News releases/April 2005

Index:
Alum Kristen Harris is graduation speaker
Evening of Dance May 4
Alumni Foundation recognizes Eide Bailly for $100,000 gift
MSU releases new Annual Report...
Erdrich sisters read for Glasrud lecture series April 28
MSUM prof named construction groups Educator of Year
Campus gets $14.5 million in new bonding bill
New Leadership Institute receives $13,000 grant
'65 alum Russ Gerdin gets L.B. Hartz Award
Theatre presents "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Honors convocation Sunday
Student production advances to nationals
Student Academic Conference April 13
6th annual gerontology colloquium April 19
50th anniversary celebration of NCATE accreditation April 22
Library week film looks at books vs. computers
Health Fair April 6
Human Race Machine headlines Red River Psychology Conf. April 7-8
Performing Arts Series April 12: Percussion Group Cincinnati
MSUM's 10th annual Unity Conference on Hispanic Culture April 14-15
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ALUM HARRIS TO ADDRESS MSUM GRADUATES
Kristen Harris, a professor of neurology at the Medical College of Georgia and a 1976 MSUM graduate (Biology), will deliver the commencement address for the university's spring graduation ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, May 13 in Nemzek Fieldhouse.

More than 900 are expected to receive degrees that day.

Recognized as one of MSUM's Outstanding Alumni in 2003, Harris has risen to prominence as one of the leading researchers in the field of neurobiology. A professor of neurology at the Medical College of Georgia in August, Ga., she is also the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar at the campus and director of its Synapses and Cognitive Neuroscience Center.

The Moorhead native's first academic appointment after completing her postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital was as an instructor in the neuropathology department at the Harvard Medical School. She held several positions there before moving to Boston University as a professor of biology and later co-director of the neuroscience program.

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

The Fargo/Moorhead Dance Repertory Theatre presents…
AN EVENING OF DANCE WEDNESDAY
The Fargo/Moorhead Dance Repertory Theatre will showcase the work of Tri-College dancers and choreographers with “An Evening of Dance” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 4 in MSU Moorhead’s Roland Dille Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre.

The evening will include performances by the Fargo/Moorhead Dance Repertory Theatre, MSUM Dragon Dance Team, the MSUM Heritage Dancers and many more individuals and groups.

Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students

For more information, contact Craig Ellingson at 477.4617.

ALUMNI FOUNDATION TO RECOGNIZE EIDE BAILLY LLP
Eide Bailly LLP has given MSUM a $100,000 gift to support the School of Business accreditation process and fund an endowed scholarship for accounting students.

In honor of that gift, the Alumni Foundation and College of Business and Industry will recognize the accounting and consulting firm by dedicating a classroom in its name—The Eide Bailly LLP ITV Classroom.

A dedication ceremony is schedule at 2:30 p.m. Friday, May 6 in the Center for Business Atrium. A social hour begins at 2 p.m. It’s open to the campus and community.

The $100,000 gift is made up of contributions from the corporation and individual partners

For questions, call Tara Wilkens in the Alumni Foundation at 2423 or by e-mail at wilkens@mnstate.edu.

MSUM RELEASES NEW ANNUAL REPORT
MSUM’s new Annual Report was released on campus last week. The publication is intended to highlight university achievements, recognize annual and cumulative donors and communicate the university’s financial standing.

Of the 5,200 copies printed, most will be distributed to the campus community (faculty, staff, and administrators), student senators, the MSUM Alumni Foundation Board and President’s Advisory Board, Alumni Foundation donors, the chancellor’s office and MNSCU Board of Trustees, to members of the Minnesota House and Senate, to Midwest regional university, to U.S. State Senators and Representatives for Minnesota, and to a variety of other local and regional audiences.

The 29-page report was designed by Larsen Design + Interactive, a communications firm founded in 1975 by MSUM alum Tim Larsen. The Larsen team conceptualized and designed the report as an in-kind gift to the university (worth about $25,000). They’ll get 200 copies for marketing purposes. It was printed by Richtman’s Press Club, which contributed $3,000 to the project.

Wausau Paper (the report was printed on Wausau paper) also purchased 1,000 copes for marketing purposes.

Four versions of the report were printed, each featuring different cover photographs.

The report was edited by Susanne Williams, assistant to the president, and photographed by Darel Paulson in Instructional Media.

