Fall Semester Update

 Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

We are at the halfway point of the fall semester. I am grateful to see an active campus, filled with energy and balanced with safety protocols for the well-being of our campus community. 

A few quick updates for you:

Homecoming
Last week, we celebrated homecoming with a variety of events and activities around campus throughout the week. Homecoming is a great way to demonstrate Bulldog pride with our campus, alumni, friends and community members. Thanks to the organizers and all who participated to make homecoming a success. 

Driven: The University of Minnesota Duluth Campaign
This last summer, we completed a very successful 10 year fundraising program; Driven: The University of Minnesota Duluth Campaign. We set a goal to raise $120 million to support student scholarships, innovative programs, great faculty and top grade facilities. Due to the generosity of thousands of donors, we secured $170 million. I invite you to watch this short video, with UMD theater student Laura Carlson, to hear more about these amazing results. 

Throughout the campaign, 828 UMD employees contributed to this success by donating $15 million! That is an impressive number of employees demonstrating their generosity and commitment to the success of UMD and our students.

The impact of these incredible gifts will be felt for generations to come. I am honored that our alumni and friends made such amazing investments for the betterment of our students and this campus. Gifts are generally designated by the donor to specific purposes (like student scholarships), and are not available for general institutional budgetary needs.

Safe Campus
I am pleased that our campus has high vaccination rates for students, faculty, and staff. Our campus community continues to follow COVID health and safety protocols. Safety measures, such as properly wearing face coverings indoors, are important attributes to maintaining in-person activities and complying with university expectations. It is also important that each of us continue to closely monitor our own health. Regardless of your vaccination status, please seek testing if you have COVID-19 symptoms. 

Thank you for your on-going support in helping to keep all members of our campus community safe. You can continue to find COVID related information on the Safe Campus website. 

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor