Convocation Day is Aug. 24 on Twin Cities campus

This year, University Convocation Day is Wednesday, Aug. 24, on the Twin Cities campus in the newly acquired Harrington Mansion and Saint Mary’s Event Center.

The morning session will be highlighted by remarks from Brother William and Dr. Margaret Wheatley, keynote speaker. Dr. Wheatley received her doctorate in Organizational Behavior and Change from Harvard University and a master’s in Media Ecology from New York University. She has been an organizational consultant since 1973, a global citizen since her youth and a professor in two graduate programs. She focuses on how we can accomplish our work, sustain our relationships, and willingly step forward to serve. She has written seven books and numerous articles appearing in both professional and popular journals.

In the afternoon Dr. Wheatley will have a presentation on the University Strategic Planning process and Brother William will give closing remarks.

Buses will depart at 7 a.m. from the front of the Toner Center and will leave the Twin Cities at 3 p.m.

Saint Mary’s receives ‘Best in Midwest’ honors from Princeton Review

Saint Mary’s is one of 153 schools receiving the “Best in the Midwest” designation for 2012 from the Princeton Review, a national college guide and ranking program. Results were announced this week.

Each year, 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 answer questions about themselves, their fellow students, and their campus life. The Princeton Review is a New York City-based company known for test-preparation courses, education services and books; it is not affiliated with Princeton University.

The 629 colleges named regional bests (220 in the Northeast, 135 in the Southeast, 153 in the Midwest, and 121 in the West) represent only about 25 percent of the nation's 2,500 four-year colleges.

For more information, go to www.princetonreview.com/best-regional-colleges.aspx.

Saint Mary’s hosts LVs Ride participants

Saint Mary’s hosted and sponsored the LVs (Lasallian Volunteers) Ride, a cross-country bike ride that is raising money to end poverty in our nation’s underserved communities.

The proceeds of the LVs Ride — which routes from Astoria, Ore., to Long Branch, N.J. — will go to Lasallian Volunteers, a full-time volunteer program serving the nation’s most neglected communities. Lasallian Volunteers is a program of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, and provides dedicated, well-trained volunteers for one or more years of service to schools and agencies whose mission is to serve the poor. Lasallian Volunteers provide over 100,000 hours of service and serve over 8,215 children and families each year.

One SMU alumna, Glenna Kryzyanowski, is joining approximately 14 other LVs Ride participants for the coast-to-coast trip.

A leg of their journey brought the bikers through Winona July 22-24. Saint Mary’s invited the public to meet participants and learn more about Lasallian Volunteers during a picnic on the plaza July 23.

Countdown to College ends Aug. 6

Students in the second-year cohort of Countdown to College got out on the Mississippi River while enjoying a day at SMU's Prairie Island Field Station.

Saint Mary’s will say goodbye to the students participating in Countdown to College on Aug. 6. This two-week program for students from under-resourced communities is offered to students each year for four years, beginning just after they complete eighth grade and continuing until they reach college age — helping to assure each student is prepared for a successful college experience.

Lueck to compete in Dancing with Winona Stars

Forty local “stars” — including Terrie Lueck, director of conferencing and camps — are getting ready to dance the night away for charity this summer during the third annual Dancing with Winona Stars Saturday, Aug. 13, at Gostomski Fieldhouse. The pre-show begins at 7 p.m., and the competition begins at 7:30 p.m.

Lueck and her dance partner Kenyatta Blount will dance freestyle to “2012 (It ain’t the end)” by Jay Sean and Nicki Minaj.

Lueck is raising money for the First-Generation Initiative.

The First-Generation Initiative is designed to offer academic and personal support to first-generation college students. As part of this initiative, support structures have been put in place at SMU so that students may reach their full potential and complete their bachelor’s degrees. Thirteen First-Generation students have completed their first year of studies at SMU; this fall the university will welcome 16 additional students.

“I went into this thinking I would be dancing ballroom style. Dancing freestyle is definitely out of my comfort zone, but that seems very appropriate considering the organization I am raising money for,” Lueck said.

“The students I am representing are also moving beyond their comfort zone as they come to Saint Mary’s as first-generation college students in their families. They don’t have the benefit of asking family members how to prepare for the experience they are about to embark on. Some have never left home, some have language barriers, many struggle economically and some are socially challenged,” Lueck said.

