The Yellow Sheet for May 17, 2007May 17, 2007 | Volume 39, Number 31

News & Announcements

Commencement May 27... Nearly 600 students will graduate with bachelor of arts degrees from Gustavus during commencement exercises at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 27, on Hollingsworth Field (Lund Center, if inclement weather). Please note that the commencement procession will begin at 1:45 p.m. Click here to view the commencement weekend schedule.

Hosts Needed for Commencement Exercises... Hosts are needed to assist at Commencement on Sunday, May 27. Volunteers should arrive at Hollingsworth Field (or Lund Arena if inclement weather) at 12:30 p.m., May 27. Duties will include handing out programs, assisting with disability-access seating , and greeting. To sign up, contact Dana Lamb at x7550 or dlamb@gustavus.edu. You are welcome to stay for the ceremony, or leave after it begins at 2 p.m.

Memorial Day Holiday May 28... The College will be closed on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28.

Summer Schedule... The summer schedule at Gustavus will again be jam packed with activities from May 31 to mid-August. Gustavus will again offer the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP) July 9-28; be home to many athletics camps (tennis, basketball, golf, throwing, swimming, football, soccer, hockey, volleyball, gymnastics, nordic skiing, and softball) throughout the summer; welcome incoming students and prospective students during New Student Orientation (June 18-22) and Minnesota Private College visit week (June 25-28); and host several outside groups, such as the Minneapolis Synod ELCA, Civil Air Patrol, and Yearbook Camp. For more information, call summer programs staff at x6245 or visit online. (Note: The new schedule is not yet online but should be soon.)

T-Shirts for Sale: "Perry," the corpse flower, recently drew more than 7,500 visitors to campus and the biology greenhouse. If you'd like "I survived the smell of Amorphophallus titanum" T-shirts to commemorate the event, you may order them on the College website. The plant, which is entering its dormant phase, may still be viewed on the website.

Chinese College Official to Visit... Professor Edmund Kwok, executive vice president of United International College (UIC) in Zhuhai, China, will visit Gustavus on May 20-21. He and his wife, Christine, will be visitng six Minnesota private colleges as a follow-up to a visit to China in 2005 by an MPCC group that included President Peterson. The MPCC has agreed to affiliate with UIC, a new American-style liberal arts college on the Chinese mainland near Hong Kong. The partnership will allow students and faculty (including emeritus faculty) from Minnesota's 17 private colleges to study and work at UIC. While Kwok is on campus there will be opportunity for interested faculty, staff, and retirees to meet with him at 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 21, in the Office of International Education. He is eager for Gustavus participation in this learning initiative.

Summer Communication Notice... This is the final edition of the Yellow Sheet for the current academic year. However, submissions of news and information are encouraged throughout the summer, and the Office of Marketing and Communication will publish two or three issues of the Summer Scoop during the summer months. Best wishes for a terrific summer.

Summer Voice-Mail Greeting... All are reminded to change their voice-mail greeting to accommodate summer schedules as necessary. To record an extended absence greeting, do the following:

• Call the system and enter your password
• Press 4 -- Personal Options
• Press 3 -- Greetings
• Press 2 -- Extended Absence Greetings
• Listen to the instructions
• Press * to exit until you hear "good-bye"

This will enable callers to decide if they wish to leave a message. Anyone who has questions or needs assistance changing a message should call the telecommunications office (x6261 or x7025).

Library Hours during Finals... Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library will be open according to the following schedule during finals week:

• 8 a.m.-1 a.m., Thursday, May 17, and Friday, May 18
• 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, May 19;
• 10 a.m.-1 a.m. Sunday, May 20;
• 8 a.m.-1 a.m. Monday, May 21;
• 8 a.m.-4:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 22.
  

Valleyfair Tickets... Valleyfair discount tickets are available for purchase in the Office of Human Resources, located in hte lowere level (west) of Uhler Hall.

President's Corner

Thank you all for everything you did to make the more than 7,500 visitors who came to campus to view the corpse flower feel welcome in the classic Gustavus way. Everyone interacted beautifully with the public and the media. The College received extensive national and regional media coverage equivalent, I'm told, to thousands of dollars. (Details are in this issue's In the Media section.) And, going back well before the bloom, Brian O'Brien's blogs and the webcam images were fascinating for thousands of remote learners around the globe. In fact, the corpse flower website drew more than 150,000 page views.

