Michael A. Ericson Student Senate Leadership Award
In December 2024, the Michael A. Ericson Student Senate Leadership Award was established with the Winona State University Foundation. This award will benefit and encourage those students who are called to serve their fellow students through their active involvement in the Winona State University Student Senate.
Criteria:
- Incoming Winona State University Student Senate President
- All appropriate qualifications for appointment of Student Senate President will apply to this award
Background and Motivation
Mike Ericson grew up in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and graduated from Osseo High School. He was one of five children with a father who was a roofer and a mother a bookkeeper at Lather’s Local 190 in Minneapolis. After graduating from Osseo High, Mike started working in commercial construction, and as a proud union member, he helped build the EPCOT Center in Orlando, FL. But Mike was committed to going to college. Mike saved his money and went back to school at 26 years old and graduated from Winona State University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration. He was fortunate to achieve leadership roles, including serving as a resident assistant and as a student senator, and was eventually elected as Student Senate President in his senior year. He is extremely grateful for his excellent professors and, during his time in the senate, was fortunate enough to work directly with the WSU President and his vice presidents on a number of projects.
In 1990, following his undergraduate studies, Mike earned a Master of Arts Degree in Urban and Regional Studies from Minnesota State Univeristy-Mankato.
Mike learned the importance of time management being a full-time student and added the duties of serving in the student senate, including as the Student Senate President. It was a lot of work but worth every minute. Mike was able to use his education and experience to have a successful career in city government that spanned more than 31 years, primarily serving as a city administrator or assistant city administrator in ten different cities and a county within the Metro, before retiring in 2020. Notably, Mike was the city administrator in Hugo, MN, for nearly twelve years. He has served the Winona State University community for nearly twenty-five years with responsibilities on the WSU Alumni Board, as a member of the Board of Trustees on the WSU Foundation, along regularly speaking to Political Science classes about careers in city government. Mike has always been grateful to Winona State University for all the opportunities it provided him as a first-generation college graduate, and he simply wants to give back with this scholarship.
Mike has been married to his wife, Suzanne, for 30 years and has three adult children: Rachel, Paige and Westin. Mike and Suzanne currently live in Maplewood, MN.