Items of Note

• Housing
• Employment for Family Members
• The University
• The Twin Cities
• Minnesota

Housing

Graduate students tend to secure housing off campus.  There are many wonderful neighborhoods near campus as well as throughout both Minneapolis and St. Paul.  Many near the campus are older, historic areas with a mix of dwelling types from single family homes to multiunit houses to apartment buildings.   There is usually a park nearby where you can take off your shoes and unwind.  Although some find it most convenient to live near campus, the Twin Cities offer bus transit and an extensive bike path system which make the University easily accessible.

The University's housing office is very helpful with both on campus and off campus housing:

 University of Minnesota
 Office of Housing & Residential Life
 Comstock Hall East
 210 Delaware Street SE
 Minneapolis, MN  55455
 612-624-2994
 http://www1.umn.edu/housing/

Students with families may apply for an apartment in the Commonwealth Terrace Cooperative on the St. Paul Campus and Como Student Community Cooperative located between the two campuses:

 Commonwealth Terrace Cooperative
 1250 Fifield
 St. Paul, MN 55108
 651-646-7526

 Como Student Community
 1024 - 27th Ave SE
 Minneapolis, MN 55414
 612-378-2434

Additional resources for housing and employment

Minnesota Daily (campus newspaper)

Minneapolis Star Tribune

St. Paul Pioneer Press

City Pages (weekly newspaper)

The Twin Cities Green Guide

Employment for Family Members
There are numerous employment opportunities on campus as well as within the surrounding metropolitan area. Persons interested in on-campus positions, including Civil Service jobs, should contact:

 University of Minnesota Job Center
 319 - 15th Ave SE
 170 Donhowe Building
 Minneapolis, MN 55455
 (612) 625-2000
 http://www.umn.edu/ohr/employ.html

Several employment agencies operate within the Twin Cities and state employment offices keep a file of job openings as well as provide counseling services for job hunters. The contact for the state employment service is:

 Minnesota Workforce Center Office
 (1) 888-438-5627
 http://www.mnwfc.org/

The University
The University of Minnesota was founded as a preparatory school in 1851, seven years before the territory of Minnesota became a state. Financial problems forced the school to close during the Civil War, but it reopened in 1867. It survived partly because of the help of Minneapolis entrepreneur John Sargent Pillsbury, a University regent, state senator, and governor, who is known today as the "Father of the University."

With its four campuses (Twin Cities, Duluth, Morris, and Crookston), the University is now one of the most comprehensive universities in the U.S.   It is both the state land-grant university, with a strong tradition of education and public service, and a major research institution, with scholars of national and international reputation.  At present, it is ranked by the National Research Council and U.S. News and World Report to be among the top 20 public research universities in the country.

The Twin Cities campus is really two campusesóone in Minneapolis and one in St. Paul.  The Mississippi River "runs through" the Minneapolis campus creating east and west banks, each with a distinctive character.  On the East Bank campus are the older buildings and grassy, tree-lined mall of a traditional college campus.   The East Bank campus is home to the medical school and most of the science and engineering departments, including the Department of Geology and Geophysics which is located in Pillsbury Hall.  Built in 1887, using Precambrian sandstones from Minnesota, Pillsbury Hall is the second oldest building on campus and is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

The West Bank campus is newer and features several high-rise structures connected by a busy pedestrian plaza.  Some of the Universityís newest buildings are home to the Law School, the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, the Carlson School of Management, the School of Music, Studio Arts, and Theater.

The St. Paul campus is four miles away, linked to the Minneapolis campus by free intercampus bus service and a bike path.  On the St. Paul campus, new architecture blends into the old, and spacious gardens manage a relaxed, small-town atmosphere.  Here are the colleges of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Biological Sciences, Natural Resources, and Human Ecology.

The Twin Cities campus has a vast number of reference materials available with 4 main libraries and 32 subject related libraries and collections.  Of the main libraries, the newly renovated Walter Library on the East bank is home to the Science and Engineering Reference Service, providing journals, reports, patents, internet resources, maps, and related materials.

For the culturally minded, there are several museums, galleries and theaters around campus.  The Bell Museum of Natural History not only displays exhibits on natural history, but is very active in getting children involved in learning, through classes and activities such as summer camps, touch-and-see room, and scouting overnights. Many geology and geophysics students have done volunteer work at the Bell.  The U Film Society premiers independent and foreign films and hosts an annual Film Festival each spring. The Weisman Art Museum, Nash Gallery and Goldstein Gallery cater to the visual arts, where the Ted Mann Concert Hall and Northrop Auditorium cater to performing arts.

The University Recreation Center has facilities on both the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses.  Each one provides a myriad of opportunities for physical activity both indoor and outdoor:  fitness centers; aquatic centers (including an Olympic size pool); courts for racquetball, squash, basketball and tennis; and intramural activities (e.g. soccer, hockey, broomball, softball).

