The Semaphore Repertory Dance Company, a group comprised of advanced dance students at Carleton College, will present their annual spring performance on Friday, May 24 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and again on Sunday, May 26 from 2 to 4 p.m. The performances will take place in the Weitz Center for Creativity Theater and are free and open to the public. Reservations are encouraged and can be made online at www.carleton.tixato.com/buy.

Carleton College will celebrate some of the best in popular American music in a special choral concert on Friday, May 24 at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall. “It’s Showtime, Folks!” will feature the vocal talents of the Carleton Singers (performing American jazz standards) and the Carleton Choir (performing semi-staged choruses from classic Broadway musicals). This event is free and open to the public. 

Carleton College’s Chinese Music Ensemble will present their spring recital this Sunday, May 26 at 3 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The performance, which is free and open to the public, will feature the world premiere of Minnesota composer Paul Dice’s new instrumental composition, “Father and Son Mock Fishing at Duck Creek,” from his forthcoming full-length album of Chinese music.

Jason Haaheim is the Principal Timpanist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York.

When Jason Haaheim graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in the spring of 2001, his resume was already littered with impressive bullet points. The honors music and physics double major graduated magna cum laude on top of being inducted into the prestigious honors society Phi Beta Kappa. He was selected to perform at the Gustavus Honors Recital, took first place in the Gustavus Concerto competition, and had proven leadership skills after serving as president of the Gustavus Band and vice president of the Gustavus Orchestra.

Fast forward 12 years and Haaheim’s current resume tells a story of an individual who is not afraid to fail and who is motivated and determined to succeed in whatever he puts his mind to.

“Jason is an individual who has a strong and innate curiosity about everything,” said Gustavus Professor of Music Douglas Nimmo. “For him, the process of learning seems to be a completely fulfilling enterprise. While he was at Gustavus, I never heard him use the word ‘impossible.’  For Jason, the world is a ‘glass is overflowing’ place of opportunity.”

Haaheim continued his studies after Gustavus and earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara in June of 2003. He used that degree to become a successful Senior Scientist at NanoInk, Inc., a nanotechnology company in Skokie, Illinois. During his ten years with the company, Haaheim leveraged his expertise in Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN), and Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) to pioneer a broad range of advancements in the field of nanoscale surface patterning, documented in a variety of peer-reviewed publications. This work led to numerous published patents and several others that are currently pending.

Haaheim credits much of his professional scientific success to the groundwork that was laid during his studies within the Gustavus physics department.

“The physics department at Gustavus is truly world class, and Professors Niederriter, Mellema, Saulnier, Huber, and others taught me to think and deconstruct problems in a way that put me on more-than-level footing with my grad school classmates at a first tier research university,” Haaheim said.

But science and engineering are only half of Haaheim’s story. The other half revolves around music and a recently received once-in-a-lifetime appointment. After earning his master’s degree, Haaheim decided to stay involved in music. He served as the assistant and then principal timpanist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony) from 2004 to 2008.  He later served as co-principal timpanist of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra (2010 to 2012) and principal timpanist of the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra (2011 to 2013). After reaching the semifinals and finals during the auditioning process for several premier orchestras around the country, Haaheim broke through in a big way this past January when he won the principal timpani audition for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York. A position that would typically be won by someone who attended a music school such as Julliard, Eastman, Curtis, or the Cleveland Institute of Music, was given to an engineer with a music background developed at a small liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota.

“My path to the Met has certainly been unorthodox by the standards of traditional matriculation in the orchestral world,” Haaheim said. “But I’m proud of that, and I think it illustrates several important things about Gustavus’ core values, and what a liberal arts education really means in the 21st century.”

Haaheim’s music instructors and mentors at Gustavus say they saw Haaheim’s potential to become a professional musician early on during his four years on the hill.

“I had Jason as a high school student for a year at the MacPhail Center for Music and then all four years at Gustavus,” MacPhail Instructor of Percussion Bob Adney said. “Jason always had questions, he was always attentive to detail, and during lessons he would even take notes. Jason was the type of student that I felt I had to prepare for as he was always moving forward.”

“Jason quickly became a student leader in our percussion program and over the course of his undergraduate years became a respected student leader in our music program. In my courses, I was impressed by his intelligence, confidence, commitment, and tremendous sense of pride in doing his best work at all times,” Professor of Music Rick Orpen said. “Jason’s confidence and determination to remain vigilant, learn from his experiences, continue his studies, and refine his knowledge and skills resulted in this remarkable outcome.”

While the music faculty at Gustavus are quick to give Haaheim credit where credit is due, Haaheim says he would not be where he is today without the instruction he received from the music department combined with the culture of learning that exists at Gustavus.

