What the association discovered was that alumni appreciate St. Thomas traditions, that continuing to be involved with St. Thomas is important to alumni, and that it is essential that the value of a St. Thomas degree is continually affirmed and improved.

The survey also revealed that alumni have a deep sense of loyalty to faculty, a characteristic that became apparent when more than 800 stories about faculty members who had strong positive effects on alumni’s educational experiences were shared by the respondents.

Faculty and administrative staff members from departments across the university were mentioned, in addition to some of St. Thomas’ most notable personalities.

Of the 800 names listed, here are the five who appeared most frequently:

Monsignor James Lavin

Monsignor James Lavin

Lavin arrived at St. Thomas in 1936 as an undergraduate student and earned a degree in English in 1940. He returned to campus in 1946 after his ordination and taught religion until 1967, when he became an academic counselor. He went to work for the St. Thomas Alumni Association in 1988 as a special assistant to the president and a university ambassador who attended countless events, funerals, weddings and baptisms. Known widely as “Scooter,” he lived in Ireland Hall as an undergraduate and from 1946 to 2002. He began the practice of offering peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, also known as “Lavin Burgers,” to residence hall students in the evenings. Scooter’s restaurant – the original in Murray-Herrick Campus Center and the new version in the Anderson Student Center – carries his name, as does an award for volunteer service to the Alumni Association.

Monsignor Lavin died on Sept. 17, 2012. The first Monsignor Lavin Day was celebrated on Nov. 12, 2012, at Scooter’s on what would have been Lavin’s 94th birthday. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were served.

A respondent  to the alumni survey said Monsignor Lavin “Accepted me for the person I was. As a woman in a primarily male college, his classes were critical in my development as a professional.” Another noted his kindness and recalled a time when Lavin “Gave my wife and me money out of his pocket because we had very little.”

One respondent who lived in Ireland hall for three years said, “I will tell you without hesitation that the personal relationship and experiences I had with Father Lavin were far and away the most valuable of my college years.”

Read more about Monsignor James Lavin.

Father James Whalen

Father James Whalen

A native of Minneapolis, Whalen graduated from the St. Thomas Military Academy and earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Minnesota in 1948. He worked in advertising until 1953, when he enrolled in the Saint Paul Seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1958 and the following year joined the St. Thomas faculty as its first full-time journalism teacher. He later became the first chair of the newly-formed Journalism Department.  More than 900 St. Thomas journalism alumni studied under Whalen during his 35-year tenure at the university. Thousands of other students took his classes but did not major in journalism or, as the department evolved, programs in advertising, media studies, public relations or broadcast journalism. In addition to his work with the university’s undergraduate journalism program, Whalen, along with senior vice president emeritus Quentin Hietpas, conceived and developed St. Thomas’ Master of Business Communication program.

Father James Whalen  died on April 8, 2003, 10 years after retiring from classroom teaching.

One survey respondent heralded Whalen as “The greatest teacher I ever had. He returned my homework to me covered in red editing ink – and this is what taught me to be the writer and PR person I am today.” Another respondent acknowledged Whalen’s impact on non-journalism majors, “He was always willing to listen and give advice even though I wasn’t in ‘his’ program. (He was) a wonderful man.”

One respondent said that he “expanded my critical thinking ability and strengthened my moral values.”

Read more about Father James Whalen.

Father John Malone

Father John Malone

Malone attended Nazareth Hall and the Saint Paul Seminary, from which he was ordained in 1967. He earned a law degree, taught business law at St. Thomas for more than 25 years, did pro bono work for people who couldn’t afford a lawyer, and worked at the Ramsey County Public Defender’s Office. He served as pastor of Assumption Catholic Church in downtown St. Paul before retiring as a parish priest in 2007 and serving as a special assistant in the president’s office at St. Thomas.  In 2008, he was named vice president for mission, a role he continues today.

Respondents to the survey recalled Malone as both a teacher and mentor. “(He) is simply a great person to have in your network – spiritually, academically and legally one of the best professors out there.”

“He transcends the priest-teacher and religion-business prototype. He shows that both worlds can coexist.” Another respondent commented on the large personality Malone is known for. “He made B-law fun, yet we learned a lot. We also saw a human side to a priest – humor, great intelligence outside theology, and fantastic personal skills.”

Read more about Father John Malone.

William Malevich  

William Malevich

When asked whether there was a person at St. Thomas that had a positive influence on his or her experience, one survey respondent answered simply: “Bill Malevich. Enough said.”

Malevich earned his St. Thomas undergraduate degree in 1955. He returned in 1965 to work in admissions and counseling. Two years later he became dean of students, a role in which he began writing his column “Ask the Dean,” which appeared in the university’s newsletter The Bulletin. Over the years, students wrote him about serious issues – alcoholism and abortion – as well as about the absence of onion rings in the cafeteria and the difficulties of the subjunctive tense in German. His answers mixed wisdom and wit. “What is the meaning of life?” one student asked. His reply: “If I really gave you the answer to that question, wouldn’t it take the fun out of discovering the answer for yourself?”

Malevich retired in 1993. Today, the university gives two awards in his honor: the William B. Malevich Award, presented by USG, and the Malevich Student Leadership Scholarship.

One survey respondent recalled that “He was accessible, understanding and willing to work with students and student organizations.” According to another respondent, Malevich is “a truly caring and understanding guy who was deeply concerned about the well-being of students.”

Read more about William Malevich.

Dr. John Buri

Dr. John Buri

Buri has spent the entirety of his professional career at St. Thomas where he currently teaches a variety of courses, including the popular Psychology of Marriage and the Family. He also has served as the chair of the Psychology Department, as well as a clinical faculty associate in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology. He received his B.A. in psychology from Loras College in Iowa.  He went on to earn his M.A. and Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at Loyola University in Chicago. His book How to Love Your Wife was published in 2006.

According to one survey respondent, “He taught me and many other students many lessons about psychology, but he also helped prepare us for life and interactions with people … He was a great mentor. I routinely went to him to discuss issues and receive guidance.” Another respondent agrees, saying “My psychology mentor John Buri made marriage and family come alive.”

A former student of recalls Buri’s efforts to help during a particularly difficult semester: “He provided support and resources during a term when I was very ill that allowed me to successfully complete his class despite extended absence.”

Read more about Dr. John Buri.

*     *     *

For more information about the 2012 Alumni Attitudes Survey, visit the Alumni Association website.

St. Thomas Day recognizes the extraordinary contributions that members of the St. Thomas community have made to the university and the wider community. The awards that are presented on St. Thomas Day were instituted over a period of 60 years.

St. Thomas Day events began with Mass in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas led by Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn, chair of the university’s Board of Trustees. A dinner and awards program followed in Woulfe Alumni Hall, Anderson Student Center. More than 500 members of the St. Thomas community attended.

Father Dennis Dease, president of the University of St. Thomas, was pleasantly stunned at the St. Thomas Day awards Wednesday night when he was presented with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

This marked the first year the recipient of the award was kept hush-hush until the night of the ceremony.

Dr. Rachel Wobschall, executive director of Alumni and Constituent Relations at St. Thomas, said, “The Alumni Association Board of Directors unanimously nominated and approved Father Dease. We decided to keep it a secret because of Father Dease’s humility − we thought he might not accept it if he knew about it.”

Dease’s brothers, sisters and other family members showed up at the dinner to surprise him, but he did not read anything into their appearance other than to think they were there to help him celebrate his final St. Thomas Day as president. He also did not read the printed program at his table, listing him as the Distinguished Alumnus Award winner, so when his named was announced he had a surprised look on his face. He received two standing ovations from the capacity crowd In Woulfe – one after his name was announced and the other after a video was played.

Nominations for the Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna, Humanitarian and Lavin awards are welcome throughout the year but are required by July 1 for consideration for the following year’s St. Thomas Day. For forms and more information on how to submit a nomination, visit the Alumni Association website.

Distinguished Alumnus Award

Father Dennis Dease took office as president of St. Thomas on July 1, 1991, but he has a longer association – nearly 50 years – with the university and the St. Paul Seminary.

A native of Corcoran, Minn., he taught theology at the College of St. Thomas and served as spiritual director and dean of formation at the St. Paul Seminary. Ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1969, Father Dease has myriad degrees: a B.A. in Latin and philosophy, a Master of Divinity degree from the St. Paul Seminary, an M.A. degree in counseling psychology from St. Thomas and a Ph.D. in systematic theology from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

In 1982 he joined the St. Thomas Board of Trustees. He served rector of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis from 1985 to 1991.

The university grew significantly and made many notable achievements during his 22-year tenure, including:

• Establishment of a Minneapolis campus and constructed four buildings for programs in business, law, education and professional psychology
• Construction of a dozen major buildings on the St. Paul campus, including a student center, an athletic and recreation complex, a science and engineering center, a business building, two apartment-style residence halls and a parking ramp
• A new campus in Rome (2000)
• New academic programs in law, Catholic studies, mechanical and electrical engineering, entrepreneurship and Irish studies, and quadrupled study-abroad participation with semesterlong programs based in London and Rome and many opportunities during January Term
• A tripled student-of-color population as well as a tripled number of international students.
• $765 million raised in two capital campaigns – $250 million in the Ever Press Forward campaign, which concluded in 2001, and $515 million in the Opening Doors campaign, which came to a close last October.
• Accreditation from national or international associations for all major graduate programs.

