The Yellow Sheet 2001March 8, 2001 | Volume 33, Number 19

News & Announcements

• Greater Gustavus Award -- Richard Elvee, retired chaplain. Elvee served as chaplain from 1962-2000, was creative leader of Christmas in Christ Chapel from 1972-2000, and was director of the Nobel Conference from 1981-2000. This award is the highest award given by the alumni association and it is presented to individuals who have "significantly advanced and aided" the College.
• Distinguished Alumni Citation -- Mary Nielsen Allan (’65), of Pleasant Hill, CA, who is an elementary teacher at Jack London Elementary in Antioch, CA, and was chosen California Teacher of the Year; Ivy Schutz Bernhardson (’73), of Bloomington, MN, who is head of mergers and acquisitions at Leonard, Street, and Deinard; and David Esbjornson (’75), of New York, who is a theatre director and playwright. These citations are awarded annually on the basis of the difficulty of the alumni’s accomplishments; the quality, creativity, and distinctiveness of performance; recognition by professional peers; and lasting contribution to the world of ideas and affairs.
• First Decade Award -- Stacy Vezina ('91), of Boston, who is an attorney at Ropes and Gray. The male recipient is Philip Hotchkiss ('91), of Minneapolis, who is president and CEO of BigCharts Inc. First Decade Awards are presented each year by the alumni association to 1 female and 1 male graduate of the 10th anniversary class in recognition of early professional achievement.

History Student Papers Sought... The history department invites students to submit papers for consideration in the annual DeNault Award competition. All papers written for Gustavus history courses during the 2000 calendar year or January Term 2001 are eligible. All types of papers may be submitted, including research papers, thematic essays, critical reviews, reaction essays, and narrative essays. Up to 2 awards will be given. (The award amount varies, depending on the annual income from the DeNault endowment. Awards typically are between $75 and $100.) To submit a paper, prepare a clean copy of the original paper submitted for the course. Do not submit a copy with the instructor's grade or comments on it. Individuals may correct spelling and grammar errors made in the original but may not make substantive changes. Each paper should be essentially the same as it was when submitted for the course. To allow for impartial evaluation, entrants must exclude their name from the paper. Instead, attach a separate cover page with the author's name and the title of the paper. Each cover page and paper will be given a number code and the readers will not know the authors' names until after the papers have been read and judged. Individuals may not submit more than 1 paper. Entries must be submitted to Kevin Byrne by March 19. The winner(s) will be recognized in the Honors Day program.

Recommendations for Gustavus Pride Sought... All are invited to make recommendations for new members for the student ambassador group Gustavus Pride for 2001-02. The group of student leaders is committed to enhancing the public image of Gustavus by representing the student body at events planned by the offices of admission, and institutional advancement (including alumni relations, church relations, and public relations). Names of current students who exemplify good leadership qualities and who are enthusiastic about Gustavus should be directed to Barb Larson Taylor (x7515 or btaylor@gustavus.edu). Applications are due April 3 and may be obtained at the Information Center in the Campus Center.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• March 9 -- Hashi Egal, 2 Peter 2: 4-21;
• March 11 -- Chaplain Brian Johnson, 2nd Sunday in Lent;
• March 12 -- Rabbi Herbert Brockman, Exodus 33:1-6;
• March 13 -- John Stendahl, Numbers 14: 10b-24;
• March 14 -- Lenten Liturgy, Luke 13: 22-31;
• March 15 -- Amnesty International, 2 Chronicles 20:1-22;
• March 16 -- Joyce Sutphen, Romans 4: 1-12; and
• March 18 -- 3rd Sunday in Lent.