“The music department at Gustavus realizes that you can engage music in your life and draw immense meaning from this, whether you’re a music major, or a physics major, or both,” Haaheim said. “Opening up that breadth of participation in the college’s ensembles is inherently enriching for everyone involved, and creates a fertile field for lifelong friendships and cultivated musical passions.”

“Professor Warren Friesen and Dr. Nimmo were certainly central to this with the orchestra and wind ensemble, but Dr. Steve Wright (Director of Jazz Ensembles) also helped me learn how to ‘drive the band’ and use the rhythmic ‘pocket’ as an expressive tool — a critical part of being an orchestral timpanist. Professor Adney was a steadfast percussion mentor who promoted an intrinsically-derived work ethic that remains open-minded and exploratory, while Dr. Patricia Kazarow opened my eyes to the academic side of musical arts, and instilled an intellectual curiosity that deeply informs my approach to performance. But in highlighting these individuals, I don’t want to lose sight of the nature of the Gustavus music family. Everyone is critical to creating that community, and that is precisely what is so special about Gustavus.”

Haaheim’s story paints a picture that conveys why a liberal arts education from Gustavus is so valuable. An 18-year old kid from Chaska began his college career with passions for science and music and found a way to study both fields. Today he is excelling in both fields.

“I see these different threads of my education as uniquely Gustavian and absolutely pivotal to my successes,” Haaheim said. “For me, music and physics augment each other. They are cross-pollinating and multiplicatively enriching. Gustavus is not a place you go to simply acquire knowledge – you go to learn how to learn, and what you truly value. My four years at Gustavus gave me the ability to take stock of my life and distill what I really wanted to do with it; my passion for music fueled the dedication to win a job in a major orchestra; teaching myself how to solve problems helped me refine myself as a musician and elevate my playing to the point where I’m now privileged to play with one of the finest orchestras in the world. These are all demonstrably core virtues of the liberal arts education I’ve valued so dearly.”

###

Media Contact: Media Relations Manager Matt Thomas
mthomas@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510

Dr. Ameeta Jaiswal-Dale.

Dr. Ameeta Jaiswal-Dale, Finance Department, Opus College of Business, is the author of “Retrieving Financial Information in XBRL: Next Generation EDGAR,” which she presented at the American Accounting Association Mid Atlantic Regional annual meeting, held in April in New Jersey.

Dr. John Wendt

Dr. John Wendt, Ethics and Business Law Department, Opus College of Business, is the author of an article titled “The Road to the London 2012 Olympic Games: ‘The Selection Games,’” which has been accepted for publication by the Entertainment & Sports Lawyer. Wendt also presented “Doping and the Competitive Athlete” at the Fairview 2013 Current Concepts in Sports Medicine: “Overhead Athletic Injuries: Safe to Pitch or Throwing Caution to the Wind?”

Sunset Stages at Saint Ben’s, a free outdoor concert series in its fifth season, begins June 20 and features five popular Minnesota entertainers, including three acts making their second appearance at the series. All five shows will be held at Darnell Amphitheater, located on the north side of the Benedicta Arts Center.

More than eight of 10 St. Thomas faculty, staff and students who responded to the campus climate survey earlier this year expressed satisfaction with the university and the way it is operated.

The survey generated overall favorable responses between 58 and 84 percent in seven theme areas: Catholicism in today’s world; communication and community engagement; diversity effectiveness, commitment and accountability; diversity engagement; diversity-related experiences; equitable treatment; and satisfaction with the university.

The 5,429 respondents who completed or partially completed the survey gave higher marks to St. Thomas in all seven theme areas compared to the 2007 campus climate survey. Double-digit percentage favorable increases were uniform among faculty, staff and students in the equitable treatment and Catholicism in today’s world themes.

“Upon conclusion of the 2007 survey, I asked that the community work to make the university a more welcoming and inclusive place,” said Father Dennis Dease, president. “Clearly, all have taken that to heart. I am gratified by the improvement.”

“We have made significant progress since 2007, but we realize we still have areas to address,” said Dr. Susan Alexander, executive advisor to the president and the university’s affirmative action officer, and Dr. Michael Cogan, associate vice president for records and institutional effectiveness. “We have done some very good things over the last six years, but with any project like this we always need to look at ways to make St. Thomas more inclusive for everybody.”

Cogan credited the 36-person Climate Study Advisory Group (CSAG), which began meeting last September, with playing a key role. The group’s objectives were to provide a variety of perspectives and ideas in developing survey questions, encourage participation and develop research questions answered by data analysis when the survey was completed.