Dease will retire as president of St. Thomas June 30 this year.

Professor of the Year

Dr. Mark Neuzil, a member of the Communication and Journalism Department, will receive this year’s Professor of the Year Award. Neuzil, who joined St. Thomas in 1993, also serves as director of St. Thomas’ Office for Mission and is an adviser to TommieMedia.com.

He is the author or co-author of four books with environmental themes: Mass Media and Environmental Conflict: America’s Green Crusades, co-written with William Kovarik; Views of the Mississippi: The Photographs of Henry Bosse, which won a Minnesota Book Award; A Spiritual Field Guide: Meditations for the Outdoors, co-written with Dr. Bernard Brady; and The Environment and the Press: From Adventure Writing to Advocacy.

Neuzil earned a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University, and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Minnesota.

Humanitarian of the Year

Charles Lugemwa ’03 M.M.S.E. will be honored with the 2013 Humanitarian of the Year Award for his work with Hope Medical Clinics. Lugemwa co-founded the Ugandan clinics with Father Dennis Dease.

A native Ugandan, Lugemwa serves as in-country director of Hope Medical Clinics Uganda and is manager of data management in the IT Division of the Uganda Revenue Authority.

Hope Medical Clinics Uganda provides people access to health care services, regardless of income. The organization operates clinics in the Kampala suburbs of Ndejje and Kasubi, and the Ruth Gaylord Maternity and Pediatric Hospital, which opened in January 2012.

Lugemwa lives in Kampala, Uganda, with his wife, Maria, and their three children.

Monsignor James Lavin Award

Don Traxler ’50, retired president of Northern Star Co., is the recipient of this year’s Monsignor James Lavin Award. Established in 1994, the award honors a volunteer for his or her service to the St. Thomas Alumni Association. Traxler has served the alumni community for decades as a volunteer and active participant, most notably as a member of the Old Guard and its annual reunion committees.

As a student at St. Thomas, he majored in business administration – general business management and economics. The parents of nine children, Traxler and his wife, Dolores, have provided scholarship support to St. Thomas students, and Traxler has been a member of the President’s Council since 1986.

Tommie Award

Eyo Ekpo of Andover, Minn., was voted recipient of the Tommie Award by St. Thomas faculty, staff and students. He is an entrepreneurship and finance double major. He also is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, an international business honor society; Delta Epsilon Sigma, a national scholastic honor society; and Delta Sigma Pi, a professional business fraternity; HANA, a multicultural student organization; Practicing Entrepreneurs; Senior Legacy; Real Estate Society; Undergraduate Business Council; and Tommie Ambassadors.

An athlete in varsity football and varsity track and field, Ekpo also served as a representative on the Student Athletic Advisory Committee. In track and field, he was named an NCAA All-American four times, to the All-America Academic team three times and a national runner-up for the CoSIDA First-Team All-America.

The Tommie Award is sponsored by the Division of Student Affairs and is awarded annually to a senior who best represents the ideals of St. Thomas Aquinas through scholarship, leadership and campus involvement.

Take a walk through the halls of the Opus College of Business and you’re likely to run into Corey Eakins ’09 M.B.A., director of the Evening UST MBA Program. In the morning, you may find him in the skyway with his iPad, on his way to meet with faculty members about a new study-abroad offering. In the afternoon he’s in Terrence Murphy Hall, meeting with the student advising team to understand a concern raised by one of their advisees. You might see him in the evening, too, networking with attendees at an event designed to provide students and alumni with the opportunity to learn from the local business community. Eakins is a man on the move, always thinking about how to improve the student experience.

Eakins, in his career and his personal life, has always shown an eagerness and an interest in moving forward, in putting his skills to work to launch a new business, to help a student launch a new career and to help a college launch a new program. Interestingly, this education administrator began his career as a golf professional.

“I grew up around the game,” said the Wisconsin native. “My mom was the general manager of a country club in Hudson.” While completing his undergraduate degree in communications and public relations at St. Cloud State University, Eakins took a job as an assistant golf professional at a nearby country club. He decided to transform his love of and skill in golf from a part-time hobby to a full-time profession. He took the PGA Playing Ability Test and entered the PGA Apprentice Program to become a Class-A member of the Professional Golfers Association of America.

The Business of Golf

Eakins realized that “a golf professional really is a very specialized business person in a niche industry.” Freshly certified as a golf professional, in 1996 he became one of the first four employees at Heritage Highlands, a new golf course in Tucson, Ariz. When he came on board, the course hadn’t even opened yet and Eakins jumped in to get it up and running. “I worked for four months before we saw a golfer,” he said.

Building an organization from the ground up and opening a brand new facility from scratch was very interesting for Eakins. “I was doing everything and anything – I helped laser [measure] yardages so we could order the numbers to go on the sprinkler heads,” Eakins said. His communication degree came into good use, too, in producing brochures, collateral and even websites. The work paid off, and Heritage Highlands was nominated for the best new course of the year in 1997.

Eakins came back to River Falls, Wis., for a break after a busy summer on the course. While home, some friends told him about a new golf course under construction in Hudson. “I wandered out there and knocked on the door of the construction trailer,” Eakins said. One of the partners invited him to play the course as the grass was still growing in and they spent the afternoon talking shop. Months later, because of this chance encounter, Eakins was invited back to help open the course, Troy Burne Golf Club, Tom Lehman’s first signature design in the Midwest. It was a great opportunity for Eakins to “come in to a golf facility that already had name recognition” and to be involved with Lehman in getting another golf club up and running. Plus it was nice to be back home – both Eakins and his wife, Lauri Eakins ’10 M.B.A., are natives of River Falls.

Eakins’ experience in these golf clubs taught him some important business lessons. “I opened these facilities and realized that I was really a professional business person running a complex organization. I was able to develop staffing structure, help develop membership programming, plan corporate events and develop the marketing of the golf course.”

He also learned the importance of providing an exceptional customer experience. “You’re asking for a significant amount of money for a day of golf,” he said, “so we owed it to our golfers to treat them very well. For probably three-fourths of our guests, playing our course was a once-a-year treat, and we had to make it really special.” He worked with the college students he hired each summer to help them provide that experience. “The term you heard a lot was ‘country club member for a day,’” Eakins said.

Making a Career Change

“The tough thing about being a golf professional, especially in a seasonal market like here, is that from April to October you’re just busy,” Eakins said. As he and his wife became parents in 2001 and again in 2003, Eakins sought greater work-life balance. “I am very much the kind of person who has to feel passionate about what I’m doing every day in order to want to go to work. I enjoyed that in golf; even when I left golf, I still loved the sport, and I was just looking for a different schedule that worked with my family.”

The question for his next step became, “What environment most energized me?” The answer was higher education. “I wanted to do something different and looked at the M.B.A. as a key tool to help me transition careers and open up other doors,” he said. “I kicked around an M.B.A. back in Arizona but never got around to it.”

N. Curtis LeMay

N. Curtis Le May, director of the Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library, was elected vice chair/chair elect of the Academic Libraries Section of the Catholic Library Association, April 2, at the association’s annual conference in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Sarah Noonan

Dr. Sarah Noonan, Leadership, Policy and Administration Department, College of Education, Leadership, and Counseling, is the author of a new chapter on talent development, titled “Educating Wizards: Developing Talent Through Innovation Education,” in The Routledge International Handbook of Innovation Education (2013). The handbook introduces an entirely new field in educational practice − innovation education − using findings from the fields of innovation, gifted education, scientific talent and education and high ability studies.

Dr. Kim Vrudny

Dr. Kimberly Vrudny, Theology Department, College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of “An Ethical Gaze? Behind the Scenes with 30 Years / 30 Lives,” in ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies, 24/1 (2012-2013) 20-33. Vrudny is also assuming the role of senior editor of ARTS starting in July. She was elected to this role last year at the AAR. Wilson Yates, who was the founding editor, is retiring from the role at the end of this academic year.

Dr. Martin Warren, English Department, College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of “Filling in the Template: King Arthur as an Exercise in Answering a Generation’s Questions,” published in Minnesota English Journal, 48: 55-58.

Faculty and undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences Sociology and Criminal Justice Department presented their research at a regional meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society held March 27 to 30 in Chicago. Dr. Meg Wilkes Karraker and sociology students Emilee Sirek, Victoria Speake and Mitchell Wolff presented “Religious Family Values, Family Business Virtues: Preliminary Findings from a Study of 20 Family Businesses.” Dr. William Kinney and UST alum Dr. Jynette Larshus (Minot State University) presented “The Impact of Race on Popular Music Recognition: A Listener Artist Comparison.” Dr. Tanya Gladney participated in two panels, including “Academia as a Second Career” and “Networking for Academics and Professionals.” Dr. Lisa Waldner and sociology student Kylee Joosten presented “Analyzing the Use of Heterosexual Perpetration Tactics in Sexually Coercive Undergraduates.” Waldner also (with Betty A. Dobratz, Iowa State University) presented a workshop on “How to Get Published in Referred Journals” and was a panelist in “Future Trends and Issues in Publishing.” Dr. Peter Parilla received a 2013 Presidential Award for his service to the Midwest Sociological Society.

Mitchell Wolff, Emilee Sirek, Victoria Speake, Dr. Meg Wilkes Karraker

John Tauer, Ph.D.

