Regents on the University of Minnesota’s Mission Fulfillment Committee on an October 2025 morning heard faculty and campus leaders describe how the system plans to scale evidence‑based teaching practices across its five campuses and pilot generative‑AI tools to personalize student supports.

The discussion, led by Executive Vice President and Provost Gretchen Ritter and Chancellor Lori Carroll (Rochester campus), highlighted classroom research cycles that test instructional changes, community‑engaged first‑year writing courses, and pilots for a GenAI “campus navigator” called CRISP that answers routine student questions and invokes human review when needed.

The committee’s focus on “innovating the future of learning” grows from the University’s new strategic roadmap, presenters said, and aims to apply scholarship on teaching and learning to course design, advising, and experiential education so more students succeed.

“We now aspire to apply those research results to our educational practice at scale,” Chancellor Lori Carroll said, summarizing the committee’s goal to translate university research about learning into classroom practice. Carroll framed the effort as combining approaches such as active learning, community‑engaged learning, work‑based learning and interdisciplinary project learning to improve “deep learning, well‑being, timely completion, career launch, and contribution to the common good.”

Faculty described iterative research cycles that test instructional changes, collect data, and redesign courses. Cassidy Terrell, an instructor at the Rochester campus who teaches biochemistry, described a classroom project in which students use open‑source tools to design and test candidate drugs, and then measure whether those activities improve students’ ability to visualize molecular structures and persist in STEM. “If a student is able to develop these mental models, it unlocks a new level of creative problem solving,” Terrell said.

Officials described expanded experiential learning in writing courses. Chris Kory, Associate Director of First‑Year Writing, said the department offers four to five sections per semester of a community‑engaged version of University Writing—about 200 students a year—and seeks to expand that offering. Kory described partnerships with local organizations including Wanderlust Productions, the St. Anthony East Neighborhood Association, College Possible and the Center for Climate Literacy, and gave examples of student research projects that produced usable deliverables for partner organizations.

The committee also heard from Carolyn Hilk, Director of the Center for Educational Innovation, about three near‑term opportunities for generative AI in education: a 24/7 campus navigator, personalized tutoring that adapts to student mastery, and simulated experiential environments for practice under realistic conditions. “The campus navigator, personalized tutor, and experiential simulator represent profound opportunities to make learning more accessible, individualized, and impactful,” Hilk said, adding that pilots and task‑force recommendations are being implemented with attention to academic integrity and equitable access.

Committee members asked about accuracy and oversight for CRISP. In response, presenters said the CRISP pilot is trained on University of Minnesota information and includes a “human in the loop” when the system must extend beyond its core data; usage is being monitored and the dataset retrained as needed during pilot testing. Regent Verhaeyn asked how the university ensures answers are accurate and not hallucinated; presenters described ongoing quality assurance and human escalation protocols in the pilot.

Regents also asked about workforce‑oriented and stackable credentials. Carroll and Ritter said the university will approach stackable credentials and competency‑based models with employer partners and with an evidence base that confirms improved learning, well‑being and career outcomes before large‑scale adoption.

Presenters emphasized that the university will measure outcomes and iterate. Terrell described classroom research with cycles of intervention, measurement and redesign; Carroll and Ritter said the university will gather evidence as it scales promising practices.

The presentation closed with committee members praising the examples and expressing support for making experiential and personalized learning more widely available across campuses.