Index

Grindeland named MSUM's 8th Minnesota Professor of the Year
200 voices featured in choirs, orchestra concert
International Education Week on Campus
New Honors Program director
Education author lectures
Lawyer/artist talks about the business of art
Nursing prof Jane Giedt gets Fulbright Scholarship
Cute babies doing smart things
Prize-winning novelist reads for McGrath Series
Journalism students win another Emmy
Planetarium gets partial facelift
World Food Symposium

MSUM’s 8th Minnesota Professor of the Year…
MARTIN GRINDELAND: TURNING
JOURNALISM INTO A SYMPHONY
Martin Grindeland knows how to make a diverse group of journalism students perform together like a symphony.

Some of his colleagues at Minnesota State University Moorhead suggest he acquired those skills while attending a one-room schoolhouse near his family farm in Mayville, N.D., watching a lone teacher single-handedly manage to juggle a group of first through eighth graders.

Ten years of coaching Babe Ruth baseball in Fargo didn’t hurt. “You’d have to see it to believe it,” said Mark Strand, who chairs MSUM’s mass communications department. “Martin would regularly take an average league team and somehow put them together as a team and make them consistent winners. It was amazing to watch.”

And maybe producing survival films as a young Air Force lieutenant showed him how to endure a career of teaching student editors, reporters, photographers and producers to work together in an ego-intensive career field.

He did it for more than two decades as the founder and supervisor of Campus News, a half-hour newscast produced by MSUM students that airs every spring semester on Prairie Public Television. And he’s still doing it with his capstone broadcast documentary class.

In recognition of his achievements, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has named the MSUM mass communications professor as its Minnesota Professor of the Year.

Grindeland is one of 46 winners selected from 384 faculty members nominated by colleges and universities across the country. Today (Thursday, Nov. 20), Grindeland is in Washington, D.C., where the announcement is being made.

The Carnegie awards, established in 1981 by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, are recognized as among the most prestigious distinctions honoring professors.

Grindeland is the eighth MSUM professor to win the Carnegie Foundation teaching award in the past 21 years. Delmar Hansen, MSUM’s legendary theatre director who passed away last January, received it in 1987; Evelyn Lynch, a former MSUM elementary and early childhood education professor and former president of St. Joseph College in West Hartford, Conn., won in 1992; David Mason, a former MSUM English professor now teaching at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, won in 1994; Andrew Conteh, a current MSUM political science professor, won in 1999; Jim Bartruff, a former MSUM theatre director and now director of theatre at Emporia (Kan.) State University, won in 2001; Mark Wallert, a current MSUM bioscience professor, won it in 2005; and Ellen Brisch, also a current MSUM bioscience professor, won it last year.

Grindeland, 62, joined the MSUM faculty in 1981 after earning an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Mayville State College, a master’s degree in television production from the University of North Dakota and a doctorate in communication arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“I intended on studying law after graduating from college,” he said. “But I changed my mind when I was in ROTC. Television just caught my attention.”

He began his broadcasting career as a television production officer for the U.S. Air Force, writing and producing survival films for pilots while serving two years on active duty.

Then Grindeland began his teaching career in 1973 at Illinois State University, where he co-developed TV-10 News, a nightly news program produced by students and faculty. The newscast is still on the air, covering Illinois State and the Bloomington-Normal community.

Three years later, he brought his cooperative learning approach to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where he taught television production for five years.

He hit the ground running at MSUM, developing a television news workshop. The goal was to take students from five courses (television news, writing, reporting, photography, editing and producing) and put them together to create a weekly newscast called Campus News.

“Knowing the importance of getting practical experience for a career in journalism, Martin has always combined theory with hands-on experience,” said Kevin Wallevand, a former Campus News producer who’s won both a national Edward R. Murrow Award and two Emmy Awards as a reporter for WDAY-TV in Fargo. “When the university first launched its Campus News show, there were nights that turned into days. Martin always stayed with us as we put together our stories and shows.”

Campus News first aired on Moorhead cable television and in 1984 it was picked up by Prairie Public Television, where it’s been part of their spring lineup ever since. (Today Campus News is supervised by Aaron Quanbeck, who started working on the news program under Grindeland’s tutelage as an MSUM freshman. Now Quanbeck is an assistant professor at the university.)

“I believe students who are studying broadcast journalism want to start telling stories from day one of college,” Grindeland said. “Because of that, I didn’t have prerequisites for the television news workshop classes. Some of my best students started working on Campus News as freshmen.”