As the head men’s basketball coach at the University of St. Thomas, I feel blessed and honored to work with an amazing group of players and coaches. This past season, we had a 30-2 record, tied a school record for wins, won an unprecedented 8th consecutive MIAC championship, and advanced to the Division III Final Four for the third time in school history. More important than the records and statistics are the life lessons we aim to teach our players. Some of these lessons include:

• How we respond to failure and mistakes helps us grow, prepares us for adversity, and defines who we are.
• Controlling our emotions is an important skill in life, particularly in frustrating situations.
• We win as a team and lose as a team.
• Intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation. Approach-oriented motivation is better than avoidance motivation. Finding areas in life that allow us to be passionate and work well with others is invaluable.

In the Rutgers video footage, we see a coach showing his players that failure is not an option, and that mistakes will be punished both physically and verbally. Undoubtedly, players developed a fear of failure (and of their coach). Based on the video and interviews, it is clear Mike Rice’s behavior toward his players was consistently demeaning and aggressive toward his players. How and why were Mike Rice’s actions allowed to occur over time? Understanding the conditions which allowed this hostile environment to take place is important to prevent future situations similar to the one at Rutgers University. Let’s consider the situation from a number of different perspectives.

Why would a coach act like this? Learned Aggression
The research on aggression indicates there are both biological and environmental correlates of aggression. Without knowing Mike Rice’s DNA, it is a safe bet that he learned some of this behavior from other coaches. Rice was a longtime assistant coach, and it seems likely that at least one of his mentors engaged in similar behavior. In working to motivate his players, Coach Rice must have thought they required physical and mental abuse/fear in order to get them to play as hard as he wanted them to play. This approach flies in the face of the research on intrinsic motivation and long-term sustainable performance.

Why would players not turn on their coach? Obedience to Authority
Classic studies on obedience to authority conducted by Stanley Milgram at Yale University in the 1960s demonstrated how quickly and easily average people will obey an authority figure. In one version of Milgram’s study, 65 percent of participants shocked a stranger to a level that could have been fatal (no shocks were actually administered as the stranger was in a different room). The takeaway from this study was that authority figures can abuse their power, yet rarely will others stand up to the person in power.

Players on the Rutgers team undoubtedly disliked how they were treated in practice. However, for non-New Jersey residents, tuition, room and board at Rutgers at a cost of $37,805 per year (or $151,220 over four years), would be a large incentive to stay quiet and avoid risking a scholarship. Furthermore, blowing the whistle on Mike Rice could have led to an ugly situation that, depending on the outcome, could have led to the player leaving Rutgers and struggling to find another school at which to play basketball.

Why would the athletic director not fire the coach immediately upon seeing the video?
Athletic Director Pernetti saw the video yet chose not to fire Mike Rice; rather, he chose to suspend him for three games, fine him and instruct him to attend anger management classes. Pernetti may have thought he could help rehabilitate Rice, but Pernetti also may have been avoiding conflict, hoping to resolve the issue quietly and not draw attention to an athletic program that had more than its share of issues recently.

Why was the public so outraged?
When the video of Mike Rice throwing basketballs at players in practice hit the internet, public outcry was quick to follow. We have an image of how we hope coaches treat players, yet all too often the “Win at all costs” mindset seems to trump all. Why did videos like this not surface 10+ years ago? In part, because videos such as this would be more difficult to obtain and even more difficult to distribute so readily. Mike Rice is not the first coach to treat his players poorly, nor is he the first coach to use fear, vulgar language, and physical abuse as tactics to motivate his players.

Read John Feinstein’s book, A Season on the Brink about Bobby Knight at Indiana University in the 1980s and it is clear Mike Rice is not the first coach to treat his players poorly. Had there been videos of Bobby Knight doing the things Feinstein reported in his book, and an internet to spread those videos like wildfire, my hunch is Coach Knight may have had a more difficult time keeping his job as long as he did in Indiana. Furthermore, I am certain that coaches across the country engage in questionable actions as they seek to motivate, compel and push the right buttons to get their players to play hard and excel. There is certainly a fine line, as athletics are an emotional endeavor, and many coaches walk a tightrope between controlled passion and aggression and uncontrolled physical and mental outbursts. That line can be the difference between an intense, fiery coach such as Rick Pitino winning a national championship with Louisville and an intense, fiery coach such as Mike Rice being fired from Rutgers.

What is the greatest danger stemming from the Rutgers saga? The Fundamental Attribution Error
After the tragic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it was easy to think that if we captured Osama Bin Laden, the world would be safe again. The truly frightening reality was that there were likely thousands upon thousands of individuals who felt the same way Osama bin Laden did about America.

Along these same lines, it feels much cleaner if we believe that now that Mike Rice has been fired, we can go back to believing the “bad coach” is gone and only good ones remain. What is much more frightening is if there are hundreds, or thousands, of Mike Rices out there coaching college and high school sports. Mike Rice learned this behavior from somewhere. It seems unlikely that he is the only one of thousands of college coaches and tens of thousands of high school coaches to employ these types of coaching methods.

The Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) occurs when we underestimate the power of a situation while simultaneously overestimating the role of one’s personality in discerning the causes of a behavior. In this case, we likely commit the FAE when we overlook the powerful win-at-all-costs mentality that, when combined with the ultracompetitive world of sports helps us understand that Mike Rice was likely innately aggressive as an individual, became more aggressive in part due to what he learned from other coaches , implemented an aggressive coaching style because he believed that behavior motivated players, and did all of this in part due to an environment that allowed and encouraged aggression.

The real shame of the Rutgers basketball saga will be if the public does not engage in a conversation that revisits the true goals of sports, the best practices for teaching and motivating student-athletes, and a broad view of the culture of sports, and why this culture may be a breeding ground for ultracompetitive fear-based motivation that undermines the very goals sports aims to teach. Until that time, unfortunately, the madness of sports will not be limited solely to the month of March.

John Tauer is an associate professor of psychology and head men’s basketball coach at St. Thomas. 

As Dayton greeted the team in the foyer of the Minnesota Governor’s Residence, head coach Thanh Pham gave him a purple Tommie volleyball national championship T-shirt. According to Dayton, “Purple is my favorite color.”

Dayton commented on how he invites national championship teams of all sports to the mansion on Summit Avenue, mentioning the Minnesota Lynx, who won the WNBA championship in 2011. “But I’ve never had a men’s team here,” he said.

Dayton shows off his new St. Thomas volleyball national champions T-shirt. (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

After a tour of the residence on which the team met the governor’s German shepherds Wanamingo and Itasca, breakfast was served in the solarium, a room that was once visited by Eleanor Roosevelt. Dayton sat across from Pham, who recalled the environment in the arena as the Tommies took on Calvin College in the national championship in November.

“They had about 3,500 fans there. We had about 60, but they were a loud 60,” Pham said. The game took place at Hope College in Holland, Mich., about a half-hour from Calvin’s campus. Dayton commented, “So it was basically a home game for them.”

Having the opportunity to meet the governor was a special experience for the team, according to Pham: “Winning the championship has allowed us to do some fun things and meet so many new people. Meeting the governor is definitely something the girls will never forget.”

Pham was also impressed seeing his players off the court in more of a social setting: “To get to see them interact with each other and other people gives me a whole different perspective. It reminds me that they will be professionals in something other than volleyball someday.”

Senior Kia Johnson described meeting the governor as an honor. “Getting to do something like this shows how all our hard work has paid off,” she said.

Kia Johnson shakes hands with Dayton. (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

Junior Nicole Potts recognized the breakfast as a once in a lifetime opportunity. “Although, I suppose we could meet him again next year,” she said. “This seems like a place that you always just drive by and wonder what it’s like inside.”

Sophomore Sydney Westfield thought it was a rare experience as well. “Not many people get to meet him, let alone have breakfast with him,” she said.

Sophomore and the national tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award winner Jill Greenfield found Dayton to be very personable: “He took the time to get to know each one of and ask us where we are from.”

As the team said goodbye to Dayton, Greenfield shook his hand and said, “Purple looks good on you.”

In the 2012 season, the Tommies posted a 40-1 record, an all-time conference best for victories and winning percentage in volleyball. During the national tournament, the Tommies became the second team in the 32-year history of D-III nationals to rally from a 2-0 set deficit and win the last three sets of the championship match.

“Printing isn’t dead,” John Barron, director of the Service Center, will tell you. “There’s a lot to be said for a printed piece that has physical characteristics and not just bits and bytes.”

Barron, who is in his 18th year at St. Thomas, also will tell you that there’s a lot to be said for a poster that was produced by the Service Center for the Music Department’s Festival Orchestra Honors Concert of April 16, 2012. The poster earned a Bronze Award (digital flyers category) in the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association’s 2013 printing contest. IPMA is generally recognized as the professional trade association for in-plant printing operations in the United States.

“Overall it’s just a beautifully designed piece and it’s a beautifully printed piece, so we have the staff to thank, the equipment to thank and the designer to thank,” Barron remarked in a recent interview.

The Service Center won a Bronze Award from the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association for this Music Department poster. The IPMA will present its awards at the association’s annual meeting, which will be held in June in San Mateo, Calif.

A total of 482 entries were submitted to IPMA in various contest categories by 75 organizations, including many large universities and organizations. Eighty winners were selected from 35 organizations. In recent years, the Service Center also won IPMA awards in 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2011.

