Dr. Ameeta Jaiswal-Dale.

Dr. Ameeta Jaiswal-Dale, Finance Department, Opus College of Business, is the author of “Retrieving Financial Information in XBRL: Next Generation EDGAR,” which she presented at the American Accounting Association Mid Atlantic Regional annual meeting, held in April in New Jersey.

Dr. John Wendt

Dr. John Wendt, Ethics and Business Law Department, Opus College of Business, is the author of an article titled “The Road to the London 2012 Olympic Games: ‘The Selection Games,’” which has been accepted for publication by the Entertainment & Sports Lawyer. Wendt also presented “Doping and the Competitive Athlete” at the Fairview 2013 Current Concepts in Sports Medicine: “Overhead Athletic Injuries: Safe to Pitch or Throwing Caution to the Wind?”

They are members of the largest ordination class since 2005, when 15 men were ordained to serve as priests in the archdiocese.

All 10 attended the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and earned Master of Divinity degrees. Over the past four years they participated in the Teaching Parish Program, spending time in a parish each week to participate in various aspects of pastoral service.

Those who will become priests Saturday are:

Deacon Leonard Andrie, 36, of Inver Grove Heights. He and his mother, Sandy, are parishioners at Inver Grove Heights’ St. Patrick parish. Andrie earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame before working in the field for five years in Minneapolis. He was also a school teacher in Virginia for two years. He then attended the University of St. Thomas, where he earned master’s degrees in Catholic studies, theology and divinity. His teaching parish was St. Odilia in Shoreview, and he spent time in Omaha, Mexico and Venezuela during his summers while in seminary. Andrie will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 25, at St. Agatha Church in Coates.

Deacon Andrew Brinkman, 27, of Ann Arbor, Mich. His parents, Ronald and Christine, live in Ann Arbor, and his home parish is Minneapolis’ Church of St. Stephen. An avid skateboarder, Brinkman spent his years prior to seminary enjoying his passion for skateboarding as well as working at a pastry shop. He is intrigued by the potential of evangelizing on behalf of the environmental movement. Brinkman’s teaching parish is also the Church of St. Stephen, and it’s where he’ll celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 26.

Deacon John Drees, 26, of Shakopee. He and his parents, John and Marie, are parishioners at St. Mary of the Purification in Marystown. Drees enrolled in seminary soon after graduating from high school, and spent one summer doing hospital ministry in Grand Forks, N.D. His teaching parish was St. Pius X in White Bear Lake, and he will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at St. Mary of the Purification in Marystown.

Deacon Joah Ellis, 26, of Blaine. He and his parents, Daniel and Carrie Ellis, are parishioners at the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids. After graduating from high school, Ellis worked one summer for the Anoka County Parks and Recreation Department before enrolling in the seminary that fall. As a young boy, he got to know many priests over dinners at his home, which often were followed by games of pick-up basketball. His teaching parish was the Church of St. Timothy in Maple Lake, and he will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at the Church of the Epiphany.

Deacon Spencer Howe, 26, of North Oaks. He and his parents, Jeffrey and Jeanette, are parishioners at the Church of St. Paul in Ham Lake. Howe was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran tradition. He became curious about Catholicism after his grandmother returned to the faith in 1999. Two years later, he and his father were received into the Catholic Church together. Howe enrolled in St. John Vianney Seminary immediately after graduating from Mounds View High School. He spent his summers while in the seminary in Ethiopia and Rome, and his teaching parishes were St. John the Baptist in New Brighton and St. Stephen in Anoka. He will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at St. John the Baptist Church.

Deacon Andrew Jaspers, 34, of Lake Crystal, where his parents, Dr. Anthony and Mary, still live and attend Holy Family Church. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy from Marquette University in Milwaukee and Fordham University in New York City, respectively, Jaspers taught at Creighton University in Omaha where he also wrote philosophical articles for various Catholic publications. His teaching parish was the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids. Jaspers’ Mass of Thanksgiving will be at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

Deacon Luke Marquard, 33, of Faribault, where he and his parents, Stephen and Mary, are parishioners at Divine Mercy parish. After earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Butler University in Indianapolis and a master’s degree in education from the University of Notre Dame, Marquard worked in public relations, marketing and communications in Indianapolis and Chicago. He then went on to teach Catholic elementary school in Denver as part of Notre Dame’s ACE program. His teaching parish was Forest Lake’s St. Peter Church, and he will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at Divine Mercy.

