Brown Bag Sessions Focus on Two-Year College, Generation Z Expert

Strategic planning brown bag sessions will be held over the next three weeks on St. Thomas’ exploration of whether to open a two-year Catholic college and new research by a generations expert on Generation Z.

The two-year college session will be held at noon Thursday, Oct. 29, featuring President Julie Sullivan in South Woulfe Alumni Hall on the St. Paul campus and Dr. Richard Plumb, executive vice president and provost, in Room 252 of Terrence Murphy Hall.

St. Thomas, as part of the Flexible Pathways priority in its strategic plan, is exploring whether to open a two-year college as a way to increase access and affordability and lead to four-year degrees for area high school students. Sullivan recently shared information about the status of the exploration in an email to faculty and staff.

The “Are You Ready for Gen Z?” session will be held at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Woulfe Alumni Hall, and will feature generations expert David Stillman and Jonah, his high school son.

David Stillman is author of When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work and The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation is Rocking the Workplace. The strategic planning task force on Enhanced Visibility and Profile is interested in his research, which shows how Generation Z (people born after 1996) are different than Millennials (1982-1995) in many ways. David is from Generation X (1965-1981) and Jonah is in Generation Z.

"David recently completed survey research from students in this generational group, and his talk will highlight key attributes that shape Gen Z," said Kimberly Motes, senior vice president for institutional advancement, whose division heard from the Stillmans at a retreat last summer. "All of us at St. Thomas should be aware of this information because these are our students and future students. David presents the information in an engaging way that makes it readily accessible and applicable."

Cookies and coffee will be served at both of the sessions.