“This has been a challenge for me and a lot of hard work, just as it will be in the fall for these First Generation students. I hope they find it to be as enjoyable as I have!”

Half of the proceeds from the event benefit the non-profit selected by each “star.” The remaining 50 percent supports members of the Competition Dance Team at Gotta Dance.

Votes are $1 apiece. You can cast your vote with the star, through the charity (First -Generation Initiative at Saint Mary's University), or with a Gotta Dance competition student or parent, or send your vote into Gotta Dance/DWWS 1733 Service Dr., Winona, MN 55987.

Checks for both tickets and votes should be made out to Gotta Dance. For charitable giving, you can write in the memo “50% for First- Generation Initiative. This memo should be noted only for checks made out for votes. Ticket sales do not apply to this charitable status. Voting canisters are also located at various locations throughout the community.

Last year over 1,000 people attended the show and more than $10,000 was raised for local charities.

This year’s event will feature 11 individual stars dancing with Gotta Dance Instructors and five star groups that will be performing a variety of styles from rhumba to hip hop.

General admission is $10 in advance or $20 at the door. Seating starts at 7 p.m. Early admission is $25 and includes admission from 5 to 6:30 p.m., hors d’oeuvres and access to a cash bar. Reserved tables are available for $250. This price includes seating for eight, early admission, hors d’oeuvres and the cash bar.

For more information, visit www.dancingwithwinonastars.com or call Gotta Dance at (507) 474-7077.

Lallaman’s research may be featured on ‘Monster Fish’

Part of Joshua Lallaman’s (Biology Department) dissertation research at the University of Missouri will potentially be featured in an National Geographic TV episode of “Monster Fish.”  Last year, just prior to starting at SMU, Lallaman took a camera crew from National Geographic out on the Osage River, Mo., to film some of his research.

Lallaman has not seen the episode but believes a small part of his research on paddlefish reproduction may be included in the episode footage. The air dates are scheduled for Friday, Aug 12, at 9 p.m. and Friday, Aug 19, at 8 and 11 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel.

Ice cream social raises over $230 for CTIE

The old-fashioned ice cream social on Thursday, July 28, raised $230.25 for CTIE in Nairobi. Lance Thompson won the cherry pit spitting contest, and Pat Beech and Tami Lubinski won the water balloon toss. Thanks go to everyone who made pies and to everyone who came to enjoy the social.

The Winona Volunteer Committee will continue to host events throughout the school year to benefit our Nairobi campus.

An anonymous trustee has issued a challenge. If the Winona Volunteer Committee can raise $3,000 for CTIE, he will mach the donation with another $3,000. The same challenge has been issued to the Twin Cities campus. If they raise $1,250, he will match that donation as well. This is just a little extra incentive to be generous — together, we’ll be able to assist countless students.

Jazz notes

Swing Inc. performs Fridays from 7 to 10 p.m. at Signatures.

The John Paulson Jazz Duo performs Saturday, Aug. 20 at Salem Glen Vineyard & Winery in Rochester.

The John Paulson Jazz Quartet performs 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Starlite Lounge in La Crosse.

‘Campus Notes’ will continue every other Friday

“Campus Notes” will continue every other Friday during the summer including Aug. 19 and weekly thereafter. The deadline for each issue is noon the previous Wednesday.

Saint Mary’s to host LVs Ride participants

Bikers raising money to end poverty

Saint Mary’s is hosting and sponsoring the LVs (Lasallian Volunteers) Ride, a cross-country bike ride that is raising money to end poverty in our nation’s underserved communities.

The proceeds of the LVs Ride — which routes from Astoria, Ore., to Long Branch, N.J. — will go to Lasallian Volunteers, a full-time volunteer program serving the nation’s most neglected communities. Lasallian Volunteers is a program of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, and provides dedicated, well-trained volunteers for one or more years of service to schools and agencies whose mission is to serve the poor. Lasallian Volunteers provide over 100,000 hours of service and serve over 8,215 children and families each year.

One SMU alumna, Glenna Kryzyanowski, is joining approximately 14 other LVs Ride participants for the coast-to-coast trip.