Staff

The staff that produced the Bronze Award poster included designer Stacy Drude, iGen3 operator Sue Moro, finisher Cassie Watson and production manager Leann Martens.

“We’ve known that we’ve done some great work because of some talented designers on campus, because of the high-quality equipment we have, but also some really dedicated staff.  … We’ve got some really caring employees who are highly trained. Being able to get recognition from our trade association – it just feels good, and getting that kind of recognition is what our staff deserves,” Barron said.

Equipment

The poster was printed on the Service Center’s iGen3 by Xerox, a high-tech, color digital printer. The machine is 20-feet long, six-feet wide and eight-feet tall; it weighs 7,051 pounds. A structural engineer was hired to ensure that the floor of the Service Center (thought to have been built in 1894 along with Cretin and Loras halls; all three were designed by Cass Gilbert), could support the size and the weight of the machine. It took a couple of weeks to install.

The iGen3 is designed to do digital color printing up to 14-by-20 inches and can produce 110 prints per minute.

“It’s a very significant machine, and we’ve been running it real hard, and getting real good results out of it. … It’s intended to do very high-quality digital color printing in very small runs – from one to 10 up to several thousand, and it’s economical up to several thousand,” Barron said.

The quality is “virtually indistinguishable from offset, which has been the standard of excellence for over a hundred years,” he added.

Designer

Barron pointed out that Drude drew on ongoing themes and motifs that she has used for a variety of flyers, brochures, posters and banners for the Music Department.

Drude designs some  half dozen pieces for the Music Department every year and countless others. She “hit on” the concert poster. “I was looking at what instruments were involved, the sort of music that was involved and kind of knowing what Kara Bradshaw (her Music Department client) looks for, and just started making a layered file and bringing all of the pieces together,” Drude remarked.

Barron pointed out that Drude’s poster featured well-rendered images with good midtones, highlights and shadows and pleasing colors, and it featured good use of typography, the words were large enough to be read, and it made meaningful use of white space.

“It’s a great piece. We’re proud of it,” Barron concluded.

2008-09? Unselfish, he says. The undersized team with no starter over 6-foot-4 outscored opponents by an average of 19 points and went 30-0 before losing to eventual national champion Washington University of St. Louis. The core included seniors Al McCoy, Lonnie Robinson, B.J. Viau and Brett Tuma, the first three as starters.

2010-11? Unselfish, Tauer says again. The 30-3 team wasn’t as dominant statistically as two years earlier but got on a roll at the right time and won its last 12 games, including the 78-54 finale over Wooster in Salem to win the national championship. Four seniors – Tyler Nicolai, Alex Healy, Teddy Archer and Anders Halvorsen – started every game alongside junior Tommy Hannon, and senior Brady Ervin came off the bench for 19 minutes a game.

2012-13? Unselfish, Tauer says one more time. The 29-1 Tommies are led by seniors Hannon, John Nance, Will DeBerg, Noah Kaiser and Drew Mathews. They lead the country in scoring margin (21.1) and field goal percentage (.527), and are No. 3 in 3-point proficiency (.427), but no player finished among the top 15 in MIAC scoring average.

Tauer pauses to reflect on inevitable comparisons between the trio of Elite Eight teams and throws in an adverb to embellish his “unselfish” description.

“Three things characterized all three teams,” he said. “They had senior leaders who were incredibly unselfish and set an unbelievable example. Actions always speak louder than words. Tyler never said, ‘This is how we play.’ He just played that way. And it caught on.”

Tauer expects to see more of the same unselfish play beginning Friday, March 22, when the top-ranked Tommies face No. 8 Williams at 11 a.m. (Watch the game live.) The winner will meet the St. Mary’s (Md.) and Mary Hardin-Baylor survivor at 5 p.m. Saturday to advance to the title game April 7 in Atlanta.

Balance Comes Through

Unselfishness usually translates to balance when it comes to scoring, as do Tauer’s deep bench and the second-year coach’s penchant for an up-tempo game and pressure defense:

• DeBerg’s 12.5 points per game leads a team that has averaged 81.3 points a game, just 1.4 points off the school record of 82.7 set in 1973-74 by the legendary Terry Mikan-Bob Rosier team. Hannon follows at 11.4, Nance at 9.6 and junior Zach Riedeman at 9.1.
• The starters have combined for 47.3 points a game, meaning the bench scores 34. Starters averaged 48.3 in 2008-09 and 52.9 in 2010-11.
• Nance and DeBerg are the only players who have logged more than 700 minutes – or 28 per game – and 11 players average 10 or more minutes a game.
• Nationally, only one player ranks in the top 100 in any individual statistical category: DeBerg is No. 95 in 3-pointers per game at 2.38.

“It took until the final week for one of our guys (Hannon) to win MIAC Player of the Week, and then we got it because we won the playoffs,” Tauer said. “But they don’t care! It’s how we do as a team that concerns these guys. It’s pretty (here comes that word again…) unselfish.”

Stats Revealing

Holding records of 51-8 overall and 8-1 in the postseason during his two years as coach, Tauer exudes quiet confidence heading into the matchup against Williams. His team is riding a 13-game winning streak since losing its only game 54-52 to Concordia two months ago in Moorhead and has loads of playoff experience – 21-4 in MIAC and NCAA playoff games since 2009.

Coach pic“I like two statistics about this team,” he said. “We are No. 1 in Division III in field goal percentage (.527), meaning we are taking good shots, and we are No. 2 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.62). We play hard, we play smart and we play together.”

The men’s team took the MIAC Championship this year, earning them a place in the NCAA playoffs. (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

The Tommies’ ranking and pursuit of a record eighth straight MIAC regular season title have left targets on their backs all year long. Tauer marvels at their maturity in handling both game-to-game expectations and tense moments such as last Saturday’s 63-62 Sweet Sixteen win when the Calvin player who had scored 31 points missed a shot before the buzzer.

“It’s how they handle physiological arousal,” said Tauer, who also is a psychology professor. “Guys laugh when I use those words, which have to do with how your nervous system responds and your heart beating faster. Some players thrive on it and some shy away from it.

“These guys like it! We talk all year about competing for a national championship, and that grows on them. It also helps that we recruit players from winning teams. They are used to playing in big games in the state tournament or sectional finals.”

One might think the emphasis on balance and knowing they have to wait their turn might dissuade star players from enrolling at St. Thomas, but Tauer hasn’t found that to be the case.

“We are up front with guys,” he said. “We recruit excellent players who we know will be good teammates, and we tell them that we expect to win a lot of games and that they’ll get a degree from a great university.”

Senior Influence

Tauer eventually turns the conversation back to one of his favorite topics – his five seniors – and extols their contributions:

• Kaiser, 6-foot-5 forward, Henry Sibley: He started the first 12 games but sat out eight games after a hand injury and hasn’t returned to the starting lineup. “He accepted that as being best for the team,” Tauer said. “It demonstrates what I mean when I say this team is unselfish.”
• Nance, 6-foot-4 forward, Cretin-Derham Hall: He has become the team’s best defender and an effective passer who leads the team in assists (75), steals (46) and blocks (12) while hitting 55 percent of his shots from the field.
• Hannon, 6-foot-8 center, Cretin-Derham Hall: A knee injury sidelined him for the 2011-12 season after nine games, and there were questions whether he could recover and be effective in his final year. He has responded with a season almost identical to 2010-11, when he averaged 12.2 points and 6.7 rebounds a game and won a spot on the All-Final Four Team.
• DeBerg, 6-foot guard, Edina: The two-year all-MIAC sharpshooter leads St. Thomas with 69 3-pointers, nearly twice as many as anyone else, and Tauer says he has played tougher defense.
• Mathews, 6-foot-4 forward, Faribault Bethlehem Academy: He has played 36 minutes in 11 games, with six points and four steals. After appearing in only 13 games last year and undergoing hip surgery over the summer, many didn’t expect him to return. “But he did,” Tauer said. “He couldn’t play right away, but he came to practice every day the first two months. Young guys see that and it makes an impression because it’s so unselfish.”

This story originally published at TommieSports.com.

Coming off six weeks that summer as a REAL Program participant at St. Thomas, Pulles already had struck friendships with 15 new Tommies, as well as several staff and faculty, by the first day of fall semester.

“I really appreciated the guidance of the (REAL) staff. They helped prepare me for what college would be like. I also really appreciated the other students that I was able to share that experience with. That social piece was very important. I already felt at home at St. Thomas thanks to my time spent on campus over the summer,” he said.

For 15 years, Student Diversity and Inclusion Services (formerly Multicultural Student Services) at St. Thomas has coordinated the Reaching Excellence in Academics and Leadership (REAL) Program. Every summer, the program provides a selective, (now) five-week academic and co-curricular orientation program for students who are members of groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education (including students of color, asylees, refugees and permanent residents) who are newly admitted to St. Thomas.

It is designed to acquaint students with campus life and resources and to provide experience with college-level course work. Beginning last summer, students enrolled in a credit-bearing course.

Reflecting on the REAL Program’s merits, Pulles often comes back to its gift of encouraging confidence in and support among its participants and mentors.

