9/28/2006

Quick as a FOX

SCSU mass communications/broadcast graduates hit the ground running at Fox Sports North. Their campus broadcast experience has prepared them for jobs from production room to the press room.

University News

The Boys are Back in Town

More than 2,500 Husky fans roared as former SCSU hockey stars Bret Hedican and Matt Cullen rode a Zamboni® onto the National Hockey Center rink Aug. 12. The pair earned the right to become the second and third SCSU alumni to have their names engraved on the National Hockey League’s top award, the Stanley Cup, after their team, the Carolina Hurricanes, defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals in June.

As members of the NHL championship team, Hedican and Cullen each had a day to host the cup, given to North America’s best hockey teams since 1893. Cullen took it to his hometown of Moorhead in July for a charity golf tournament, and Hedican brought it to his alma mater on a bus caravan of 150 family and friends from his hometown of North St. Paul. The entourage included his wife, Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, and their two daughters.

Hedican, whose off-season home is near Brainerd, and Cullen, who maintains a home in Moorhead, played prominently in the seven-game Stanley Cup finals. The Star Tribune picked forward Cullen, who played at SCSU from 1995-97, as one of its three top players, saying he "did everything to set up Carolina’s first goal but actually score it." Leading defenseman Hedican, who played for the Huskies from 1988-91, was interviewed on the post-win NBC broadcast and quoted by a host of national media. "I can’t describe it," Hedican said regarding the feeling of winning after two previous trips to the finals. "I’ve got the scars. But tonight, all that work, all that hard work, and our team winning, it all paid off."

Hedican, who credits former Husky coach Craig Dahl with discovering his potential and setting him on the path to success, endowed the Bret Hedican Hockey Scholarship with a gift of $160,000. "I was very, very lucky to go to St. Cloud," he said. "We set a standard. I hope we can always hold that standard high. I’m proud to be able to give back to the place that gave me an opportunity."

Both Cullen and Hedican, along with Mark Parrish, Bloomington, who played at SCSU 1995-97, played on the 2006 Olympic Hockey Team. And the first former St. Cloud State hockey player (on the roster in 1933-34) to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup? That was legend Frank Brimsek, who played for the Boston Bruins for two championships.

Marsha Shoemaker

Financial management excellence pays off for students

For the second year in a row, the leadership and teamwork that create award-winning financial practices at SCSU have been recognized by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system.

The Excellence in Financial Management Award was given for increased efficiency and effectiveness of finances throughout the University. Reasons for the recognition include:

• The University has a loan processing and collection system that helps ensure availability of funds for students.
• Students can pay their tuition, fees and other expenses online.
• Students can use a single card to access labs, pay for parking permits, purchase food, use vending and copy machines, vote in Student Government elections, verify class attendance, make local business-partner purchases and gain access to athletic events.

Students recognize for community service leadership

Twenty students recently received a university Award for Excellence in Leadership in recognition of their contributions to SCSU and their communities. Criteria for selecting award recipients included leadership, creativity/initiative, social responsibility and active participation in the campus and community.

Senior psychology major Ashlee Bekish, Marshfield, Wis., was named Student Leader of the Year for her vision, leadership and ability to meet the goals of the groups she works with. Those groups include the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center, the university’s food committee and the Residence Hall Association, of which she has been president, and her work as an assistant hall director for Shoemaker Hall.

The 18th annual leadership honors program also put the spotlight on:

• Assistant Professor Mark Mechelke, Chemistry Club advisor, named Advisor of the Year for his work as a mentor. Among the 40-member group’s many community outreach programs is "Husky Volunteers for Science," which puts teams of SCSU students in elementary school classrooms to perform hands-on science with fourth-graders.
• The students’ Medical Professions Association received kudos for showing outstanding commitment to the organization’s goals, making an impact in the campus community, and excelling in program planning, financial management and leadership development of group members.

Find a complete list of honorees at www.stcloudstate.edu/news/scsunow/default.asp?storyID=18430.

Leader named for Student Life and Development

Wanda Overland of Bowling Green, Ohio, has joined SCSU as vice president of Student Life and Development.

In her post at SCSU, Overland is the senior student affairs officer providing management, leadership, vision and direction for student support services ranging from Residential Life to Student Health Services. Overland will work on initiatives that integrate student learning experiences to foster success, celebrate diversity and empower students to achieve their goals.

The new vice president came to the University in July after serving as associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). Prior to that appointment she was at North Dakota State University (NDSU) as assistant dean of student life. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in home economics education from NDSU and a doctorate in higher education administration from BGSU. She is a native of Harvey, N.D.

Political Science class models a better United Nations

A team of 22 SCSU students who participated in the 30th Annual Arrowhead Model United Nations Conference this spring brought home four awards. The students were members of the International Relations Club at SCSU and were in "Political Science 440: The Model United Nations."

Political science major Jamie Kirsch and international relations major John Richardson won honorable mentions for best opening policy statements (representing Chile and China). Richardson won best delegate for the Environmental Committee and international relations major Ryan Birkman (Czech Republic) won best delegate for the Political and Security Committee. Kirsch, a senior this fall, is from Hot Springs, S.D.; Richardson, a senior, is from Brainerd; and Birkman, a sophomore this fall, is from St. Cloud.

Dean chosen for G.R. Herberger College of Business

Diana Lawson is the new leader of the Herberger College of Business, which has been nationally accredited for 30 years.

As dean, Lawson is responsible for a college with more than 3,200 students and 75 faculty members and programs in accounting, business computers and information systems, management, marketing and business law, and finance, insurance and real estate. She also will lead the college’s establishment of new headquarters when the first phase of the renovation of Centennial Hall is completed in January 2007.

For three years Lawson occupied the Harvey Randall Wickes Chair in International Business at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan, prior to which she served as associate dean and interim dean of the College of Business, Public Policy and Health at the University of Maine, Orono, Maine, where she also was on the faculty for 13 years. She earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate in marketing and international business at Kent State University in Ohio.

Outstanding working students earn recognition

Students who make outstanding contributions to the campus and to the community can now win recognition through the university’s new Student Employee of the Year Program.

Colin Underwood, who was employed through the off-campus work study program by the St. Cloud Children’s Home, was named 2006 SCSU Student Employee of the Year this spring. Underwood was one of 32 nominees vying for the title. This fall, the senior community health major from Red Wing is in the study abroad program in Australia.

SCSU students work on campus and in the community in elementary schools, women’s shelters, county correctional programs and the like. To be eligible for the honor they had to be placed through the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid or paid directly by university departments. Last year, one in every five SCSU students worked in an SCSU-funded position on or off campus, earning an average of $2,700 each.

Work ramps up on the university's first parking ramp

Designs are now being drafted for a 500-stall parking ramp that will be located west of Hill-Case Hall. Funds from SCSU campus operations and $5 million in revenue bonds are being used to finance the $9 million project. The ramp will have three to four levels with room for 200 overnight slots for students and 300 daily slots for visitors. Construction is expected to begin in December for completion by December 2007.

Wind Ensemble chosen to perform at national bandmaster event

The SCSU Wind Ensemble is one of five bands chosen to perform a concert for the American Bandmasters Association – the most prestigious wind band organization in the profession – in San Luis Obispo, Calif., in March 2007.

SCSU is one of only three Minnesota universities that have been invited to perform for the group in its 80-year history. To survive a rigorous audition process and be selected to perform for the American Band Association is one of the highest honors a university wind band program can achieve, according to Richard Hansen, ensemble director.