“I am impressed with the participation at all levels,” Cogan said. “Everybody pitched in here – from CSAG’s involvement on each and every issue to such a strong response rate from students, faculty and staff  – and that made a big difference.”

Survey results will be turned over to Dr. Julie Sullivan, who will become president on July 1, for further analysis and study on ways to continue to improve campus climate. (Links to survey results are at the bottom of this story.)

Survey conducted in March

Cogan’s office sent survey invitations to 13,619 St. Thomas community members in late February and followed up with four email reminders before closing the survey on March 22. Nearly 4,200 people (31 percent) completed the survey and more than 1,200 people responded to at least one question for a combined response rate of 40 percent.

In addition to quantitative results, nearly 1,050 people responded to the question, “Please provide any additional comments … that you would like to share as it relates to your experience at the university, campus culture, or the university’s diversity and inclusion initiative.” Those comments were grouped into five themes: affiliation, diversity, leadership, mission and finances.

Cogan defined several university “strengths” as determined by the quantitative survey:

• Five questions related to the “satisfaction with the university” theme generated an 84 percent overall favorable rating (75 percent in 2007), with students at 85 percent (78 percent), staff at 81 percent (70 percent) and faculty at 76 percent (61 percent). The range was 73 percent for full-time faculty to 88 percent for graduate students; male and female respondents were equally satisfied.
• The community had the most favorable perception of the four questions presented in the “diversity engagement” theme – 86 percent overall (compared with 80 percent in 2007), 86 percent of students (82 percent), 84 percent of faculty (78 percent) and 83 percent staff (78 percent)
• Graduate students were more favorable than undergraduate students on six of the seven themes.

Cogan also defined several “opportunities” coming out of the quantitative survey:

• Respondents who identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender had a less favorable perception of campus climate than heterosexuals, and reported lower satisfaction scores on all seven themes.
• People of two or more races had a less favorable perception than those of one race in responding to 14 questions that were part of the diversity effectiveness, commitment and accountability theme.
• Full-time faculty generally had the least favorable perception of the university’s climate when compared to staff and students.
• Women had a less favorable perception of the eight questions related to the equitable treatment theme than men.
• Those who identified English as their native language were less favorable regarding all seven themes when compared to those who indicated English was not their native language.

In addition to Cogan and Alexander, CSAG members are: Jill Akervik, Young-Ok An, Bernard Armada, Kristine Baker, Maureen Bird, Sanjeev Bordoloi, Chad Brinsfield, Jane Canney, Nicholas Chang, Linda Dorn, Barb Dunker, Bridget Duoos, Terry Eggert, Kristi Flanagan Villar, Kari Fletcher, Marla Friederichs, Lori Friedman, Michael Glirbas, Mari Graham, Sara Gross Methner, Ann Johson, Lisa Keiser, Sushant Khullar, Aaron Macke, Father John Malone, Susan Myers, Mike Orth, Peter Parilla, Eleni Roulis, Julie Seykora, Victoria Svoboda, Becca Swiler, Mark Vangsgard and Amanda Wright.

Links to climate survey data

For more information, go to:

• The Office of Institutional effectiveness climate survey website.
• A summary of the survey findings (PDF).
• The abridged results (PDF).
• The extended results (PDF).

 

Dr. Susan Huber, executive vice president and chief academic officer at St. Thomas, will retire from her position on June 30, 2014.

Huber met recently with Dr. Julie Sullivan, president-elect, and agreed to remain for another year before ending an association with St. Thomas that began as a graduate student and continued with roles as a professor and administrator for more than two decades.

“I want to thank Sue for her exceptional service to the university,” said Father Dennis Dease, president, who appointed her executive vice president and chief academic officer on an interim basis in June 2008 and on a permanent basis the following April. “She has performed with distinction in every position she has held, and she has been a great leader and collaborator on so many projects.”

“I am pleased and grateful that Sue will remain with St. Thomas for another academic year,” said Sullivan, who will succeed Dease as president when he retires June 30. “Continuity is necessary in a position as critical as chief academic officer, especially with issues such as our accreditation visit this fall. It’s important that Sue is involved in those issues.”

Sullivan said she will launch a national search this fall for Huber’s replacement.

Huber said she will retire with mixed emotions because she has loved each of the faculty and administrative positions that she has held at St. Thomas since 1992.

“I have never been bored at work, and that’s because St. Thomas is such a dynamic institution,” she said. I can’t imagine having a more satisfying career. This is a stimulating educational community, and I will always treasure the time I have spent in the classroom with students and outside of the classroom engaged with colleagues in efforts to improve our programs and our learning environment.”