A leg of their journey will bring the bikers through Winona Friday, July 22. Saint Mary’s invites the public to meet participants and learn more about Lasallian Volunteers during a picnic on the plaza of SMU’s Winona campus on Saturday, July 23. Burgers and side dishes will be provided for a freewill donation. The picnic will begin at 6 p.m. with the riders doing a demonstration at 7 p.m.

The group will continue on its journey the morning of Sunday, July 24, and are expected to complete their ride on Aug. 14. They left Astoria, Ore., on June 14.

Other cyclists are encouraged to take up the challenge to fight poverty — cyclists are welcome for even a portion of the trip. To donate to this cause or learn more about the LVs Ride, go to www.lvsride.com.

Faculty and staff are also asked to help with providing a meal for the riders. Food — bread, meat, cheese, chips, salads, and cookies or bars — is needed for dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday. To help, contact Kathy Pederson at Ext. 6690.

Countdown to College runs through Aug. 6

Saint Mary’s is conducting its second annual Countdown to College through Aug. 6. This two-week program for students from under-resourced communities will be offered to students each year for four years, beginning just after they complete eighth grade and continuing until they reach college age — helping to assure each student is prepared for a successful college experience.

The camp is completely free to student participants from San Miguel and Nativity Schools, their parents (who come the first weekend) and teachers from their schools, who co-teach with SMU instructors, and help prepare SMU instructors on how to effectively work with this growing population of students. Twenty-five students participated last summer. In addition to welcoming back these 25 participants, SMU also welcomes 25 new incoming ninth-graders. Each group of 25 is here for two weeks, and they overlap on campus one week.

This is one portion of Saint Mary’s First-Generation Initiative, a program designed to offer academic, financial and personal support to first-generation students as they transition into higher education.

Tom Farren Memorial Golf Classic is July 24

The fourth annual Tom Farren Memorial Golf Classic (formerly the Saint Mary’s Golf Classic) is scheduled for Sunday, July 24, at Cedar Valley Golf Course. The four-person scramble has a 9 a.m. shotgun start and is a fundraiser for SMU golf.

Employees get discount to Shakespeare Festival

As a sponsor of the Great River Shakespeare Festival, all employees of Saint Mary's University are entitled to a 15 percent discount on tickets.

Season 8 includes “King Henry IV, Part 1”; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; and “The Fantasticks” from now through July 31.

Call the box office at 474-7900 and tell them you’re an employee of Saint Mary’s to get your discounted tickets. For more information, go to http://grsf.org.

Lueck to compete in Dancing with Winona Stars

Forty local stars — including Terrie Lueck, SMU director of conferencing and camps — are getting ready to dance the night away for charity this summer during the 3rd Annual Dancing with Winona Stars.

The event will be held Saturday, Aug. 13, at SMU’s Gostomski Fieldhouse and will be sponsored by the Gotta Dance Competition Group. The pre-show begins at 7 p.m., and the competition begins at 7:30 p.m.

Last year over 1,000 people attended the show and more than $10,000 was raised for local charities. Lueck is raising money for SMU’s First-Generation Initiative.

This year will feature 11 individual stars dancing with Gotta Dance Instructors and five star groups that will be performing a variety of styles from rhumba to hip hop.

Tables are available for $250 and include hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, reserved seating and early admission at 5 p.m.

Single tickets with hors d’oeuvres and early admission at 5 p.m. are $25 and show-only tickets with 7 p.m. admission are $10 or $20 at the door.

For more information, visit www.dancingwithwinonastars.com or call Gotta Dance at (507) 474-7077.

Ice cream social is July 28

The Winona Volunteer Committee will host an old fashioned ice cream social on Thursday, July 28, from 2-3 p.m. Enjoy a bean bag toss, ladder golf, water balloon toss and a cherry pit spitting contest. Prizes will be awarded. Cool off with “free-will” rootbeer floats and pie (at $1 per slice). Mark your calendars for July 28 for a fun summer celebration that will benefit CTIE in Nairobi.

SMU welcomes Flying Foot Forum July 23

Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum will present an evening of intricately layered percussive footwork for Saint Mary’s first “Off the Page” event Saturday, July 23.