"This honor is analogous to our athletic teams making the final four of a national tournament," Hansen said. During the conference the 50-60 SCSU students in the ensemble will work and perform with such prestigious wind band conductors as Ray Cramer of Tokyo Musashino Acadamia Musicae, Keith Brion of Yale University and Harlan Parker of Peabody Conservatory. They will also work with such world class wind virtuosi and composers as Jens Lindemann, Mike Klima, Ian Krouse and Justin Freer.

Students and music faculty members will conduct events throughout the school year to raise funds for the ensemble’s trip.

Students, faculty pool efforts to help disabled children

Disabled children who headed for the pool this summer learned to swim with the help of faculty members and students in the SCSU Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Sport Science.

SCSU, which has been teaching aquatics adapted for the disabled since the 1970s, offers the program every summer for children ages 3 to 16. The program is a free service to the community.

Classes are taught by faculty members with the assistance of students in physical education. This year they taught 24 sessions at the Halenbeck Hall Pool.

Student wins scholarship, internship, employment

SCSU senior biochemistry major Allissa Dillman has won a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Undergraduate Scholarship that carries an award of $20,000 for 2006-07, a paid research training position at the NIH next summer and the promise of a minimum year of employment at the NIH in Bethesda, Md.

Dillman has been conducting research with her advisor, SCSU Chemistry Professor Lakshmaiah Sreerama, for the last two years. Together they’ve discovered at least three different forms of a gene important in protecting skin and eyes from UV light damage, heavy metals toxicity and many carcinogens and in cancer chemotherapy.

Intel Notes SCSU's technology leadership

Students are enjoying unprecedented computing flexibility and access to innovative technology at SCSU, which has received a top-50 ranking on Intel’s Second Annual "Most Unwired College Campuses" survey. The university’s wireless network covers all residence halls and academic and office buildings. It is accessed by an average of 1,500 users each week.

• Students who want to use a university computer can now quickly find out which computers are free in labs in 10 different campus buildings. Students may use the Web to access Lab Seats, which displays maps and up-to-the-minute information about computer availability.
• During spring semester, nearly 80 percent of students took one or more courses using course management software that gives them online access to course home pages, course calendars, quizzes, threaded discussions and electronic assignment drop boxes.
• Students and faculty members also have the benefit of more than 125 electronic classrooms, each equipped with computers, document cameras, video projectors and other audio-visual equipment to create a multimedia learning environment.

Greek Life: A philanthropic life

Every year the nine sororities and fraternities at SCSU – Greek Life – donate tens of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to charities and non-profit agencies. During the 2005-06 school year, Greeks:

• Raised approximately $34,000 by co-sponsoring philanthropic events and $10,000 for philanthropies chosen by individual chapters.
• Gave more than 4,000 hours to volunteer service projects.

Among the many organizations that benefited from Greek Life activity were Toys for Tots, Hole-In-The-Wall Camps, American Red Cross, Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, American Diabetes Association, Anna Marie’s Shelter and March of Dimes.

Greek Life is one of the largest student organizations at SCSU with 270 members in five fraternities and four sororities. Members work together for academic achievement, for philanthropy, to serve the community and for personal and social growth.

Alumni relations director named

Kurt Stelten has joined the University to work with the SCSU Alumni Association Board of Directors and provide programming for more than 80,000 SCSU alumni. The new alumni relations director also will be responsible for the alumni awards program, the alumni-student mentoring program, the faculty/staff giving program and the university’s relationship with faculty/staff emeriti.

Stelten comes to SCSU from Saint John’s University, where he was responsible for operations of the national alumni association, the telemarketing center and the student ambassador program. Prior to Saint John’s he spent almost 10 years with the Central Minnesota Council, Boy Scouts of America, where he managed annual fundraising campaigns, membership recruitment, program development and volunteer activities and programs.

Stelten earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary education at SCSU in 1993.

Students launch water quality study at Voyageurs National Park

The seven SCSU students who joined a professor on a research outing in Voyageurs National Park early this summer were advised to pack, among other things, a sleeping bag, flashlight, boots and several pairs of socks "as you will get wet and mucky." The professor himself promised to bring along "write in the rain" notebooks and pens for each participant.

Cell phones and laptops? Not needed – no access.

Associate Professor Matt Julius, biological sciences, and his students spent two weeks collecting water samples from Rainy, Kabetogama and Namakan lakes in an effort to determine what impact, if any, houseboat grey water discharge has on water in the protected national park. Grey water is non-sewage water such as runoff from showers, sinks and decks on watercraft, the only craft allowed in the park.

The students earned three credits for the project as well as real research experience and the chance to interact and network with employees of the National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. One student stayed on, as an intern, to spend the rest of the summer completing the sampling work.

The U.S. Department of the Interior-National Park Service and SCSU funded the work. It is anticipated that the SCSU course and summer internship will begin a five-year partnership to bring SCSU research expertise to the water-based park on the northern Minnesota border.

College of Education leader named

After serving as interim dean for nearly a year, Kate Steffens has been named dean of the SCSU College of Education. She has served the University as associate dean of the college, as director of assessment and accreditation and as associate vice president for academic affairs on an interim basis.

Steffens also led the team responsible for the successful effort to have the College of Education reaccredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), when SCSU was the first school in the nation to complete new NCATE standards. A nationally recognized leader in assessment and accreditation, Steffens has served for three years as chair of the NCATE board of examiners and is an examiner for the Minnesota Board of Teaching. This year, she was named one of the top 100 alumni of the University of Minnesota College of Education.

Steffens earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Minnesota, where she also earned her doctorate in educational psychology.

The SCSU College of Education is the 12th largest producer of educators in the nation.

SCSU online programs proliferating

Changing lifestyles and technological innovations led SCSU to develop its online learning capabilities many years ago. Today the University offers more online courses than any public university outside the metro area, with 7 percent of all credits taken online.

An example is the university’s behavior analysis distance program, which has drawn attention from around the globe because students can earn a master’s degree – start to finish – without leaving their homes or jobs. The online offering was the world’s first when it was introduced five years ago. Today, students from 39 states, six Canadian provinces and six countries are enrolled.

Among the online degrees are criminal justice studies and driver education teacher preparation licensure, both of which are offered at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as a bachelor’s degree in aviation maintenance management. Students from as far away as Guam are "flying in" to earn the aviation degree, taking classes via the Internet and interacting with faculty and peers in a virtual classroom environment.

Learn more at www.stcloudstate.edu/continuingstudies.

Professor's ultrasound technology work earns research prize

Assistant Professor Aiping Yao, electrical and computer engineering, has been awarded the 2006 Lowell Hellervik Research Prize, the university's premier prize for research. He is the first recipient of the prize established with an endowment in 2005.

Yao will use the $7,500 award to develop the university's ultrasound signal processing capabilities to enhance faculty and student research. Yao is working with SCSU Professor Yi Zheng, electrical and computer engineering, and researchers from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, on developing non-invasive techniques to examine diseased tissues.

Yao, born in China, has a bachelor's degree from Peking University and a doctorate from the Beijing Institute of Technology. Since he joined SCSU, he has pursued research in digital and wireless communications and digital signal and ultrasound processing.

Crossing paths in South Africa

Students from SCSU and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, will cross paths more frequently as they take advantage of a partnership agreement signed by SCSU President Roy H. Saigo in March. While in Port Elizabeth he also spent time with a group of SCSU students who traveled there during spring break as part of an SCSU Department of Ethnic Studies course.

Expanding the university’s study-abroad program in South Africa is a significant part of Saigo’s global initiative to encourage more international experiences among students, faculty members and staff. NMMU has 20,000 students, several of whom have attended classes at SCSU.

