July 2004
TO: MSU Colleagues
FROM: Richard Davenport
SUBJECT: MSU Update #3
This summer the MSU campus is bustling with excitement: continuing construction on Centennial Student Union and Otto Arena; a first-place national ranking for our Industrial/Organizational Psychology program; a new vice president, two new deans, and two new head coaches; many honors for faculty and staff; first-time Fulbrights for three students; and a new Vikings Village at Vikings Training Camp.
Read about these and more MSU achievements, below. And please take time to enjoy the MSU grounds and this beautiful summer in Mankato..
Sincerely,
Richard Davenport
President
MSU's Industrial/Organizational Psychology master's program has been ranked best in the nation for student satisfaction. The ranking, published in the July Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, was conducted by University of Tulsa Psychology Professor Kurt Kraiger, who surveyed graduate students from the 98 North American universities that offer master's degrees in the field.
Prof. Kraiger and co-author Anthony Abalos asked students to evaluate industrial/organizational psychology program quality based on 20 criteria, including faculty support, quality of instruction, class size, research and job opportunities, and cost. Other universities in the study included George Mason, University of Nebraska-Omaha, Xavier, Florida Institute of Technology, Middle Tennessee State, Radford, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, San Francisco State, Indiana, Georgia State and St. Cloud State (ranked 17 th).
Daniel Sachau, coordinator of the program, points out that this is the first survey that ranks graduate student satisfaction in industrial and organizational psychology. “Other surveys have ranked schools according to resources or terminal degrees, but this ranking really shows how students feel.”
For years our industrial and organizational psychology program has been outstanding at training people for specialized human resources jobs. We’re delighted to have that reaffirmed.
The program prepares graduates for occupations in management consulting, employee selection and satisfaction, compensation, and other human resources specialties. Courses available include performance enhancement, international behavior, managerial behavior, cross-cultural psychology, and individual differences.
More information about the program is available at: http://www.mnsu.edu/iopsych/
More than 135 students of color have registered for or attended the University’s Orientation Program this summer – the highest number of underrepresented students at orientation in MSU history. Dean for Institutional Diversity Michael Fagin and Director of Admissions Walt Wolff are discussing a new partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs to further improve recruitment.
The partnership will enhance MSU’s ability to recruit Boys and Girls Club members to attend MSU. The University also has set an all time high in recruitment of American Indian students, according to Dr. Fagin. To date, 17 American Indian students have registered or attended new student orientation.
Dr. Patricia Swatfager-Haney is the new vice president for Student Affairs effective July 26. Most recently she served as director of university-wide student programs for the University of Illinois, administering programs that benefit students across the university’s three campuses ( Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana-Champaign).
Dr. Swatfager-Haney has a wealth of administrative knowledge and experience with student affairs issues, and she will make invaluable contributions to our leadership team.
The mission of the Division of Student Affairs is to provide a student-centered campus culture by working in collaboration with students, faculty and staff. The division plays a key role in successfully fulfilling our strategic priorities of promoting diversity, enhancing academic excellence, and developing campus-wide plans that enhance student life.
Dr. Swatfager-Haney earned a Ph.D. in education from Stanford University, with a concentration in higher education and a minor in sociology. She holds a master of science from Florida State University, and a bachelor of arts (honors) in English from Gonzaga University, Washington.
She has over 28 years experience in working with student affairs issues, including positions at Santa Clara University and Saint Mary’s College of California. She has been active in numerous professional organizations, and has held leadership positions with the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
Dr. William Wagner, chair of the Department of Sociology & Corrections, has been named interim dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences for the 2004-2005 school year, effective August 1.
A national search will be conducted for a permanent dean.
The mission of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is to promote the exploration, understanding, explanation and transformation of the social world through undergraduate and graduate teaching and learning, research and scholarly activities, and service to local, state, national and global communities.
Kenneth White has assumed duties as MSU’s new affirmative action officer. He most recently was associate director for equal opportunity and affirmative action at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, responsible for the system-wide affirmative action program.
Kenneth has more than 25 years of experience working in and managing affirmative action programs. He has directed affirmative action both in city government as well as at the University of Minnesota.
He is certified as an affirmative action officer by the Association for American Affirmative Action Officers, and as a federal equal employment opportunity investigator by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He traveled with U. S. Civil Rights Commission Chair Dr. Mary Frances Berry and other White House staff members to attend a world racism conference in New Zealand and Australia. He has been assistant basketball coach for Saint Agnes High School in St. Paul and assistant football coach at De La Salle High School in Minneapolis.
