Points of Pride



Faculty/Staff

  • Richard Adler, Speech Language and Hearing Science, is writing (with two colleagues from Seattle) the second edition of the book entitled Voice and Communication Therapy for the Transgender/Transsexual Client: A Comprehensive Clinical Guide, 2nd edition, Plural Publishing Company. It will be released in 2012. In addition, Adler is presenting a paper at the 21st Symposium of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health in September in Atlanta, Ga. He previously presented papers at this conference in 2003 (Gent, Belgium) and 2005 (Bologna, Italy).
  • Linda Lein, English, published an article titled “Online Distance Education: Surviving the Tsunami” in the February 2011 edition of the Minnesota English Journal. The article is available online. (2011)
  • Alan Davis, English and Senior Editor of New Rivers Press/MSUM, has won the Prize Americana for Fiction 2010 from Hollywood Books International for his collection of stories So Bravely Vegetative. The book is available locally or from online vendors. Read more. (2010)
  • T. J. Hansen, Economics, and Laura Kalambokidis, associate professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota, were interviewed for an article in the fedgazette, a regional business and economics newspaper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The article included discussion of their research on the use of business tax incentives in economic development policy in Minnesota. The article was published in the October 2010 issue of the fedgazette and is available online. (2010)
  • Steve Lindaas, Physics and Astronomy, attended the winter meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). He presented an invited paper “Sustainability at MSUM”, during the session on Teaching Energy and the Environment. He also presided at the “Labs Rutherford Would Approve” session, which he also organized. He is the current chair of the Committee on Apparatus, which plans current and future meetings. (2010)
  • An article co-authored by Juan Cabanela, Physics and Astronomy, has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. As part of a four-year project, Cabanela and his collaborators obtained detailed spectra for over 4,000 stars, allowing them to measure their motions and chemical compositions. Read more. (2010)
  • The collaborative research of Deneen Gilmour and Aaron Quanbeck, Mass Communications, is published in the fall edition of The Review of Communication. They worked  together researching convergence journalism practices and textbook content to write a cultural-critical analysis titled “Hegemony: Quiet Control Over Convergence Textbook Content.” The article examines the growing trend of convergence journalism in American media; the corporate colonization of American society and how it subtly shapes textbook content and teaching materials. Read more. (2010)
  • Lisa Stewart, School Psychology, published in the popular “Helping Children at Home and School” series. Stewart’s article on Academic Local Norms provides educators and parents with a concise guide to developing and using normative academic information from the child’s own classroom, school and district. (2010)
  • “Customer Delight: A Review” by M. Wayne Alexander, Business Administration, was published in Volume 14, Number 1, 2010, of the Academy of Marketing Studies Journal. (2010)
  • Anna Arnar, Art & Design, has published an essay titled “Mallarmé, McLuhan and the Future of the Book” in a collaborative artist e-book orchestrated by multi-media artist Franck Ancel. The book is called Du LIVRE de Mallarmé au livre mal armé and was launched in Paris December 17, 2010 at the ArtistBook International event held at the Pompidou Center. Read more. (2010)
  • Anthropology/Earth Science Professor Russ Colson has been named the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching 2010 Outstanding U.S. Master’s Universities and Colleges Professor. Colson is the first professor of a four-year university in Minnesota selected for the national honor. Colson works with several other honored professors. He is the ninth MSUM professor to be recognized by the Carnegie Foundation. (November 2010)  Read more. (2010)
  • Norma Andersen, Construction Management, received the W.A. Klinger Construction Education Award presented by the American Institute of Constructors. She was honored by industry professionals for her commitment and dedication to  construction education and the promotion of professional certification. (April 2010)
  • "Curing," a poem by Yahya Frederickson, Corrick Center for General Education, has been accepted for publication in Hanging Loose, a literary journal in Brooklyn, N.Y.  His poem will appear in the Spring 2011 issue.
  • Margaret (Peg) Potter, Psychology, received the Ysseldyke Best Practices Award at the 2010 Minnesota School Psychologists Association’s Mid-Winter Conference. The award honors individuals who have contributed to the field of school psychology in the state of Minnesota. 
  • An art exhibit catalog created by Allen Sheets, Art & Design, won an award of excellence in the 2010 American Graphic Design competition. Sheets designed an exhibition catalog for the Spirit Room in Fargo for a show of work by regional artist Norik Astvatsaturov titled “God Given Cultural Treasures of Armenia.” Read more.