And like it was at Mayville #4, the one-room schoolhouse he attended from first through eighth grades, the younger students learn from the older students, and they ultimately end up tutoring the next generation of students.

“Eventually all of them come together into a community of sorts, all pulling together to accomplish something bigger than themselves,” he said. “I’ve been using this approach for 35 years, and it seems to work.”

His students and alumni consistently win regional and national broadcast journalism awards, and his graduates are anchoring, reporting, photographing and producing news in markets throughout the country.

“My 24-year career in news began when Martin simply asked me to participate,” said Eric Blumer, a former National TV News Photographer of the Year and Edward R. Murrow award winner who works as photographer for a CBS television station in Denver. “He apparently knew something about me before I knew myself. Martin put me in the right place at the right time.”

Grindeland, an accomplished table tennis player who often hosts student challenge matches Friday afternoons in the student union, is frequently referred to as “modest” yet “approachable and passionate” by his colleagues and students, going about his business quietly, which includes encouraging students to participate in MSUM’s Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Last year MSUM students tied with the University of Arizona for winning the most national first place SPJ awards.

He also chaired the university’s mass communications department for the allowable maximum nine years and developed a special class on media ethics that’s required for all departmental majors. He says he works with the best students and colleagues anywhere.

Grindeland begins every day with a one-mile walk, which he’s been doing for 30 years. “That’s about 11,000 miles total,” he said. “For me, walking is the ideal way to start a day. I stretch my muscles, breath some fresh air and do some of my best thinking.”

His students took notice. In 2007 his broadcast documentary class produced a regional Emmy award-winning documentary titled “Walk into the Wild” and followed it last year with “The Greatest Silent Sport,” about walking on the North Country National Scenic Trail.

It’s a lesson well learned. As another former teacher and writer, Henry David Thoreau, once said: “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”

200 MUSICIANS FEATURED IN MSUM CHOIRS & ORCHESTRA CONCERT DECEMBER 5 & 6
More than 200 musicians join forces as MSUM’s Choirs and Orchestra celebrate Haydn Year 2009, marking the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death, with a 7:30 p.m. concert Friday and Saturday, Dec. 5 & 6, at the First Presbyterian Church in Fargo.

Culminating in a performance of Haydn’s Mass in Time of War, the program also includes choral music of the season. The Mass features guest soloists Robin Allebach, soprano; Jenny Dufault, mezzo-soprano; Mark Calkins, tenor; and Paul Nesheim, baritone. 

Tickets––$5 for adults and $2 for seniors and students––can be purchased at the door or in advance at the MSUM Box Office, 477-2271.

This week…
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
CELEBRATED ON CAMPUS
Recognizing the importance of international education and exchange to the democracy, economy, and culture of the US, institutions such as MSUM, as well as communities in the U.S. and embassies abroad, have organized events as a way to highlight the benefits and “to express appreciation for students and scholars who study and teach here; and to commend the millions of people who build and strengthen bridges of international understanding by organizing and participating in exchange programs.” (Former Secretary of State Colin Powell)

Begun in 2000, International Education Week is a joint initiative of the departments of State and Education, and is celebrated in more than 100 countries. The following is a list of activities presented by MSUM’s Office of International Programs:

Monday, Nov. 17:
Class Lecture Dr. Lee Sartain, Sr. Lecturer in the School of Languages and Area Studies, Portsmouth University (UK), will deliver a lecture to Paul Harris’ HIST 368 course: American Life and Thought. His lecture is titled: “Women in the NAACP in Louisiana, 1915-45.” He will take a case study approach of three women from different cities. MA164

Tuesday, Nov. 18
Passport Drive Been meaning to get a passport? Now’s your chance. A representative from Moorhead’s PO will be on hand to help students, staff and faculty complete and process applications. Bring your certified birth certificate, a current driver’s license or student ID, and two photos (available in OIP, FR153, half price). Application forms are available in OIP or online: www.travel.state.gov. 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Flora Frick lounge area.

Study Abroad Info Session Returnee study abroad students invite you to visit with them as they share their experiences of the various programs available. These will be informal round-table sessions, and you’re free to come and go as you wish. Sample some tasty international snacks until they run out. Noon – 2:00 p.m., CMU 205.

Experience India Student Nivedah Manohar will share her culture by introducing the audience to the many fascinating aspects of India in a presentation titled: “Spectacular India,” 12:00 – 1:00, CMU 207.