Deacon Brian Park, 32, of Fort Worth, Texas, where his parents, Paul and Mary Kay, still reside. Park began to consider the priesthood while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in history from Texas A & M University in College Station. After graduation, he traveled the country for three years as a team supervisor for NET Ministries, where he led retreats for Catholic teens. He entered the pre-theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in 2007. His teaching parish was St. Paul’s Church of St. Agnes. Park’s Masses of Thanksgiving are at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at the Church of St. Joseph in West St. Paul, and at his boyhood parish, where his parents still worship, St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Ft. Worth at 9 a.m. Sunday, June 2.

Deacon James Peterson, 27, of Minnetonka. He and his parents, Jim and Ann, are parishioners at Chanhassen’s St. Hubert Church. He attended Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria before earning a bachelor’s degree in theology from St. John’s University where he also ran track and field. His teaching parish was Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minnetonka, and he spent his summers while in seminary in Mexico and Venezuela. Peterson will celebrate his Masses of Thanksgiving at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 26, at Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Deacon Andrew Stueve, 40, of Hanover. He and his parents, Bernard and Kay, are parishioners at Mary Queen of Peace in Rogers. He graduated with an associate degree in accounting from Hennepin Technical College before pursuing a 10-year career as an accountant. Stueve’s teaching parish was Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood. His Masses of Thanksgiving will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 26, at Mary Queen of Peace, as well as 10:30 a.m. Sunday, June 9, at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement, formerly known as the Center for Intercultural Learning and Community Engagement (CILCE), was reorganized recently by Academic Affairs.

As a result of the reorganization, programs and services were reassigned:

• The Tutor Mentor and Literacy Connections programs are now part of the College of Education, Leadership and Counseling.
• The Early College Awareness program now is offered by Student Diversity and Inclusion Services.
• All other service learning and community engagement operations, including the Community Engagement Network, now are housed in the Office of Service Learning and Civic Engagement.

The Office of Service Learning and Community Engagement Has New Location in Room 313, Aquinas Hall

The Office of Service Learning and Civic Engagement assists St. Thomas faculty members, students, staff and community members to establish reciprocal meaningful relationships in which academic coursework and reflection are integrated with civic engagement together with its community partners. The work is designed to enhance students’ learning and to encourage social responsibility on local, national and global initiatives.

OSLCE staff members are happy to assist faculty, staff, students and community partners develop and implement new opportunities that enhance and support the University of St. Thomas mission dedicated to educating students to work skillfully and advance the common good.

For more information:

• Visit the OSLCE website
• Call the OSLCE, (651) 962-5380
• Stop by the office in Room 313, Aquinas Hall

Tutor Mentor and Literacy Connections Programs Move to College of Education, Leadership and Counseling, Minneapolis Campus

The Tutor Mentor and the Literacy Connections programs invite the campus community to visit at its new location in Room 317 (part of the same office suite as Teacher Education), Opus Hall, Minneapolis campus. Staff members will provide the same great opportunities and resources that have been supportive and beneficial to students in the past. While now located in Minneapolis, the programs still are designed and offered for all students at the University of St Thomas.

For more information contact:

• Kate Caffrey, program manager, (651) 962-4438
• Amparo (Paro) Pope, administrative assistant, (651) 962-4437

Early College Awareness Program Moves to Student Diversity and Inclusion Services

Student Diversity and Inclusion Services (SDIS) welcomes the Early College Awareness (ECA) program to its department’s services. The University of St. Thomas regularly invests in heightening college awareness for middle school students, particularly those from underrepresented racial, ethnic or economic backgrounds. In fact, these efforts originated in the Multicultural Student Services area years ago, before being moved to a Diversity Initiatives office and later to the Center for Intercultural Learning and Community Engagement (CILCE). Now SDIS staff members are pleased to continue the important work of generating early college awareness in the community.

For more information:

• Visit the Student Diversity and Inclusion Services website
• Contact Teresa Sweeney, administrative assistant, (651) 962-6800

UST’s Institutional Review Board Now Is Located on IRBNet.org, Sponsored by Office of Academic Affairs

Now housed under the auspices of the Office of Academic Affairs, the Institutional Review Board also has a new location in Room 311, Aquinas Hall. The Institutional Research Board reviews, approves and monitors all research studies undertaken at the University of St. Thomas.

The IRB has a twofold commitment:

• Commitment to a policy of safeguarding the dignity, rights and privacy of all human subjects of scientific research
• Commitment to assisting faculty, staff and student researchers meet the highest ethical and professional standards

For more information and sign-up instructions for research reviews:

• Visit the IRBNet.org website for more information and specific directions on submitting research protocol
• Contact the Institutional Review Board, (651) 962-6015
• Stop by the office in Room 311, Aquinas Hall

The program can be heard at noon Tuesday, May 21, on the “Minnesota Public Radio News Presents” program at 91.1 FM. The program also can be heard via the Internet. Information is available here.

The program is part of Minnesota Public Radio’s 2012-13 Broadcast Journalist Series, which is co-sponsored by St. Thomas’ College of Arts and Sciences and its Communication and Journalism Department.

