Dr. Mark Salisbury

Dr. Mark Salisbury, a program director and professor at the University of New Mexico, will become the new dean of the College of Education, Leadership and Counseling at St. Thomas on Aug. 10.

Salisbury will succeed Dr. David Rigoni, announced Dr. Susan Huber, executive vice president and chief academic officer. Rigoni has served as interim dean since October, when Dr. Bruce Kramer stepped down because of his Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Huber said Salisbury’s experience on the New Mexico faculty since 1996 and his previous work for 11 years as a computer scientist at the Boeing Co. in Seattle provide him with a rich and interesting background for the dean’s position.

“Mark has been extremely creative and innovative in what he has done at New Mexico while teaching in and directing the university’s Organizational Learning and Instructional Technology program,” Huber said. “I expect that we will see the same characteristics in his work at St. Thomas and in strengthening the programs in our School of Education and Graduate School of Professional Psychology.”

Salisbury, 58, said the St. Thomas position appealed to him primarily because he saw an opportunity to help CELC grow in an extremely competitive environment.

“What is drawing me to St. Thomas is your reputation for being entrepreneurial and willing to look at issues outside the box,” he said. “It is time for us to step forward, make connections and develop partnerships as we re-imagine what form education and professional psychology should take in the 21st century.”

He also has a St. Thomas connection through his wife, Joan. She is a Minnesota native who earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and her master’s degree in human resource development at St. Thomas in 1990. She met Salisbury at Boeing and works in web-based training for Intel. They have three children: Luke, 14; Jake, 12; and Anya, 11.

Salisbury is a native of Astoria, Ore., where the Columbia River enters the Pacific Ocean. He has degrees from the Oregon College of Education (1978, Bachelor of Science in secondary education); Western Oregon State College (1982, Master of Arts in Teaching in economics); and the University of Oregon (1985, Master of Science in Computer and Information Science and 1986, Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction).

Worked at Boeing after graduate school

He was a graduate teaching fellow in the education and the computer and information science departments at Oregon while pursuing his graduate degrees. Boeing hired him in 1985 and he held several positions over the next 11 years, developing software to improve human performance and splitting his time between research and development efforts and commercial products.

“I loved my job at Boeing,” he said, “but after 11 years I had made a ‘lap’ through the company, working in most of the major divisions, and I thought I might move on and do what I was trained for – the life of a professor. That’s how I ended up at New Mexico and in Albuquerque.”

Salisbury is a full professor and directed the Organizational Learning and Instructional Technology program for more than a decade. He describes it as an interdisciplinary program that evolved to the point where it moved last year from the College of Education to the recently renamed College of the University Libraries and Learning Sciences, and the program will have a new name this fall: Organizational Information and Learning Services.

“I have done my lap here at New Mexico in teaching in and developing the program,” he said. “I figure I have another good lap left in me, and I am excited about the opportunity at St. Thomas.”

Salisbury also leveraged his skills after arriving at New Mexico by founding Vitel Inc., which has developed knowledge management systems for federal agencies, national laboratories and public utility companies. His experiences with Boeing and Vitel have helped him in the classroom.

“I liken it to a practicing heart surgeon,” he said in a New Mexico Campus News story in 2002. “I do heart surgery in the morning and then I teach in the afternoon. That helps me to be the teacher I want to be. I think this theory-into-practice approach is of value to the students, too.”

Salisbury has published a book – iLearning: How to Create an Innovative Learning Organization (2009) – and has written dozens of articles related to knowledge management in engineering, business and education journals. He has made presentations at conferences sponsored by organizations such as the American Society for Training and Development, International Society for Performance Improvement and Society for Applied Learning Technology. He is an editorial board member and reviewer for the International Journal of Knowledge-Based Organizations, Journal of Management Learning and Journal of Educational Computing Research.

Huber thanks Rigoni, search committee

Huber thanked Rigoni for his service as interim dean. Rigoni had been an associate dean since 2006 and a faculty member since 2000, and will return to teaching.

“Dave stepped into a challenging situation at a delicate time and performed admirably,” Huber said. “I appreciate his can-do attitude.”

Huber also thanked members of the dean’s search committee, chaired by Dr. Terry Langan, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Committee members included Jackie Punch, chair of the CELC Board of Advisors, and Kim Herrema, Dr. David Jamieson, Dr. Donald LaMagdeleine, Dr. John Melick, Ea Porter, Dr. Karen Rogers, Dr. Patricia Stankovitch and Dr. Doug Warring from the CELC faculty and administration.