  • Tracy Gompf, Paralegal, has had an article accepted for publication as a “Major Article” in the peer-reviewed journal, Paralegal Professionalism Anthology, published by Carolina Academic Press as part of The Empowered Paralegal series. The article is titled “Non-lawyer Representation of Clients Before a Tribunal: An Opportunity for an Expanded Paralegal Role.”
  • Alan Davis, English, and Kevin Zepper, Corrick Center for General Education, will read their work at the Marshall Festival ‘10, a literary gathering of Midwest writers. Davis’ third collection of short stories, So Bravely Vegetative, won the Prize Americana for Fiction 2010.  Zepper’s most recent collection, I Bring You Dead Things was published by Blue Light Press.
  • Theodore Gracyk, Philosophy, is the winner of the 2010 George Davie Prize Essay Competition. The prize goes to the author of a previously unpublished essay on a selected theme in Scottish Philosophy. Gracyk received the prize for authoring "Delicacy in Hume's Theory of Taste." The essay will appear in the Spring 2011 issue of the Journal of Scottish Philosophy, a special themed issue on Scottish aesthetics.  
  • Walter Sizer, Mathematics, had the paper "Further Instances of Periodicity in May's Host Parasitoid Equation" published recently in Fasciculi Mathematici.
  • A. Derick Dalhouse, Psychology and Doris Walker-Dalhouse, Professor Emerita, STL, attended the 23 IRA World Congress in Reading, in Auckland, New Zealand. They presented a paper on Adult Sudanese Refugees Literacy Practises & the Literacy Identity & Development of their children.
  • Chizuko Shastri, Languages and Cultures, was appointed to the Moorhead Library Board by the City Council of Moorhead on August 23. Her term expires December 31, 2012.
  • Carol Hanson Sibley, Library, recently attended the International Board on Books for Young People Congress in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. At the congress, she presented a seminar session entitled "Somali Bilingual Book Project: Serving Refugee and Immigrant Families." Her paper will be published in the congress proceedings.
  • Nick Fryer, Music, has signed a Performing Artist endorsement deal with the D'Addario company. D'Addario will provide Fryer with equipment for his own artistic needs and allow him to distribute D'Addario products to students when he presents educational clinics at high schools and colleges. 
  • Tracy Wright, Nursing, and Nursing alumnus Brian Goodroad, received the 2010 Article of the Year Award from The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. Their article is titled “Integrating HIV-Related Evidence-Based Renal Care Guidelines into Adult HIV Clinics,” and it appeared in the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, January 2009.
  • Kevin Zepper, Corric Center, recently published his poem, “Crazy Days,” on The Prose Poem Project website. (Available for free online viewing for a limited time before publication: http://www.prose-poems.com/). 
  • Four poems by Yahya Frederickson, Corrick Center, have been translated into Arabic and published in Al-Thaqafah Al-Ajnabia [Foreign Culture], a literary journal in Baghdad, Iraq.
  • Cat's cradle, a new short animated film by Raymond Rea, Film Studies, screened at several festivals since its completion in January: the Athens Film Festival, Athens, Ohio; Translations Film Festival, Seattle, Wash.; ARTSfest, Harrisburg, Pa.; San Francisco LGBT Film Festival/Frameline Fest, San Francisco; Reel 1 Film Festival, Seattle, Wash.; Cut and Run Film Tour: Beatnik Studios, Sacramento, Calif.; Artist's Television Access, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Los Angeles.
  • Kevin Zepper, Associate Professor in the Corrick Center for General Education, will have his poetry featured in the new Southwest Journal anthology, SEASONS: Poems from the Southwest Journal Poetry Project. Zepper has published three chapbooks of poetry. His first, The Fifth Ramone, received first place in the North Dakota Professional Communicators Contest in 2004, chapbook/creative verse category. His most recent work has appeared on the Slow Train Journal website.
  • Carol Hanson Sibley, Library, has been selected by the Children's Literature Association to serve on a committee to establish a new children's book award. The "Phoenix Picture Book Award" will honor a picture book published 20 years earlier that did not receive any major awards at the time of publication.