Projects are scheduled late May through the end of August.

These projects include:

2120 Summit Ave.

• The garage behind 2120 Summit Ave. (Development Office) will be razed to expand the existing parking lot used by the Child Development Center and the Development Office. Work will be begin in early June and will be completed by late July. The area also will be landscaped.

Brady Hall

• Phase two of work on fixing the exterior brick of the upper floors, which have experienced structural issues the past few years, will continue this summer and will be completed by July 19. Phase one occurred last summer and fixed 60 percent of the afflicted areas.

Modern and Classical Languages Department

• All 2,800 square feet of the Modern and Classical Languages offices on the third floor of O’Shaughnessy Educational Center will be renovated.

Murray-Herrick Campus Center

• Renovation of the building, including the second-floor space in Herrick Hall (former dining rooms and office space converted for use by Admissions) will continue this summer and will finish by Aug. 15. When completed the entire Enrollment Services division will be in Murray-Herrick Campus Center. (The Office of Financial Aid moved last year.)

O’Shaughnessy Stadium

• Decorative Mankato Kasota stone will be added to each end and underneath the existing video board in O’Shaughnessy Stadium to make it fit within the context of the stadium, which is walled in the same stone.

Owens Science Hall

• The obsolete fume-hood controls, which exhaust air from the science labs, will be replaced in the fourth-floor teaching labs.

Sculpture garden

• A sculpture garden will be installed in the area between Brady Educational Center and the Binz Refectory. The sculptures include “The Family,” a 3,200-pound copper sculpture by Evelyn Raymond that originally was installed on the Coughlan Field House’s east wall in 1983; “Stephen’s Summer” by John Raimondi, a five-piece, 21-ton sculpture of cor-ten steel donated by Dolly Fiterman, which previously was displayed on the west lawn of Loras Hall; and possibly a third sculpture to be announced.

South Field

• St. Thomas will replace the grass with artificial turf beginning Monday, May 20. The bleachers, scoreboard, fencing and softball dugouts also will be replaced. All of the work, which will cost $2 million, is expected to be completed by early August. More information is available in this Newsroom article.

The supplement will contain a portion of what is featured in the online digital yearbook, including photos of student clubs and organizations and faculty and staff departments; senior portraits; and athletic team photos. To purchase a supplement, stop by Tommie Central in the Anderson Student Center or call (651) 962-6137. The supplement will be available by midsummer.

The fall semester release of the online yearbook is now available at www.aquinasyearbook.com and on Facebook. You can download the yearbook through its free app for Android and Apple devices. The app can be downloaded in the Google Play Store, the Amazon App Store for Android and in the iTunes Store.

Archived versions of Aquinas yearbooks from 1993 to 2011 can be viewed online in UST Libraries’ Digital Collections archives.

For more information, contact Aquinas adviser Kim Rueb.

Speakers and details have been announced for the University of St. Thomas commencement exercises.

A website devoted to commencement can be viewed here. About 2,100 graduate and undergraduate students will participate in the ceremonies.

Graduate

Father Michael O’Connell

The ceremony for nonbusiness graduate students will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 25, in the field house of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex.

Father Michael O’Connell, pastor of the Church of the Ascension in North Minneapolis, will be the commencement speaker. O’Connell has been the pastor of Ascension since 1999. He served as rector of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis from 1991 to 2008. He has a B.A. degree in philosophy from the St. Paul Seminary, an M.A. degree in pastoral studies from the University of St. Thomas, and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.

O’Connell serves on several community and foundation boards, including those of the Habitat for Humanity Philanthropic Leadership Council, the Hazelden Foundation, the Jeremiah Program (national), and Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi LLP Foundation for Children.

Undergraduate

The ceremony for St. Thomas undergraduates will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 25, outdoors in O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

Father Dennis Dease

Father Dennis Dease, president of the University of St. Thomas, will be the commencement speaker.

Dease became the 14th president of St. Thomas in 1991.

He recently led the Opening Doors capital campaign, which raised $515 million. It was the largest campaign ever conducted by a private institution of higher learning in the five-state area.

The money raised was more than all previous St. Thomas campaigns combined.

During his tenure as president, the university has:

• Established a Minneapolis campus and constructed four buildings.
• Constructed nine major buildings on the St. Paul campus, including a student center, an athletic and recreation complex, a science and engineering center, an undergraduate business building and two new apartment-style residence halls.
• Opened a Rome campus.
• Started academic programs in law, Catholic studies, mechanical and electrical engineering, entrepreneurship and Irish studies, and greatly increased study-abroad participation with semesterlong programs based in London and Rome.
• Tripled, to 14 percent, the student-of-color population.
• Tripled the number of international students who attend St. Thomas.

