Minnesota State University Moorhead News Releases November 2006

Wednesday, Nov. 15 at MSU Moorhead…..
NATIONAL SPEAKER ADDRESSES
COMBATING HIGH RISK DRINKING
AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS
Dr. Alan Berkowitz, an independent consultant who helps universities, public health agencies and communities design programs that address health and social justice issues, will speak on “Creating Healthy and Respectful Communities: The Role of Faculty, Staff and Student Leadership,” from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15 in MSU Moorhead Science Lab Building 104.

His appearance on campus is sponsored by “Moorhead Together,” a project funded by a $320,000 U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to MSUM this year to combat high risk drinking among local college students.

The event is free and open to the public.

The grant, one of only 12 of its kind awarded by the education department this year, funds a group of initiatives involving all three Moorhead campuses and the Moorhead police. Emphasis is being placed on examining how individuals who adopt the role of passive bystander can be encouraged to take active leadership in solving campus problems.

“Moorhead Together” is also working closely with the Clay County Department of Public Health, the Red River Valley Safe Communities Coalition and the City of Moorhead.

Berkowitz, the editor and founder of The Report on Social Norms, has more than 20 years experience in higher education as a trainer, psychologist, faculty member and counseling center director. He’s noted for his scholarship and innovative programs addressing issues of substance abuse, sexual assault, social norms and diversity.

MSUM has adopted a social norms campaign, aimed at correcting the misperception that the majority of students misuse alcohol.

MSUM STUDENT SENATE PROMOTES STUDENT VOTING WITH PARADE, POLLING BUSES
MSU Moorhead’s Student Senate will host an election parade around campus starting at noon on Monday Nov. 6 and will provide buses from campus to the polls on election day in an effort aimed at encouraging students to vote.

The parade will circle the campus, featuring university music ensembles, students dressed as historic figures, Pres. Roland Barden in his traditional Uncle Sam costume and entries by a variety of student organizations.

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, buses will take students to the polls from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. from the Nelson Hall loop.

RUMPLESTILTSKIN REVISITED: CHILDREN'S THEATRE NOV. 18
MSUM’s annual children’s theatre production, “Rumplestiltskin Revisited” will be on stage at 2 p.m. and 7 .m. Saturday, Nov. 18 in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre. (More than 10,000 regional pre-school through sixth grade students will also be bussed to MSUM to see the production Nov. 13-21 as part of an educational field trip. The university stages two productions a day for these special children’s theatre performances.) For tickets to the Saturday public performances, call the MSUM Box Office at 477-2271.

SIX PHOTOGRAPHERS EXHIBIT
AT MSUM GALLERY LOOKS AT
AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROBLEM
“Portraits of Home,” a photo exhibition about the personal impact of finding affordable housing in Minnesota by a team of six newspaper photographers, will be on display Nov. 6-29 at MSUM’s Roland Dille Center for the Arts Gallery, an event inspired by Homelessness Awareness Month.

It’s a traveling exhibit presented by the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund and features photographs by Ben Garvin from the St. Paul Pioneer Press; Carlos Gonzalez, Stormi Greener and Brian Peterson from the Minneapolis Star Tribune; Eric Hylden from the Grand Forks Herald; and Twin Cities freelancer Cathy ten Broeke.

Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 6. p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays, and Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m. (Or by special arrangement, e-mail gudmunja@mnstate.edu.)

One of the photographers, Carlos Gonzalez, and the exhibit organizer, Julie Delliquanti, will be giving a presentation in the gallery on Thursday November 9, at 4:30 p.m.  This is free and open to the public.  Light refreshments will be served.
 
In conjunction with the exhibit, MSUM students are organizing several events aimed at increasing public awareness about the issue of homelessness in the Fargo-Moorhead community. For example, the student chapter of Habitat for Humanity is organizing a sleep-out on the campus mall. Volunteer Visions, and a group of students from Prof. Sue Peterson’s “Communities” class are sponsoring a community-wide food drive. Her students are also conducting a survey on local perceptions of homelessness, and will be assisting in the Dorothy Day House annual fundraiser, “Soup Supper” which starts at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14 in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts gallery foyer. Another student group hand-painted bowls donated by Clay Our Way. These bowls, filled with soup, will be on sale that evening for $10. Also at this supper, a film featuring the Dorothy Day House in Moorhead, created by two MSUM film students last semester, will be shown. 

NOTED ST. PAUL AUTHOR WANG PING READS FOR MCGRATH SERIES NOV. 8
Wang Ping, raised in a farming village on a small East China Sea island and author of the acclaimed short story collection “American Visa,” will talk on the writer’s craft at 4 p.m. and read from her work at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 8 in the university’s Comstock Memorial Union 101 as a feature of MSUM’s Tom McGrath Visiting Writers Series.

Ping left China in 1985, earning her doctorate from New York University. She’s also author of the novel “Foreign Devil,” the poetry collection “Of Flesh & Spirit,” the cultural study “Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China” and most recently “The Magic Whip,” a second poetry collection. She lives in St. Paul and teaches at Macalester College. “Aching for Beauty” was a Minnesota Book Award finalist.

