The Yellow Sheet for Sept. 22, 2005September 22, 2005 | Volume 38, Number 3

News & Announcements

TO: Members of the Gustavus Community

FROM: Henry P. Toutain, Dean of Students

I write to notify the campus community that an incident of concern reported to the Office of Safety and Security earlier today has been clarified and satisfactorily addressed. I do so because a number of students and staff were interviewed in the course of an aggressive 6-hour investigation of this matter and because I wish to correct incomplete or erroneous information that may be circulating about it.

This morning at 8:18 a.m., a report to campus Safety and Security indicated that on a city street adjacent to campus and under circumstances that appeared suspicious, an unknown individual was pushed into a vehicle that subsequently drove away.

Safety and Security personnel responded immediately to the report and the St. Peter Police Department was also involved in the investigation from the outset. Residential Life and Safety and Security personnel promptly interviewed student and staff witnesses, worked to ascertain the safety of all residents of nearby campus residential facilities, and pursued other avenues of investigation.

We learned at approximately 2 p.m. this afternoon that the individuals involved in this incident are not members of the campus community, and that the incident appears to have been associated with a domestic dispute. St. Peter Police will be pursuing the matter further, as appropriate.

Many thanks to students and staff who alerted Safety and Security of this suspicious event, and who cooperated in its investigation. In this as well as other instances, such vigilance and assistance is invaluable in ensuring a campus environment that is as safe as possible.

Publication Reminder... Due to the Nobel Conference on Sept. 27-28, the deadline for next week's edition of The Yellow Sheet will be 4:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26.

Nobel Conference Notes...

• The 2005 Nobel Conference, "The Legacy of Einstein," begins at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27 with an academic procession and opening ceremony.
• The schedule of events and background information on guest speakers for the conference are available on the Nobel Conference website at gustavus.edu/nobel.
• Campus community members may watch the lectures on any of the campus televisions that have local cable access on Channel 8.
• The world premiere of Clockworks: Einstein Time, a new play by international award-winning playwright Janet Allard, will debut at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27 in Anderson Theatre. Tickets for the performance will be available to conference ticket holders only and may be obtained at the Nobel Conference Registration Desk in Lund Center on a first-come basis, beginning at noon on Tuesday. The play will also be performed the weekend of Sept. 29-Oct. 2.
  
• The Physics Circus, a "mega-science experience," will be presented at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday in Lund Center Forum. The Physics Force, an entertaining, special-effects troupe from the University of Minnesota, will delight and educate the Nobel Conference audience.
• Special thanks to the Gustavus Habitat for Humanity organization for providing "valet" parking for our conference visitors on Tuesday and Wednesday.
  
• Special thanks to the Inter Greek Senate and Gustavus sororities and fraternities for providing hospitality to conference guests by ushering, hosting, helping with parking, and working behind-the-scenes to assure a successful Nobel Conference.

Broadcast for Television... This year's Nobel Conference main lectures will be taped for broadcast on Twin Cities Public Television's Minnesota Channel. Edited programs of individual lectures will be broadcast at least three times each in the coming months. The first three broadcasts will be at 8 p.m. on Oct. 15, Oct. 22, and Oct. 29 on TPT 17. A promotional piece for the programs, featuring an interview with Nobel Conference Director Tim Robinson, will air following TPT's "Almanac" show at 7:58 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7. For more information about this venture, contact Stacia Senne (x6395 or ssenne@gustavus.edu).

Nobel Conference Traffic and Parking... Lund lot will be closed to faculty, staff, and students from 11 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26 until 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28 and campus driving lanes will be one-way in a counter-clockwise direction. Personnel will be stationed at College entrances to direct traffic and signs will be posted.

Hall of Famers Announced, Banquet Saturday... The athletic department has chosen eight individuals for induction into its Athletics Hall of Fame. The 2005 inductees include Holly Brodmarkle Cervin ('87) -- track and field and basketball), Marc Illies ('85) -- football and baseball, Marc Iverson ('89) -- football, Gretchen Koehler -- coach, Mary Mansour ('85) -- softball, Jay Rooker ('85) -- soccer, Rich Skanse ('84) -- tennis, and Dick Walters ('75) -- ice hockey and golf. This group will be honored at the Hall of Fame Banquet to be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24 in Alumni Hall. For banquet ticket information, contact the Alumni Office (x7511).

New Online Tool for Admission, Alumni... Beginning in December, the Gustavus Admission Office website will have a new look and customizable content directed at prospective students' individual interests. The look of the new admission site will complement the upcoming redesign of the Gustavus homepage. This new system, called Liquid Matrix, selects content based on interests that prospective students identify when initially signing into the site. It will also provide updates on application status and is directly compatible with current database programs at the College, eliminating some re-entry of information. In the spring, a similar system will be launched for Gustavus alumni. More information on these projects will be coming in the following weeks.

