Minnesota State University Moorhead
News Releases
Summer 2007
Minnesota State University Moorhead News Releases |
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Index:
New VP for Facilities & Administration
The case of the missing "nude" mice
Learning to love Led Zeppelin: New book by MSUM prof
MSUM's 2007-08 budget: About the same as last year
Parks named new Campus Security director
May-Machunda one of 19 Bush Leadership fellows
MSUM's 4th of July celebration
Faculty promotions announced
Buffalo River summer programs
MSUM building projects selected by MnSCU trustees
MSUM hosts National Guard Reintegration programs
Read Aloud Book Awards announced
MSUM going smoke free
University offers biology degree in the Twin Cities
University breaks ground on new Dragon Wellness Center
MSUM to award degrees to 850
Computer Science major gets $150,000 graduate fellowship
Straw Hat opens its 44th season
Grant writing bootcamp on campus this summer
MSUM NAMES NEW VP FOR FACILITIES & ADMINISTRATION
Daniel Kirk will fill the position of vice president for Facilities and Administration at MSU Moorhead. Since 2000, Kirk has held dual positions as associate vice president for Administration and Operations at Metropolitan State University and associate vice president at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Kirk succeds David Crockett, who will remain as the dean of the College of Business and Industry. During his 12 years as vice president, Crockett supervised numerous capital projects, including the construction of the new Science Laboratory Building and John J. Neumaier Hall and the renovation of Hagen Hall, the Center for the Arts, Nemzek Hall, Kise Commons and MacLean Hall, as well as scores of remodeling and infrastructure improvement projects.
In his new position at MSUM, Kirk will assume administrative support of the University’s mission and strategic plan and leadership in the University’s plans for all buildings, grounds and related operations. He will oversee the completion of the new campus Wellness Center
Kirk is experienced in the administration of capital project development from pre-design through project completion within the Minnesota State system. During the past seven years, he has participated in the successful completion of more than $55 million in capital projects for the two Twin Cities institutions, where projects totaling $23 million are currently underway.
Kirk holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from Dakota Wesleyan University, and a master’s degree in personnel services and counseling from the University of South Dakota. He is currently an MBA candidate at Metropolitan State University.
Kirk’s wife, Pamela, is a member of the nursing faculty at MCTC. They have two adult children.
Kirk will begin his appointment at MSUM by early September.
The case of the missing mice: it’s a felony…
20 ‘NUDE’ MICE USED FOR CANCER RESEARCH STOLEN FROM MSUM SCIENCE LAB BUILDING
It seems like a Mickey Mouse crime at first blush, the theft of 20 laboratory mice from the basement of Minnesota State University’s Science Lab Building.
But these weren’t your ordinary “meeses,” as Jinx the Cat might say, a character on the old Huckleberry Hound Cartoon Show.
These were special “nude” or “hairless” mice used for cancer research, unique because they were bred without immune systems. Each cost $125.
“The total value of this theft is $2,500,” says Michael Parks, MSUM’s new director of Campus Security. “So this is a felony, which could involve prison time.”
The theft occurred late afternoon or early evening on Thursday, July 19, in a locked lab accessible only by card readers. “Only the nude mice were taken, not the other mice in the laboratory,” Parks said. “So it’s possible the person or persons involved knew what they were doing.”
Parks is checking computer printouts on those cards now and has some other leads. “I’m confident we’ll solve this crime.”
Parks said the mice might have been taken to feed a pet, maybe a snake. “We’re looking at all the possibilities,” he said.
Nude mice are genetic mutants that have deteriorated or removed thymus glands, resulting in an inhibited immune systems. They are used widely in cancer research because they allow human tumors to be studied in animals. They lack body hair, thus the name “nude.”
Because of their immune systems, Parks said, the mice are unlikely to survive outside a sterile laboratory environment.
Oddly enough, this is Parks’ first case at the university, who recently started his job as MSUM’s Campus Security director. For the past four years he was coordinator and a member of the faculty at Minnesota West’s Law Enforcement Academy.