DEANS' LECTURE HOW TEACHERS DECIDE TO TEACH LITERACY
“The Ecology of Decision-Making: A Look at Preschool, Primary and Upper Elementary Teachers” is the focus of a Deans’ Lecture series at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16 in MSUM’s Center for Business 111. Layna Cole, a professor in the university’s Elementary and Early Childhood Education Department, will talk on a recently finished study examining what factors influence how teachers decide to teach literacy. Ecological systems theory will be used to explain the similarities and differences in what influences these group of teachers. It’s free and open to the public.

AMERICAN INDIAN HERITAGE MONTH CELEBRATION
In the spirit of celebration, the following events are scheduled throughout November during the annual MSUM American Indian Awareness Celebration. All events are free and open to the public.

Tuesday, Nov. 7
10 a.m. Opening Pipe Ceremony (Library Mall)
George “Joe Bush” Fairbanks, White Earth Reservation Spiritual Elder, will conduct a traditional pipe ceremony to welcome in American Indian Heritage Month on the MSUM campus.

Wednesday, Nov. 8
10:30 a.m. Storytelling (Lommen Early Education Center)
American Indian Student Association (AISA) members will read a book called “D is for Drum: A Native American Alphabet” to the MSUM Early Education Center toddlers.

Thursday, Nov. 9
10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Native Craft Demonstrations (CMU Main Lounge) Native crafters will demonstrate birch bark basketry, porcupine quillwork, miniature moccasins, dreamcatchers, and sweet grass basketry.

7 p.m. AISA Featured Movie: “Smoke Signals” (CMU 203)
Set in Arizona, Smoke Signals is the story of two Indian boys on a journey. Victor (Adam Beach) is the stoic, handsome son of an alcoholic father who has abandoned his family. Thomas (Evan Adams) is a gregarious, goofy young man who lost both his parents in a fire at a young age. Through storytelling, Thomas makes every effort to connect with the people around him; Victor, in contrast, uses his quiet countenance to gain strength and confidence. When Victor's estranged father dies, the two men embark on an adventure to Phoenix to collect the ashes. Along the way, Smoke Signals illustrates the ties that bind these two different young men and embraces the lessons they learn from one another.

Friday, Nov. 10
7 p.m. Fast Horse Performance (Weld Auditorium) An educational and fascinating performance that blends past traditions with contemporary issues. Reuben Fast Horse is a traditional Lakota singer, dancer, flutist, drummer, storyteller and educator who performs such dances as the “Buffalo Dance” and “Eagle Dance.” Ash Fast Horse is a Lakota singer, dancer and craftswoman who displays both women’s traditional and contemporary Native American dances.

Tuesday, Nov. 14
2:30 p.m. Pre-school Ojibwe Language Activity (Lommen Early Education Center) Wendy Geniusz, assistant professor of American Multicultural Studies, will engage the MSUM Early Education Center students in an Ojibwe language lesson and activity.

Thursday, Nov. 16
2 p.m. Social Work and the Applications of the Indian Child Welfare Act (CMU 203)
Doreen Holding Eagle (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara Nation and Lakota), a licensed Social Worker and graduate of MSUM, will talk about the applications of the Indian Child Welfare Act in social work and its continued relevance today.

7 p.m. AISA Featured Movie: “Thunderheart” (CMU 203)
An FBI man with Sioux background is sent to a reservation to help with a murder investigation, where he has to come to terms with his heritage. Slowly he rejects the intimidating tactics of his fellow FBI agents, who are not so interested in solving the crime as covering up an incriminating situation with the locals, and as he becomes more tuned to his heritage, the locals begin trusting him. Based on actual reservation occurrences of the 1970s.

Monday, Nov. 20
2 p.m. Traditional Native Handgames (CMU 205)
Handgames is a game of observation, strategy, intuitive skills, team effort and fun. Jaimie Snowden, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, will provide instruction on rules and strategies as well as play a game with participants.

Tuesday, Nov. 28
11 a.m. Protecting the Sacred Gift (CMU 203)
Earl Hoagland, member of the White Earth Nation, will show a short wild ricing video, give the history of wild rice, explain how it is harvested through traditional finishing techniques, and discuss the controversial genetic alteration of wild rice and its ramifications.

Thursday, Nov. 30.
7 p.m. AISA Featured Movie: “Powwow Highway” (CMU 203)
Tale of two Cheyenne men traveling from their reservation in Montana to New Mexico. For one of them, Buddy Red Bow (A Martinez), a quick-tempered activist, the journey is a practical one; his sister has been arrested and he is the only family member who can help her out. Buddy has no transportation, so he's forced to ride with Philbert Bono (Gary Farmer), a phlegmatic hulk of a man who is using his 1964 Buick as a vehicle for a spiritual journey of his own. Philbert's easygoing ways and insistence on frequent stops to meditate prove irritating at first to Buddy, but the men reach an accommodation as the trip wears on. Buddy comes to see that blaming the white man and what he sees as system rigged against Native Americans is distracting him from his true mission: to better understand himself and his place in the world.


For more information, contact Jamie Holding Eagle, AISA Vice-President at rad180@riseup.net or Jody Steile, AISA Ad