Holiday Schedule... The College will observe the following holidays for the remainder of 2005:

Thanksgiving Day -- Thursday, Nov. 24
Day after Thanksgiving -- Friday, Nov. 25
Christmas Day Holiday -- Monday, Dec. 26
Floating Holiday -- Tuesday, Dec. 27
Floating Holiday -- Wednesday, Dec. 28
Floating Holiday -- Thursday, Dec. 29
New Year's Day Holiday -- Friday, Dec. 30

Financial Counseling Sessions... A TIAA-CREF representative will be on campus for individual counseling sessions from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20 and Friday, Oct. 21 in the "49er" Conference Room in the Campus Center. To schedule a counseling session, sign up on the TIAA-CREF website or call 800/877-6602.

Staff Reclassification Committee to Meet... The next meeting of the Staff Reclassification Committee will be held Wednesday, Oct. 5. The committee will evaluate requests for grade changes for support staff positions. In order to be considered at this meeting, a complete request for position review must be received in the Office of Human Resources by Friday, Sept. 30.

Sign up for Van Training... Van training courses for Fall Semester have been scheduled. To view the dates and times, go to the college calendar. Students and staff who wish to drive a 10-passenger Gustavus van must complete the training course, which includes classroom and behind-the-wheel instruction. Note that the Oct. 18 course is scheduled for 5 p.m. To register, call x8809.

GRANT NEWS:

Lilly Endowment, Inc., has awarded Gustavus $466,252 to help sustain the mission-driven work of the Center for Vocational Reflection. Gustavus was one of 39 colleges and universities in the nation to receive this "bridge" grant to build on the success of the vocation initiative for an additional three years beyond the end of the original Lilly vocation grant period in May 2007.

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:

Sept. 23 -- Javen Swanson, Matthew 20: 29-34
Sept. 25 -- 18th Sunday in Pentecost, Vicar Callista Isabelle preaching and Chaplain Brian Johnson presiding
Sept. 26 -- Tim Robinson
Sept. 27 -- Nobel Conference -- no chapel
Sept. 28 -- Nobel Conference -- no chapel
Sept. 29 -- Rev. Richard Elvee
Sept. 30 -- Mary Gaebler, Romans 12: 1-8

Clockworks: Einstein Time to be Performed Next Week... Award-winning playwright Janet Allard's newest play, Clockworks: Einstein Time, commissioned by Gustavus, will premiere at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27 in Anderson Theatre, as part of the 2005 Nobel Conference. Since tickets are limited to conference participants for the premiere, additional performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Sept. 29 and 30 and Oct. 1, and 2 p.m. Oct. 2. Tickets for the additional performances are available at the SAO ticket center.

Tuesday's Concert Explores the Music of Einstein's Life... The public is invited to "Einstein: The Music he Inspired, The Music That Inspired Him," this year's Nobel Conference concert. The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Lab Band, and Chamber Singers, along with composer Cindy McTee and folk singer and song-writer Nathan Caswell, will perform. McTee will open the event with a pre-concert talk at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27 in Christ Chapel, followed by the concert at 8:15 p.m. in the chapel. This event is free.

Few know Albert Einstein as a concert violinist who loved the work of Mozart, Schubert, and Bach, composers in whom he recognized genius. With Einstein's love of music in mind, Gustavus Symphony Orchestra conductor Warren Friesen has programmed a concert to include the composers and works Einstein admired. In addition to Mozart's Symphony No. 41 in C major, The Trout Quintet by Schubert, and Bach's Two Violin Concerto in D minor, Friesen has included 20th Century works which were inspired by the famous physicist.

McTee's Einstein's Dream will be performed by the symphony to the accompaniment of digitally produced sounds. Her appearance at the concert is funded by Creative Connections. Caswell will perform his Einstein's Brain, a familiar tune to Minnesota Public Radio's early morning listeners. Jazz director Steve Wright has written a work for the Gustavus Jazz Lab Band, Symphony Strings, and the Chamber Singers titled Einstein By The Numbers, a composition based on Einstein's name. In addition to this premiere, the Jazz Band and Chamber Singers will also perform the jazz vocal standard As Time Goes By.

U of M Admission Director on Campus Oct. 4... Ben Sharpe, the director of admissions at the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology (engineering school), will be on campus from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 4 in Olin Hall, room 215 to meet with students who are interested in dual-degree or graduate programs at the University of Minnesota. Faculty and staff are encouraged to inform any students who may be interested in engineering at the University of Minnesota to visit with Sharpe.

Human Rights in Colombia Events Oct. 4... The following events will take place Oct. 4 in the Three Crowns Room as part of "Advocating for Human Rights in Colombia:"

• At 4:30 p.m., Diana Milena Murcia will present "Human Rights in Colombia Today." A Colombian human rights lawyer and activist, she is considered one of Colombia's leading legal minds focused on Plan Colombia. Her visit has been arranged by Witness for Peace.
• At 5:45 p.m., there will be a break for dinner. (Please bring food trays to the Three Crowns Room.)
• At 6:30 p.m., Emily Sollie, Lutheran World Relief media specialist, will present "Messages, Media, and Momentum: A Primer on Working with the Media." This training session will discuss crafting a compelling message, writing letters to the editor, op-eds, press releases, pitching stories to various media, and tips for being interviewed. These skills are applicable to all advocacy work.

