Wednesday, September 22, 2010


We welcome students back to the Winona campus

Big Red Cardinal led a spontaneous student dance line during the Welcome Week club and activity fair on the plaza.

A new school year is well-underway on our beautiful Winona campus. We recently welcomed 1,370 undergraduates to the campus. On Saturday, Aug. 28, first-year students moved into their residence halls with athletic teams carrying clothes and furniture up the stairs. Faculty members passed out water bottles and greeted families. The students settled in after a welcome from me, and activities continued throughout the weekend with movies, socials, hikes, liturgies and tours.

Our total enrollment of 1,370 undergraduates includes 1,311 full-time Winona campus students and 59 part-time students. This fall’s 347 freshmen total is up five percent over last year and is one of the larger first-year classes within the past five years.

I know and appreciate the sacrifice that parents and families make to send their students to Saint Mary’s during these unpredictable financial times. We will do our best to provide students with the best education possible and use our resources wisely.

100 students volunteer in Winona over Labor Day

Student volunteers took a break from working at Habitat Restore on Sept. 4.

After experiencing their first week of college classes, nearly 100 SMU students served 10 organizations on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. New Student Volunteer Day, with 78 first-year students and their upperclass mentors participating, provided new students with the opportunity to serve the Winona community and to be inspired by the Lasallian spirit early in their college careers. Students volunteered at the following organizations: Grace Place, Habitat Restore, Lake Winona Manor, Living Light Church, Winona Volunteer Services, Winona Area Humane Society, Winona Catholic Worker, Saint Anne of Winona, Sauer Memorial Home and Salvation Army Store. Students did cleaning, painting, hauling, played BINGO and tended to animals, among other activities.

SMU hosts John McDonough, president of Blackhawks

John McDonough greeted John Nye, a Saint Mary’s student and Blackhawks fan.

Saint Mary’s alum John McDonough ’75, president of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, shared his triumphant and inspiring story with his alma mater on Sept. 2. McDonough served as the guest speaker during SMU’s annual convocation ceremony, where he was presented with the Presidential Medal for Outstanding Merit. McDonough also spoke to business students and faculty about the Chicago Blackhawks ‘One Goal’ business plan, and he held a Q&A session at a gathering for the SMU community and Winona business leaders.

McDonough was named president of the Chicago Blackhawks in November of 2007, and under McDonough’s leadership, the Blackhawks became one of professional sports’ biggest success stories, in what Forbes Magazine called the “The Greatest Sports-Business Turnaround Ever.”

Young alumni come back to campus for a fall reunion

Molly Jewison ’10, Brittney Stefonowicz ’09, Tony Hynes ’10 and Britney Nielson ’10 (far right) enjoyed reuniting with Education faculty Karen and Scott Sorvaag.

Graduates from the last decade were invited back to campus for Young Alumni Weekend, Sept. 10-12. Over 200 alums, friends and family returned to campus to reconnect, reminisce, and remember. The weekend included a welcome reception with faculty and staff, a ropes course challenge, a “Hike for Hunger” community outreach opportunity, a medallion hunt, and a gathering with live music at Jefferson Pub & Grill in downtown Winona. Two classes marked their milestone reunions, the Class of 2000 and Class of 2005. Each held special anniversary events on and off campus during the weekend. The weekend coincided with Cardinal ‘M’ Club Weekend, giving SMU alumni opportunities to cheer on Cardinal athletics.

Weekend information and follow up comments and photos are on a special Facebook page. Sign in at facebook.com and search for “SMU Young Alumni” or visit www.smumn.edu/youngalumni for additional photos and information.

A successful Cardinal 'M' Club Weekend


Sports Hall of Fame: John Tschida ’90, Teisha (Smith ’00) Devine and George Hoder ’67.

Congratulations to three alums who were welcomed into the Sports Hall of Fame at an awards ceremony during the annual Cardinal M-Club Weekend, Sept. 10-12. Hundreds of current student-athletes, alumni, parents and staff enjoyed reuniting with friends and teammates, golfing, honoring award recipients, and competing in alumni events.

New Hall of Fame members include: George Hoder ’67 of Seattle, basketball; Teisha (Smith ’00) Devine of Chicago, fastpitch softball; and John Tschida ’90 of Saint Paul, softball coach. The many other awards announced during the Saturday night ceremony included recognition of 2009-10 scholar-athletes of the year Stephanie Marnocha ’10 (soccer) and David Dahlstrom ’10 (baseball); and outstanding student-athletes Sarah Gardner ’11 (volleyball) and Andrew Brueggen ’11 (track and field).

