Star Tribune
Minnesota State system demands cautious approach for St. Cloud State online programs
ST. CLOUD — After hitting pause on St. Cloud State University’s plans to launch about a dozen seven-week “accelerated online programs” aimed at adults with unfinished bachelor’s degrees, the Minnesota State system is allowing the regional university to move forward in a tempered way with just a few of the requested programs.
Last year, the university entered into an agreement with Academic Partnerships, a Dallas-based for-profit company that promises to recruit students and help retain them through graduation. Under the agreement, the company receives 50% of tuition dollars.
The university had planned to launch 11 undergraduate programs this fall. But after cutting dozens of faculty positions and suspending 70 academic programs in the spring, the Minnesota State system asked the school to halt plans while it reviewed the proposal.
The review process examined shared governance and student engagement in the decision-making process, academic integrity, intellectual property safeguards and the business model, said Satasha Green-Stephen, the system’s senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs.
Green-Stephen notified St. Cloud State administrators in October that the system has conditionally approved the offering of three undergraduate programs, She said the university can decide which three to pursue.
The 11 proposed undergraduate programs were community health, general studies, psychology, general business, finance, marketing, management, cyber security, software engineering, land surveying and mapping sciences, and a bachelor’s degree completion program for registered nurses.
As of Friday, St. Cloud State leaders had not formally announced which programs will be offered, spokeswoman Kathryn Kloby said.
In an email, Kloby downplayed the reduced programming, saying the school is “delighted to move forward” and appreciative of the system’s guidance.
As part of the conditional approval, the university must annually report enrollment numbers and revenue, as well as student completion rate information. It must also submit research on student interest and demand, and a description of the effectof planned retrenchments in any of the programs.
Green-Stephen’s letter states the university may submit three additional undergraduate programs for review after “two years of successful implementation and evidence of sustainability of the three original conditionally-approved undergraduate programs.”
Critics say for-profit online program management companies often push low-quality programs that disproportionately target marginalized student populations while taking tuition dollars away from universities.
“We still have concerns, but I am appreciative that the system office is taking a really measured, careful approach to this,” said Jenna Chernega, president of the Inter Faculty Organization, which represents professors at Minnesota State universities.
“The reporting requirements will allow us to see what the impacts are to students, faculty, campuses and the rest of the system.”
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
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