Charles Watson began his journey at Minneapolis College as an adjunct professor for the Philosophy department in the Fall of 2012. Six years later, he became the African American Education Empowerment Program’s (AME) Coordinator at the College.

Once experiencing the administrative side of the school, Watson began to understand the importance of building relationships at the College as well as in the larger community.

Minneapolis College has received the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) 2020 Inclusion Cultivates Excellence Award for its competency-based hiring program. This award recognizes and celebrates institutional initiatives and programs that have made a significant impact with respect to inclusive and equitable workplace practices, particularly those that have brought about cultural change throughout the organization.

Minneapolis College announced new course placement options to provide easier access to a college education. The comprehensive process, now including directed self-placement, creates more flexible and equitable placement for students and helps the college determine the courses for which students are best prepared.

Minneapolis College placement options now include:

Each year, Minneapolis Community and Technical College graduates look forward to celebrating their accomplishments with a commencement ceremony held at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

For the class of 2020, COVID-19 has changed all that.

“We really wanted to try and find the best way we could celebrate our graduates even though we can’t be there together,” said Tara Martinez.

Course material costs continue to rise across the country. With the challenges created by COVID-19 statewide and nationally, college bookstores are now faced with implementing a new normal. Over the last 3 years, Minneapolis College and the Minnesota State Bookstore Collaboration have been addressing both scenarios.

Minneapolis College is one of 19 colleges and universities nationwide awarded accreditation this year from the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP).

The college’s concurrent enrollment program, College NOW, offers high school students the opportunity to take college courses and earn Minneapolis College credit while they are in their high schools during their normal high school schedule.

Using his personal story of recovery and not having a place on-campus to support him while he was in school, Lofgren was inspired to create a space for the students he worked with. “They [didn’t] have a place on campus where they can just be themselves and not really worry about stigma,” said Lofgren. “And get the kind of peer-to-peer support that is so vital to academic success, but also really vital to recovery success.”

It took resiliency and grit to cross the finish line toward academic achievement during these challenging times.

“Your perseverance is a testament to your resilience reflected in our latest social media hashtag “NoBarriersTooBig” and it is the reason why we all come to work every day,” said President Sharon Pierce.

Join in a Celebration of 2020 Graduates

May 15 | 4:00 p.m.
minneapolis.edu/grad2020
#MplsGrad2020

A Hunger Free Campus is a Minnesota State community and/or technical college that is actively taking strides to reduce food insecurity amongst students. In order to be awarded the designation, a campus must meet the following minimum criteria:

Minneapolis College’s Sustainability Committee is dedicating the month of May to Biodiversity, in recognition of the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22.  Variety is not only the spice of life—variations within ecosystems, among species (animals, insects, plants, single-cell organisms), and even within our genes are essential for robust, healthy, interconnected natural systems.