But it’s not his first experience with stolen animals. As a patrol officer and narcotics detective for the Lakeville (Minn.) Police Department for 11 years, Parks dealt with several crimes involving hog and sheep thefts.
Did you solve many of them? “Yes,” he said.
Anyone with information about this crime can either contact Parks at 477-5869, or the Moorhead Police.
MSUM professor’s new book:
LISTENING TO POPULAR MUSIC: OR, HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING & LOVE LED ZEPPELIN
Feel guilty about listening to Madonna rather than Mozart?
Don’t worry. Pop music––from rock and country to hip-hop and jazz––provides its own aesthetic rewards, according to Theodore Gracyk, a philosophy professor at Minnesota State University Moorhead.
In “Listening to Popular Music: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Led Zeppelin," Gracyk argues that ordinary people can value pop music for legitimate aesthetic reasons.
The 245-page paperback was just released by the University of Michigan Press, the inaugural title in its new Tracking Pop series.
With references ranging from Aristotle to Britney Spears, from Friedrich Neitzsche to Willie Nelson, Gracyk points out that popular music is very capable of “taking us out of ourselves, suspending time, or transforming our relationship to the world around us.”
In other words, it contributes to the quality of life.
But it’s not all about aesthetics. Music today is so ubiquitous, and serves so many purposes in our daily lives, he said, that it’s easy to ignore its potential aesthetic values.
Merging insights from aesthetic theory, cognitive science, psychology, identity theory and cultural studies, Gracyk challenges the elite perspective that continues to dismiss popular culture and its music as an aesthetic wasteland.
Why Led Zeppelin in the title? One of the book's central arguments against this elitist dismissal of popular music involves an extended discussion of the musical intelligence displayed by two of British band’s best known songs, "D'Yer Mak'Er" and "Black Dog."
The bottom line: “Given the extent to which aesthetic value contributes to the quality of human life,” Gracyk said, “the aesthetic value of popular music deserves more attention than it receives.”
In his first book focusing on the complexity of popular music, “Rhythm and Noise: An Aesthetics of Rock,” released in 1996 by Duke University Press, Gracyk argued that rock music is different from other music in a number of overlooked ways. As a result, rock is often over-simplified and misunderstood.
His second book, “I Wanna Be Me,” published by Temple University Press in 2001, looked at rock as a mass art, drawing people together in communities of listeners who respond viscerally to its sound and intellectually to its message. It was selected as a co-winner of the 2002 Woody Guthrie Award (the book award of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US).
Gracyk, a specialist in 18th-century philosophy and the philosophy of art, writes books about pop and rock music for a simple reason, he said. “I was a teenager before I became an academic. Rock music helped me mold my own personal and political identity.”
MSUM’S BUDGET THIS YEAR ABOUT THE SAME AS LAST YEAR, WITH LITTLE LEEWAY FOR INNOVATION
MSUM’s budget for this academic year, FY 2008, is expected to reach $62.5 million, with $29.4 million coming from state appropriations and a projected $32 million from tuition, according to university budget officer Jean Hollaar. Another $800,000 comes from other revenue.
Last year MSUM’s budget for instruction and instruction support was about $60 million.
State appropriations to MSUM are up $566,800 from last year. And this year’s tuition increase of 4% is expected to bring in an additional $2.2 million. Together they basically cover inflationary costs.
With an expected $1.2 million in estimated contract settlement costs for union employee salaries (projected to average about 3.25%) and about an 8% increase for employee health insurance, totaling $275,000, the university will have about the same amount of spending power as last year.
“From my perspective of balancing the budget, it looks fine,” Hollaar said. “But for the vice presidents and deans, it doesn’t allow much more wiggle room to fund new or innovative programs.”
MSUM’s Work Plan Initiative budget, which funds most of those new efforts, is fixed at 1% of the general fund budget. It will increase from $590,000 last year to $617,500 this year.
(This year’s Work Plan Initiative process is completed: see http://web.mnstate.edu/president/StrategicPlanning/FY2008FundedInitiatives.htm)
Note that state appropriations to MSUM are just under 50% of the university’s instruction and instruction support budget, reflecting a growing trend to fund higher education with tuition income.