“I think the biggest thing I gained was confidence. From the first day to the last day, you see growth. I think that any time we walk into an unfamiliar situation and we are on our own, there is a tendency to be a little bit afraid or apprehensive, even if those feelings are mixed with excitement,” Pulles said. ”After the REAL Program though, you know people. You know all kinds of different people who are here for you if you need help, including the other students. I think there is a kind of bond that develops amongst those in each program cohort … . To me, it is kind of a formative bond that can really set you on the right path for the rest of your four years in college.”

While in the program, during which he lived in Brady Hall and worked in the Modern and Classical Languages Department, Pulles already knew he wanted to continue with REAL in some way. And that he did.

Dr. Tori Svoboda, associate dean of students and Pulles’ supervisor, remembers meeting him as a new student: “He seemed a bit quiet and shy. The REAL program helped him develop meaningful connections with his peers and confidence in himself, laying the groundwork for his success as an undergraduate.”

After serving in student leadership roles within SDIS − as a REAL Program peer adviser and summer resident after wrapping up his sophomore and junior years and as an intern for SDIS’s Linkages Mentor Program, a formal peer-mentoring program in which first-year undergraduates are mentored by upperclassmen, his senior year − Pulles flourished, Svoboda noted.

“I was delighted when he graduated and became an admissions counselor for St. Thomas, as he had emerged as a confident yet humble leader,” she said.

Nearly five years after graduation, Pulles remains happily with St. Thomas, helping undergraduates succeed in college as SDIS’s retention program director, in which he manages three of its signature programs: REAL, Linkages and the Dease Scholarship Program.

It’s a role that suits him well.

Svoboda attested, “While he never needs to be the star of any show, you will no longer find him at the back of the room. He is front and center, confident and assured, a great role model for students and a true asset to our team.”

“The best part of my job is the energy that comes from working with students on a college campus. The passion they bring to what they do is real and inspiring. The students here are the ones who really give our programs life, and it is a pleasure to watch them grow and expand their potential during their formative college years,” he said.

Thinking about the long and promising future that lies in store for him, Pulles said, “If you had asked me years ago, I never would have told you that I was planning for a future in higher education, but I seem to have found something in this field that I think is meaningful and engaging. … I’ve learned through my experience that new opportunities can jump up and surprise you at any time, so right now, my plans are to continue to work hard in my current role to provide outstanding programs for our students with the rest of the Student Diversity and Inclusion Services staff.”

After a record-setting season marked by St. Thomas’ first trip to the NCAA championship game, Caruso today was announced as Liberty Mutual’s Division III winner again in 2012. He has received the elite honor three consecutive seasons.

The program is among the top college football honors and recognizes coaches for sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence, on and off the field.

For the third year in a row, the St. Thomas community helped elevate Caruso as he received exceptional support in the December online voting at CoachoftheYear.com. Fan votes contributed 20 percent to each coach’s final score, and the media and College Football Hall of Fame ballots accounted for 25 percent and 55 percent, respectively.

Caruso will again be honored in the permanent Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year display at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

In addition, Liberty Mutual will make another $50,000 charitable donation on his behalf, which Caruso has designated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Bucky’s Pride; and the Ronald McDonald House Charities, Upper Midwest, in Minneapolis.

Off the field, Caruso and his program make a great impact in St. Paul and beyond. With his funds from the 2010 and 2011 Liberty Mutual awards, Caruso founded “Bucky’s Pride.” He is a founder of a Reading Recess program at local elementary schools. He joined Tommie players and in the Up ’Til Dawn Benefit writing 2,000 letters to raise funds for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. He also holds an annual youth football camp and is active in state and national coaching organizations.

Liberty Mutual also will make another $20,000 scholarship donation to the St. Thomas Alumni Association in Caruso’s name as part of the award.

The other 2012 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year winners are Brian Kelly, Notre Dame (FBS); Willie Fritz, Sam Houston State (FCS); and Peter Rossomando, New Haven (Division II).

Previous winners, from all divisions, include Minnesota Gopher Coach Jerry Kill (2007, Southern Illinois); ex-St. John’s coach John Gagliardi (2007); Alabama’s Nick Saban (2008); Mount Union’s Larry Kehres (2008); and ex-Minnesota-Duluth coach Bob Nielson (2010).

Coach Grateful

Caruso and his wife Rachael are in Miami and as part of the festivities will be guests at tonight’s FBS championship game between Alabama and Notre Dame. He said he’s proud and humbled to receive the honor again in 2012.

“My thanks go to Liberty Mutual and the Coach of the Year organization for this amazing honor,” Caruso said. “My thanks also go to my wife, Rachael, and our family, but moreover, to the coaches’ and players’ families, whose selfless commitment and sacrifice for our passions allow us to chase our dreams. It’s such an honor to accept this award primarily because it has such extensive and absolute criteria.

“The fact that we have been blessed to win this award again is a function of the community and confluence here at the University of St Thomas. I believe it speaks less about an individual and more about the Village.”

At age 5, Caruso was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disorder. He credits doctors at Yale-New Haven Cancer center for helping save his life at that time. In appreciation, he previously set up a living trust with that hospital as the beneficiary, and in 2011 established Bucky’s Pride – named in the memory of his late father, Frank “Bucky” Caruso – to support families of children affected by cancer and blood disorders.

“Through this award and the genuine goodness and generosity of Liberty Mutual,” Caruso said, “we can further support some great organizations like Bucky’s Pride, St Jude’s Children’s Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House of Minnesota. These organizations help families in unfortunate situations without asking for anything in return.

“As I get older, I realize more and more how much one’s community and environment plays a role in anyone’s success; so it allows me to accept this award not as an individual, but rather as a part of the greater UST community of families, coaches, staff, administration, fans and alumni.”

“Being named the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award winner for the third consecutive year is a testament to Glenn’s significant impact and positive influence on our students and our community,” said Steve Fritz, UST athletics director.

Caruso accomplishments at St. Thomas

Caruso has improved his record in each of his first seven seasons as a head coach. He inherited a Macalester program that was 0-9 in 2005 and guided the Scots to records of 2-7 and 4-5. He took over a St. Thomas program coming off a 2-8 season in 2007 and has posted records of 7-3, 11-2, 12-1, 13-1 and 14-1 in five seasons here, voted MIAC Coach of the Year the last three seasons.

This year, Caruso led St. Thomas to a school-record 14 wins and the Division III finals and earned a season-ending AFCA ranking of No. 2 in the nation, a program best. UST had four All-America honorees. St. Thomas has won three consecutive conference championships and became the first team in MIAC history to post three consecutive 10-0 records in the regular season.

In five seasons under Caruso, UST football has won CoSIDA Academic All-America honors five times; one National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete; three Gagliardi Trophy semifinalists; three AFCA Good Works Team honorees; two conference Player of the Year recipients and 11 players combine to win All-America honors a total of 16 times.

UST national coaches of the year

This marks the fifth time in the last four years — and ninth time in the last 12 seasons — that a St. Thomas coach has been honored as a national Coach of the Year. Recipients are:

1956: Frank Deig, football (National Small College Coach of the Year)

1991: Ted Riverso, women’s basketball

1992: Dave Orren, volleyball (AVCA)

1995: Joe Sweeney, women’s track and field (USTFCCCA)

2001: Dennis Denning, baseball (ABCA)

2004: John Tschida, softball (NFCA)

2005: John Tschida, softball (NFCA)

2005: Terry Skrypek, men’s hockey (ACHA)

2009: Dennis Denning, baseball (ABCA)

2010: Glenn Caruso, football (Liberty Mutual)

2011: Steve Fritz, men’s basketball (NABC)

2011: Glenn Caruso, football (Liberty Mutual and American Football Monthly

2012: Glenn Caruso, football (Liberty Mutual and AFCA)

UPDATE: Caruso also named American Football Coaches’ Association Division III National Coach of the Year

On Jan. 8, Caruso was named Division III National Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches’ Association (AFCA). The elite award is voted on by fellow Division III coaches.

He is the third Division III honoree in the 30-year history of the AFCA award to lead the voting without winning the NCAA championship.

Caruso joins coaches from Coe, Lake Forest, Concordia-Chicago and UW-Oshkosh as finalists.

The Division I FBS 10 finalists include Alabama’s Nick Saban, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, Kansas State’s Bill Snyder and Penn State’s Bill O’Brien. The Division II finalists include Minnesota-Duluth’s Bob Nielsen.

Fans can vote through Dec. 20, once per day in each division, via Twitter or the Coach of the Year website.

Caruso was the Liberty Mutual national winner for Division III in both 2010 and 2011, the first two-time recipient in the award’s history. St. Thomas voters helped him get over the top in each of the previous two years.

Fan voting accounts for 20 percent of the tally in determining the winner, with 55 percent from a College Football Hall of Fame selection committee and 25 percent from a national media panel. The winner will be announced Jan. 7 before the BCS title game.

The award recognizes coaches who demonstrate sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence, on and off the field. Winners receive $50,000 to donate to a charity of their choice and $20,000 for their school’s alumni association.

In his five years as coach, Caruso has led St. Thomas to a 56-7 record with four consecutive NCAA playoff quarterfinal and three consecutive 10-0 regular seasons. The Tommies have won three MIAC football championships in a row, a feat last achieved here in 1947-49. American Football Monthly chose Caruso as 2011 Division III Coach of the Year after he led the Tommies to the national semifinals in a school-record 13-1 finish.

Caruso has a long résumé of community service, including his Bucky’s Pride foundation, Ronald McDonald Charities, St. Jude’s Hospital, a local Reading Recess program and his annual youth football camp.