Senior Cello Recital Saturday... Senior 'cellist Arno Merkle will present a recital at 3:30 p.m. March 10 in Bjorling Recital Hall. He will be accompanied by pianist Rebekah Richards and assisted by the Nevskoye String Quartet. Merkle will present solo works for 'cello and piano, a work for violin and 'cello with violinist Angela Ziebarth, and string quartets with the Nevskoye String Quartet, consisting of Gustavus chamber musicians Ziebarth and Arianne Waseen (violin), Tyson Acker (viola), and Merkle ('cello). This recital is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

Faculty Recital Saturday... Pianist John McKay, music, and Minneapolis violinist Mary Horozaniecki, will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. March 10 in Bjorling Recital Hall. McKay is well known throughout the region as a virtuoso pianist. Horozaniecki is the former principal violinist with the Sartory String Quartet and the quartet in residence with the Minnesota Valley Sommarfest. They have teamed up often to present chamber recitals on campus. On the program are 3 works for violin and piano: Mozart's Sonata in G Major (1 of the first violin-piano duos composed), Aaron Copland's Sonata, a work written by Copland in memory of a friend who died in action in the South Pacific in 1943; and Cesar Franck's Sonata. This chamber recital is free and open to the public. A reception will follow in the recital hall lobby.

Senior Trumpet Recital Sunday... Senior music and communication studies major Kristine Nelson will present her senior trumpet recital at 3:30 p.m. March 11 in Bjorling Recital Hall. Nelson will be accompanied by pianist and organist Coni Liljengren and assisted by a quintet of Gustavus brass players, including Amy Nida and Andy Juhl (trumpet), David Adolphson (trombone), Todd Johnson (bass trombone) and Cindy Brincks (horn). The Rockford native is a member of the Gustavus Band, the Gustavus Orchestra, the Brass Choir, and the Christ Chapel Brass. The recital is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

Jewish-Christian Conversation This Week... All campus community members are invited to a public workshop on Jewish-Christian relations from 4-8 p.m. March 11 and a campus conversation on Jewish-Christian understanding from 5:30-8 p.m. March 12, both in the Campus Center Banquet Room. On March 12, faculty, staff, and students are invited to have dinner with the Jewish and Christian scholars who will participate in a national consultation on Lutheran-Jewish Relations on campus, March 11-13. About 15 Jewish and Christian leaders from around the U.S. will be at the dinner. They will be introduced and given the opportunity to identify contemporary issues and answer questions. During Monday's dinner, each table will be able to talk informally with 1 or more of the resource people. There is no cost to Gustavus community members for the Monday dinner, but reservations must be made by 3 p.m. March 8 with Linda Elvee (x7317 or linda@gustavus.edu). Three of the 12 scholars involved in the consultation will publicly speak Sunday and all will be involved in a panel discussion. The Sunday program begins with Rabbi Alan Mittleman, department of religion at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, who will speak on "What Jews and Christians should have in common in public life." Next, Rabbi Barry Cytron of the Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, will speak. Following Sunday's public dinner and discussion, Peter Pettit, director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Allentown, will talk. A question and answer session follows the public consultation. The cost for the March 11 forum and dinner is $10 per person. Reservations must be made by March 8 with Amy Pehrson (x7001or apehrson@gustavus.edu). Participants will also speak in Chapel March 12 and March 13. For more information, contact Darrell Jodock.

Employee Educational Seminars Wednesday... All are invited to 2 human resource educational sessions on March 14. At 10:30 a.m., "Asset Allocation -- Determining a Retirement Portfolio That's Right for You" will be discussed. This session will help participants understand the basics of asset allocation and the importance of concepts such as diversification and risk tolerance in making decisions about how to allocate TIAA-CREF retirement contributions during the accumulation stage. At 1:30 p.m. "Pre-retirement Planning" will be discussed. Aimed at employees who are within 10 years of retirement, this session will review the methodology one should use to plan retirement income, including the appropriate use of retirement income options available through TIAA-CREF, in combination with benefits from Social Security and any personal savings one may have. Both sessions will be held in Banquet Room B of the Campus Center.

Cancer Support Group Meeting... The campus Cancer Support Group will meet at noon March 14 in the Leadholm Room in the Campus Center. Bring a lunch and join the conversation.

March GHP Lunch and Learn Set... Jami Fiechtner, a family physician assistant at the Mankato Clinic, will discuss heart disease from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. March 15 in the Banquet Room of the Campus Center. Come, find out what she has to say about fighting the risk factors of heart disease with current medical treatments and lifestyle changes. This Gustavus Health Promotion (GHP) sponsored and partially subsidized lunch will be $3.50 per person. To make a reservation, contact Kari Eckheart (x6416 or keckhear@gustavus.edu).