More on the awards, event photos and video:

Science internships reward students and society

Nate Peterson is one of many SMU undergraduates who performed research last summer.
He's shown working with Dr. Ray Faber.

Whether our undergraduate students were working at Mayo, the Fermilab, Gundersen, or the Mississippi River, important learning occurred in summer internships that enabled Saint Mary’s students to use their knowledge to contribute to the solution of significant regional and national problems.

Timothy McDonald, a double major in chemistry and engineering physics, and Thomas Briese, a biochemistry major, both worked with Father Paul Nienaber, SJ, Ph.D., chair of SMU's Physics Department, as part of the MicroBooNE neutrino experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Funding for these students was provided by a Research at Undergraduate Institutions grant from the National Science Foundation.

Luke Baertlein, a biophysics major, worked at the Mayo Clinic in the Department of Health Sciences Research - Epidemiology Division. Jennifer Koezly, a double major in chemistry and engineering physics, worked in the Lando/NSF Summer Research Program in the chemical sciences at the University of Minnesota. Brian Kasel, a biophysics major, was in the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center Summer Fellowship Program.

A different type of internship found Nate Peterson, an environmental biology major (and a member of the Saint Mary’s hockey team), participating in projects that included: a study of the smooth soft shell turtle; research on the trout streams of southeastern Minnesota with a graduate student at the U of M; working with Dr. Phil Cochran ’77 to collect planktivorous fishes in Square Lake, Minnesota; assisting Dr. Ray Faber to band gull chicks in their nests in Green Bay of Lake Michigan; collection of brook lampreys in Iowa; and processing of nuisance rattlesnakes from the Winona area.

At the Research Laboratory at Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, Biology major Lukas Wallerich studied aspects of Lyme disease and anaplasmosis. He collected deer ticks in Southeast Minnesota and analyzed them for the prevalence of pathogens. Paige Jensen worked with La Crosse County’s Vector Control Department, studying mosquitoes known to transmit La Crosse encephalitis and West Nile diseases. She trapped mosquitoes and worked on mosquito eradication and public education about mosquito habitat. Chris Engesser, a computer science student, worked with Dr. Mingrui Zhang to understand, run, and test computational gene clustering algorithms on genetic microarray lung cancer data provided by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Stephanie Valentine, a senior computer science major, did research with Dr. Tracy Hammond of Texas A&M University, funded by the CDC/CRA-W Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU).

A renewed partnership with the Mississippi River


The former Polish Heritage Lodge on Prairie Island will become a river field station for SMU science students and teachers.

Situated on the banks of the scenic Mississippi River, Saint Mary's University has both the opportunity and the responsibility to promote the ongoing vitality of the river and its surrounding communities. The university has, once again, found a new way to positively contribute to the river and its environs, with the just-completed purchase of the Polish Heritage Lodge on Winona’s Prairie Island. Saint Mary's has a long and rich legacy of engaging with the river, and this purchase is another sign of the university’s commitment to enhancing and growing the science programs in Winona.

The new SMU “river field station” will give us direct access to the Mississippi and close proximity to the natural aspects and human activity defined by the waterway. The facility will allow for expanded environmental sciences programming for faculty, staff and students, and for regular river-related programs that will benefit the larger community. The new field station is situated in an area blessed with natural resources and nearby land and water management projects. Current plans are for the building to house the natural resource-focused staff of GeoSpatial Services, as well as provide space for research and activities of SMU environmental sciences faculty and both undergraduate and graduate students.

Saint Mary's fares well in national rankings

We have a good thing going at Saint Mary’s University and others have noticed.

Forbes.com’s 2010 list of “America’s Best Colleges” recently ranked Saint Mary’s University as No. 457 out of a group of 610 undergraduate institutions (selected from 2500 national undergraduate institutions) listed as “the best public and private colleges and universities – from the student’s point of view.” Dr. Marilyn Frost, vice president for academic affairs, said she is pleased that Saint Mary’s is on the Forbes list. “It shows that our students feel enriched by the experiences they have here, and that they graduate and go on to have successful careers and be productive members of their communities. The Forbes listing reinforces positive reports from other student satisfaction surveys, such as the National Survey of Student Engagement (see the following story) and the Princeton Review.” The list can be found at www.forbes.com/lists/2010/94/best-colleges-10_Americas-Best-Colleges_Rank.html.