“I consider it a privilege to have had a chance to serve St. Thomas over two tours of duty and, of course, will remain a proud and loyal St. Thomas alumnus for life,” Dienhart said. “I have great fondness and respect for Dick and Maureen Schulze and am excited to be able to help with Dick’s ambitious plans for his family foundation.”

Dick Schulze, founder of Best Buy Co. and a St. Thomas trustee since 1995, created the foundation in 2004. His daughter, Nancy Tellor, served as its founding executive director but has moved out of the area, creating the opening for the position that Dienhart will fill. The foundation has historically focused on grants in education and medical research.

“We are delighted with Mark’s decision to join the Schulze Family Foundation as its new president and CEO,” Schulze said. “Mark has had a meaningful impact at every turn of his career at St. Thomas. His knowledge will provide insight and experience to our mission of creating transformational change for mankind.”

Father Dennis Dease, president of St. Thomas, congratulated Dienhart on his new position and thanked Dienhart for exceptional leadership during a period in which the university increased its undergraduate enrollment, constructed several new buildings and raised $515 million in the Opening Doors capital campaign. Dienhart directed the campaign.

“Mark had both the vision and the organizational skills to accomplish a great deal during the time of a challenging recession and escalating competition for students,” Dease said. “He always has had the highest standards and worked tirelessly to carry out each and every task. His contributions have been enormous and will be felt for many years.”

In his new role, Dienhart will continue to work closely with the university in support of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. In addition, to ensure the university has the continued benefit of his institutional knowledge and experience, Dienhart has agreed to serve as an advisor to Dr. Julie Sullivan, who will succeed Dease as president of St. Thomas on July 1, and to work on special projects as requested by Sullivan.

During Dienhart’s tenure leading the university’s non-academic administrative units, St. Thomas has:

• Improved its financial strength and maintained balanced budgets. Net assets have grown 63 percent over the last 10 years and endowment assets have grown 68 percent.
• Increased undergraduate student enrollment 21 percent, from 5,241 in 2003 to 6,336 in 2012, including freshman classes that have exceeded 1,300 in every year except one since 2005. Applications have doubled over that time.
• Raised $515 million in the Opening Doors capital campaign, which concluded last October. The amount exceeded what was raised in the previous four capital campaigns combined and in the process the number of individual donors grew from 6,413 in 2001 to 15,300 in 2012. “Mark’s leadership as director of Opening Doors will provide the university with incredible opportunities to carry out its mission and vision – opportunities that would not have been available with a less successful campaign,” Dease said.
• Built and opened seven major buildings, including two in Minneapolis (School of Law and Schulze Hall) and five in St. Paul (Flynn Residence Hall, McNeely Hall, the Anderson Parking Facility, the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex and the Anderson Student Center). The Anderson buildings have greatly enhanced on-campus experiences for students, faculty, staff and alumni and have received national recognition and accolades from the community.
• Achieved extraordinary success in athletic programs. Five teams have won national championships in the past 10 years and 10 teams have finished in the top five in Division III over the last three years. The men’s and women’s athletic teams have swept the MIAC All-Sports Championships for six straight years.

Dienhart, a Minneapolis native, is a 1975 summa cum laude graduate of St. Thomas with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. He holds two degrees – a master’s in journalism and mass communications and a doctorate in higher education administration – from the University of Minnesota.

A member of the St. Thomas Athletic Hall of Fame, he was an All-American in track and field as a national champion and national record-holder in the shot put, and an All-American and two-time Academic All-American in football. He won the 1975 Tommie Award, given annually to the senior who best exemplifies the ideals of the university.

Dienhart held several jobs, including two head-coaching positions, at St. Thomas after graduation. He was named men’s track and field coach in 1980 and football coach in 1981. His football teams compiled a 44-14-1 record in six seasons, winning the MIAC title with a 9-0 record in 1983 and going on to St. Thomas’ first national playoff game. His track and field teams won four indoor and four outdoor MIAC titles and won the NCAA Division III indoor championship in 1984.

He left coaching after the 1986 football season to serve as executive director of public and alumni affairs until 1990, when he joined the University of Minnesota as an associate athletic director. He was promoted to senior associate athletic director in 1992 and athletic director in 1995. He left the university in 1999 and was a senior vice president in consumer banking at US Bank until he returned to St. Thomas in 2001 as senior vice president for institutional advancement. He was later promoted to his current role.

Sometimes something as simple as a text message can change your life. Alex Daley ’12 received this text message in November 2011:

 “Do you think it’s possible to dribble a soccer ball across the United States?”