He has been assistant basketball coach for Saint Agnes High School in St. Paul and assistant football coach at De La Salle High School in Minneapolis.
The Affirmative Action Office monitors the recruitment and employment process, investigates complaints of discrimination or harassment, and serves as the Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator for the university. The affirmative action officer reports directly to the president to insure institutional compliance with state and federal affirmative action guidelines.
Jeff Iseminger has been named assistant vice president for Integrated Marketing Communications effective Sept. 20, 2004.
Jeff currently is director of communications at Oxford Brookes University, England. Before that he served as assistant communications director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, director of public information at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, and director of research for the Colorado Municipal League.
He also has been a lecturer at UW and has done free-lance writing for the Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal and Des Moines Register.
He earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Iowa and a master’s in journalism and cultural anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Two new head coaches have been announced by Director of Athletics Kevin Buisman. Lori Fish is the new head women’s basketball coach, and Jeff Jamrog is the new head football coach.
Lori was an assistant coach with the St. Cloud State women's basketball program for five years. For four years before that she was an assistant coach with the South Dakota State program. She also spent a year on the women's basketball staff at Eastern Illinois. A graduate of South Dakota State (bachelor’s and master’s), Lori was a graduate assistant with the Jackrabbits for two seasons.
Jeff was defensive coordinator and inside linebacker coach for Western Illinois. Before that he spent four years on the staff at the University of Nebraska, as defensive line coach, special teams coordinator and defensive tackles coach. He also spent three years at New Mexico State University as defensive coordinator, was defensive coordinator at the University of Nebraska-Omaha for three years, and was inside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at the University of South Dakota for three years. He also was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Nebraska for two years. Jeff earned a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from Nebraska.
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Thomas Hendrickson is the second MSU professor to receive a 2004-‘05 Fulbright Scholar grant. Earlier this year, Geography Professor Donald Friend was named a Fulbright Scholar.
Dr. Hendrickson will teach as a Fulbright Scholar at Tumaini University in Tanzania. He has visited Tanzania twice before through his church, Christina Lutheran of Lakeville – once to build a saw mill, and once to erect a flour mill. The Hendrickson family, including the Hendricksons’ three grown children – sons Nicholas and Erie and daughter Heather Orser and her husband (all MSU graduates) – have donated $25,000 to build a school in Tanzania.
In addition to Profs. Hendrickson and Friend, long-time Mankato attorney, former MSU adjunct faculty member and MSU graduate James Manahan has been awarded his third Fulbright. He will be a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the central campus Costa Rica University, located in Rodrigo Facio City University, San Jose.
Two recent Minnesota State University, Mankato graduates and one current student have been awarded 2004-‘05 Fulbright Teaching Assistantship Grants by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. It’s the first time in MSU history that MSU students or recent grads have received Fulbright grants.
Jason Doerre, a spring 2004 bachelor’s degree recipient (German and history), and Nancy Goering, who earned a master’s degree (art and German education) this spring, will teach and study in Austria. Both are from New Ulm. A third MSU student, Katie Zaman of Janesville, will spend nine months in Bangladesh .
The town of Wermsdorf (population 6,000) in the state of Saxony – the heart of the former German Democratic Republic (communist zone) – will be Jason’s home for nine months . He will attend the University of Salzburg, where he expects to fulfill most of the credits for master of arts degree in German. He will spend the following two years at the University of Bowling Green ( Ohio), where he will teach beginning German and plans to complete his German and history master’s degrees.
During the spring semester of 2003, he studied German as a foreign language in Wittenberg, Germany. While in Austria he plans to do research on the German Democratic Republic, using the information to develop his master’s thesis.
“I attribute my good fortune to the wonderful staff of the MSU History Department, especially Dr. Larry Witherell, and the Department of Modern Languages, especially Dr. Erika Berroth,” he said. “These professors went above and beyond normal expectations. Without their guidance I would not have received the Fulbright, or the assistantship at Bowling Green.”
Nancy will spend September 2004 through May 2005 living in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt, and serving as a teaching assistant in two of the community’s schools. She will assist with English classes, helping students improve their English skills and conversation.
