Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, And say my glory was I had such friends.

I have always loved those words, which are the closing two lines of the poem, “The Municipal Gallery Revisited,” and as I approach my final weeks as president of the University of St. Thomas I cannot find a more appropriate valedictory in thanking this community.

I find it fitting to quote Yeats, considering that he counts among the dozens of Irish poets who have visited our campus over our 128 years. He appeared on a bitterly cold  January day in 1904 to give a St. Paul Seminary lecture to what one newsletter called “a large and cultured audience.”

I also borrowed Yeats’ words about friendship when I informed the faculty last May of my plans to retire, and in an effort to add some levity to the situation I quoted a  second Yeats observation: “Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.” The line drew welcome laughter, and I said it could be seen as even inspirational. “I know there have been days that were difficult as well as days that were good,” I told the faculty. “It’s the kind of existential resignation captured in the more homespun American proverb, ‘Some days you’re the bug; some days you’re the windshield.’” And there was more laughter!

In all seriousness, my gratitude today knows no bounds, and for good reason. Any success that I have enjoyed during my 22 years as president has been directly the result of generous, unselfish and heroic work by you – our faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni and benefactors. Or, as I like to say when I address a gathering, our “friends all.”

You also have been kind beyond description – to me and to St. Thomas. I will forever carry fond memories of those kindnesses, which I know were borne out of a genuine desire to make this a better university and to help us provide the best possible education for our students. The lengths to which you go to provide assistance astound me time and time again, almost to the point that it would be easy to take you for granted. I hope I never have done so.

As you know, I am fond of quoting our mission statement, which so perfectly captures what we attempt to do – to educate students “to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely, and work skillfully to advance the common good.” I take comfort in knowing how those words unite us as we seek to live up to one more Yeats maxim: that “education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire” – and I know they will motivate me in the years ahead.

I will see you around campus!

Read more from St. Thomas Magazine.

“I try to go off the beaten track when I choose where to take my students,” said George, director of bands, Symphonic Wind Ensemble and string orchestra, and chair of the St. Thomas Music Department. “I want to take them out of their comfort zone and be pushed into a different atmosphere that they wouldn’t be able to experience here.”

This wasn’t George’s first time traveling abroad to work with international composers and music ensembles. His music exchange started 19 years ago when he was invited to Mexico City to lead a weeklong seminar at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His charge was to discuss wind band music, form an experiment ensemble and give a concert.

The trip was such a success that they invited George back and asked him to direct and form what is now the Banda Sinfonica at the Escuela Nacional de Musica of UNAM. George returned to Mexico City two to three times a year to help develop the program until they finally hired a full-time conductor. People heard of the work he did there, and George began to receive invitations to work with other international ensembles.

Listen to the fourth movement of Roger Cichy’s Bugs, a piece commissioned by the Symphonic Wind Ensemble in 1999.

George’s research has taken him around the world to learn about the different ways countries make and perform music. As a conductor, clinician and lecturer he has traveled across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, continental Europe, Ireland and the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, China, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and India. He has worked with professional groups such as the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain and the Band of the People’s Liberation Army in  China. He also has conducted in prestigious venues such as the Sydney Opera House, the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai and the National Theatre of Performing Arts as well as the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

Perhaps the most meaningful benefit of these shared experiences is that they have allowed George to bring international composers back to St. Thomas to write original music for his students to perform.

“I think the most unique thing we do that most other music programs don’t is to commission new works of composers, particularly from other countries,” George said. In the last 22 years they have commissioned 80 new works for the symphonic wind ensemble, and at least half of those come from international composers.

Students learn more than they anticipate from the international pieces they have performed. Philip Smithley ’15 said that the band members were challenged last fall when they were given a piece of music titled “Desi Jhalak,” meaning “A Peek Into India,” written by Bollywood composer Shamir Tandon. Smithley said there is a “vast difference in the way music is rehearsed and performed in India, where it is not notated but rather improvised after years of studying, compared to Western music where all of our music is written out.”

George smiles as he ends a performance of the String Orchestra in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. (Photo by Mark Brown)

Alexandra Gobell ’13 explains that the band members are often out of their “comfort zone” when performing international pieces, but that bringing the composers to St. Thomas allows them to learn about the story behind the pieces and teaches them about the composers’ native countries. Then, when possible, George takes the students to the countries where they perform such pieces as “Desi Jhalak.” Going to India was a way for the students to experience the culture of the music that they perform.

“A very important part of our touring process is the exchange of experiences. I want the students to be able to serve the culture through their music. Instead of going somewhere passively like a tourist, I want them to be immersed in the culture by meeting with their peers and trading stories and experiences of what it’s like to make music in our country, what it’s like in their country and what the differences are,” George said.

This exchange happened between Amber Neid ’14 and composer Tandon. The song was originally sent to the band in an electronic audio format without any sheet music. Neid worked with Tandon to put the song on paper so that the band could read, rehearse and perform the piece.

“That gave us a lot of practice on aural skills rather than just reading music off a piece of paper,” Neid said. “I think that made all of us better musicians. Seeing the composer light up when he heard a ‘western ensemble’ play his traditional Indian music was worth all of the work we put into it. Then, when we played it in India, it was a huge hit because it was music the audiences could relate to, but with instruments they had never seen or heard before.”

George and the students are challenged musically when working with groups of different countries, and because they are working in a new culture.

“Whenever I’m asked to conduct national music of the country I go to, it’s really intimidating because I know everyone knows it, and I’m just now learning it,” George said. “It takes a lot of study, a lot of asking questions, a lot of listening to styles of music so I approach it and seem competent.”

George has experienced many differences between how cultures approach music and rehearse. In Latin America, he learned how musicians approach rhythm differently; “What’s popular to them is highly rhythmic dances. Instead of our Top 40 music, they listen to samba and all kinds of art and dance forms. They feel these rhythms rather than read the music on the printed page.”

There are similar challenges in China where communicating meanings of the same word is expressed by tone, and George says that their music approach also is that way with bending and inflection that our language – and music – do not possess. In England or Australia, learning new terms for familiar musical functions is the challenge. “I have to think about how I’m going to say certain things and as I speak, I have to translate the terms in my brain,” George said. The same translation process happens when he must speak Spanish in Latin America. In countries where George does not know the language, however, a translator is needed, which presents numerous challenges.

Listen to a selection form Chen Qian’s Ambush! From All Sides as played by the Symphonic Wind Ensemble.

“My rehearsals are very fast-paced and to the point,” George said. “When I can’t just deliver what I want to say and I have to use a translator, I must adjust to still make it efficient. And you just hope that what the translator is saying is exactly the message that you’re trying to get across.”

In order to adapt to these situations, a certain kind of personality is needed to not only travel but also to work with people of different cultures. “If you try to force your preconceived notions onto what you’re going to experience, you’re going to be miserable. You have to have a personality that is adaptive,” George said. When he worked in Mexico, he had to get used to starting later; “When we started rehearsals at 10 a.m., we wouldn’t actually start until 11:30 a.m. At first I got upset, but then I just went with it. So, the next time we started at 11:10 a.m., then at 10:30 a.m. and then finally we started at 10 a.m. If I just tried to force it, it wouldn’t have worked.”

Traveling as part of his career was not something George expected. His first time on a plane wasn’t until he was 18 years old. Now his children, who he and his wife often bring on these trips, have seen more of the world than most adults.

“I’ve been extremely fortunate. When I started at St. Thomas I never thought my life would take me in the direction it has taken me in terms of international experiences,” George said. “The best part for me is that when I go places, people native to the culture will take me to where they go, not to where tourists go. It’s a tremendous opportunity and I feel very blessed.”

Though his interest in traveling came later in life, George’s love for music started when he was a young boy in Geneva, N.Y. “It all goes back to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass,” George said. His uncle used to have eight-track  tapes that he and his older cousin would listen to, and the sounds of Herb Alpert’s trumpet playing fascinated him.

When his cousin began to play trumpet, George was inspired to learn to play as well. He played trumpet from elementary school through high school, and then played professionally. But it was in high school when George’s interest in conducting began.

During study hall, George went to the band room to practice. When no one was watching, he stood on the podium and pretended that he was conducting a full band. Without knowing it, George was being watched by his band director. To encourage George’s interest in conducting, the band director let him rehearse a piece that George later conducted at a high school band concert.

“My life ambition was to become a high school band director,” George said. After receiving a B.M. in music education and trumpet performance from Ithaca College, he began teaching high school band in New York.

“I realized that there was more than just teaching music in high school; there’s also hall monitoring and cafeteria duty. I wasn’t interested in doing those things,” George said. So, he earned an M.M. degree in music education from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and a D.M.A. degree in conducting from the University of North Texas. During that time he also performed as a professional trumpet player and taught at the university and privately. George then came to St. Thomas in 1991.

Once a solo conductor in an empty band room, George has conducted some of the best bands and orchestras in the world, and his students are greatly benefiting from his passion and ambition. “Dr. George has been a huge inspiration for me as a future director, teacher and conductor,” Neid said. “Watching him conduct during our rehearsals has taught me a lot that I can’t learn at a desk,” Neid said.

The student musicians in Brady Educational Center practice and rehearse for perfection. But George gives them something more than notes on paper – he introduces them to the world through the music they play.

Read more from St. Thomas Magazine.

The St. Thomas Dance Team has just completed the two-minute routine it has been preparing for since its auditions in April. Dancers wait on stage at Disney’s Wide World of Sports next to the seven other Open Division teams that made it to the final round of competition in the jazz category. Hands clasped and eyes closed, they wait as teams are announced in reverse order of where they placed.

In third place: longtime rival and consummate contender Lidenwood College from Missouri. In second: regional peer College of Saint Benedict. There is only one team left to call.

According to sophomore Annie Lindberg, the most exciting moment is when second place is announced. “You want to jump up and down but you also want to be respectful of the other teams,” she said.

But when the Tommies are called, “it’s instant tears.”