That question stuck with Daley, and while he can’t answer the question – yet – he now knows the challenge it would entail. On Wednesday, June 19, Daley, Matt Scott ’12 and Tommy Hanlon, friends since their Eagan High School days, will complete a border-to-border, soccer-ball dribbling journey that started on Sunday, May 26, in International Falls, Minn., and that will finish on the Minnesota-Iowa border near Preston, Minn., a journey of more than 400 miles which spanned the globe and last January spawned a nonprofit – Dribble Daily.

And it all began with what Daley described as an “out-of-the-blue” question via text message from Trevor Flaten ’12.

“That’s why it was so cool,” Daley said in a recent interview. “It was just out of the blue. I played soccer my whole life. I played at St. Thomas. I never thought of something like this – dribbling across Minnesota or the country. So when I received the message it just sparked something in me.”

Tommy Hanlon juggles the ball with residents of Isle. (Video and photos courtesy of Dribble Daily.)

That text message led to a conversation with Scott, whose passion is environmental science. Together they combined their skills and their passions and developed an idea of transforming urban decay in inner cities through soccer pitches and urban gardens – and bringing people together through, as Daley described it: the “power of the ball” –  a soccer ball.

“It really was the perfect storm because Alex was inspired by our friend with this idea about soccer, and I had spent years studying environmental science here at St. Thomas, and I learned so much about these issues we’re dealing with – sustainability and our decaying urban culture, urban sprawl and the problems with it – and so I was really passionate about implementing this knowledge that I had gained here and doing something really good with it,” Scott said. “This is a very new thing. And so I wanted to create something like this, and when Alex came along with this idea of soccer it really was the perfect storm. … We can address these issues of urban sustainability. We can address the issues of civic pride. We can address the issues of obesity.”

“We both believe that soccer can be a real tool for social change, specifically here in the United States, which is the melting pot of the world,” Daley added.

St. Thomas Futbol Club

Both have traveled and studied abroad and have experienced what it is like to be the outsider.

“For the first time in my life, I was like a foreign person. I didn’t have my network of friends, and I didn’t know anybody,” Scott said. “I learned firsthand what it meant to be accepted into a community or a school, into a network of people who are completely different from you and how much that experience meant to me having nothing. And when I came back to St. Thomas I had a better understanding of what the foreign students were going through here.”

While dribbling through downtown Minneapolis, the Dribble Daily team met a man from Ghana, pictured here shaking hands with Alex Daley, who explained how soccer was a culture, lifestyle and meant everything to his people.

In talking about their plans for Dribble Daily, here at St. Thomas they focused on the gap between international and domestic students.

“When you are in the student center, you notice the international students kind of stick to themselves and the domestic students kind of stick to themselves. That’s not good. That’s not productive,” Daley said. “What will unite all of us? A simple thing like a soccer ball was the answer. So we started the University of St. Thomas Futbol Club.”

Founded in spring 2012, the club has more than 150 active members and played “futbol” twice a week, watched games at Scooter’s, and participated in other activities.

“The relationships that were formed on the field were carried over off the field. We realized, it’s simple but it’s very effective, and so we wanted to translate that on a more macroeconomic level out to cities like Minneapolis and urban communities,” Daley said.

Through the club Daley and Scott met Miraz Abdullah, an international student from Bangladesh. He invited them to Bangladesh, which enabled them to film and document the way that the ball can break down social barriers, and which also led to Dribble Daily’s first project – a soccer pitch in Nepal.

To Nepal

After visiting the Abdullah family in Bangladesh for two months, Daley and Scott left for Nepal to renew their visas.

“When we were there we were almost overwhelmed by the beauty of the country and the hospitality of the people,” Scott said. And they scouted out areas to build a soccer pitch for kids.

Chatting with a resident of Ogilvie regarding urban decay.

“They have nothing there. It’s like a concrete maze everywhere. Kids don’t have any place to play,” Scott added.

They literally stumbled upon a school (Great Compassion Boarding School, run by donations) in the village of Pokhara, which happened to have an area that could be transformed into a soccer pitch.

Funded by donations, they bought nets, goal posts, chalk and a ball, all of which had to be hand-carried halfway up a mountain. Leveling the pitch by hand, with children helping by tossing rocks, the project took about a week.

“We just started building it, and the kids from the school came out and helped us, and the teachers came and helped us. It was a total community-driven development project. By putting in their own blood, sweat and tears into it, people have more pride for what they have. It couldn’t have gone better. We were really happy that we were able to leave them something, and we know that they truly appreciated it,” Scott said.

