Last Christmas an old friend in England sent him a postcard explaining that his former student, Joanne Rowling, is today known as J.K. Rowling, the world-famous author of the Harry Potter books.

Neuschwander, to quote a line from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," said he was "so happy he felt  as though a large balloon was swelling in him."

It’s not as if Neuschwander didn’t know the difference between a Muggle (a word the book's wizards use to describe ordinary people without magical powers) and a game of Quidditch (like soccer, but played in the air on broomsticks).

"I read my first Harry Potter book last fall," says Neuschwander, a ninth grade English teacher at Melrose (Minn.) High School for the past 20 years. "My two sons, Seth, 15, and Sam, 12, liked them so much, I had to see what the attraction was."

It never crossed his mind when reading the Rowling books that the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was modeled loosely on the Wyedean School in western England near Wales where Rowling was a student. "That’s where I taught during the winter of 1978-79 after signing up for a study abroad program for student teaching through Moorhead State," he said.

As soon as he got that post card from his friend, Neuschwander dug through his college mementos and found his grade book and roster for his ninth-grade class. There was the name: Joanne Rowling.

"I was stunned," said his wife Pat (nee Sinner), a Casselton, N.D., native and a special education teacher in Melrose who graduated from MSUM in 1978. "I couldn’t believe it.."

Pat expects to use the  Potter books in her eighth-grade class this fall.

Last winter Neuschwander wrote to Rowling’s publisher hoping to hear from his former student. Lo and behold, he got a handwritten letter back from her this spring.

Rowling wrote: "One of the most wonderful and unexpected side-effects of publication is hearing from people long since vanished from my life! I do indeed remember you and was very touched by your letter.

"Words of inspiration for your students … keep writing…accept the fact that you will tear up an awful lot of work in frustration before managing to write anything you like … start by writing what you know (own feelings, people with whom you are familiar, etc.) … but most of all … READ! Nothing else will teach you what makes good writing (or bad!)."

Rowling was unemployed, divorced and living off public assistance when she started her first Harry Potter adventure in a café near her home while her infant daughter slept at her side.

"Her personal story still inspires me," said Neuschwander, who looks a little bit like a grown up Harry Potter himself.

Besides the handwritten letter, Neuschwander’s two sons each received a Harry Potter card autographed by Rowling.

What kind of grade would he give Rowling today? "Definitely an A+," he said. "She really taps into a child’s imagination. That’s probably because she’s retained her own childlike imagination. Kids are addicted to her books. It’s wonderful to see so many children reading again, instead of watching television or playing video games."

Neuschwander, who has a master’s degree in gifted education, figures that Rowling might not have been challenged enough in school, so to compensate she developed an incredible imagination.

"The Harry Potter books take on a life and magic of their own," he said. "The characterizations are incredible. I understand why children so easily empathize with Harry."

Neuschwander, no Muggle himself, opted for a magical journey to student teach abroad.

His serendipitous  "brush with fame" story just punctuates his adventure abroad, which he says was one of the best experiences of his life.

"It brings to mind a special quote I underlined in Rowling’s first Harry Potter book," said Neuschwander, who’s originally from Grygla, Minn. "It was said by Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the Hogwarts School for Wizards. The quote: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

If patience is a form of argument, then it was a long, grueling debate.

Governor Ventura finally signed the legislative bonding bill this spring that left MSUM's requests intact. About $3.6 million dollars will come from general appropriations to complete work on the expansion area.

Administrative VP David Crockett said work to demolish remaining 18 houses and prepare the site for parking lots will begin the second week in July. Three other houses remain to be purchased, but that’s expected to be resolved by the end of summer.

By this fall, Crockett said, the expansion area will hold 940 parking spaces covered with concrete aggregate base. About 110 of those parking spaces will be temporary--between 6th and seventh avenue west of Hagen Hall, where the university is planning to build a multi-use facility.

By spring of 2001, the university will finish landscaping the property, which will include planting more than 100 trees, and then asphalt the parking lots.

This spring, Crockett said, the university also received permission from the Legislature to seek third-party (private) development and funding to build that multi-use facility across 11th St. west of Hagen Hall. Although the project is still in the planning stages, the first floor of the building may house financial aid, admissions, a bookstore, the Alumni Foundation, a coffee shop and other possible offices. A couple floors above may be made into apartments. Another apartment complex may be built on the east end of campus. But that too is under discussion, depending on MSUM housing needs

MSUM acquired the five-block area, with approval from the Minnesota Legislature, in 1990 after a campus-community task force recommended the expansion as the best solution to crowded conditions on campus. That fall, more than 9,000 students were enrolled here.