This year MSUM students will pay $5,585 for tuition and fees, up $267 from last year.
DILWORTH NATIVE MICHAEL PARKS NAMED MSUM’S NEW CAMPUS SECURITY DIRECTOR
Michael Parks, former coordinator of the Law Enforcement Academy at Minnesota West Community College in Worthington, Minn., has been named the new director of Campus Security at Minnesota State University Moorhead.
He will oversee a staff of more than 20 full-and part-time Campus Security employees, the majority of them student workers.
Originally from Dilworth, Parks attended MSUM for one year before earning an associate degree in Law Enforcement at Alexandria Technical College. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in Law Enforcement at Metropolitan State University and a master’s degree in Leadership at Concordia University in St. Paul.
Parks started his career as a patrol officer in his hometown of Dilworth and then served 11 years as a patrol officer and narcotics detective for the Lakeville (Minn.) Police Department.
For the past four years Parks was coordinator and a member of the faculty at Minnesota West’s Law Enforcement Academy.
He and his wife Cathy, an R.N. originally from Moorhead, have two young daughters.
MSUM PROF NAMED ONE OF 19
BUSH LEADERSHIP FELLOWS
Phyllis May-Machunda, a professor and chair of American multicultural studies at Minnesota State University Moorhead, was named one of 19 Bush Leadership Fellows for 2007.
She will use the fellowship to complete her Ph.D. dissertation in folklore and ethnomusicology at Indiana University. Her goal to develop and direct a regional multicultural resource center at MSU Moorhead. The center will collaborate with local communities of color and local primary, secondary and higher education institutions in creating school and curriculum reforms.
The fellowships support full-time study in academic or self-designed educational programs. The goal is to help individuals at mid-career prepare for greater leadership responsibilities and make greater contributions to their communities.
Twelve Twin Cities-area residents, three South Dakotans, a woman from North Dakota and two residents of Wisconsin were also named 2007 Bush Leadership fellows.
The 2007 fellowships will support study in a wide range of fields including social enterprise, urban American Indian public affairs, immigrant business development, sustainable agriculture, anti-racism practices and the criminal justice system. The fellows include a police officer, a nurse practitioner, nonprofit human services and arts administrators, teachers, social workers and a Minnesota state legislator.
The Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife, Edyth.
Including 12:30 p.m. parade, 10K run, and patriotic program
MSUM THROWS ITS 35th ANNUAL 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION
MSUM will hold its 35th annual 4th of July celebration at 1 p.m. on the campus mall, beginning a Wednesday afternoon of family entertainment followed by fireworks at dusk over Nemzek Field.
The 4th of July 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, a climbing wall, bingo, music, and a variety of food booths.
Prior to the festivities, MSUM will host a 10K run starting at 8 a.m. at Nemzek’s north gate entrance. Runners should contact Mark Rice at MSUM, 477-2062, for details and registration.
At 12:30 p.m., the United Patriotic Bodies of Fargo Moorhead hosts an Independence Day Parade, starting at 4th Avenue and 11th Street South, the proceeding to campus along 11th Street, turning on 9th Avenue going east, then to the Opening Ceremonies at 1 p.m. at the MSUM campus flagpole.
Campus mall events begin right after the 1 p.m. opening ceremony, which will include a flag raising 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.
That evening the Lake Agassiz Concert Band performs from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Nemzek Stadium, followed by the Front Fenders from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. and then a patriotic program called “Not Forgotten” runs from 9:30 to 9:45 p.m.. The Front Fenders will resume playing until about 10:30 p.m. when the big fireworks show begins.
For more information, contact the Office of Administrative Affairs at MSUM, phone 218.477.2156, or go to the Web site at web.mnstate.edu/july4
23 MSUM FACULTY PROMOTED; SIX TENURED
Twenty-three Minnesota State University Moorhead faculty members have been awarded promotions, 12 to the rank of professor and 11 to associate professor..