Alex Brown and Julia Randall

Samantha Maroney

Ensuring there is time for homework is critical. Ulfers requires the dancers to maintain a 2.5 GPA to stay eligible for the team. “Their primary role is to be students first. That’s why they’re here,” she said.

In addition to maintaining good grades, school spirit also remains a priority. Ulfers sees it as the team’s primary commitment. “After academics, our first responsibility to St. Thomas is to be supporting athletics,” she said. It’s a responsibility the dancers take seriously, but also one in which they take great pride.

Perdew recalls performing at football games as one of the highlights on the team. “You are proud when you’re out there because it’s such a great school, such a great team,” she said. “The football team especially talks about being one big family. We feel like we get to be part of that family on game days too.”

Maroney says that the pre-game festivities that were new this year helped raise the team’s profile: “We got to talk to alumni and their kids before games and hear about how much they love to watch us perform. We would never have gotten to do that without the pre-game parties on the plaza.”

While school spirit obligations keep them busy throughout the fall, it also is the time of year that the dancers begin preparing for competition by meeting with choreographers and learning the routines they will bring to nationals. Another reason the team has been so successful, according to Ulfers, is that each year she tries to bring something innovative or different – an ironic notion, considering the team has used the same jazz choreographer for nine years, former Tommie dancer Rachel (Brenk) Doran ’07.

“Ever since she was a sophomore on our team, Rachel has been an innovator,” Ulfers said. “Besides producing beautiful choreography, she understands the scoresheet we’re judged on and makes sure to include elements that help maximize our points.”

Alex Brown

For this season’s hip-hop routine, Ulfers was looking for something new that would challenge the team. She was not disappointed. The complex choreography from Shandon Kolberg called for intricate footwork and gravity-cheating lifts and tricks that were completely new to the dancers. “When they first learned their hip-hop dance, they truly couldn’t do it,” Ulfers said. “It makes me that much more proud of our second-place finish knowing how far they’ve come with the routine.”

Back at practice, injuries are checked. Maroney applies an Icy Hot patch to her neck as Ulfers asks, “How’s it feeling? Make sure you take it easy.” It’s an unfortunate necessity in the dance community to dance through the pain. The competitive nature of the sport often teaches dancers to perform even when they are injured because there’s always someone out there willing to take your place. But while some teams operate under the assumption that everyone is replaceable, the Tommies don’t subscribe to that notion.

Wood found that out during the final week before nationals when executing one of the difficult lifts in the team’s hip-hop routine. She was nearly sidelined by a shoulder injury, and her doctor recommended she rest. Her teammates were a motivation in pushing through the pain.

Samantha Maroney, Kelly Olson and Julie Randall lift Morgan McGowan.

More than 1,500 students, faculty and staff gathered in the lower quadrangle and on John P. Monahan Plaza over the noon hour to pay tribute to Father Dennis Dease, who will retire June 30 after 22 years as president of St. Thomas.

Students planned the festivities and played off St. Thomas traditions established during his tenure, including a March Through the Arches and a clapping crowd that lined sidewalks in purple t-shirts with “Father Dease’s Farewell Crew” printed on the front and “Thanks Father Dease” on the back.

Dease walked with outgoing Undergraduate Student Government President Mike Orth and Hana member Jessica Algoo from the Arches to Monahan Plaza, trailed by international students carrying flags from more than 20 countries.

Orth welcomed the crowd and thanked Dease for his lifetime of service to the university and, in particular, to its students by listening to them and making them feel engaged, respected and appreciated.

“I have learned so much from this incredible man,” Orth said. “Never have I met someone who better defines the role of a humble, quiet servant-leader who genuinely cares about the well being of his community. He is a man who commands the attention of a room but quickly turns that attention around into a voice of tenderness and care.

“As I wrapped up my very last meeting with him in April, I thought to myself, ‘This is the leader I hope to become some day.’ ”

Dease called the turnout “a wonderful gesture” and said it underscored his pride in St. Thomas students.

“I have long believed that the ultimate measure of the quality of a university is the quality of its graduates – and ours are extraordinary,” he said. “I can say the same thing today about the quality of our students, who are outstanding in every sense of the word.”

Dease said he always has been guided and motivated by two goals as president: to continually improve the quality of a St. Thomas education and “to make sure we live up to – and live out – our mission statement to educate students ‘to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely and work skillfully to advance the common good.’ ”

The Festival Choir sang “Thanks,” which it also performed at the Opening Doors capital campaign closing dinner last October, and the president received two gifts.

International students gave him a huge postcard with a map of the globe surrounded by their signatures, and Algoo announced that a blue beech tree will be planted on the east side of the quadrangle in his honor. A plaque under the tree will read:

“This tree is dedicated to the Reverend Dennis Dease in gratitude and celebration of his extraordinary commitment, leadership and devotion to undergraduate students during his 22 years of president of the University of St. Thomas. April 30, 2013.”

Algoo then quoted a Greek proverb on a wall in the Anderson Student Center: “A society grows great when people plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.” Dease later returned to the microphone for final words:

“I don’t know about you,” he said, “but I fully intend to sit under that tree.”

]]> http://www.stthomas.edu/news/2013/04/30/a-wonderful-gesture-as-students-bid-farewell-to-father-dennis-dease/feed/ 0 http://www.stthomas.edu/news/2013/04/29/aviation-air-force-rotc-detachment-410-history-take-flight-in-34-foot-mural-in-murray-herrick/ http://www.stthomas.edu/news/2013/04/29/aviation-air-force-rotc-detachment-410-history-take-flight-in-34-foot-mural-in-murray-herrick/#comments Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:00:59 +0000 Tom Couillard '75 http://www.stthomas.edu/news/?p=121427 History in the making

The history of flight is often written in dramatic leaps of progress – written by historic figures such as the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, the WWII Tuskegee airmen, Chuck Yeager, Yuri Gagarin, John Glenn and Neil Armstrong.

And sometimes the history of flight is written by the less famous, in Midwest “flyover land,” below the radar of history – but a part of it nonetheless. Sometimes that history is even recorded on old, wooden storage room doors transformed into a mural mounted on an Air Force ROTC Detachment 410 wall at the University of St. Thomas – a mural that brings Air Force aviation history to life.

Second Lieutenant William Mack ’12 made history April 10, 2013, when he signed his name on that mural, joining luminaries such as Tuskegee Airmen Capt. Stan Harris, Maj. Joe Gomer and Col. Kenneth Wofford, and Don O’Hearn, a B-17 tail gunner who shot down a German Messerschmitt ME 262 (the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft) on, ironically, April 10, 1945, and former St. Thomas AFROTC cadets turned pilots who returned to campus to visit the detachment. Many of those who have signed their names have been guest speakers at the detachment’s annual Veterans Day POW-MIA Vigil.

The wall originally served as storage room doors when the detachment was headquartered in the bowels of Foley Hall, which also was home to St. Thomas’ Theater Department at the time. When Foley Hall was razed to make way for the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex, the detachment moved to Loras Hall, and the walls were placed in storage.

“We didn’t know if there would be a place to use them, but we thought, well, let’s keep them and if there’s not we’ll pitch them then,” said Cynthia Horsmann, AFROTC office coordinator since 2006. “The corridor between the cadet lounge and the briefing room/classroom turned out to be the perfect place.”

Installed on a wall in an interior hallway in the remodeled Murray-Herrick Campus Center, the mural stands 7-feet, 4-inches tall and measures 34-feet wide. On its painted gray surface are Air Force planes in flight, organized by era, clouds, and numerous signatures.

“We just wanted to put it in a place where everybody could see it when they walked down that hallway. It’s kind of like a hall of remembrance,” remarked Lt. Col. Thomas Zupancich, an A-10 pilot who is the detachment commander and chair of the Aerospace Studies Department. “And so when we put it up there, it enabled everybody to take a look at it and go ‘Wow’ and have some reflection as they walk by and see all those great names.”

Mack, 22, a native of Colorado Springs, Colo., was back on campus assisting the detachment after completing the Air Force’s six-week Introductory Flight Training course. He started pilot training April 24 at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. He first saw the wall as a freshman in fall 2008.

“I didn’t know all the history behind it that I know now, but I thought it was pretty cool,” Mack said. “It was in a really small, cramped room that had all of our uniforms, and I was back there lacing up my first pair of combat boots when I saw it. I thought it was pretty cool. I was excited that I was going to be in a detachment that cared about its history.”

The mural was the idea of St. Thomas seniors Tim Weber and Mark Laine. In 1996, two AFROTC cadets, sophomore Tony Kuczynski and freshman Mike Lamey, painted the mural and signed their names in the lower-right corner.

“What happened was, after they painted the wall, when we’d have guest speakers and other guests come in, we’d have them come down and sign the wall,” explained Maj. Gregory Voth ’00, commandant of cadets. “If they were air crew or somehow related to a particular aircraft usually they would sign their names by that plane and what years they flew.”

Voth, 35, a native of Winona, Minn., majored in physics and, like all AFROTC cadets at St. Thomas, has an aerospace studies minor. He served in Texas, Okinawa, Utah, Ohio (where he earned a master’s degree) and Florida before returning home to Minnesota.

Coming back to campus is “incredibly rewarding,” Voth remarked. “It’s fun to come back and be a part of the detachment on the cadre side of it. Actually, it’s where I got my start in the Air Force. It’s my college experience, so it’s a lot of fun to come back home. It’s incredibly rewarding to be on the side of helping train and mold the cadets – a great bunch of students to work with, just so motivated. Really makes it incredibly enjoyable.”

To have Mack on campus is “outstanding,” he added. “We’ve had a number of our recently graduated lieutenants come back to assist around the program for a couple of weeks. Probably one of the best things as a brand new lieutenant, he’s just gone through that process of transitioning from an AFROTC graduate on to active duty, getting settled in at a new base. Probably one of the most valuable things that our returning lieutenants do is interact with the cadets and share – ‘OK, here’s how it goes. Here’s what to expect.’”

