Star Tribune
Plans for an education district for the University of Minnesota, Rochester remain years out
In the meantime, the Rochester campus will continue using a leasing model that university officials say has served it well. It now has space in six buildings scattered around downtown Rochester, including a newly opened Student Life Center in the former DoubleTree Hotel that includes 400 beds along with a dining hall and fitness area.
Across the street, the university is working out plans to remodel its longtime home in the top two floors of the Galleria. It leases additional space in 318 Commons and the Discovery Square complex, where students take classes in a collaborative environment that also includes offices and lab space used by Mayo Clinic and other health companies.
“There are a lot of ways to have a campus,” said U President Rebecca Cunningham, a former emergency physician who took over the position in July. “One of the things that strikes me here is what an amazing place it is to be a student, nestled in the middle of this vibrant, innovative health care ecosystem. That’s a campus in and of itself.”
While growth in the built environment is part of the planning for the Rochester campus, so too is the need to drive innovation in academic programming. Two years ago, the school launched NXT GEN MED, an accelerated program that offers students the chance to get a health sciences degree in 2½ years while getting hands-on experience at Mayo Clinic.
The university has also received national attention for its commitment to equity. While two-thirds of the student body come from historically underrepresented populations — students of color, first-generation students and low-income students — university officials say there’s no statistical difference in student outcomes.
Lori Carrol, chancellor of the Rochester campus, said maintaining those outcomes is a crucial component to the university’s gradual growth.
DULUTH — A Duluth man who said he doesn’t remember killing his girlfriend pleaded guilty to second-degree murder without intent Tuesday in St. Louis County court — a plea deal that could land him in prison longer than sentencing guidelines would dictate.
Dale John Howard, 25, told Judge Theresa Neo that he doesn’t remember it but believes he caused the death of his girlfriend, Allisa Marie Vollan, 27, on March 22. Vollan, described on a fundraising site as a “bright young lady” with “an abundance of friends,” had a no-contact order against Howard at the time of her death. Howard could be sentenced to 20 years in prison — more than seven years longer than Minnesota’s presumptive guideline for the murder. According to the county attorney’s office, the longer sentence is legal because of the active domestic abuse no-contact order against him.
Howard’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 14.
According to court documents, officers responded to a morning call at Howard’s Central Hillside apartment and found him beneath a blanket with Vollan, who was dead. He told officers that he had hung out with Vollan late the previous night, then left to meet friends at a bar, and Vollan went to sleep in a guest room. When he tried to move her into his bedroom the next morning, she wasn’t breathing. He called his father, who was at the apartment when Duluth police arrived.
Neighbors in the upper level of the duplex told officers that, in the time before Howard would have left for the bar, they heard a woman crying and an angry male voice. They heard muffled moaning, thuds and the sound of something being dragged. They recorded it.
A preliminary autopsy by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office found that Vollan had likely been smothered.
Earlier the same month, Howard had been arrested after neighbors saw him repeatedly slam Vollan’s head into a door. The no-contact was issued by a St. Louis County judge.
Minneapolis School Board Member Fathia Feerayarre, who represented District 3 in the city’s center since January 2023, has resigned effective immediately, the district announced Tuesday.
Her departure comes too late to add the seat to the November ballot, however, meaning her colleagues will have to appoint her successor in a process and under a timeline to be outlined next week.
Feerayarre ran unopposed in 2022 as part of a four-candidate slate endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and was set to serve until Jan. 4, 2027.
Board Chair Collin Beachy, who also was part of that four-person slate, said in a news release: “I thank Ms. Feerayarre for her service to the Minneapolis Public Schools community as a member of the school board. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Minneapolis School Board Member Fathia Feerayarre, who represented District 3 in the city’s center since January 2023, has resigned effective immediately, the district announced Tuesday.
Her departure comes too late to add the seat to the November ballot, however, meaning her colleagues will have to appoint her successor in a process and under a timeline to be outlined next week.
Feerayarre ran unopposed in 2022 as part of a four-candidate slate endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and was set to serve until Jan. 4, 2027.
Board Chair Collin Beachy, who also was part of that four-person slate, said in a news release: “I thank Ms. Feerayarre for her service to the Minneapolis Public Schools community as a member of the school board. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