Shahzad Ahmad, director of Multicultural Student Services at SCSU, and Professor Robert C. Johnson, chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies, have worked to strengthen the SCSU study-abroad program in South Africa. The goal is to have 20-25 SCSU students spend spring semester at NMMU after taking an introductory course on U.S. race relations and a course on modern South Africa to prepare them for their trip.

The opportunities for international study will pave the way for more students to take advantage of SCSU study-abroad programs, now offered in 20 foreign countries.

Clinton Scholarship recipient meets former president

Not only was Crystal Meyer ’06 one of only three U.S. college students to have the honor of being a Clinton Scholar in the Middle East last fall, she had the additional privilege of meeting former President Bill Clinton.

"It was a dream come true," Meyer said of her brief time with Clinton. "He’s one of two people I’ve always wanted to meet. Nelson Mandela is the other."

After Clinton’s presentation to Meyer and her fellow students at American University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Meyer, an international relations major, was chosen to ask the first question from the audience. Referring to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, she asked if he saw an end to the strife and what should be done about it.

"He talked about progress on both sides and the need to work together," she said. Meyer was pleased to have the former president autograph a copy of his book, "My Life," as a gift for her dad, Larry Meyer ’71. He and her mother, Peggy Ford Meyer ’70, have succeeded in business, politics and community service in St. Cloud since their graduation. Her sister Heather, who majored in spanish, has a business in Monterey, Mexico, with her husband, Hugo Garcia.

Crystal Meyer was one of only three fall 2005 Clinton Scholars in the nation, who receive full scholarships and living expenses. Clinton established the scholarship, which offers American college students the opportunity to gain understanding of the Arab world to share with their communities back home.

"I really fell in love with it," Meyer said of the Middle Eastern campus she attended along with students from Africa, many Middle East countries, South Asia, India and Pakistan. "International students are the majority there, not the minority." Her roommate was half Lebanese, half Palestinian, and her best friend was from Cameroon.

She was pleased to be able to come back and share some of her observations. "America is so misinformed," she said, citing as an example the belief that all Emerati women are oppressed. Many choose to wear the veil and have more freedom than westerners assume. "Emerati women are independent."

This summer Meyer came back to campus to take a political science class on terrorism. "I’m glad I waited to take it," she said. "I was able to make better contributions to the class because of my experiences in Dubai."

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS: SCSU

“In the college coaching profession, you always hope to have the chance to come back and coach at your alma mater,” Bob Motzko said a year ago when he was picked to lead the men’s hockey program at SCSU. “Now I’m one of the fortunate ones to get that opportunity.”

Motzko was being more than gracious when he made that statement – he was feeling very, very lucky. He had been a Husky during his undergraduate years at SCSU, was an assistant coach the year he graduated, and has always had a deep-seated connection to the program.

Husky hockey fans may feel very, very lucky, too. During his first season as head coach Motzko led the team to a 22-16-4 overall record, posted a 13-13-2 record in the rugged WCHA, and took the team to the championship game of the WCHA Final Five Tournament.

Motzko himself was named Inside College Hockey Coach of the Year by ESPN-affiliated InsideCollegeHockey.com; he was a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, presented by the American Hockey Coaches Association to the nation's top NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey coach; and is 2006 WCHA Coach of the Year.

Hockey got hold of Motzko when he was a fourth-grader. He remembers exactly when it began: His family had just moved to Austin and was unpacking the moving van when a neighbor walked over and introduced himself. “How many boys do you have,” he asked Motzko’s father, who responded that there were three. “I just signed them up for hockey,” declared the neighbor, who turned out to be a hockey coach. Until then baseball had been Motzko’s passion, but within months of strapping on his first skates, he said, he became “fanatical” about hockey.

After high school the hockey fanatic played for two years in the U.S. Hockey Junior League before he headed to the University of Minnesota (U of M), where he intended to play more hockey. The first year he walked on, but was cut. The next year, “My coach talked me into coming back – and he cut me again!”

“I always felt they were making a big mistake,” the Husky coach said of the Gophers, laughing. That mistake sent Motzko and three other players to SCSU. “And the minute I got here I knew it was a fit.”

Ironically, later in Motzko’s hockey career the Gophers took him back, that time as an assistant coach, and kept him for four years. “But my heart was always back here,” he said of SCSU, so when the chance arose he hurried “home” to St. Cloud.

The hockey coach says it’s exciting to be recruiting and coaching “in the best league in the country with the best tournament in college hockey.” When young Huskies can play in front of an all-time league attendance record of 19,353 people, as they did in the Final Five marquee game, well, recruiting is a little easier.

Recruiting is a part of the job for which Motzko is well-prepared. His four recruiting classes at the U of M were considered among the best in the nation, as they produced a Hobey Baker Award winner, three first team All-Americans, two second team All-Americans and many All-WCHA honorees.

Nevertheless, recruiting in the WCHA “is an arms race.” Motzko notes, for example, that the Huskies are competing for players in a league where eight of the 10 teams have built new arenas or done major renovations since the SCSU National Hockey Center was built in 1989.

But once they’re at SCSU, Motzko finds it’s a kick to coach the young men he’s responsible for. “The hockey part is easy – they want to play hockey.”

Motzko’s players quickly learn, however, that they need more than hockey skills. Academics matter to this coach – he makes it clear he’s interested, applauds them when they do well, and has been known to make surprise classroom visits. “I know they’re going to class,” he declared with confidence and a grin.

“If it’s important to the guy in charge,” Motzko said of his emphasis on academics, “They (the players) know it’s important to them.” The Husky men’s hockey team has made the grade – their coach is intensely proud of the fact that 16 of his 27 Huskies made the conference all-academic team and two are also 2006 WCHA Scholar-Athletes.

The coach is where he wants to be – at home at SCSU – and is expecting a lot of fun and excitement. “During the next couple years I’ll be looking under the hood of our program” to find out how to take it to the next level, Motzko said after his first year as head of the SCSU men’s hockey program. “I don’t have to build this team – I just have to try to build it better.”

Marjorie Proell

Athletes recognized for academic excellence

• Five Huskies were chosen to receive the inaugural Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Scholar Athlete Award. To earn recognition, honorees needed a GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale for the prior two semesters. The elite student athlete hockey players honored by the WCHA: junior forward Denelle Maguet, human resources management, Ste. Rose, Mant.; sophomore forward Laura Fast, Calgary, Alberta, elementary education; junior forward Bobbie Anderson, Whitehorse, Alberta; junior forward Nate Raduns, Sauk Rapids, economics; and sophomore defender Matt Stephenson, Midland, Ontario.
• SCSU placed a record number of student-athletes on the 2006 WCHA All-Academic team with 16 men and 13 women chosen for league honors. To be eligible student-athletes needed a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or above.
• The SCSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have been named 2006 All-America Academic teams by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. The women’s swim team, sporting a 3.3 team GPA, ranks fourth in NCAA Division II. The SCSU men, with a 2.9 team GPA, rank 13th.
• Three student-athletes were named to the 10-member 2005-06 North Central Conference Men’s All- Academic team. Honored Huskies were senior tennis player Tony Larson, Long Prairie, a physical education major; senior golfer Chris Little, Elk River, an accounting major; and sophomore tennis player Sebastain Adlerstein, Concepción, Chile, an international business major. The team, chosen from golf, tennis, wrestling and swimming and diving teams, has a combined grade point average of 3.55.