Mack dreamed of being a pilot since he was young. Living 10 minutes from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, he was able to watch the Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s precision flying team, each May as it performed at graduation.

He played hockey in high school and was looking for a college that had both a Division 3 hockey program and an Air Force ROTC unit. “I found St. Thomas,” he remarked. “I came here and fell in love with it instantly and never looked back.”

He enjoyed his recent time back on campus as an officer. “It’s cool to come back and see the program from the outside,” he said. “It’s really cool to come back and see the cadets and see four years of them and see their different development levels and how they’ve come along and how they’re interacting with each other, and how they’re preparing for active duty.”

And he was ready to make history, adding his name to the mural.

“When I was a wide-eyed freshman and heard that pilots come back and sign the wall, I thought I’d like to write my name on it someday,” he said. “So here we are.”

Call it a Victory Roll (of sorts) as that someday came April 10. With a steady hand Mack calmly pulled a pen from his green flight suit and near a fighter jet signed his name – William Mack ’12 – and made history.

*   *   *

Editor’s note: Images, from top to bottom: 1) University of St. Thomas AFROTC Detachment 410 shield, with four stars in the purple area, and 10 stars in the gray area. 2) U.S. Army Air Corps roundel, WWI era. 3) U.S. Army Air Corps roundel, post-WWI to early WWII era. 4) U.S. Army Air Corps WWII and current U.S. Air Force roundel. 5) Contemporary Air Force logo.

Bignall is, first and foremost, president and CEO of ReconRobotics Inc., a company that creates tactical micro-robot systems used by the military, law enforcement and rescue teams. Bignall and his entire team are devoted to increasing the safety of military and law enforcement personnel and other responders through robots that are increasingly sophisticated. Currently, their robots can explore an environment that might be dangerous for humans to enter and provide auditory and visual feedback, even in complete darkness. Some robots are designed to examine the undercarriage of a vehicle for explosives or narcotics. The robots have become increasingly advanced since the company was founded in 2006, and they will continue to provide improved information as more sensors are added for hazards such as radiological, chemical and biological threats.

Alan Bignall (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

These innovations have led to lots of attention for this relatively small company. Fast Company named it to its annual list of the most innovative companies in both 2012 and 2013, and in 2011 Popular Science named the Recon Scout XT micro-robot one of the top 100 tech innovations of that year. Bignall himself received the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business 2011 Entrepreneur Alumnus of the Year Award. Bignall attributes ReconRobotics’ success to the fact that what his company does – saving  lives – creates enthusiastic employees. “Passion drives us and coalesces around our goals,” he explained. “You can always hire smart people, but how do you get passion and a drive to make a difference?”

The employees at ReconRobotics are indeed enthusiastic about delivering products that provide advance warning to those who put themselves in harm’s way in their line of  work. Aimee Barmore, a St. Thomas M.B.A. student and director of the law enforcement and federal programs North American sales team, said that passion inspires her work. “Alan and I were at a trade show in California,” she said. “A soldier came up and said, ‘Sir, Ma’am, I have to say this thing [one of the robots] is awesome. It saved my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you!’” Hearing stories like this makes her proud of her work.

Bignall has been with the company since it was formed by a University of Minnesota professor and students who wanted to commercialize their work. Recently,  ReconRobotics turned to the work of students again. As a result of a senior-year engineering project that involved designing a landing system for unmanned aerial vehicles, four St. Thomas students formed a company, Xollai, to further develop their initial idea and to create additional products. ReconRobotics purchased Xollai because, Bignall said, the young alumni who created it were a very innovative group. “They had potential patents. They had great ideas that solved key user problems.”

During a 2009 interview for St. Thomas magazine, Bignall said that the state of Minnesota had the opportunity to become “Robotics Alley” due to its positioning in miniatures, motors and electronics. His vision led to the founding of Robotics Alley, a public and private initiative that hosts an annual robotics conference in the Twin Cities.

To make a point, Bignall made a comparison between hockey and robotics. “We spend enormous amounts on youth hockey. Why not on robotics?” he asked, noting that  there are now more high school robotics teams than hockey teams. A strong robotics industry could bring 10,000 high-paying jobs to Minnesota, he said. Robotics Alley brings together academic, business and government leaders to build on Minnesota’s already solid presence in the industry.

The desire to promote the robotics industry in Minnesota is also behind the Global Robotics Innovation Park (GRIP), a planned research park and business incubator in the Twin Cities. Tenants will include companies and academic research institutions. ReconRobotics and Robotics Alley are both partnering with GRIP to encourage the development of Minnesota’s robotics industry. For Bignall, ReconRobotics’ investment in outside projects such as Robotics Alley and GRIP are important. “This is about being a leader. If you want to make a difference, you need to reach beyond the edges of your business.”

While leading ReconRobotics, Bignall has channeled his enormous energy into other projects as well. In 2010, he co-founded Biolyst, LLC, with his chiropractor, Tim Kelm, who had successfully treated Bignall’s peripheral neuropathy with lasers. “Peripheral neuropathy is extremely debilitating. The Mayo Clinic told me there was no  treatment,” Bignall said. After finding relief through laser therapy, he asked Kelm to join him in founding a company that would provide this treatment through franchise Realief Neuropathy Centers. There are now three Realief Neuropathy Centers, located in Minnesota, Arizona and South Carolina, and more will be opening soon. Bignall isn’t running the business, but he is excited to be a part of it as a founder and board member. “I love businesses where you can help people,” he said.

Bignall also loves the game of baseball. “Did he tell you how he wants to die?” Barmore asked. “He wants to be seated at a baseball game, eating a hot dog and drinking beer.” It should be no surprise that such a dedicated fan of baseball owns the Albany Dutchmen, a team belonging to the New York Collegiate Baseball League. Bignall, who dreams of owning a minor-league team, said, “I love business and the game. Owning the Albany Dutchmen has been a chance to learn the business of baseball.” He doesn’t attend games as often as he would like, but he watches his team on the Internet.

On top of all this, Bignall recently finished serving as entrepreneur in residence at St. Thomas, a volunteer position that entailed being available to help students and faculty at the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship in the Opus College of Business. “I was available to mentor groups and individuals and to guest speak as needed,” he said. “I was not there as a teacher; I was there to boost the program, and I helped raise money for it.”

The Throwbot XT. (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

Before he joined ReconRobotics, Bignall worked for other companies, both large and small, including Rolls-Royce, IDS, Fingerhut and Visual Interactions Inc. When asked  about the high points and low points of his career, he was characteristically optimistic. “I am generally high on life,” he said. For him, the challenging situations one can face at work are merely opportunities to learn. His lowest point was probably at a time when he was between businesses. “I had no team, no energy,” he said. “I wasn’t surrounded by smart people. I’m energized by dealing with entrepreneurs.”

He pours this energy back into the people around him. “I have had such a wonderful professional life,” he said. “I want to make other people successful. Personal recognition  is nice, but that’s not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for how to help people.” He added, “I’m always looking for new businesses to start. They just pop up all the time.”

Jack Klobucar, marketing director at ReconRobotics, has noticed Bignall’s investment in people. “What really separates him from others is the way he thinks and runs his business. He focuses on two groups. First, he focuses on the customer. If a customer has a problem, we’ll fix it immediately. Not tomorrow; today. There’s no one like that in the industry. We have a loyal customer base. Second, he focuses on each employee. He feels that if he can help an individual to be challenged and to grow, everything else  takes care of itself. This is highly unusual. I’ve consulted with dozens of companies. Most CEOs focus on numbers, but Alan focuses on the individual customer and the individual employee.” He noted that Bignall’s focus on these two groups has had a ripple effect, making the other stakeholders happy, including shareholders.

Bignall gives in part because he is grateful for what he has received from others. “I haven’t had just one or two mentors,” he said. “I’ve had hundreds of mentors. I try to listen to advice from everybody, and I try to be self-aware. I have a rule: If something’s not working, it’s always my fault.” Barmore has seen this in him. “He’s not a know-it-all,” she said.

The result of Bignall’s humility, energy, vision and focus on the individual is a successful work team that has fun while delivering results. “From day one, he wanted to create a business where he would like to work,” Klobucar said. “He looks at it through the eyes of the employee.” And, he noted, the employees respond: “We’re all in this together, creating something entirely new.”

Read more from B. Magazine.

You know, this has become more about my middle school experience than I had originally planned.

Anyway, those of us in Photo Services thought we’d offer a reminder that it wasn’t always this way. Before it became the March and April bully, winter had a beauty of its own – a quiet side that excelled at hushing the world into a contemplative tranquility.

Winter will eventually get hauled off to the principal’s office and sent home for the day. As we pick ourselves up off the ground and wipe the gravel from our hair, let’s not forget that the bully once had the soul of a poet.

Editor’s note: St. Thomas Photo Services is making images from this post available for purchase here.

Read more from Depth of Field.

Dr. Charles Reid Jr., St. Thomas School of Law faculty member (Reid holds a law degree and license in canon law from the Catholic University of America as well as a Ph.D. in the history of medieval law from Cornell University): Cardinal Bergoglio is in many respects a natural and expected selection as Pope. He was runner-up to Pope Benedict in 2005. What is unexpected is his inspired choice of names. Pope Francis – suggestive both of Francis of Assisi and of the great Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier. I think by choice of names he is setting the tone of his pontificate. He will be humble like Francis of Assisi. He will show a preferential option for the poor. But he will also be an evangelizer in the mold of Francis Xavier who traveled to the far corners of the world – to Japan and China in the sixteenth century – to spread the word of Christ. I think we can expect from Pope Francis a powerful vision of faith and works.

Dr. Massimo Faggioli, St. Thomas Theology Department faculty member (Faggioli holds a doctorate from the University of Turin and specializes in contemporary Catholicism, religion and politics): The selection of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis is interesting and surprising. He is the first non-European pope, the first Jesuit and the first with the courage to call himself Francis, after Francis of Assisi. It sets standards that are very high.