Dease will retire as president on June 30, upon completion of his 22nd year in office.

In the event that weather does not permit the ceremony to be held in the stadium, an announcement will be posted on the Commencement website, Facebook and by text message (see information below about receiving text messages) by 11:30 a.m. on the day of the ceremony. The rain site is the field house of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex. Seating in the field house is limited, and rain-plan tickets are required for admission. Open the Undergraduate Commencement pages and then click on Rain Plan for more details.

To receive text messages about conditions for the undergraduate commencement ceremony, text “TASSEL” to 80077. You will receive up to 10 messages pertaining to the ceremony. (Regular rates and conditions will apply based on your carrier agreement.) This is a no-reply text messaging system, and recipients will not receive a response if they reply directly to these messages. For help email ustalumniweb@stthomas.edu.

Graduate business

Randall Hogan

The ceremony for graduate-level business students will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 25, in the field house of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex. The commencement speaker is Randall Hogan, chairman and CEO of Pentair, a global leader in delivering industry-leading products, services and solutions for its customers’ diverse needs in water and other fluids, thermal management and equipment protection.

He was named Pentair’s CEO in 2001 and appointed chairman in 2002. In 2012, Hogan was named Executive of the Year by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. He received the 2011 Starkey Hearing Foundation Award for Pentair’s contributions to providing clean water solutions in third-world countries and in times of natural disasters.

School of Law

Ceremonies for School of Law graduates were held Saturday, May 11.

Commencement Mass

The annual Commencement Mass will be celebrated at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 24, at the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave.

The MBEA honors businesses that exemplify high standards of ethical conduct in the workplace, the marketplace and the community. Recipients are recognized in three size categories: small (under 100 employees), medium (100 to 500 employees) and large (more than 500 employees). The 2013 honorees are:

• Small: Cresa Minneapolis/St. Paul
• Medium: Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union
• Large (two firms honored this year): Cummins Power Generation and St. Francis Regional Medical Center

In addition to the engraved MBEA award, each recipient received a letter of congratulations signed by Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton.

Keynote speaker Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and CEO of Target Corp., shared his company’s belief about ethics in business: “We believe clear rules of the road are essential – not just for Target’s overall performance, but for team members to succeed at our company.” Emphasizing the point, Steinhafel added: “To Target, ethics is integral to disciplined execution. We want to win, but we want to win the right way.”

Finalists for the 2013 awards who were cited for their commitment to ethics in business also included: Douglas Scientific; Latuff Brothers Auto Body; Mintáhoe Catering and Events; and Premier Disability Services LLC. All were saluted as outstanding Minnesota businesses.

Since its inception in 1999, the MBEA has recognized 42 Minnesota-based businesses for embedding ethical standards into their cultures and practices. “Strong ethical cultures don’t happen by accident; they grow out of intentional efforts by leaders who connect values and performance,” according to David Rodbourne, MBEA co-chair.

“Minnesota is fortunate to enjoy a strong reputation for ethical business, and this award helps acknowledge that,” said Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies LLC and MBEA co-chair.

The MBEA is sponsored by the Twin Cities Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals and the Center for Ethical Business Cultures (CEBC) at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business. Beginning this year the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) joined as a co-sponsor.

Past recipients and a form for nominating candidates for the 2014 awards is available at this website.

2013 Orientation and Registration leaders

New first-year domestic students recently were invited to sign up for an Orientation and Registration (O&R) session on one of the following dates:

• Tuesday, July 16
• Thursday, July 18
• Saturday, July 20
• Monday, July 22
• Wednesday, July 24
• Thursday, July 25
• Monday, July 29
• Wednesday, July 31
• Friday, Aug. 2

Prior to O&R, students complete placement exams, learn more about the core curriculum requirements by reading the O&R Guidebook, and submit course preference information. Academic counselors use these preferences to register students for their fall course schedule. An adviser will meet with students individually at O&R to review their schedule. View a tentative program schedule for more details.

For more information:

• Orientation – call Tori Svoboda, associate dean of students, (651) 962-6052
• Registration – call Susan Anderson, director of academic counseling, (651) 962-6300

Minnesota Public Radio will broadcast an April 29 lecture given at St. Thomas by National Public Radio psychology and mental-health reporter Alix Spiegel.

The program can be heard at noon Wednesday, May 15, on the “Minnesota Public Radio News Presents” program at 91.1 FM. The program also can be heard via the Internet. Information is available here.

Later in the day, Slate magazine editor David Plotz will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, in the auditorium of O’Shaughnessy Educational Center on the university’s St. Paul campus.

The lecture is free, but reservations are required.  Make them by going to this Minnesota Public Radio website.

