Robert Jones

Under the direction of Senior Vice President Robert Jones, the Office for System Academic Administration is responsible for statewide and system-wide academic programs and initiatives. The office focuses on broad, high-level academic, outreach, and public engagement issues; international programs; system academic administration and policy; strategic planning and analysis; budgeting and legislative matters; institutional research; and academic capital planning. In addition, Senior Vice President Jones has management responsibility for the University’s four coordinate campuses in Crookston, Duluth, Morris, and Rochester.

To learn more or to contact one of the offices that comprise System Academic Administration, please refer to the links in the left margin of this page.

University office officially opens in Beijing

The grand opening of the University of Minnesota Chinese offices on October 22 welcomed key University leaders and faculty, University partners from Minnesota and China, alumni from Beijing and beyond, and other distinguished guests including education officials from China. Yongwei Zhang, director of the University's China Center; Meredith McQuaid, associate vice president and dean for international programs; Robert Jones, senior vice president for the Office of System Academic Administration; and Mr. Zheng, an official from the Beijing Municipal Committee of Education, addressed the audience at the opening. The ceremony was followed by a dinner.

UROC building opens

The University's Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center's building at 2001 Plymouth Avenue North, has opened its doors, effective Sept. 23. A date for the launch party to celebrate the renovation's completion will be determined in early 2010.

Programs are in the process of moving into their spaces. Already in the building are 500 Under 5, a project of the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED); the projects grouped under the grant, “Revisioning Land Grant and Urban Research Universities for an Urban Age,” funded through the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE); some of the programs that will be grouped under the Business and Technology Center (B-Tech) of the Office for Business and Community Economic Development (BCED); and CitySongs, an arts-based youth and community development program.

Other programs that will be housed at UROC include African American and African Studies Outreach, part of the College of Liberal Arts; Extension programs in urban youth development, nutrition, and family development; the Center for Health Equity, part of the Medical School; the University Northside Partnership; and the Minnesota Urban Area Health Education Center, part of the University's Academic Health Center.

All projects in UROC work closely with community partners and have agreed to a set of research principles dedicated to discovering solutions to complex issues facing urban communities.

Edward Goetz named as next director for Center for Urban and Regional Affairs

Edward Goetz, professor and director of the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning degree program in the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, will become director of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), effective June, 2009. This appointment follows an internal search process to fill the position after Tom Scott, CURA's current director, steps down as part of a phased retirement. Read a profile of Tom Scott that appeared in UMNews Brief.

Goetz is former associate dean for academic affairs at the Humphrey Institute. His research and teaching focus on urban studies and politics, housing policy and discrimination, neighborhood revitalization, and economic development. He has chaired the board of the Urban Affairs Association and the Central Community Housing Trust of Minneapolis, and was a member of the executive council of the Research Committee on Housing and the Built Environment for the International Sociological Association. He has served on study groups and boards for the Metropolitan Council and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and is on the editorial boards of three major housing and urban policy journals. The appointment was announced by Robert Jones, senior vice president for system academic administration.

New internationally-themed program

Housing & Residential Life and International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) announce the creation of the Students Crossing Borders Living Learning Community, set to open in Middlebrook Hall in Fall 2010. This community of approximately 130 residents, will house both U.S. and international students in roommate pairings intentionally designed to enhance the cross-cultural learning opportunities of students during their out-of-the-classroom experiences.

The community, which will be open to both first-year and returning students, will feature community advisor staff specifically selected to work with this population of students. Community events and activities will support roommates in their living situation and take advantage of campus and local resources to promote greater internationalization of the students' experiences. Contact Beth Isensee at isen0021@umn.edu or Kevin L. Dostal Dauer at dauer001@umn.edu for more information.