She plans to become licensed to teach art and German in Minnesota K-12 classrooms. This spring she served as a student teacher in two schools – New Prague (elementary) and New Ulm (secondary). She also was a teaching assistant at MSU, instructing one section of German 101.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in art (minor in German) at South Dakota State University. At MSU she received the Department of Modern Languages Kaufmanis Scholarship for excellence in German studies. She also was active in German Club, serving as president for one year.
“This will be a great opportunity for experiencing life in Austria, and for solidifying my German language skills,” she said. “When I return, I will be ready to teach in a K-12 setting, and I’m also interested in possibly teaching at the university level.”
Katie will be in Bangladesh for nine months, working on two projects: "Photovoices," in which she will distribute cameras to Bangladesh residents and will ask them to photograph their community's strengths and weaknesses, and a campaign promoting the benefits of breastfeeding to health professionals and expectant mothers.
She has been to Bangladesh twice before, and believes that played a significant part in her selection as a Fulbright assistant.
Watch your mail for a brochure with more information about Vikings Training Camp. Find out how to get a universal parking pass during camp, how to score food discounts in the new Vikings Village, and how to win Training Camp tickets and merchandise. For a schedule of Training Camp events, go to www.vikingstrainingcamp.com.
Take time this summer to enjoy the striking MSU annual and perennial flower beds tended by Head Groundskeeper Tom Nelson and his crews, as well as by the many MSU employees who have “adopted” them.
Campus annuals and perennials got a late start this year due to a cool, abnormally wet spring. But since then they’ve flourished, and the MSU flower beds never have looked better.
Consider taking lunch alfresco this summer. Sit beside the pond outside of Centennial Union and savor the sweet smell of lavender. Perch atop a boulder next to the sedum outside of Armstrong Hall. Take in hundreds of petunias in full bloom on the MSU Mall.
The best of the summer can be found at MSU!
A new MSU alcohol and drug education program is featured in the 2004 National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week resource guide. The House Party! Program was cited by the BACCHUS & GAMMA Peer Education Network as “an outstanding example of quality, high-caliber programming.”
The BACCHUS network is an international organization focusing on college alcohol abuse prevention. The organization says MSU’s House Party! Program “will serve as a model to hundreds of other colleges and universities across the nation.”
Student Health Services/Health Education and SLD&SL/Greek Life presented House Party! last fall during National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, and plans to do it again this October, according to Alcohol and Drug Education Coordinator Wendy Schuh. This year Residential Life also will be involved in the project.
The event is a mock house party where Health PROs (Peers Reaching Out) and Greek students play out scenarios highlighting potential negative consequences from alcohol and drug use.
To help meet the need for special education teachers in Minnesota, the Department of Special Education will revive the undergraduate Special Education major in spring 2005.
Dr. Richard Kiefer O’Donnell, currently director of training at the University of Montana’s Rural Institute on Disabilities, has been hired to help develop the new program.
As part of the new program, the department will work in a collaborative partnership with the St. Peter School District. The partnership will allow MSU students and faculty to work with St. Peter teachers in general education, special education, ESL and gifted education. The partnership also will provide St. Peter teachers with extra help in the classroom, while giving MSU students practical experiences in special education.
The partnership was arranged through St. Peter Superintendent Dr. Jeff Olson and Director of Special Education Dennis Thorsen.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation has awarded a $199,774 grant to the Health Education-Industry Partnership (HEIP) for development of a standardized, accredited community health worker training program – the first of its kind in Minnesota. HEIP is hosted in the College of Allied Health and Nursing at MSU.
The health worker training program will seek to reduce cultural and linguistic barriers to health care, improve quality and cost-effectiveness of care, and increase the diversity of the health care workforce in Minnesota. It will include a standardized curriculum, student recruitment, and links with the employment market.
Community health workers provide health education in clinics and neighborhoods, work with health care organizations to increase cultural competence, improve access to care for minorities, improve quality of care for the chronically ill, promote healthy communities, and educate families about health care coverage.
Until now there has been no system in Minnesota for training and developing community health workers. A Blue Cross Foundation study indicates that Minnesota employers intend to hire more community health workers in the next three years.
The Blue Cross Foundation has nominated HEIP for a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Initiatives Partners Program grant that would allow more rapid implementation of the project.
HEIP is a collaboration among MnSCU, the health-care industry, professional and trade associations and state agencies to address critical healthcare workforce issues.
Three grants totaling $24,984 to improve teaching and learning have been awarded to MSU by the Minnesota State Colleges & University System’s Center for Teaching and Learning.