The university asked the Legislature for $2.5 million to purchase the 87 homes in the area in 1994, but received only $1 million. That year the university constructed a new $3.1 million Center for Business, a 39,9000-square-foot building located at the corner of 8th Avenue South and 11th Street.. It also began adding parking lots in the expansion zone.

Since then, MSU has requested more than $4.1 million to complete the project. Two years ago it received $1.4 million to finish purchasing homes in the area. But twice it has been turned down by  the Legislature for $3.6 million to complete demolition and pave four blocks for parking lots. Last year Governor Ventura body slammed MSUM’s bonding request when he vetoed $54 million from the Legislature’s $141 million bonding bill.

Meanwhile, the five-block expansion area became both a political and public relations liability for the university. Yet it has never become a top priority with the MnSCU facilities bureaucracy.

Crockett said the university has spent more than $5.25 million on the expansion area so far, some with state appropriations and some with campus parking and reserve funds.

So what’s left in the expansion zone? MSUM’s Regional Science Building (in the old Centennial House) and The Small Business Development house, both west of Hagen. The Newman Center. And, west of Owens, the Continuing Education house and the  Fergus Falls Community College Gateway Program house. The Old Nemzek House (the two-story colonial at 515 11th St. S) is now home to  the Social Work department’s practicum lab graduate students in counseling , which includes a classroom and interviewing rooms with video monitors. The old  Delta Zeta Sorority House will be used in part by Admissions, while Delta Zeta will move to another house just northwest of the current location.

Finally, a story that began with ambition and segued into a public eye-sore will finally come to an successful end. It’s been a long and painstaking time coming.

LOMMEN HALL
The $300,000 renovation of Lommen Hall involves a total redesign of office spaces on the second floor to make better use of space for the staff there. It includes adding four new offices and turning some dead space into storage.

Mold was found in the basement of Lommen Hall last spring. So the four classrooms there were totally gutted, disinfected and are being rebuilt.. There’ll be some digging around the east half of the building to improve future drainage. The project is on schedule and should be completed by the start of the school year.

FLORA FRICK HALL
The $900,000 renovation on the second floor of Flora Frick Hall is designed to allow mass communications to completely digitize its curriculum. It should be completed by the second or third week of classes. Backup space in the Library computer labs will be used until then.

FLOOD
The university sustained about $50,000 damage during this summer’s flood, $10,000 to the basement in Dahl Hall and $40,000 in Grier Hall. Crockett said FEMA is expected to pick up those costs. The State of Minnesota carries flood insurance on all its buildings. But the deductible is $50,000. Crockett said MSUM’s new drainage system pumped more than 12 million gallons of water into the detention pond the night of the flood, which took lots of pressure off the campus and neighboring homes.

NEW SCIENCE BUILDING
The Legislature invested $1.6 million for planning the  new MSUM science building. A committee is meeting to examine the project, and bids for an architect are expected to be let this fall. By next year, the design should be finished and the next step, Crockett said, is back to the legislature. The $26 million, three-story building will be attached to Hagen Hall and may extend to Weld Hall. The price involves retrofitting and renovating Hagen Hall.

POLICE SUBSTATION
The City of Moorhead has kicked in $60,000 so far for a police substation that will be built this fall on the corner of 9th Avenue South and 17th Street, just south of the Physical Plant. The 1,680-square-foot, single-story building will be home to MSUM’s Night Watch program and to two or  three Moorhead patrol officers. Bids on the project were out of line, Crockett said. So he’s decided to have the physical plant employees build it this fall.

SWIMMING POOL
The concrete has been poured and ceramic tile will be set during the next three weeks for the six-lane, 25-meter pool. It should be ready by Oct. 1 The outdoor track at Nemzek Field should be finished in August. And the locker rooms in Nemzek should be completed in three weeks.

KEYLESS ENTRY
Crockett said the university has been asking for money for the keyless entry system since 1996 and now the $458,000 project is underway. The wiring will be done in August on the exterior doors to all academic buildings, one at a time. The purpose, Crockett said, is to improve safety and security. Crockett hopes to finish the project in the next several months.

The access cars are computer chip proximity cards. Students, faculty and staff will have to get new I.D. cards that include the chip, which dictates which doors each individuals is allowed to access.

