Saint Mary's Newsroom

The Saint Mary’s community is invited to the Office of Inclusion and Human Dignity’s inaugural Inclusion and Human Dignity Week. Each day during the week of Jan. 15, there will be different opportunities to celebrate and discuss the university’s inclusive community alongside the concept of human dignity. Please reference the timeline of events below:

All Week
Interactive Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. timeline of key speeches along with reflection questions
College: Toner Student Center Lobby
SGPP: La Salle Hall

Tuesday, Jan. 16
College: Mass for the Preservation of Peace and Justice (Saint Thomas More Chapel, 12:15 p.m.)
Prayer service prior to the Student Senate meeting (Salvi Lecture Hall, 6:45 p.m.)

Wednesday, Jan. 17
SGPP: Movie Showing: Sound of Freedom (Brother Louis Hall, Room 105, 3:30 p.m.)*
College: Listening to Reality – A Survivor Story (Aquinas Hall, Room 200, 7 p.m.)*

Thursday, Jan. 18
SGPP: Listening to Reality – A Survivor Story (University Events Center, Banquet East, 12 p.m.)*
College: Movie Showing: Sound of Freedom (Aquinas Hall, Room 200, 6:30 p.m.)*

Friday, Jan. 19
SGPP: Prayer Service (Mother Teresa Hall, 11 a.m.)

* Warning: The content of these sessions covers sensitive topics and themes surrounding human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and assault which may be distressing for some individuals.

Listening to Reality – A Survivor Story is a co-sponsored event with the School of Health and Human Services.

The Marketing and Communications Department is thrilled to announce a significant achievement in its digital journey – the launch of revamped program pages for all 23 majors at the College, now live on smumn.edu. This success is thanks to a collaborative effort involving College faculty, staff, and admissions working closely with the Marketing and Communications Department.

The journey began by strategizing how to optimize the presentation of core majors and their respective track options on the website, resulting in notable SEO improvements. During the process, significant questions arose: Should all tracks be consolidated onto one page with an accordion, or should each track have its own unique page? Consequently, the decision was made to adopt a new URL structure and introduce a parent page/track page concept. The guiding principle was clear – if a track has a unique outcome, it deserves its own page. Check out this example: Biology Parent Page.

Following this, the Marketing and Communication Department engaged in meaningful consultations with faculty and admissions to enrich the content and establish a template for a consistent customer experience across all program pages. The result is a unified customer journey that intricately and consistently details what students can expect to learn, highlighting key program features. Modules to prompt them to visit and apply were also added.

A crucial element was crafting comprehensive information with a keen eye on optimizing for SEO. In this effort, over 30 new program pages were written to provide comprehensive information about each major and its tracks, while enhancing our online visibility. More than 40 photos were sourced to visually represent the diverse and dynamic aspects of our programs and our students. Additionally, over 10 student stories were incorporated on program pages, providing an authentic and relatable perspective. Notably, substantial enhancements were made to the elementary education and secondary education pages, showcasing a plethora of options for our students to explore. Finally, a brand-new landing page dedicated to showcasing our undergraduate minors serves as a centralized hub for exploring the exciting opportunities available to our students.

Perhaps most importantly, a Request for Information (RFI) option was added to each page. This strategic move not only empowers prospects to engage with the university but also facilitates their entry into Saint Mary’s marketing funnel, fostering a more personalized connection.
Thank you to everyone involved in this project to make the College’s digital presence even more vibrant and user-friendly.

The President’s Cabinet would like to provide faculty and staff with a number of events that can be added to calendars. Additional information will be shared as available.

January: 

• Jan. 20 – SGPP Commencement

February:

• Feb. 8 – Cardinal Update Live

March:

• March 17-23 – De La Salle Week
• March 19 – Founders’ Day
• March 23- Cardinal Excellence Fund Dinner

April:

• April 8 – Spring Social honoring employees and retirees – Minneapolis
• April 10 – Hendrickson Forum
• April 11 – Cardinal Update Live
• April 25 – Spring Social honoring employees and retirees – Winona

May:

• May 4 – Undergraduate Commencement – Winona Campus

This fall the Marketing and Communications Department commissioned benchmark research to measure the university’s new brand messaging launched in Fall 2022, hoping to confirm its effectiveness.

The “Because of You” campaign delivered powerful and positive meaning, with the most common interpretations being that Saint Mary’s education enables students to make a difference in the world and that the university is student-centric (both very positive).

Saint Mary’s top associations among respondents included faith-based, academic excellence, and friendly/welcoming. These are keywords and concepts that we will leverage going forward.

While the university’s awareness is low in the market, the study confirms that Saint Mary’s should stay the course with the current messaging. To learn more, read the full study here, including the executive summary (Note: This study is not to be shared outside of the university community).

Further messages regarding the study and the university’s messaging can be directed to Karen Zellner, senior director of marketing.

The Saint Mary’s Partnership Collaborative is a new initiative populated with key partners from the Schools of Business and Technology, Health and Human Services, and Education that provide students, faculty, and alumni with opportunities for professional development, research, internships, externships, employee pipelines, targeted accelerator certificates and degree completion. This partnership spotlight is meant to highlight the exciting partnerships Saint Mary’s has entered.

Partnerships that have recently been formed this fall include:

• Law Enforcement Labor Services (LELS): LELS is Minnesota’s largest public safety labor union representing over 7,000 licensed peace officers, non-licensed corrections officers, 911 dispatchers, firefighters, and public safety administrative support personnel. Through this partnership, students enrolled in Saint Mary’s B.S. in Criminal Leadership program can receive credit hours from Peace Officers Standards and Training professional development.
• Avera Health: Avera serves South Dakota and surrounding areas of Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota through six regional centers in Aberdeen, Mitchell, Pierre, Sioux Falls, and Yankton, South Dakota, as well as Marshall, Minnesota, serving 37 hospitals, 215 primary and specialty care clinics, and 40 senior living facilities.
• Nexus Family Healing: Nexus Family Healing is a nonprofit organization, headquartered in Plymouth, serving thousands of youth and families in Illinois, Minnesota, Maryland, and North Dakota with community-based mental health services, foster care, adoption services, and residential treatment programs.
• Duluth Public Schools (District 709): The Duluth School District operates more than 25 facilities and serves approximately 11,200 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The district’s staff includes approximately 2,200 full and part-time employees.

Along with the new partnerships, Kevin Ebben, director for strategic partnerships, and Bruce Locklear, Ed.D., director for strategic partnerships in the School of Education, as well as other Saint Mary’s staff and faculty members, have attended a number of events supporting the university’s partnerships that include:

• Law Enforcement Labor Services Annual Training Conference
• Benedictine Health Services Annual Conference
• People Incorporated Diversity Fair
• Federal Academic Alliance and US Army’s 1st Annual Education and Professional Development Symposium

Future Saint Mary’s partnerships will be announced monthly in Cardinal Updates.

Higher education is a field that is constantly changing. With this roundup, we hope to keep you informed about what is going on at universities and colleges around the country:

• UW system will launch direct admissions initiative with 2024 senior class (WPR)
• New Title IX Regulations Pushed to March (Inside Higher Ed)
• MPCC campus spotlight: Examining the ethics (MPCC)