that the Minnesota Legislature is back in session, we at the college remain steadfast in fulfilling our promise of engagement by sharing our knowledge and discoveries with policymakers and other community leaders.

Our newly launched Policy Breakfast Series promises to be an effective forum for an active exchange of concerns and ideas. The dilemmas and perspectives regarding opportunity and equity in our education and healthcare systems will be among those topics we will review and debate.

Although we can barely touch on such complex discussions in a single magazine, in this issue of Connect! we begin to explore some of the related questions around educational access and funding; issues that are inherently multicultural and multidisciplinary—the other components of our M3 vision and mission. As you will soon see, research into topics such as these touches on every aspect of education and human development and spans every unit within our college. Our “Neighborhood” structure (please see my greeting in Vol.1, Issue 2 of Connect!) was designed for just this: to interweave the expertise and passions of our faculty, staff, and students into effective strategies for addressing multifaceted concerns.

We know it is a challenge to even begin to share with you the layers that make up these issues in the pages of each Connect! Please just know that this is only the beginning. Our entire college remains committed to joining with you and others in our communities to do the deep and continuous work needed to address each and every layer. It is indeed part of our destiny.

Best regards always,
 

Darlyne Bailey, dean and assistant to the president
Campbell Leadership Chair in Education and Human Development

PHOTO: Patrick O’Leary