It also is interesting that eight years ago he was an alternative candidate to Pope Benedict. This time the cardinals took the road they did not take in 2005.

Cardinal Bergoglio was not on the short list of candidates being discussed widely. Some Italians were shocked at the selection; some there thought the cardinals would select a pope from Italy.

That Pope Francis was elected on the fifth ballot means that many cardinals had him in mind. The fifth ballot is early. Evidently, the press missed something that the cardinals had in mind.

Monsignor Aloysius Callaghan, rector and vice president at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas: A great gift, tremendous joy, a very pleasant surprise – “Papa Francesco.”

St. Francis of Assisi – what a model for our Church in these challenging times.

In his youth, Francis began to hear the Lord speak to him and feel the stirrings of the Spirit.

One day, while praying before an ancient crucifix in a forsaken wayside chapel of San Damiano below his town of Assisi, Francis heard a voice saying, “Go Francis and repair my Church which you see is falling into ruin.”  That call, that mandate, changed Francis’ life – he offered his life as “a gift to others.”

Yesterday a “new Francis” heard a similar call, “Repair my Church,” “Rebuild my Church.”

As he stepped out on the balcony – our Holy Father humbly invited our silent prayers for him and then he said “Let us start this journey – a journey of fraternity, love, and confidence among us.

And so we begin!

Visit Campus Ministry for more pope news.

Newly elected Pope Francis I appears on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on March 13. Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the 266th Pontiff and will lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The St. Thomas Board of Trustees today unanimously elected Sullivan, 55, to succeed Father Dennis Dease, who will retire June 30 after 22 years as 14th president of Minnesota’s largest private college or university.

A 13-member search committee of trustees and faculty and staff members unanimously recommended Sullivan to the board, which elected her during its winter meeting on the St. Paul campus. Sullivan met on several occasions with the search committee and also met privately earlier this month with more than 40 trustees, faculty members, administrators and students.

“I am thrilled and honored to be chosen,” said Sullivan, a Florida native who has taught or served in administrative positions in Oklahoma, North Carolina and California. “St. Thomas is an outstanding university which enjoys a wonderful history and legacy that is firmly rooted in its commitment to Catholic values and the liberal arts while looking forward with an entrepreneurial spirit. It is poised to do even more – to expand its influence and its visibility.”

Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn, chairman of the St. Thomas board since 1995, said Sullivan will bring excellent credentials to St. Thomas and will carry on a strong tradition nurtured by Dease.

“Our mission statement says that we seek to educate students ‘to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely and work skillfully to advance the common good,’ ” Flynn said. “I see those qualities and that commitment in Julie Sullivan. She will be an outstanding president.”

Flynn added that Sullivan has provided exceptional service to San Diego, “a Catholic university that has a great reputation and is highly respected in the local church.”

John M. Morrison, a trustee who served as chair of the search committee, said Sullivan’s extensive background as a professor and administrator has prepared her well for the St. Thomas presidency.

“Julie is tailor-made for the position,” said Morrison, who has served on the St. Thomas board since 1996. “She has the academic experience, business acumen and personal qualities we need in our next president, and her Roman Catholic faith is central to her life. St. Thomas, which is similar in many respects to that of the University of San Diego, will thrive under her leadership.”

Dease also applauded the choice of Sullivan and promised a smooth transition over the next several months. He will become president-emeritus following his retirement and will work with Sullivan and the board on special projects.

“Julie is a star,” Dease said. “Her spirit, authenticity and mission-driven leadership will be a great fit here, and her experience uniquely positions her to work with this community to make St. Thomas an even stronger university in the years ahead. I look forward to working with her.”

The Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt, archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, praised the appointment.

“Dr. Sullivan brings with her a wealth of experience as a professor and administrator,” he said. “I have promised to work with her to advance the mission of the university as well as to find ways for us to collaborate in the programs of the archdiocese.”

Two Firsts for St. Thomas

Sullivan knows she will be observed closely as the first woman and the first lay person to serve as president of St. Thomas, which has been led by Roman Catholic priests since founder Archbishop John Ireland appointed Father Thomas O’Gorman in 1885. The St. Thomas board changed its bylaws two years ago to allow a Catholic lay person to serve as president in order to expand the pool of eligible candidates and hire the strongest person for the position.

Tommie high-fives Sullivan as she enters the Hearth Room for a press conference announcing her presidency. (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)

“The first order of business will be to acknowledge that, yes, a lay Catholic woman is your leader,” she said, “and I also want to assure the entire community that we will not deviate in our commitment to the Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic values that have been a St. Thomas hallmark.

“That tradition and those values are so rich here – the call to pursue truth through the integration of faith and reason, with a strong commitment to the liberal arts. That tradition and those values are critical, particularly in helping young people understand the complexity and the interconnectedness of our world and their places in it.

“I have the deepest respect for the Catholic Church as a vibrant and living institution. A Catholic university is a special place where we engage with the Church in a spirit of free inquiry and robust diaologue, and scholars here at St. Thomas will always play a vital role in that regard.”

Sullivan cited similarities between St. Thomas and San Diego, where she has served as the No. 2 administrator since 2005, when it comes to the emphasis placed by both institutions on practicing the principles of Catholic social teaching.

“It’s in San Diego’s DNA because of what we do – and it’s in your DNA, too,” she said. “When I was reading your faculty bios, every one of them included something about what they do in service to the community. Students also have a real commitment to being out in the world, to helping to solve problems, and in valuing the dignity of every human being.

“We are all children of God, and I see a lot of evidence of this conviction in the St. Thomas community. I sense that passion and that care for others.”

Premed to Business

Sullivan was born in 1957 in Gainesville, Fla., and grew up with a younger brother in Jacksonville and Live Oak, Fla. Her father owned an automobile dealership and her mother was a homemaker and volunteer.

She enrolled at Valdosta State College in Georgia after her junior year in high school and transferred a year later to the University of Florida in Gainesville. She began her studies as a premed major and enjoyed and excelled in numerous science classes, but changed her mind after organic chemistry, where “it just didn’t click for me.”

Sullivan thought about majors in actuarial science or pharmacy before she settled on accounting, and she still remembers her father’s words: “I don’t care what your major is in; you just better have a job when you finish.”

She planned to work as a public accountant, and after a six-month internship with what then was Ernst and Whinney, she concluded that she preferred tax accounting over auditing. She needed a master’s degree to work directly in tax accounting, so she continued her studies at Florida.

“I had a teaching assistantship during my master’s program and discovered I loved to teach,” she said. “Thus, I decided to remain at Florida and pursue a Ph.D. in business administration.”

Sullivan began her academic career in 1983 at the University of Oklahoma, and four years later moved to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to be a visiting professor for one year. She was hired as a tenure-track faculty member at the end of that year.

During her 16 years at North Carolina, Sullivan became an Ernst and Young Distinguished Professor and served as co-director of the Center for Innovation and Learning, director of the Center for International Business Education and Research, associate dean of the master’s of accounting program and senior associate dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

A Move to the West Coast

She was interim dean of Kenan-Flagler in 2003, leading a $180 million capital campaign, when she moved to California and became a full professor in the Rady School of Management at the University of California-San Diego.

One night at a dinner party, Sullivan met Dr. Mary Lyons, president of the University of San Diego (and former president of the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn.). They later met at another party at Lyons’ home, and Lyons mentioned that she was recruiting for her provost position.

“I wished her the very best in her search,” Sullivan said. “Her comment continued to resurface in my mind for several weeks, until I phoned the search consultant to learn more about the job. After an hour of discussion, I was convinced the University of San Diego could be a good opportunity for me.”

Lyons felt the same way. She hired Sullivan as executive vice president and provost in 2005. Today, Sullivan is responsible for all degree and nondegree educational programs, information technology services, admissions, financial aid and career services. She also oversees the chief financial officer and has responsibility for the operating budget.

San Diego is a private Catholic university, founded in 1949 by Bishop Charles Buddy of the Diocese of San Diego as the College for Men and School of Law and by the Society of the Sacred Heart as the College for Women. The colleges merged in 1972 to create the University of San Diego, which today enrolls 7,800 students.

Sullivan admitted to “a learning curve” when she arrived at San Diego, but she found herself stimulated by a broader sphere of people with whom she could interact in a new environment – that of a Catholic institution.

“I had not worked in a faith-based institution,” she said. “You have to experience it to fully appreciate the richness of it, and having done so, I can’t imagine going back to a non-Catholic institution. A Catholic university explicitly adds such an important dimension into the mission, identity and educational process for our students.”

She also found less bureaucracy than at public institutions, allowing her to make changes such as hiring 175 new tenure and tenure-track faculty, doubling the size of the faculty research grants program, launching the Shiley-Macos School of Engineering, and establishing an International Center, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies and the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture.

Other accomplishments during her eight-year tenure include: increasing the freshman academic profile (25 to 27 ACT and 3.7 to 3.9 GPA), achieving a No. 1 national ranking among doctoral institutions for the percentage of students who study abroad, increasing the freshman-to-sophomore retention rate from 85 percent to 90 percent, increasing minority student enrollment from 25 percent to 32 percent, and installing the nation’s eighth-largest college solar energy facility.

One achievement of which she is particularly proud is the 2011 designation of San Diego as a “Changemaker Campus” by Ashoka, an Arlington, Va.-based organization that supports successful social entrepreneurs around the globe. Last September, in an academic convocation address, “University in Society and the Relevancy of the USD Changemaker Campus,” Sullivan said San Diego’s heritage in living out the principles of Catholic social thought had helped define the university as a “changemaker” campus.

“A USD education,” she said, “inspires and empowers students to become changemakers – to make the difference they seek – to become individuals with self-fulfilling lives who are proactively creating positive social, environmental and economic value.”

Sullivan believes St. Thomas, too, can become a “changemaker” campus – if not by designation by Ashoka, then certainly by day-to-day practice.

