a p r i l
2 0 1 3 ,
v o l u m e
1 9 ,
n u m b e r
1
Metropolitan State University
College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter
In this issue
Our other lives
• Student and alumni news, p. 2
e walk among one another by day, most of us strangers to
each other. Our university work, though, can create surprising
closenesses. Collaboration on a committee leads to friendships.
Teaching and learning creates mutual excitement and feelings of
achievement. Even close colleagues might be surprised, however, to learn
about the secret lives we live after hours and away from the university. Read
on to discover how your advisors, your students, and your faculty enrich
their hours away from work and study.
• From the Dean, p. 4
• Farewell to retiring faculty, p. 5
• Faculty and advisor news, p. 6
W
One of our Graduate Math Tutors, for instance, travels to the jungle in
search of lost WWII soldiers. Steven Briggs explains his activities:
College of Arts
and Sciences
Newsletter
April 2013
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, more than 70,000 American
military personnel from World War II are still listed as missing in action
(MIA). I joined a small group of adventurers into the jungles of Papua, New
Guinea, where an estimated 300+ American airplanes are still lost in the
island’s jungles. Our goal was to locate World War II Americans missing in
action. The mission’s challenge was to follow up on leads provided to our
scouts/trackers on six reported aircraft crash sites. We found human remains
at a B-24 crash site deep in the jungle. We returned home with 21 World War
II dog tags.
Volume 19, Number 1
(continued on page 3)
Editor
Tammy Durant
To contact the College of Arts
and Sciences, call 651-793-1440
or see our Web page at
www.metrostate.edu/cas/
Steven Briggs searches the wreckage of a B-24.
2
april 2013, volume 19, number 1
Student and alumni news
Rachel Anderson (alumna), writing
as Rachel Darling, published her
story “Gay Marriage, Semantics, and
a Fallen Bridge” in the anthology
Here Come the Brides: Reflections
on Lesbian Love and Marriage (Seal
Press, 2012).
Kenny Bellew (alumnus) has
contributed a story to Atheist Voices of
Minnesota: An Anthology of Personal
Stories (Freethought House, 2012).
His story, “Front Sliding,” recounts his
loss of faith while an instructor at a
Bible college.
Charity Campbell has been hired as a
social media manager of a brand-new
online coupon company.
Catherine Chenoweth is the
communications and incentives
coordinator of the Customer Service
Department of Sleep Number. She’s
recently become the mother of a
baby boy.
Melanie Christianson (alumna)
just started her M.A. in forensic
psychology at the University of North
Dakota. She’s also been appointed
to a two-year term to the Northwest
Hennepin Human Services Council
Advisory Commission.
Neil Cunningham (alumnus, M.S. in
Technical Communications)
co-presented a paper, “Appropriating
Clausewitz’s ‘Center of Gravity’:
Creating a Writing Center at the U.S.
Naval War College,” with the Center’s
director. This presentation described
some of the ways the NWC Writing
Center developed in response to the
unique needs of the active military
and civilian students. Cunningham
also became a faculty member at
the University of Phoenix in the fall
of 2012, teaching undergraduate
composition and rhetoric.
Tiffini Flynn Forslund has become
a post-bac student in the Urban
Teaching Program and has become
the Minnesota Chapter contact for
FCLU.org.
James C. Henderson is coeditor and
contributor to Occupied Minds, an
online magazine devoted to in-depth
discussion of issues arising from
the Occupy movement. Occupied
Minds welcomes submissions from
the Metropolitan State Community.
https://sites.google.com/site/
occupiedmindsmagazine/home.
Courtney Huber (alumna) just
celebrated her one-year anniversary
as a communications specialist at
Sajan, a language translation services
company in River Falls, WI.
Debra Kelly (alumna, Creative
Writing) has recently had several
articles accepted for publication in
the anthology Recovering the Self: A
Journal of Hope and Healing available
Metropolitan State University’s Academic Affairs
and Alumni Association 2012 purchase award
went to recent alum Heidi Fuhr of Saint Paul.
Fuhr’s work is a portrait of her daughter entitled
Prism Girl. It was executed with acrylic paints on
a wood panel.
Congratulations to Miranda Brist,
the First Place Winner of the 2012
Sociologists of Minnesota Annual
Student Paper Competion. Brist’s paper
was entitled “Social Constructionism
and Science: Escaping the Desert of
Metaphysics.” Her faculty sponsor was
Monte Bute.
through Amazon.com. “As I Choose
to See It” was the feature story of
the April/May edition. Another, a
humorous story about aging called
“When Did This Happen,” is slated
for the July/August edition. Both
are stories she wrote for classes at
Metropolitan State University.
