Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Minnesota State centers of excellence tout K'12 pathways, internships and $28 million in grants
Loading...
Summary
System center directors told trustees the seven Centers of Excellence advance K'12 career awareness, campus collaboration and industry partnerships; presenters cited nearly $1 million in grants for K'12 activities, more than 18,000 experiential learning opportunities, and $28 million leveraged for campus labs and programming.
Directors of Minnesota State's Centers of Excellence presented examples of K'12 outreach, campus collaboration, and industry partnerships they say are strengthening career pathways and promoting enrollment across the 54-campus system.
"Working with the centers of excellence is by far one of my favorite parts of my job," Shannon Bryant, Minnesota State's executive director of workforce and economic development, told trustees as she introduced the session. Presenters described a three-part format: K'12 engagement, campus collaboration, and industry partnerships.
Jason Bruns, director of the Engineering and Applied Manufacturing Center of Excellence, said the centers collectively received about $942,000 in outside grants in fiscal year 2025 for K'12 career-awareness work and participation grants; he highlighted educator externships and hands-on events such as "Scrubs Camp," which reached hundreds of students and provided scholarships for many participants. "These are strategic career-connected experiences that build awareness, interest, and ultimately enrollment momentum," Bruns said.
Center directors said centers facilitate both noncredit certificates and academic crosswalks so students can build skills while on waitlists for degree programs. Logan Schroeder (Energy COE) and others gave examples of certificate stacks that can be articulated into degree credit, plus pilot work with MnDOT to develop electric-vehicle charger technician curriculum and distribuable lab designs.
Keith Ollander and Elaine Vandenberg (Agriculture and Healthforce COEs) described larger grant success and industry partnerships: the Northern Agricultural COE helped secure federal funds for a meat-cutting and butchery program and the centers collectively have generated roughly $28 million in external funds for labs, equipment, and programming in recent years.
Trustees asked about barriers: presenters pointed to capacity limits, uneven campus awareness, and staff/resource constraints across a large state footprint. Panelists said centers operate in a place-based, collaborative model and provide resources for campuses that choose to participate, and they outlined mechanisms for advising faculty, supporting curriculum development, and deploying grants to strengthen local programs.
Trustees and presidents praised the centers' work and discussed ways the board could support scale-up, including advancing funding, leveraging legislative relationships, and using trustees' visits to learn about on-campus examples. The chancellor and trustees also noted that modest system investments can help unlock larger external awards.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the centers presentations; trustees asked for additional follow-up and engagement opportunities to see center activities on campuses.
