November
13,
2003
1. Tentative agreement
ends strike
2. U offers Asian American
minor
3. Petition for the U
4. Marching band: from
gridiron to stage
5. A drive to fill a bus
6. Keeping turkeys and
other animals healthy
7. Gifts to U result in
MBAs for 38
8. Etcetera
9. U of M Happenings
10. Links
Editor’s note: eNews will not be published on
Thursday, Nov. 27, because of the Thanksgiving holiday. You will
receive
the next
issue on Thursday, Dec. 4. Happy
Thanksgiving.
U NEWS
Tentative agreement ends strike
The University of Minnesota
reached a tentative agreement
with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME) clerical units on Tuesday,
Nov. 4, ending a 15-day strike
by the union. The AFSCME clerical units represent about 1,900
employees on all U campuses.
“We value our clerical employees
and are very pleased to have
them return to work,” says U
President Bob Bruininks. “There is no doubt that a strike
is disruptive, and we are
hopeful that we can quickly return
to our normally collegial
environment.”
Bruininks says the University
is satisfied with the outcome and that parameters of the agreement
are consistent with those accepted by other employee groups. In
general, over the biennium, all employee groups are assuming a
greater level of cost sharing for health care benefits, a one-year
wage freeze, and wage increases of 2.5 percent in the second year.
“This is a very fair proposal
that addresses the concerns
of AFSCME members and will ensure that these positions remain competitive in
the market,” says Bruininks. “At
the same time, it is financially
prudent and responsive to
the huge budget challenge the University
is facing.”
A state mediator called the
parties back to the bargaining table on Sunday, Nov. 2. After an
all-night session, bargaining resumed the next day at 6 p.m. The
University also reached a tentative agreement of comparable terms
with AFSCME Unit 4, representing about 170 health care workers.
The contract proposals will
go to the Board of Regents in December, pending approval by AFSCME
members.
For more information on the strike, see http://www.umn.edu/ohr/er/strike.htm.
--University of Minnesota News
Service
U
offers Asian American minor
How do the experiences of Americans
of Asian descent compare to
those of other immigrant groups that make up this country? Undergraduate
students can explore this question
and many others when they minor
in Asian American Studies at the University of Minnesota. The U
is the only school in Minnesota
to offer this program.
The program, which
falls under the Department of American Studies, focuses on
the history, politics,
and culture of Americans
of Asian descent. Its courses are designed to help students
explore the diversity of Asian American communities,
explains Josephine Lee, an
English professor and driving force in establishing the program.
“Our Asian American Studies
program recognizes the uniqueness
of Minnesota’s Asian American
populations and their commonalties
with each other and with other Asian American communities across the nation,” says
Lee.
Once known for its cultural
homogeneity, Minnesota has
become a magnet for immigrants
from countries throughout Asia. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the
state’s Asian American population increased by 108 percent
in the 1990s (from 78,000 to more than 168,000). The U’s
undergraduate Asian American
student population makes
up 11.6 percent of its total student body.
“It’s high time it’s happening,” says Lee. “It’s
not just for Asian American
students. It’s also a field of
interest all kinds of people
are getting into. It’s an academic
field that’s coming of age.”
Having a minor is the first
step toward a possible Asian American Studies Department, says
Lee.
To learn more about the U’s new Asian American Studies
minor, see www.cla.umn.edu/aasi/home.html.
--University of Minnesota News
Service
Return to top
Petition for
the U
The University of Minnesota’s Legislative
Network launched an online
petition campaign (you can sign the
petition at www.thedatabank.com/dpg/1634532/default.asp)
last week to ask Governor Tim
Pawlenty to invest in the University.
The campaign will help to demonstrate
how important the University
is to the state, says Mike Dean, Legislative Network coordinator.
The University
educates students, trains
Minnesota's health care professionals, attracts businesses
and employers to the state, develops
cures and conducts research
that improves our quality of life. The University of Minnesota
is critical to the
state's long-term success,
and without adequate funding every family in the state will
be affected.
The
campaign will help to
demonstrate how important
the University is to
the state. |
“The goal of the campaign is
to build a grassroots movement
in support of the University,” says
Dean. “We need to show state leaders that there
is a great deal of support
among citizens for investing
in the University this
year.”
Last year, the state cut
the University’s base budget by $185 million
for the current biennium. This reduction
was the largest in U history
and resulted in double-digit
tuition increases, about 500 layoffs, and a
one-year salary freeze
for employees.