This year, on Monday, Nov. 5, after making a list and checking it twice, the credit union distributed Christmas Club checks worth $95,316.35 to the club’s 98 members, an average of $972.62 per person. Now that’s nice!

“People watch for the green envelope,” remarked Adrienne Sturm, manager of the credit union for 27 years. That, and the colorful holiday-themed check inside the envelope.

The Christmas Club has been a feature of the credit union for more than 20 years, according to Sturm. “I was just looking for ways to get people interested in the credit union, and I had heard of such a thing, so I decided to try it,” she said.

The advantage of the Christmas Club, Sturm points out, is discipline, which would-be savers often lack with regular savings accounts, where withdrawals can be made at any time during business hours. That money is not so easy to access in a Christmas Club account.

Christmas Club funds are disbursed once a year during the first week of November, with a one-time annual dividend. “But if club members want their money along the way, they can certainly have the money, but they have to actually close the account and they get no dividend,” Sturm said.

The dividend this year is .25 percent, same as the regular shares receive. The credit union guarantees that the Christmas Club dividend will not be less than the lowest dividend paid on regular shares for the previous four quarters.

It’s not the interest, however, that entices credit union members to also become Christmas Club members. Kelly Engrebretsen, University Relations, the club’s 99th and newest member, joined recently because it’s an easy way to save money to buy Christmas presents for her family.

“My family stopped exchanging gifts years ago, but in recent years, a few of us have had kids (including myself!), which means I need to budget for Christmas again,” she said. “Saving just $20 per paycheck through the Christmas Club means I won’t have to be as thrifty or, more importantly, use my Mastercard next year.”

Almost everyone in the club funds their accounts through payroll deductions, but a few stop by the office in Room 209, Loras Hall, to make deposits.

The credit union, with approximately 1,100 members, and the Christmas Club, is open to all employees of the university and their families, and all employees of St. Thomas Academy and their families.

The credit union is “essentially a co-op,” Sturm explained. “It’s a cooperative. It’s owned by its members. It’s not anything political or anything else. Members put money in, and other members borrow it. … I think some people think that we have St. Thomas money. We don’t. The only money we have is the money members have put in. The only money we lend is the money members have given us to lend.” (Accounts are insured by the National Credit Union Administration, an independent federal agency, for up to $250,000 per member account.)

No need to worry about borrowing money, however, when you save over the course of an entire year through the Christmas Club. Just look for that green envelope during the first week in November.

Oh, and Virginia – have a very merry Christmas Club Christmas.

On the fourth Thursday of every month for the past 25 years, St. Thomas volunteers have prepared and served meals in the spirit of this story. In a partnership with Loaves and Fishes, a nonprofit, volunteer-driven agency that serves nutritious meals to the Twin Cities’ hungry, St. Thomas has fed 250 people a month at dinners held at Faith Lutheran Church in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul.

St. Thomas’ Bill Kirchgessner (left), executive director of branding and design, and Ghislaine Ball, marketing and communications strategist, prepare food for Loaves and Fishes. Photo by Mark Brown.

Volunteer “cooks” arrive shortly before 2 p.m. to help unload the food, set up the chairs and tables and prepare the meal, which includes making sandwiches, baking cookies and concocting the hot dish. They usually finish between 3:30 and 4 p.m., depending on the number of volunteers who show up. Servers arrive by 5:15 p.m. for the 5:30 dinner and typically work until about 7 p.m

History

While St. Thomas uses more than five loaves of bread – 24 to be exact – and a few more ingredients in place of  two fish (five pounds each of onions, butter and peanut butter, 20 pounds of ground beef, 30 pounds of tater tots, one gallon of ketchup, 40 pounds of green beans, 500 ounces each of cream of celery and cream of mushroom soups, 20 pounds of carrots, 480 cookies and 250 cutlery kits), the school is performing its own kind of miracle.

Craig Marcott, associate professor of economics in the College of Arts and Sciences, brought the program – and his church’s tater tot casserole recipe – to St. Thomas 25 years go (with instrumental support from then-provost of St. Thomas, Dr. Charlie Keffer).

“I was doing Loaves and Fishes with my church at the time (at the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul) and I thought it would be a great way to serve God’s people in need and build community here at St. Thomas. I thought it worked particularly well for us because it included the full range of our community: students, faculty, staff and alumni.”

Tables await diners in the gym that serves as a dining hall for Loaves and Fishes at Faith Lutheran Church.

Marcott swears he encountered a small miracle once after a dinner years ago:

“I was particularly frazzled with the demands of my teaching, research, two babies and Loaves and Fishes when I had an encounter with a guest at Faith Lutheran. He was there for a meal but came into the kitchen to do some dishes with me. We talked a bit. I thanked him, and I told him we were there to serve him and that he did not need to help in the kitchen. He told me how much the meal meant to him and others and that he just wanted to help. We talked some more, I felt much better, and he slipped away. Well, you can take this any way you want, but I will go to my grave believing that this was an encounter with Christ.”

Jim Winterer, who works in University Relations at St. Thomas and has been a server for “a number of years,” counts his interaction with the diners as a big draw to donning a hair net, apron and latex gloves to help out each month: “The part I like best is getting to know the people who come to eat. You need to be very respectful, ask permission to sit with them, go slow, let them talk, don’t dominate the conversation, and sometimes be willing to just sit with them and not say anything at all.”

He added, “Some are old and maybe lonely, and it’s nice for them to get out of the house and have a solid meal and some company and camaraderie.”

Gerry Sowada, system support manager for finance and administration at St. Thomas, said he enjoys meeting other people from the St. Thomas community that he wouldn’t normally have the chance to meet. “It’s a fun time and a good experience. It’s only a couple hours of your time, and it’s nice to do something unselfish and just help people out.”

Brian Brown, left, UST University Relations executive director of publications and senior editor, and longtime volunteer Betty Drucker, prepare sandwiches. Photo by Mark Brown.

A volunteer since 1992, he has built up a large memory bank of serving at Loaves and Fishes: “A few years someone donated a bunch of Christmas trees, which we gave away in a raffle, and another year a company donated turkey dinners in boxes that the diners were able to take home with them. It’s great to see others get involved around the holidays.”

He said he also remembers the children.

“I also like seeing different people, but I was surprised by how many kids there are. I was thinking homeless means more adults, but I would say at least a third were kids.”

Though Betty Drucker retired as office manager of the Psychology Department nine years ago, she continues to volunteer most months.

“My first day volunteering was Dec. 28, 1995, and I was hooked from the first time. I continue to come back because we’re always needed.”

Her first grandchild born that year, Drucker remembers, “It was so emotional seeing all these little kids without their parents with them.”

Her task that first day was to man two tables filled solely with children.

“I remember in particular there was a big brother, maybe 8 years old, who brought his two smaller siblings to dinner without their parents. I heard him telling them to hurry up, so I went over there and told him to slow down and let them eat. Then I turned to the one little girl and told her, “tuck that little apple in your pocket and eat it when you get home.”

The menu hasn’t changed much over the years: tater tot hot dish, carrots, butter or peanut butter sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, milk and applesauce. Winterer noted that there used to be apples, but many of the diners don’t have enough teeth to eat them, so they were replaced with applesauce.

Drucker, Marcott, Sowada and Winterer all noted that they are almost always thanked, which they don’t expect.

Said Winterer, “You think, ‘I’m hardly doing anything here, and they’re thanking me.’”

In 2011, 352,000 meals were served at Loaves and Fishes’ nine Twin Cities’ sites.

If you’re interested in joining St. Thomas in service to Loaves and Fishes, contact Pat Sirek, assistant to the president.

In St. Paul, the West Summit Neighborhood Advisory Committee, often referred to by its acronym – WSNAC – purchased a Police Package Segway i2 for $6,914.81 in March 2011. It was viewed as a tool for the St. Paul Police Department to better conduct weekend patrols of the neighborhood surrounding St. Thomas during fall and spring months.

“WSNAC was interested in funding the Segway as a way to make it easier for Public Safety and off-duty St. Paul police officers while working for St. Thomas to respond to emergency situations more quickly,” remarked John Hershey, St. Thomas’ neighborhood liaison. The Segway can achieve speeds of up to 14 mph.

“The concept was that the council would purchase a Segway and it would allow police officers in the neighborhood to be able to hear more and see more,” said Dan Meuwissen, director of Public Safety. “Turns out the police weren’t really in favor of using it. They just didn’t want to run over something in the middle of the night and fall off it. So they chose not to use it.”

The Segway rolls on, however. It has found a home and a purpose with Public Safety. “It’s an outstanding tool,” Meuwissen said. He points out that it improves officers’ response time, especially if they need to go from one end of the campus to the other, it’s quick, it’s agile, and it has anti-theft features. It’s also battery powered and it even can be used indoors. But most importantly, it turns out, it “opens doors.”

As versatile as the Segway is, even Kamen couldn’t have imagined that his invention, despite all that it can do, could open doors. But it has on the St. Thomas campus.

“We have great interaction with students because they all come up and want to talk about it, and that opens the door for us to visit with the community, so it’s fantastic in that approach,” Meuwissen said.

You can do much of the same on a bike, he added, “but you don’t get the attention on a bike that you get on a Segway, so you don’t really get the questions and the ‘Hey, that’s cool’ type of thing. That opens the door for us to talk to the community.”