Huber joined the St. Thomas community as a graduate student and earned two degrees: a master’s in curriculum and instruction and a doctorate in educational leadership. Her bachelor’s degree in Latin and English is from the former College of St. Teresa in Winona.

She taught English in Burnsville and Roseville public schools and English as a Second Language at Hamline University before she moved to St. Andrew’s Catholic School in St. Paul as an English teacher and then principal. She was dean of continuing education and special programs at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota before joining the St. Thomas School of Education faculty.

She served as chair of the Teacher Education Department and was associate dean of the School of Education before she was appointed interim dean in 2006. She became the first dean of the College of Applied Professional Studies in 2007 after a decision to bring the School of Education and the Graduate School of Professional Psychology into the new college (since renamed the College of Education, Learning and Counseling).

Huber’s professional appointments include service on the boards of Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, and the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at St. Thomas and St. John’s University. She is a board member at Risen Christ School in Minneapolis and a former board member of the Convent of the Visitation School in Mendota Heights.

 

Let’s ride!

“I’ve always felt that racing on the bike is a microcosm of life. There are the joys and the tragedies and the pain and the elation, and sometimes you just have to get back on the saddle.”

~ John Barron

John Barron, 53, has been on a bicycle (or tricycle) most of his life – from the time he was a lad of 4 scooting around on his tricycle on the sidewalks of St. Louis Park to entering local road races as an adult to competing at the velodrome at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

He no longer races, but he’s back on the saddle as team manager of a female collegiate all-star bicycle racing team that will compete at the Nature Valley Grand Prix, which is held annually during June in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

From trike to racing bike

An older brother raced and influenced him to ride “at a higher level.”

“He fixed up a bike for me and turned it into a racing bike,” Barron said in a recent interview. “He showed me how to ride a light, fast, skinny-tire bike, and he noticed that I was pretty good on the bike.”

The coaching he received from his brother was informal – such as how to position himself on the bike, and he offered this advice: “Just go fast.”

John Barron, about 4 years old, on the saddle and ready to ride.

Barron, director of St. Thomas’ Service Center, bought a used racing bike in 1988 and he began to compete. “My first race was on a course in the Minnetonka area, and it was fun. Racing is hard and it hurts, but it’s fun, too,” Barron said.

After some 100 races during a 13-year span, he stopped racing and became a Level One coach, USA Cycling’s highest certification level.

“I took the classes mostly for fun but also to work with junior racers and do some casual coaching. And then I got the opportunity to manage a professional team for the Nature Valley Grand Prix in 2004. … The team wasn’t able to bring its manager, so I was the interim manager and I did a lot of the logistics and that kind of thing,” Barron said. “That was my introduction to managing a professional team at a big professional race. I had a lot fun with that, and I did that for three years in a row.”

In 2007 he was asked to help form and manage a female collegiate all-star bicycle racing team to race at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. This June will be his seventh year managing the Kowalski’s Markets Collegiate All-Stars, the team’s official title.

The Nature Valley Grand Prix, part of the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival (June 6-16), will feature six races over five days, June 12-16. The first race – the 7.7-mile St. Paul Riverfront Time Trial – will roll past the University of St. Thomas from 8:30 a.m. until about noon Wednesday, June 12, on Mississippi River Boulevard; the start line and finish line of this “race of truth” will be located just south of the Ford Bridge. Other stages of the grand prix will be held in Cannon Falls, Minneapolis and Stillwater, Minn., and Menomonie, Wis. St. Paul also will be host to a second race on June 12, the St. Paul Downtown Criterium, with races starting at 6:15 p.m.

The all-stars

Six all-stars are selected each year to compete in the grand prix based on how they finished in the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, which was held May 3-5 this year in Ogden, Utah. The goal of the program, Barron said, is “to identify otherwise relatively invisible collegiate student-athletes who are on the bike – identify them and give them an opportunity to race at the highest level.”

John Barron raced for 13 years, which included a lot of races on the velodrome oval at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

“These young women are exceptional,” he added. “They are student-athletes so they have to figure out how to manage their time and their studies as well as an incredible number of hours of training on the bike.”

Thirteen women in the past six years have received pro contracts. This year’s team members hail from Vermont, California, Massachusetts and Colorado.

“My job is primarily logistics,” Barron said. “Getting them here and creating an environment where all they have to worry about is getting on their bikes and racing. … It gets better and better every year, but we’ve got a real nice package going where it all just seems to work. Because my support staff and, indeed, the people who make this very successful race happen, are all volunteers, my job is really to make sure that everybody has fun, because these volunteers don’t do it for the pay, they do it for a chance to give back to racing and to have fun.”