  • Jane Giedt, Nursing, has received the Minnesota Association of Colleges of Nursing Outstanding Nurse Educator Award for 2009-2010. She recently completed a Fulbright where she taught university-level nursing on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The MACN award is a competitive and peer-reviewed honor presented annually to recognize the outstanding contributions of nurses in Minnesota who have significantly enhanced the profession of nursing through nursing education.  (Read more)
  • The Chemistry Department received a grant for $420,363 through the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation Program. The grant provides funding for a new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer. NMR spectroscopy is used for chemical and biochemical structure identification, and in advanced medical imaging techniques (MRI). The NMR spectrometer will be housed at MSUM but shared with Concordia College. Craig Jasperse is the principle investigator in the grant; co-principle investigators are MSUM professors Gary Edvenson and Asoka Marasinghe. Fewer than 25 percent of the proposals to the NSF-MRI program were funded.
  • Margaret (Peg) Potter, Psychology, received the Ysseldyke Best Practices Award at the 2010 Minnesota School Psychologists Association’s Mid-Winter Conference. The award honors individuals who have contributed to the field of school psychology in the state of Minnesota. Potter received the award for her services as a trainer of more than 150 future school psychologists over the course of 23 years.
  • MSUM received awards recognizing excellence in financial and facilities management leadership and teamwork from Minnesota State Colleges and Universities in 2010. MSUM received the Excellence in Facilities Management award for successful and timely completion of capital improvement and repair projects, increased efficiency and effectiveness of space use throughout the institution, and customer service excellence to students, staff and faculty. An Outstanding Service award was presented to MSUM’s Jean Hollaar for outstanding contributions toward furthering professionalism in financial management. 
  • Former MSUM Athletic Chair and Football/Wrestling Coach, John Sterner, has been inducted into the Boys Town Hall of Fame for his career accomplishments (high school class of '57) and was inducted into the Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame in April 2010. (Read more about the Boys Town Award)
  • Terry Shoptaugh, University Archivist, has released a new book, They Were Ready, which focuses on the 164th Infantry Regiment during World War II and includes the stories of 70 World War II veterans of the unit with original art work by Doug Burtell of Bowman. Shoptaugh’s other books include You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me: Herman Stern and the Jewish Refugee Crisis (2008) and Moorhead, MN (Images of America) (2004).
  • Jan Adair, Health & Physical Education, has been chosen by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to serve on a committee composed of a select group of educators from across the country to assure the National Board’s Middle Childhood/Generalist Standards reflect the best practices and latest research in the field. 
  • Zhimin Guan’s (Art & Design) oil painting on metal “Freezing Land” received Merit and Purchase Award from Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Fergus Falls at its 2010 Annual Area Invitational Art Exhibition.
  • Yahya Frederickson, Corrick Center, has had two poems, "The Barber of Taiwan" and "From the Gari," published in the Spring 2010 issue of Arts & Letters.
  • John Sterner (retired 2003), former MSUM Athletics chair and football/wrestling coach, has been inducted into the Boys Town Hall of Fame for his career accomplishments (high school class of '57). He will also be inducted into the Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame in April 2010. (Read more about Boys Town Hall of Fame)
  • "Month of Honey, Month of Missiles" a new chapbook of poems by Yahya Frederickson, Corrick Center for General Education, has been released by Tigertail Productions (Miami, FL).  The collection of 12 poems appears as one of three chapbooks featured in "Tigertail Annual" Vol. VII.  It is Frederickson's third chapbook.
  • Biosciences Professors Linda Fuselier, Michelle Malott and Brian Wisenden received $212,000 in National Science Foundation grants to bolster their Molecular Ecology and Evolution program. The grants provide support to undergraduate research students and state-of-the-art DNA analyzing technology that will be used in ecology, genetics, molecular biology and advanced research courses. A third state level grant supports the seamless transfer of students from MSCTC to MSUM, and the participation of transfer students in the new Molecular Ecology and Evolution research program. (Read more)
  • Two MSUM music professors—Tom Strait and Kenyon Williams—have been appointed to principal positions with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra. Strait also performs with the Jazz Arts Group of Fargo-Moorhead, Post Traumatic Funk Syndrome, the Simon Rowe Trio, and freelance engagements. Williams directs and performs with two other professional groups, Poco Fuego Steel Drum Quintet and Soulsa de Fargo. Besides Strait and Williams, 10 MSUM faculty and staff members perform in the Symphony Orchestra.