THREE ERDRICH SISTERS FEATURED IN MSUM’S
GLASRUD LECTURE/READING SERIES APRIL 28
Sisters Heid, Lise and Louise Erdrich, who grew up together in Wahpeton and went on to explore their Ojibway heritage in their writings, will be the featured guests for university’s annual Glasrud Lecture and Reading Thursday, April 28.

The three sisters will discuss their craft and answer questions at 4 p.m. and read from their work at 8 p.m., both events scheduled in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre. They are both free and open to the public.

The endowed lecture series honors Clarence “Soc” Glasrud, a Detroit Lakes native who taught in a country school before enrolling at MSUM in 1930 and graduating in 1934. Following a stint in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Glasrud earned both a master’s degree and doctorate at Harvard University. He returned to his alma mater in 1947 to teach, eventually serving 23 years as chair of MSUM’s English department. He retired in 1977 and the lecture series was established in 1991.

Heid E. Erdrich teaches writing and Native American literature at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul and is the author of the poetry collection “Fishing for Myth.”

Lise Erdrich works as a counselor and health educator in Wahpeton. She’s the author of two books for children, “Bears Make Rock Soup” and “Sacagawea,” and her non-fiction has appeared in several magazines and anthologies.

Louise Erdrich, who lives in Minneapolis, is the author of several award-winning novels, beginning with “Love Medicine” (1984), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. It’s the first novel in a tetralogy that includes The Beet Queen (1986), Tracks (1988), and Bingo Palace (1994). Each of the novels interweaves self-contained short stories told by different narrators and chronicles three generations of Native-American and European-immigrant families in a fictionalized region of North Dakota from 1912 to the present

Her new novel, The Master Butchers Singing Club is now available in paperback, and a new book of poetry, Original Fire: New and Selected Poems, is also available at bookstores.

MSUM’S SELTVEIT NAMED EDUCATION OF YEAR
FOR NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATION
The Associated Schools of Construction last week named Scott Seltveit, a construction management professor here, as its Outstanding Educator of the Year.

The award recognizes Seltveit’s contribution to construction education, excellence in teaching, service to the Associated Schools of Construction and dedication to the construction profession.

ASC is professional group aimed at developing and advancing construction education.

Seltveit, from DeLamere, N.D., has been teaching at MSUM for 16 years and is program coordinator for the construction management program, which has about 125 majors.

Only current full-time faculty members with a minimum of 7 years teaching experience from an Associated Schools of Construction member school are eligible for the award

It was presented at 41st Annual International Conference at the University of Cincinnati’s Kingsgate Conference Center.

MSUM GETS $14.5 MILLION IN NEW BONDING BILL
Building and remodeling projects at nearly all 53 campuses in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system are set to begin now that Gov.Tim Pawlenty has signed the bonding bill.

The $213.6 million appropriation includes funding for all of the projects requested by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees.

That includes $10,477,000 to renovate MSUM's Hagen Hall. The long-awaited project is phase two of a makeover of the university's science education facilities. Phase one was the construction of the new $19 million Science Lab Building, which was funded in a previous bonding cycle. The Hagen Hall project will improve facilities in the 11,000 square foot building, much of it dedicated to biomedical research.

The Hagen Hall project is expected to take about two years to complete.

The bonding bill will also provide other campus improvements: design work for the renovation of MacLean Hall ($500,000); design and renovation of Murray Commons for the Nursing department ($700,000); and roofing replacements for Livingston Lord Library, Lommen Hall and King Hall ($2,945,000).

The capital bonding bill's total impact on the MSUM campus totals $14,592,000.

NEW LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE RECEIVES $13,000 OTTO BREMER GRANT
Deborah White, an associate professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice here, has received a $13,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation for the Tri-College National Education for Women’s Leadership (NEW Leadership) Development Institute.

This year’s NEW Leadership program will be on the MSUM campus May 22-26. The five-day residential institute is aimed at promoting public and community leadership among women of diverse backgrounds. It connects women to the worlds of policy makers and community activists to engage them in shaping the public agenda.

This year, more than 80 women applied for the institute; just over 50 were accepted. There is no cost to the participants to attend the institute.

Grants from organizations such as Bremer, West Central Initiative, F-M Area Foundation, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, Tri-College University and individual contributions help provide the institute free of charge.

Established in 1944, the Otto Bremer Foundation’s goal is to be a resource to communities in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The Foundation works with non-profit organizations to bring resources to these communities and the people within them.

