{"id":812,"date":"2013-05-29T15:12:54","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T15:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/?p=812"},"modified":"2017-06-14T16:26:22","modified_gmt":"2017-06-14T16:26:22","slug":"hopes-and-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/2013\/05\/29\/hopes-and-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopes and Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"President<\/a><\/p>\n

May 29, 2013<\/p>\n

What are President Scott Olson\u2019s hopes and dreams for Winona State University?<\/p>\n

Just a few months into his first year as president, he asked members of the university community \u2013 those \u201cwho have so much invested in this place\u201d \u2013 to share their hopes and dreams to determine where Winona State goes in the next decade.<\/p>\n

Hundreds participated in open forums, writing their ideas on multicolored note cards (that were later digitized and analyzed), and more than 800 alumni responded with suggestions. \u201cI\u2019m investing a lot of faith in this process,\u201d says Olson. \u201cThat so many are willing to share so much tells me that this university is as vital and relevant as the day it was founded by the citizens of Winona.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the eve of his inauguration, Currents asked Olson about what he plans to do with the thousands of ideas generated through Hopes and Dreams, and where the university is headed under the leadership of its fifteenth president.<\/p>\n

This totally inverts the usual \u201ctop down\u201d process of strategic decision-making.<\/strong> There was some amount of risk in doing it this way, particularly as we emerge from difficult financial times and tough challenges for the university and higher education in general.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t really new for Winona State.<\/strong> During my first few weeks in office, I dug through the files and discovered that former president Darrell Krueger had used a similar process early in his presidency: \u00a0\u201cHopes and Dreams for 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n

That process generated transformational ideas that remained true to our identity:<\/strong> a focus on helping students, leadership in implementing technology, continuing to beautify our campus.<\/p>\n

A word analysis of today\u2019s hopes and dreams says a lot about us.<\/strong> Students are foremost. Community, our campus, the Winona State identity, and faculty were also frequently mentioned. While these aren\u2019t ideas in and of themselves, they give us a real sense of what\u2019s on our minds here at WSU.<\/p>\n

One of my priorities will be better communication.<\/strong> This has emerged through Hopes and Dreams, and better communication between administration and employees was generated in the Krueger years. I believe strongly in shared governance at Winona State. The best ideas are out there, not in the president\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next in the process?<\/strong> A more sophisticated analysis of ideas is already underway. Then the task is to use shared governance and community conversations to decide on the best actionable ideas and priorities for our future.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m most pleased that our community continues to dare to dream.<\/strong> That we remain deeply passionate about the university, that we want to be part of the conversation about where to go next, that we\u2019re able to imagine a better and stronger university than it is today. That\u2019s the best litmus test of my first year as president.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community of Winona is central to our identity and our future. A strong Winona State is good for Winona,\u201d says President Scott Olson when describing the university\u2019s relationship to the city.<\/p>\n

City of Winona Mayor Mark Peterson<\/strong> agrees, saying that it would be hard to imagine the community without the presence of Winona State University and its students. \u201cThe university is central to the economic, social, and cultural life of the city,\u201d says Peterson, who this year began his first term as mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m aware of the recent study that estimated the university\u2019s economic impact at $307 million and almost 4,000 jobs,\u201d continues Peterson. \u201cBut it\u2019s hard to measure the energy that Winona State students bring to the city, the cultural enrichment of events such as the Great River Shakespeare Festival, the entertainment of its sports events.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a distinct advantage that the campus is located in Winona.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 29, 2013 What are President Scott Olson\u2019s hopes and dreams for Winona State University? Just a few months into his first year as president, he asked members of the university community \u2013 those \u201cwho have so much invested in this place\u201d \u2013 to share their hopes and dreams to determine where Winona State goes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":1364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[376,377,379,378,374,259,375,7,8],"class_list":["post-812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wsu-magazine","tag-communication","tag-dreams","tag-fifteenth-president","tag-hopes","tag-mayor-mark-peterson","tag-president-scott-olson","tag-winona","tag-winona-state-university","tag-wsu"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PQMT-d6","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2013\/05\/front1olson.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1365,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions\/1365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}