The University of Minnesota Gopher athletic teams encompass all of the major sports.  Highlights of the 2001-2002 season are

ïMen's Wrestling and Golf teams won NCAA National Championships
ïWomen's Hockey team ranked #1 both in the WCHA and by USA Today
ïMen's Baseball ranked #1 in the Big Ten
ïWomen's Basketball made it to the NCAA playoffs with a record of 22-8

The Twin Cities
Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs are home to a population of 2.5 million.  The Twin Cities are rich in urban excitement and no matter what your interests are, both Minneapolis and St. Paul provide a multitude of activities and opportunities for you to enjoy life in the city.

Of utmost importance to geologists is The Great Outdoors!  In the eight-county Metro Area, there are 900 lakes and 500 parks, interwoven by three great riversóthe Mississippi, the Minnesota, and the St. Croix.  Within the city of Minneapolis alone are five large lakes with beaches, bike trails, walking paths and parkways.  Popular summertime diversions include canoeing, kayaking, sailing, swimming, camping, rock climbing, hiking, and cycling.  These activities continue into autumn, alongside glorious shades of maple, oak, and birch trees.  By December, frozen lakes and good snow depth offer cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating, hockey, ice fishing and winter camping.  Minnesotans have found the best way to enjoy the long winters is to get outside.

Music and Theatre thrive in the Twin Cities with venues such as the Minnesota Orchestra, Ordway Music Theatre, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera Company, Historic State, Orpheum and Pantages Theatres, and the Tony award winning Guthrie Theatre - and those are just the big names. The Twin Cities is home to many smaller professional theatres as well as experimental and comedic companies.  Along with the classical music venues, the Twin Cities have a rich and vibrant popular music scene.  Numerous night clubs feature both national and local bands who represent the wide spectrum of music genre:  alternative rock, blues, funk, country, reggae, pop, punk, hip-hop, jazz, R&B, acoustic, classic rock, world beat, folk, cajun, progressive, rockabilly, swing, and, polka.

Arts and Science are well represented with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Science Museum of Minnesota, with its giant screen Omnitheatre,  Minnesota Children's Museum, Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota Zoo, Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, and the University's Landscape Arboretum and Raptor Center.

Fairs and Festivals add fun throughout the year, for instance the St. Paul Winter Carnival, Minneapolis Aquatennial, Minnesota State Fair, Uptown and Stone Arch Bridge art fairs, as well as many parades and block parties.

Minnesota's professional Sports teams play at various arenas in the Twin Cities:  Vikings (football), Twins (baseball), St. Paul Saints (minor league baseball), Timberwolves (basketball), Lynx (women's basketball), the Wild (ice hockey), and Thunder (soccer).

Shopping.   The Twin Cities and suburbs have plenty of opportunities for you to spend your paycheck.  Many neighborhoods have small, eclectic shops.  Then there are the smaller strip malls and larger malls with big name companies, but none larger than the wondrous, oft times bemoaned Mall of America.  MOA is the largest enclosed shopping mall in the United States at 4.2 million square feet.  People from all over the world come to shop in its 350-plus stores, enjoy rides at Camp Snoopy Amusement park, observe sharks at Underwater World, and even get married at the Chapel of Love.

Back to top

The geology of Minnesota ranges from 3.6 billion year old gneiss in the Minnesota River Valley to pillow basalts in the north to karst terrain in the southeast.  For more detailed information, please read Minnesota at a Glance: Common Minnesota Rocks (.pdf format) published by the Minnesota Geological Survey.  As for the 15,000 lakes in Minnesota? Some say they were caused by Paul Bunyan's blue ox, Babe, trudging across the land.  Others say they resulted from the melting of the ice sheets that covered much of the state about 14,000 years ago.

Minnesota is the industrial and agricultural trade center of the northern plains.  The port of Duluth, at the extreme western end of the Great Lakes, is the starting place for midwestern ore and grain journeying to the sea.  Hundreds of national and multinational corporations make their homes in Minnesota, including 3M, Cargill, Pillsbury/General Mills, Control Data, Land OíLakes, Northwest Airlines, and Target Corporation.

Though normally thought of as forever frigid, the climate of Minnesota is extremely variable throughout the year.  The summer can be as hot and humid as the south (hottest temperature ever recorded in the Twin Cities was 108°F in July 1936) and winters can be harsh with cold temperatures and wind chills below zero (the coldest temperature ever recorded in the Twin Cities being -34°F in January 1970).  The spring and fall seasons bring mild temperatures and a lovely change of scenery. It can be said that most visitors fall in love with Minnesota, its seasons and its quality of life.

Back to top

Back to prospective page