HUSKY ALL STARS

SCSU student-athletes had a terrific 2005-06 season. Achievements included:

• The women’s basketball team advanced to the Elite Eight of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II championships for the second year in a row, this time going all the way to semi-final play.
• The men’s tennis team established itself as one of the region’s top NCAA Division II programs by taking the North Central Conference (NCC) title for the fifth year in a row and receiving a NCAA Division II tournament bid for the sixth year in a row.
• The men’s hockey team returned to the WCHA Final Five, where they took runner-up honors. The Huskies finished the 2005-06 season ranked among the nation’s top 15 Division I hockey programs.
• The men’s golf team won the NCC championship and advanced to the NCAA Division II championships, where the Huskies placed 17th in the nation and senior Chris Little, accounting major from Elk River, won seventh place.
• The men’s basketball team received a bid to the 2006 NCAA Division II tournament, their fourth since 2000.
• The women’s swimming and diving team placed 12th in the nation at the NCAA Division II championships, the men’s team placed 19th, and diver Nate Jimerson, meteorology major from Apple Valley, placed second in the one- and three-meter events.

Football
Oct. 21 Homecoming vs. Minnesota State Mankato

Women’s Hockey
Oct. 21 Homecoming vs. Ohio State
Nov. 17 vs. Minnesota

Men’s Hockey
Oct. 6 Home Opener vs. University of Lethbridge
Oct. 21 Homecoming vs. Minnesota State Mankato
Nov. 11 vs. Minnesota

Women’s Basketball
Nov. 28 Home Opener vs. Concordia-St. Paul

Men’s Basketball
Nov. 17 American Family Hoopster Classic

Swimming & Diving
Nov. 4 Husky Invite
Dec. 2 Husky Diving Invite

Volleyball
Oct. 21 Homecoming vs. University of South Dakota

Wrestling
Dec. 9 SCSU Invite

More events and complete details at www.stcloudstate.edu/athletics/schedules.

Fishing for answers in Minnesota waters

In 50 years, will there be walleye left to catch in Minnesota waters? If so, will they be edible? In a state where fishing is more passion than pastime, these are especially important questions. With support from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and a $600,000 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, Professor Heiko Schoenfuss of SCSU’s biological sciences faculty and his students are tackling them.

Three of Heiko Schoenfuss's students who accompanied him on a four-week field research project on the Mississippi River this summer are: Angela Allen, Nathan Jahns and Scott Caurion

Fish are not just swimming in our lakes and rivers, they’re ingesting the water, according to Schoenfuss. And those waters are contaminated with an increasingly harmful mixture. "What happens to fish when they’re exposed to all this for long periods? That’s what we’re studying." The research is intended to assess the extent of the problem and develop tools to examine the effects.

Along with approximately 20 graduate and undergraduate students, Schoenfuss is involved in laboratory and field study on a range of projects that will keep them busy for several years, he said. In July a team ran four weeks of field research from a boat on the Mississippi River, sampling for specimens at 10-mile intervals from Bemidji to the Iowa border.

Roberto Cediel ’06, who’s beginning a master’s program in molecular biology at SCSU and was part of the fishing crew, looked forward to more of the give-and-take learning he’s experienced in several of Schoenfuss’ classes and research projects. "He makes you know why something you’re learning is important, and how it can be applied in the real world," said Cediel, of Columbia, who already has been accepted to begin a veterinary medicine program in July 2007 at St. George’s University in Grenada.

"If I had a choice of being here with students or at a research institute with employees, I’d take the students," Schoenfuss said. "They have perspectives and ideas that I don’t, and I encourage students to critique and suggest new ways of doing things. That’s where it becomes enjoyable – when students go beyond the comfort zone."

"The objective of this study is to determine how mixtures of biologically active contaminants affect fish," Schoenfuss said. "A key word here is ‘mixtures.’ We used to study one contaminant at a time." But offending substances that seep into the water don’t stay separate – they blend with potentially harmful consequences. That’s the ‘biologically active’ part.

When humans are prescribed multiple medications, care is taken to avoid mixing ones that may be harmful in combination. As those medications are flushed into the ecosystem they’re combined and "fed" to the water’s inhabitants along with treated sewage and remnants of antibacterial soaps, detergents and industrial compounds in the water.

"By doing these studies, we can assess how much damage a group of contaminants do to the environment, then work on making them less harmful," said Schoenfuss. The evolutionary anatomist has looked at how fish structures have changed over thousands of years, research that he’s applying to his current projects. What he’s finding is not so surprising: "With contaminants change occurs a lot faster."

Schoenfuss and his student researchers will grapple with how to reduce those contaminants. "Historically society embraces new and helpful products – personal care products, pharmaceutical drugs – without considering the consequences. When you hear about a new drug that will help save your life or prevent pain or graver circumstances, you don’t stop to think about how that drug will eventually affect the walleye you catch and eat."

Marsha Shoemaker

Herberger gift launches Centennial Hall revamp

The announcement of a $500,000 gift from the family of SCSU G.R. Herberger College of Business namesake and former St. Cloud businessman G.R. Herberger was the highlight of a May kickoff celebration for the renovation of Centennial Hall, SCSU’s former library.

Following extensive construction, Centennial will be the new home of the G.R. Herberger College of Business, named for the founder of Herberger’s department stores.

Members of the Herberger family came to campus for the Centennial Hall renovation kick-off celebration. President Saigo, Billie Jo, Judd, Gary and Jeanne herberger and Barbara Saigo.

The college was named after the highly respected businessman and philanthropist in response to the Herberger family’s gift of $3 million to SCSU in 1999, the year of G.R. Herberger’s death. That gift has provided an endowment to support academic excellence for the college, which has been accredited by AACSB International, the premier accrediting body for business education, for 30 years.

G.R. "Bob" Herberger, who moved his family from St. Cloud to Arizona in 1947, built a family tradition of philanthropy, founding the Herberger Foundation in 1961 to support such charities as the Salvation Army and Arizona State University with major gifts.

G.R. Herberger’s sons Gary and Judd and their families returned to Minnesota, where they spent summers in their youth, for the announcement of their gift to the Centennial Hall Renovation Campaign in May. At that time SCSU President Roy H. Saigo presented a new honor for the family – the naming of the Herberger Plaza adjacent to Centennial Hall.

Gary and Judd Herberger told campus and community guests at the kickoff event that their father was extremely proud of the hometown college during the years he was a business leader in St. Cloud and of the university it has become.

"This generous gift for the Centennial Hall Renovation Campaign will go a long way toward completing this beautiful new facility for the G.R. Herberger College of Business," said President Saigo. The renovation, expected to be finished in spring 2008, is being funded with $13 million in state bonding funds and $2.2 million to be raised through private gifts.

The transformation of Centennial Hall also will provide a new home for the SCSU Center for Student Success and for the philosophy department. The Center for Student Success will combine the Advising Center, Career Services, the Honors Program, Math Skills Center, SCSU Multicultural Student Services and other essential services for students. The Husky Bookstore and the Center for Information Systems will remain in the building.

Marsha Shoemaker

Feature Story

High Energy

FUELED BY HER passion for others

As a master’s student in the SCSU social work program in the mid-1970s, Cyndi Lesher learned a powerful lesson in career success: understand yourself, understand the people you work with and understand the organization. It’s served her well. Lesher was recently named president and CEO of Northern States Power Company-Minnesota, an Xcel Energy company.

Social work may not be a typical background for a top executive in a powerhouse business, but for Lesher it makes sense. "You can have all the technical skills in the world," she said. "But at the end of the day, it’s how you understand people that counts."

