As the University of Minnesota celebrates 175 years, President Rebecca Cunningham is guiding a bold new chapter grounded in a simple idea: lead by listening. Since becoming the University’s 18th president in 2024, she has engaged students, faculty, staff, alumni, business leaders and community members around Elevate Extraordinary 2030, a strategic roadmap created from more than a year of conversations statewide.
Elevate Extraordinary 2030 is focused on driving opportunity, innovation and shared prosperity, charting a collective path forward. At a University where 25 faculty and students have won a Nobel Prize, this roadmap builds upon strengths to advance five imperatives critical to growth: from transforming the student experience and expanding real-world learning to accelerating progress in health, agriculture and sustainability. Early momentum includes launching the University’s AI Hub, furthering integration through a one University on five campuses approach and sustaining the state’s workforce engine. The University is third in the nation among public universities for startup creation, having launched 26 startups in fiscal year 2025 — 77% in Minnesota — and trains 70% of the state’s health and health care professionals.
At its core, the roadmap aligns the University’s academic excellence with Minnesota’s talent needs — attracting, retaining and preparing graduates who will power the state’s economy. Enrollment is rising across all five campuses, with Rochester welcoming its largest class yet. As a modern land-grant institution, the University is doubling down on its mission of groundbreaking research and scholarship, teaching and learning, outreach and public service to impact all 87 counties and contribute $11.5 billion annually in economic impact to Minnesota.
Cunningham’s leadership reflects a forward-looking commitment to Minnesota’s future: listening as the starting point, action as the standard and opportunity as the outcome — unlocking student success, accelerating discovery and embodying the energy for change to fuel a more prosperous state for all.
