Regents approve "Elevate Extraordinary 2030" strategic plan for University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents unanimously approved the university strategic plan, "Elevate Extraordinary 2030," at a Nov. 13, 2025 special meeting held in the boardroom and on Zoom.

President Cunningham introduced the plan and turned the presentation over to Ryan Schmiesing, the university’s vice president for strategic initiatives, who described months of development, “thousands of points of input,” and one minor revision to make a focus area more inclusive of the arts and design. Schmiesing said implementation teams—each led by two people with representation from campuses, colleges and units—will operationalize early initiatives and that the administration will present a draft set of measures to the board next month.

Regents praised the plan’s statewide emphasis and broad stakeholder engagement. Chair Hipps and multiple regents said the plan reflects the university’s land‑grant mission and noted the document was designed to be strengths‑based across campuses. "We have continued introducing the strategic roadmap to students, faculty, staff, alumni ambassadors, community members, and friends of the university," Schmiesing said.

The board moved and seconded approval and adopted the plan by voice vote. Board leadership said implementation will vary by campus but must align with the 20 focus areas of the roadmap; campus leaders are already developing plans that ladder up to those focus areas.

The administration will return to the board with proposed performance measures and additional implementation details in the coming weeks, and campus‑level plans will be developed to reflect local priorities.

The vote concluded the agenda item and the meeting moved on to a separate matter affecting the medical school.