The programs are part Minnesota Public Radio’s 2012-2013 Broadcast Journalist Series, which is co-sponsored by St. Thomas’ College of Arts and Sciences and its Communication and Journalism Department.

Please look for the following in this second draft:

• NEW – An introduction that provides a brief history of St. Thomas, a summary of improvements made since the last self-study, a description of the self-study process, and an explanation of two overarching themes that help set the context for the rest of the self-study.
• UPDATED – Chapters (1-5) that include additional work by the criterion committees as well as many suggestions offered by members of the community during the comment period last fall.
• NEW – Strengths and opportunities for improvement at the end of each chapter.
• NEW – A structure for the final chapter. Here, you won’t find content; the final chapter is evolving as the other chapters wrap up. In the final chapter, we will focus on big-picture issues, summarizing our institutional strengths and offering broad recommendations related to the themes presented in the introduction and developed in the five criterion chapters.

This draft will be available May 20 – June 3. You can offer feedback through one of three ways:

• Web feedback form
• HLC Mailbox
• Open forums
  • Minneapolis: May 28, 3-4 p.m., MOH 202
  • St. Paul: May 30, 3-4 p.m., ASC 202

As you read, please keep in mind that this is a draft. Because content is still changing, you will see areas where editing for voice, mechanics and style is needed. We will begin the editing process for these issues after feedback for this draft is incorporated. At this time, we are most interested in your feedback on content.

As always, the self-study team appreciates your contributions toward this important effort. After more than two years of work, the deadline for both the self-study (June 30) and the visit from our peer reviewers (November 11-13, 2013) draws ever closer.

The awards celebrate Minnesota businesses that exemplify and promote ethical conduct in the workplace, the marketplace and the community. Keynote speaker for the awards lunch will be Gregg Steinhafel, chairman and CEO of Target Corporation.

Go here to learn more and register.

The MBEA confers awards in in three size categories: small (under 100 employees), medium (100 to 500 employees) and large (more than 500 employees).

The 2013 award recipients will be announced at the May 15 program. The finalists are:

• Small-size category: Cresa Minneapolis/St. Paul;  Douglas Scientific; and  Latuff Brothers Auto Body
• Mid-size category: Affinity Federal Credit Union;  Mintahoe Catering and Events; and  Premier Disability Services LLC
• Large-size category: Cummins Power Generation; and St. Francis Regional Medical Center

Since its inception in 1999, the MBEA has recognized 38 Minnesota-based businesses, ranging in size from less than 10 employees to more than 150,000.

The program is organized by the Twin Cities Chapter of the Society of Financial Service Professionals and the Center for Ethical Business Cultures (CEBC) at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business. This year the MBEA welcomes the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors as a co-organizer for the awards.

A list of past MBEA recipients can be viewed at this website.

Gehry is considered one of the world’s greatest living architects and his guest house is described as among the milestones of his career. When completed in 1987 for Mike and Penny Winton, the house won House and Garden magazine’s design award of the year and made Time magazine’s “Best of ’87” design honor roll.

News of its restoration and move to Owatonna has been published internationally in architectural journals, and the video produced about the story, “Moving the Art,” was nominated for a Midwest Emmy Award in 2012. The video was written and narrated by Greg Vandegrift of the St. Thomas Communication and Journalism Department; Brad Jacobsen of Web and Media Services filmed and edited the piece.

Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable of The Washington Post called Gehry “the most staggeringly talented architect since Frank Lloyd Wright.”

His work, found across the globe, includes the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. Gehry, 84, graduated from the University of Southern California School of Architecture in 1954. He lives in Santa Monica, Calif.

Originally located on Lake Minnetonka west of the Twin Cities, the home was moved by Stubbs Movers, piece by piece, in a relocation and renovation effort that spanned three years.  Reconstruction of the 2,300-square-foot home, comprised of a cluster of six rectangular-, wedge- and cone-shaped segments, was led by Owatonna-based Casey & Groesbeck and the architectural firm Krech, O’Brien, Mueller & Associates, Inver Grove Heights. The project was completed in fall 2011.

The open houses will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Saturdays of June 22, July 20, Aug. 24, Sept. 21 and Oct. 19. Cost is $7 for adults and $5 for students with ID. The Gainey Center is located just south of Owatonna at 2480 S. County Rd. 45.

Docents will be available during the open houses to answer questions. Exhibits throughout the home tell the story of its original design and construction as well as its relocation; they include blueprints, drawings, photographs, original letters and the video “Moving the Art.”

Private tours of the home can also be arranged for groups of 10 or more. For more information call the Gainey Center at (855) 446-4460, email gehrywinton@stthomas.edu or visit this website.

