The University of Minnesota has announced its strategic positioning plan, which is designed to make the University one of the top public research universities in the world within the decade. Several criteria are used to judge whether a university is a top research university.

• The institution employs world-class faculty and staff
• The institution publishes in top tier research journals such as NATURE, SCIENCE, CELL
• The institution has first-class research facilities and state-of-the-art research equipment
• The institution enjoys very healthy financial support.

We believe that The Hormel Institute is extremely well positioned to work effectively with other University units to achieve the University’s goal.