Rachel LaCasse-Ford (alumna,
Literature and Language) was
accepted to Purdue University’s
Literature M.A. Program where she
also landed a Teaching Assistantship
starting Fall 2012.
Khanh Le (alumnus, Computer
Information Systems) is currently
working as a senior software engineer
at Safran Morpho Trust.
Dave Miliotis (alumnus, English)
started a new job in November, 2012,
as vice president of human resources
for Equus Computer Systems,
Minnetonka, MN. He earned
(continued on page 5)
Metropolitan State University College of Arts and Sciences
Our other lives
continued from page 1
We knew her first as an academic advisor in CAS as well as the Power of
YOU coordinator in Student Affairs. Now we know Jennifer Binder as
coordinator for TRIO Student Support Services. Away from the halls and
offices of the University, however, Binder leads an active and rich life. As she
explains: “My hobbies include Taekwondo (I am three belts away from black
belt); I lived in South Korea last year with my partner and we both taught
English at a private school; I do some acting on the side; and I sing karaoke with
a live band every month in Hopkins, Minnesota, as well as regular karaoke at
Grumpy’s in Roseville.” We suspect that she must sleep some time; however,
this has not been proven.
Alec Sonsteby and Adela Peskorz may appear to be mild-mannered librarians
here at home, but they are almighty judges of the nation’s books. Sonsteby
served on the Outstanding Reference Sources committee, recommending the
best reference publications for small and medium-sized public and academic
libraries. Peskorz served on the Sophie Brody Medal committee (which
recognizes outstanding achievement in Jewish literature), the Award for
Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults committee (which honors the best
nonfiction book for young adults), and the Rainbow List Award committee
(which selects quality books with significant and authentic GLBTQ content
for young people from birth through eighteen years of age). Go ahead: ask
them to recommend a good book!
At Metropolitan State, you might know Lynda Zimmerman as an alumna
of the M.S. in Techical Communications program. Or perhaps she was your
business writing teacher. Maybe you know her as an advisor in the School
of Nursing. On weekends and vacations, though, you’ll find her riding her
Paso Fino mare, Zia. She explains: I love the outdoors, and being out there
with my horse not only gives me a new perspective, but allows me wonderful
opportunities to explore miles of trails. Endurance work is not just about
speed; we look look for wildlife, birds, and scenic vistas, too. But I find that
the competitions give purpose to our “wanderings” and a goal to focus on and
measure, including the more technical aspects of monitoring time, nutrition,
condition, and performance. My mare enjoys the competition and loves to
be out there, too, as evidenced by her energy, eagerness to ride out, and
willingness to please me. The time together, shared goals and experiences, create
a close bond between us, the kind of intimate relationship found when one’s life
can depend on the other. This type of outdoor challenge, the teamwork, and the
close relationship with my horse that results appeal to and satisfy my soul!
3
4
april 2013, volume 19, number 1
From the College of Arts and Sciences Dean
The College of Arts and Sciences
looks back on 2012–13 as a year of
productivity and achievement and looks
forward to a year of exciting additions.
This year, we taught and advised more
students than ever before. Twin Cities
Business Magazine has named
Metropolitan State University the
fastest growing university or college in the
state, having increased enrollments by over 1,700 students
in just three years. With nearly 12,000 students at the
university, the College of Arts and Sciences is offering more
classes and advising more students to meet the demands
associated with being the provider of most of the general
education classes and home to over twenty majors and three
graduate degrees.
While continuing to meet the needs of increasing numbers of
students, faculty continued to engage in top level scholarship
and create award winning work. Ed Bok Lee won both the 2012
American Book Award and the 2012 Minnesota Book Award
for Poetry. Tom O’Connell was awarded the Solon J. Buck
Award for co-authoring the best Minnesota History magazine
article of 2011. Jose Santos received strong reviews for his book,
Evangelicism and Masculinity: Faith and Gender in El Salvador.
As other sections of the newsletter make known, many other
faculty received awards, presented papers at high-profile
conferences, and published high quality works.