Immigration Matters Anna Marie Stenson, Attorney-at-Law, Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, will speak about why immigration regulations really do matter. Aimed particularly at international students, anyone interested in learning more about how the regulations affect international visitors in any category should find this event eye-opening.

Wednesday, Nov. 19
Experience Nepal Student Lotus Awale will share her culture by a presentation titled: “A journey to the Land of the Himalayas,” 12:00 – 1:00 p.m., CMU 207.

Thursday, Nov. 20
Student Teaching Abroad Join Lynn Mahlum and her students to learn about the process and what it takes to student teach abroad. Students who have student taught abroad will share their stories and how the experience impacted their lives, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., CMU 205.

Experience Cameroon Student Nadia Bikoi will share her culture through a presentation titled: “A Day in Cameroon, Central Africa,” 12:45 – 1:45 p.m., CMU 207.

Friday, Nov. 21
“International Infectious Diseases: Only a Plane Ride Away” Kathryn Como-Sabetti, M.P.H., will focus on importation of infectious diseases by people, food or vectors and infectious disease concerns when traveling abroad. Some of the specific diseases that will be covered in the talk will include Pandemic Influenza, SARS, malaria, recent outbreaks of Salmonella, Dengue, and parasitic disease, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., CMU 227.

Experience Bangladesh Student Sajib Alam will share his culture through a presentation titled: “One Day to my Evergreen Country,” 12:00 – 1:00 p.m., CMU 207.

During the week: Sodexho plans to offer a series of international menus. For further information about any of these events, please contact International Programs, FF153, 477-2956; email: intrnatl@mnstate.edu.

ANNETTE MORROW NAMED NEW
HONORS PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Annette Morrow, an MSU Moorhead history professor, has been named the new director of the university’s Honors Program.

Morrow earned her doctorate at the University of Arkansas and is a specialist in ancient and medieval history. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, she’s in her fourth year as a member of the university’s history faculty.

The Honors Program is intended to create an intellectual community for students who’ve already proven to be top-notch students. The more than 200 students currently enrolled in the program were selected according to their ACT scores and other academic achievements.

Honors students spend one semester in a special colloquium discussing significant issues and problems facing the world. They also participate in advanced seminars and are encouraged to put what they’ve learned into practice through research and community involvement. Freshmen in the program reside together on the second floor of Snarr Hall West.

Morrow will serve a three-year term as director of the program, replacing her predecessor, English professor Stephen Hamrick.

‘DIFFERENTIATED CLASSROOM’
AUTHOR LECTURES WEDNESDAY
Carol Tomlinson, a career educator and author of “The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners,” will present a free visiting scholar lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19 in MSUM’s Weld Hall’s Glasrud Auditorium.

A faculty member the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, where she received the All University Teaching Award this year, she’ll talk about how to develop a more responsive heterogeneous classroom.

Tomlinson was a public school teacher for 21 years, including 12 years as a program administrator of special services for struggling and advanced learners. Her took “The Differentiated Classroom” has been translated into 11 languages.

The event is sponsored by MSUM Comstock Funds and by the College of Education and Human Services.

CHICAGO LAWYER TALKS ABOUT
LEGAL ISSUES FOR ARTISTS
NOV. 13 AT MSU MOORHEAD
Robert Kezelis, a Chicago lawyer and artist, will give a visiting artist presentation on some basic issues that impact working artists at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13 in MSU Moorhead’s Center for Business 109.

Kezelis––who’s been working in sculpture, painting and drawing for more than 22 years––will discuss contract and business issues, work safety, and copyrights and trademarks.

MSUM’s visiting artist program is funded in part by the Comstock Foundation. Kezelis’ presentation is free and open to the public.

MSUM’S GIEDT GETS FULBRIGHT AWARD
TO TEACH IN CYPRUS NEXT YEAR
Jane Giedt, a Minnesota State University Moorhead nursing professor, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture at the University of Nicosia in Nicosia, Cyprus next year.

A specialist in adult health nursing who’s been teaching at MSUM for nearly 30 years, Giedt will lecture and teach in the baccalaureate nursing program there and help develop a new master of science degree program in nursing.

Giedt, who holds a doctorate in nursing from Wayne State University in Detroit, is one of about 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the Fulbright Scholar program next year.

Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program’s purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the rest of the world.

Since its inception, the Fulbright program has exchanged more than 273,500 people––102,900 Americans who have studied, taught or researched abroad and 170,600 students, scholars and teachers from other countries who have engaged in similar activities in the United States. It operates in over 150 countries worldwide.

