higher education : Featured Stories

About a third of college students today, writes John Van Hecke, are 25 or older, and they have very different issues from 18-to-22-year old "standard" college kids, including family responsibilities, time constraints, and special financial needs. Dealing with these concerns, he argues, is crucial for developing Minnesota's 21st-century workforce.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: A "circus" of fun-to-watch physics demonstrations at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: You've got a chance on Monday to peek into the laboratories of advanced bio-researchers at the University of Minnesota, as guests of the U's union of GLBTQ scientists.

The Talent Dividend Prize is a $1 million award being offered by the Kresge Foundation, CEOs for Cities, and the Lumina Foundation for Education--to be awarded to the city that shows the greatest number of post-secondary degrees awarded per one thousand residents over a four-year period. The Twin Cities (plus Bloomington) are in the running, along with 56 other cities. What's the prize all about, and why now? Read on.

The president and the research/policy director of the local think tank Growth and Justice are "business-oriented progressives." In the face of dogma to the contrary, they dare to assert that there's an unbreakable link between economic fairness and economic growth. And they're bringing that spirit to the most compelling economic issue of all: jobs.

In A Line or Two, I share some of my discoveries and enthusiasms as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week--a rediscovery reconnects me with an unorthodox, original man whose elegant essays helped lay the groundwork for "placemaking."

"Design Thinking" isn't just about planning an object and making an image of it. It's a process of innovation that emphasizes engagement with real human issues--and it's arrived at CoCo, the local coworking space, in an educational initiative aimed at helping tech entrepreneurs and other freelancers open their minds even wider.

Izak Leon and Adam Jacobs' video "Dinkytown: Food Music Books" is a a lively look at the semi-legendary neighborhood of cafes, bars, clubs, and bookstores adjacent to the University of Minnesota campus. The two Perpich Center for Arts Education students  portray a neighborhood that's moving toward the mainstream while still holding on to many of the values of its countercultural past.

When the economic downturn derailed plans for a U of M North Minneapolis campus, university and civic visionaries created a unique alternative: a Northside research and outreach center that's the hub for a whole galaxy of town-gown partnerships in economic development and social betterment.

Often, says Concordia University economist and biz-school dean Bruce Corrie, our minority and immigrant communities are seen solely through the "problem" lens. Their struggles are real, but their contributions to our prosperity and potential for growth are greater than most majority Minnesotans realize. And Corrie's got the figures to prove it.