This year, CAS students took advantage of new and transformed
majors in Technical Communication and Professional Writing,
Creative Writing, and the B.S. in Biology. Others took classes
such as the revitalized photography courses and new classes
such as ESCI 305: Earth’s Climate, Past and Future; HUM 364:
Harlem Renaissance; and MDST 465: Communicating with
New Media. Transformed lab spaces offered better uses of
Architect’s sketch of the proposed
Science Education Center’s west elevation.
technology, such as New Main L103 serving Information and
Computer Sciences classes, and the Digital Media Lab FL122
serving many courses in Communication, Writing, Arts,
and Screenwriting.
Here at the nation’s premier university for lifelong learning,
students are increasingly taking note that the liberal arts and
sciences teach the skills employers consistently rate as the
most desired in employees: critical thinking, writing, and
communication. Not only do the majors and courses offered
by the College of Arts and Sciences develop skills that sustain
quality career paths over the six-eight job changes experienced
by most workers, but they also prepare them for finding voices
as ethical and informed citizens contributing to communities
and celebrating the arts.
In order to continue to meet these high expectations for
growing numbers of students, next year we will add two new
Natural Sciences faculty (ecology and chemistry) and a new
Social Scientist (political science). In addition, we will begin
offering a Chemistry major and a Professional Science
Master’s track within the M.S. in Computer Science. New
courses are also on the horizon, including HIST 348: US
Legal History, CHEM 241: Quantitative Analysis, and
HUM 327: Convinvencia.
We are anticipating the final phases of a new Science Education
Center. The design of the building is completed, and we now
need to secure bonding. Constructing on 6th Street (directly
across from Founder’s Hall) will require state funds, and
everyone is encouraged to contact their Minnesota legislators
to advocate for badly needed science labs, classroom space, and
opportunities for students to engage in research projects.
The College of Arts and Sciences is proud of its many achievements
and looks forward to new opportunities next year.
5
Metropolitan State University College of Arts and Sciences
Student and alumni news
his SPHR certification from the
Human Resources Certification
Institute in January, 2013.
Renee Noren (alumna) is interning
with the Olympic National Park’s
Interpretation/Education division.
She hopes to continue her career with
the National Parks Service seasonally,
until a more permanent position
becomes available.
Elizabeth Pretzel (alumna) is
tutoring with the Minnesota
Reading Corps, an Americorps
program that provides trained
literacy tutors for Pre-K and K-3
students. She’s also involved in the
G.E.M.S. Mentoring program at
Metropolitan State University.
Kristine Price (alumna) reports
that her son, Kevin Windhauser, is
continued from page 2
studying at Oxford at the Center for
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
and has been awarded a fellowship
to research his Milton thesis this
summer at St. John’s. So, Mom’s
pretty proud.
Craig Santer (alumnus, English,
Master of Liberal Arts) is pleased
to report his first post as college
instructor teaching WRIT 331:
Writing in Your Major.
Denise Stephens (alumna) is the
grant program manager for Graduate
Minnesota, a statewide outreach
program by the Minnesota State
Colleges and Universities and the
University of Minnesota to encourage
students who have earned some
college credits to complete their
associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
www.graduateminnesota.org
Farewell to retiring CAS faculty
The College of Arts and Sciences bids farewell to Professor Tom O’Connell
(Social Sciences) and Professor Kathy Wellington (Communication,
Writing, and the Arts).
Wellington, pictured at right on a recent hike outside Seattle, reports
that she misses her students and colleagues in CAS but is glad to have
time to visit her sons in the NW, her daughter in Minneapolis, and family
in New England. Recent undertakings include adult literacy tutoring,
writing projects for a local company, and possibly participating with a
large nonprofit mental health organization. “I’ve always thought life
is a series of transformations,” she muses.
O’Connell, pictured at left, capped his last year at
Metropolitan State by winning Minnesota History
magazine’s 2011 Solon J. Buck Award for the best article
of the year. Co-authored with Tom Beer, the article is
entitled “Father Francis Gilligan and the Struggle for
Civil Rights.”
Congratulations to both professors for being named
Professors Emeriti by University President
Sue Hammersmith.
Josh Witzig started a company,
Water and Energy Solutions, Inc.,
that designs and implements key
conservation programs for utility
companies throughout the country.
The company’s 50+ employees
market utility funded programs and
installs conservation equipment
such as shower heads and
programmable thermostats.
Boa Yang (alumnus, Professional
Communication) is the student
advisor for Hennepin Technical
College’s TRIO Student Support
Services.