We had little warning that the flower would bloom at this busy time of year, yet you all pulled together quickly to make it work. There is not room to acknowledge every essential effort, so thank you each for the indispensable role you played. You are, collectively, incredible.

Finally, a big thanks to "Perry," who is now officially a member of the Gustavus community.

Thanks so very much,

Jim Peterson

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:

• Friday, May 18 - Remembrance of Professor Myron Falck (taught 1954-1988)
• Sunday, May 20 - Chaplain Rachel Larson, 7th Sunday in Easter,
• Monday, May 21- Luke Royer, Chaplains' Office intern
• Tuesday, May 22 - Litany for Travelers
  

Off-campus Events of Interest

Russian Vocal Group at First Lutheran... On Sunday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m., the vocal ensemble Lyra, from St. Petersburg, Russia, will present a Music for Missions concert at First Lutheran Church. The five-member professional group sings sacred Russian liturgical music and Russian folk songs. The concert at First Lutheran is part of their three-week tour of the Midwest. The concert is free and open to all; a free-will offering will benefit a music scholarship for First Lutheran member Dan Menk.

Social Fabric... The Arts Center of Saint Peter will present "Social Fabric," a photo installation of portaits by Cheryl Casteen, an arts instructor at Minnesota State University, Mankato and St. Peter resident. The showing runs from May 24 through July 8 at the center. By capturing images of collaborators, friends, students, co-workers, fellow apartment dwellers, and family members, Casteen shares her "social fabric." A reception is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 26. The Arts Center building (315 South Minnesota Avenue in St. Peter) is open Tuesdays through Sundays, 1-5 p.m., and Thursdays, 1-8 p.m. There is no fee and the community is encouraged to attend the showing and the reception.

Extraordinary People

Mitch Harris (English) was invited by the John Donne Society to serve as the respondent for the society's special session at the 42nd International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, Mich. His paper focused on Donne's use of anti-Petrarchan thematics in "Witchcraft by a Picture" and his use of iconography and paradox in the sonnet sequence "La Corona."

Lois Peterson (art & art history) has been awarded the "Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award" from the Campus Diversity Center. The award is selected by Gustavus students involved with the Diversiy Center and its programs. The award was presented at the Shoreland Country Club on April 27.

Brian Koeneman (Career Center) presented a paper on "Millennials and Project-Based Internships" at the Minnesota Association of Volunteer Administration Conference, "Impacting The Future: Connect, Strengthen, Inspire," n Minneapolis.

Gretchen Koehler (HES emerita) recently designed and helped construct a therapeutic meditation garden for the Hoffman Center in St. Peter. The director of the program will present the garden design at the national convention for holistic treatment of juvenile sex offenders this fall in San Diego.

Student News

Births

• Welcome the arrival of Denim James (DJ) Blackstad, son of Rick Blackstad (safety & security) and his wife, Angie. DJ was born on May 9.
  

Obituaries

• Jerry Betzing, husband of Rita Betzing (custodial) passed away Saturday, May 12. Visitation will be Friday, May 18, from 4 to 7 p.m. at St Peter Catholic Church (West Broadway, St Peter). Funeral services will be Saturday May 19, at 11 a.m., with visitation one hour prior at the church.
  

To inform the campus community of the death of a current student, employee, or trustee; an emeritus professor or trustee; or an immediate family member of a current employee, contact the Office of the President (x7538 or pleagjel@gustavus.edu). Death announcements and funeral notices for students, current and emeritus faculty and employees, and trustees will be sent to the community via written notice from the president, posted on community-l, the official campus-wide e-mail list, and published in the Yellow Sheet or Summer Scoop. Notices for immediate family members of current employees will be published in the Yellow Sheet or the Summer Scoop unless they occur during a publication break, in which case they will be posted on employee-l .