These events are sponsored by Peace Studies program, Sponberg Chair in Ethics, Center for Vocational Reflection, Office of International Education, Community Service Center, and the Sal y Luz partnership between Lutheran World Relief, Gustavus, and peace sanctuary churches in Colombia. All events are free and open to the public.

Talk Shop Oct. 7... John Mattson, health and exercise science, will present the next Faculty Shop Talk of the 2005-06 academic year. His talk, titled "COPD and skeletal muscle dysfunction: real or imagined?," will be presented at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 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/.

OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS OF INTEREST:

Extraordinary People

Russell Shapiro, geology, presented a paper, titled "Microbial Fossil Record from Methane Seeps: Developing a Seep Strategy," on Sept. 12 at the Third International Symposium on Hydrothermal Vent and Seep Biology in San Diego. He also chaired a session and presented a paper, coauthored with Noah Planavsky from Lawrence University, titled "Biotic Influences on 'Abiotic' Paleoproterozoic Stromatolites, Biwabik Iron-Formation, Minnesota," at the Earth Systems Processes II Conference in July in Calgary.

OBITUARIES:

• Friedrich G. Helfferich, father-in-law of Max Hailperin (mathematics and computer science) died Sept. 11. A memorial service was held Sept. 15 at Trinity Lutheran Church in State College, Pa. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be directed to the American Cancer Society.

POSITION OPENINGS:

• Administrative Assistant, Office of the Dean of Faculty

CONGREGATIONAL OUTREACH:

Retreats... The Office of Church Relations will host a one-day confirmation retreat for eighth-grade confirmands from Grace Lutheran Church of Waseca on Saturday, Sept. 24, and a confirmation day retreat for St. John's Lutheran Church of Northfield on Saturday, Sept. 24.

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

FUNDING OPPS:

• Major Reseach Instrumentation (MRI) Program... The National Science Foundation's MRI Program assists in the acquisition of major instrumentation for research, research training, and integrated research/education activities. The maintenance and technical support associated with these instruments is also supported. The maximum award is $2 million; there is no matching requirement for non-Ph.D.-granting institutions such as Gustavus. The next deadline for this annual competition is Jan. 26, 2006. For more information about the program, visit http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=NSF05515&org=NSF.
  

IN THE MEDIA:

• The 2005 Summer Institute and Festival issue of Overture (at the Brevard Music Center) featured an alumni profile on Johanna Johnson ('05). The article included a photograph of Johnson with Joe Robinson, principal oboist with the New York Philharmonic.
• On Sept. 22, The Free Press of Mankato featured "Pressure Points," the current exhibition in the Hillstrom Museum of Art on the front page of the Currents section. "Contemporary prints" includes five color photographs -- four of various works and one of Don Myers, museum director. The feature also included a short story titled "Smaller exhibit accompanies 'Pressure Points,' referring to "Recent Acquisitions." This article mentioned an essay by Mimi Gerstbauer (peace studies) that accompanies a lithograph by Kerr Eby and quotes by Myers.
• On Sept. 22, the St. Peter Herald ran a front-page teaser announcing the Nobel Conference.
• On Sept. 20, The Free Press of Mankato did a feature on the front page of the Currents section titled "The new Old Main: Gustavus' renovated matriarch is lookin' good, ready to open." The article included quotes by Steve Waldhauser (marketing and public relations/publications) and Chris Gilbert (political science), as well as two color photographs.
• On Sept. 15, the St. Peter Herald published an article, titled "Einstein: A stage portrait comes to the Rhein River Arts Center," on page 8A. The article focuses on a one-man play that will be performed at the Rhein River Arts Center Sept. 23-25 in New Ulm to coincide with the 41st annual Nobel Conference.
• On Sept. 14, The Cannon Falls Beacon ran a story about a weekend celebration that honored Vasa Lutheran Church's 150th anniversary. President James Peterson was mentioned as a guest.

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).

PLUGS:

For Rent: Four-bedroom, two-bathroom home located three blocks from campus on College Avenue. Includes full kitchen, two living areas, formal dining room, and billiards room. Available now through May 2006. Rent is $1,100/month, which includes laundry, digital TV, and all utilities, with the exception of phone and internet. If questions or to schedule a viewing, contact Sarah (x7087 or sarahmoe@gustavus.edu).

For Rent: Three-bedroom, two-bath home with attached double garage located on Highway 22 between Mankato and St. Peter. Rent is $1,200/month plus utilities. No smoking, no pets. Includes dishwasher, washer and dryer, and air conditioning. Call 381-1930.

For Sale: 1998 Olds Intrigue, 3800 V6 motor, power locks, windows, air conditioning; 140,000 miles but in excellent condition. Call x7614 for further information.

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.