6
april 2013, volume 19, number 1
Faculty and advisor news
Anne Aronson (Communication, Writing,
and the Arts) published the chapter
“Dames in the Dirt: Women’s Baseball
before 1945” in Short But Wondrous
Summers: Baseball in the North Star
State, Society for American Baseball
Research, 2012.
Virginia Card (Natural Sciences)
and Rikki Wagstrom (Mathematics)
presented “Variations on the MacDonaldPfitzer theme: Mathematical models
and a paleolimnological record” at the
International Diatom Symposium in
Ghent, Belgium, in August, 2012.
Tom Atchinson (Philosophy) gave a talk
entitled “Distrusting Climate Science:
A Problem in Practical Epistemology
for Citizens” at the conference Between
Scientists and Citizens: Assessing Expertise
in Policy Controversies, June, 2012, at
Iowa State University and organized by
the Great Plains Society for the Study of
Argumentation. Atchinson also gave a
talk, “False Consciousness Reconsidered,”
at the Twenty-Ninth International Social
Philosophy Conference, sponsored by
the North American Society for Social
Philosophy, July, 2012.
Robbin Clamons (Literature and
Language) announces an article
co-written with Mi’eessa Yaachis and
Lenief Heimstead, “Locationals in
Oromo,” forthcoming in Studies in
African Linguistics 41.2.
Craig Calcaterra (Mathematics)
has been awarded a Fulbright
for one or two semesters at the
University of Trento (in Italy, at
the foot of the Alps), with tentative
plans for teaching a graduate
course on stochastic dynamics.
He’ll travel with his wife and two
children...and eat gelato every day.
Ramin Daghigh (Natural Sciences) is
among 16 invited speakers for Black
Holes IX, the ninth conference on the
theory and mathematical aspects of
black holes. The meeting covers a wide
variety of topics such as exact black
hole solutions of Einstein’s equations in
higher and lower dimensions, the search
for and properties of astrophysical black
holes, uniqueness theorems, black hole
thermodynamics, dark matter and dark
energy, loop-quantum gravity and
string-theoretic approaches to black
hole physics, gauge-gravity duality,
numerical studies of black hole collisions,
gravitational wave production in systems
containing black holes, and critical
gravitational collapse.
Janet Enke (Social Sciences) has
published “Body Lessons” in Contexts
12.1, Winter 2013.
Dean Becky Omdahl has authored and co-edited Problematic
Relationships in the Workplace, Volume 2, with Janie M. Harden Fritz
(Peter Lang Publishers, 2012).Understanding and minimizing
problematic relationships in the workplace are goals shared by
those who work in and lead organizations as well as those who
study organizations. This volume explores troublesome behaviors
and patterns that shape relationships, presents insights gained
from in-depth work on contexts and frameworks, and addresses the
potential to restore these relationships to greater well-being. Omdahl
finds time to write by using her vacation days to visit her co-author, a
dear friend from their days as office mates at the University
of Wisconsin.
Dean Becky Omdahl and cats ponder how
to make workplace relations better.
KuoDi Jian (Computer Sciences)
co-authored a paper with Sudeep
entitled “The Study of Rare Event
Systems’ Behavior Using Simulation”
for the International Journal of
Automation and Control Engineering
1.1, 2012. He also has a book chapter,
“Knowledge Management in
Bio-Information Systems
(Bioinformatics),” which will be
published in Intelligent Systems.
Lawrence Moe (Literature and Language)
continues his research into the early folk
poetry of the Red River Valley of the
North. Besides addressing the Society
for the Study of Midwest Literature
at Michigan University, and speaking at
Augsburg College, Moe has recently
presented to the Women’s Club of
Minneapolis, the Norwegian-American
Genealogical Association, the national
convention of the Tre Lag Stevne (a
Norweigan-American cultural association
that met last summer in Fargo),
Mindekirken, and many lifelong learning
organizations around the region.
Michal Moskow (Communication,
Writing, and the Arts) is on the board
of Somali Family Services. SFS and the
associated Puntland Library Resouce
Center have received numberous grants
for programs including funding and
educating women who start or increase
businesses; youth at risk; and nomadic
7
Metropolitan State University College of Arts and Sciences
education, encompassing training and
hiring teachers and providing a mobile
library via camels. Moskow is also chair
of the board of a new Somali Human
Rights Commission, headquartered in
the Twin Cities.
