The Yellow Sheet for March 17, 2005March 17, 2005 | Volume 37, Number 24

News & Announcements

To the Gustavus community:

As some of you already know, Dean John Mosbo has resigned from his position as Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The resignation takes effect at the end of August. As always, Dean Mosbo has done not only what he sees as best for himself but also for the college he cares about. I look forward to working with him and his office over the next few months on academic matters while we begin the transition to new leadership. I trust that everyone will continue to give the Dean's office full cooperation and support. Thank you for that.

As a next step, I will be seeking counsel from the faculty and others regarding the transition process including such things as how we ensure a thoughtful and smooth transition, what we plan for interim staffing needs and how we imagine new leadership.

Change is rarely easy but good organizations, like ours, can use it positively to create a brighter and stronger future. I look forward to the continued support and commitment of everyone in the Gustavus community to make this a better and better place -- to work and learn.

Jim Peterson

GTS Update...

To faculty and staff:

Last summer an announcement was made regarding the integration of all of our technology-related functions into one organizational unit called Gustavus Technology Services (GTS). The intent of this action was to bring together related functions, skills, and talents with a resulting increase in efficiency, coordination, and the best use of resources.

Following expressions of concern about process, communication, and the decisions themselves, the faculty appointed a committee to review the new organization and make recommendations. I agreed to a temporary hold on parts of the integration plan during this process. The committee's work is now complete and I have considered its recommendations carefully. We'll complete the organizational changes as follows:

The basic structure will change little from the original outline distributed last summer. Three "units" will report directly to the director of GTS: Core Services, Instructional and Media Services, and Administrative Services.

An advisory committee will be formed to advise the GTS director and help coordinate and communicate major technology decisions.

As the integration moves forward, Bruce Aarsvold will serve as director of GTS; Sarah Daniels will serve as the director of Administrative Services; the directors of the Instructional and Media Services and Core Services units have yet to be named. Both searches will be open to internal applicants with external candidates also being considered for the Instructional and Media Services position.

This has been a long and complicated process. Thank you all for your patience, especially those whose positions are directly involved. The development of a responsive, coordinated technology group will require campuswide cooperation and active support. I look forward to everyone's assistance as we move forward.

Jim Peterson

Yellow Sheet Reminder... Due to the upcoming Spring Break, The Yellow Sheet will not be published Thursday, March 31. Publication will resume Thursday, April 7.

Order a Yearbook... Order a 2005 Gustavian Yearbook between 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, March 23 outside the Evelyn Young Dining Room, at the Office of Alumni Relations in the Carlson Administration Building, or online. Cost is $48 (seniors add $5 for shipping). Yearbooks will be distributed on campus at the beginning of fall semester and graduates will receive theirs by mail.

PRESIDENT'S CORNER:

During the past year, many people have been actively working on moving our five-year planning initiatives forward. They include focus on the academic program, diversity, technology, church relations, facilities, and enhancing our revenue base. Progress is being made on all of these fronts. But now is an important time for the College to think longer term, perhaps 10 to 20 years out, discussing our institutional directions and priorities, imagining what it is that represents the distinctiveness of Gustavus, and what will truly distinguish us in the future. We need also to wrestle with the notion of institutional priorities for allocating future resources.

A preliminary report from the Dean's office was circulated recently with the intention of initiating this important discussion. That document has been withdrawn in part because of some concerns about process and because it generated unnecessary concerns about cutting back academic programs rather than positive discussions about moving forward. Last night, at a special faculty meeting, it was agreed that the faculty would join in creating a new planning process, with others from across campus and the Board of Trustees. I'm looking forward to these important discussions as part of our collective efforts to create a new future.

I trust that the goal of developing a true "shared vision" of where Gustavus chooses to go in the future and how it intends to get there will serve us well. We'll talk more about this process as it develops and gets underway.

Jim

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Chapel Schedule... All are invited to the worship services at 10 a.m. weekdays and 10:30 a.m. Sundays in Christ Chapel. The upcoming schedule is as follows:

• March 18 -- Vasa Wind Orchestra
  
• March 20 -- Palm Sunday, Chaplain Rachel Larson
  
• March 21 -- Dramatic reading of the Passion
  
• March 22 -- Lee Brammer, John 12: 1-8
  
• March 23 -- Lenten Liturgy, Psalm 70
  
• March 24 -- Maunday Thursday, John 13: 1-17, 31b-35
• March 25-27 -- No Chapel, Spring Break
  

Talk Shop Friday... Marie Walker (psychology) will present the next Faculty Shop Talk of the 2004-05 academic year. Her talk, titled "Vocational Identity Development in College Students: Cross-sectional and Preliminary Longitudinal Evidence for a Theoretical Model," will be presented at 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 18 in the Interpretive Center. Feel free to arrive any time after 4:15 p.m. The abstract for this and future talks may be viewed at http://gustavus.edu/events/shoptalks/.