His duties include working with the media, coordinating with USA Cycling, working with the racers’ coaches, and arranging for housing during the grand prix and also a three-day training camp in Wisconsin that he hosts before the start of the series. His team’s support staff includes a bike mechanic, a massage therapist and others who, like Barron, all raced at one time.

“Being a part of the all-star team is a chance to be a part of racing without being wheel-to-wheel. … What I get out of it is the satisfaction of sharing my knowledge and experience with others,” Barron said.

Microcosm of life

Racing, like life, can be loaded with disappointment. Often you don’t win the race. No one likes to lose, but we learn, get back on the saddle and ride forward, and we hope there is joy and elation along the way.

In the various grand prix stages, the all-stars typically are overmatched by older, more experienced elite and professional racers; still, as Barron points out, “They usually come away saying it was one of the funnest things they’ve ever done. … My racers usually come away from this week of racing saying it was just a fantastic experience. Fun. Filled with learning. Filled with meeting new people. Meeting coaches and sponsors from around the country, and traveling and connecting with people in a different part of the country – these are all opportunities.”

The bike festival also is an opportunity to raise funds for Children’s Lighthouse of Minnesota, the festival’s 2013 benefiting charity. According to the festival’s website, the nonprofit “has been working since 2009 to create the first residential children’s hospice and respite care home in the Twin Cities. The home will provide palliative care for children with conditions not responsive to curative care.”

In bicycle racing, as in life, win or lose you get back on the saddle and ride again – and sometimes it’s for those who can’t.

Gustavus junior Laurel Boman works with Associate Professor of Classics Eric Dugdale (Photo by Matt Thomas ’00).

Students at Gustavus Adolphus College have many opportunities to excel and be rewarded for their hard work. Laurel Boman ’14 is one such student who has made the most of those possibilities and has recently been awarded with the Manson A. Stewart Scholarship as a result.

This year the Classics Association of the Middle West and South awarded seven individuals within the region with this prestigious scholarship. The award is reserved for outstanding young classicists in their sophomore or junior year of an undergraduate degree. The application process begins when a student is nominated by the campus classics department, after which Boman completed her application and an essay component. The essence of the essay was to comment on the value of classics as a utilitarian discipline; essentially, Boman was asked to defend her major.

Explaining why her major is important, is not a task that is foreign to Boman. “In my essay, I used some of the same one-liners that I’ve previously used to ward off skeptics when they ask why I’m a classics major: It’s challenging and teaches me how to critically analyze. I’m forced to think broadly about the context of each piece, to understand references to literature of the Greco Roman world and its relation to the contemporary culture which draws upon those societies.”

Much of the major is focused on finding the points of connection with the Greco Roman world that are much like our modern civilization but also different in many ways. “My studies allow me to have a greater understanding of the human experience and to see my own humanity in ways that are unique to the discipline,” Boman exclaimed.

Boman got her start in the classics department as a first-year student in the Three Crowns Curriculum, previously known as Curiculum II, through a course titled Historical Perspectives taught by Professor Eric Dugdale. “Although it was intense, I was drawn to the challenge and to the professors in the department, all of whom are absolutely top notch,” Boman said. “One of the main things that pushed me to the classics major was that I couldn’t decide on any one major in the humanities, and with classics I still get a taste of everything.”

Laurel Boman ’14

“Laurel is a remarkable young scholar. She has intellectual curiosity, acumen, and the tenacity to delve deeply into a topic — a winning combination,” Dugdale said.

Boman has enjoyed the wide variety of aspects within the major since she declared, and has taken a diverse assortment of courses including Plato and the Intellectual Revolution, The Greek New Testament, Vergil’s Aeneid, and a course on Homer. “There hasn’t been a course where I have not been challenged or have not been transformed by the material,” Boman stated. “I haven’t had a class that was sub-par so far in my major.”

Classical studies give students insight into Greek and Roman literature, the history and society of those ancient civilizations, and the surviving monuments of their ancient art and architecture. Boman has chosen a Greek concentration to her major, although she also studies Latin. “I love the way it looks, the way it reads, the way that we’re not actually sure how it really sounded, the way there’s so many worlds of history; it’s a whole new world at your feet when you pick up an incredibly old Greek text,” Boman declared. “It’s interesting to see what ways the Greek civilization has shaped our world and to see which aspects from their civilization have been completely dropped.”

“With Laurel, there is no artificial divide between her interests as a student and as an engaged citizen,” Dugdale said. “Her latest research project is a study of two modern adaptations of Euripides’ play Medea in which she analyzes how classics has been used to explore issues of identity and race within the contexts of colonization and decolonization.”

