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UMR Campus Photos

If you could start a college from scratch, how would yours break with tradition? The University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR) is a living experiment in college teaching and learning. The already robust university system added the Rochester campus in 2009 to collaborate with the nearby Mayo Clinic in preparing undergraduates for careers in health sciences. UMR administrators and faculty are taking advantage of the newness of their program to figure out how college students learn best on their unconventional campus.

Click the image below to view photographs taken in UMR classrooms and around campus.

The "main gates" of the University of Minnesota Rochester, in a shopping mall in downtown Rochester. (Photo: Emily Hanford) In lieu of a traditional campus quad, students at UMR congregate in this common area between classes. (Photo: Suzanne Pekow) The Information Commons takes the place of a traditional library. There are about 50 books stacked on two sets of metal shelves; everything else is online. (Photo: Emily Hanford) A student studies in the Information Commons. Students do almost all of their work online and use very few printed books. (Photo: Emily Hanford) Biology professor Andy Petzold helps a student with a question in the "Just Ask Center" at UMR. (Photo: Suzanne Pekow) Students are expected to bring laptops to UMR classes and are often asked to look up the answers to group questions as part of in-class research. (Photo: Suzanne Pekow) Seating chart posted on the wall of a UMR classroom. Seats are arranged in group modules, rather than in rows facing a single professor. (Photo: Suzanne Pekow) Andy Petzold talking with students during a biology class at the University of Minnesota Rochester. (Photo: Suzanne Pekow) During an organic chemistry class, Professor Rajeev Muthyala moves around the room to facilitate group work. Students use huddle boards and dry-erase markers to work on problems together as a group. (Photo: Suzanne Pekow) Professors Kelsey Metzger and Andy Petzold co-teach a biology class. Petzold is a student-based faculty member; he spends all of his time working directly with students and is not expected to do research. Metzger is a learning design faculty member; part of her job is to do research on how people learn. (Photo: Suzanne Pekow) Students work together on a group exam at the University of Minnesota Rochester. (Photo: Emily Hanford) Students work on a group exam in Professor Robb Dunbar's anatomy and physiology class. Group examinations are part of the experimental nature of the UMR program; students also take individual exams. (Photo: Suzanne Pekow) There is no official sports program at UMR but students have started a ballroom dance team. They practice at a nearby dance studio. (Photo: Emily Hanford) Freshman Missy Erlanson gives a hand massage to a patient as part of a volunteer program at the Mayo Clinic, which is connected to UMR via skyway. One advantage to being so close to Mayo: students can get experience in a world-renowned hospital early in their college careers. (Photo: Emily Hanford) A new UMR residence hall/classroom building under construction in downtown Rochester. There are no dorms yet at UMR. This building is intended to help add to the sense of community on campus. (Photo: Stephen Smith)

*The Tomorrow's College* audio and web series explores how higher education is changing and why it matters.**
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