For more information about the NEW Leadership institute, contact White at whitede@mnsate.edu or 218.477.2041.

For professional achievement….
’65 ALUM RUSS GERDIN, HEARTLAND EXPRESS
CEO, TO RECEIVE MSUM’S HARTZ AWARD
Russ Gerdin, chairman and CEO of Heartland Express, the nation’s 10th largest truckload carrier, has been selected to receive Minnesota State University Moorhead’s 24th annual L.B. Hartz Professional Achievement Award.

An awards dinner for the 1965 MSUM business administration graduate will be held Saturday, April 23 in the campus student union.

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.

Gerdin, originally from Princeton, Minn., drove his first truck to the West Coast when he was just 16 years old and acquired and sold two other trucking businesses before starting Heartland Express with four employees. Today his company, headquartered outside Iowa City in Coralville, Iowa, employs more than 3,000 people and has been named one of the top 200 Best Small Companies in America by Forbes magazine 12 out of the last 17 year .

His company not only sets aside one percent of its gross income to pay college tuition for the children of his employees, Heartland Express is also considered the highest paying truckload carrier in the industry. More than once in the past decade, Business Week magazine has listed it as “One of the Top 100 Hot Growth Companies.”

Heartland Express, which is traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol HTLD, has a market value of $1.57 billion. Last year the company’s revenue exceeded $457 million.

MSUM THEATRE PRESENTS: “CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF”
Minnesota State University Theatre presents the classic Tennessee Williams American drama, “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof,” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, April 20-23, in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts Gaede Stage.

Williams' 1955 drama concerns a dying patriarch, Big Daddy, who is trying to decide whether to leave his huge plantation to his weaselly son Gooper or his brooding son Brick. Big Daddy prefers Brick, but Brick has some dark secret that is causing him to ignore his hot-blooded wife, Maggie.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the play’s Broadway opening. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama that year.

For tickets, call the MSUM Box Office, 477-2271.

HONORS CONVOCATION SUNDAY
Honors Convocation will be celebrated Sunday, April 17 at 2:30 p.m. in the Hansen Stage of the Roland Dille Center for the Arts. This annual event provides MSUM with the opportunity to formally recognize and honor our highest academic achievers. Faculty, staff, friends, and family of the honored students are invited to attend. A reception will follow Convocation in the Art Gallery hallway.
Campus Campaign Surpasses Goal!

STUDENT PRODUCTION ADVANCES TO NATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
The one-act play, Never Swim Alone, will represent MSUM at the 37th annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) in Washington, D.C., April 18-24.

Never Swim Alone is directed by Natalie Novacek, an MSUM senior from Roseau. She’s a theatre major and a psychology minor, and is the daughter of Louise Herling, Roseau, and Robert Novacek, Greenbush.

It’s one of only four productions in the nation selected for showcase at the national festival. This is the first student-directed show to be chosen from MSUM and is only the ninth show ever chosen from Minnesota.

As director of Never Swim Alone, Novacek receives the National Selection Team Festival Fellowship for Outstanding Individual Achievement. In addition to presenting the play, she’ll attend workshops, master-classes and attend the other invited productions. She receives travel, lodging and per diem expenses.

Novacek’s play was among 50 shows registered for the region and one of nine invited to perform at the Region V Festival, which was held Jan. 18-22 at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. The region represents Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota.

In January and February of each year, eight regional festivals showcase the finest of each region’s entered productions and offer a variety of activities, including workshops, symposia and regional-level award programs. A panel of three evaluators, selected by the Kennedy Center and the KCACTF national committee, judges regional festival productions. These judges, in consultation with the artistic director, select four to six of the best and most diverse regional festival productions to be showcased at the national festival.

Never Swim Alone is the only student-directed show from Minnesota to ever advance to the national showcase. Three faculty productions were also selected this year to proceed to the national festival.

Never Swim Alone is written by Daniel MacIvor and is a 13-round boxing-style match between the two lead characters, Frank and Bill. It shows the competition that exists between the two men—for money, women and looks—and who is ultimately the better man.

“The initial impression is that it’s about masculinity, friendship and competition,” Novacek said. “But as you delve deeper, the statement is more about the games people play with themselves and others and the lengths people go to get what they want.”

This is the sixth show Novacek has directed. This play was also her final project for an advanced directing course. She has done almost everything involved with this production—publicity, program/poster design, costume selection, design and painting of the set, sound and lighting design, and stage combat.