Cyprus is the third largest Mediterranean island and a member of the European Union.

HONORS LECTURE: CUTE BABIES DOING
SMART THINGS ON WEDNESDAY
A University Honors Program lecture on “Perceptual Development: Color Vision, Depth Perception and Emotional Interpretation in Human Infants” featuring psychology professor Elizabeth Nawrot, starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5 in Science Lab Building 118.

Her talk is about cute babies doing smart things, focusing on her 15 years of research in infant perception that illustrates just how much babies know about their world. From her early doctoral work in the electrophysiology of color vision, to the exciting new field of corneal reflective eye tracking technology, the sophistication of the human infant’s perceptual abilities is amazing, she said.

For example, infants as young as two months of age can see in color, by four months old they have depth perception, and in one study she’ll describe, six-month-olds were able to accurately perceive emotional messages from music.

Nawrot’s research has been published in Vision Research,  Psychology of Music, and Perception and Psychophysics, and has been funded by MSUM Faculty Improvement grants, a Dille Fund for Excellence Award and the National Institutes for Health. 

PRIZE-WINNING NOVELIST
TANIGUCHI FEATURED IN
MCGRATH SERIES NOV. 6
Yuko Taniguchi, author of the prize-winning novel “The Ocean in the Closet,” will read from her work as a feature of the university’s Tom McGrath Visiting Writers Series at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, preceded at 4 p.m. by a talk on the writer’s craft, both scheduled in the student union Comstock Room 101.

Taniguchi was born in Japan and, at the age of 15, came to the United States to attend high school in Maryland. She earned her undergraduate degree at the College of St. Benedict/ St. John’s University and her MFA from the University of Minnesota.

Her first novel, “The Ocean in the Closet” (Coffee House Press, 2007), received the 2008 Kiriyama Prize Notable Book award, the 15th Annual Skipping Stones Honor Award, was a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s Editor’s Choice Award Honorable Mention, and won the 2007 Gustayus Myers Center Outstanding Book Award for Advancing Human Rights. She lives in Rochester, Minn.

Another MSUM Emmy…
MSUM JOURNALISM STUDENTS WIN
AWARD FOR SCENIC TRAIL DOCUMENTARY
Fourteen students in a broadcast documentary class at Minnesota State University Moorhead won a second Emmy in as many years from the Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their documentary titled “The Greatest Silent Sport.”

“The Greatest Silent Sport” follows Bart Smith as he hikes the North Country National Scenic Trail, which runs 4,600 miles from North Dakota to New York. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the National Trails System (1968-2008), Smith is walking and photographing all seven of the national scenic trails.

All of the students wrote, reported, photographed and edited material for the project. Mass communications Professor Martin Grindeland served as faculty advisor. He also teaches television news photography and coaches students in television news photography for Campus News on Prairie Public Television.

“Our students walked many miles documenting life on the North Country
National Scenic Trail. I am so happy their work was rewarded with an Emmy,”
Grindeland said.

Last year’s documentary class also won an Emmy for the documentary “Walk into the Wild.”

Rebecca Gilbuena, a 2008 mass communications graduate from Barnesville, was this year’s project producer.

“It was a lot of work in terms of many late hours and the physical demands of hiking many miles with all of the photography gear,” Gilbuena said. “Everyone worked hard on this project so it’s very exciting to be rewarded for the effort.”

Michael Quinn, a 2008 mass communications graduate from Aberdeen, S.D., had the challenge of editing 30 hours of tape into the 30-minute documentary.

“That translates to about 60 minutes of video for each minute of finished product,” Quinn said. “We ended up with a really good show that lived up to last year’s project.”

MSUM journalism students have distinguished themselves at regional and national level journalism contests repeatedly the past few years, including five Eric Sevareid Awards from the Northwest Broadcast News Association; 14 regional awards and four national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists; 26 national and regional awards for horizonlines.org; and now two Emmys from the National Television Academy.

“The Greatest Silent Sport” was produced in cooperation with Prairie Public Television and the North Country Trail Association. It was made possible in part by a grant from the

Aging gracefully…
PLANETARIUM GETS PARTIAL FACELIFE
More than 12,000 people use the Minnesota State University Moorhead planetarium each year, ranging from college astronomy students and curious elementary kids to scout troops and amateur astronomers. Since 1972, the planetarium has educated and entertained a growing campus and community audience.