Fine Arts This Weekend... The following recitals will be given this weekend in Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall:

• At 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 18, Joshua Carlson will give his senior percussion recital. Carlson has selected works for snare drum, timpani, xylophone, and drum set. He will be assisted by students Laura Johnson, pianist, and Seth Hayek and Justin Haaheim, percussionists.
• At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, Dana Barron will give her senior flute recital and will be assisted by pianist Coni Liljengren (music), student Anna Stenson on the violin, and Warren Friesen (music) on the viola. For her recital, Barron has selected Bach's Partita in A Minor for Solo Flute, Serenade for Flute, Violin and Viola by Ludwig van Beethoven, and Sonata for Flute and Piano in D Major by Sergei Prokofiev.
  
• At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, Ana Sietsema, piano, and Shannon Schultze, 'cello, will present their combined junior recital. Bach's Suite for Unaccompanied 'Cello No. 3, Beethoven's Sonata in A Major, OP. 2, No. 2, Haydn's 'Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major, accompanied by pianist Jonas Carlson, Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, and Chopin's Waltz in D-Flat Major will be performed. Together, Sietsema and Schultze will present the finale, the three-movement Pieces in Folk Style, OP. 102 by Robert Schumann.
• At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, John McKay (professor emeritus of music) will present a piano recital. McKay has selected Mozart's Fantasia in C Minor, Ravel's five-movement Miroirs, Chopin's Ballade No. 3 in A Flat Major, OP. 47, Griffes' Two Excerpts From Roman Sketches, and Rachmaninoff's Five Preludes.

The recitals are free and open to the public. A reception will follow each performance in the recital hall lobby.

Ensembles Combine for Twin Cities Event Sunday... On Sunday, March 20, three touring ensembles from Gustavus will combine for the first time in concert in the Twin Cities at the Gustavus Music Showcase. The event will start at 2 p.m. at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie, with an audience of more than 1,300 anticipated. The event showcases the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, the Gustavus Choir, and the Gustavus Wind Orchestra, three premier concert ensembles that tour nationally and internationally. Each ensemble will perform individually, and the showcase finale, Ralph Vaughan William's Sine Nomine, will feature the massed groups with the audience joining in. A reception following the concert provides opportunity for prospective students to speak to the performers and conductors and for alumni to visit with College personnel and each other. The concert is open to the public at no charge. A freewill offering will be received. Directions to St. Andrew Lutheran Church at 13600 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie are: take the Prairie Center Drive exit off of Highway 5. For more information about the concert, visit the Alumni website at http://gustavus.edu/alumni/ and click on Gustavus Music Showcase or contact the alumni office (x7511).

Student Senate Meeting Monday... All faculty members are welcome and encouraged to attend the upcoming Student Senate meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, March 21 in Olin Hall 103. Community comment is welcome and appreciated. Anyone who would like to be placed on the agenda should contact Mike Marcotte (mmarcott@gustavus.edu).

Nguyen Screening Runs Through April 10... A screening of the acting roles of artist Long Nguyen, whose exhibition, titled "Tales of Yellow Skin: The Art of Long Nguyen," is on view in the Hillstrom museum, will run continuously through Sunday, April 10 in the museum's media gallery. Nguyen has appeared in several films and has also acted in television dramas. Included in the screening are the short films "Running in Tall Grasses" (2004) by Howard Vu and "Apsara" (2003) by Colin McGreal. Excerpts from the following feature films will also be shown: "Heaven and Earth" (1993) by Oliver Stone, "Operation Dumbo Drop" (1995) by Simon Wincer, "Green Dragon" (2001) by Timothy Linh Bui, and "Coyote Waits" (2003) by Jan Egleson. The program also includes scenes from the television show "American Dreams," a collage of excerpts from various other roles and a trailer of an upcoming film. Regular museum hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The museum is open to the public and admission is free.

Off-campus Events of Interest

Palm Sunday Performance of Requiem... The Saint Peter Choral Society will present a performance of Mozart's Requiem at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 20 at Union Presbyterian Church, 730 S. Third St., St. Peter. Directed by Sara McKay and accompanied by Vonnie Elker on organ, the performance will feature instrumental soloists Rick Orpen, percussion, Erik Hermanson, trombone, and Tom Nuessmeier and Tom Giles, trumpet, along with vocalists Hayden Duncan (modern languages, literatures, and cultures/Spanish), John Holte (mathematics and computer science), Kristi Reinholtzen (registrar's), and Ron Rietz (mathematics and computer science). Vocal soloists are two husband and wife artist teams: Katha and John Chamberlain and Linda Zelig and James Bohn. Tickets are $8 and are available at Swedish Kontur Imports and at the door. Students are admitted free of charge. This event is made possible by a Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council grant from the McKnight Foundation.

Extraordinary People

Stephen Bennett (counseling center) presented a workshop, "Living, Leading, and Learning: Using Benedictine Values as a Guide," Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Second Annual Conference on the College Male at St. John's University. Bennett was recently elected vice president of the St. John's Alumni Association, working in the area of student preparation.