“There’s not much I didn’t do,” she said.”

Performing the role of Frank is Patrick McColley, a senior theatre major from Faribault; Bill is played by Ben Mattson, a senior theatre major from Bemidji; and the referee is performed by Stephanie Storhaug, a senior theatre major from Bismarck, N.D. Her parents are Ric and Teri Storhaug. Rounding out the cast is stage manager Joe Rapp, a sophomore theatre and business administration major from Brooklyn Park, and Bradley Buri, a senior theatre and philosophy major from Bismarck, N.D., is the lighting designer/light board operator.

FISHERY BIOLOGIST KEYNOTES MSUM'S
STUDENT ACADEMIC CONFERENCE APRIL 13
More than 300 students will present research on 186 topics at MSUM’s seventh annual Student Academic Conference Wednesday, April 13 in the student union ballroom.

The purpose of the afternoon event is to showcase the work and talent of MSUM students through presentations, posters, and creative works.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Todd Koel, a 1991 MSUM biology graduate now the supervisory fishery biologist and leader of the Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Section at Yellowstone National Park. His address starts at 11:50 a.m. in the student union ballroom, followed by a student panel at 12:20 p.m. on the importance ofrstudent research.

Koel recruits undergraduates for internships at Yellowstone and involves them with a variety of research projects. A Rollag, Minn., native, he entered MSUM through it’s New Center program, 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. Koel also holds a master’s degree in zoology from NDSU.

Research presentations will run from 1 to 3:50 p.m. throughout the student union. Subjects range from “Nursing Care in Nicaragua” and “Fargo vs. Moorhead: Do Homebuyers Have A State Preference?” to “Gamma Ray Spectroscopy And Its Application” and “Using Knots To Teach Elementary School Mathematics.”

All presentations are free and open to the public.

Details can be found at the conference Web site, web.mnstate.edu/acadconf

Reception for Speaker
Everyone is invited to the New Center (Murray Commons) for a reception for Dr. Todd Koel at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 12. Koel began his MSUM career as a New Center student in 1987 and graduated with honors in 1991 to go on for a master's degree and doctorate in zoology at NDSU.

MSUM ALUMS TO SPEAK AT 6TH ANNUAL GERONTOLOGY COLLOQUIUM ON APRIL 19
The 6th Annual Gerontology Colloquium will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in CMU 205.

It’s free, open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

Participants will hear from recent MSUM graduates who successfully applied their major to professional careers in the field of aging. Participants will gain valuable information about job opportunities available to new graduates, ways in which a major in gerontology can strengthen one’s application for professional employment, job-seeking advice, 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: Andrea Lingl (B.A. Gerontology, May 2003; currently Program Coordinator of the Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Programs in Marshall, MN) and Key Reynolds (B.S. Health Services Administration, December 2004; currently Director of Housing and Marketing at Heritage Village in Moorhead).

The College of Social and Natural Sciences Dean’s Office is sponsoring this year’s colloquium. For more information, contact Sue Humphers-Ginther (477-2042, humphers@mnstate.edu).

MSUM HOSTS 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF NCATE ACCREDITATION APRIL 22
The MSUM College of Education and Human Services is hosting a teacher education reunion in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of teaching accreditation by NCATE from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 22 in the Center for Business Atrium.

In 1954, Moorhead State Teacher’s College was one of 283 institutions to receive accreditation by the newly founded National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Now, a half century later, the Moorhead State Teacher’s College is known as Minnesota State University Moorhead, but its accreditation with NCATE has remained the same.

Today, MSUM is just one of the 575 institutions accredited by NCATE, the foremost organization for accreditation in the field of education.

An assortment of food and beverages will be served. Guest speakers will include
current faculty members and former students.

‘Desk Set” showing at 11 a.m. in library porch….
LIBRARY WEEK FILM APRIL 12 LOOKS AT BOOKS VS. COMPUTERS
In recognition of National Library Week, Livingston Lord Library will present the movie, "Desk Set" from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m Tuesday., Apr. 12. in the Library Porch.

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy clash in this 1957 filmover the value of books versus computers (yes, computers were emerging back then) in this classic comedy. A discussion will be held following the film.