Under the new keyless system, if a student, faculty or staff member looses their I.D. card, the university will no longer have to re-key an entire building—an expensive process that happens too often. The lost card’s access codes are simply deleted from the computer-generated system.

OTHER PROJECTS
* Center for the Arts: Relocation of the computer labs for the art department will be completed by Aug. 24. New Office spaces will be completed in September and early October.
* Several classrooms and hallways will be re-carpeted in August.
* Strategic Initiative Grant projects will be undertaken during the academic year.

The comprehensive handbook  was written by Gunaratne along with 36  contributors  who  analyzed the media in  Asia, home to 3.3 million people or 55 percent of the world’s six billion population.

The book begins with a look at "Oriental" and "Occidental" views of press freedoms and then proceeds with a detailed examination of the history of mass media in each country along with the state of print and broadcasting, technological developments, advertising, financial aspects, legal frameworks, on-line media and the telecommunications infrastructure.

The book is designed as a reference tool for educational and public libraries and for students of mass communications.

Gunaratne, who teaches mass communications at MSU, started his career in journalism in 1962 as a reporter for two morning dailies in his home country, Sri Lanka. He came to the United States in 1966 as a fellow of the World Press Institute at Macalester College, St. Paul, later earning his doctorate in mass communications at the University of Minnesota. He began teaching at MSU in 1985 and is a specialist in international communication.

The book, which sells for $79.95,  is the result of more than two years of research by Gunaratne.

PRAIRIE FLOWERS ARE TOPIC
OF MSUM SCIENCE CENTER
PROGRAM AUGUST 13
August-blooming prairie flowers are the topic of a family trail adventure Sunday, August 13 from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Minnesota State
University Moorhead Regional Science Center Buffalo River Site.

Trailblazers will enjoy nature's wide variety of prairie flowers and their vivid colors. At the end of the trail, participants will hear a
story and create a bouquet of flowers on paper with wildlife artist Cathi Koenig.

The program is free and open to the public. All necessary supplies will be furnished, but visitors are encouraged to wear comfortable walking
shoes and to bring insect repellent and sunscreen.

The Buffalo River Site is located 15 miles east of Moorhead, off Highway 10, adjacent to Buffalo River State Park. For more information, call
218-236-2904.

COLLEGE FOR KIDS FEATURES A VARIETY OF KID-FRIENDLY SESSIONS

Moorhead, Minn…Minnesota State University Moorhead is offering a new program for kids this summer called College for Kids, featuring a variety of kid-friendly topics for children 8 to 12 years of age.

Two, one-week morning sessions will be offered, July 10-14 and July 17-21. The one-and-a-half hour classes run from 8:30-10 a.m., and the three-hour classes run from 8:30-11:50 a.m.

College for Kids features a variety of topics, including broadcasting, Chinese language and calligraphy, T’ai Chi Chih, piano, exploring nature, creating with clay, aeronauts, robotics, chemistry for fun, and bones and fossils, among others. Classes are taught by MSU Moorhead faculty members.

All students pay the $12 registration fee to cover snacks and a T-shirt. The one-and-a-half hour classes are $35 while the three-hour sessions are $65. An additional fee may be required for some classes that require excessive supplies.

Registration fees are non-refundable unless the class is cancelled due to low enrollment.

Deadline for registration is June 30. You can access a registration form on the College for Kids web site: http://classweb.mnstate.edu/collegeforkids or call the MSU Moorhead Continuing Studies office at 218-236-2394.

ZEHREN NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS,
FINANCIAL AID DIRECTOR AT MSUM
Moorhead, MN….Carolyn Zehren has been named the new director of Scholarships and Financial Aid at Minnesota State University  Moorhead

She replaces Karen Knighton, who retired last fall.

Zehren, who lives in Jamestown, N.D., has worked as the assistant director of MSUM’s financial aid office for the past decade and was appointed acting director in November pending a national search.

A graduate of North Dakota State University, Zehren began her career as an administrative assistant to the academic dean at Jamestown College, a position she held for 13 years. She then became a financial aid officer there, and three years later joined the financial aid office at MSUM.

Zehren will oversee an office that employs nine professional and classified staff along with 22 student assistants. It administers more than $28 million in scholarships and financial aid annually.

She and her husband Ron live in Jamestown and have two grown children.