The story behind the story

While Daley’s feat (feet?) of dribbling a soccer ball border to border, with some assistance from Scott and mutual friend, navigator and driver Hanlon, is significant and newsworthy in itself, the real story, as is often the case, is the story behind the story.

“The project is really to raise awareness, and I think we’re all very satisfied with all of the awareness we were able to receive through news reporting and television reporting,” Scott said.

As Alex Daley, left, and Tommy Hanlon know, soccer is the sport that appeals to young and old, boys and girls, and men and women around the world, and even at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

“We’re trying to address physical health, environmental health and mental health with something as simple as this green recreational space that we are trying to put in. We are trying to take dead space and give life to it. A soccer field serves as that common ground to bring neighbors in diverse urban communities together around a mutual passion,” Scott explained. “You know, how are you going to get this Ethiopian guy and this Latino guy with this Asian woman together? They understand soccer; it’s part of their cultures. It’s about providing people with space in our diverse urban areas to bring them together to do some outdoor recreation with soccer. That will start to break down those social barriers.”

“Why urban gardens? It doesn’t get talked about very much that we want to add these gardens, but it’s a very important factor,” Scott continued.

Scott pointed out that “in Minneapolis we actually have the fifth largest food desert in the country,” with little access to healthy, organic, affordable food, that nationally childhood obesity and diabetes rates have increased dramatically over the past 30 years.

“So by providing people with space to garden, we’re going to be empowering people to grow their own food and to eat healthier and ultimately live better lives. … A lot of people are just trapped in their urban setting, in their apartments, and so by providing them an outdoor space to grow and to play, we think that it’s going to do a tremendous good for the community as a whole,” Scott said.

“A number of studies, including one by the National Council for Science and the Environment, show how the addition of green space in urban settings increases surrounding property values. So everybody wins, and it’s as simple as a soccer field and growing food,” he added.

This group of women in downtown Minneapolis, pictured juggling with Alex Daley, were inspired by Dribble Daily’s mission and happened to love soccer.

Dribbling daily

Dribbling a soccer ball some 20 miles a days has taken a physical toll on Daley, and there were times when Scott and Hanlon were called on to dribble so he could rest and recover. Then there were times that they were chased by dogs, spotted bear tracks outside their tent, had “so many ticks you can’t count them,” rained on almost every day, slept in a tent most nights, and showered in cold rivers.

But the journey has not been without its rewards. Some people slow down and honk, wave, and ask what they are doing, support and encourage them, and some have even taken them in for the night. And they’ve come to appreciate even more the beauty of Minnesota and the freedom of living in America.

“The highlight has been interacting with people and breaking down those barriers through something like a ball. They see the ball and they wonder what you’re doing, and that’s really the big picture – getting to know your neighbors, and creating a stronger sense of community,” Scott said.

Dribble across America

That November 2011 text message has not been forgotten or cast aside despite the rigors of dribbling across Minnesota. Daley and Scott envision, perhaps, something akin to an Olympic torch-style relay across America, involving local communities and soccer clubs along the way.

On the side of the road near Mille Lacs, a conversation with locals led to an invitation to dinner and a night’s sleep in their camper.

They are looking for support from the soccer community, individual donors and corporations, and they hope the University of St. Thomas will support them as well as they live out its mission to be “morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely, and work skillfully to advance the common good.”

“People have been very responsive to the social message,” Scott said. “What we’re hearing from people is that, yeah, we are a nation that is now divided. We used to have something that we would unite behind in generations past, but now we don’t know where the country’s going. Everybody agrees that something needs to be done and not very many people have an answer to what needs to be done. But people collectively believe that we need to come together and rally around something.”

Dribble Daily believes in unity through the “power of the ball.”

“We’re very appreciative of everyone who has helped us in our ventures in Asia and in the United States. It is only through their support that we’re able to positively impact communities and change lives of people with our efforts,” Daley remarked. “We look forward to continuing to work with individuals, communities and business alike in future endeavors. Soccer is a tool for social change, and together we can make that happen.”

Editor’s note: Additional videos and photographs are available on the Dribble Daily website.

On the road in northern Minnesota. Alex Daley, left, and Matt Scott, along with Tommy Hanlon (not pictured) have dribbled a soccer ball daily from International Falls, Minn., to the Minnesota-Iowa border.

Dr. Christopher Puto

Dr. Susan Huber, executive vice president and chief academic officer, said she asked Puto and Gleason to remain in their positions because recent searches for their successors were not successful. The searches will be restarted later this summer.

