"THE WILL TO LIVE: A German Family's Flight from Soviet Rule."
It is a true story of her German family, her mother, grandmother and four children fleeing from the approaching Russian Red Army and from Polish men who took over their home and property during World War II. Having lost all their rights, the women tell of their sudden homelessness, hunger, torture, and forced labor, long after the war was over. Their strong will and invincible courage to live under treacherous conditions renews faith in the human spirit to overcome inhumanity. This book contains only three lived narratives of the fifteen million German civilians (mainly women, children and elderly) who were dispossessed and expelled from their homes during one of the largest forced mass migrations of the twentieth century.
The Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning is proud to announce the featured author of our ‘Conversation With the Author’ series…
“…an invitation to everyone who cares about the academy to revisit its roots and help reclaim its highest calling.
Facilitators: Pat Hauslein, Rebecca Crowell, and Lalita Subrahmanyan
Parker J. Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach and founder of the Center for Courage & Renewal, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics and former director of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, advocate a holistic approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human being – mind, heart and spirit. The Heart of Higher Education offers a rich interplay of analysis, theory, and action options and models to help colleges and universities become places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty and staff. The authors propose an approach to educational renewal grounded in collegiality and conversation.
The Heart of Higher Education is for all who are new to the field of integrative education, all who want to deepen their understanding of its challenges and prospects, and all who want to practice and promote this vital approach to teaching & learning on their campuses.
Spirits in the Grass is a novel about a small town ballplayer who discovers the remains of an ancient Native American burial ground on a baseball field. The book is part mystery, part love story, part baseball tale, and part search for 
spiritual meaning.
The book won the 2008 award for Best General Fiction from the Midwest Independent Book Publishers Association, and was chosen as a
“Midwest Favorite” by the Midwest Bookseller’s association. The book will be released as an ebook from the University of Notre Dame Press on February 1.
Charles Fadel and Bernie Trillings 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times
“…This book makes clear why education must change: to help prepare students to meet complex challenges, fulfill their civic responsibilities, and live fulfilling lives. Full of crisp descriptions, 21st Century Skills persuasively shows why policymakers and educators should run not walk—to implement 21st learning designs. As Trilling and Fadel simply put it, it’s time to give all students the chance to learn how to build a better world.”
John Wilson, Executive Director, National Education Association
Teaching Unprepared Students: Strategies for Promoting Success and Retention in Higher Education 
Friday, November 04, 2011, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Mississippi Room, Atwood
Facilitator: Mikhail Blinnikov
Description:
This book provides professors and teaching assistants with techniques and approaches they can use in class to help at-risk students raise their skills so that they can successfully complete their studies. The author shares proven practices that will not only engage all students in a class, but also create the conditions "while maintaining high standards and high expectations" to enable at-risk and under-prepared students to develop academically and graduate with good grades.
Review from Professor Blinnikov:
I found this to be a little gem of a book, read the whole thing in 2 weeks and am incorporating some of her ideas into my introductory classes. Some of the best ideas include the need for establishing early rapport with students, using immediate classroom feedback, and incorporating assessment into reading and writing assignments. Also fun and easy to read and makes professors want to try many techniques.
Conversation with the Faculty/Staff Author
Title: Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865
Tuesday, September 20, 2011. 11:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.
Location: Atwood Memorial Center, Alumni Room
Facilitator: Christopher Lehman, Professor of Ethnic Studies
Description:
Although the passing of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 banned African American slavery in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, making the new territory officially "free," slavery in fact persisted in the region through the end of the Civil War. Slaves accompanied presidential appointees serving as soldiers or federal officials in the Upper Mississippi, worked in federally supported mines, and openly accompanied southern travelers. Entrepreneurs from the East Coast started pro-slavery riverfront communities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota to woo vacationing slaveholders.
Midwestern slaves joined their southern counterparts in suffering family separations, beatings, auctions, and other indignities that accompanied status as chattel. This revealing work explores all facets of the "peculiar institution" in this peculiar location and its impact on the social and political development of the United States.
Title: “Female veterans: Meeting their needs upon reintegration”
Wednesday, April 20, 2011. 11:30 - 12:30 p.m.
Location: Miller Center 114/115
Facilitator: Laura Boden, Coordinator, Higher Education Veterans Program AND Karen Thoms, SCSU Professor
Description: In 30 years, the percentage of women making up the active-duty force rose from 2.5% to 14%. Media reports indicate that approximately 11% of U.S. troops deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are women. This has been a historic increase in women who have been deployed to combat zones. The exposure to the stresses of war has increased as their location in combat zones increased. Lines between combat and noncombat missions are blurry. Thus, women are exposed to the same dangers of war as men and are subject to the same stresses and mental health concerns. Female military personnel have to deal with the dangers of war plus they may have to work through cases of sexual harassment or sexual assault. Discussion will include a number of these physical and psychological issues that must be addressed in order for women veterans to reintegrate into society and establish or reestablish themselves as students.
Title: Moral Capitalism
Monday, April 18, 2011. 3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Location: Miller Center 114/115
Facilitator: John Palmer
Description: Exploring this topic has the potential to help inform students and faculty concerning how each of us can interact with the world around us to foster wealth creation that provides the resources to raise standards of living for all people. In light of developments both in the public and private sector that have occurred since the publication of this work, the author will provide a concluding community presentation and a seminar for all book talk participants.
Guest Lecture Open to Students, Faculty, and Community Members
Moral Capitalism Revisited
Monday, April 18, 2011. 7 PM – 9 PM
Location: Education Building B 229
Presenter: Stephen Young, Author.
The author of Moral Capitalism Reconciling Private Interest with the Public Good will explore how each of us can interact with the world around us to foster wealth creation that provides the resources to raise standards of living for all people. In light of developments both in the public and private sector that have occurred since the publication of this work in 2002, the author will provide his reflections on how events of the past decade may have changed his views on Moral Capitalism.
Title: Creating a Veteran Friendly Campus: Strategies for Transition and Success
Tuesday, April 5, 2011. 11:30 - 12:30 p.m.
Location: Miller Center 114/115
Facilitator: Karen Thoms and John Eggers
Description: Addressing the needs of today's student veteran population, as they transition from war to the classroom, families and their communities, is a goal of higher education nationally as well as specifically at St. Cloud State University.
Facilitated by Joseph Melcher, Carolyn Hartz, Stuart Umberger, Michael Mills and students of SCSU
Title: Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses
Book Talk
Tuesday, March 1, 2011. 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Atwood Memorial Center, Cascade Room
From Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU)
Title: Responding
to Academically Adrift: What Colleges Can Do
Audio Conference and PowerPoint Presentation
Friday, February 18, 2011. Noon - 2 p.m.
Location: Miller Center B17
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation
Title: North Country
Tuesday, February 1, 2011. Noon - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Atwood Memorial Center, Glacier North
Facilitator: Mary Wingerd, professor of Public History
Title: The Right to Be Out Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in America’s Public Schools
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Location: Miller Center 114-115
Facilitator: Rachel Wexelbaum
If you have published a book recently, or if you know of a book that would be of university-wide interest, we invite you to be a Book Talk Facilitator!
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