“I think all the ingredients are there,” she said. “It’s a matter of identifying them, connecting them, leveraging them, and making a commitment to sustain and expand them.”

Challenges Always Will Abound

Sullivan sees the same kinds of challenges at St. Thomas that are at San Diego – and most other private colleges and universities. They are tuition-driven, with a need to make their educations more accessible and more affordable.

“I also think there are similar value drivers in the sense of what you are getting from your education,” she said. “I see at St. Thomas what I have seen at San Diego – when we ask our alumni to reflect on the most valuable things in our education, they always mention their relationships to faculty, who not only taught them well but mentored them as individuals.

“Our kind of education is never going to be cheap – not at the quality we want to deliver. We always will need to make our education as affordable as possible while increasing access. We will need to diversify our revenue streams while being conscious of our mission.”

About her Family

Sullivan and her husband, Robert, have four children. Two are in California: Dr. William Collins, a physician, and his wife are in their third years of residency at UC-San Diego, and Caitlin Collins works in a health and technology start-up in San Francisco. They also have two children from Ethiopia: Tadesse Sullivan lives in Charlotte, N.C., and Almaz Sullivan lives in Belgium with her husband and their two adopted Ethiopian daughters.

Robert Sullivan is founding dean of the Rady School of Management at the University of California-San Diego.

The Sullivans enjoy family, exercise, travel, a good bottle of red wine and their two puppies, Downey and Oliver.

Read more from Depth of Field

Now add a couple of fierce competitors, roller coaster peaks, blind drop-offs and unanticipated turns.

Welcome to Red Bull’s Crashed Ice competition. The speed alone will make your stomach jolt.

“To be honest, the run went by so fast and I was so focused, I didn’t really take it all in,” said Jon Palmeri ’07, who first raced in the Crashed Ice world championship event in St. Paul last winter. He placed seventh among all the U.S. competitors in 2012 and competed again in January 2013. Craig Kaufman ’08 also raced in the 2012 event.

Officially known as ice cross downhill, the sport is similar to downhill skiing. But on ice.

The 400-meter track began at the Cathedral of St. Paul. Gravity propels the competitors down Cathedral hill, accelerating through drops as high as 31 feet before completing the quarter-mile-long track near the intersection of Kellogg Boulevard and Interstate 35E.

Red Bull has hosted the championship series since 2001, when the sport originally gained popularity in Stockholm, Sweden. The world championship has traveled to other countries in Europe and first came to the United States in 2003 in Duluth.

As the name “Crashed Ice” denotes, there are plenty of crashes on every run. The athletes are outfitted in typical hockey gear – helmet, gloves, jersey and hockey pads – and race four at a time down the track. But unlike hockey, checking and any intentional physical contact are not allowed, and athletes may be disqualified.

Jon Palmeri

Palmeri decided to enter the race after a friend showed him photos from his participation in Canada in 2011.

After one of his practice runs, Palmeri observed, “The trickiest part of the track, in my opinion, was the double jump, which was taking victims run after run. I had a few crashes there and also one high-speed crash on a wall where I actually put my skate through the boards. The odd part was I didn’t get stuck. The skate punched a hole in the plastic boards and my momentum kept me moving down the next icy ramp.”

After qualifying in Duluth in fall 2011, Palmeri then competed on the big track in St. Paul in January 2012. There were two rounds of timed speed tests on the course. The top 64 of the 128 athletes in both rounds advanced to the elimination round.

Most of the U.S. participants had never experienced skating down an ice track filled with obstacles. The first time was a memorable experience for Kaufman.

“When I got to the top of the starting ramp, I remember looking down and seeing what seemed like a never ending sea of people. It was loud with everyone cheering and the music blaring. I looked to my left and saw three of my competitors who looked very focused and intense. My nerves really kicked in.”

Because competitors don’t have a track to practice on during the weeks leading up to the competition, there wasn’t much training involved. For his first competition, Palmeri just intensified his workout routine and practiced his skating skills more frequently.

Having a background in other extreme sports is perhaps the best way an athlete can anticipate an event like Red Bull’s Crashed Ice. Some of the world championship participants have competed at the X-Games in skiing or snowboarding. One was an Olympic-bound speed skater, and some of the international competitors are bandy players.

Palmeri’s experience competing in extreme sports gave him confidence heading into the race. “I grew up mainly playing hockey but I also liked BMX racing in the summer, and I’ve also done motocross racing, skiing and snowboarding,” Palmeri said. “They’re very similar to Crashed Ice in how you approach obstacles while going at high speeds.  It takes a little of the fear factor out of it for me.”

Palmeri, from St. Paul, played hockey through high school, but once he got to college he had to make a decision that many student-athletes face: Do I keep playing my sport?

“I played hockey very competitively and then had opportunities to play further, but I just wanted to go to school and learn, graduate, work and be done,” Palmeri said.

Fortunately, hockey remained an important part of his life. Palmeri’s college roommate, Brett Lawler ’08, along with Rian Cleary ’08, founded the St. Thomas club hockey team in 2006. Palmeri joined the team and found a good balance between studying and playing his favorite sport. In the summers, Palmeri played in the Minnesota Pro 4- on-4 league, where he practiced with NHL, Division I, and European professional players.

Like Palmeri, Kaufman played hockey growing up, but he continued playing at the collegiate level on St. Thomas’ varisty team from 2005 to 2007. It’s no surprise that both
have found their hockey background helpful in competing in the Crashed Ice event.

One subtle difference between the two sports is the skates. Ice cross downhill competitors use bandy blades which offer more stability during the downhill run. Bandy combines elements of hockey and soccer, and is quite popular in Europe and Russia.

The added stability of the bandy blades were needed at this year’s Crashed Ice event in St. Paul, where the starting gate was 48 feet high – a full 12 feet higher than last year’s
course.

Last year more than 80,000 hardy spectators attended the Crashed Ice event in St. Paul. Given that the NHL lockout left many Wild hockey fans without much to do this fall and early winter, the city of St. Paul is hoping for an even larger turnout this year.

For Palmeri and Kaufman, the Crashed Ice competition will extend their passion for high-speed competition and winter sports – two things Minnesotans are eager to support.

Read more from St. Thomas Magazine.

The UDA competition is the largest national collegiate championship in the United States and is attended annually by teams from around the nation and Puerto Rico. The Open Division includes Division II and III, and smaller schools. Schools are limited to competition in two categories. Prior to this year, the Tommies placed first in jazz in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012, and in hip hop in 2011.

Watch the Tommies’ jazz performance:

Watch the Tommies’ hip hop performance:

Results:

Jazz

1. University of St. Thomas
2. College of St. Benedict (Minn.)
3. Lindenwood University (Mo.)
4. Orange Coast College (Calif.)
5. Avila University (Mo.)
6. Riverside City College (Calif.)
7. College of New Jersey
8. University of Puerto Rico – Bayamon

The team began its season in August when the dancers attended the largest collegiate dance and cheer summer camp in the nation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The season began with high expectations as the dancers earned the “Most Improved” award and took first place in the camp’s home routine competition.

Watch the Tommies’ first-place camp routine:

In preparing for nationals, the dancers received an additional boost when they learned they could bypass the typical video audition process. Because of its first place finish at UDA nationals in 2012, the team received a fully paid bid to attend the competition in 2013.

In her ninth year with the Tommies, coach Alysia Ulfers knew early on that this year’s team was something special soon after team auditions were held in the spring. “They clicked from the start, and they all have the same goals, drive, work ethic, commitment and passion,” she said. “We always have high expectations for ourselves, so going into the competition with a full-paid bid has helped boost our confidence from the start.”

The team maintains a rigorous schedule to prepare for nationals. Dancers commit to three-hour practices three days a week, ballet and gymnastics classes once a week, and working out with a trainer once a week. They also have an important role in school spirit, performing at all Tommie home football games and several men’s and women’s basketball games.

Dance team members are Ellie Wood (captain), Bethany Laiti, Sam Maroney (captain), Jackie Schneider, Kristen Olson (captain), Ari Vazquez, Kelly Olson, Eve Byron, Alex Brown, Annie Lindberg, Whitney Nelson, Hanna Brown, Chloe Setter, Morgan McGowan, Sam Grover, Jessica Danner, Allix Lowell and Julia Randall.

Read more about the St. Thomas Dance team on its website and “Like” the team on Facebook.

You will never see those photos.

The first “real” photos I took, with even a bit of photo knowledge in my head, were on T-Max 400 black and white film for The Aquin and The Aquinas yearbook. For the next three years black and white was all I shot as I learned how not to make a complete fool of myself with a camera (thanks MO’D).

All of which is to say that black and white holds a special place in my heart. It’s how I first learned to “see” through a camera, and even though the demands of modern marketing and publishing at St. Thomas require color most of the time, it still feels good to slip back into those old eyes. In fact, in some situations it’s still the only thing that makes sense to me – like the photo (18) of English professor Matthew Batt for the upcoming issue of St. Thomas magazine, or the photo of sisters Blaire and Ava Pospesel (4), who let us publish the admissions essays they wrote about the death of their mother. Black and white strips away all the decoration and distraction, and lets us concentrate on the forms and expressions of the people telling us their stories.

Of course I’m not shooting T-Max anymore (that stopped my senior year at UST with the purchase of my first digital SLR), but the digital cameras we’re using today allow me to create black and whites that I like even more than those produced on that Kodak film. It’s as simple as removing the color from the file the camera creates – and as complicated as  interpreting that (usually) flat and lifeless image into the style of black and white you envisioned when you tripped the shutter.

These photos, I’ll let you see.

Read more from Depth of Field

In recognition of the event, Anderson Student Center staff will accept donations of new plush toys, books, games, puzzles, yo-yos, whistles, crayons, markers, clay, balls, stickers, wrapped candy and gift bags – or any new toys for kids ages 3 to 12 – to support Cheerful Givers, a local nonprofit organization that provides birthday gift bags to shelters and food shelves for families who cannot otherwise celebrate their children’s birthdays.