Sgt. Jason Gillen has used the Segway the most among Public Safety’s officers. He tries to utilize it at least once a week.

“It’s fairly new in law enforcement. I don’t believe there’s a lot of tactical training that’s been brought forward with how to utilize the Segway; that’s why it’s kind of in the experimental phase with us as we don’t know exactly how it can be best utilized yet,” Gillen said. “It can be cumbersome at times. It can be a little sensitive when parking, for instance. I don’t know how I would respond yet if I were to come in contact with an emergency situation – what kind of time is involved with making sure this tool is secure before I go on to address another situation. There are a lot of unknowns with it yet.”

But one thing Gillen knows for sure, and which he has experienced, is the Segway’s public relations value while riding around campus. “Everybody’s got what Segway likes to call The Segway Smile,” he said. And that, no doubt, would make inventor Kamen smile, too.

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Caruso was the Liberty Mutual national winner for Division III in both 2010 and 2011 and ranks among the top 10 vote-getters in 2012. St. Thomas voters helped him get over the top in each of the previous two years.

After the first round of fan voting concludes, a Coach of the Year committee will determine five finalists and a second round of voting will occur from Dec. 4 to 20. Fan voting accounts for 20 percent of the tally in determining the winner, with 55 percent from a College Football Hall of Fame selection committee and 25 percent from a national media panel. The winner will be announced Jan. 7 before the BCS title game.

The award recognizes coaches who demonstrate sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence on and off the field. Winners receive $50,000 to donate to a charity of their choice and $20,000 for their school’s alumni association.

In his five years as coach, Caruso has led St. Thomas to a 53-7 record with four consecutive NCAA playoff trips and three consecutive 10-0 regular seasons. The Tommies have won three MIAC football championships in a row, a feat last achieved here in 1947-49. American Football Monthly chose Caruso as 2011 Division III Coach of the Year after he led the Tommies to the national semifinals in a school-record 13-1 finish.

Caruso has a long résumé of community service, including his Bucky’s Pride foundation, Ronald McDonald Charities, St. Jude’s Hospital, a local Reading Recess program and his annual youth football camp.

St. Thomas magazine was given the gold award for Best Alumni/Institution Magazine (3,000 to 9,999 full-time students). Judges considered the overall strength of the writing, design, photography and editorial vision of all magazines in this category. The magazine received the silver award in this category in 2009, and the bronze in 2008. Past gold winners in the Best Alumni/Institution Magazine category include the University of Dayton, St. Olaf College and Indiana State University.

St. Thomas magazine is published three times a year by University Relations, and is staffed by Brian Brown (senior editor), Patty Petersen (managing editor), Mike Ekern (director of photography), Sara Klomp (designer), Doug Hennes, Bill Kirchgessner and Nadine Friederichs.

Ekern’s image of Chandran Duffy took home a gold in the sports category.

Photographer Mike Ekern was recognized for his individual work in the magazine, receiving two gold and one silver award for Excellence in Photography. Ekern’s photo of John Kascht (fall 2011) received the gold in the People and Portraits category. Ekern also won gold in the Sports category for his action shot of softball player Chandran Duffy sliding into home (fall 2011). He received a silver for his photo essay of artifacts of Ireland Hall in the winter 2012 issue.

Writing in the Margins, the English Department newsletter, received a Bronze Award for Best Tabloid/Newsletter for External Audiences.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education will present the awards in Chicago on Dec. 10. District V includes colleges and universities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

Kramer told a luncheon meeting of CELC faculty, staff and advisory board members that he believes he no longer can work because of the progression of his ALS, which was diagnosed in December 2010.

“I hoped this day would never come,” he said, but “for the past few months the rhythms and demands of being the dean have twisted and rolled until they were 180 degrees out of time with the lockstep rhythms and demands of my dis ease, my ALS.”

Kramer recalled how he wrote to his colleagues 22 months ago about his ALS diagnosis, promising that he would stay on as dean as long as he felt he could be an effective leader, and he thanked them for their hard work and friendship.

“In spite of the physical, psychological, even cultural challenges of this journey, I am blessed,” he said. “The opportunity to work with all of you – first as your faculty colleague, then as your dean; to work for the betterment of people through skillful education, considered leadership, emotional and social support, healing and counsel; and best of all, to be alive in the challenges of our times, shoulder, mind to mind, together with you, my dearest colleagues – has blessed me.”

David Rigoni

Dr. Susan Huber, executive vice president and chief academic officer, announced that Dr. David Rigoni will serve as interim dean until Kramer’s permanent replacement is named. She hopes to name a search committee later this month. Rigoni, an associate dean since 2006 and a faculty member since 2000, said he will not be a candidate for permanent dean. Dr. Christopher Vye will continue to serve as an associate dean.

Huber served with Kramer on the School of Education faculty before she became executive vice president, and said she had been “dreading” and “denying” Thursday for a long time.

“What we can do today is to thank Bruce, to give him our admiration and to send him our love,” she said. She called him a friend, colleague, teacher and, she added, “our hero.”

Kramer joined the education leadership faculty at St. Thomas in 1996 after nearly two decades as a music teacher and principal at elementary and secondary schools in Indiana, Norway, Egypt and Thailand. He became chair of the Education Leadership Department in 2003, associate dean in 2006, interim dean in 2008 and dean in 2009.

An avid bicyclist who prided himself on his physical condition, Kramer noticed he had a “floppy” left foot in the summer of 2010 and thought it might be a pinched nerve or sciatica. After falling twice that October, he saw a neurologist, who conducted tests and determined he had ALS.

Also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease after the New York Yankees star, ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting brain and spinal cord nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movement. Those cells die. Patients have difficulty breathing when chest muscles stop working and can become paralyzed. Most live two to five years after diagnosis.

Kramer began drug treatments, entered a drug trial and makes quarterly visits to the Mayo Clinic, where physicians evaluate his status. He has written Dis Ease Diary, a blog in which he shares news about his condition and his sentiments, since March 2011 and spoke about his fight against ALS in a St. Thomas magazine story this fall.

Even as Kramer struggled with the physical aspects of ALS, he still came into the office on most weekdays and remained engaged with his college’s work. He said neither his heart nor his head had lost its passion for work, but blamed “this imperfect and broken body.”

“Please know how grateful I am to each one of you for what you have given me,” he said. “The chance to continue when our able-bodied world says stop, the chance to work when the message is to give up, the chance to be with each one of you and to represent you in a larger sphere, the chance to recognize my privilege in this work from the first day I was on the job, the chance to develop the confidence I have in those who stand ready to continue our cause.”

Kramer also announced that his family has established an “Award for the Common Good” to acknowledge CELC’s support of him during his illness.

“Each year you will be asked to nominate a member of our community at large who has demonstrated the same kind of love you have shown to me, to be honored in the same way I now honor you,” he said.

After several colleagues, including Huber, Rigoni, Vye and Dr. Tom Fish, paid tribute to Kramer, he spoke for one last time. He encouraged people to stay in touch and drop by for lunch, joking that he would be appropriately dressed for any visits.

“I’ll be watching how things go,” he said. “I’m your biggest cheerleader, your biggest fan. Thank you for everything.

Father Dennis Dease, president of the university, inducted the new members. Father Dease also was inducted as an honorary member of the Quarter Century Club to celebrate his final year as president.

The video salute above was shown at the induction.

Quarter Century Club inductees: Top row, from left to right: Father Michael Joncas, Catholic Studies; Terry Nichols, Theology Department; Bill Kirchgessner, University Relations; Steve Hoffman, Political Science Department; Stephen Heaney, Philosophy Department; Lizabeth Gockel, O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library. Middle row: John Militello, Management Department and Executive Programs; Joe Brom, Chemistry Department; Dan Hoffmann, Physical Plant; Father Dennis Dease, president of the university; Julie Kimlinger, O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library; Marla Friederichs, Admissions and Financial Aid. Bottom row: Becky Durham, Career Development Center; Mary Daugherty, Finance Department; Joe Plante, Development; Catherine Slight, School of Divinity; Janis Aamodt, Schulze School of Entrepreneurship; Barb Olszewski, IRT Client Services; and Mary Dunn, Dean of Students. Not pictured: David Brennan, Marketing Department; Tom Couillard, University Relations; Timothy Fremouw, Graduate Programs in Software; Barbara Haenggi, Evening MBA Program; Jeri Rockett, Counseling and Psychological Services; and John Wendt, Ethics and Business Law Department.

Vandegrift (Communication and Journalism) wrote and narrated the piece while Jacobsen (Web and Media Services) filmed, edited and produced more than five hours of footage down to an 11-minute video package that has been nominated for an Upper Midwest Regional Emmy.

Jacobsen and Vandegrift are nominated alongside Twin Cities Public Television and the online magazine The Flightline in the Historic/Cultural/Nostalgic category.

As a journalist turned professor, Vandegrift has received regional Emmy nominations on a consistent basis dating back to the 1990s. He has won in categories such as writing news, health-science programs, and both hard and soft feature programs. This nomination is particularly meaningful because of its scope. “I have been reporting and producing stories since 1984,” he said. “Never before have I worked on a project that spanned this amount of time. It required focus and persistence.”