  • Biochemistry and biotechnology program faculty Joseph Provost and Mark Wallert received $60,900 in grants from the National Science Foundation and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology to bring high school teachers and students to MSUM to research how lung cells move. For the next two years, faculty and students at Detroit Lakes High School and MSUM will work on a project that investigates how proteins found at the surface of the cell regulate cell movement. The teachers and high school students will work with the genes for a membrane protein called the sodium hydrogen exchanger and determine how other proteins stick to the this protein at front edge of a moving lung cell. (Read more)
  • North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven has chosen the recipients of the 2009 Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Bradley Bachmeier, an MSUM Art professor, is one of the recipients in the Arts in Education category. The Governor’s Awards for the Arts was established in 1977 as a way of recognizing individuals and organizations who have made outstanding contributions to the arts throughout the state. Recipients are chosen for their efforts to expand arts opportunities to new audiences, create an appreciation for North Dakota’s cultural heritage, and make the arts more central to education and an integral part of community life.
  • Jane Bergland, Nursing, took six senior nursing students to Nicaragua for the 8th year in a row. The 25-member team included the MSUM group (including one MSUM nursing alum), emergency room doctors, pediatricians, a dentist and an eye doctor. Health care provision focused on children with handicaps and their parents, a very underserved population. 
  • Ashish Gupta, an MSUM operations management professor, has developed a simulation model to deal with email overload, interruptions that are aimed at improving business productivity.
A specialist in email management, information overload and social networking, Gupta says it’s no secret that employees are spending an increasing amount of time handling email, time that may detract from their actual jobs. And the main culprits are information overload and interruptions. (Read more)
  • Bioscience Professor David Rodenbaugh was elected to the American Physiological Society’s teaching section steering committee. His role on the committee is planning symposia for the upcoming national meeting, coordinating and planning society events and serving as the society’s treasurer.
  • Psychology Professor Elizabeth Nawrot received a $150,000 grant from the National Institutes for Health for her research on infant depth perception. Her theory: Infants between 10 and 17 weeks old develop a form of depth perception called motion parallax which, if not wired properly in the brain, could lead to complex visual problems later on, specifically esotropia (crossed eyes) or amblyopia (lazy eyes). If true, developing an assessment tool to catch the problems early enough would lead to early treatment to prevent these disorders from becoming permanent. [Read more]
  • The MSUM financial staff received the Excellence in Financial Management award by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The award is based on evaluation criteria, which included local performance measures, effective internal control systems, innovation in financial management capacity, and outstanding achievements in special service to students, staff, and faculty. MSUM’s Chief Finance Officer is Daniel Kirk.
  • “You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me: Herman Stern and the Jewish Refugee Crisis,” written by Terry Shotaugh, MSUM archivist and librarian, was named a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in the General Nonfiction category. The Minnesota Book Awards, sponsored by the Minnesota Center for the Book and the Friends of the St. Paul Library, are given annually to recognize and honor outstanding Minnesota authors and their books. 
  • “I Bring You Dead Things,” a new chapbook of poems by Kevin Zepper, Corrick Center for General Education, has been released by Blue Light Press. The 38-page collection includes 20 poems and is Zepper’s third chapbook.
  • Planetarium Coordinator Dave Weinrich has been elected president-elect of the International Planetarium Society (IPS), a global association of 765 planetarium professionals representing schools, museums, and public facilities of all sizes from 35 countries around the world. [Read more]
  • Mass Communications Professor Martin Grindeland has been named the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Minnesota Professor of the Year. He is the eighth MSUM professor to win this distinction in 21 years. [ Read more ]
  • Film Studies Professor Tom Brandau won the top prize for “Best Film” in the Minnesota Historical Society’s 2008 Minnesota’s Greatest Generation Moving Pictures Film Competition. He also received a $5,000 award for his documentary “Mr. Brown.” The five winning entries were selected from 52 films submitted by amateur and professional filmmakers from across Minnesota. Each of the 10-minute documentary films focuses on the life and legacy of Minnesota’s Greatest Generation––the men and women who grew up during The Great Depression, came of age during the Second World War and participated in the boom that followed the war. [ Read more ]  
  • Chemistry Professor Joe Provost and Biology Professor Mark Wallert have received $565,000 from two federal grants for research investigating how cells coordinate movement. They’re closing in on a possible treatment for some types of non-small cell lung cancers, aggressive forms of the disease that don’t respond to chemotherapy. [ Read more ]
  • Professor Tom Brandau took home the Best Short Film for “Heavenly Sight” at the Forx Film Festival in Grand Forks, N.D. His film is about a young boy dealing with the concept of death who finds meaning in a small detail. MSUM Film students and faculty produced eight of the 29 films screened at the festival.
