Rob Vischer, President, University of St. Thomas

University of St. Thomas President Rob Vischer spoke with Invest: about the school’s continued dedication to meeting student needs, enhancing student experiences, and guaranteeing student success. He also discussed how the university uses analytics to ensure this trajectory continues.

What have been some of the main highlights and key milestones for the University of St. Thomas over the last 12 months?

The university has been around for 140 years, but we have been working toward transforming from a small liberal arts college to a large, comprehensive university with national visibility and more global impact. We became the first university in America to move from Division 3 to Division 1 athletics. As part of that growth, we are building an arena for hockey and basketball, and the $180 million facility will also host concerts and community events. 

In the last year, we opened the Schoenecker Center, which is a state-of-the-art STEAM complex. We’ve constructed new dorms and are committed to investing in our school’s future. We are continuing to grow our new college of health and school of nursing, and 100% of our first graduating class last year passed the nursing licensing exam. Fundraising has been prolific over the past few years, and we are making great forward progress on all of our strategic objectives.

Have you observed an increase in enrollment in recent years?

There has been modest growth over the last few years in our enrollment. This year, we have about 9,400 students total, with one-third of these students enrolled in graduate studies. Our biggest competitors are not other Minnesota private colleges but are instead the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin and Iowa State because we have the types of facilities and resources that some of those larger schools have, but we still have an average class size of around 20 students. Our classes are also taught by professors and not by graduate assistants. 

Is the university implementing any other measures to attract new students and increase the student population?

We don’t want to increase our student population dramatically. We can handle modest growth, but we believe we’re near optimal size for the type of learning environment we want to maintain.

More than half of incoming Gen-Z students say they don’t have a sense of purpose or meaning in their lives. We try to emphasize that if you’re going to school as a transaction, that doesn’t really address the needs of the incoming generation of students. 

How would you describe the value proposition of universities in modern times?

At St. Thomas, our retention, graduation, employment and average debt are all strong. However, we need to have higher aspirations than only economic ROI. It’s imperative for all of higher ed to look beyond the cost-benefit transaction and recognize the importance of preparing our students to thrive as leaders, as parents, as citizens, as neighbors, and as human beings.

How does the University of St. Thomas keep its curricula up to date and in line with market demands?

Our faculty utilize their expertise to direct the curriculum within their disciplines, and we rely on advisory boards to make sure we’re responsive to the evolving needs of employers.

St. Thomas has tried to avoid the “ivory tower” mentality, and we are deeply embedded in the local Twin Cities market. Employers are constantly invited to campus to serve on our advisory boards, to be part of our conversations, to meet with students and to help us understand what the industries need in these various fields, and our school is responsive to those needs.

How does the university provide financial, academic, and professional support to those students that need it the most? 

A quarter of our undergrad students are now on either Pell or state grant aid, based on income. Our No. 1 fundraising objective is student aid, and we have a number of great scholarship opportunities for our students. Our student body reflects the reality of the communities we serve. We want to provide pathways to lower income students and their families. One of the most pressing concerns is the future workforce. If we’re going to leave a huge portion of our population on the sidelines for workforce development because of financial obstacles, we are costing ourselves as a state and society. 

How does the university leverage technology to provide the best educational experience for students?

We take technological innovations seriously and aggressively moved toward online capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The institution will always operate primarily in-person, but we want to be able to leverage online capabilities to make the learning experience more accessible and effective when appropriate. 

While we don’t purport to be a leader in AI research like MIT or Stanford, we do want to be a leader in AI implementation. We launched a strong external advisory group to help us develop AI, as well as nine subgroups of faculty and staff to research how AI can influence both the student experience and university operations.

What curricular or extracurricular activities does the University of St. Thomas employ to prepare students beyond the academic environment?

Close to 80% of our graduates complete an internship or internship-like experience. We perform a climate survey to measure students’ “experience of belonging” on campus. When students attend events on campus, we are able to measure what is working as well as to measure the percentage of students who are engaging. It’s much harder to get students out of their dorm rooms now to socialize post-pandemic. We want every single student involved in extracurriculars, athletics, or some type of student organization because that is where relationships are formed. The University of St. Thomas is one of the first schools in our region to construct a comprehensive center for wellbeing where physical, mental and spiritual health can be nourished.

What are the primary challenges for the education sector in Minneapolis-St. Paul?

The greatest challenge is the growing financial need of incoming students. This necessitates constructing a flexible business model to meet student needs. We are ramping up scholarship aid and being more cognizant of operation costs. There is also a reputation of higher education as becoming more politically divided where many Americans feel that higher ed is disconnected from the needs of real people.

What is the outlook for the University of St. Thomas in terms of plans, priorities, and goals moving forward?

I hope that our national visibility will grow and that a larger percentage of our student body will come from states beyond Minnesota. Our task is to help the next generation of leaders develop and set our students up for a lifetime of flourishing.