The 2004-’05 grants are for projects that promote active learning in academic and professional programs. The MSU grants include studies of student learning, health care education and teaching with technology.
English faculty member Randall McClure was awarded a $4,984 student learning grant for “Peer Observation and Self-Assessment as Teacher Development Tools”; the MSU Healthcare Education Industry Partnership (Kristin Juliar) received a $15,000 health care education grant for “Project Orientation for Clinical Adjunct Faculty”; and the Mechanical and Civil Engineering Department (James Wilde and Karen Chou) received a $5,000 teaching with technology grant for “Innovative Engineering Education for the Visual Learner.”
Kristin also was selected to attend the leadership development program of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professionals, in conjunction with the Health Professions Network, National Society of Allied Health, and National Network of Health Career programs.
The third and final phase of the Student Athletic Facility renovation was awarded to Heymann Construction for $6,498,000. Construction started in mid June, is expected to take about 15 months, and should be completed by Fall Semester, 2005.
With the Student Athletic Facility renovation, our campus community will enjoy:
For construction updates and facility schedules, visit www2.mnsu.edu/campusrec
The restated counts of our men’s and women’s sports teams are accurate, and errors in reports for 1999 through 2003 did not result from any systematic pattern or malicious intent, according to an independent auditor’s report.
The report, released last month, says we should change our reporting procedures to ensure that errors don't happen again, and we need to balance our teams to reflect our enrollment by gender.
We are changing our internal processes to avoid future errors, and we are training coaches and others who provide data for the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) survey. We are developing a proposed plan that will allow us to improve our athletic gender balance between our men’s and women’s programs. We will also be submitting corrected reports to the U.S. Department of Education, as recommended by the audit report.”
Next year we will evaluate our progress.
The audit was performed by the Office of Internal Auditing for the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities. “We found no evidence that the errors were caused by malicious intent,” the report said.
Two diversity workshops for MSU faculty were conducted in June by the Office of Institutional Diversity, providing faculty members with education, support and time to revise curriculi to improve their own and their students' knowledge of diversity.
The workshops, conducted by Dr. Stewart Ross and Dr. Gwen Griffin, provided information and activities on a variety of teaching and learning innovations relevant to diversity-related classroom activities.
Fourteen faculty members from five colleges, Library Services and the International Student Office participated in the sessions, and proposed projects to enhance student knowledge about diversity. Dr. Ross and Dr. Griffin are providing continued support for faculty as they develop their projects, and the results will be presented at a "Best Practices" mini-conference Oct. 22, 2004.
Facilitators plan to conduct the workshops on a regular basis to help achieve the MSU Diversity Plan goals. Support for the workshops was provided by the President's Strategic Priority New Initiative Fund.
The Department of Dental Hygiene and a number of community partners have established a clinic in Madelia , MN , as a training facility for students in dental hygiene and dental assisting
The dental hygiene clinic was established with the leadership of Project Director Val Defor and Dental Hygiene Chair Lynnette Engeswick. Community partners include Saludando Salud, Madelia Community Hospital, Madelia Clinic/Mayo Health System and Open Door Health Center.
The clinic is staffed and supervised by licensed area dentists and licensed dental hygiene faculty.
The Ethnic Studies Department hosted a one-day conference, “Ethnic and Cross-Cultural Studies: Challenges and Opportunities,” in April. Keynote speaker was Amado Padilla, professor of Education at Stanford University. Several MSU faculty participated as panelists, including Wayne Allen, Hanh Huy Phan, Yueh-Ting Lee and Joann Quinones, Ethnic Studies; Avra Johnson, Political Science; and Luis Posas, Sociology and Ethnic Studies.
The College of Business will launch a massive Wall Street Journal subscription program when classes resume in the fall semester. It also is expanding for-credit spring break study options for students.
All students registering for College of Business laptop sections will receive both online and hard-copy versions of The Wall Street Journal. The COB is one of 20 premiere business schools nationally participating in this innovative program, designed to facilitate dialogue about current and important business issues.
In March 2005 College of Business study programs will be offered in Austria, China, Greece and New York City. Students will earn credit for these experiential learning opportunities and will work closely with faculty before, during and after the study tour.
MSU student Jeet Sausen of Richfield, MN, is one of eight from seven schools selected as Minnesota Campus Compact Student Fellows for 2004-2005.
The Campus Compact program encourages students to be “agents of civic change” on their campus and in their communities. Minnesota Campus Compact is a nonprofit coalition of 49 college and university presidents committed to engaging students and institutions in strategic partnerships that create informed and active citizens.