In the Princeton Review, Saint Mary’s is one of 152 schools receiving the “Best in the Midwest” designation for 2011. The Princeton Review profiles colleges and universities that “stand out as academically excellent institutions of higher learning.” The Princeton Review survey asks students to rate their own schools on a variety of issues – from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food – and to answer questions about themselves, their fellow students, and their campus life. For more information, go to www.princetonreview.com/best-regional-colleges.aspx.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked Saint Mary’s in its “Best National Universities” survey for 2011. The annual listing of more than 1,400 schools is available online at www.usnews.com. Saint Mary’s is ranked 183rd in the first tier of the U.S. News “National Universities” category, which includes 262 schools overall. Saint Mary’s competes with other National Universities because of our doctoral granting status. Taking top honors in the “National Universities” category are Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University. Saint Mary’s, St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota are the only Minnesota schools represented in this category.

Survey shows Saint Mary’s excels in engaging students

Dr. Janet Heukeshoven of the Music Department, shown working with a flute student.

Preparing students for success and for a quality life after college is as important as helping students succeed in college. The 2010 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is one instrument that measures post-graduation success based on five summary indicators from surveys of our own students. On three of the five summary indicators, the most recent NSSE data points to particular strengths of the undergraduate College experience at Saint Mary’s University: active and collaborative learning; student-faculty interaction; and supportive campus environment. Indeed, SMU approaches the top 10% nationally in these areas, especially for the results from SMU seniors.

Although campuses are not required to make their NSSE results public, many campuses (including Saint Mary’s) voluntarily post their scores in a database sponsored by USA Today (www.usatoday.com/news/education/nsse.htm). Sixteen Minnesota colleges and universities have disclosed their NSSE data there. Saint Mary’s University’s 2010 scores are the highest in the state for active and collaborative learning and faculty-student interaction among seniors, and second-highest for faculty-student interaction among first-year students and supportive campus environment among seniors.

Spring and summer projects improve campus


Chartwells food service remodeled dramatically the dining facilities in the Toner Student Center, and installed a new Mugby Junction coffee shop outside the Cardinal Club.

The university made a number of improvements last summer to the living and learning environments at the Winona campus. The late-spring and summer projects – funded from within the 2009-10 and 2010-11 budgets – include some significant and popular additions, as well as less noticeable but equally important renovations of facilities, residence hall roofs, and the resurfacing of the roadway.

Faculty member Dr. Ned Kirk checked the acoustics of the new Page Theatre shell.

One exciting project was the late-May installation of an acoustic shell system for the Page Theatre. The steel shell, specifically designed and engineered for the SMU theatre, blends with the architecture, and is surrounded by oak laminate. It stands 25 feet high by 44 feet wide and features two flying “clouds” with built-in lighting. The professional shell will benefit our own performers, and enhance our ability to host a larger variety of outside musical performances. The purchase of the shell was made possible by a gift from the estate of Joseph C. Page.


Major improvements were made to the aerobic fitness and weight areas of the Gostomski Fieldhouse. The weight room is newly painted, three new flat screen TVs have been mounted in the aerobic area, and new equipment was secured for both areas.

There are many ways to follow Cardinal sports!


The athletics website is redesigned and offers new features.

The fall sports at Saint Mary’s University are in full swing, and there are more ways than ever to keep up with the action. The sports website is completely redesigned and improved. The new site has the usual rosters, game schedules, results and statistics pages, as well as new features. Go to the FanZone section and you can sign up to receive weekly newsletters, listen to — or watch — live webcasts of home games, follow the statistical play-by-play of home events, and browse photo galleries. You can sign up for RSS news feeds, the athletics Twitter account and Facebook, check out video interviews and game action clips, and receive Cardinal athletic scores, news and more, sent straight to your cell phone.

To see all the new ways you can follow Cardinal athletics, check out the new website at: www.saintmaryssports.com.

College observes anniversary of 9-11 attacks

A student placed hundreds of small American flags in the grass near the Chapel.

A prayer service for students, faculty and staff was held Sept. 11 at the Peace Pole in front of the Saint Thomas More Chapel. Led by Brother Larry Humphrey, the service was in memory of the 2,977 victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.