  • Anna Arnar, an Art & Design professor, was awarded the Max Nänny Prize for her 2006 article “A Modern Popular Poem.” The international prize is awarded for the best article appearing within the previous three years on the subject of word-image relations. [ Read more ]
  • Jody Mattern, Mass Communications, was chosen as the 2008 Great Ideas for Teachers grand prize winner at the AEJMC convention in Chicago, for her idea on “Forging Critical Links Between Academics and Professionals: How to Acquire Input from Working Professionals on Student Advertising Portfolios.” [ Read more ]
  • English Professor Lin Enger’s breakout novel, “Undiscovered Country,” was recently published by Little, Brown and Company, one of the major publishing houses. Little, Brown typically takes on only one or two new authors a year. [ Read more ]
  • Music Professor Kirk Moss was named 2008-09 president-elect by the 11,500-member American String Teachers Association (ASTA). His term as president-elect runs from through May 2010 at which time he becomes president of ASTA in a full leadership capacity.
  • Nursing Professors Barbara Matthees and Tracy Wright have earned the designation Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) after successfully completing a rigorous certification examination developed and administered by the National League for Nursing. Of the nearly 1,000 U.S. nurse educators who hold the designation, only six teach in Minnesota and one in North Dakota.
  • Film Studies Professor Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson was named 2008 YWCA Woman of the Year in the education category. Last year she was among 15 winners of a $50,000 Bush Artists Fellowship.
  • The Tri-College NEW Leadership Development Institute, co-coordinated by Sociology and Criminal Justice Professor Deb White, was recognized by the YWCA as the Business/Organization that Empowers Women. The institute is an annual five-day residential program designed to provide leadership training, inspiration and support for women.
  • A $1 million grant to improve the teaching of history has been awarded to Lakes Country Service Cooperative in Fergus Falls in collaboration with MSUM and local and regional historical societies. It’s one of 121 grants totaling $114.7 million being awarded through the U.S. Education department to school districts in 40 states. Working with project historian Sean Taylor and faculty coordinator Margaret Sankey, both MSUM history professors, and project director Audrey Shafer-Erickson of the Moorhead School District, the MSUM history department will provide teaching and instructional content for regional history teachers.
  • Planetarium Coordinator Dave Weinrich traveled to Ghana this summer to deliver a refurbished Mediaglobe digital projector to the Ghana Science Center in Africa. He also trained the staff and volunteers on how to use the projector. It’s part of the International Planetarium Society’s effort of helping astronomy educators in developing countries.
  • English Professor Sandy Pearce has published a book review entitled “The Height of His Prowess: Bernard Maclaverty’s Matters of Life and Death,” in the spring issue of the Irish Literary Supplement.
  • Dan Phillips, Music, recently returned from performing and presenting workshops at Innsbruck Conservatory, Imst School of Music and Voells School of Music in Austria.
  • Professor and archivist Terry Shoptaugh is the author of “You Have Been Kind Enough to Assist Me,” a new book that tells the little known story of the late North Dakota clothier Herman Stern, who rescued more than 140 German Jews from the impending Holocaust in Europe. [ Read more ]
  • Sociology and Criminal Justice Professor Deb White received one of 21 Women’s Foundation of Minnesota grants for the Tri-College NEW Leadership Development Institute to support its annual five-day residency conference.
  • Comptroller/business manager Mark Rice received an Outstanding Service award for his contributions toward furthering professionalism in financial management. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities awards program, which began in 1997, publicly recognizes the outstanding contributions of the system’s college and university employees who work in finance and facilities management.
  • Chemistry Professor Joseph Provost was elected Councilor of the Chemistry Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR). CUR and its nearly 900 affiliated colleges, universities, and individuals, shares a focus on providing undergraduate research opportunities for faculty and students at predominantly undergraduate institutions.