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Med City Beat is a Rochester-based news project rooted in fairness, transparency and civic responsibility.
Est. 2014
UMR Launches Collaboration with Google, Mayo Clinic
As health care delivery continues to evolve, the University of Minnesota is embarking on a novel partnership that will combine cutting-edge technology, research, and immersive learning approaches to educate the next generation of health leaders.
Black History Month at UMR
For a group of student leaders at the University of Minnesota Rochester, the 28 days in February carry more meaning than most of the other 337 days of the year. It’s a time specifically set aside to uplift the stories and voices of Black Americans, worldwide and at home — and they plan on bringing those stories to as many people as possible in 2021.
State of the Campus
After enduring one of the most challenging periods in the history of the University of Minnesota Rochester, students, staff and administration alike say the State of the Campus is strong, as the university looks forward with “active hope” past the Covid-19 pandemic.
In remarks published at the end of January, UMR Chancellor Dr. Lori Carrell said student enrollment hit record highs in 2020, despite the extreme challenges in teaching caused by the pandemic.
Dr. Jessie Barnett, student health faculty member at UMR, said Covid will have lasting effects on how professors interact with their students; instead of waiting for students to reach out for help, she says faculty have learned to play a more active role in their students’ success over this school year.
“We’ve been able to grow in our teaching in ways we haven’t been pushed to do in the past,” said Dr. Barnett. “We never want to get comfortable in what we do, but [the pandemic] pushed us to really meet students where they are and to really think of ourselves as instructors.”
One of the university’s biggest accomplishments in 2020 came from the diversity and inclusion committee, after they spent months drafting UMR’s first anti-racist action plan. Student representative Nevaeh Nez said working on the plan inspired her to get through a “very difficult” year, and helped her gain new understanding of her fellow classmates.
“As the student representative, it was important for me to shed light onto the student’s needs,” said Nez. “It was something that really made me feel that I had a voice, and with that, hopefully we can create an environment for students of color to feel like they are able to succeed.”
With more students entering UMR than ever before, Chancellor Carrell said positive momentum is building
“Stay tuned, because there may be some exciting things emerging from all the lessons we’ve learned during this challenging time,” said Dr. Carrell. “For now, onward to 2021!”
Chancellor’s Corner
Like everyone else this winter, the University of Minnesota Rochester campus community is staying connected mostly through our screens. Classroom and Zoom room conversations start with talk of the frigid weather and then move quickly to vaccines, exhaustion and expressions of care. Sound familiar?
While February 2021 brings some special topics to chat about, like our Black History Month Poetry Slam or inspirational Health Scholars Day, we’ve also begun to speculate about when and how we’ll emerge from this historic season. We are wondering, what’s next?
Of course, we hope to be reunited safely for in-person learning, but the dialogue goes deeper than that. When I listen to UMR students contemplate the future, I become convinced that we’re not going back to who we were or how we were. Young people coming of age in this season of societal disruptions have many questions about the future. And the rest of us our curious too.
In education, one bold question we’re asking is, “How can we optimize higher tech in teaching and learning while sustaining the high touch approach that helps more students succeed?” As an innovation campus, UMR’s next venture will be NXT GEN MED — a pilot designed to investigate that question.
Soon, it will be time to move forward from this season of separation and screens, of suffering and sacrifice, and ultimately of scientific triumph over a deadly virus. Let’s keep asking courageous questions as we evolve from what was to what will be. In the words of one of those young voices, from her poem The Miracle of Morning, Amanda Gorman asks, “While we might feel small, separate, and all alone, our people have never been more tightly tethered. The question’s not if we will weather this unknown, but how we will weather the unknown together.”
—Dr. Lori Carrell, Chancellor of University of Minnesota Rochester
Introducing On Campus, a new series from U of M Rochester and Med City Beat
On Campus is a paid collaboration between the University of Minnesota Rochester and Med City Beat. Through this series, we strive to connect UMR with the broader community through storytelling; to promote the programs and resources available through UMR; to encourage engagement between current and former students; to keep the public informed of the latest campus news; and to highlight the accomplishments of students and faculty.
For more information on UMR, visit ww.r.umn.edu.