Medical Physicist to Lecture... Hear about the "New Technologies in Radiation Treatment of Cancer" at 7:30 p.m. March 15 in Olin Hall 103. Discussing the latest technological developments in radiation therapy, the lecture will be given by William Hendee. Hendee will also present a physics seminar at 1:30 p.m. March 15 in Olin Hall 220. Certified in radiologic physics and health physics, Hendee is Senior Associate Dean and Vice President of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the college, and also a faculty member. He teaches radiology, biophysics, radiation oncology, and bioethics, as well as bioengineering. Hendee has written more than 20 books and 350 scientific articles. He is director of the American Board of Radiology and president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Hendee has received numerous awards for his work and currently researches diagnostic imaging and technology assessment in medicine. These physics department-sponsored events are open to all.

Play Explores Challenger Disaster... The 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster led playwright Jane Anderson to create Defying Gravity, a play that discusses tragedy, acceptance, and the never-ending human quest to take risks. Defying Gravity will be performed at 8 p.m. March 15-18 in Anderson Theatre. Rob Gardner directs the 7-member cast. On the surface, the play is about the Jan. 28, 1986 Challenger explosion and its aftermath. The characters include the teacher on board, her now grown daughter, an elderly couple who travels across the country in their Winnebago to see the lift-off, a NASA controller responsible for the final decision to make the launch, and Claude Monet who becomes part of the memory/imagination of the characters. The Monet character explains that "pushing the envelope" is an essential element of human nature and of the development of civilization. He uses this essential element to help each character move forward from the disaster. The Challenger disaster is a defining moment for today's students as they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Defying Gravity brings this national and personal tragedy to life and forces an examination of why people take risks and how to deal with the sometimes tragic consequences. Tickets for Defying Gravity are now on sale at the Gustavus ticket center (x7590).

Administrative Gathering Rescheduled... The Dec. 21, 2000 party for administrators, which was canceled due to inclement weather, has been rescheduled for 2:30-3:30 p.m. March 16 in Campus Center Banquet Room B. Please join colleagues for fun and refreshments.

Talk Shop March 16... Pamela Kittelson (biology) will present the next Faculty Shop Talk of the 2000-01 academic year at 4:30 p.m. March 16 in the Interpretive Center. Her talk is titled "Evolutionary ecology in the field: the influence of gene flow and natural selection on local adaptation." Feel free to arrive any time after 4:15 p.m. The abstract for this and future talks may be viewed on the Gustavus Web under the Events/Faculty Shop Talks links.

Environmental Studies Lecture March 20... David Finch, historian at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, will give a slide-illustrated lecture at 7 p.m. March 20 in the Interpretive Center. Titled "The Life and Times of R.M. Patterson," the lecture is based on Finch's recently published biography of Patterson, a WWI veteran and Oxford graduate who emigrated to western Canada in the 1920s and subsequently wrote 5 nonfiction narratives about exploring and settling on the Canadian frontier. Patterson's most famous book is The Dangerous River (1954), a book about his canoeing and dogsledding exploits along the fabled Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories (regarded as the Grand Canyon of Canada and now preserved as a national park and World Heritage site). This event is sponsored by the environmental studies program and is free and open to the public.

OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS OF INTEREST:

KUDOS:

Mark Bjelland, geography, organized a conference session, titled "Geographical Perspectives on Brownfield Site Restoration," at the recent Association of American Geographers meeting in New York City. The session included 2 speakers from Canada and 2 from Ireland. Bjelland's paper was titled "A Geographical Framework for Public Policy on Brownfield Sites."

Steve Griffith, theatre and dance, has been named a 2001-02 American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow. The ACE Fellows Program, established in 1965, is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising faculty and senior administrators for responsible positions in college and university administration. Thirty-three Fellows, nominated by the presidents or chancellors of their institutions, were selected this year in a national competition. Each ACE Fellow will focus on an issue of concern to the nominating institution while spending the next academic year working with a college or university president and other senior officers at a host institution. Fellows attend 3 week-long seminars on higher education issues organized by ACE, read extensively in the field, and engage in other activities to enhance their knowledge about the challenges and opportunities confronting higher education.

