Greetings!
It is a pleasure to welcome you to Metropolitan State University, a member of Minnesota State. Metropolitan State, a comprehensive public urban university, serves more than 10,500 people throughout the metropolitan area. We are a welcoming, diverse community dedicated to providing high-quality educational opportunity through extraordinary faculty to enrich and empower the people of the Twin Cities, the state of Minnesota, and beyond.
One way that Metropolitan State’s impact has been measured is our strong rating by CollegeNet’s Social Mobility Index, measuring colleges’ and universities’ success in elevating students from low income strata into the middle class by five years after graduation. According to the index’s 2022 data, we rank twenty-second in the nation (or in the top 1.6 percent), and first in Minnesota. While we can do much to improve this outcome, this recognition is encouraging and life-changing for students, and their families.
As I reflect on our core value of providing lifelong learning opportunities, I think of the words of acquaintance and colleague Jaime Casap, an education expert at Google, Inc., who notes that instead of asking students, “What do you want to major in?” colleges should ask them “What problem do you want to solve?” Then they should help each student create a program to support solving that problem. From our individualized studies programs to the practical, applied approach of our programs as a whole, I hope that Metropolitan State can be your partner in preparing you to solve the problems you find most important.
Sincerely,
Virginia “Ginny” Arthur, JD
President