Rising to the rank of professor: Sayel Ali and Tim Peil, mathematics; Dan Brekke and John Gaffrey, computer science and information systems; Magdalene Chalikia, psychology; Russ Colson, anthropology and earth sciences; George Davis, MSUM’s Regional Science Center and elementary and early childhood education; Shawn Dunkirk, chemistry; Laura Fasick and Richard Zinober, English; Richard Peschke, business administration; Terry Shoptaugh, library; and Roberta Shreve, elementary and early childhood education.

Rising to the rank of associate professor: Barbara Headrick, political science; Jenny Lin and Takanori Mita, languages; Larry Nordick, paralegal program; and Deborah Seaburg, counseling center.

Receiving tenure this year:  Deborah Seaburg, counseling center; Barbara Headrick, political science; Margaret Klindworth, New Center for Multidisciplinary Studies; Jean Kramer, library; and Rodney Rothlisberger, music.

$3.6 million dollars will come from general appropriations to complete the five-block expansion area west of campus.  Work to demolish or remove the remaining 29 houses and prepare the site for 850 parking spaces will begin as soon as possible, with the completion of the asphalt and landscaping scheduled for completion in 2001.

State bonds will provide $1.6 million for the design of the science laboratories structure planned between Hagen and Lommen Halls. The new building will house classrooms for life sciences, chemistry and biology; along with teaching and research laboratories. The project will feature 70,941 square feet of new construction and 61,000 square feet of remodeled space.

The Governor also approved language in the bill to allow MSU to build a joint security structure in cooperation with the City of Moorhead. On top of that, the Governor gave MSUM the go-ahead to work with private developers to construct new student housing and future structures within the five-block expansion area.

The Independence Day celebration—free and open to the public—features continuous stage entertainment all afternoon, along with children’s games, Dragon Express and barrel train rides, stagecoach and covered wagon rides, bingo, music, and all kinds of food booths.

Prior to the festivities, MSUM will host a 10K run starting at 8 a.m. at Nemzek’s northwest entrance. Runners should contact Mark Rice at MSUM, 236-2062, for details.  Kiddie Races begin at 11 a.m. just south of Murray Commons at 9th Avenue and about 15th Street South.

Meritcare’s Lifeflight Helicoptor is scheduled to land in the Murray Commons area about 12:45 p.m., where it and a variety of large equipment, and law enforcement and emergency vehicles will be on display throughout the afternoon.

Campus mall events begin right after the 1 p.m. opening ceremony, which will include a flag raising by the Moorhead American Legion Post 21, and music by the Lake Agassiz Concert Band.  The children’s decorated bike parade starts at 1:30 p.m.  Kids and parents should assemble at the mall flagpole right after the opening ceremony.

Stage entertainment scheduled all afternoon on the mall includes the Lake Agassiz Concert Band, Clowndimonium, Folklorico, singer Susie Nickell, The Straw Hat Players, the MSUM Heritage Dancers and the Lostrpane Nordfjord Choir from Norway.

Cartoons will be shown in Weld Hall auditorium on the hour, and the MSUM Planetarium (located on first floor Bridges Hall) will feature the show "More than Meets the Eye" at 1:15 p.m., 2 p.m., 2:45 p.m., 3:30 p.m., and 4:15 p.m.

Evening entertainment at Nemzek Field starts at 8 p.m., with the Lake Agassiz Concert Band, a fly-over by the Happy Hooligans at 8:45 p.m. and, at 9 p.m., a special performance by rock ‘n’ roll legend Bobby Vee. At about 10:30 p.m. over Nemzek Field, MSUM will present its largest fireworks display ever.

The Relay For Life consists of teams of 8-15 people representing local companies, organizations, churches, neighborhoods and families who spend 12 hours together in an effort to raise money to fight cancer.  The objective is to have at least one member of each team walking or running around a track for the entire event.  However, most of their time will be spent listening to music, camping and cooking out, participating in a variety of family.

In honor of the 125th anniversary celebration for Fargo-Moorhead, 125 cancer survivors will complete the first lap.

One of the highlights of the event is the Luminary Program, which beings Friday at 9:30 p.m. During the event, people may purchase a luminaria for $10 in memory or in honor of someone who has been touched by cancer. These luminaria bags will then be placed around the track and lit for a brief memorial program that will include guest speaker Dr. Randy Moore of the Roger Maris Cancer Center.

The volunteer planning committee’s goal for this year is to recruit over 25 teams and raise $27,000.

If you are interested in forming a team or learning more about the event, call the Clay County American Cancer Society at 233-6114.

The Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society’s National Signature Event. Money raised will help support cancer research, education, advocacy and services to cancer patients and their families in the Clay County area.