Dr. Soraya Castro, professor and senior researcher at the Institute for the Study of International Relations in Havana, will discuss “David and Gulliver: Competing Metaphors in the Cuban-U.S. Relationship” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, in the Luann Dummer Center for Women, Room 103, O’Shaughnessy Educational Center, on the university’s St. Paul campus.

Dr. Soraya Castro

The talk is free and open to the public.

Castro observes that Cuba and the United States have constructed different national narratives about their relationship to one another since 1959. Cuban leaders often characterize the relationship with the metaphor of David and Goliath, with Cuba being a small, valiant defender facing an enormous aggressor. American leaders, on the other hand, invoke images of Gulliver and the Lilliputians, in which the giant is benign, honorable and willing to suffer pin pricks the little people occasionally inflict on him rather than destroy the attackers.

In addition to Cuba-U.S. relations, Castro also specializes in U.S. domestic politics, including elections and Congress. She has visited St. Thomas twice before, in 2002 and 2008.

Castro holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of Havana, a degree in international law from the Institute of Foreign Relations in Moscow, and did post-doctoral studies at the University of Bologna in Italy.

Before her appointment at the Institute for the Study of International Relations in Havana, she was a professor and researcher at Havana University. Over the past 20 years she has taught or held fellowships at Johns Hopkins University, University of California – San Diego, Georgetown University, University of Iowa, American University, Uppsala University in Sweden, Smithsonian Institution, the University of Alabama and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University.

She is the author of many articles and book chapters, and co-author of the 2012 Fifty Years of Revolution: Perspectives on Cuba, the United States, and the World.

In addition to her native Spanish, Castro is fluent in English and Russian.

Dr. Adam Kay

Kay, Biology Department, College of Arts and Sciences, received his Ph.D. from the University of Utah in 2001, and has been a faculty member in the UST Biology Department since 2005. His research interests have included the ecology of social behavior, tropical ecosystem ecology, and the evolution of sexual reproduction. The focus of his recent research is on urban agriculture and sustainability.

Kay teaches Biology of Sustainability, Animal Behavior, and Introduction to Field Ecology in Costa Rica. He also is the founder and director of the UST Stewardship Garden and co-founder of Sustain, the UST sustainability blog. He is committed to living a low-resource lifestyle with his daughter, Marike, his wife, Justa, and their two cats.

The program is the next in Minnesota Public Radio’s 2012-13 Broadcast Journalist Series, which is co-sponsored by St. Thomas’ College of Arts and Sciences and its Communication and Journalism Department.

David Plotz

The event is free, but reservations are required. Make them by going to the Minnesota Public Radio website.

Plotz will be interviewed that evening by Eric Ringham, digital Web editor for “The Daily Circuit” on Minnesota Public Radio News. Prior to coming to MPR, Ringham was a commentary editor at the Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis.

Plotz joined Slate as a writer when the online magazine was launched in 1996 and has been editor since 2008. Before joining Slate, he was a senior editor and staff writer for the Washington City Paper; he also has written for The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, GQ, New Republic and The Washington Post.

A 1992 graduate of Harvard University, Plotz won the National Press Club’s Hume Award for Political Reporting in 2000, was a National Magazine Award finalist (for a Harper’s article about South Carolina’s gambling industry) and won an Online Journalism Award for a Slate piece on Enron. He also appears on the weekly Slate Political Gabfest podcast with John Dickerson and Emily Bazelon.

Eric Ringham

Based in the United States, Slate is a current affairs and culture magazine created by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley. Since June 2008, Slate has been managed by The Slate Group, an online publishing entity created by The Washington Post Co. to develop and manage Web-only magazines.

Plotz is the author of two books: The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank (2005) and Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible (2009).

Minnesota Public Radio’s Broadcast Journalist Series, now in its 17th year, commissions renowned journalists for a 24-hour residency four times a year. They share insights on their craft and issues that affect our world.

At 3:02 p.m. Sunday, May 5, a UST student reported to Public Safety that they were sexually assaulted at an off-campus residence on Saturday, May 4. The following morning, the victim determined an assault had taken place. The incident was reported to the St. Paul Police Department and is currently under investigation. SPPD does not consider the public at risk at this time.

Anyone with information regarding this crime is urged to call Public Safety at (651) 962-5100 or the St. Paul Police Department at (651) 291-1111.

Report crime confidentially or anonymously by e-mailing PSTIPS@stthomas.edu, or calling (651) 962-TIPS.

Sexual violence resources:

• Ramsey County Sexual Offense Services (SOS) 24-Hour Hotline (651) 643-3006
• UST Counseling and Psychological Services (651) 962-6780

Public Safety reminds all community members that escorts are available from Public Safety 24 hours a day. Escorts are provided to and from campus within an approximate six-block radius.

