Sustainable Futures Logo.

WSU’s 2014-15 University Theme.

Winona State’s campus theme this year is “sustainable futures.” It’s tremendously gratifying to know that during these challenging times our future as a university is sustainable. While many higher education institutions stand on thin ice, WSU stands on terra firma: solid ground. We are the oldest MnSCU institution and the first normal school west of the Mississippi, and we have been blessed to come this far because sustainability is our nature. Thanks to some illumination from members of our wise and committed faculty and staff, I’ve come to believe that many of the ideas that will make our future sustainable can be found in our past. For example, the Dakota who lived here knew how to prosper on a much smaller footprint, and we can learn much from their practices and histories. I focus a lot on the next 150 years for WSU, so I’m delighted that we will spend this academic year making our next century and a half as successful as the last century and a half.