Promoted to professor status: Karen Danbom, School of Teaching and Learning; Susan Humphers-Ginther, Sociology and Criminal Justice; Helen Klassen, American Multicultural Studies; Donald Clark, Art & Design; Ellen Brisch, Biosciences; Rinita Dalan, Anthropology and Earth Sciences; Deborah White, Sociology and Criminal Justice; Barb Matthees, Nursing; Craig Ellingson, Communication Studies, Film Studies, and Theatre Arts; Joann Segovia, School of Business; Jerome Kuperman, School of Business; and Vinod Lall, School of Business.
Promoted to associate professor: Randy Cagle, Philosophy; Chang-Seong Hong, Philosophy; Kirk Moss, Music; Paul Nesheim, Music; Jimmie V. Park, Art & Design; Sheri Erickson, School of Business; Allen Carter, Music; Theresa Hest, Communication Studies, Film Studies, and Theatre Arts; Ok-Hee Lee, School of Teaching and Learning; Ruth Lumb, School of Business; and Tammy Blake-Kath Athletics.
Receiving tenure: Carol Okigbo, Corrick Center; Theresa Hest, Communication Studies, Film Studies and Theatre Arts; Kevin Zepper, Corrick Center; Ruth Lumb, School of Business; Sheri Erickson, School of Business; and Randy Cagle, Philosophy.
MSUM PROGRAMS PRESENTED
AT BUFFALO RIVER STATE PARK
MSUM’s Regional Science Center will offer public programs this summer at the Buffalo River State Park. Attendance at Buffalo State Park programs requires the purchase of a vehicle permit. Daily vehicle permits are $5 per day, and annual permits are $25. For questions regarding vehicle permits, call the park at 218-498-2124.
Buffalo River State Park is located 16 miles east of Moorhead, off Highway 10.
Birding programs at the MSUM Regional Science Center are free. The Science Center is adjacent to Buffalo River State Park.
All programs, unless otherwise noted, begin at the screened shelter adjacent to the park’s campground restrooms.
Upcoming programs:
Astronomy program
Saturday, June 30 at 9 p.m. and Saturday, July 21 at 9 p.m.
Participants will find constellations, see the Milky Way, planets, nebulae and star clusters through a telescope, and if lucky, observe some meteors. Bring binoculars and enjoy the prairie night.
Birding program
Thursday, July 5 at 7 a.m. and Saturday, July 14 at 8 a.m. at the MSU Moorhead Regional Science Center interpretive center.
This program is free since it’s taking place at the Science Center. The Science Center’s participation in the Mapping Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) bird-banding program is in its eighth year. The program begins with a tour of the bird observatory, an introduction to MAPS, and observing citizen scientists at work as captured birds are identified, aged, sexed, banded and released.
Snake program Friday, July 6 at 7:30 p.m.
The Western Hognose Snake is a reclusive reptile of Buffalo River State Park. A master of deception and trickery, learn about the habits and haunts of this interesting reptile. Live specimens of local native snakes will be observed.
Prairie Chicken program Saturday, July 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Learn about the Greater Prairie Chicken through learning stations that include a mounted bird, habitat and management information, and video of chickens booming on the springtime prairies.
Buffalo River? Where are all the Buffalo? Saturday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Large numbers of bison have existed in the Red River Valley and were a major natural force on the prairie. Examine pieces of evidence that bison existed at the park, listen to early journal accounts describing the presence of these animals, and look for evidence of how grazing and trampling by bison have impacted the prairie ecosystem.
REQUEST FOR $271 MILLION IN BUILDING, REMODELING PROJECTS APPROVED BY MNSCU TRUSTEES
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities will seek $271 million from the Legislature next year for construction and remodeling projects across the state. The Board of Trustees recently approved a list of 37 projects that will be submitted for funding.
Among them: $13.1 million for Lommen Hall renovations (11th on the priority list); funding for MSUM for property acquisition (purchasing Edison School, 28th on the priority list); and $700,000 for Livingston Lord Library renovation design (32nd on the priority list).
The request is for $271 million in general obligation bond financing with $76.3 million in debt service financed by the system and its institutions, bringing the total project authorization to $347.3 million.
