Winona State's Scott Olson will helm a behemoth higher education system with a long list of challenges

Jul. 22—WINONA, Minn. — When Winona State University President Scott Olson

takes over as chancellor of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities

on Aug. 1, he will take the reins of an educational leviathan with a to-do list as great as any previous chancellor has faced.

At stake, in no small measure, is the health of the state's skills-hungry economy, and the ability to educate and train people for jobs that are meaningful and worthwhile.

He will lead a system that serves more students of color than the total enrollment of the University of Minnesota and the private college system combined. Yet educational gaps between white and minority students chronically persist. Blacks graduate at a 42% rate while whites complete their degrees at a 58% rate at four-year universities.

Olson will seek to bring financial stability to a system in the midst of decade-long serial enrollment declines that have prompted belt-tightening and staff cutbacks. The system educates a quarter fewer students than it did a decade ago. At the same time, as "For Hire" signs sprout in every corner of the state, Minnesota employers are desperate for more skilled workers.

Yet these needs are occurring when national statistics show declining support for higher education.

At the same time, the system is in the middle of a major technology overhaul called NextGen that will link all 54 campuses and usher it into the 21st century.

So when a nationwide search for a new leader was narrowed to two finalists, Olson had one undisputed advantage. As a 11-year president at WSU, which is part of the system's 33 colleges and universities, he knew the system landscape, the system office people, the college and university presidents and all the bargaining unit leaders. He wouldn't have to figure out, as Olson put it recently, "where I'm supposed to park?"

"We have so many things on our plate that we can't even afford six months of on-the-job training," said Roger Moe, chair of the Minnesota State Board of Trustees. "We need somebody who won't miss a beat."

Olson called his time at WSU the "happiest time of my life" since he was a sophomore in college. But one reason he sought the job as chancellor was the chance to apply Minnesota-wide some of the lessons he learned as WSU president.

"I felt like what I learned here in southeastern Minnesota, what I've learned working at Winona State here and in Rochester are things that would translate statewide," Olson said in his office in Somsen Hall at the WSU campus. "And just making sure we're always asking ourselves what is the effect of this on students."

Olson, 64, is the first chancellor to be selected as the result of a nationwide search since the appointment of Steven Rosenstone a decade ago. Rosenstone saw the dramatic demographic changes facing the state and dismal student success rates and sought to bring change. But his tenure was marred by accusations of secrecy and a failure to engage faculty and staff. His chancellorship drowned in "no confidence" votes by faculty associations across the state.

Olson succeeds Devinder Malhotra, who during his six-year tenure set the goal of eliminating educational gaps between white and minority students at every Minnesota State college and university by 2030.

Olson described himself as a proponent of "shared governance," the idea that when big decisions are made, "everybody affected by those decisions is consulted." The trick, he said, is getting the right balance between making sure that there's enough consultation so "folks feel like they can make the idea better or at least understand the idea" and creating enough "forward momentum in ways that make things better for students and the state," he said.

"It's not always easy to get that right — not just in higher ed but in any organization. Balancing a strategic vision, somebody charging up the hill, 'This is what we have to do next,' and then looking back and making sure there's people behind you, saying, 'Yes! We're coming,'" Olson said.

Olson said minority students served by the system's colleges and universities are "well-served, but I think we can serve them a lot better because we know there are these gaps." That means removing "impediments and roadblocks" that can derail a student's progress.

One target for reform is the system's remedial classes. He noted that when students arrive on campus deficient in a subject area, in some cases, they are required to take remedial classes to catch them up. The problem is that the student "burns through financial aid" for classes where there is no credit earned. He said that approach is starting to go away.

An alternative model he supports is to embed in for-credit classes the work the student needs to get up to speed in a subject area.

"If you don't do it that way, what can happen is a student can spend a semester or even a year earning no credit, but going through a year's worth of financial aid. They get to their junior year, and the money's gone," he said.

Olson said many low-income students are on such tight budgets that an unexpected event, like a flat tire, can derail their ability to graduate. WSU has a private foundation that issues emergency grants for students who encounter such mishaps. Such a fund should be expanded system-wide.

"So a student calls up the university and says, 'I need $200 bucks to fix my flat tire or I'm done.' And we say, 'Where should we send the check?" Olson said. "Winona State does this where we have resources set aside for those life emergencies."

Olson said all of higher education is under "tremendous enrollment pressure," and if the system remains primarily focused on high school graduates, enrollments will continue to ebb. But there is a huge number of people between the age of 24 and 55 "who are seeking reinvention or a new adventure," but serving them will mean being flexible.

"They have a job. They have kids. So we have to adapt to serve that broader group of students and meet every student everywhere how they need to be met," Olson said. "And if we can do that pivot, there's plenty to go around."

As WSU president, Olson periodically served as host DJ on the college radio station. It's part of the job he reveled in. He's aware that his new job puts him at the heart of a bureaucracy in St. Paul where there are no students or faculty and where a person can "lose sight of campus life."

To keep connected, Olson has asked his executive assistant to figure out a way for him to attend a concert, play or athletic event on every single campus in the year ahead.

"I think that will keep me grounded, keep me happy, keep me sane," Olson said. "It's got to be about the students and campuses. I'll probably be at more Yellowjacket athletics (at Rochester Community and Technical College) than I have been in the past."