For more information, see Public Safety’s May 6 Alert. Other recent alerts, advisories and bulletins, as well as crime prevention and safety tips, also are posted on the St. Thomas Public Safety website.

More than 3,000 people have completed the survey, which is designed to identify strengths and new initiatives that St. Thomas might undertake over the next five years. Results will be helpful to Sullivan and the St. Thomas community in discussions about the university’s mission, vision and convictions.

All responses to the 5- to 10-minute online survey will be strictly confidential. A secure link to the survey was sent again to St. Thomas email addresses last week.

If you have questions about the survey, contact Dr. Michael Cogan, (651) 962-6657.

Alexander Ssengendo

Ssengendo came to St. Thomas in 2009 and found it challenging to be educated in a different language and through a new education system. “In America we do group projects, and we don’t do that in Uganda,” he said. Throughout his time at St. Thomas, he has had three host families and has made many American and other international friends; however, he was ready for a new experience and always had wanted to travel to Asia.

In summer 2012, Ssengendo studied in Japan through the Intercultural Communications course. He had taken this course previously but loved it and insisted on spending time in Japan. “Japanese businesses are coming into Uganda,” he said, “and I want to start my own business, so I hope to work with Japanese people. That’s why I went to Japan – to learn about its culture and business practices.”

Japan impressed Ssengendo so much that, if he had a chance to live in an area for an extended period of time, he would live in Japan. “Japan was the best experience I’ve had in all my life,” he said, “and I would take any chance to go back there.” He will graduate in May with the class of 2013 and hopes to apply for internships in Japan.

The application deadline to study abroad for January Term and spring semester 2014 is Oct. 1.

Visit the Study Abroad website for more information.

Wellness Committee               

Human Resources is still seeking faculty to serve on the Wellness Committee. If you are interested in learning more about or serving on the Committee, contact the HR-Benefits team: 651-962-6497 or benefits@stthomas.edu.

Vitality Program

The Vitality Program is an actuarially based, best-in-class wellness program available to all regular full-time and part-time University of St. Thomas employees. The program was recommended by the University’s Fringe Benefits Advisory Committee, which comprises faculty, exempt staff and non-exempt staff from across the university. Vitality tracks your wellness activities and creates personalized goals and plans for every individual based on your unique circumstances and objectives, and offers incentives and rewards for meeting these goals.

Vitality participants earn points by completing a variety of activities in areas such as wellness assessment and education, fitness, prevention and healthy living. Every point earned through the program is worth one “Vitality Buck,” which can be redeemed for rewards including electronics, sporting equipment, hotel vouchers and more than 600,000 other items at the online Vitality Mall. There are no fees or premiums for employees to participate in the program, except that applicable tax rules require points earned by participants to be taxed in the year accrued.

To get started with Vitality, register online following the instructions below. Once you have successfully registered you can complete your Vitality Health Review to earn points, review and activate your personal wellness goals, and begin engaging in activities. Employees who participated in the onsite biometrics screenings in March 2013 will see their screening results automatically populated in their personal and confidential account within Vitality. If you did not participate in these screenings, you will have an opportunity to obtain your biometric information and submit it to Vitality after you have registered.

Vitality is subject to data privacy laws. Individual employee data submitted to Vitality is maintained confidentially by Vitality and will not be shared with the University of St. Thomas except on an aggregated, unattributed basis in the form of general, statistical reports, similar to the aggregated claims data we receive from our medical and dental insurance administrators. These reports do not include information that would specifically identify individuals.

How to Register

1.         Go to the Vitality website, www.PowerofVitality.com

2.         Click on “Register Today!”

3.         Complete all required (*) fields: first and last name, date of birth and last four digits of your Social Security number

4.         Once your information is validated, the system will ask you to create a username and          password.

5.         Read and accept the Terms and Conditions.

6.         Enter a security question.

7.         The process is complete.

If you have questions regarding the university’s wellness program, please contact the HR-Benefits team: 651-962-6497 or benefits@stthomsa.edu.

The University of St. Thomas Minneapolis Health Services, located in Suite 110, Terrence Murphy Hall, will close effective Thursday, May 16, due to decreasing demand.

The Minneapolis Counseling and Psychological Services office will move across the lobby to Suite 100, Room S. Dr. Miriam Gerber will continue to offer counseling appointments to graduate students Monday through Friday.

Appointments can be scheduled with Counseling and Psychological Services staff by phone:

• In Minneapolis call (651) 962-4750.
• In St. Paul call (651) 962-6780.

Health Services and Counseling and Psychological Services remain committed to providing high quality care to UST students.

Undergraduate, graduate, law, professional students, faculty and staff previously seen at Minneapolis Health Services can continue their care at the St. Paul clinic. All medical and travel clinic appointments will be made with St. Paul Health Services, beginning on May 16, by calling (651) 962-6750 or signing up online at MyHealthPortal.