As St. Thomas photographers we are privileged to capture these moments. We get to deal with what, to me, is still a magical process where the infinite string of time can be captured, however imperfectly, on a finite medium and shown to others. Even as the sheer volume of photography each of us is exposed to exponentially increases, the power of a single well-done image to show you something new – or something old in a new way – remains. If just some of the images in this collection do that, then we’ve succeeded in meeting the highest of the goal we’ve set for ourselves: showing St. Thomas to itself.

Read more from Depth of Field.

The Purple Raiders opened with 14 quick points on a long drive and a blocked punt and, after the Tommies closed to within 14-10, sealed the win with back-to-back drives of 81 and 87 yards before 6,027 fans in Salem Stadium.

The win gave Mount Union its 11th NCAA Division III crown in 16 appearances in the championship game. The Purple Raiders had lost to UW-Whitewater in the title game the last three years.

Coach Glenn Caruso told his players in a midfield huddle after the game that he was proud of their effort and, as painful as the loss was, believes they will learn from it and use it as motivation for next year.

“I mean what I say – we will find a way to get better,” he said in the locker room. “The FAMILY (Forget About Me, I Love You) always does.”

In the post-game news conference, Caruso credited Mount Union for buckling down after the Tommies had trimmed the deficit to four points and taking nearly 14 minutes off the clock on the touchdown drives.

“That’s the mark of a championship team,” he said.

Mount Union Coach Larry Kehres praised St. Thomas’ resilience and how it fought back from the early deficit.

“It was a tough game,” he said. “We had our up and down moments. Pressure defense from St. Thomas caused that. We had some flashes of excellence at times that pulled us through tonight.”

Mount Union jumps to 14-0 first quarter lead

Mount Union wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. The Purple Raiders needed only seven plays and 2:10 to go 82 yards for a touchdown on a one-yard run by Jake Simon. The big play on the drive was a 41-yard pass from Kevin Burke to Jasper Collins, the All-American wide receiver who finished with eight catches for 120 yards.

St. Thomas picked up a first down on each of its first two drives, but when the second drive stalled, Mount Union linebacker Charles Dieuseul blocked a Garrett Maloney punt after a high snap. Dieuseul scooped up the ball at the 13 and ran in for a 14-0 lead with 3:37 left in the first quarter. It was the first blocked St. Thomas punt in 89 punts spanning two seasons.

The Tommies responded with a 10-play, 60-yard drive to cut the Mount Union lead in half three plays into the second quarter. They drove 50 yards to the Mount Union 10 and set up for a field goal on fourth down, but holder Dan Ferrazzo took the snap and ran for the touchdown. Ferrazzo caught two passes for 11 yards and ran twice for 17 yards on the drive.

The St. Thomas defense, after giving up 114 yards in the first quarter, stiffened in the second and held Mount Union to only 22 yards and two first downs in three series. But the Tommies could not take advantage of good field position, twice moving the ball to the Mount Union 25 and 42 before turning the ball over on four downs.

For the half, St. Thomas outgained Mount Union 159 to 136 yards and dominated time of possession 18:30 to 11:30. Quarterback Matt O’Connell hit 11 of 21 passes for 89 yards, with Ferrazzo nabbing six for 37 yards. Freshmen Brenton Braddock, the Tommies’ 1,100-yard rusher, rushed only twice for seven yards before leaving the game, having injured his lower leg in the semifinal win over UW-Oshkosh.

Tommies close to within four points

Neither team could move the ball on its first drives of the second half. Another stalled St. Thomas drive led to a Maloney punt, but Ryan Deitz stripped the ball from returner Chris Denton and long snapper Zach Novaczyk recovered the fumble at the Mount Union 27.

“He got a little bit ahead of me,” Deitz said of Denton, “but I got my hand on the ball, gave it a rip and Zach recovered. It was a big play for us.”

The Tommies again couldn’t move the ball, however, and settled for a 38-yard Paul Graupner field goal to cut the Purple Raiders lead to 14-10 with 6:27 left in the third quarter.

“We had opportunities to put more points on the board,” Caruso said of the three drives that ended in Mount Union territory but netted only the field goal. “If we had done a better job on the offensive side of the ball, we would have been in better shape.”

Mount Union puts game away

Mount Union responded to the Graupner field goal with a 12-play, 81-yard drive capped by a Burke-to-Denton touchdown pass on fourth and five from the St. Thomas 17. The Purple Raiders racked up four first downs in six plays in the middle of the drive.

“These guys buckled down,” said Burke, a sophomore who finished 21 of 28 for 222 yards and was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player. “We looked at where we were (14-10 lead) and we realized this is it. You have to step up at that point. We got the job done.”

Even trailing by 11 points, the Tommies were confident they could rally. Ferrazzo recalled their fourth-quarter comeback in the season opener at UW-Eau Claire, when they were down by 11 points but scored two touchdowns in the last five minutes to win.

“There was no sense of panic on the sideline,” Ferrazzo said.

On the ensuing drive, St. Thomas picked up two first downs on face-mask and personal foul penalties, and O’Connell runs of seven and eight yards put the ball at the Mount Union 42. Two plays later, however, he threw an interception and the Purple Raiders took over at their 13 with 13:06 left in the game.

They marched 87 yards in 14 plays, taking 8:43 off the clock before Jake Simon scored on a one-yard run for a 28-10 lead. Burke faced four third downs and converted each on passes of five and nine yards, an 11-yard run and a 38-yard pass to Collins at the St. Thomas 5.

Mount Union dominated the second half statistics, with 208 yards in 18 minutes of possession, while the Tommies could muster only 35 yards in 30 plays. They were held to season lows in points (10), rushing yards (78), passing yards (116) and total yards (194) and were one of seven on third-down conversions in the second half.

More time with the family

With less than a minute to go, Caruso used all three of his timeouts to extend the game. A reporter asked why he didn’t run out the clock and what he said to his players when they ran to the sideline for timeout huddles.

“I told them I loved them,” he said, “and that I would do anything I could to keep this family together for one more second.”

Another reporter asked Caruso if his team was in a “suspended state,” grateful to have reached the title game after losing in the semifinals last year to Whitewater but disappointed in the final score.

“We’re not in a suspended state,” Caruso said. “We’re pretty crushed right now, and I’d be lying if I said anything else. We all wanted this very badly.”

Earlier in the locker room, he thanked the 12 seniors who had helped to build the foundation for a program that went 50-5 over the last four years with records of 11-2, 12-1, 13-1 and 14-1, and he said he expected to see them in the stands next year.

Ayo Idowu, a defensive lineman from Woodbury, is one of those seniors. In the postgame huddle at midfield, he thanked the younger players for their effort and putting up with him.

“I’m going to be right there in the front row next year, guys,” he said, pointing to the bleachers.

Which is why, at 6:45 a.m. on Nov. 26, staff photographer Mark Brown and I found ourselves positioning several cameras around the Anderson Student Center. Physical Plant employees were just beginning to haul 118 boxes of branches and two metal crates filled with framing sections into a blocked-off atrium.

What followed was four days of thrice-daily trips to the student center to change camera positions and come up with ever-crazier places to stash cameras. We climbed inside the tree to put a camera on the floor looking up. We mounted small video cameras to the lift used to work on the top section of the tree. We even had the lift operator suction cup a small camera to the top of the windows, looking back at the tree.

Some of these cameras shot video (which we’ve sped up in the finished piece above), but most were programmed to take a picture anywhere from once a second, up to every 30 seconds. At least one camera ran every day from 7 a.m. until the workers knocked off for the day around 3 or 3:30.

We walked away with 15,582 still images (and a smattering of video clips) totaling almost 80 gigabytes. That data had to be processed for color, tone and crop. The stills were than merged together to form the video clips above.

After that, it was all about finding the right music and cutting the clips together to tell the story of the tree.

Quite frankly, this was the most fun I’ve had since … okay, a helicopter ride. I’m not sure I can say the same for the Physical Plant workers who had to assemble this thing under the increasingly curious eye of the St. Thomas community (not to mention a pair of photographers mounting cameras to their lifts). As you’ve seen in the video, they did a fantastic job and we wouldn’t have been able to achieve some of the angles we did without their help.

Merry Christmas, St. Thomas.

(Oh, and if you want to see the entire construction process from beginning to end with just the lunch breaks and non-working hours edited out, the video below is for you.)

As senior biology majors, Schmura and Houserman are lead student researchers for “Team Turtle” in collaboration with Biology Department chair Tim Lewis, a wildlife ecologist whose research involves monitoring the turtle population at Lake Judy. Lewis believes field research is a necessary element to becoming a scientist, and he has been taking St. Thomas students into the field since 2009, when he came to the university.

“Learning science is a lot like learning a musical instrument,” Lewis said. “Somebody can talk to you about playing the French horn forever and you won’t learn how to play. You have to pick one up; you have to have somebody take you and mentor you through the process. It’s the same way in science. You need to go do it.”

Students such as Schmura and Houserman are treated like professionals in field-based research collaborations because their work is done at a professional, and often, publishable level.

“You get to experience the life of actual biologists and ecologists,” Schmura said. Houserman quickly agreed, adding, “There’s something about being out there with the organism you’re studying. In a lab you’re with your organism and you’re studying it, but you can’t see it interact the way it normally does. In field-based research, you’re playing in their ball field.”

In the College of Arts and Sciences, faculty and student collaborative research projects such as this occur in many departments. Much of the drive to foster undergraduate research comes from a faculty commitment to the St. Thomas mission statement, which calls for educating students to become “morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely and work skillfully to advance the common good.” As well, a commitment to student-faculty collaborative research is one of the priorities listed in the vision statement of the College of Arts and Sciences. In focusing on these commitments, some St. Thomas science professors are placing an emphasis on research that surrounds one of Minnesota’s most precious resources: water.

