* Vinz wins Minnesota Book Award * Head Hawkeye, MSU alum delivers grad address * 60% dislike name change * Glasrud lecture April 20 * Litten gets MSU Hartz Award * River Warren author reads * Heal Fair April 7 * Hispanic Culture Conf. April 8-9

The awards, sponsored by the Minnesota Center for the Book, recognizes the contributions of Minnesota writers. Finalists were selected by booksellers, librarians and readers. A panel of judges selected this year’s winners.

"The Talking of Hands" was released last year through New Rivers Press. The 304-page anthology includes unpublished short stories and poems by 59 New Rivers Press authors honoring the 30th anniversary of the Minneapolis publishing house.

The book won top prize in the category "Collected Works".

For Vinz, who teaches creative writing at Moorhead State, it’s his third Minnesota Book Award this decade. Two anthologies edited by Vinz and MSU New Center professor Thom Tamarro won awards in 1996 ("Imagining Home") and in 1993 ("Inheriting the Land").

DRAGON ALUM, NOW HAWKEYE A.D BOB BOWLSBY
GIVES MSU’S 110TH COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Moorhead, MN….Bob Bowlsby, a former Dragon wrestling star and now in his 9th year  as athletic director at the University of Iowa, will deliver the commencement address for Moorhead State University’s 110th graduation ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, May 7 in Nemzek Fieldhouse.

Bowlsby returns to the same Nemzek Fieldhouse where he lettered in wrestling four straight years and served as captain of the team his senior year when he captured an NSIC title.

Today, the 47-year-old Bowlsby is in charge of a $25 million budget, 100 employees, 400 athletes, 10 men’s coaches and a host of athletic facilities that are home to Hawkeye sports.

A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Bowlsby graduated from MSU in 1975 with a health and physical education degree. "I wouldn’t exchange my days at MSU for anything," he said.  "It was the best decision of my life. Besides, wrestling became the sum and substance of what I am today. It defines the work ethic and develops a fierce sense of individualism. You learn a lot of lessons when you’re out there on the mat by yourself."

At MSU, Bowlsby also served a year as Father Owl, head of the  Old Order of the Owls fraternity, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in July of 2001. It’s the oldest and only fraternity left at MSU. "That’s where I made some of the best friends of my life," he said. "And, as Father Owl, I suppose, I learned, at least tried to learn, how to lead a group of rough and tumble athletes. It was certainly interesting training for what I do now."

After finishing a graduate degree in recreational administration at the University of Iowa, he was named director of the University of Northern Iowa Unidome in Cedar Falls. Soon after, he was named athletic director for the campus. "I was 31 years old and head of a Division I athletic program at Northern Iowa. I had it made."

Eight years later, he fell into a pool of five finalists for the Hawkeye athletic director position. He got the job and at the age of 39 became  the youngest AD in the Big Ten.

"If I were to do it again, I would have gone to law school first," he said. "Actually, the job is a lot like being a business executive. I oversee budgets, make personnel and business decisions, market the programs, ensure our integrity."

Bowlsby averages about 100 days in hotel rooms, 75 to 100 speaking engagements and 140,000 air miles a year.

He’s one of the most respected athletic directors in the country (Duke University offered him a king’s ransom to become the Blue Devil’s athletic director last year, but Bowlsby opted to stay in Iowa). He chairs the NCAA  Olympic Sport Liaison Committee and represents the NCAA as one of two voting members of the United States Olympic Committee. He also was appointed by former United States Olympic Committee President LeRoy Walker to the NCAA/USOC Liaison Committee chaired by George Steinbrenner.

He and his wife Candice (nee LaPash), a 1977 MSU elementary education graduate, have four children.

Old friends and acquaintances are invited to a little get-together with Bowlsby from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, May 7 at the Moorhead Knights of Columbus.

Moorhead, MN….Nearly 60 percent of 655 Moorhead State University students surveyed recently said they didn’t want MSU to change its name, while 26 percent were in favor of the change and 17  were indifferent.

The survey was taken by MSU’s Student Senate in an attempt to give President Roland Barden some input on the issue.

The trustees of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities last year approved Mankato State University’s name change to "Minnesota State University, Mankato," opening the door for the system’s other institutions to reconsider their names.

MSU President Roland  Barden said he favors changing MSU’s name to include the word Minnesota (maybe Minnesota State University, Moorhead) because Moorhead isn’t well-known outside the tri-state area. But Barden will consider feedback from the Student Senate and other university constituent groups before making his own recommendation to MnSCU before next school year.

Nearly 70 percent of students surveyed also said they were in favor of changing the traditional graduation day from  Friday to Saturday.