Lesher was a social worker at the Minneapolis Rehabilitation Center while she pursued her master’s degree from 1975-77. She’d heard about the program in rehabilitation counseling at SCSU – then one of just three in the country exploring the impact of disabilities on individuals – and visited with the head of the department at the time, Gene Perkins. "It was just like coming home. It was the right place for me at the right time." Commuting wasn’t easy, she said, but it was worth it for the quality faculty, students and program.

Lesher was one of a cohort of 30 in the program’s third class. "It was very innovative at the time," she said. "I liked the authenticity and the intimacy. The others in the group brought great experience and great diversity of experience."

It was another big decision for Lesher, who is directly responsible for Xcel Energy’s operations in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota, to leave the non-profit world three years after receiving her master’s. "I wanted to work in a company that matched my values." She was attracted to Xcel forerunner Northern States Power (NSP), where she worked with people with job-related illnesses and injuries.

"NSP had one of the first employee assistance programs working with people who had personal problems or chemical dependency," Lesher said. "It’s how people feel about themselves that makes them successful and happy. They don’t come to work and leave everything at the door."

Karen Young, manager of community and local government relations in the St. Cloud Xcel office, came to know Lesher in the late 1980s and watched her move smoothly into various roles, learning the "nuts and bolts" of the business. "She has loads of passion," Young said of Lesher. "She brings a sense of humor and a strong focus on making sure we’re doing the right thing."

Lesher is loved by her employees, Young said. And the feeling is mutual. "I get my energy from being with people," said the CEO. "If I’m having a bad day, I get in the car and go into the field. "

Throughout her career Lesher has been frequently honored for her commitment and leadership on a broad range of charitable activities and boards. She is chair of the Governor’s Work Force Council and is on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents. In 2003 she was inducted into the Women’s Economic Roundtable, the top 100 women executives in Minnesota.

Lesher impressed former St. Paul Mayor and now U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman with her tireless work in the state’s capitol city. "Cyndi truly represents the best of Minnesota, someone who has set the bar high not only through her professional success, but also through her commitment to community involvement," he said. "She’s a leader with a big heart and big goals and the drive and ability to bring out the best in everyone."

Lesher ’77, St. Paul, acknowledges it’s been a long and unusual journey from social work student to CEO. "Back then, if you would have said to me you’ll be a business executive, I’d say you are kidding me."

"But I’m grateful for the things I learned about myself and others. It’s contributed greatly, I believe, to the success and experience I’ve had in my career, and that of my husband, who runs a program at an alternative learning center." Dennis Lesher received his master’s degree in special education from SCSU in 1979.

Marsha Shoemaker

Quick as a fox

There’s no truth to the rumor that Fox Sports North (FSN) will be changing its corporate colors to red and black. But the Twin Cities-based sports network may want to form its own SCSU alumni chapter, as it relies on the talents of so many graduates of the university’s nationally-renowned mass communications program.

Bryan Pitt, Tyler Bieber and Anderson, Neenah in UTVS-TV studio on campus.

Today at FSN, the television home for the Twins, Minnesota Wild, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Gopher hockey (hey, it’s part of their job), SCSU graduates are prevalent from the production room to the press room.

The connection began when 1978 mass communications graduate Dick Bremer went to work for what was then the Midwest Sports Channel. The St. Michael native who cut his on-air teeth on campus radio station KVSC FM 88.1 has been the Twins’ primary television announcer at FSN since 1993.

The association was strengthened when 1987 graduate Matt Hoover, White Bear Lake, became coordinating producer for live and local FSN productions. Hoover also had great broadcast experience during his college years with SCSU’s fledgling Husky Productions.

FSN’s behind-the-camera crew also has a strong Husky presence. In addition to Hoover, SCSU alumni in the FSN control room include associate producer Chris Withers ’03, production assistant Nicole Kunkel ’05, technical director Jason Clemens ’03, Timberwolves director Dave Dittman ’84, and Twins/Wild director Matt Gangl ’95, all residents of the Twin Cities area.

Withers is an associate producer for FSN coverage of the Twins, the Wild, Gopher hockey and high school hockey. During his undergraduate days he worked on Husky Productions coverage of SCSU men’s hockey, and with FSN during his last semester at SCSU. In fact, the day he graduated, Withers left the commencement ceremony, got into his car and went to work at a Minnesota Twins game that night for FSN.

It’s the depth of experience that gives SCSU mass communications/broadcast students the edge in landing prestigious jobs like those at FSN, and keeps them coming back to recruit more graduates. “Every student with Husky Productions gets a chance to do a little bit of everything, and that includes on-air and behind the camera, so they know how each part of the business works,” Hoover said. “No question about it, my training and experience at SCSU got me a job in television. Now, whenever I look to hire someone, I go straight to St. Cloud State. They’re the best trained.”

“Very few students in college have the chance to do what SCSU students do with Husky Productions,” said Hoover, who helped produce the university’s first-ever sports television broadcast in 1986, a men’s basketball playoff game between the Huskies and Delta State. “They’re doing live games that go on television, and they’re getting that real world experience.”

On-air FSN personality Ron Johnson is another mass communications alumnus at FSN who cites hands-on experience as the SCSU program’s biggest advantage. “The classroom component is important at SCSU, but the program also puts a big emphasis on actually doing the job you hope to get,” said Johnson, St. Paul, who’s been in front of the camera at FSN Live since its inception last year.

Johnson was uncertain of his career path when he began college, but a campus connection with KVSC staff members led him to the basement of Stewart Hall. There he had a variety of roles before serving as KVSC’s sports director and working on-air with the Husky Magazine sports show and the campus television station UTVS.

Johnson also regularly covered the Huskies’ NCAA Division II football and basketball programs, an opportunity not often provided by other mass communications programs.

Johnson secured his first professional job with Media One, St. Paul, where he covered the St. Paul Saints and small college and local prep sports, then went on to be a sports anchor at the FOX affiliate in Johnstown, Penn., and covered major college football for the NBC affiliate in Mobile, Ala.

“In the jobs I’ve had since graduation, I’ve seen that we had a lot more of that training at SCSU than at other schools,” Johnson said.

An important part of the SCSU advantage comes from the mass communications faculty. The guidance provided by faculty advisor and professor Mark Mills was invaluable, Johnson said. “He put a real emphasis on how to get a job and what you need to do to prepare for that job. I was really able to learn from his experience in the industry.”

“You learn by doing at SCSU,” Withers said. “I think that’s why you see so many SCSU graduates succeeding in the business.”

Tom Nelson

911 - Students engineer software package for Carver County

The Carver County Sheriff’s Department was in need of a system to map traffic stops, traffic accidents, burglaries, thefts, arsons and other 911 incidents throughout the county. Pete Henschel, GIS application and database manager for the county, wanted to be able to pinpoint "hot" 911 incident areas, times of day, etc., which can be useful in making staffing and coverage decisions.

Nine students in a software engineering course taught by Professor Annette Schoenberger accepted the project along with a list of desired functions and five years of incident data on type of illegal activity, location, time of day/week/month and more.

It took more than 1,200 hours, but students completed the assignment.

To call their project a success, the team had to know seven programming languages, learn mapping software, set up a secure server, secure the data, create an online help system, test their program with real data and on different computers, conduct stress tests and produce software documentation, a user’s guide, a maintenance manual and an installation program – with pop-up wizards, no less – so that the client could install the software. Oh, and a slide show to facilitate handing off the project.

Students in Computer Science 431-432 learn software engineering "hands on" by developing software for real clients. Past projects have included a system to track Fingerhut employee cold calling and a program to help the SCSU Office of Records and Registration track and report to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs the credits taken by students on the GI Bill.

When students presented Carver County with the final software package, Henschel was astonished: "I was very impressed with what they’d accomplished in one semester," he said.