The Legislative Network is
a group of volunteers who
share a commitment to higher education and the University
of Minnesota. Over the years,
it has kept alumni, students,
faculty, staff, and community members informed of important
University initiatives at
the legislature.
To learn more about the campaign
or the Legislative Network,
see www.supporttheu.umn.edu.
Editor’s Note: The College of Education
and Human Development is
hosting a Legislative Briefing
to discuss the proposed
Education Sciences building
on the Twin Cities
campus in Minneapolis Tuesday,
Nov. 18, at 5 p.m. in Wallace
Atrium, Burton Hall. To register
for the event, see www.alumni.umn.edu/cehdbriefing,
or you can learn more about
it at www.supporttheu.umn.edu.
Return to top
Marching band: from
gridiron to stage
The lights dim. You hear the
thundering sound of drums.
And before you can say, “Let’s
go, Gophers!” 300 maroon-and-gold-clad musicians
explode through the doors and storm down the aisles of
Northrop Memorial Auditorium. The Minnesota Marching Band’s
42nd annual indoor concerts
fall on Saturday, Nov. 22,
and Sunday, Nov. 23.
Since
their inception,
the indoor concerts
by the Minnesota
Marching Band have
grown in complexity.
Today, the band
incorporates big-screen
video projection,
computerized lighting,
and other theatrical
effects. |
“It’s an incredible experience,” says band
director Jerry Luckhardt. “Witnessing a Big Ten
marching band up close connects
you to the University in a very powerful and emotional
way.” The concerts,
which will feature selections
from the band’s 2003
halftime performances and
traditional University school songs, will
be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday
and 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The idea of bringing an entire
marching band indoors was
conceived in 1961 by former band director Frank
Bencriscutto. Many
other colleges
in the United States have
since adopted the idea. Even the Tony Award-winning
musical “Blast!,” which
features a cast of performers
executing intricate drill
movements while playing on brass and percussion
instruments,
can be traced to the creativity
of the late Bencriscutto.
Since their inception, the
indoor concerts by the Minnesota
Marching Band have grown
in complexity. Today, the band incorporates big-screen
video projection, computerized
lighting, and other theatrical
effects. According to Luckhardt,
these concerts are now
a combination of high-tech
and high-tradition. “There’s
really something for everyone, especially families, and
it’s also a great way to encourage interest in the
arts and in music,” he says.
Tickets are $15 for adults
and $13 for children (12 and under). Concertgoers will
receive a $5 coupon toward the soon-to-be-released Marching
Band Goldy Bobblehead. Proceeds from sales will support
the marching band program. For tickets or group discounts,
call 612-624-2345 or see www.northrop.umn.edu. To learn
more about the Minnesota Marching Band, see www.music.umn.edu/marchingband.
Editor’s note: The University of Minnesota,
Morris, will host its annual Band Festival
on Monday, Nov. 17, at 7:30
p.m. in Edson Auditorium. The event features performances
by high school students in
the Festival Honor Band as
well as by the UMM Concert
Band. Tickets, which are $3
for adults and $1 for senior
citizens and students, will
be available at the door and in the Student Center
the
week prior to the concert.
To learn more, call John Ross
at 320-589-6236.
Return to top A
drive to fill a bus
Two University of Minnesota
students want to fill a bus
with clothing. And they’ll take
anything you can offer, except underwear. Their “Winter Warmth
from U” clothing drive for Twin Cities children and families
will mark the end of the U’s Month of Kindness celebration.
The bus, a University of Minnesota
Campus Circulator, will be parked in front of Coffman Memorial
Union on Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to receive donations
from the public and the University community. (The drive will begin
in residence halls and University apartment buildings on Monday,
Nov. 17.) Pillsbury United Communities, a Twin Cities nonprofit
organization, will then distribute the items to local children
and families in need.
“Although warmer clothing is
preferred, we’ll also take T-shirts, and everyone has a few
of those that they don’t want anymore,” says Surbhi
Madia, a psychology and elementary
education senior. “A couple
of T-shirts under a sweater
is a great insulator.”
Madia and John Barber,
a premed senior, envisioned
the drive a year ago while walking
downtown on a first
date. “It was a very cold day, and we had on hats;
big, warm jackets; and gloves,” says Madia. “We were
talking about how we lead selfish lives in school, when the conversation
turned to how people who don’t have the little luxuries
we have stay warm during the winter.”