It received a much-needed facelift over the summer, including 50 new theatre seats to replace 35-year-old worn-out seats. The successful seat-raising campaign is the first phase of a complete update and remodel for the planetarium, which is a program of the university’s Regional Science Center.

“We have 50 new fixed seats and eight spaces for wheelchairs or portable chairs, optimizing program viewing and improving handicap accessibility,” said planetarium Coordinator Dave Weinrich.

In addition to new seating, the planetarium received flooring and carpet, a light-trap door, slide projector, video projector and video controls, and code-required improvements.

“The slide projector controls were from the 1970s and they weren’t working that well when I came here 25 years ago!” Weinrich said.

Paul Seifert, an assistant professor of physics at Concordia College, was introduced to the planetarium as a youngster, and his interest in astronomy brought him to MSUM to major in physics and minor in astronomy. As a bonus, he ran planetarium shows while he was a student here.

“The remodel is long overdue and the next upgrade will certainly extend the capabilities of the planetarium,” Seifert said, who is also president of the FM Astronomy Club. “The planetarium has been fairly popular with the community already so any improvement is going to be a bonus for people who know the planetarium and hopefully it will attract new visitors.”

The planetarium is a unique teaching device started specifically for MSUM astronomy classes, but has grown to provide programming to more than 120 elementary school groups each year and hundreds more interested in the night sky.

“It’s nice to be able to manipulate the sky so students can see differences in day, night, seasons, and the passage of time. A planetarium demonstrates those things,” Weinrich said.

Typically, five public shows are presented during the year attended by a variety of church, scout and service groups, and the FM Astronomy Club meets at the planetarium the second Tuesday of each month. An increasing number of people are interested in observational astronomy and many more are attending public astronomy programs at the Regional Science Center Buffalo River site because of the planetarium’s impact.

“We get a lot of people coming to these events, especially if it’s a clear night or if there is a special celestial event,” Weinrich said. “Hundreds of people attended our outdoor event when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter.”

In order to improve and expand planetarium programming, the MSUM Alumni Foundation and Regional Science Center staff are raising funds for a new hybrid planetarium system, including a star projector and full-dome video system, new dome, and light and sound systems.

“Our current projector system is almost 37 years old, and even though it’s been well maintained, its useful life is about over,” said George Davis, director of MSUM’s Regional Science Center.

“When new in 1972, our current system cost about $300,000. Adjusted for inflation over 37 years, that is the equivalent to $1.6 million in today’s dollars. A new system will improve the planetarium shows and views of the night sky from any location on Earth and at any time in the past,” Davis said. It will also allow for “total immersion” programs that simulate tours of Mars, a guided tour of a human cell, or exploring tropical rain forests.

“A new system would be a lot like the proposed Minneapolis Planetarium or the planetariums at Mayo (Rochester) High School or Como (St. Paul School District) Planetarium,” Weinrich said. “It could project moving images that cover the whole dome. Anything you can generate with a computer could be projected in the dome.”

It’s hoped that the upgrade can be completed by 2011 to provide greater programming for all.

For more information about the planetarium and upcoming shows, visit mnstate.edu/regsci or call 218-477-2920.

Nov. 11-22, featuring keynote by U.N director…
MSUM HOSTS SYMPOSIUM
ON WORLD FOOD ISSUES
“Food for Thought,” a symposium on world food issues including a talk by Daniel Gustafson, director of the North American liaison office for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, will be held Nov. 11-20 at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

The keynote address by Gustafson, on “Global Food Security and Current Food Crisis: How Did We Get Here and Where Are We Going,” is scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13 in MSUM’s Science Lab Building 118. Gustafson has worked for the past 30 years on agricultural and rural development in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the United States. He’ll visit two classes and meet with faculty and students while on campus Nov. 12–14.

Other talks in the symposium, all starting at 7 p.m. in Science Lab 118:
* Vernon Dobis, an MSUM economics professor, on “Ending Hunger in Our Lifetime” on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
* Chris Chastain and Andrew Marry, both MSUM biosciences professors, on “Genetically Modified Foods: Facts and Fallacies” on Monday, Nov. 17.
* Paul Sando, an MSUM anthropology and earth sciences professor, on “Grain, Fuel, Soil and Water: Geographic Perspectives on a World Food Crisis” on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
* And Andrew Conteh, an MSUM political science professor, “The Right to Food” a Thursday, Nov. 20.

All the talks, sponsored by the Solomon Comstock Fund and MSUM’s College of social and Natural Sciences, are free and open to the public.