It’s become a familiar pattern at UMD – when one new building opens, work begins on the next one.

With a record fall 2006 enrollment of 11,190 students, the pulse of the UMD community continues to beat strongly. During the last year, 500 psychology students volunteered in a massive community service project, six engineering students won top honors in the Clean Snowmobile Challenge and a 20-student ensemble performed at two major European summer jazz festivals.

Keeping pace with the enrollment growth, major building projects are in the works across campus. In September, UMD opened a new $12.4 million Sports and Health Center Addition, which boasts the northland’s largest and most comprehensive athletic and recreational facility.

In July, the campus community celebrated the groundbreaking for the $23 million Labovitz School of Business and Economics which is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2008. The school is named for Duluth natives Sharon and Joel Labovitz who made a gift of $4.5 million. Their gift provided the impetus for additional state funding.

Across campus, the final pieces of the sculpture for the grounds outside of the Swenson Science Building were delivered and assembled in June. The 89-foot sculpture, “Wild Ricing Moon,” was designed by John David Mooney, a Chicago sculptor with an international reputation.

Last January, the $15.2 million renovation of the 38-year-old Life Science Building began. Set to open in fall 2007, the building will house the College of Pharmacy, Duluth, and a number of research and teaching laboratories for the UMD Department of Biology. Duluth native and donor Bruce Paddock, president of Minneapolis-based Paddock Laboratories, donated $2 million to the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy toward the renovation and the furthering of pharmacy education at UMD.

The three wildlife dioramas, a depiction of Hawk Ridge, a winter scene of a cedar swamp, and a beaver pond, painted by local artist and umd alumnus Carl Gawboy, have been successfully removed from the Life Science Building. Painted when the building was constructed in 1968, the dioramas have been crated and placed in storage until an appropriate new home is found.

Deans of UMD's five colleges: (l-r) School of Fine Arts Dean Jack Bowman, College of Science and Engineering Dean James P. Riehl,
College of Liberal Arts Dean Linda Krug, Labovitz School of Business and Economics Dean Kjell R. Knudsen, and
College of Education and Human Service Professions Dean Paul N. Deputy.

 

COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

In the College of Liberal Arts, Ann Bancroft shared her inspirational and motivational story last March in the inaugural Ben and Jeanne Overman Distinguished Speakers lecture. Made possible by the Ben and Jeanne Overman Charitable Trust, Bancroft shared how she fulfilled her childhood dream when she and Liv Arnesen became the first women to ski across Antarctica’s landmass.

During last spring’s Baeumler-Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration Lecture, Dr. Sabina Zimering shared the moving story of how she survived by posing as a Catholic hotel worker in Germany. A retired physician and author, Zimering obtained false identification papers from a Catholic family while she was a Jewish teenager in Poland during World War II. For more than 50 years, Zimering was unwilling to talk about these too-painful events. When she retired in 1996 as an ophthalmologist from St. Louis Park, Minn., she wrote her story.

Also last spring, UMD established the new UMD Center for Genocide, Holocaust, and Human Rights Studies with the generosity of the Regis Foundation of Minneapolis. Professor Steven Feinstein, renowned Holocaust expert and director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the Twin Cities campus, spoke on “Art and Remembrance.” The UMD Center will supplement UMD’s curriculum and the annual events sponsored by the Baeumler-Kaplan Holocaust Commemoration Committee.

The first class of the UMD Masters of Advocacy and Political Leadership Program graduated last May. This first cohort class consisted of 13 working adults from the Twin Cities, Duluth, and the Iron Range. This unique program, which began fall 2004, is the only one of its kind in Minnesota. The weekend program offers courses providing practical political advocacy experience and information through internships and teaching by knowledgeable faculty and guest speakers. The program is the brainchild of Wy Spano, Minnesota political analyst and lobbyist who was co-founder and long-time publisher of the prominent newsletter, Politics in Minnesota. The program has received financial support, including a $75,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation, $10,000 from the Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen Foundation, $22,000 from the afl-cio Education Fund, and $20,000 from the Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi Charitable Foundation.

LABOVITZ SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

In the Labovitz School of Business and Economics, the Masters in Business Administration Program in Rochester, Minn., continues to grow in size and reputation, with more than 35 graduates. Started in spring semester 2002 with an initial enrollment of six students, the program has grown to just over 40 students in weekend classes held at the University Center Rochester campus in cooperation with the University of Minnesota Rochester. The program draws students from a variety of businesses in southern Minnesota and is designed to provide a high-quality, practical, graduate-level degree to working professionals.

To meet enrollment growth, LSBE has established the new Department of Marketing. Formerly a part of the Management Studies Department, the new division became a separate department on July 1. Marketing is the largest major in LSBE, growing from 68 majors in 1999 to 224 majors in fall 2005.

Wells Fargo Bank has given a gift totaling $265,250 for the continued support of the LSBE Financial Markets Program. The gift maintains the strong relationship between Wells Fargo Bank and UMD, and as a result, the financial markets lab will continue to be named the Wells Fargo Financial Markets Lab. The LSBE Financial Markets Program is a non-traditional learning environment offering students the opportunity to apply fundamental, technical, and quantitative analysis techniques in a setting that encourages them to develop their own investment methodology towards the financial markets. The LSBE Financial Markets Program at UMD is one of a hand full of undergraduate only, student-run funds in the country with assets over $400,000 under management.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN SERVICE PROFESSIONS

In the College of Education and Human Service Professions, about 500 UMD students in Professor Karen Marsh’s General Psychology classes completed a total of 5,000 hours of volunteer work last spring in the Duluth community. Each student contributed a total of 10 hours volunteering in soup kitchens, tutoring elementary school children, coaching, providing assistance to hospitals and humane societies, and helping with adolescent groups. The project was a joint effort of the UMD Department of Psychology and the Darland Connection, a non-profit organization supported by UMD.