Professor Schoenberger was also impressed by the students. "They’ve been amazing," she had said as the semester drew to a close. "We didn’t have any meltdowns." That was in spite of a variety of glitches, one being a system crash over spring break. "This is what life in the workplace is really like," she said.

In addition, because there were just nine people on the project, each student had two functions. For example, Amanda Hiley, Windom, was the project manager and a project reviewer; James Wulkan, Hutchinson, was one of two responsible for design and one of two in charge of documentation. Also on the team, and performing dual roles, were Matthew Moline, St. Cloud; Katie Swanson, Corcoran; Brian W. Olson, St. Cloud; Steve Pearson, Anoka; Jason Amunrud, Shoreview; Shane Fogarty, Howard Lake; and Shane Moorse, Marshall.

Package cost? The time students spent on the project, which in the marketplace might cost $40 an hour or $48,000, was at no cost to the client.

Each student earned, instead, true-to-life experience, career-relevant expertise and another high grade on their transcript. Students’ grades were based on individual performance, overall team performance and exams and other course work. Grading also included a factor for peer evaluation of each student’s expertise and contributions.

Overall? "This team got an A," said Schoenberger. "They did a terrific job."

Every member of the team who graduated this spring went straight to a job in computer science. Even the only one in the group who didn’t get his bachelor’s degree (he’ll finish in December) got a job – a summer job – as a direct result of the Carver County project. Because the project gave him Microsoft.net and high-level database experience, Olson was hired by Simacor, Plymouth, as a consultant for software development and implementation services. "I’m making pretty good money right now," he admitted, with a smile in his voice. The remaining seven went straight from SCSU to jobs, too. "They’re all doing well."

Amunrud, now employed by St. Paul Travelers, says he’s already using the teamwork skills the students developed – coordination, reviewing peers’ work, reporting to management, collaboration – and "will every day of my career."

"We started out with nothing and ended up with an actual application," said Olson. "If you want experience in the real world, something that’ll be useful in a job, this is the class."

Marjorie Proell

Beating the sugar rush

Ever since he was diagnosed with Type I (juvenile onset) diabetes at the age of five, Justin Bushkofsky had wanted to be a doctor. But after he enrolled in the pre-med program at SCSU, the young man took a detour that is leading him to a lifetime of research.

When Chemistry Professor Mohammad Mahroof-Tahir shared his research with then-sophomore Bushkofsky, the latter was so impressed that he changed his major and worked alongside the professor until he earned his bachelor’s in biotechnology and biochemistry in May. As the young man’s advisor, Mahroof-Tahir was also the one who, early in the 2005-06 school year, urged him to try to present his own research to a national audience.

The student wrote a successful proposal to secure funds from the SCSU Office of Sponsored Programs to attend the four-day American Chemical Society Spring Meeting in Atlanta, Ga., in March. Five SCSU students were among the more than 900 students who made poster presentations at the event.

Bushkofsky’s presentation on the research he conducted with Mahroof-Tahir attracted the close attention of Professor Debbie Crans of Colorado State University, which has one of the nation’s leading bioinorganic chemistry programs.

Crans was so impressed that she approached Bushkofsky, invited him to look at her vanadium/biology research and, if he was interested in working with her, to give her a call about the possibility of graduate school at Colorado State. Upon Crans’ urging, he visited Colorado State to give the prestigious program there serious consideration.The 23-year-old, who’s from St. Cloud, later decided on the endocrinology graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to which he had already won admission.

Along with the motivation provided by his own experience with diabetes and his advisor’s help, Bushkofsky’s interest in a career teaching and doing diabetes research has had the enthusiastic support of his family. "It had my mom in tears when I presented my senior thesis," he said. "My parents know this is something I’ve wanted to do ever since I was little."

Bushkofsky says his research at SCSU has had a positive effect on his health. "It’s made me more aware of the complications – I’m better about what I need to do because I know the consequences." With careful control of his diet and three-times-a-day testing his diabetes is under control. But he wants to know more, with a particular goal for the future: "I want an understanding of a new aspect of the disease that I could present to the scientific community," he said.

With the help of his advisor, and the research his advisor supervised, Bushkofsky worked as an intern the summers of 2004 and 2005 in the matrix metalloprotease lab at R&D Systems, Minneapolis.

This summer, before heading off to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bushkofsky decided to "take it easy" and work at a pizzeria. "I want to relax and enjoy my friends before I go," he said shortly after graduation, friends he made while taking classes and conducting research in the SCSU Department of Chemistry. "You make a lot of good friends there."

Student shared complex research with community

The 750 people who attended the SCSU Student Research Colloquium this spring could take in Bushkofsky’s presentation to the American Chemical Society. His abstract summarized the research he did alongside Professor Mahroof-Tahir:

"Vanadium has been targeted as a possible biometallic medication for its ability to lower blood glucose levels for … diabetes. Flavonoids show strong antioxidant properties and also exhibit antidiabetic properties." Bushkofsky went on to explain that he and his advisor studied the synergistic effects of the two anti-diabetic agents, followed by a summary of their findings.

Bushkofsky was one of more than 250 students who presented their work at the student research conference, an annual event at SCSU.

Marjorie Proell

New Asian partnerships cultivate global understanding

President Roy Saigo is fond of posing this loaded question to students: "Do you think what happens in China will be important to you in the next decade?" The response, of course, is overwhelmingly positive, helping make an important point about one of his highest priorities – global education.

Saigo envisions SCSU as an increasingly global university, building on historically strong international programs that have dramatically influenced thousands of students and faculty. "I would love to see every student and faculty and staff member have at least one international experience because," as he frequently says, "international study leads to global understanding."

In the past year Saigo has visited China, Korea, Japan and South Africa to develop new exchange programs and strengthen existing partnerships with universities in those countries. In June he led a delegation of 15 deans, faculty members and the academic vice chancellor for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, Linda Baer, to China. He networked with six university presidents, the U.S. ambassador to the People's Republic of China, the World Bank country director for China and American Chamber of Commerce leaders in Beijing.

SCSU's delgation to China included: Mike Pesch, G.R. Herberger College of Business faculty; Barry Dahl, Lake Superior College's vice president for technology and the virtual campus; MnSCU Academic Vice Chancellor Linda Baer; Kathy Johnson, Colleg eof Education faculty; President Saigo; Continuing Studies Dean John Burgeson; Warren Yu, College of Science and Engineering faculty, and Norman Baer, MnSCU Career Information Systems project analyst.

The delegation also met with the Shaanxi Foreign Affairs Office in Xi'an. A leadership delegation from Xi'an universities plans to visit SCSU in March to further promote the sister-state relationship between Shaanxi Province and Minnesota.

The SCSU group discussed poverty issues, political realities and education and business relationships with business and political leaders.

"I'm always thinking about how we can use the strengths of the University, and international education is a major strength," Saigo said. Recent data show SCSU is the only university in the top 20 of comparable universities nationally in the number of study-abroad participants (ninth) while it's 19th in the number of international students. "We want to raise that to the top 10 in both areas," he said.

"I'm really excited about the potential of SCSU's international partnerships," said Kathy Johnson, special education faculty member who has worked with people with disabilities in China since 2000. She is organizing a symposium of experts on political, educational, economic and cultural aspects of China on the SCSU campus in March.

Saigo foresees significant payoffs from SCSU investments in building relationships with China. For example, Nankai University will send a Chinese language teacher to SCSU next year, a venture that may lead to an expanded exchange program for language faculty members.