Mark Bjelland (geography) gave a public lecture, titled "Brownfields and the Janus-faced Spaces of Globalization," on Thursday, Feb. 24 at the London School of Economics (LSE). The lecture was sponsored by the LSE Cities Programme.

Lynn Boehne (admission) has been invited to serve on the marketing and technology committee of the National Association of College Admission Counseling. This three-year appointment will begin in September 2005.

Mimi Gerstbauer (political science) delivered a paper, titled "Forgiveness in International Relations: A Framework for Relevance," at the annual meetings of the International Studies Association the first week of March in Honolulu. At the same meetings, Gerstbauer delivered a paper, titled "The New Conflict Managers: Peacebuilding NGOs," which was published in "New Threats and New Actors in International Security," Elke Krahmann, ed., Palgrave 2005.

Lisa Heldke (philosophy) presented the final lecture, titled "The Examined Meal," on Thursday, March 10 in the Oregon State University Department of Philosophy's annual lecture series.

Obituaries

• Peter Lorentz, father of Naomi Quiram (postal services) died Wednesday, March 16. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 19 at the Church of St. Peter (1801 W. Broadway, St. Peter), with visitation one hour prior to the service.
• Jack Clark (professor emeritus of religion) died Monday, March 7 in St. Peter. He was 76 years old. Funeral and memorial services have not yet been announced.
  
• Ray Stark, husband of Delores Gregory Stark (former Book Mark), died Tuesday, Feb. 15. His funeral service was held Saturday, Feb. 19 at Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Peter with burial in Greenhill Cemetery.

Congregational Outreach

Music in Worship... Any Gustavus music ensemble or soloist is welcome to perform in congregations. For more information, contact Marilyn Beyer (x7001).

Funding Opps

• New NSF Course Curriculum Laboratory Improvement Program Guidelines... The NSF has announced new Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program guidelines that have substantially changed major aspects of our prior understanding of this multi-faceted program. Major changes include the following:

• The previous framework of four tracks within the CCLI program (e.g., Adaptation and Implementation, Educational Materials Development) have been replaced with three phases. Phase 1 Exploratory Projects appears to be the logical home for the type of proposals that Gustavus faculty have typically submitted or would most likely submit through the CCLI program.
• The deadline for Phase 1 applications is May 18. Please note: Those faculty planning on an Adaptation and Implementation request this fall will need to look to this new timing.
  
• The revised CCLI program identifies a range of priority activities that would continue to be of interest to faculty, including the following: creating new learning materials and teaching strategies; developing faculty expertise; and implementing educational innovations.
• More than in past program guideline iterations, the new program seeks to draw from and build upon a wide range of recent publications analyzing the current state and future needs in undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
• There is no longer any cost-sharing requirement for any proposal submitted as a CCLI request.

For more information, please see www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf05559. Faculty interested in the revised program are encouraged to visit with Bob Weisenfeld (bweis@gustavus.edu or x7049) to discuss the specific implications of noted and other program changes.

In the Media

• On March 14, National Public Radio featured David Wolfe (mathematics and computer science) as the winner of the Sunday puzzle competition. Wolfe then played the puzzle series on the air with Will Shortz, puzzle editor of the New York Times.
• On March 13, The Free Press of Mankato published a front-page article titled "Nobel winner embodies (Building Bridges) conference's 'Be the change' theme" that included a color photograph of the keynote speaker Jody Williams. Student Lydia Davitt was quoted in the article.
• On March 11, The Business Journal published its "Top 25 List" of Minnesota colleges and universities ranked by 2004 enrollment on page 22. Gustavus was ranked 21st.
• On March 11, The Free Press of Mankato published two items:
  • "Nobel winner will keynote (Building Bridges) conference" that appeared on the front page of The Valley section
  • "Lenten candlelight service on Sunday" that ran on page C2
• On March 10, the St. Peter Herald ran the following stories
  • "Matching Tights Dance to perform this weekend" on page 3A
  • "Old Main, new look" on page 5A, that included four black and white photographs
  • "Gustavus Briefs" on page 8A included:
    • "Lenten service, music in Christ Chapel"
    • "New department members in recital"
    • "John McKay giving piano recital in March"
    • "University Brass Choir to perform"
    • "Nobel Peace Prize recipient to speak"
    • "Mayday Peace Conference to be held"
• On March 9, The Free Press of Mankato published a brief on page C3, titled "GA department to present piano recital," referring to the performance by Yumiko Oshima-Ryan and Esther Wang.

Anyone who has suggested additions for this list, suggestions for potential future media stories, or interest in being a media source should contact Director of News and Information Jonathan Kraatz (x7510 or jkraatz@gustavus.edu).

Hours

Telecommunications Updates

• Marc Beckmann, chemistry, x6158, mbeckman@gustavus.edu (addition)
  
• Julie Gilbert, library, x7566 (delete)
  
• Janet Huikko, physical plant, x7504 (delete)
  
• Virginia Stamps, chemistry, x6158 (delete)
  

PLUGS:

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.