Excerpted from Inaugural address
This is what the “Winona Way” looks like to me:
• Winona cherishes Independence – we don’t follow fads, and we prefer to be the leader;
• Winona cherishes Excellence – we expect the highest quality;
• Winona cherishes this Place – we believe community partnerships are a way of life;
• Winona cherishes Beauty – we believe our town, our bluffs, and our river are unrivalled;
• Winona cherishes Innovation – we believe that everyone can be an entrepreneur like those who built and sustain this community. Indeed, in Dakota, the word “Winona” means first-born, like any innovation; and
When you establish a state university the Winona Way, then you get something like a private college experience, personal and transformational, with a strong sense of place, but transformed at its core by relevance and responsiveness to our community and to the needs of our state, and all delivered at tremendous value.