Not only has Boman thoroughly enjoyed and been transformed by her classics major, she also believes that her studies have been beneficial in preparing her for life beyond Gustavus. “I think that classics is a really challenging major and it teaches discipline and hard work. Not only the aspect of sitting with a text for hours on end attempting to figure it out, but also the excitement when you are able to really figure out what you’re reading. When those two things go hand in hand, I think it’s an exceptionally life giving experience,” Boman said. “That is what I personally strive to do in the future with any career. I want a healthy challenge in front of me, and because of the challenge of the major, I am confident that I can handle the challenges that my future career will bring.”

Inviting and accepting challenges is something that faculty members, including Dugdale, have seen Boman do since she stepped foot on the Gustavus campus.

“If you want to understand the value of the humanities for understanding and shaping the world, just talk to Laurel. She embodies the liberal arts commitment to developing the total person,” Dugdale said. “She uses her talents for the greater good, teaching English to recent immigrants, helping her peers as a writing tutor and Greek language tutor, and speaking publicly about the Dakota-U.S. War of 1862. Laurel is making the most of her Gustavus education, and I have no doubt that she will go on to great things.”

Through her praise of the major and department as a whole, Boman is especially confident that the professors play a key role in making the major what it is. “I feel like the professors in the department are so student centered – they have this unique marriage of being outstanding scholars but still being able to communicate with undergrad students at our level,” Boman asserted. “They’re willing to go above and beyond for students, and they are all sorts of wonderful!”

With the dedicated and fabulous professors, the assortment of courses, and the basic foundations of the major, Boman has made the most of her studies in the classics department and feels rewarded by more than just the Manson A. Stewart Scholarship. Although the scholarship was truly an honor to win, Boman feels just as grateful for her time spent within a department that is so clearly one of the many wonderful opportunities for students at Gustavus.

Laurel Boman is a native of St. Paul, Minn.  She has been selected for induction into the Guild of St. Lucia and was accepted to study in India next fall on the India: Social Justice, Peace and Development semester abroad.

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Media Contact: Media Relations Manager Matt Thomas
mthomas@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510

A new student honor in memory of a beloved member of the campus community was presented at the annual honors and awards ceremony.. More »

Archbishop John Nienstedt of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will confer the sacrament of priestly ordination on 10 men – eight from Minnesota – at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 25, at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

They are members of the largest ordination class since 2005, when 15 men were ordained to serve as priests in the archdiocese.

All 10 attended the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and earned Master of Divinity degrees. Over the past four years they participated in the Teaching Parish Program, spending time in a parish each week to participate in various aspects of pastoral service.

Those who will become priests Saturday are:

Deacon Leonard Andrie, 36, of Inver Grove Heights. He and his mother, Sandy, are parishioners at Inver Grove Heights’ St. Patrick parish. Andrie earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame before working in the field for five years in Minneapolis. He was also a school teacher in Virginia for two years. He then attended the University of St. Thomas, where he earned master’s degrees in Catholic studies, theology and divinity. His teaching parish was St. Odilia in Shoreview, and he spent time in Omaha, Mexico and Venezuela during his summers while in seminary. Andrie will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 25, at St. Agatha Church in Coates.

Deacon Andrew Brinkman, 27, of Ann Arbor, Mich. His parents, Ronald and Christine, live in Ann Arbor, and his home parish is Minneapolis’ Church of St. Stephen. An avid skateboarder, Brinkman spent his years prior to seminary enjoying his passion for skateboarding as well as working at a pastry shop. He is intrigued by the potential of evangelizing on behalf of the environmental movement. Brinkman’s teaching parish is also the Church of St. Stephen, and it’s where he’ll celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 26.

Deacon John Drees, 26, of Shakopee. He and his parents, John and Marie, are parishioners at St. Mary of the Purification in Marystown. Drees enrolled in seminary soon after graduating from high school, and spent one summer doing hospital ministry in Grand Forks, N.D. His teaching parish was St. Pius X in White Bear Lake, and he will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at St. Mary of the Purification in Marystown.

Deacon Joah Ellis, 26, of Blaine. He and his parents, Daniel and Carrie Ellis, are parishioners at the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids. After graduating from high school, Ellis worked one summer for the Anoka County Parks and Recreation Department before enrolling in the seminary that fall. As a young boy, he got to know many priests over dinners at his home, which often were followed by games of pick-up basketball. His teaching parish was the Church of St. Timothy in Maple Lake, and he will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at the Church of the Epiphany.