They began discussing what
they could do in the dorms--as
both were residence hall
advisers--and before long,
they found support
around campus and across
town
On Dec. 3, donors will receive
hot chocolate and gift certificates
from local businesses, including
Applebees and Ben and Jerry’s;
radio station KDWB will broadcast
live from Coffman Union;
and Susan Hagstrum, the wife
of
President Bob Bruininks,
will speak at 1 p.m.
“More than anything, we hope
families can be warm this
winter,” says
Madia.
For more information about
the drive, e-mail Barber
at barb0115@umn.edu or Madia
at
madia001@umn.edu.
To learn about the U’s
Month of Kindness, see www.umn.edu/twincities/kindness/index.php.
Return to top
Keeping turkeys
and other animals healthy
Minnesota’s turkey industry is
among the largest in the United States,
producing more than 44 million
birds annually. And for nearly a
century, the University of
Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic
Lab has helped turkey growers pinpoint and test
for
diseases.
Located on the U’s Twin Cities campus in St. Paul,
the 65-person lab is the state’s primary animal
health laboratory, handling
more than 56,000 cases
and 1 million tests annually. Aside from animal breeders,
farmers, and pet owners,
its
clients include the Minnesota
Board of Animal Health,
Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources, and local zoos--Minnesota,
Lake Superior, and Como
Park.
“Animals are submitted to us
for diagnosis,” says James Collins, lab director. “We
make discoveries… and we develop products that
are beneficial to the industry
and can even play a role
in public health.”
To
learn more about services at
the U’s Veterinary Diagnostic
Lab, which is part of the College
of Veterinary Medicine, see www.mvdl.umn.edu.
|
One of the lab’s
most significant contributions
to the turkey industry in recent
years is a vaccine for turkey
respiratory disease. The
lab created the vaccine
with a Kansas pharmaceutical
company to combat the
avian pneumovirus, which decimated
flocks in 1997 and continues
to cause millions in lost
sales.
According to Heidi Kassenborg,
supervisor of the Minnesota
Department of Health’s
Bioterrorism, Epidemiology, and Surveillance Unit, the
lab’s expertise in animal disease could prove
increasingly important
as the state works to
protect humans from anthrax and other diseases transmitted
by animals.
“Diseases that happen in animals
today can happen in humans
tomorrow, and vice versa,” Kassenborg
says.
To learn more about services
at the U’s Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, which
is part of the College
of Veterinary Medicine, see www.mvdl.umn.edu.
Edited from an original story
by Joel Hoekstra in Pictures of Health, winter
2003.
Editor’s note: If you’re looking for
tips on how to buy and cook turkey,
the University of Minnesota
Extension Service has some
to offer; click
here.
Return to top
Gifts to U result in
MBAs for 38
Thirty-eight executives from
the Guangdong Province in China
wrapped up a whirlwind 10-day visit to the Twin Cities
on Monday with a University
of Minnesota graduation ceremony--an
event delayed six months by the SARS outbreak in China.
The
CHEMBA partnership
between Carlson and
the Lingnan College
of Sun Yat-Sen University
in Guangzhou city
was made possible
by gifts from U donors
with strong ties
to the South China
region.
|
The Chinese visitors
were part of the Carlson School of Management’s inaugural
class for its China Executive Master’s in Business
Administration (CHEMBA) program,
which was based in Guangdong
Province--the epicenter of the SARS outbreak early this
year.
The CHEMBA partnership between
Carlson and the Lingnan College of Sun Yat-Sen University
in Guangzhou city was made possible by gifts from U donors
with strong ties to the South China region: Gene Sit,
CEO of Sit Investment Group, whose family is from Guangdong
Province; Jean Ip, a 1966 alumnus whose mother graduated
from Lingnan; and Michael Illbruck, a 1985 Carlson graduate
whose company has operations in China.
“In Eastern cultures, an American
MBA is highly respected,” says Mary Maus Kosir,
director of international programs
at Carlson. “We’re
among the elite who offer
it in China.”
During
their trip to the
Twin Cities, the
CHEMBA grads met
with the CEOs of
Carlson Companies,
H.B. Fuller, Medtronic,
Sit Investment Group,
and General Mills,
and toured 3M and
the Federal Reserve
Bank.
|
The program, which
began in 2001, is modeled after Carlson’s domestic executive
MBA program and consists
of 16 courses (taught in English) over 16 months, including
a 10-day overseas residency.
