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Council links SCSU, community
SCSU President Roy Saigo will be getting some extra advice this year from local community members.
Twelve business and community leaders came together in July to form the President’s Community Advisory Council. The council is only advisory in nature, and will have no official role in SCSU policy-making decisions, said Lisa Helmin Foss, SCSU director of marketing and communications. The council’s main goal is to keep SCSU connected to the community the university resides in.
“Part of our responsibility is to ensure the services that we provide meet the needs of the community,” Foss said. “It’s an opportunity for people to give SCSU feedback, how we can better serve the community.”
Members of the President’s Community Advisory Council are: Teresa Bohnen, St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce; Bescye P. Burnett, Great River Regional Library; Troy Fritz, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Minnesota; Pegg Gustafson, Downtown Council of St. Cloud; Chris Hagelie, City of St. Cloud; Francis Januschka, former Stearns County Extension Agent; Steve Joul, Central Minnesota Community Foundation; Jim Lee, St. Cloud Area School District 742; Tom Moore, St. Cloud Area Economic Development Partnership; Mark Sakry, Boys and Girls Club; Roxanne Wilson, St. Cloud Hospital; and Karen Young, Xcel Energy.
The council, which meets quarterly, had its first meeting in July.
Hagelie, an administrator for the City of St. Cloud, said the initial meeting was mostly introductory.
“We met the new administrative staff at the university–a lot of those people were new–and went over some of the goals and objectives of the university,” he said. “It was an orientation and a process-oriented meeting.”
Hagelie said each of the board members shared ideas about why they were on the committee, and added that the meeting went well.
Fritz, executive director of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Minnesota, agreed.
“I was extremely impressed by the makeup of the committee,” Fritz said, “and the diversity and the different backgrounds people were coming from. I was particularly impressed by Dr. Saigo and some of the other vice presidents and the direction that they wanted to go with the meeting and asking for our input as community members.”
Joul, president of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation, echoed Hagelie’s and Fritz’s sentiments. He also said the committee itself presented a good opportunity.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Joul said. “I think it’s great that the university is reaching out to the community. St. Cloud State is one of the great resources that St. Cloud has, and at times, it may seem like there’s a division between the university community and the community at large. I think this is wonderful that Dr. Saigo is trying to reach beyond those boundaries and bring in a community group”
Joul said he is looking forward to learning more about SCSU in the coming year. His hope is to see further bridging of the university and greater St. Cloud communities.
“It’s an area that could continue to be improved,” he said. “You’re never completely there. It’s one of those areas you’re always working on, building community relations.”
Hagelie’s goal is to see SCSU leadership get more involved with economic development in the St. Cloud area.
Fritz, meanwhile, is more focused on connecting SCSU students with the community.
“(Big Brothers/Big Sisters) is a volunteer-rich organization which means that I use a lot of volunteers in the course of day-to-day operations at my organization,” Fritz said. “St. Cloud State has 16,000 students, and one of the perspectives I bring is how maybe the university and organizations like mine can partner together to impact more kids’ lives.”
The President’s Community Advisory Council has its next meeting in October. Fritz said that meeting would focus on more directly identifying different directions the council could pursue in the coming months.
“The (committee) really seems like it’s going to be a pretty neat, interesting opportunity,” he said.
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