The top priority is $110 million in repair and replacement projects on all 53 campuses, including roof replacements, mechanical and electrical system repairs, and health and safety improvements.
“By funding this top priority, the Legislature will enable the system to protect the public’s investment in 26 million square feet of academic buildings,” said Chancellor James H. McCormick. “While these kinds of expenditures are not glamorous, we are mindful of the need to provide warm, safe and dry facilities for our students, faculty and the public.”
Overall, the system has 839 buildings, which amounts to about one-third of the public’s real estate. Funds also are being sought for 36 other capital improvement projects, which largely would add, replace or remodel classrooms, science labs and applied technology labs.
The 37 projects were winnowed from more than $500 million in requests submitted by the system’s institutions. In January, teams of representatives from the campuses and system office scored the proposals. The board also conducted public hearings before the chancellor made his recommendations.
MSUM HOSTS THREE MINNESOTA NATIONAL GUARD REINTEGRATION PROGRAMS
MSUM is working with the Minnesota National Guard on a program to reintegrate Minnesota Guard troops who’ve been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
There will be three sessions:
* The first Family Reintegration Academy will be in Center for Business on Saturday, June 23. This program is for family members only. It will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
* The second Minnesota National Guard Reintegration Program will be on Saturday and Sunday, September 29 and 30. This program is for Minnesota Guard soldiers, who have been back from Afghanistan and Iraq for at least 30 days, and their families. It will start with an 8 a.m. welcome-back ceremony in Nemzek Fieldhouse. The Minnesota Guard expects 3,000 people to attend this event.
The soldiers and their families will then go to university classrooms and auditoriums for various breakout sessions. The event will conclude at about 5 p.m.
* The third Minnesota National Guard Reintegration Program will be on Saturday and Sunday, October 27 and 28. This program is for soldiers, back from Afghanistan and Iraq for at least 60 days. Again, there will be a morning program in Nemzek Fieldhouse, followed by breakout sessions in university classrooms and lecture hall.
If you have questions on any of the above events, contact Dave Holsen at 477-2586.
MSUM ANNOUNCES THIS YEAR’S READ ALOUD BOOK AWARDS
A picture book about a diapered possum who saves his friends from a snapping turtle while on their way through the murky swamps of Bayou Lafourche to fetch “sody sallyraytus” (baking soda to Yankees) to make sweet biscuits for his birthday and another illustrated book about a girl trying to prove her father is really a dog, were named winners of this year’s third annual Read Aloud Book Awards.
The awards program is administered by the staff of the Minnesota State University Moorhead library’s Curriculum Materials Center, which holds a large collection of children’s books and resource materials for teachers.
“At the beginning of the year, we asked publishers to send us copies of picture books published in 2006 that they’d like to nominate for the awards,” says Carol Sibley, MSUM’s curriculum librarian. “We received about 500 titles, which our committee first screened, then selected 250 to be field tested.”
Eighteen regional teachers and librarians, along with about 70 MSUM elementary and early childhood education majors, read these books aloud to nearly 19,000 children this past year.
The winners:
“Epossumondas Saves the Day,” written by Coleen Salley, illustrated by Janet Stevens and published by Harcourt, received the Comstock Book Award for the best read aloud picture book for older children (ages 8-12). The award is named in recognition of the pioneering Moorhead family headed by Solomon G. Comstock, a Moorhead State Senator and U.S. Congressman who’s considered the father of the Moorhead Normal School (now MSUM.)
Author Sally, a retired children’s literature professor and professional storyteller, lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans. This is her third book about Epossumondas. Illustrator Stevens lives in Boulder, Colo.
“My Father the Dog,” written by Elizabeth Bluemle, illustrated by Randy Cecil and published by Candlewick Press, received the Wanda Gág Book Award for the best read aloud picture book for younger children (preschool to age 8). It’s named in honor of Wanda Gág, a children’s book author, illustrator and artist who grew up in New Ulm, Minn. She’s best known for “Millions of Cats” (published in 1928), which is considered the first American picture book.
This is the first book for author Bluemle, who owns The Flying Pig Bookstore in Charlotte, Vt. Illustrator Cecil lives in Houston.