Michael Longan, geography, presented a paper, titled "Community Networks and the Digital Divide," at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers Feb. 28 in New York City.

Horst Ludwig,modern foreign languages and literatures/German, had his English haiku, "Outside the clinic / a crow, slow, stepping away / from some carrion," selected and published in the "Honorable Mention" category at the Suruga-Baika Literature Festival 2001 in Numazu, Japan. This annual festival is held at Daichuji-Temple in commemoration of Basho's stay in Numazu more than 300 years ago.

Julie Maxson, geology, has had a manuscript (written with Basil Tikoff of the University of Wisconsin-Madison) accepted for publication in the June 2001 issue of Rocky Mountain Geologist. The article, titled "Lithospheric buckling of the Laramide foreland during Late Cretaceous to Paleogene, western United States," describes a new hypothesis for the development of the Rocky Mountains.

Moira McDermott, mathematics and computer science, had an article, titled "Test Ideals in Diagonal Hypersurface Rings," published in the March issue of the Journal of Algebra.

Stacia Senne, news, served as a panelist for the "Tips for Effective Media Relations" presentation March 4 at the 2001 Association of Lutheran Development Executives (ALDE) International Educational Conference. Senne and 3 other communication professionals discussed media relations planning, interviewing, defining news and working with the media, campaign communication, and crisis communication. Several other Gustavus Institutional Advancement staff members attended the conference, held March 2-5 in Minneapolis.

OBITUARIES:

• Odrun Peterson (retired head librarian) died March 2 at the age of 92. Odrun was a 1929 Gustavus graduate and served as librarian at the College from 1944-73. Services will be held at 2 p.m. March 15 at Augustana Home Chapel in Minneapolis. Burial will be in Resurrection Cemetery in St. Peter sometime after Easter. Gifts to Gustavus in Odrun's honor will be acknowledged to her niece, Florentine Peterson Anderson, 948 W. County Road D, Roseville, MN 55126.

GUSTAVUS TIDBITS:

To submit items (questions or answers) for consideration in this section, contact Stacia Senne (x7510 or ssenne@gustavus.edu).

IN THE MEDIA:

• An Associated Press feature on 1996 Gustavus graduate Jason Mischel's pet supply catalog business was published March 5 in The Free Press of Mankato. The page 1C article and photograph told how Mischel started his business in his Gustavus dorm room when he was a sophomore. The article was titled "Boning up on success."
• A March 2 interview with Mayan expert Linnea Wren (art and art history) appears on Classroom Connect's Quest Channel Web site.
• A March 1 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, titled "Administrators' Pay Continues to Outpace Inflation, Survey Finds," included quotes from Kirk Beyer (human resources). Beyer is chair of the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources committee that oversees the annual compensation survey.
• A March 1 St. Peter Herald front-page article, titled "Creation vs. evolution debated at GA," featured the 4-hour debate held Feb. 28 on campus.
• That issue of the St. Peter Herald also included a front-page color photograph of Gustavus students Brian Buffie, Christian Quie, Ravinda Samaraweera, Josh Tucker, and John Zeuli cheering on the Gustie men's basketball team during its win over Bethel College in the Feb. 22 semifinals of the MIAC tournament.
• A February 2001 Nursing Minnesota article, "A global lesson in compassion," focused on the Gustavus January Term El Salvador travel course and included quotes from Donna Westphal (health service) and Gustavus student Rita Schmitt. The page 14 article was accompanied by a photograph of Gustavus students Stephanie Flinn, Marne Gulley, Katie Scheel, and Schmitt.
• A Feb. 28 Star Tribune of Minneapolis "In Depth: Identity crisis" opinion-page story, titled "Serbia must leave martyr self-image behind, expert says," featured quotes from Tom Emmert (history).

PHONE UPDATES:

• x7581 -- Barbara Boutwell, student financial assistance (addition)
• x6079 -- Jeanne Flaherty-Gonzalez, modern foreign languages and literatures (change from x7386)
• x6126 -- Judy Gardner, nursing (change from 6125)
• x7676 -- Vicki Kennedy, admission (addition)

CALENDAR OF EVENTS:

To add or change items on the calendar, please fill out and submit a College Calendar event form. View the entire College Calendar online.