Contract Period: 1992 - 1993
Summary of Engagement
PSG assisted the Chancellor and the leadership team in formulating an overall change strategy aimed at moving the campus from a two-year technical college to a four-year polytechnic institution. This change was given momentum by the President of the University issuing an ultimatum that UMC must restructure or it would be closed. PSG worked with the leadership team in a variety of capacities. These included offering ideas for change, facilitating meetings, proposing alternative staffing arrangements for the change effort, and plotting political strategy with the Regents and the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board. As the institution moved closer to implementation, PSG arranged technology tours for a representative group of faculty and administrators.
Perhaps most notably, UMC become one of the first institutions in the United States to require all students to purchase a lap-top computer. PSG assisted the Chancellor in weighing the pros and cons of this innovative yet controversial strategy.
Results Achieved
- Assisted in developing a new vision for the university.
- Assisted in developing measurable outcomes on which the success of UMC is judged by both the Regents and the Higher Education Coordinating Board. These indicators have served as a model for other campuses within the UMN system.
- Introduced the faculty to cutting edge applications of computing and communications technology.
- UMCrookston has become known nationally as “ThinkPad U”
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