The trip was a fact-finding mission, an exploration of possibilities that gave deans and faculty first-hand knowledge of China to come back and develop opportunities for further programs. Exchange programs with Shanghai University in engineering and science are probable through the efforts of SCSU Professor Warren Yu, and Professor Mert Thompson and Associate Professor Luther Rotto will lead efforts to revitalize the learning resources exchange program with Nankai University in Tianjin. College of Education faculty members explored collaborations with East China, Shaanxi and Beijing normal universities. John Burgeson, dean of continuing studies, is planning to take another faculty group to China next year to explore opportunities for SCSU online programs.

SCSU is promoting collaborations between the SCSU Department of Special Education and Beijing Normal University, the top teaching institution in China, to develop a master's degree program in that field. "We'd be the first university to work with them," Johnson said. Madame Liu, Beijing University chair and a former director of education at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., will visit SCSU in October to explore future relationships. And that's just the beginning.

"Global understanding is an important part of our university's mission," Saigo said. "Access to international education and the broadening of perspectives this kind of experience brings will help cultivate that in our students. This is the right time to build on our interconnectedness – right for our students and right for our world."

Marsha Shoemaker

Alumni Award Winners

Distinguished Alumni

A. Jake Bauerly ' 75
B.S. MANAGEMENT

It was while he was still in college that A. Jake Bauerly, Sauk Rapids, established a lifelong pattern of community service and leadership roles in business. As a student he volunteered his time to serve on the accreditation committee for the initial certification process for the College of Business at SCSU. He also began working at Bauerly Brothers, producer and placer of asphalt, aggregate and concrete, initially on road crews, where he eventually worked his way up the ranks to become part-owner and hold a variety of management roles, including president of the asphalt division. Since 2002 he has been chief operating officer and executive vice president.

Later in his career, he graduated from an executive education program at Harvard University. He continues to pursue lifelong learning with students from the three-year certification program, traveling annually to learn in different locations.

Bauerly has been active in company United Way drives, the Salvation Army Day of Caring, American Cancer Society walks, the CentraCare Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club. He has given philanthropically to the community, been involved in local politics and served on the board of directors of the National Association of Builders and Contractors and as president of the Minnesota chapter. Bauerly is on the SCSU Nursing Science Community Advisory Board.

Alumni Service Award

Peggy (Ford) Meyer ' 70
B.S. ENGLISH

Service to her alma mater and to the community is significant in the life of Peggy Meyer, St. Cloud. She and her husband, Larry Meyer ’71, endowed the Grace Scholarship, which annually provides $3,500 in tuition assistance to a deserving SCSU student. She has been a President’s Club member since 1986. Additionally, she started her career at SCSU in the 1970s as publications director. As a student she had been editor of the Talahi yearbook.

Meyer has made significant contributions of her time to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota, for whom she managed the renovation of the historic Spaniol Hotel in downtown St. Cloud to create a modern facility for the organization. She also has been active with the Central Minnesota Boys and Girls Club, a shelter for battered women, Birthline and other charities.

Meyer started Meyer Advertising in 1977 and has since been recognized many times for her distinguished career. She was charter president of the Forum of Executive Women, was a founder and president of the Advertising Federation of Central Minnesota and devised the concept and created the St. Cloud Business Center, a business incubator, now in its 20th year, which serves 35 small businesses.

G.R. Herberger College of Business Leadership Award

Elbert E. "Gil" Gilbertsons ' 54
B.A. BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

After graduation, Elbert E. "Gil" Gilbertson, Boise, Idaho, went on to earn a master’s degree in hospital administration from the University of Minnesota. He spent the majority of his career as president/administrator of St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center/Mountain States Tumor Institute, which he built from a small community hospital into one of the Intermountain West’s most successful health organizations.

Throughout his career, Gilbertson served in a number of leadership offices, including chair of the American Hospital Association, the industry’s major trade association. He received the American Hospital Association Distinguished Service Award and the American College of HealthCare Executives Gold Medal Award in 1988.

That same year, Gilbertson ended his 27-year career with the hospital. He remained active in such organizations as the YMCA, Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Visiting Nurse Association and Idaho Botanical Gardens. Most recently he has chaired the City of Boise Mayor’s Vision Committee.

College of Fine Arts and Humanities Leadership Award

Carleen Rhodes ' 73 ' 77
B.A. ENGLISH
M.A. ENGLISH

Double SCSU degree-holder Carleen Rhodes, Lakeville, is president of one of Minnesota’s three largest foundations, the Saint Paul Foundation, which works to enhance the health and vitality of the greater St. Paul area.

Rhodes, currently chair-elect of the St. Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau, serves on the executive committees of the Association of Children’s Museums, the Center for Victims of Torture, the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable, the Association of Fundraising Professionals and St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly’s Art, Culture and Entertainment Initiative.

Prior to leading the Saint Paul Foundation, Rhodes was president of the Minnesota Children’s Museum, which was recognized by Parent magazine as one of the top 10 children’s museums in the country under her tenure. She also worked in development at the College of Saint Benedict and the American Heart Association and was development counsel at a national philanthropic consultation firm. She was an English instructor at her alma mater for five years in the 1970s.

College of Education Leadership Award

Allie (Radermacher) Cronk ' 67
B.S. PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Allie Cronk was an elementary physical education teacher in the Minnetonka School District for 22 years, 13 of which she also served as the district elementary physical education chair.

Cronk, of Minnetonka, was the first women’s gymnastics coach for Minnetonka in the early 1970s. To this day she is a public address announcer with the Minnesota State High School League, recognized for her efforts with an Award of Merit in l996.

She volunteers with such organizations as Families Moving Forward, Habitat for Humanity and the Hopkins Resource Center. She also serves her church as a lector and Eucharistic minister and volunteers at local hospitals. After retirement, Cronk organized the first American Cancer Society Relay for Life in her community, an event that doubled in size within three years and has raised more than $117,000 for research.

Faculty/Staff Appreciation Award

Diane McClure
G.R. HERBERGER COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

For more than 30 years, Diane McClure, St. Cloud, has been office manager in the SCSU Department of Marketing and Business Law. She is described as a staff member "who has always gone above and beyond" to give G.R. Herberger College of Business students opportunities to advance their education.

McClure has worked to make international experiences a reality for students – both in sending SCSU students to Ingolstadt, Germany, and in welcoming German students to SCSU. She has participated in every aspect of the programs from picking up students at the airport at 10 p.m. to lining up host families.

McClure co-advises the Global Horizons Club, assists the student chapter of the American Marketing Association and coordinates the Business Career Connection to help students explore careers and network with business professionals.

Alumni News

Alumni pair first sports broadcasters in war

As leaders of the first U.S. broadcast sports crew ever to be embedded with wartime military, Ron Johnson and Chris Withers ’03 of Fox Sports North approached their unique assignment with mixed feelings. After all, their destination was Iraq, and their preparation involved being fitted for Kevlar vests and helmets.

"My heart’s a little closer to my throat," said FSN associate producer Withers the day before the crew flew into Kuwait to meet National Guard escorts and bring some welcome diversion to troops in Baghdad. "But professionally it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. The soldiers are just going to eat this up." He was right.

Chris Withers, left and Ron Johnson of Fox Sports North were equipped with full military protective dress during their stay in Iraq."

Johnson and Withers, who as students worked together at SCSU TV station UTVS, spent two weeks in Iraq covering feel-good human interest stories with a sports angle. "The experience surpassed all my expectations," said Johnson, who anchors "FSN Live." Preparation involved meeting with Fox bosses and military officials, doing research and meeting with families to be featured on the highlight of the week – a live and commercial-free telecast of the Minnesota Twins-Milwaukee Brewers game on FSN and Armed Forces television July 1. During the game five families gathered back in Minnesota’s Metrodome to talk with their soldier loved ones in Iraq through a live feed.