During their trip to the
Twin Cities, the CHEMBA grads met with the CEOs of Carlson
Companies, H.B. Fuller, Medtronic,
Sit Investment Group, and
General Mills, and toured 3M and the Federal Reserve Bank.
The Carlson School first offered
global executive MBAs in 1996, beginning with the Warsaw
School of Economics (Warsaw Executive MBA program). This
was followed by the Vienna Executive MBA program established
in March 2000 with the Vienna University of Business Administration
and Economics in Austria.
To learn more about the Carlson
School’s new China Executive MBA program, see www.csom.umn.edu/Page619.aspx.
For information about giving
to the U, see www.giving.umn.edu.
--University of Minnesota Foundation
Return to top ETCETERA
Mother Nature and the U
University
of Minnesota alumnus and noted nature
photographer
Jim Brandenburg has donated
another photo for the University’s Even Mother
Nature Loves Maroon
and Gold poster series. “Sunset Over Moose Lake” is
from Brandenburg’s new book, Looking for Summer, and represents
Day 42 between the summer
solstice and the autumnal equinox. For
copies of the poster and notecards with
this photo, see www.umn.edu/urelate/mothernature.
Minnesota magazine fiction
contest
The University of Minnesota
Alumni Association
magazine’s fifth annual fiction
contest is open
to all U
alumni. The
winner will
receive $1,000,
and the winning
story will
be published in the March-April 2004 issue
of Minnesota.
The
deadline for submissions
is Friday,
Dec. 5. To
learn more
or for contest
rules, see www.alumni.umn.edu/fictioncontest.
Click
here to read
last year’s winning story, Fausto’s
Afternoon, by Jarda
Cervenka.
U OF M HAPPENINGS
Gathering for book enthusiasts
If you’re looking for more good books to read, check out
the U’s Community of the Book on Saturday, Nov. 15, 9 a.m.-4:30
p.m. at the Earle Brown Continuing Education Center on the Twin
Cities campus in St. Paul. U English professor Patricia Hampl and
Graywolf Press publisher Fiona McCrae will present "Regarding
the Art of Reading" and "Getting Good Books into Your
Hands, Head, and Heart" as well as offer ideas
for reading lists
and book club discussions.
Tickets are $80;
book club member
discounts are available.
To register or
learn more, see www.cce.umn.edu/scholars or
call 612-625-7777.
Meet a wolf expert
David Mech, U adjunct professor
and founder of the International
Wolf Center, will be available
to discuss wolf behavior and conservation efforts during the
launch
of his new book, Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation,
on Wednesday, Nov. 19,
at 2 p.m. in the University of Minnesota Bookstore
in Coffman Memorial Union
on the Twin Cities campus
in Minneapolis. To learn about other free book-launching events
by U authors, including The Hippocratic Oath and the Ethics of Medicine by
clinician and ethics professor
Steven Miles on Nov. 18, see www.bookstore.umn.edu/genref/authors.html.
Cat day for the family
You can touch a tiger
skull, make a lion’s mane, learn about Minnesota’s Wild Cat
Sanctuary, and hear about a lion researcher’s adventures
in Tanzania on Saturday, Nov. 22, noon-4 p.m. at the Bell Museum
on the Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis. The “Cats Family
Day” is free with the regular museum admission.
For general information,
see www.bellmuseum.org.
Holiday brunch at Gleensheen
How would you like to
have smoked turkey
and wild rice quiche
for brunch? The Glensheen
Historic Estate in Duluth
is serving this treat
and more than 10 other
goodies during its holiday
buffet starting at 10:30
a.m. every Tuesday, Thursday,
Saturday, and Sunday from Dec. 2-21.
The U-owned mansion, which
is currently outfitted
with festive décor, will be
open for self-guided
tours on those
days beginning at
9:30 a.m. The cost of the
brunch is $22.95 or $13.95
for children ages 6-11.
Reservations are required;
call 218-726-8910. For
general information, see www.d.umn.edu/glen.
Maroon and Gold Fridays!
When you’re dressing for casual Fridays, think school colors.
The University of Minnesota Alumni Association (UMAA) initiated
Maroon and Gold Fridays in 1994 to build University pride, spirit,
and tradition on campus and in the greater community. And if you’re
caught on the Twin Cities campus wearing maroon and gold, you’ll
be rewarded. Goldy
Gopher and members
of the UMAA Student
Alumni Leaders
roam the campus
every Friday to
hand out candy
to the unsuspecting dressed in maroon and gold.
Return to top
LINKS
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of M Legislative Network: Read about the University's
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