Books receiving honorable mentions:
Comstock Honor Books:
“Keeper of Soles” by Teresa Bateman, illustrated by Yayo. Holiday House.
“Christmas in the Trenches” by John McCutcheon, illustrated by Henri S?rensen. Peachtree Press.
“Learning to Fly”*by Sebastian Meschenmoser. Kane/Miller Press.
Wanda Gág Honor Books:
*“My Cat, the Silliest Cat in the World” by Gilles Bachelet. Abrams Books for Young Readers.
“One Potato, Two Potato” by Cynthia DeFelice, illustrated by Andrea U’Ren. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
“365 Penguines” by Jean-Luc Fromental, illustrated by Joëlle Jolivet. Abrams Books for Young Readers.
The book award project is partially funded by a grant from the Solomon G. Comstock Memorial Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation and MSUM’s Wanda Gág Book Award Fund.
MSUM GOING SMOKE FREE
MSUM announced this spring it was banning smoking, tobacco use and tobacco sales on campus, making it among the first universities in the country to do so.
The ban takes effect Jan. 1 and includes all university properties and vehicles. Altogether, 440 campus-owned acres are affected.The policy was approved by Pres. Roland Barden after a recommendation by the alcohol and college life committee.
Susanne Williams, chairwoman of that committee, said enforcement will rely on people telling smokers to put away their cigarettes, or calling on the student judicial system or campus security for help.
Her committee studied the possible consequences of the ban on the area surrounding campus. There were concerns that neighbors would complain about people crossing the street to smoke.
She said the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, which is similar in size to the Moorhead campus and is also in a residential area, went smoke free and didn't report any problems.
To ease the transition, the university will offer a quit-smoking program to students and employees this fall.
MSUM TO OFFER 4-YEAR BIOLOGY DEGREE AT NORTH HENNEPIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE IN TWIN CITIES
More than 50 faculty, staff, students, business partners and community supporters attended a signing ceremony on this spring to witness North Hennepin Community College President Ann Wynia and Minnesota State University Moorhead President Roland Barden formalize an agreement that makes it possible for students in the Twin Cities metropolitan area to earn a bachelor of arts degree in Biology from MSU Moorhead at the NHCC campus in Brooklyn Park starting this fall.
“The collaboration between NHCC and MSUM allows us both to be more creative and inventive” said MSUM President Barden, “We specifically looked at NHCC as a partner because of the mutual admiration and respect between the faculty of both institutions.”
This is just one of many agreements being formed between NHCC, MSUM and other four-year institutions to help meet the needs of students in Minneapolis/St. Paul and the entire state of Minnesota. “We will soon offer four-year degrees in Operations Management and Construction Management from MSU Moorhead on our campus” said Wynia. “We are fast becoming so much more than the traditional community college, we are becoming a comprehensive college of the future.”
$2 million challenge from the Gerdins….
MSUM BREAKS GROUND ON NEW $12 MILLION DRAGON WELLNESS CENTER
MSUM broke ground for its new $12 million Dragon Wellness Center between graduation ceremonies. And one of the speakers at the morning commencement, Russ Gerdin (’65, Business Administration), along with his wife, Ann (‘64, Elementary Education) issued a $2 million challenge pledge to kick-off fund raising efforts to pay for a portion of the building costs.
Gerdin is chairman and CEO of Heartland Express of Coralville, Iowa, a trucking firm he founded in 1978, and his wife is a former teacher.
“We’re very pleased to have two of our graduates step up the way the Gerdins are stepping up,” said David Crockett, vice president for administrative affairs.
The two-story, 42,000 square foot building will have state of the art cardiovascular and strength equipment, an indoor track, two basketball courts, a rock climbing wall, locker and massage rooms, and a group exercise studio. It will be a highly visible landmark located on 14th Street, just south of the newly renovated Kise Commons food service and Comstock Memorial Union.
The Center will work closely with the campus clinic, Hendrix Health Center, to help students address health issues ranging from obesity to misuse of alcohol.