Studying the Results of an Oil Pipeline Burst

One of the reasons geology professor Jennifer McGuire came to St. Thomas in 2008 was the interdisciplinary nature of the environmental science program. McGuire’s research focuses on examining what happens to chemicals when they are released into the natural environment, such as in an oil spill. With her student researchers, McGuire asks questions to determine where the chemicals will flow and how fast those chemicals might get into the drinking-water supply.

“For me, it’s really easy to get excited about the importance of clean drinking water,” McGuire said. “It’s fundamental to life. I’m obviously passionate about that, and it’s pretty easy to get students thinking that [working toward] access to clean and safe drinking water is an important contribution to society.”

McGuire believes it is her duty to foster a strong student connection to the environment. “Part of it is getting over this idea that what’s good for the environment is somehow a sacrifice you have to make,” she said. “I think we have to move away from this model that the environment is something that is external, outside of us. The environment is our parking lots. The environment is our backyards. It’s where we eat, and we are part of it.”

When McGuire takes her students just west of Bemidji, Minn., to the site of a 1979 oil pipeline burst, the students have the opportunity to work with her and with  professionals from all over the world.

“The students are thrilled to have this kind of opportunity,” McGuire said about the two-week, on-site stay. Here, students work with her to understand the types of chemical reactions that can happen when two separate water sources come together in an area affected with a crude oil spill. Students are able to look at points where an aquifer discharges and flows into a wetland. They test the changed chemistry of the water and help determine if there are any threats to local drinking water sources. When they are not working directly with McGuire, students are able to meet other professionals. The students’ help in the field is often in high demand, McGuire said. “It makes connections, gives them models for UST portfolios. It’s everything – connections and figuring out where your own interests lie.”

Analyzing Antibiotics in the Minnesota River

When professor Kris Wammer came to the St. Thomas Chemistry Department in 2005 she was excited to see the students’ enthusiasm in and out of the classroom. “All the work I do is involved with undergrads. That’s what I wanted to do – go to a school where I could do good, real research with undergraduate students,” Wammer said.

One of her current projects takes students off campus to Minnesota’s streams and ditches to analyze and understand what antibiotics are present in the water, and where they come from. A typical day in the field for Wammer’s students involves everything from going inside water treatment plants to leaning over the edge of a boat landing or standing in a freezing cold stream to collect water samples. Over the past few summers, Wammer and her students have found clear sources of both antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant genes affecting the Minnesota River. Because of these findings, next summer Wammer and her students will start examining drinking-water sources in the Mississippi River to determine whether there is a potential human health threat from similar antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant genes.

Wammer describes working with undergraduate researchers as not just “a professor-student thing.” Of her experience working with chemistry majors and environmental science majors, Wammer said, “When we’re out slopping in the mud, you get to really know each other.”

Determining the Effect of Contaminants on Turtles and Fish

Biology professor Kyle Zimmer came to St. Thomas in 2003 because he wanted to conduct research with undergraduate students. He said he had experienced working with undergraduates while getting his doctorate and he saw St. Thomas as a place that didn’t just say, “We value undergraduate research,” but actually supported it.

Zimmer’s research focuses on aquatic ecology. He and his students seek to understand how ecosystems work in shallow lakes and wetlands, and what humans are doing to influence “the smaller and shallow” water sources, such as ponds and swamps, all over Minnesota. Zimmer and his students are collaborating with other St. Thomas professors and their students: with Lewis and his team of turtle ecologists, with biology professor Dalma Martinovic-Weigelt and her fish physiology team, and with neuroscience professor Kurt Illig and his student team, which examines the health of the ecosystems in Minnesota waterways. The research explores how contaminants of watersheds might influence the biology and physiology of turtles and fish. When the water drains into Minnesota lakes and streams, contaminants in the water have the potential to make hostile impacts on the ecosystem, such as exposing fish and turtle populations to higher levels of environmental estrogens, which could result in reproductive changes. The end goal of this research collaboration is to develop strategies for reducing the effects of contaminants.

Zimmer believes that this research exemplifies the St. Thomas mission to educate students to work for the common good. “I personally feel that [when we] identify problems in the environment [and] try to come up with ways to manage and alleviate that, we make advances for the common good,” Zimmer said.

Connecting With the Community

Undergraduate research allows St. Thomas science programs to be more than an “ivory tower of learning,” Zimmer said. Each summer his students drive to outstate Minnesota in search of what most people would call a slough, and drag canoes out of the cattails and into the water. For the next eight hours they combat heat and everpresent mosquitoes, collecting samples and on occasion, answering questions from local farmers.

“A lot of times (students) will be standing by the side of the road, getting ready to push the boat out onto the lake and the farmer across the street will stop,” Zimmer said. “They get a chance to explain what they’re doing.”

“It’s really interesting running into the farmers around our lakes and having them ask us why we’re out there,” said Rachel Rockwell ’12, who has worked with Zimmer. Senior Christine Buelt agreed, saying that collecting water samples connects her to the research and the community affected by her findings. “We all take a personal interest [in the research] because we’ve been to these places,” Buelt said.

Buelt is interested in studying the intersection of ecology and environmental science as it is concerned with public health, and she hopes to go to graduate school. Rockwell plans to apply to pharmacy school. Both agree that they fell in love with research because of their fieldwork and community interactions. Of her project on the effect of bugs on the decomposition of plants in shallow lakes, Rockwell, said, “It was a really stinky job, but fun.”

Because their field research is current and practical, the students’ and professors’ main goal is to publish their research and get the information out to the public.

Research led by biology professor Dalma Martinovic-Weigelt takes her students to waste-water treatment plants in Minnesota. This research is part of a project sparked by a call from the Minnesota legislature to determine the effectiveness of waste-water treatment plants.

“Probably the most beautiful part about something like this is that your data is actually published and is part of a government report,” Martinovic-Weigelt said. “Those types of activities really grow that liberal arts student we hope to grow.”

Student researchers also grow when they are able to present their research at national and international conferences. Eight of Zimmer’s students attended the 2012 annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Portland, Ore. Two of his other students attended the 2012 annual meeting of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography in Lake Biwa, Japan.

Gaining More Than a Bullet Point on a Résumé

Undergraduate students are driven to field-based research projects for many reasons. Summer or year-round undergraduate research may appeal to many students applying to graduate or medical school. That extra bullet point on a résumé or project in the portfolio can do a lot for students, sometimes even landing them a spot in a graduate program. But talk to any of the St. Thomas students or faculty involved, and it becomes apparent that a student needs more than a desire to fill a résumé to become an undergraduate researcher.

Grant Schmura said his spot on “Team Turtle” was achieved by “annoying” his professor, Tim Lewis, on a regular basis. “There are so many other students who will do the same thing as you,” Schmura said. “You have to single yourself out. Always ask questions; that’s a big thing.”

Lewis looks for three things in student researchers: how smart they are, and how hard working and reliable they are. “Frankly the world is run by the hard-working people, and if they’re hard working and smart, it’s a killer combination,” Lewis said. “Brilliance never hurts, but brilliance alone is worthless.”

Lewis believes that research will benefit all students, regardless of what they plan to do after graduation. He lists problem solving as the most important skill a student gains in doing research because it is the first thing “everybody in the world” is looking for in an employee.

Schmura agrees. “If you don’t know what the answer is going to be, you have to figure it out yourself,” he said. “You leave school [and go] into the real world where there are no clear-cut answers.”

McGuire believes students transform into scientists when they begin to ask questions on their own. “[Then] everything is really curiosity driven,” she said. She also notes how lucky she is as a researcher to have a constant connection to the energy of the next generation of scientists.

Challenging the Next Generation

In the College of Arts and Sciences, there is no shortage of professor or student enthusiasm for going out and doing field-based research. Zimmer believes that by methodically “plowing through” the course material required to fully grasp the field-based research, students become independent thinkers and are transformed into young scientists.

“I tell students the goal for all faculty is not to produce people that are as good of scientists as we are. Because if we do that, then society is just status quo,” Zimmer said. “Our goal is to have them leave St. Thomas far better prepared, far more knowledgeable, far better citizens than [we] were at that age – to keep moving forward.”

Back out on Lake Judy, Lewis’ student Schmura and a few undergraduates moved forward in their research as they returned from checking the turtle basking traps. The researchers shed their life jackets, stowed their canoes and began examining the day’s turtle haul. After weighing, measuring and determining the sex of each turtle, Schmura attached a pit tag (used for tracking) to the turtle’s shell before returning it to the water.

Now it’s the turtle’s job to swim and the students’ job to dive back into their research.

Read more from CAS Spotlight.

The first event will take place Wednesday, Nov. 28. Each event will begin in Owens Science Hall, Room 150 (3M Auditorium), with a short talk of approximately 30 minutes followed by a Q-and-A session. Afterward, visitors are welcome to tour the observatory and, if weather permits, observe the night sky.

Events this semester will begin at 8:30 p.m. and will run until approximately 10 or 10:30 p.m.

The first two events will feature short talks by Dr. Elizabeth Wehner:

• Wednesday, Nov. 28 – “Exploring the Solar System”
• Wednesday, Dec. 12 – “The Milky Way: Our Galaxy, Our Home”

For more information visit the UST Observatory website. All are welcome.

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.

The war officially ended June 28, 1919, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. The following November, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day.

Today we refer to that war – “The War to End All Wars” – as World War I. And Armistice Day is now Veterans Day, a day the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs describes as a “celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.”

On the campus of the University of St. Thomas, for 26 years cadets of Air Force ROTC Detachment 410 have honored veterans, and POWs and MIAs, with a 24-hour vigil, marching slowly, silently, and solemnly back and forth past the flagpole in the lower quad in remembrance of those who have served and those who never came home.

This year’s vigil was held from late Saturday to late Sunday, Nov. 10-11.

The vigil is sponsored by the St. Thomas-based Richard E. Fleming Squadron of the Arnold Air Society, a professional and service organization. St. Thomas has had an Air Force ROTC detachment since 1948 – the year after the Air Force was created.