Deacon Spencer Howe, 26, of North Oaks. He and his parents, Jeffrey and Jeanette, are parishioners at the Church of St. Paul in Ham Lake. Howe was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran tradition. He became curious about Catholicism after his grandmother returned to the faith in 1999. Two years later, he and his father were received into the Catholic Church together. Howe enrolled in St. John Vianney Seminary immediately after graduating from Mounds View High School. He spent his summers while in the seminary in Ethiopia and Rome, and his teaching parishes were St. John the Baptist in New Brighton and St. Stephen in Anoka. He will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at St. John the Baptist Church.

Deacon Andrew Jaspers, 34, of Lake Crystal, where his parents, Dr. Anthony and Mary, still live and attend Holy Family Church. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from Marquette University in Milwaukee and Fordham University in New York City, respectively, Jaspers taught at Creighton University in Omaha where he also wrote philosophical articles for various Catholic publications. His teaching parish was the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids. Jaspers’ Mass of Thanksgiving will be at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

Deacon Luke Marquard, 33, of Faribault, where he and his parents, Stephen and Mary, are parishioners at Divine Mercy parish. After earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Butler University in Indianapolis and a master’s degree in education from the University of Notre Dame, Marquard worked in public relations, marketing and communications in Indianapolis and Chicago. He then went on to teach Catholic elementary school in Denver as part of Notre Dame’s ACE program. His teaching parish was Forest Lake’s St. Peter Church, and he will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at Divine Mercy.

Deacon Brian Park, 32, of Fort Worth, Texas, where his parents, Paul and Mary Kay, still reside. Park began to consider the priesthood while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in history from Texas A & M University in College Station. After graduation, he traveled the country for three years as a team supervisor for NET Ministries, where he led retreats for Catholic teens. He entered the pre-theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in 2007. His teaching parish was St. Paul’s Church of St. Agnes. Park’s Masses of Thanksgiving are at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at the Church of St. Joseph in West St. Paul, and at his boyhood parish, where his parents still worship, St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Ft. Worth at 9 a.m. Sunday, June 2.

Deacon James Peterson, 27, of Minnetonka. He and his parents, Jim and Ann, are parishioners at Chanhassen’s St. Hubert Church. He attended Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria before earning a bachelor’s degree in theology from St. John’s University where he also ran track and field. His teaching parish was Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minnetonka, and he spent his summers while in seminary in Mexico and Venezuela. Peterson will celebrate his Masses of Thanksgiving at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Deacon Andrew Stueve, 40, of Hanover. He and his parents, Bernard and Kay, are parishioners at Mary Queen of Peace in Rogers. He graduated with an associate degree in accounting from Hennepin Technical College before pursuing a 10-year career as an accountant. Stueve’s teaching parish was Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood. His Masses of Thanksgiving will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 26, at Mary Queen of Peace, as well as 10:30 a.m. Sunday, June 9, at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Several St. Thomas students recently received an email with the subject line “Drop by this week” from a vendor offering to purchase textbooks at a location across the street from campus. The email, which originates from an account not affiliated with the university, claims “Unlike the bookstore, we have no limit on quantities and our prices will stay consistent throughout the week! Our prices do not drop!”

UST Bookstores Director Tony Erickson said the claims in the email are inaccurate and that students are being offered prices far lower than what they would receive at the official UST Bookstores book buyback, which is taking place through May 24 on the lower level of Murray-Herrick Campus Center.

“On Monday most of our UST students received a mass email advertising a book buyback across the street from the chapel. This group is buying back books from our students at obscenely low prices,” Erickson said. “One student sold a book back for $8 and we would have paid $42 for it. Another student had a quote of $30 for his books and we paid him $267. Another was given a quote of $5 and received $36 from the bookstore.”

Erickson said that the buyer is likely purchasing books to sell to a wholesaler in order to make a profit off of unknowing students. He encourages students interested in selling their textbooks to first check with the UST Bookstores book buyback before getting quotes from a rogue book buyer.

Erickson also encourages students to protect themselves from book theft. The end of the semester is a time that book thefts increase substantially. Watch and mark your books so that you can identify them in case they are lost or stolen.

For more information contact the UST Bookstores.

Nearly 200 alumnae gathered to learn about Alumnae Relations’ second year as an official department of the University, hear an overview of the past academic year by President Andrea J. Lee, IHM, and applaud the 2013 Alumnae Award winners. More »

St. Thomas dedicated the Murray J. Harpole Legacy Fountain on Monday during a ceremony on John P. Monahan Plaza outside the Anderson Student Center.