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

• NIH Research Funding... The National Institutes of Health (NIH) offers Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) grants in an effort to stimulate research in educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced training and have not been major recipients of NIH research grant funds. These grants support small research projects in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, either for feasibility studies, pilot studies, or other small-scale programs that would provide data preliminary to a traditional research project grant or as support for an ongoing program of research. The maximum project award is $150,000 in direct costs, plus facilities and administrative (indirect) costs, and is available for a period of up to three years. Annual deadlines are October 25, February 25, and June 25. For more information, see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-042.html.

In the Media

• The blooming of the corpse flower in the Nobel Hall greenhouse last weekend dominated the College's recent media coverage and also attracted more than 7,500 visitors. WCCO Radio led off the coverage on April 28, a day after the College's news release had been posted on the Web, with an interview of Brian O'Brien (chemistry), who had planted seeds back in 1993. In the next week, stories appeared in the Mankato Free Press (April 30 and May 11), the Gustavian Weekly (May 4), and the Minneapolis Star Tribune (May 5), and KEYC Television interviewed O'Brien, greenhouse manager Emily Hoefs, and student Alex Burum for a feature that ran at both 6 and 10 p.m. on May 3. KARE-11 Television (May 7, 13, and 14), KAAL Television in Austin, Minn. (May 11), KEYC (May 13), and WCCO Television (May 14) all ran stories on their evening newscasts. On May 14, several radio stations, including KFAN, MPR, and WCCO, aired lengthy interviews and sesgments about the blooming, and the Star Tribune posted video interviews and a photo gallery on its website. The Associated Press circulated the story and it was picked up by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Fargo Forum, the NBC national news, KROC Radio in Rochester, and the Minnesota News Network, among others. Other media coverage included Google Video, Buzzfeed.com, You Tube, Examiner.com.
• Seniors Lisa Chmielewski, Ashley Takekawa, and Ingrid Vick were among 11 seniors at area colleges and universities interviewed for a feature titled "Regrets . . . College Seniors Have a Few," which ran in the May 15 Mankato Free Press.
• The Gustavus forensics team's top-20 ranking at the America Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament held at Minnesota State University, Mankato, in early April was highlighted in a story appearing in the St. Peter Herald on May 10.
• Five of the eleven senior studio art majors whose works appear in the exhibition currently running in the Hillstrom Museum of Art were interviewed for an article titled "Before Moving On," which ran on the front page of the Currents section of the May 10 Mankato Free Press.

Anyone who has suggested additions for this list, suggestions for potential future media stories, or interest in being a media source should contact Marketing and Communication (x7520 or ga_news@gustavus.edu).

Plugs

For Rent or Sale: Beautiful four-square home. Four bedrooms, 1 and 3/4 bath, remodeled family room, bathroom and mudroom, hardwood floors, great woodwork and stained glass. Two-car detached garage, big yard with many gardens. 716 N. 3rd St. Call Shawn at 933-6363 or e-mail sreid.

For Rent for Week of June 16-23: Beautiful lake home on 2,500-acre Clitherall Lake in Ottertail County. Sleeps eight. Air-conditioned, full kitchen with microwave, large screened porch, two large decks facing lake, fieldstone fireplace, two docks, and outdoor firepit lakeside. Canoe and pontoon included. Three-and-a-half hours drive from St. Peter. Located two miles south of Battle Lake, Minn. Contact Al Molde (507-934-5037).

House for Sale: Spacious 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home on large fenced lot, listed at $214,900. Located less than 1 mile from campus at 716 Skaro Street. Contact David Rudek (507-934-2147).

Motorcycle for sale - 1986 Yamaha Fazer; 700 cc version was produced only in '86 & '87, so the bike is rare and a classic. Great running bike with a unique paint job. Just had the carbs serviced, good tires, and in good shape.Contact Teri at x7605 or 507-382-0082, or e-mail tbauman@gustavus.edu.

For Sale: A recumbent bicycle in excellent road-ready condition. 21-speed, large comfortable seat with backrest...like sitting in a recliner. New in fall of 2005, minimal miles. Paid $600.00; will take $250.00. Call Jeanne at x7614 or 507-317-7625.

For Sale: "Historic desk" (formerly Chaplain Elvee's) for sale; needs refinishing. Call x7499 for details.

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.