06/01/2026
The Mankato Kiwanis Club got a very spirited presentation on Monday from Travis Thul, VP Student Success & Engagement at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
He spoke about some of the projects launched under President Edward Inch that have focused on maximizing student access to the community, making the university a force multiplier for regional industry, and assuring that Mankato is Minnesota’s hub for growing talent and entrepreneurship.
Travis was hired in 2024 to carry that vision forward. Initiatives underway include launching the Rural Experiential STEM Education Partnership Initiative (RESEPI) that helps assure all students have access to learning about the expanding area; increasing collaboration with partners such as GMG, Region 9, and the South Central Service Cooperative; re-imagining the Small Business Development Center as a state leading entrepreneurship force multiplier; and increasing resources for public/private partnerships.
All of these things help put the spotlight on Mankato and Minnesota State University as a location on the cutting edge of engineering and industry.
Born in St. Paul, Travis brings with him a career spanning entrepreneurship, military service, engineering, and academia. Prior to his role at MSU, he was the Director of Operations and a Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute. Other roles have included Vice President for the Program on China and Transformational Exports at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Dean of Technology at Minnesota State College Southeast, and time as an electronics engineer with the Federal Communications Commission. In his military capacity, he is a reserve Coast Guard commander appointed as the Acting Senior Reserve Officer for District Great Lakes. His area of responsibility spans Lake of the Woods, MN to Buffalo, NY.
Travis holds a Doctor of Engineering from the George Washington University, he is a licensed Professional Engineer, served as a White House Fellow under both President Trump and President Biden, is currently the Registered Consulting Engineer Member on the Minnesota Board of Electricity, and is Vice President of the Mankato Family YMCA Board of Directors.
He is the inventor of the “Ramen Now!” desktop ramen noodle cooker (and founder of Ramen Now, LLC) and spent 10 years leading the American National Standards Committee working group for wireless power (which published the internationally adopted standards for electromagnetic compliance of such technologies).