The fountain is a gift from Pentair Ltd. and five current or former directors of the company in honor of the late Harpole, its founder and first chief executive officer. St. Thomas installed the fountain last summer after the student center’s January 2012 opening.

Father Dennis Dease, president of St. Thomas, thanked Pentair chairman and CEO Randall J. Hogan and two predecessors – Eugene Nugent and Winslow Buxton – for the gift. Their contributions, when matched by a gift from members of the St. Thomas Board of Trustees, paid for the fountain and its future maintenance as well as a landscaping and irrigation system for the lower quadrangle.

(Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

“This spectacular water fountain honors Pentair for its global leadership in water technologies that help make the world a better place,” states a plaque at the fountain. “It also honors the entrepreneurial legacy of Murray J. Harpole, a cherished benefactor who provided early guidance that helped to lead to the eventual establishment of today’s flourishing St. Thomas programs in entrepreneurship and engineering.”

Harpole quit his job as an engineer at the age of 45 to start Pentair in 1966 and retired as chief executive officer in 1981, by which point revenues had grown to $238 million. His successors – Nugent (1982-1992), Buxton (1992-2001) and Hogan (since 2001) – attended Monday’s dedication ceremony, as did Harpole’s widow, Ruth, and members of her extended family.

Pentair today is a global leader in the water, fluid, thermal management and equipment protection industries. During Hogan’s tenure, Pentair’s annual revenues have increased from $2.6 billion to $8 billion, its market cap has grown from $1 billion to $11 billion and its workforce has more than doubled to 30,000 employees in more than 30 countries.

The St. Thomas-Pentair connection goes back 25 years, when the company funded a classroom during the 1989 expansion of Murray-Herrick Campus Center. Pentair established the Pentair Prize – a $5,000 scholarship to an entrepreneurship student – in 2000 and has sponsored the STEPS (Science, Technology & Engineering Preview Summer) camps that have brought 3,000 girls to campus since 2005.

Quent Hietpas, senior vice president emeritus of St. Thomas, served on the Pentair board for 25 years (15 as lead director). He emceed a luncheon program after the dedication ceremony.

 A plaque identifying the Murray J. Harpole Legacy Fountain has been placed in John P. Monahan Plaza. 

We are wrapping up classes here in Rome and, as in St. Paul, our St. Thomas finals are imminent. In order to survive and thrive in the Italian culture, our study abroad group was divided into two Italian classes. My class, headed by a sassy and confident Italian woman named Marta, had its final classroom session a week or so ago.

Lisa Weier

Marta loves music. Absolutely loves it. She loves to dance, too. As a consequence, she let us listen to a song sung in Italian at the end of every class, often repeating ones we had previously heard. We would translate the lyrics to English to understand what the song was about. (98.6 percent of Italian lyrics, even if the underlying music is happy-sounding, are tragic and dramatic.)

Here’s my resulting Italian playlist:

• “Tutta mia la cittá” by Giuliano Palma and the Bluebeaters
• “50 Mila” by Nina Zilli, featuring Giuliano Palma
• “La Prima Cosa Bella” by Malika Ayane
• “L’amore Verrá” by Nina Zilli
• “Miserere” by Pavarotti and Zucchero

On our last normal day of class, we listened to all of the songs as a kind of culminating celebration. When we started “L’amore Verrá” (the Italian version of “You Can’t Hurry Love” by the Supremes), Marta sang along and danced, swaying to the beat. We tapped our toes and sang along from our desks. Suddenly, my classmate Tim turned to me: “Lisa. I want to dance with Marta. Will you dance too?” After a moment’s thought, I replied, “Yeah. I will if you will.”

He thought one second more, stood up, pushed his chair back and stepped out into the aisle. I followed. Once we made our intentions clear, the class laughed. Then we worked on getting them out of the seats. After a little persuasion, everyone was up and dancing, to Marta’s sheer delight. I’m proud to say that we were the first of her American Italian classes where everyone danced. She was proud too, inviting us to a homemade gelato feast in return. We enjoyed that a couple of days later, meeting her family at her apartment.

I don’t know if I ever would have danced in a class before. I can’t imagine having a professor quite like Marta, or a group of classmates like my fellow Bernardians (as we call ourselves). It is one of my favorite memories from this semester, a semester not quite past, but very close to being so … .

My next Scroll, I’ll be stateside. See you then!

Three staff members and two professors were honored Friday at St. Catherine University’s annual faculty-staff awards ceremony. More »

Joan Kuzma Costello ’65 will address the graduates at the Associate/Graduate Commencement at 7:30 p.m. More »

The Myser Initiative on Catholic Identity will welcome leading Catholic intellectual M. Cathleen Kaveny Oct. 10. More »