Ginny Arthur - Teaching Community

In her public persona, Metropolitan State University President Virginia (Ginny) Arthur, gives community a seat at the table.

Less “ivory tower” and more “lively luncheonette,” Metro State asks students not only what subjects they want to major in, but what problems they want to solve. In her role, Ginny is often at the head of the table framing conversations on subjects as diverse as minimum wage, Indigenous land acknowledgement, and citizenship. She invites - and Metro State supports – a permeable and dynamic exchange where student becomes leader, and community serves as a “living laboratory” from which to learn and apply lessons.

In her less-public moments, Ginny plans and guides the University from a second-floor office in New Main. With an impressive view of both downtown St. Paul and the Minnesota State Capital, her office is a workroom with an artistic flare. Like most academic administrators, she has books (and more books!) and proposals and stacks of reports to consider. On the high walls around her workspace, she displays local handicrafts that inspire her: a woven White Buffalo Blanket and a framed Hmong baby carrier.

The blanket was a gift from members of the Dakota community, the first people of Minnesota. “Minnesota” comes from a Dakota phrase Mni Sota Makoce, meaning “Land where the waters reflect the sky.” In describing the piece, Ginny first acknowledges that Metro State resides on Dakota homelands, and that, in Dakota tradition, the birth of a white buffalo (which the blanket signifies) portends hope and good times to come. “If there ever was a time for that message,” she offers, acknowledging the ongoing pandemic and recent racial trauma in the Twin Cities, “it is now.”

Ginny describing the White Buffalo Blanket that hangs in her office in New Main

Across from the blanket hangs a framed and finely hand-stitched Hmong baby carrier. She explains how Hmong neighbors welcomed her as Metro State’s new president in 2016:

I was invited to meet members of the Hmong community. When I arrived at what I thought would be a simple meeting, I found a banquet hall filled with Hmong people. At the front of the hall was a table piled high with fruit, flowers, and ribbons. I greeted the crowd and spoke briefly; then, one by one, members of the audience came to the front table, pulled a ribbon out of the display of fruit, and tied it to my arm with a good wish attached. Then, they placed a baby in the baby carrier and tied it to my back. They told me that I carried the hopes of the next generation on my back.

The community’s expectations expressed in that gesture compel her leadership each day . A first-generation college graduate in her own family, Ginny accepts the responsibility willingly: “I know that education is the catalyst. [In higher ed] we are moving people ahead to help them realize their dreams and live their best lives.”

Ginny with a Hmong baby carrier hanging on her office wall

Metro State is a college that since its founding in 1971 has served an atypical student body. “Our founding president, David E. Sweet, declared that this would be a college for people who have no college,” Ginny says. “In the 1970’s, that meant women, married students, young men who went into military service. This place is for students who have followed a different path.”

Part of Minnesota’s State Colleges and Universities, or MNSCU, the state’s public educational higher education system, Metro State serves adult students, in both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Many are immigrants or the first in their families to attend college. Some are parents or support multiple generations at home. There are no dorms (though still an occasional Frisbee is tossed around on the main quad) and class rosters accommodate the students’ scheduling needs, many of whom work during the day. Faculty have deep-lived experience in the fields they teach, and often connect their work life to their classroom.

Metro State graduates line up for graduation

Ginny’s path to the presidency leading non-traditional students followed a more traditional academic trajectory. She holds a Juris Doctor degree (JD) and spent three decades as a faculty member, department chair, and provost at prestigious private colleges where, she says, “relatively privileged students” “aspired to a comfortable lifestyle.” In contrast, Metro State “serves some of the poorest students in Minnesota.” She is determined to lead a different demographic forward with a different brand of learning. AARP / Pollen Midwest declared Ginny a “Matriculation Maven” in 2020 (“50 Over 50” Awards) for her success diversifying Metro State’s student ranks - focusing on Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders - and for recruiting and retaining BIPOC faculty and staff.

This evolving ecosystem at Metro State is earning accolades and demonstrating results, particularly for students’ economic advancement. Ginny offers with pride: “Metro State is one of the top colleges in the nation for moving people out of poverty [CollegeNET ranks Metro State 39th out of 1500 US colleges surveyed]. And among Minnesota colleges and universities, we are number one.” Given the disparities in wealth between whites and people of color in Minnesota, that accomplishment should delight all of us.

The advancement toward economic stability and wealth-building allows students some space to address societal problems while progressing personally. Gaining skills and finding higher paying jobs in nursing, cyber security, accounting, early childhood education, or other fields are often the starting point, but Ginny says students find additional “sweet spots” at Metro State where they gain confidence, connections, and exposure to partnerships or processes that guide them in solving community challenges. Ginny describes signature programs like Project Shine (Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders), a community service-learning program where students assist adult refugees and immigrants in their efforts to learn English and obtain citizenship. And Metro State Votes, a campus campaign to educate voters and increase participation in elections among students and employees. A 2018 National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement at Tufts University denoted that Metro State has one of the highest student voting rates in the country (72%). Both programs are popular with students, and sets Metro State apart. To that, Ginny says:

A theme I hear from students is that they came because we are close to home, affordable, they can go to school and still work. But often that becomes, ‘I learned so much more than I thought! I have learned to be an active member of society.’ They see that this place is engaged, and once they are here, there is an awakening.

That “awakening” happens across disciplines and experiences. Learning or sharpening job skills are only part of the qualification for active citizenship; Metro State students also practice democracy and learn what levers to pull for impact in their communities. Ginny says the best and brightest Metro State students go on to start non-profits, run for local public office, gain rank in the National Guard or Reserves, or earn a seat in the Minnesota Legislature. In fact, Minnesota’s first two Somali legislators are graduates of Metro State.

Rep. Hodan Hassan, a 2010 Metro State Graduate, at the Minnesota Legislature. Sen. Sandy Pappas, to her right, is also a Metro State grad.

In Ginny’s inaugural address to the college community in 2016, she described Metro State as “a college with the community as its campus.” A stroll around the compact St. Paul site demonstrates how the built environment connects college to community: wide pathways lead from the neighborhood to classrooms, labs and offices; an open labyrinth garden invites community for reflection and meditative walking; and even the Dayton’s Bluff Library is a partnership between neighborhood and Metro State, part St. Paul Public Library and part University Library and Learning Center, with a computer lab available to all.

The Metro State University library serves the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood of St. Paul as well

Inter-dependence, inquiry and learning, and cultivating deep roots within community are characteristics of both Metro State students and their current president. “Civic engagement is front and center,” Ginny says of her mission to educate and ignite students. “Civic life is integral to preparing our students for citizenship as much as it is to prepare our students for jobs.” She points again to the Hmong baby carrier on her office wall and considers her obligation and the community’s future: “It inspires me to make good decisions.”

Flags fly in New Main Great Hall, including flags from Minnesota’s 11 Native Nations

Resources:

Metropolitan State University: https://www.metrostate.edu/

CollegeNET 2020 Social Mobility Index: https://www.socialmobilityindex.org/

Project Shine: https://www.metrostate.edu/community/engaged-learning/project-SHINE#:~:text=Project%20SHINE%20(Students%20Helping%20in,learn%20English%20and%20obtain%20citizenship

Metro State Votes: https://www.metrostate.edu/community/civic-engagement/metro-state-votes

AARP / Pollen Midwest 50 Over 50: https://www.pollenmidwest.org/stories/2020-50-over-50/

Photo Credits: Tracy Nordstrom and Metropolitan State University