The past semester has been one of tremendous change. Major leadership transitions and numerous other changes, coupled with a difficult economy and steep budget cuts, have no doubt impacted the way you work -- yet day in and day out, each of you continues to contribute to our shared mission and values. As a result, this has also been a semester of unprecedented success in terms of the academic profile and achievements of our students, as well as the gains in rank, reputation, and sponsored funding garnered by our research enterprise and presented in the 2010 Annual Research Report. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your extraordinary efforts in support of these accomplishments. Each of you is helping to keep the University of Minnesota strong.

Over the past few months, we've made plans to close our campuses over the winter holidays according to the following schedule: 

I know that for many of you, a shutdown of this nature is an inconvenience, and for some, the lost work time presents significant challenges. I hope you understand this is another important way for us to reduce costs in a time of limited resources. More information on how these closures impact individual campuses and specific employee groups may be found on the University Winter Closure web page.

Early next semester I will share more details about transitions in the leadership team, our legislative outlook, and the University's budget. For now, I sincerely wish you all a restful and joyous winter break and a very Happy New Year. Thanks again for all that you do! 

Sincerely, 

 

Robert H. Bruininks 

President