It’s been an excellent year for the college and 2005–06 looks to be even more so. We will be observing the college’s 100th anniversary with a series of signature events including a gala in the spring of 2006. We also will begin the planning stages for renovation of the new Education Sciences Building following the successful passage of the state bonding bill in the Minnesota legislature earlier this spring.

We are celebrating the news that came out in late March: the U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings. The details of the rankings are available in the Currents section of this issue of Link, and I am very proud to say that we are ranked among the top five public colleges of education in the nation.

In addition to our other plans for 2005–06, we look forward to and will welcome the challenges and changes that most certainly lay ahead with the University’s major strategic positioning process.

For those of our alumni who have not had access to the myriad local news reports about the strategic positioning process, let me briefly explain. Since the summer of 2004, the University of Minnesota has undergone a strategic positioning process and has set a goal to become one of the top three public research universities in the world within a decade.

On March 30, two committees charged with developing academic and administrative recommendations delivered a report to University President Robert Bruininks. Those reports and an executive summary of the two documents are available at www.umn.edu/systemwide/strategic_positioning.

Under these recommendations, the college would gain three departments: the Department of Family Social Science and School of Social Work from the College of Human Ecology as well as a new department of developmental education that would join us from General College.

Other proposed changes for the University would involve several other units and several actions aimed at raising student achievement and standards, including an honors program and a University-wide writing initiative.

The suggestions made by the academic task force would bring challenging and sometimes painful changes to the University, but I believe the changes we make now and in the future will benefit the University’s students, faculty, staff, and the entire state by strengthening the quality of our education, research, and public service.

Here in the college we welcome the possibility of joining with our colleagues and students from family social science, social work, and developmental education. I know we could find many natural opportunities for collaboration in teaching and research and community outreach with them. A new, expanded College of Education and Human Development would be even better equipped to meet the needs of Minnesota in the areas of teaching and learning, psychological and physical development, and organizational and educational leadership.

—Steve Yussen