Bring a brown bag lunch and enjoy the movie. Cookies and beverages will be provided. This event is sponsored by Livingston Lord Library and the Library Endowment Fund.
Hans Christian Andersen Library Display

LIBRARY DISPLAY HONORS 200TH BIRTHDAY OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON
In the reading area of the library, there is a display in recognition of Hans Christian Andersen’s 200th birthday anniversary, which was April 2 . Materials include miniature plates as well as books. These items will be on display through the month of April.

MSUM HOSTS 26th ANNUAL HEALTH FAIR APRIL 6
MSUM will host its 26th annual spring health fair from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 6 in Comstock Memorial Student Union ballroom.

Besides a variety of over 60 health booths, the fair will also offer live music and dancing along with free massages, free hearing and voice evaluations, and free cholesterol testing.

The fair is free and open to the public.

April 7-8 at MSUM….
HUMAN RACE MACHINE, CROSS-CULTURE
RESEARCHER HEADLINES 20TH ANNUAL
RED RIVER PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE
Psychologist David Matsumoto, founder of the Culture and Emotion Research Laboratory and professor at San Francisco State University, will deliver the keynote address on “The Culture Attribution Fallacy” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7 at Minnesota State University’s new Science Lab Building 104 to open the 20th annual Red River Psychology Conference.

His talk, free and open to the public, kicks off the two-day event that will also feature the appearance of artist Nancy Burson’s one-of-a-kind creation, The Human Race Machine. It’s an interactive computer console, which looks like a kiosk, that scans a digital image of your face and then transforms it so you can see what you’d look like as five different races.

The Human Race Machine will be set up in the MSUM psychology department Wednesday through Thursday (April 6-7) and then in the student union all day Friday during the conference. It’s free and open to the public.

The machine was the cover story in a 2003 issue of Scientific American and has been at the New York Hall of Science.

Matsumoto, also a world-renowned judo coach and official, is a specialist in cross-cultural research, the author of several books on the subject and a consultant to international businesses in intercultural training. He’ll also deliver the conference luncheon address at noon Friday in the student union ballroom on “Ideology vs. Reality: One of the Problems of Cross-Cultural Psychology.” (For luncheon tickets contact Christine Malone 477-2804. The talk itself is free and open to the public.)

The Red River Psychology Conference is an annual event hosted alternately by the three local colleges and is for undergraduates who present their original research. About 150 are expected to attend the event, which features 50 posters and talk presentations all day Friday the student union.

For details about the conference, contact MSUM Psychology Prof. Elizabeth Nawrot at 477-4079 or nawrot@mnstate.edu

PERCUSSION GROUP CINCINNATI HEADLINGES ARTS SERIES EVENT APRIL 12
The MSUM Performing Arts Series presents “Percussion Group Cincinnati” at 7:30 p.m. April 12 in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre. Their mastery of percussion instruments ranges from cactus needles and garbage cans to newspaper and traditional drums from around the world. The three performers are all faculty members and ensemble-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. For tickets, contact the MSUM Box Office at 477-2271.

MSUM’S 10th ANNUAL UNITY CONFERENCE
ON HISPANIC CULTURE SET APRIL 14-15
MSUM’s 10th Unity Conference focusing on Latino culture, history, education and legislation is scheduled Thursday and Friday, April 14 and 15, in the Comstock Memorial Union.

For details contact Abner Arauza at arauza@mnstate or visit the website: web.mnstate.edu/cultural/IndUnityConf.htm

The conference theme is “Abriendo Puertas: Examining Latino Life Through Education” and is open to the public. MSUM students and faculty/staff do not pay the registration fee unless you plan to attend the Keynote Dinner. Tickets to the Keynote Dinner are $12 and must be reserved by April 11.

Martha Casas, professor in Teacher Education at University of Texas at El Paso, will deliver the keynote speech and present two sessions.

Other conference presenters include: Roberto Dansie, award winning speaker, trainer and clinical psychologist; Susana De Leon, attorney; Claudia Fuentes, Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment Through Research; columnists and researchers Robert Rodriguez and Patrisia Gonzales; and others.

MSUM art students, Sandra Parra and David Valde, will exhibit their work. A panel of high school students will offer insights into Latino life from the perspective of teens. Additionally, Aztec dancers will perform as well as Teatro Del Pueblo.

Schedules will be available at CMU203 on the day of the conference or it can be downloaded at: http://web.mnstate.edu/cultural/Unity%20Conference%20Info/UC2005/UCWorkshop05.htm#Schedule