The award is named in honor of the late L.B. Hartz, the founder of Hartz Wholesale Company headquartered in Thief River Falls. It’s presented annually by MSUM’s College of Business and Industry to an individual who has created economic opportunities for others through innovation, entrepreneurship and community service.

Stefanson, co-owner of the Stefanson, Plambeck, Foss & Fisher Law Firm for more than 30 years, is a 1962 graduate of the University of North Dakota Law School who’s become known as a champion for the less fortunate.

A former special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who once completed the New York Marathon, Stefanson helped establish the Dorothy Day House and Churches United for the Homeless in Moorhead. He also established Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota, which provides legal services to the less fortunate.

He’s still also involved in People Escaping Poverty Project and Clay County Residence Inc., for the disabled.

He and his wife, Corinne, married for 40 years, employ more than 60 people in the various businesses they own in Moorhead, including “The Classic” clothing store in Moorhead Center Mall; the Moorhead Manor, an assisted living facility for the elderly. They’re also co-owners of the new F-M-US Bank Building and Clay County Abstract, both in Moorhead.

Stefanson has provided free legal services to the Dorothy Day House, Churches United for the Homeless, the Newman Center at MSUM and innumerable other organizations and people in Fargo-Moorhead for decades.

During the Sunday reception honoring Stefanson, two students will receive $1,000 L.B. Hartz Academic Scholarships: Andrea Nikolai, a junior business administration major from Madison, Minn.; and Jamie Carnahan, a junior finance major from Rock Lake, N.D. They were selected for the scholarships based on their academic achievements and an essay they wrote on how school and work experience relate to career goals.

Davis, who coordinates the MFA Program at MSUM, is the author of two award-winning collections of stories: Alone with the Owl and Rumors from the Lost World. He co-edits American Fiction (chosen by Writer's Digest in 1998 as one of the top fifteen publications in the U.S.) and recently became Senior Editor at New Rivers Press, which has relocated to MSUM and since 1968 has published more than 300 books.

Enger will take a sabbatical from his teaching this fall to continue a novel he’s been working on for several years. Based very loosely on his own family history, the novel is a collection of stories that follows four generations of a Norwegian-American immigrant family. Six of the stories have already appeared in literary journals, including Glimmer Train, one of the country’s premier short story forums. He has also co-authored a series of mystery novels with Leif Enger, published by Pocket Books, Simon and Schuster, New York.

MSUM’s biotech program was cited for providing graduates with dual degrees, one in chemistry and one in biology. All of the program's graduates to date have moved into careers in science or have continued on to graduate or medical school. Effective use of technology, intense interaction between faculty and students, and collaboration with other university departments and the community, have led to a high level of student achievement and have generated strong support from outside the university.

The 220-page Red Weather, the largest ever, includes poetry, fiction, non-fiction and photography by more than 60 MSUM students, faculty and alumni.

Copies of the new Red Weather, each $8, will be available that evening. It’s also available at the MSUM Bookstore, Zandbroz, Atomic Coffee and other local bookstores.

NEW CENTER CELEBRATES ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY APRIL 30
MSUM’s New Center for Multidisciplinary Studies will celebrate its 30th anniversary from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30 in the Murray Commons study area.

The event will include a panel of current students, including a mother and daughter who both came through the program.

The New Center is an academic department that offers an alternative to students who do not fully meet the university’s admission standards, but show potential for collegiate success. Established in 1972 by then MSUM Pres. Roland Dille,, the Center admits up to 200 students each fall and maintains a staff of 10 faculty members.

During the past 30 years, more than 1,200 New Center students have graduated from the university.
MSUM Pres. Roland Barden and President Emeritus Roland Dille will also speak during the event, which is open to the campus communitY.

The program recognizes exceptional academic achievement.

Fernandez, a biology and chemistry major, has already been accepted into the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer at the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he’ll pursue a doctorate in cancer biology.

More than 900 students will be recognized for academic achievement.

Hiedi J. Johnson, a biotechnology major from New Town, N.D., last week was notified she will receive the scholarships, which cover tuition, fees, books, room and board up to $7,500 for each of the next two years.

She was selected from a field of 1,093 students who were nominated by the faculties of colleges and universities throughout the country.

Johnson, the daughter of Bev and Duane Johnson of New Town, intends to pursue a doctorate in molecular biology or immunology and then begin a career in cancer research. This summer she has an internship in the tumor biology department at the Mayo Clinic.

The scholarship program honoring Sen. Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. It is the premier undergraduate scholarship in these fields.

The Goldwater Foundation, in its 13-year history, has awarded 3,323 scholarships worth $33 million.

Johnson is the fourth MSUM biology major in the past three years to receive a Goldwater Scholarship.

STUDENTS HOST CELEBRATION OF NATIONS HERE APRIL 11
Entertainment, food, culture and fashions from around the world will be showcased in a Celebration of Nations from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 11 in the student union ballroom.

Admission is $1 and all food tickets are 50 cents.
Students and community members representing more than 10 countries will exhibit items from their homeland, cook their unique foods and share their culture.

The event is sponsored by MSUM’s Office of International Programs.MSUM SENIOR ONE OF 10 IN NATION NAMED

MSUM SENIOR NAMEDTO FORENSICS ALL-AMERICAN TEAM
Valerie Waldock, an MSUM senior speech communications major, was named by the District IV American Forensics Association Committee as its choice for the All American Team. Ten students nationwide are selected for this honor.

The award, based on forensics success, also relies heavily on academics and community service. Waldock was selected for her stellar academic record and her service to the Fargo-Moorhead community.

District IV represents all of the forensics programs in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska.