Editor’s note: A little-known memorial to Word War I veterans is located at the western end of Summit Avenue in St. Paul, adjacent to the university’s School of Divinity campus, overlooking the Mississippi River.

Photographer Mark Brown and I each made separate trips to Owatonna, I to shoot the interiors and Mark to shoot the exteriors. My work took a full day, but Mark stayed three days and two nights so that he could wake up early to capture the morning light, and stay late to shoot as the sun went down. It won’t take you long to see how timing makes all the difference. By late morning all that subtle shading and balanced sky disappear in a haze of harsh light as the sun moves overhead.

We got up early, ate fast food in sight of the Gainey dining room (the facility was closed while we were there, so no amazing Gainey vittles), and battled high temperatures and mosquitos to take these pictures. We’re under no illusion that it’s anywhere close to the hardest or dirtiest work here at St. Thomas, but do us the favor anyway. Sit back, set the slideshow viewer to full screen, and let us show you one last slice of summer.

Read more from Depth of Field.

Krissy Schoenfelder

Alumni old and young returned to campus Oct. 13 for Homecoming. Braving the light rain, thousands of Tommies cheered the football team to a 37-0 victory over the Bethel Royals to remain undefeated in the MIAC. I caught up with Sarah Pherson after her first Homecoming since graduating in 2009.

This is your first time back in three years. Why haven’t you come back before?

It was hard to find time with school. I figured this was the time to come back. I wanted to check out how much campus has changed since graduation! Plus I was excited for the UST-Bethel matchup. I always loved going to Tommie football when I was a student, and considering their records I thought it would be a great game.

You’ve gone back to school … congratulations! Where are you?

I’m a full-time law student at Hamline. I am a 2L and expect to graduate in May 2014.

What did you study as an undergrad?

I have a B.A. in public relations and political science, so law school was a natural next step. Unfortunately, it keeps me so busy I haven’t had much time to come back to UST.

Now that you’ve made it back, what was your favorite part?

It was fun to see how different the campus is and to reminisce about Homecoming festivities while I was a UST student.

Sarah Pherson, left, gives Tommie a Homecoming hug with Christina Haubrich.

Getting decked out, head to toe, in purple and heading to the game.

What Homecoming events did you attend? Was there anything you were especially surprised by?

I attended the festivities on the Quad and the game. I know it’s not the Taste of Saints anymore, but the festivities on the quad were really fun. Initially it didn’t even seem that different. As an undergrad, I always liked Taste of Saints, because it was a simple and fun way to get student organizations involved, but if there had been a few more booths and vendors it would have been hard to tell the difference. Plus, they were handing out lots of free Tommie swag this year, and that is always fun!

Did you stay for the whole game – right through the rain?

We stayed until about the beginning of the fourth quarter. Considering the UST blowout, we thought it was time to pack it in.

Now that you’ve made it back to campus, will you be returning for Homecoming 2013?

Absolutely! It was great reconnecting not only with friends but also with campus and the Tommie community. I also want to start getting involved with other alumni events. The Young Alumni service project this summer sounded great. I’m definitely going to try to join in on the next one.

(Readers: Did you make it to any Homecoming events? Tell us your favorite part of the day in the comments section.)

Gifts and pledges totaling $515,104,773 have been generated in the university’s “Opening Doors” capital campaign, Father Dennis Dease, president, told a dinner audience in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex.

“The campaign transformed our campus with stunning new facilities. But most significant was our single-largest goal, raising $142 million for financial aid that will open the doors to a St. Thomas education for future generations of students from all economic and cultural backgrounds,” Dease said.

The university’s Board of Trustees approved a $500 million goal and the campaign was announced publicly in October 2007, just months before the onset of the recession. Despite challenging economic conditions, St. Thomas raised more in its Opening Doors campaign than the combined total of all previous fund drives.

“The 43,539 alumni and friends who made contributions were key to our success,” Dease said. “That is nearly twice as many donors as our previous campaign and a demonstration of the depth of feeling for St. Thomas on the part of a tremendous number of people. It was truly a community effort.”

The campaign benefited from three gifts of more than $50 million each, two of them made anonymously, and from two large challenge grants. An anonymous donor made one challenge grant in 2010 for $25 million, and St. Thomas trustees made a second challenge grant for $20 million earlier this year. When matched, the challenge grants collectively added $90 million to the campaign and pushed the total beyond the $500 million goal.

Anderson Gift Launches Campaign

Opening Doors was launched with news of a $60 million gift from St. Thomas trustee Lee Anderson and his wife, Penny. The gift helped underwrite three major construction projects on the St. Paul campus: the 2012 Anderson Student Center, the 2010 Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex and the 2009 Anderson Parking Facility.

The campaign was co-chaired by two longtime St. Thomas trustees and their wives, John and Susan Morrison and Richard and Maureen Schulze.

“Our trustees were nothing short of heroic,” Dease said. “They knew from the start that raising $500 million was going to be a challenge, but they never wavered – not even when the bottom dropped out of the economy.”

The recession “made the road more challenging, but the reaching of our goal all the more rewarding,” said co-chair Morrison, a trustee since 1996. “While the big gifts were significant to our success, equally so were the tens of thousands of our alumni and friends who contributed what they could. The spirit, breadth and depth of this campaign were unprecedented. Maybe it had something to do with the recession, but Sue and I heard over and over from alumni who had received financial aid as students. They wanted to help future generations the way that they had been helped.”

Morrison said the generosity of alumni reminds him of a Greek proverb that is etched in glass and mounted in the new student center: “A society grows great when people plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.”

“We are thankful to have so many generous and supportive trustees who have done so much to ensure a successful campaign with support for so many future students,” said co-chair Schulze, a trustee since 1995. “Scholarships not only open doors, but also keep them open. I have seen it happen time and time again: Students arrive confident but a bit unsure of themselves and their new environment, and mature into young adults ready to take on the world. Maureen and I wanted to make sure those same opportunities remain available to future generations of students.”

“Creating that pool of scholarship and financial-aid resources for students of diverse backgrounds speaks to our deepest roots,” Dease said. “Archbishop Ireland founded St. Thomas, in large measure, to serve Minnesota’s growing immigrant community.”

Thanks Also to Students, Staff and Faculty

Dr. Mark Dienhart, executive vice president and chief operating officer of St. Thomas and director of the campaign, thanked students, faculty and staff for their contributions.

“It’s inspiring that more than 3,300 students contributed to the campaign, and we know they don’t have money to spare,” Dienhart said. “Faculty and staff also pitched in and did so at record levels. Their participation rate jumped from 15 percent to 58 percent during the course of the campaign. That’s impressive.”

Dienhart also praised St. Thomas employees, including staff in Development, Alumni and Constituent Relations, University Relations, and Web and Media Services, for their effectiveness in raising funds, holding events and communicating about the campaign.

“Many, many people have been engaged in this effort for the better part of a decade,” he said, “and their good work has created a lasting impact on this institution.”

Campaign Priorities

Opening Doors’ priorities addressed the campaign’s three themes: access, excellence and Catholic identity. St. Thomas raised nearly $254 million for financial aid and academic programs and another $176 million for construction and renovations. It also raised $52 million in other restricted gifts and $32 million for the Annual Fund.

Funds raised for construction projects include:

• $58.7 million for the Anderson Student Center.
• $52.9 million for the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex.
• $15 million for the Anderson Parking Facility.
• $4.6 million to expand Sitzmann Hall, home of the Center for Catholic Studies.
• $2.6 million to expand the Gainey Conference Center in Owatonna.
• $1.1 million to renovate the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Funds raised for financial aid and academic programs include:

• $142.5 million for financial aid ($106.5 million for undergraduates and $36 million for graduate students).
• $51.8 million for 19 endowed chairs and professorships.
• $35.1 million for deanships and strategic funds.
• $8.6 million for the School of Law.
• $5 million for the Norris Institute.
• $3.9 million for the Center for Ethical Business Cultures.
• $3.4 million for the Center for Catholic Studies.
• $2.5 million for the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy.
• $1 million for the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning.

Benefits Will Last as Long as St. Thomas Exists

The most visible signs of Opening Doors are the three new Anderson structures. Along with their construction came an enlarged lower quadrangle with a fountain and new plaza that links the quadrangle to the entrance of O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

The three facilities had been on St. Thomas’ wish list for years. The student and athletic centers replaced outdated facilities designed for a much smaller student population. The parking structure has eased parking problems and was essential because the new student center was built on what had been a 400-space surface lot.

“The beauty of our campus and quality of its facilities have become a St. Thomas hallmark,” said Steve Hoeppner, executive director of development. “But from the start, this campaign was not about the appearance of our buildings … but what goes on inside them. We’ve never before had anything like our new student and athletic centers. The way they’ve enhanced the undergraduate student experience here has exceeded our highest expectations.”

While those facilities will serve students for many generations, so will funds raised for scholarships and professorships. Proceeds from the invested funds will provide financial aid for as long as the university exists. Opening Doors, for example, created 309 newly endowed scholarships, each valued at $50,000 or higher. The number of endowed chairs and professorships, meanwhile, will increase from 17 to 36.

The university honored the four Opening Doors co-chairs at Wednesday’s dinner. John Morrison and Richard Schulze received the Archbishop John Ireland Award for contributions to higher education. Susan Morrison and Maureen Schulze received honorary doctor of humane letters degrees.

St. Thomas’ four previous campaigns raised a combined $359.5 million. They were: “Ever Press Forward,” completed in 2001, $250 million; “Century II,” completed in 1991, $83.1 million; “Priorities for the ’80s,” completed in 1982, $20.1 million; and “Program for Great Teaching,” completed in 1965, $6.3 million.

The St. Thomas community is invited to celebrate the conclusion of Opening Doors from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Center field house. Lunch will be provided, and transportation from Minneapolis will be available.