Audiences are invited to watch what the Minneapolis Star Tribune coined as “fierce exhilarating dancemaking” at 8 p.m. in the Valéncia Arts Center, located at 10th and Vila streets.

The Flying Foot Forum is a vibrant and bold percussive dance/theater company that fuses percussion and percussive dances with many other forms of music, dance and theater, telling unusual tales, creating a wild variety of characters, and exploring universal ideas in inventive and exciting new ways.

Chvala has worked as a director, choreographer, writer, composer, performer, and teacher for opera companies, experimental and nonexperimental theatres, concert dance venues, performing arts academies, and universities. Located in Minneapolis since 1990, Chvala previously worked in New York and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Tickets are $15 for adults or $10 for seniors and students and are available at the SMU Box Office, Ext. 1715, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays or online at www.pagetheatre.org.

www2 server being replaced

On Aug. 6, the www2.smumn.edu web server, which was implemented in 2005 is being replaced with a new system. Users with content on www2 are encouraged to contact the HelpDesk and arrange a preview of your site on the new server, prior to July 30.

This will allow users to verify the website is functional on the new server before the switchover occurs.

This server is also used for the I: (StudOrg) and J: (Deptmntl) network drive letters. These drives will automatically updated to point to the new system after August 6.

If you are a Macintosh user that has connected to smb:\\goliath for access to StudOrg, Deptmntl or Inetpub you should change your connection now to point at smb:\\www2.smumn.edu.

Contact the HelpDesk with any questions or concerns.

Nairobi news

News from MIASMU Nairobi campus

The second Immersion Program ended at MIASMU — SMU’s Nairobi campus — on July 13 after three-week intensive research-based courses on African Culture, Sage Philosophy and African Religion.

Running alongside the courses were two special groups of students: a group of six sponsored by the Maryknoll Fathers from a Toronto group called Hearts and Hands, and another 37 teachers from Canada in an organization called Teachers Helping Teachers. They all registered for the three-day course on Introduction to African Culture and Religion. Most of them, after their initial hesitation about going out alone with a just–met African field assistant, were able to move out of their comfort zones and were doing field research on a one-to-one basis with their field assistants.

This is a good example of the effectiveness of the MIASMU education method where classroom lectures are integrated with supervised field research facilitated by a trained African university graduate. This method quickly began to guide all of them into appreciating and enjoying African cultural life and activities.

Awards given to MIASMU field assistants

At the end of each academic year, the field assistants — who are all Kenyan University graduates — and an essential element of the MIASMU educational method, are awarded certificates of performance and gifts ranging from watches and bags to books and airtime credit cards in appreciation of a job well done.

They are assigned to students on a one-to-one basis as their personal field assistants, which makes the students’ learning experiences unique and highly effective in understanding and articulating African cultural reality.

Foundation Certificates are awarded to field assistants who have worked in a minimum of six courses. The certificate spells out that the assistant has attended 240 hours of lectures on a post-graduate level, assisted students in 40 hours of field research per course, acculturated graduate students both foreign and African to Kenyan life and reality, arranged for students’ contacts, translation, explanations, and interviews in the field, hosted students in rural homes on overnight visits and written six essays relevant to the course, each of which is listed with the grade received.

Intermediate and Advanced Certificates are also awarded after a field assistant has done a second and a third group of six courses respectively.

Two of the field assistants were awarded Advanced Certificates, three Intermediate Certificates and six Foundational Certificates. These Certificates are highly valued by the assistants and are included in their CVs when applying for jobs or academic programs.

Jazz notes

Swing Inc. will perform today, Friday, July 22, from 7 to 10 p.m. at Signature’s Restaurant, 22852 County Road 17. The John Paulson Jazz Duo will perform Saturday, July 23, at Salem Glen Vineyard & Winery in Rochester.

Quilters Guild show on display at SMU

The summer show, “Beneath the Covers: The Winona Area Quilters’ Guild” will be on display at Saint Mary’s Lillian Davis Hogan Galleries through Aug. 14.

A huge variety of full-size quilts, as well as other quilted pieces — ranging from traditional patterns to very graphic and experimental ones — will be on display.

The galleries — free and open to the public — are open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.