Jacobsen is nominated for a second time, having won in 2009 along with St. Thomas staffers Dave Nimmer and Doug Hennes for a piece they produced for the Opus Prize. Even though this is not his first nomination, it means just as much to be recognized among some of the best broadcasters in the region. “They are very good,” he said of the other nominees in the category. “I have enjoyed watching TPT’s ‘Lost Twin Cities’ series, so to be thought of at that level of production is an honor.”

The Emmy awards gala takes place Saturday, Sept. 29. When asked what he might do if they are awarded the Emmy, Jacobsen joked, “I will walk to the stage as fast as I can before they figure out that they made a mistake.” As for his feelings on their chances: “It’s just nice to be nominated.”

For more information visit the Upper Midwest Emmy Awards.

Watch “Moving the Art,” featuring interviews with Art History’s Victoria Young, Father Dennis Dease, Penny Winton and Frank Gehry, himself:

On behalf of the university, Enrollment Services thanks her for her dedicated service and wishes her a healthy and happy retirement.

Koivisto’s last day at the university will be Friday, Sept. 28.

Steve Trost, the greenhouse manager, will spend his final day on the job Wednesday, Sept. 19. At the age of 58, he is officially in the ranks of the disabled. A degenerative eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa, has claimed most of his sight.

Dave Nimmer

“The truth is – and I’ve known this for some time – I can only distinguish cloudy shapes,” Trost said. “I’ve been bumping into more things, and last January walked into a wall and broke my nose. As much as I hate to admit it, it’s time.”

What makes leaving difficult is that, quite simply, Trost loves this university. And everything about it.

“I know the place isn’t perfect,” he said, “but it’s been perfect for me. The students always keep me young. I love having lunch with the staff: you know, making small talk and telling stories. And I love working with the Biology Department staff and students.”

A few years ago, Trost set up a program where biology majors would go to St. Mark’s Elementary School once a week to talk with seventh graders about flora and fauna.

For 30 of his 32 years, in addition to overseeing the greenhouse, Trost was planting, pruning, weeding and watering. One of his most elaborate projects was a floral logo of St. Thomas (at Cleveland and Portland) – complete with the chalice. He planted the bottom with dusty miller, the flames in begonias and the borders in purple petunias; each year, he changed the date.

In 2000, Trost’s daughter, Jennifer, graduated from St. Thomas with a sociology major. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in education at the University of Minnesota, while she and her husband raise two children. His son, Bryan, is married with a 1-year-old son and works as brewmaster at Lift Bridge  Brewery in Stillwater.

“St. Thomas is a good learning environment,” Trost said. “Students understand St. Thomas is a place where people care for each other. It’s a spiritual place. I spent many a day listening to someone practice the organ in the chapel as I tended to the flowers beds outside.”

He’s not planning to lose touch with the place or its people. He annually goes on spring adventure trips that include Ron Riley and Dave Hanson from IRT and Roger Rich, the retired supervisor of photography who spent 37 years and took 350,000 pictures here. This June, the group took a canoe trip on the Missouri River in Montana.

“Steve carries his own load,” Riley said. “We do point out when we are at interesting sites but he asks for very little. He is extremely stubborn about being independent. He shares all the chores: cooking, packing, cleaning and, of course, paddling.

“He truly blends in with this motley crew. I think if someone were watching the group for the first time, he’d have a tough time telling who had the vision problem.”

In the months ahead, Trost will take some white cane training, learning to navigate by feel as much as by sight. He and wife, Nancy, will also spend more time together – and with the grandchildren.  They’re planning a trip to Oregon next year.

When Trost does come back for lunch, the table in the Anderson Student Center will still have a “family” feeling. His sister, Lisa Dochniak of Library Operations, has been at St. Thomas for 31 years.

“Bruce has been a key player in this institution for a long time,” said Mark Vangsgard vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer. “Most people do not realize that he is responsible for so many things. Bruce has many areas of operational responsibility, including the Food Service, the Bookstore, Tommie Shop, Service Center, Public Safety, ID card systems, vending machines, external rental of facilities and the university’s insurance policies and associated risk management.”

Van den Berghe joined St. Thomas on Aug. 23, 1982, and previously ran the St. Thomas food service operations for ARA for one year. When he was hired, St. Thomas moved from an outsourced food service operation to a St. Thomas-owned, in-house operation.

“A real strength of the institution is the number of dedicated long-term employees we have,” said Dr. Mark Dienhart, executive vice president and chief operating officer. “Over the years, Bruce has demonstrated his ability to manage complicated operations. This resulted in adding more departments to Bruce’s management. In addition, Bruce has been responsible for an increase in the revenue from those operations, which helps us subsidize tuition.”

Among the items that Van den Berghe brought to St. Thomas and will remain as part of his legacy include the one-card ID system now called the Tommie eXpress card (introduced here long before many colleges knew what a debit card was) and Celtic Springs, the university’s own bottled water.

He lives near Ellsworth, Wis., and plans to do significantly more hunting this fall. He also will be starting a new career during the harvest season as he plans on driving a tractor for local farmers to bring in the crops and till the soil.

Vangsgard said Van den Berghe, his wife, Joyce, and their dogs Ernie and Libby certainly have a great deal to look forward to. He will be on vacation much of the time between now and his retirement date, and a reception in his honor will be held the afternoon of Oct. 5, with details to follow.

Vangsgard will be the interim manager for Van den Berghe’s areas of responsibility. A full-time replacement is not intended to be made until after the end of the academic year.

I have never traveled anywhere for St. Thomas without learning something. And much of what I have learned came from watching people’s hands.

On this recent trip to Uganda, I was filming in the street outside of Hope Medical’s Kasubi Clinic in the capital city of Kampala, surrounded by a group of kids. One had his hand on my microphone cable, another his hand on my tripod and a third with his hand on my back. They were all just curious – anxious to make a connection to me or my gear.

My first trip to Africa was to Nairobi, Kenya, in January 2003, with St. Thomas students and surgeons from Children’s Heartlink. The students were there to do a documentary on the work of the surgeons. I watched in awe as the hands of a surgeon opened a small child’s chest, stopped her heart, repaired it, and started it up again – all to give her a chance at a longer and healthier life.

When I went to Cuba with Coach Dennis Denning and his Tommie baseball team in January 2000, I watched Denning’s right hand as he held his index finger above his head while talking to his players. “Play hard,” he said, “because your opponents want you to. Play with passion and respect.”

When in Rome in 2000, it was respect for the pope I was concerned about. I used my own hands as signals to communicate with a Vatican police officer who escorted me up the steps of St. Peter’s to shoot footage of our group with John Paul II. The guard held my right elbow the entire time, and when he felt I had enough video he squeezed my elbow and lowered my arm and camera. He guided me back down the stairs and gave me a look, as if to say, I just did you a favor.

In Bogota, Colombia, in 2009, it was the hands of a nun holding an infant in her arms that touched me. Sister Valeriana Garcia-Martin runs Hogares Luz y Vida, a home for abandoned and terminally ill children. She received an award of $100,000 from the Opus Prize Foundation for the work of her hands. I later discovered the child she was holding died shortly after we left. I was comforted knowing that she loved that child and all those in her care as if they were her own.

And Father Dennis Dease treated all those he met in Kampala as though they were friends or family. He put his hands on their shoulder. He shook their hands. He held their hands. And to the children he met, it was “high fives.” He used his hands as a pastoral tool, reaching out to touch the lives and spirits of those he had just met.

They say a person’s eyes are the gateway to their soul. Perhaps, their hands are a reflection of their spirit.

Read more from St. Thomas magazine

Dr. Massimo Faggioli

Dr. Massimo Faggioli,Theology Department, College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of three articles: “Die theologische Debatte um das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil. Ein Überblick. Erster Teil (1962-1985),” in Theologische Quartalschrift, 192 (2012) 2, 169-192; “Letture e commentari di ‘Ad Gentes.’ 50 anni di studi,” in Ad Gentes. Teologia e antropologia della missione, XVI (2012) 1, 71-76; and “Between Documents and Spirit: The Case of the New Catholic Movements,” in After Vatican II. Trajectories and Hermeneutics, ed. James L. Heft with John O’Malley (Grand Rapids, Mich. – Cambridge UK: Eerdmans, 2012), pp. 1-22.

Dan Gjelten

Dan Gjelten, director of University Libraries, presented “Moving Beyond the Community Living Room” in June at the American Library Association National Conference in Anaheim, Calif. The presentation addressed trends in library design and was a collaboration with a public librarian and a library designer.

Dr. Theresa Rothausen-Vange

Dr. Teresa Rothausen-Vange, Management Department, Opus College of Business, presented her paper, “Hedonic and Eudaimonic Job-Related Well-being: Enjoyment of Jobs and Fulfillment of Job Purposes,” at the American Psychological Association annual conference in Orlando, Fla. Last week she and recent UST MBA alum Sara Christenson presented their research project, “Expanding ‘Desirability of Turnover’: Hedonic and Eudaimonic Job Satisfactions and Life Well-Being,” with UST MBA alum Annelise Larson at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Boston.

Dr. Ted (Edward) Ulrich

Dr. Edward T. Ulrich, Theology Department, College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of two articles: “Reflections on the Simplicity of the Ashrams: A Visit to Shantivanam and the Mauna Mandir” and “Swami Abhishiktananda’s Period of Tempering at the Mauna Mandir.” Both were published in Dilatato Corde 2, No. 2 (July 2012).