Dennis Falk, professor of social work, has been presented the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Post Baccalaureate Graduate and Professional Education from the University of Minnesota. The prestigious award is presented yearly to eight faculty members from throughout the university system. Professor Falk is the first UMD faculty member to receive this award. The award has a rigorous selection process and is one of the highest honors that a University of Minnesota faculty member can receive.

The UMD Athletic Training Education Program has received accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education. Accreditation is required before graduates of athletic training programs are allowed to take the Board of Certification exam, which leads to official certification as an athletic trainer. The program is one of only seven athletic training education programs in Minnesota.

The UMD Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies in the Department of Social Work has received a one-year $770,000 Title iv-e contract from the Minnesota Department of Human Services to educate masters of social work students to work in the field of public child welfare. The contract will enable the Department to offer up to $10,000 in annual stipends to selected Child Welfare Scholars in the MSW program. These 27 scholars will then take a specified curriculum and field experience in preparation for working in public child welfare settings. Students on the Duluth campus, and in the distance msw program that meets in Bemidji and Hibbing, are supported through the Child Welfare Scholars Program.

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

In the College of Science and Engineering, six engineering students earned three first-place recognitions in the Clean Snowmobile Challenge, an intercollegiate engineering design competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The students — Nathan Warfield, Chris Callender, Patrick Shaver, Derek Pederson, Derek Zimney, and Shane O’Brien — earned first-place recognitions in the categories of Acceleration, Handling, and Best Performance, and won an overall standing of second place out of the 13 colleges participating.

The UMD Large Lakes Observatory has acquired a high-tech ITRAX x-ray fluorescence core scanner that will permit researchers to study records of past changes in climate as preserved in the sediments of lakes. The instrument will be used to make rapid measurements of the chemical composition of the sediment cores of lakes, enabling the scientists to discover how the earth’s climate has altered in the past in response to changes such as solar activity, volcanic activity and atmospheric composition (green house gases). The revolutionary $400,000 device, designed and manufactured by Cox Analytical Systems of Gotenburg, is the second of its kind in the United States, and the sixth in the world.

Douglas Dunham, professor of computer science, is one of 17 recipients nationally to receive the Outstanding Advising Certificate of Merit in Faculty Academic Advising from the National Academic Advising Association. The Faculty Academic Advising category includes those individuals whose primary responsibility is teaching and who spend a portion of their time providing academic advising services to students.

James P. Riehl, dean of the College of Science and Engineering, was awarded the Gold Medal of the University of Wroclaw, Poland in September 2005. Riehl was recognized for his 15 years of collaborative research with faculty in the Institute of Chemistry at the university, and for his initiation of summer courses for UMD students co-taught by faculty from UMD and the University of Wroclaw. Riehl also holds an endowed McKnight Presidential Leadership Chair at the University of Minnesota.

The Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute (GLMRI), a collaboration between UMD and the University of Wisconsin-Superior, has been awarded a $2 million federal grant for its work maintaining and promoting maritime transportation on the Great Lakes. The GLMRI was designated a National Maritime Enhancement Institute for the Great Lakes by the U.S. Maritime Administration last June.

SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS

In the School of Fine Arts, the UMD Big Band performed last July at two of the most famous festivals in the world. The 20-member student group, also known as Jazz Ensemble I, played at the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands. UMD was selected for both festivals by blind audition, which involves a juried panel listening to a submitted CD. At the North Sea Jazz Festival, UMD was one of only seven colleges among over 200 professional musical groups.

Last summer, the Sieur Du Luth Summer Arts Festival brought entertainment to the mix of Duluth’s summer activities. Productions in the inaugural season included the opening of UMD alumnus Adam Hummel’s new comedy, Fooling The Beard, and the musical, Godspell. In July, Italians returned to UMD to participate in the new Summer Opera Program. Students from umd and the U.S. joined the Italians to perform the Verdi classic, Rigoletto, and, in celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday, Cosí fan tutte in concert in the Weber Music Hall. Due to the success of the program, next summer’s festival will include two full operas.

Theodore A. Schoen, associate professor of music, has been presented the prestigious McKnight Presidential Fellow Award by the University of Minnesota and the McKnight Foundation. The award is given to recognize high levels of faculty excellence, and to support the university’s most promising faculty at critical stages in their careers. Schoen is a professor of woodwinds, specializing in clarinet and saxophone.

In the fall, SFA began offering a bachelor of fine arts degree in Graphic Design and a BFA degree in Art and Technology in Rochester, Minn. UMD offered a pilot program last school year, and in the fall began the first full academic year of classes. Approximately 30 students are expected in the program, which is offered through University of Minnesota Rochester in collaboration with Rochester Community and Technical College. SFA is currently working on the development of a bachelor of music degree in music technology to add to its Rochester program.

The American College Theater Festival selected the UMD production of The Man of Infinite Sadness for the ACTF’s Region v Festival of the Kennedy Center/ACTF. It was one of nine plays from 193 entries in a seven-state region. This is the fourth time in five years that UMD Theatre has been selected to participate at the KCACTF Region v Festival.