Besides this special game, Johnson had live interviews and stories about Minnesota National Guard soldiers on the network for six days. With the nine-hour time difference, the troops had to get up at 3 a.m. to participate. And they did so willingly.

"It was really emotional, very powerful," Johnson said of the interviews.

Johnson and Withers were grateful for the opportunity to help take the soldiers’ minds off their day-to-day activities and give them a chance to reminisce about their sports memories: Where were they when the Twins won the series? What’s their favorite Kirby Puckett memory?

They also appreciated the protection of the military. "Being embedded means we follow all their rules, that we’re one of them," said Withers. "When they ate we ate. If something happened and they went to a bunker, we’d go to the bunker. We got unprecedented treatment as the first."

"When I went I didn’t know what to expect," Johnson said. "I didn’t know if I could sleep over there. But I felt safe the entire time. We went, we made it back, and the soldiers and their wives really, really appreciated the work we did there."

Marsha Shoemaker

We Want You Back!

What would bring you back to campus? Would you come back to speak to students and share what you’ve learned since graduation? Or to honor a classmate receiving an alumni award? In an alumni survey conducted last winter, 22 percent said they had visited campus within the past year. Thirty percent feel they have stayed connected with our school. The most popular way alumni stay involved is to refer a prospective student to SCSU and the next is to hire a recent graduate. Most alumni do not plan a trip back to campus, and yet look at what you’re missing!

The Alnwick, England, British Studies Program celebrated its 25th anniversary in August beginning with a fish and chips dinner attended by approximately 400 alumni, faculty members and British home stay families who traveled to campus from Northumberland. The same weekend, nearly 3,000 alumni and hockey fans converged on campus as two former Huskies on the winning Carolina Hurricanes team brought the Stanley Cup to SCSU. This fall, we have a full line-up of homecoming events Oct. 20-22, including the Alumni Awards banquet, a football game in our still-new stadium and more.

In an effort to reach out to more alumni, Kurt Stelten ’93 will be working with the Alumni Association Board of Directors to find new ways and tried and true ways to build lifelong relationships between your University and you. It’s not too late. We want you back. Visit us at our Web site www.stcloudstate.edu/alumni or e-mail us at alumni@stcloudstate.edu and let us know what would bring you back to campus.

Jill Rudnitski, Vice President of University

Husky Pupsters

We've got baby gifts for all new additions to the Huskies roster! If you recently welcomed a new addition to the family, your alma mater would like to send you a Husky Pup t-shirt.

Call us at (320) 308-3177, toll free 1-866-GoHusky (464-8759) or www.stcloudstate.edu/alumni to "update your profile" and receive a cheerful "Congratulations!" gift from the SCSU Alumni Association.

Past Times at St Cloud State University

They came from the Twin Cities and small Minnesota towns – eight anxious, enthusiastic freshmen moved into Lawrence Hall to begin new adventures in learning and new friendships to last a lifetime. It was 1947 and, like all newcomers, they then endured the green beanies and settled into their majors. Classes and socializing brought them closer, and friendships grew deeper as they shared exciting years of discovery and good times: whist at Gussies, hockey games behind Shoemaker Hall, school dances and story teller meetings.

It was 1949 when the tightly knit group of students said goodbye to the first three graduates. Pictured outside Shoemaker Hall are (back row): Terry Prasch '49,who died in a car accident at Yellowstone Park, where the young women all worked the following summer (her funeral was their first reunion); Shirlee Weber Saatzer, St. Paul; Mary Nelson Schmitz ’49, Lindstrom; Shirley Lorenz Shanahan ’51, Ventura, Calif., and Joan Nord Campbell ’49, Elk River; (front): Karen Rogstad Winger ’51, Canyon County, Calif.; and Shirley Mann Schramm ’51, Glenwood.

Their reputations as graduates of St. Cloud helped secure them great teaching positions and prepared them for life challenges. "Our professors were outstanding and as graduates we felt confident and secure," said one. Years passed, but the friendships were not forgotten. They attended each other’s weddings and stopped to visit each other from Minnesota to California. "Round robin" letters kept them up-to-date on personal news. Then, in 2004, the women planned a reunion in Colorado Springs. Did they recognize each other? Of course. Smiles and hugs don’t change over 53 years.

P.S. The women met again in Santa Fe, N.M., in April and are talking about another reunion, this time back in St. Cloud – at Lawrence Hall, of course.

In April 2006 the group met once again at Santa Fe, N.M. (back row): Mary Nelson Schmitz ’49; Shirley Mann Schramm ’51; Shirley Weber Saatzer; Joan Nord Campbell ’49; and Lillian Root Irvin ’50, Litchfield, Minn. (front): Karen Rogstad Winger ’51; Shirley Lorenz Shanahan ’51; and Carroll Mann McDaniel ’50, Sun City, Ariz.

Marsha Shoemaker

Q & A Ask Alumni

Haseeb Alam, who returned to his native Bangladesh after he earned his degree in marketing in 1998, remains an enthusiastic supporter of his alma mater. He has recruited siblings, friends and relatives to follow him to SCSU.

What has your life been like since graduation?
It’s been work, work and work – and in Bangladesh the working norms are a little different than USA, especially when someone is holding the decision-making seat. It’s a 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. work day, every day, six days a week. But I like being busy. In between I’ve had the experience of becoming a father in 2001.

I’ve had the privilege to form the first private-sector company that created a platform for Bangladesh apparel manufacturers to showcase their production capacity in international trade fairs like the ASAP (Apparel Sourcing Association Pavilion) Trade Show in Las Vegas, of which I am regional head. I’m also the regional head for the largest European apparel and fashion trade fair organizer and for the Prime Source Hong Kong Show. Mine was the first company to bring 12 U.S. buyers with a net purchase capacity of $6 billion to the Bangladeshi Apparel Producing Community, which was never organized before. I own an apparel supply company for North American and European buyers and I have a human resource development firm that trains local people and finds them suitable skilled industrial jobs overseas.

Why did you choose to come to SCSU?
I picked Minnesota for college because I thought it was like Switzerland. I got the snow and the lakes – but no snow-capped mountains. But it was a beautiful area and a wonderful experience. Why SCSU in particular? Because SCSU took most of the credits that I completed back in Bangladesh. At the end of the day, I thank SCSU for choosing me and giving me this wonderful experience.

What did you enjoy most about campus life?
Every day I thank my lucky stars for taking me to SCSU and St. Cloud – I saw firsthand what the real America is and I had the wonderful opportunity to meet nice, warm and friendly people all over.

What were some of the biggest challenges of studying so far from home?
Obviously it has to be the same for all international students – not seeing my family/loved ones for so long. When I came to St. Cloud I paid $2.50 a minute to call home, but by the time I left it was $0.79 a minute. So, over time – home sickness also got better.

Who were your favorite or most memorable professors, and why?
One was my first and only advisor, Professor Kenneth Miller in marketing, who gave me the best suggestions to get through my schooling. I would add Jerry Pasela, the Center for International Studies, who was there for every international student on a 24/7 basis.

Do you ever get back to campus?
I come to St. Cloud about twice a year. My sister graduated from SCSU and now my brother is going to SCSU. Since I’m running out of siblings, I’m trying to gear up my association with alumni to find further avenues to develop my active participation with SCSU. So far I have brought eight students to SCSU over the years and have offered to explore ways to promote SCSU here in Bangladesh.

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