A Force...

Driven, the $4 billion University of Minnesota campaign, is now underway. Its goal is to strengthen the position of our state’s premier educational institution and fuel its quest to solve the great challenges facing the world. Here at the Carlson School, we see business playing a central role in discovering solutions to those great societal problems.

That is why we have themed our $150 million campaign “Business as a Force for Good.” The community we are a part of has long delivered on this promise. Minnesota companies have been formed and have grown by tackling critical problems in new and innovative ways. They have been leaders in being thoughtful and engaged in trying to bring prosperity to all.

These are unparalleled opportunities to elevate the idea of business as a force for good. Through the generosity of our alumni, friends, and business partners, we seek to enhance the forces that we believe are essential to our mission:

A FORCE FOR LEADERSHIP. We need to attract students from all kinds of backgrounds from across the country and the world to provide the talent and leadership that Minnesota companies need.

A FORCE FOR TRANSFORMATION. We are all about transformative student experiences. That is a fundamental way we believe students should be educated. We have to engage with businesses across sectors to create projects our students can work on and learn from in a hands-on way.

A FORCE FOR INNOVATION. Our faculty continue to be world-leading in both developing ideas that will influence the future of business and in innovating in and out of the classroom. There are no great student experiences or business engagements without faculty. The landscape for faculty of the caliber we look for has become extremely competitive, and we have to continue to be able to attract and retain our extraordinary faculty to deliver on our mission.

A FORCE FOR ENGAGEMENT. The success of our school depends on engagement among our students, our faculty, our alumni, and our business community. We must create the spaces that can make this happen. We need to create a teaching and learning environment that fosters more project-based and team-based learning, we need to create more interaction spaces for students and faculty and alumni and community members, more collaboration space that brings together faculty from different disciplines, and spaces for convening the business community to discuss the grand challenges facing us.

In this issue, we look at the people and stories behind these subjects. And, in the end, I hope you are inspired to contribute to our campaign—one that is designed to significantly strengthen our future.

Learn more about the Carlson School Driven. Campaign. 

Read the features surrounding the Driven. campaign in the latest issue of the Carlson School Alumni Magazine.