TIM MURPHY PRESENTS MSU’S ANNUAL
‘SOC’ GLASRUD LECTURE APRIL 20TH
Moorhead, MN…Tim Murphy will read from his collection of poems, "Deed of Gift," at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 20 in the MSU Library Porch as the feature of this year’s Clarence "Soc" Glasrud annual lecture series.

Murphy--a local poet, venture capitalist and farmer--will also lecture on "Beowulf" and read from his in-progress translation of that classic at 4 p.m. that same day in the Library Porch. His translation of "Beowulf," one of the oldest existing poems in the English language, has been described by a Washington Post editor as "like Dungeons and Dragons in Rap."

Murphy graduated in 1972 from Yale, where he was Scholar of the House in Poetry under the tutelage of Robert Penn Warren. His poems have appeared in The Hudson Review, The New Criterion, Hellas, The Epigrammatist and Sparrow.

The lecture series honors Clarence "Soc" Glasrud, a Detroit Lakes native who taught in a country school before enrolling at MSU in 1930 and graduating in 1934. Following a stint in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Glasrud earned both a master’s degree and doctorate at Harvard University. He returned to his alma mater in 1947 to teach, eventually serving 23 years as chair of MSU’s English department. He retired in 1977.

Glasrud has since written two comprehensive histories of the university: "The Moorhead Normal School" and "Moorhead State Teachers College." He’s now working on the final chapter of the university’s history.

Both events are free and open to the public.

He’ll also speak on "The Writer’s Craft" at 4 p.m. that day in the MSU Library Porch.

Meyers, who teaches literature and creative writing at Black Hills State University in  Spearfish, S.D., never took a formal writing class. But last year he had two books published simultaneously: "The Witness of Combines," a collection of 15 essays released by the University of Minnesota Press, and his novel "The River Warren," the first fiction from St. Paul-based Hungry Mind Press. This spring, St. Martin’s Press will publish his short-story collection.

Meyers’ writing draws on his experiences growing up on a farm near Morgan, Minn., just  nine miles from the Minnesota River, also known as the ancient River Warren.

Meyers writes in his book of essays: "The River Warren was nothing less than one of the largest rivers that ever flowed on Earth, dwarfing the Amazon, a churning, booming, iceberg-laden, miles-wide movement of water thrashing down to the Gulf of Mexico, flowing for thousands of years as the ice sheet melted. The mild Minnesota River, meandering in its lovely valley, has a raging glacial grandparent…I’ve been formed by glacier, body and mind, formed by a land molded through the freezing and thawing of water.

In the Cass-Clay area, Latinos are already the largest minority, having grown at the rate of 68% in Cass County and 49% in Clay County  between 1990 and 1997.

The conference, following the theme "Nuestra Historia: Life and Times of Latinos in the United States," begins at noon Thursday..  To register or for more information call Abner Arauza at (218) 236-2721. Registrations will also be accepted the day of the conference. Cost is $20 for students, $40 for non-students.

Dr. Juan Garcia--a noted researcher, author, and historian-- will deliver the keynote address as well as present in two workshops: "Immigrants in the United States" and a historical overview of Latinos in the Midwest. Garcia is one of the leading authorities on Hispanic immigrants in the Midwest. He’s vice president for academic affairs at the College of Saint Mary in Omaha.

Other speakers include:
* Dr. Francisco Villarruel, who’ll present two workshops: "Creating a Respectful Learning Environment for Latino Youth at Home and in School" and "The Evolving Latino Family."  Villarruel is a recognized authority on youth and family ecology associated with the Midwest Consortium for Latino Research. He’s an assistant professor of family and child ecology at Michigan State University.
* *Dr. Juan Andrade will lead a workshop on "Empowering the Latino Community."  He’s president of the Hispanic Leadership Institute in Chicago. In 1998,  Andrade was the recipient of  the Lifetime Achievement Award from "Hispanic" magazine and the Distinguished Service Award from the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. He was a member of the U.S. Presidential delegation to the inauguration of the President of El Salvador.
*  Dr. Raul Tovares will moderate a panel comprising students from area colleges and universities. He teaches psychology at the University of North Dakota.
* Tomas Gonzales will address gang issues as they affect Latino youth and their families.  His personal experience includes gang activity, living in halfway houses, the Marines, and as the Gang Specialist at Evans Juvenile Detention Center in Edinburg, Texas, working with gang members.

The program includes a video, "500 Years of Chicano History," with follow-up discussion, a literary reading with local writers, a play, "Rosita's Jalapeno Kitchen", and the keynote dinner, which includes the Outstanding Latino Student Awards and performances by the traditional Latino band Kico Rangel Trio and the MSU Heritage Dancers.