Three years ago, students began taxing themselves with a semester fee, which now amounts to $65 a semester. That student fee will provide $6.5 million of the total $12 million building cost. The university has received a $2 million challenge pledge from an alumni couple, which leaves $3.5 remaining to be raised by private philanthropy.
Construction could begin this year, with a completion date set for the fall of 2008.
MSUM TO AWARD 850 DEGREES MAY 11
MSU Moorhead will award degrees to about 850 students during its spring commencement program Friday, May 11 at Nemzek Fieldhouse.
To accommodate all guests, the university has split graduation ceremonies into two parts:
* Students graduating from the College of Social and Natural Sciences and the College of Business and Industry will participate in the 10 a.m. ceremony.
* Students graduating from the College of Education and Human Services and the College of Arts and Humanities will participate in the 2 p.m. ceremony.
Speaker for the morning graduation is Russell A. Gerdin, chairman and CEO of Heartland Express, Inc., a trucking firm he founded in 1978. Headquartered in Coralville, Iowa, Heartland Express is a NASDAQ listed company, with $600 million in gross revenues and a $1.7 billion market cap. The 3,000-truck fleet concentrates on short-haul freight within a 400-mile radius of its eight regional distribution hubs.
Forbes magazine has counted Heartland Express among its Best 200 Small Companies in America the last five years in a row and 15 times in the past 20 years. Business Week has recognized the company as one of the 100 Best Small Companies 10 of the last 13 years.
Gerdin is a 1965 graduate of MSUM’s business administration program. He received the university’s L.B. Hartz Achievement award in 2005. He and his wife Ann, a former teacher and a 1964 MSUM elementary education graduate, contribute extensively to social causes, including $10 million to Iowa State University College of Business, $2 million to the American Cancer Society and $1 million to the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort.
Speaker for the afternoon graduation is Craig Smith, an actor who’s appeared in more than 200 different productions over the past three decades while serving as a founding member of New York’s Jean Cocteau Repertory.
Recently he and four colleagues founded the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, an Off Broadway artist-directed ensemble. Last year the Wall Street Journal selected the Phoenix as “one of the 10 best of 2006” and the New York Times referred to the MSUM graduate as “one of the most consistently fine actors in New York.”
Before joining the Cocteau Repertory, he appeared in The Guthrie Theatre productions of “Oedipus” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He’s a 1971 graduate of MSUM’s Speech/Theatre program.
MSUM COMPUTER SCIENCE MAJOR
ORIGINALLY FROM SIBERIA EARNS
$150,000 FELLOWSHIP AT U OF IOWA
Yelena Mejova, a Minnesota State University Moorhead senior who grew up the remote Siberian town of Nefteyugansk, has been awarded a University of Iowa Presidential Graduate Fellowship, the highest graduate award conferred by the university, valued at about $150,000.
The 2004 New York Mills High School graduate will pursue a doctorate in Computer Science at the University of Iowa, where the fellowship will cover all her expenses, including stipends and teaching or research positions, for all five years.
Besides her academic achievements at MSUM (a 3.97 overall grade point average, and a 4.00 in her major, Computer Science), Mejova served as a tutor in both the Mathematics and Computer Science and Information Systems departments and as a peer advisor. She was also a member of the university’s Student Technology Team, drew comics for the student newspaper, and for all four years was a piano accompanist for university’s Music department..
Mejova came to New York Mills at the age of 14 with her mother, Tatjana Lubitz, who married a U.S. citizen she first met on-line.
She spent most of her senior year in high school at MSUM, where she was enrolled in the Post Secondary Options Program.
“I applied to four graduate schools, and was accepted at all of them, but the University of Iowa was the only one that offered any financial aid, but I didn’t expect such an awesome opportunity like this, ” she said. “I wanted to get into a big university with a lot of research areas because I’m not sure what I’ll specialize in, maybe artificial intelligence, graphics or robotics.”
After receiving her doctorate, Mejova said if she doesn’t find captivating work in the industry, she intends to teach at the college level.
Nefteyugansk is one of the leading oil centers of Western Siberia with a population of about 113,000. Although remote, it has a well-developed network of commercial, cultural and public service activities, including 15 schools.