Campus Compact student fellows will participate in a Student Civic Leadership Institute Sept. 9-12, and will work with faculty, staff and community members to support community-campus civic engagement.
For more information, contact JoAnn Campbell at 651-603-5088 or joanncampbell@mncampuscompact.org.
The third annual Social and Behavioral Science Scholarship Luncheon was held April 27 with 105 scholarship recipients, donors, SBS Advisory Board members, faculty and staff attending. And College of Allied Health and Nursing students who received scholarships were recognized at the College’s scholarship luncheon April 7. The event was sponsored by the Mankato Clinic, which also contributed $10,000 toward CAHN scholarships for the second year.
The Employee Recognition Committee has launched a new Employee Recognition web page – a valuable tool for keeping up to date, and for encouraging all of us to recognize the many accomplishments of MSU employees.
The Employee Recognition web page includes:
The page can be accessed at: http://mnsu.edu/humanres/erc/welcome.html
Pam Weller-Dengel is the new Career Development Center interim director, Jennifer Guyer-Wood is assistant director (acting), and Matt Carlson is Career Exploration coordinator (acting).
Jennifer assumes liaison responsibilities for the Colleges of Arts & Humanities, Education, and
Social & Behavioral Sciences, in addition to coordinating the Center's part-time employment function.
Matt, a recent graduate of MSU's Counseling & Student Personnel master's degree program, serves the undeclared student population and coordinates the Career Resource Library. He previously was a teaching assistant in the CDC and has several years of experience in education.
Deenna Latus-Jacobson continues her role as assistant director, working with the Colleges of Allied Health & Nursing, Business, and Science, Engineering & Technology. Deenna also serves as the internship coordinator and can be reached by e-mail at deenna.latus.jacobson@mnsu.edu
45 employees have joined MSU since Jan. 16. When you have the opportunity, please welcome them to campus.
Employees new to MSU since Jan. 16 are:
Paul Akemann, Utility Plant; Lori Andrew, Financial Aid; Mishelle Banas, Residential Life; Sue Bell, Nursing; Blake Blomquist, Campus Access Hub; Matthew Carlson, Career Development Center; Marvena Childe, Library Automation (PALS); Michael Cooper, Marketing and Communications; Meredith Davis, Women’s Athletics (Track); Fernando Delgado, College of Graduate Studies; Vaughn Engelby, Building Services; Jennifer Fell, Campus Access Hub;
Anthony Fiorino, Building Services; Lori Fish, Women’s Athletics (Basketball); Ginny Fitzloff, President’s Office; Jennifer Goblirsch, Admissions; Jed Groen, Building Services; Bonnie Hanson, Nursing; Bret Haupert, University Security; Jeffrey Jamrog, Athletics (Football); Deborah Jesseman, Education Studies; Lisa Kannegieter, Women’s Athletics (Basketball); Susan Kuyper, Research & Sponsored Programs; Oleksiy Lazar, ITS; Michael Letourneau, University Security; Tamara Leuer, Women’s Athletics (Volleyball); Michael Lexvold, Facilities Management;
Patricia Lipetzky , Extended Learning; Kathryn Looft, Alumni Relations; Robert Lutter, University Security; Katherine Mohler, Campus Access Hub; Amy Mukamuri, Center for Academic Success; Judith Nordeen, Financial Aid; Joseph Perkins, University Security; Linda Peters, ITS; Daniel Rawson, University Security; Tsegyal Sherpa, Building Services; Johanna Simpson, Human Resources; Jeffrey Sims, Men’s Athletics (Football); Nicole Stock, First-Year Experience; Melissa Van Winkle, Registrar’s Office; Corie Walters, Children’s House; Jada Wetzel, University Security; Kenneth White, Affirmative Action; Brock Wiley, Building Services.
The Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has granted Speech, Hearing & Rehabilitation Services faculty member Judith Kuster a seventh Award for Continuing Education. Judith joins a select group of individuals who have made a concerted, personal effort to continue professional learning beyond an academic degree.
Guadalupe Quintero, assistant director of Chicano-Latino Affairs, was invited to and attended the state dinner for His Excellency Vincente Fox, President of Mexico, June 18 in Minneapolis. She met and spoke with President Fox following the dinner. Thanks to Lupe’s efforts and those of others at MSU, participation of Latinos in programs and events has increased substantially.