University of Minnesota Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

Freedom to research a number of topics with the available resources and shared equipment

Cons

The pay is somewhat low

Pros

Great health/medical benefits, generous time off policy, numerous professional development opportunities including training courses and employer contribution for continuing education classes and programs.

Cons

Situated right in the middle of a large city so traffic in and around the Minneapolis campus can be pretty bad. Parking is fairly expensive and often you need to park a few blocks from your office building, so during the winter months that walk from car to office can be pretty cold! The amount of work is often overwhelming, and we could really use another two or three full-time staff members, but with budget cuts that is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Advice to Senior Management

Find a way to work with Minnesota's congressional leaders to increase financial support to the University of Minnesota. It seems like most, if not all, School's/College's are experiencing the need to hire more people because of the enormous workload that staff/faculty members experience. However, with little to no financial support from Minnesota I feel that the level of service we provide will decline drastically because of how over-worked most staff/faculty are. Working 10-12 hour days, and feeling the need to come in on weekends as well just to get the basic aspects of your job done, is not a healthy work/life balance and will quickly burn out the most devoted staff members.

Eric Kaler is fairly new to his position and while I think he has been doing a great job so far, only time will tell if he is able to strike that balance with Minnesota's congressional leaders regarding the need to adequately support the University of Minnesota.

Pros

The university has a friendly student body, flexible work and the bosses are good and fair in their assessment of the employees.

Cons

The climate is harsh and the work can get quite lonely. The job can be demanding depending on the deliverable's expected of you.

Advice to Senior Management

Organize more company events to make the place more interesting. The work environment is good but definite improvements can be made.

Pros

The insurance and leave benefits

Cons

Supervisor's poor management skills, blind to severe problems in long time employees performances and bullying, no perspective.

Advice to Senior Management

Change of management - new blood, new objective perspective

Pros

Great opportunities to take in seminars and conferences and to interact with researchers. Able to work very independently.

Cons

Organizational structure can be very dysfunctional. Not centrally managed - seems like many small units functioning on their own, sometimes interacting with each other but at other times colliding. It takes a long time to learn the various technological systems necessary to get work done, and it takes quite a while to build a support network because of the huge size of the University. I had very little training after I was hired, so I had to learn by the "sink or swim" method. I have worked here for over 5 years and have never had a performance review!

Advice to Senior Management

More attention needs to be paid to supporting the staff working on research projects if the University wants to be continue to be a leader in the latest medical developments. Investigators and management underestimate the time and effort required "behind the scenes" to carry out a successful research study. Studies are often inadequately staffed and civil service employees have to take on responsibilities that physicians should have more involvement with.

Pros

Lots of smart people. Supportive management. Good benefits. Opportunities to pursue personal projects as long as you can articulate the potential benefits, owing to the University's stated commitment to innovation -- although when it comes to implementation you might have a harder sell on your hands.

Cons

To say that this place is slow to change is an understatement. It's a part of the culture, for better or worse. Information systems are clunky and difficult to use. Processes that don't make any sense in today's environment continue because "that's how we've always done it." Different departments often times take a confrontational attitude with each other rather than working cooperatively.

Advice to Senior Management

Some levels of management stand in the way of progress. Personal relationships, often decades long, sometimes take priority over innovation -- people are too worried about who is going to be affected by this change or that. Recently it is starting to seem like that is now changing. Let's keep that up.

Pros

The office environment at the University of Minnesota Networking and Telecommunication department is very flexible for the student workers they hire. My managers and other employees were always very approachable and LOVED showing you how to do things and were always very appreciative of any help they received from the student workers. Plus the office did fun lunch activities like chili contests and pot lucks. What student worker (or any employee for that matter) doesn't like free food!?

Cons

Like with any large company some changes can be slow to implement. Parking is awful but if you have a good pair of shoes it shouldn't be a problem.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work and communications with everyone. Also...GO GOPHERS!!!

Pros

It is a good place to start as a researcher in certain areas of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. However, one must be careful in selecting an adviser, which can make or break your career goals when in Grad school.

Cons

Management could be more considerate of Research Assistants who have to work crazy hours to meet deadlines, while being compensated at a rate that is among the lowest in the country.

Advice to Senior Management

Please take care of your Research Assistants. They are the real driving force behind the University of Minnesota's research activities and achievements.

Pros

I found a summer research position and loved it. I worked with the heads of departments, met with them weekly, and submitted a paper for publication by the end.

Cons

I was probably paid the minimum amount possible for my work and wish I had had more frequent in person contact with my team.

Advice to Senior Management

The University of Minnesota's bureaucracy is bloated. If that is fixed, it has the opportunity to really improve its image as a world-class institution.

Pros

They had free tuition for employees, now you pay a portion.
I had great benefits in my position.
Their training for accounting staff is very thorough.

Cons

They had free tuition for employees, now you pay a portion.
They reduced benefits in some positions due to state budget cuts.
There is no help for you if your supervisor is a tenured faculty, no matter how awful they are.

Advice to Senior Management

Deal with faculty who have zero management skills.