Derreck Kayongo.

Derreck Kayongo, whose family fled Uganda during the Idi Amin era and is now a U.S. citizen, will talk on “Tapping Your Power to Create Social Change” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 13, in Woulfe Alumni Hall North of Anderson Student Center, located on the university’s St. Paul campus.

His talk, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the University Lectures Committee at St. Thomas.

Kayongo came up with the idea for his Atlanta-based Global Soap Program in the early 1990s when he first arrived in the United States and stayed in a Philadelphia hotel. Puzzled by the new bar of soap left in his bathroom each day, he tried to return it to the concierge because he thought he was being charged for it. “When I was told it was just hotel policy to provide new soap every day, I couldn’t believe it.”

He told the story to his dad, a former soap maker in Uganda.

“My dad said people in America can afford to throw it away. But I just started to think, ‘What if we took some of this soap and recycled it, made brand new soap from it and then sent it home to people who couldn’t afford soap?’” he told CNN, which two years ago named him one of its Top 10 CNN Heroes.

Kayongo started the Global Soap Program in 2009 with his wife, friends and Atlanta-based hotels.  Now 1,100 hotel properties around the country are collecting up to 7,500 pounds of used soap bars weekly that are shipped to an Atlanta warehouse where volunteers clean, reprocess and package the bars.

“We do not mix the soaps because they come with different pH systems, different characters, smells and colors,” he told CNN. “We sanitize them first, then heat them at very high temperatures, chill them and cut them into final bars. It’s a very simple process, but a lot of work.”

The program is producing up to 30,000 new bars of soap per week.  They are distributed for free, along with hygiene education, to refugees, disaster victims, homeless families and people living in extreme poverty in the United States and nearly 30 countries around the world.

While Kayongo has become a U.S. citizen and college graduate, he knows from experience that many refugees, in Africa and elsewhere, lack access to basic sanitation.

Washing hands, he says, is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrheal and respiratory infections that take the lives of more than 2.4 million children each year.

“Our innovative model means our hotel partners can save money on disposal costs and receive a tax deduction, all while helping people in need around the world,” said Sam Stephens, executive director of the Global Soap Project. “It’s a win-win for the environment, global health and business.”

In addition to his work with soap, Yayongo has worked as a program director for Amnesty International, American Friends Service Committee and CARE International.

More information is available at the Global Soap Project website.

The show starts at 7 p.m. Friday, May 10.

• The High 48s is a traditional bluegrass band from the Twin Cities and winner of the RockyGrass Bluegrass Band Competition.
• The Roe Family Singers is described as a good-time, old-time hillbilly band from the Mississippi-headwaters community of Kirkwood Hollow, Minn. The band blends old-time sound with a rock-and-roll influence.
• Becky Schlegel grew up in little Kimball, S.D., and followed a career in music rather than ranching.  She’s a veteran of The Prairie Home Companion and winner of the Old Time-Bluegrass Artist of the Year Award from the Minnesota Music Academy.

Tickets for the pre-Mother’s Day show are $12 for adults and $8 for moms and students. Kids are free. There are no advance sales.

This year’s menu featured food from all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, Uganda, India, China, Thailand, Korea, France and Brazil. In addition to the diverse food, the event also featured eight different performances including a student-recorded movie, St. Olaf Taiko Drummers, a violinist, bands, Salsa dancers, belly dancers and singers.

The Global Citizenship Awards and International Student Scholarships were awarded at the event, which also featured a special recognition of Dr. Paul Schons, the long-time St. Thomas faculty member and founder of the study abroad program, who died in October.

Globally Minded Student Association board members (photo courtesy of Dat Nguyen)

“It’s great to see so many students applying to study abroad,” said Lauren Viner, study abroad program coordinator. “There has been a lot of interest in popular destinations as well as those more off the beaten path. Everyone should be able to find a program that will both interest them and help them toward graduation.”

Many students are interested in traveling to the Southern Pacific, Italy and England; however, the Study Abroad office also is offering courses in Tanzania, Thailand, Cuba, Brazil and Ecuador.

This was also the first year that the Study Abroad office marketed for its co-sponsored programs’ January Term courses. Almost 30 students are applying for courses through IES Abroad, American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS), Arcadia University, and the Center for Cross-Cultural Study (CC-CS).

“Many of our students already study abroad through the co-sponsored programs for a semester or year,” said study abroad adviser Sarah Huesing, “so it is wonderful to see the programs beginning to offer J-Term courses as well.”

A complete list of the courses that are full, waitlisted and open will be available on the Study Abroad website in early May. The final deadline is not until Oct. 1; however, while students have time to apply, Viner says not to wait as the courses fill up quickly.