This is the second year in a row that a student from MSU Moorhead has been selected for the All American Forensics Team.
Waldock is coached by MSUM faculty Dave Gaer and Tina Ross.

In 1907, just four years after the Minnesota Orchestra’s founding, Music Director Emil Oberhoffer lead the musicians on a maiden trip to Moorhead Normal School. Since then, the Orchestra has returned to MSUM’s stage 50 times.

For reservations to the April 22 concert, call the MSUM Box Office at (218) 236-2271.

Bookending the Centennial Season program are two familiar symphonic works, Hadyn’s Symphony No. 94 (“Surprise”) and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.
The light-hearted “Surprise” Symphony was first performed by the Orchestra in 1910 and has since been part of the core repertoire. Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony is a favorite tour work and has been taken on the road 20 times in the past.

Giancarlo Guerrero, now in his fourth season as associate conductor, will conduct the “Celebration” tour. Thomas Turner, who joined the Orchestra as principal viola in December 1994, is the program’s featured soloist.

On November 5, 1903—three weeks before the Wright brothers made their first airplane flight—the Minnesota Orchestra performed its inaugural concert. Founded in Minneapolis as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, it soon achieved distinction in its home city and abroad.

Program schedule:
10:00 AM Opening Pipe Ceremony
10:15 AM Dakota Language 200A
Black Ash Basketry 200B
11:30 AM Medicine Wheel 200A
Beadwork - Learn to make a daisy chain necklace 200B
12:30 PM LUNCHEON - Special appearance by the Wahpeton Circle of NationsSchool Drum Group and Dance Troupe. The dance troupe will demonstrate different categories of Native American dance which includes traditional, grass, jingle, and fancy.
1:30 PM Ojibwe Language 200A
Birch Bark Workshop 200B
2:45 PM Wild Rice Gathering and Finishing 200A
Learn to make a Dreamcatcher 200B

Local vendors and crafters will also be display their work in the student union.

To register or for more information contact Jody Steile or Dustin Fabre at 291-4272. Email steilejo@mnstate.edu or fabredu@mnstate.edu

Sponsored by the MSUM American Indian Student Activities, Cultural Diversity, Multicultural Affairs and the American Indian Student Association, the event is free and open to the public.

The talk is based on a research trip Morrison took to Japan in January 2002. She lived in Japan for several years in the early ‘80s and received a certificate for Japanese language study from the Middlebury Language Program. She holds an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in Japanese literature from Columbia University. She’s pursuing her doctorate in English at UND and is an adjunct faculty member in MSUM’s languages department.

Morrison has worked in a bilingual environment in banking, commercial real estate and executive recruiting. Her research interests are in the area of cross-cultural expressions of pilgrimage in both English and Japanese literature.

Morrison’s talk is sponsored by MSUM’s The Alcove, a student discussion group that explores philosophical and political ideas. 

Participants will hear from recent MSUM’s gerontology graduates who successfully applied their major to professional careers in the field of aging. They’ll talk about job opportunities available to new graduates, how to improve their job seeking skills, working conditions in institutional vs. community-based settings, as well as in direct-service vs. administrative roles.

Guest speakers at this year’s colloquium are: Tory Magnusson (a 1999 Sociology and Gerontology graduate who’s now activities director at Riverview Place in Fargo); Lesli Ossenfort (a 200 Psychology and Gerontology graduate, now program coordinator of the Family Caregiver Support Program, Region V, Fargo); and Julie Zimbelman (a 2002 Social Work and Gerontology graduate, currently an outreach worker with the Fargo Senior Commission).

MSUM’s Alumni Foundation and Sociology and Criminal Justice Department are sponsoring this year’s colloquium. For more information, contact Sue Humphers-Ginther (236-2042, humphers@mnstate.edu).

Her talk will examine the historical perspective of women and sports, including the process of breaking through gender barriers and demystifying the perceived physiological restrictions for women participating in physical activity and sport. She’ll also discuss current technological devices (heart rate monitors, accelerometers, and pedometers) available for getting in shape, promoting weight control and improving physical fitness.

Series Sponsored by the MSUM Women’s Center and Women’s Studies Program.

He’ll also read from his work at 8 p.m. that day, also in King Hall.

Steele, who teaches at California State University, Los Angeles, is the author of several poetry collections, including “Uncertainties and Rest” and “The Color Wheel,” along with two scholarly books, “Missing Measures: Modern Poetry and the Revolt Against Meter” and “All the Fun’s in How You Say a Thing: An Explanation of Meter and Versification.”

He’s received several awards for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Academy of American Poets Award, a Los Angeles PEN Center Literary Award for Poetry, and a Commonwealth Club of California Medal for Poetry. His poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor’s “The Writer’s Almanac.”.

Often compared to Robert Frost, Steelebrings the world into focus in his poems through a reverent lens concentrated on our connection to nature and to the everyday with a powerful eloquence that uplifts and inspires.

This activity is funded in part by a grant from the Lake Region Arts Council through a Minnesota State Legislative appropriation. Other sponsors include: MSUM Visiting Scholar Fund, MSUM Alumni Foundation, McGrath Visiting Writer’s Series.

More than 800 students will receive degrees that day.

Condell retired from MSUM in 1995 after 30 years of teaching life sciences and biology. A prominent figure in both women's and international education, she’s been a member of education missions in Scotland, the Netherlands, Libya, Nairobi, New Zealand and the People's Republic of China among others.

The MSU Alumni Foundation, in honor of Condell and her husband, the late James Condell, who taught psychology at MSUM, created a $150,000 endowment fund in their names for African-American students attending the university..

 A reception for parents, family and friends of graduates is scheduled after the ceremony.