STRAW HAT FEATURES FIVE SHOWS THIS SUMMER
The Straw Hat Players Summer Theatre Company at Minnesota State University Moorhead will open its 44th season with five hit shows on its marquee: three musicals: “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” and “Guys and Dolls”; a comedy, “Prelude to a Kiss”; and the classic Tennessee Williams drama, “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
All shows start at 7:30 p.m. and the season opens Tuesday, June 12.
Single show ticket prices range from $12 for seniors and $15 for general admission. A variety of season ticket options are also available. Call the MSUM Box Office for reservations or details, 218-477-2271 or go to web.mnstate.edu/strawhat/tickets.cfm
Featured this summer:
“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change”
Tuesday thru Friday, June 12-15
Roland Dille Center for the Arts Gaede Stage
Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts' musical comedy revue about everything you have ever secretly thought about dating, romance, marriage, lovers, husbands, wives and in-laws, but were afraid to admit. It’s Off-Broadway’s longest-running musical.
“Prelude to a Kiss”
Tuesday thru Friday, June 19-22
Roland Dille Center for the Arts Gaede Stage
This comedy focuses on the wonder and confusion of life in a romantic and metaphysical thriller. The story revolves around a couple that meets, falls in love and gets married. But at the wedding reception, something mysterious and supernatural occurs, throwing light on modern relationships. Written by Craig Lucans, the play ran for 440 performances, received a Tony Award nomination as Best Play, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The title is taken from the torch song by Duke Ellington.
“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” Tuesday thru Friday, June 26-29 Roland Dille Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre
The happy-go-lucky story, set in Gilbert, Texas, concerns a brothel outside of town that has been operating for more than a century. It was known as the Chicken Ranch because during the Depression customers could pay with poultry. In the late 1970s it’s under the proprietorship of Miss Mona Stangley, who, while taking care of her girls, is also on good terms with the local sheriff, Ed Earl Dodd. When a crusading television reporter, Melvin P. Thorpe, "uncovers" the illegal activity (that is, makes an issue out of something that is common, but quiet, knowledge in Texas), political ramifications cause the place to be closed down.
“A Streetcar Named Desire”
Tuesdays thru Fridays, July 10-13 and July 17-19
Roland Dille Center for the Arts Gaede Stage
The play is considered an icon of its era, as dealing with a culture clash between two symbolic characters, Blanche DuBois—a pretentious, fading relic of the Old South—and Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial, inner-city immigrant class. The play, a critical and box office success, won Tennessee Williams the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948
“Gus and Dolls”
Wednesday thru Saturday, July 25-28
Roland Dille Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre
Based on Damon Runyon's short story "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown," “Guys and Dolls” revolves around Nathan Detroit, the organizer of the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, who bets fellow gambler Sky Masterson that he can't make the next girl he sees fall in love with him. The next girl he sees happens to be Miss Sarah Brown, a pure-at-heart Salvation Army-type reformer, and the stage is set for a hilarious evening of complications. The show features such musical hits as “Luck Be A Lady” and “Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat.”
MSUM OFFERS GRANT WRITING WORKSHOP
MSUM is offering a Grant Writing Bootcamp May 14-18 from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in the university’s Comstock Memorial Union. Cost of the noncredit workshop is $285 plus the cost of the text. The course may also be taken for three undergraduate or graduate credits at the regular tuition rate.
The worship is intended for a diverse audience, including human service professionals. Participants will learn how to locate sources of money, how to tailor the needs of human service organizations to the funding priorities of grants, the essential components of writing a grant, strategies for evaluation, and tips on administration through actually developing a proposal. Through consultation with the instructors, participants will then find ways to strengthen those proposals.
Workshop leaders are MSUM faculty members Dr. Shawn Ginther, professor of social work, and Dr. Susan Humphers-Ginther, associate professor of sociology and coordinator of the gerontology major. Both presenters have over a decade of experience with grant writing and administration while associated with numerous private, state and federal projects.
For more information or to register, contact MSUM’s Continuing Studies at (218) 477-5862 or e-mail contstdy@mnstate.edu.