Sumiko Otsubo (History) published a
book chapter, “Emperor, Family, and
Modernity: The Passage of the 1940
National Eugenics Law,” in Tumultuous
Decade: Japan’s Challenge to the
International System, 1931-1941, edited
by Kimura Masato and Tosh Minohara
with University of Toronto Press, 2013.
She also published her review of Women’s
Movements in Asia, edited by Roces
and Edwards, in the Women’s History
Review, 2013.
Erica Rasmussen (Communication,
Writing, and the Arts) organized her
solo show entitled Hecho a Mano: Los
Libros de Erica Spitzer Rasmussen at the
Academia de San Carlos (of the National
Autonomous University of Mexico) in
November, 2012. While in Mexico, she
also taught a workshop and participated
in a national symposium dedicated to
writing, typography, and the book arts.
Currently, Rasmussen is travelling the
U.S. with her sculptural undergarments
in a group exhibition entitled Underneath
It All. Another solo show, Second Skins, is
scheduled for the University of Montana
(Missoula) in March, 2013.
Doug Rossinow (History) was the
keynote speaker for the fifth annual
graduate student conference, convened
by the Department of History at Boston
University, March, 2013, with the theme:
“The Sixties at Fifty.” Rossinow also has
an article, “The Legend of Ronald Reagan,
Peacemaker,” coming out in the Winter
2013 issue of Raritan. The paper grows
out of presentations he’s made over the
last few years, including one to CAS
alumni here on campus.
Amy Sands (Communication, Writing,
and the Arts) was an invited artist for
the Prints Tokyo 2012 exhibition at the
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. She
also received a Juror’s Award for her
Janurary-March 2013 MAPC Juried
Members Exhibtion at the McDonough
Museum of Art, Youngstown, OH. Sands
presented her paper, “Synchronously
Significant: The Effectiveness of Online
vs. Traditional Studio Instruction,” at the
2013 College Art Association Conference.
Carol Anne Wall (Communication,
Writing, and the Arts) published her
essay “Back Again” in the 2013 Saint
Paul Almanac.
Wei Wei (Mathematics) presented the
“Effects of Using Tablets in Lectures
on Student Learning in Mathematics
Courses” at the Joint Mathematics Meeting
in San Diego, January, 2013. Wei has
recently co-authored a paper with J. M.
Dingel and A. Huq entitled “Cooperative
Learning and Peer Evaluation: The Effect
of Free Riders on Team Performance
and the Relationship Between Course
Performance and Peer Evaluation,”
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning 13.1, 2013.
Judy Helgen (Natural Sciences) has published Peril in
the Ponds: Deformed Frogs, Politics, and a Biologist’s
Quest with University of Massachusetts Press,
detailing a government biologist’s investigation into
the mystery of deformed frogs and providing an inside
view of a highly charged environmental issue that
aroused the attention of the public and the media and
sparked controversies among scientists, politicians,
and government agencies.
Kristin F. Johnson (Communication,
Writing, and the Arts, pictured above
signing The Endurance Expedition)
published two pieces in The Talking
Stick Journal (Vol. 21): “Snowball’s
Chance,” a poem; and “Nailed,” her
first creative nonfiction publication.
Johnson was also awarded a 2013
MN State Arts Board Grant for
$10,000 to work with mentor Jane
Resh Thomas and complete a current
writing project. Johnson is working
on a MG novel about her mother and
grandmother growing up poor in St.
Paul’s East side.
Jose Santos (Social Sciences) has published Evangelicism
and Masculinity: Faith and Gender in El Salvador
with Lexington Books. The work explores the recent
explosion of the Evangelical movement in Latin
America and how men’s religious conversions challenge
notions of machismo. Evangelical converts maintain a
strict set of gender roles, which they percieve as
divinely mandated. Santos theorizes an Evangelical
Worldview, experienced as a cosmic narrative that
obligates a Christian masculinity.
College of Arts and Sciences
700 East Seventh Street
Saint Paul, Minnesota
55106-5000
The Art Exhibition Committee
is pleased to announce that the
2012 Art Purchase Award was
awarded to student Rebekah Pahr.
The work is a mixed media drawing
(Sharpie marker on Arches paper)
entitled Thistle at Sunset.
College of Arts and Sciences Newsletter
april 2013
A member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
An equal opportunity educator and employer.
Anyone with disabilities needing accommodations for a Metropolitan State event or who
needs a publication in an alternative format should call Disability Services at 651.793.1549.
Nonprofit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Twin Cities, MN
Permit No. 4591