The University of Minnesota says a new statewide program, called "Ramp Up," will give students college guidance and orientation courses. The program director also says it's an attempt to rectify the quality and consistency of college counseling.

A signed Twins baseball, with the aid of a weather balloon, will be launched into the stratosphere before Sunday's game between the Twins and Chicago White Sox at Target Field. Engineering students from the University of Minnesota are behind the experiment, which is being conducted with help of Minnesota native and former astronaut Bob Cabana.

The university's new president, Eric Kaler, says the school will move away from a "can't do it, never done it, won't do it" mentality to "yes, let's give it a try." He spoke recently to hundreds of alumni and others at an event at the Carlson School of Management.

Ten incoming freshmen this fall at the University of Minnesota will become the first to take part in a program geared toward improving retention and graduation rates for black men on campus. The university has some of the highest gaps in graduation rates between black and white students of any flagship university in the country.