Puto announced in February 2012 that he would step down as dean last June 30 and transition to full-time faculty member. He agreed to remain as dean during the 2012-13 academic year while the search for his successor was conducted. Witt/Kieffer, an executive search firm based in Oak Brook, Ill., will continue to assist St. Thomas in identifying candidates for the position.

Puto became dean in 2002 and holds the Opus Distinguished Chair. He directed the successful effort to earn accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. He also carried out the combination of graduate and undergraduate divisions into the College of Business, established a full-time day MBA program, doubled to 105 the number of full-time faculty members, opened Schulze and McNeely halls and revitalized the Family Business Center. Among the 449 AACSB-accredited schools, St. Thomas ranks No. 110 for its MBA program and No. 80 for its undergraduate programs.

Dr. Bruce Gleason

Huber appointed Gleason as interim director of the International Education Center last September. He is a tenured faculty member of the Department of Music, has taught at St. Thomas since 1999 and is a former director of Graduate Programs in Music Education.

Gleason has led concert tours of New England and Europe. He has been involved in music history research with government and military agencies, museums, universities, libraries and art galleries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, visiting 30 countries in the process.

Please remember in your prayers George B. Richter, Ph.D., who died Monday, June 10, in Grand Rapids, Minn.

George Richter

Richter, 86, taught at St. Thomas in the Engineering Department in the 1960s. He was the grandfather of Adam Gibson ’12. His first wife, Patricia Grain Richter, who preceded him in death, graduated from St. Thomas in 1987.

Richter served in the U.S. Navy from June 1945 until his discharge in July 1946. In 1999 he received the “Distinguished Engineer” award from the Minnesota Federation of Engineering Societies for his outstanding achievement in, and service to, the profession of engineering.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held in Grand Rapids Friday, June 14. A Mass of Christian Burial also will be held 10 a.m. Monday, June 24, at the Church of the Holy Childhood, 1435 Midway Parkway, St. Paul, Minn.

An obituary and guest book can be viewed at Rowe Funeral Home.

Over the last several years, I saw an increasing number of technology news reports about a technology called MapReduce, first revealed by Google in a 2004 paper. In 2006, a group of software engineers created an open source version called Hadoop. This technology uses large clusters of computers, numbering into the thousands, to distribute data and processing. Hadoop is used by a number of very high profile companies, including eBay, Facebook, Yahoo! and Walmart. The technology can tolerate faults and restart tasks as needed. It is designed to efficiently handle terabytes and petabytes of data. Google’s original use was to process the giant index it creates after it crawls the Web in search of information, but it has since spawned applications in many other directions.

One of our adjunct instructors, Gary Berosik, had experience with Hadoop at his company, Thomson Reuters, and encouraged us to explore it. Last year, I attended a local Java user’s group meeting where the speaker from the company Cloudera described the technology and their experiences consulting with it, and that really opened my eyes to Hadoop’s potential. We had an unused computing cluster in our department, so with the help of a student, Harlan Bloom, we got Hadoop running on it. I then decided to teach this technology in my information retrieval course via individual virtual machines and also make the cluster available for student projects.

In today’s computer systems, most of our computing resources are blindingly fast (i.e. CPUs) and hugely abundant (i.e. memory and disk capacity). Moore’s Law predicts that these capabilities double every 18 to 24 months; however, disk access time and throughput have not kept pace with this exponential growth, and this is typically the performance bottleneck for most applications. We compensate by putting more memory in our computers so that we don’t have to access the disk drive as often. Hadoop, operating on a cluster of computers, takes advantage not only of parallel processing but also of parallel disk access. Moving data on and off disk drives in parallel helps alleviate this historic performance bottleneck, and so enables efficient processing of huge amounts of data stored on these disk drives.

Recently, CPU speed is also being strangely affected by Moore’s Law. Instead of racing up the gigahertz ladder, the speed of an individual CPU core is tapering off, so the industry is responding by offering multiple CPU cores to keep pace over time. This, in addition to the disk bottleneck changes, is causing the software engineering community to rethink architecture and programming languages to respond to these changes. At the highest level, I am interested in how traditional applications change under this new paradigm, and what new applications now are enabled by it.

I have two sons. My eldest, Justin, is a junior at St. Thomas, majoring in actuarial science, economics and statistics. My youngest, Nathan, is a senior in high school. He will be attending St. Thomas to major in neuroscience. To help him make his college decision, he asked to attend a neuroscience course, so I found one – taught by Dr. Jadin Jackson, a clinical faculty member in the Biology Department – for him to visit. Afterward, while we discussed Nathan’s academic options, Jadin and I found we had some things in common, including degrees in electrical engineering. Over lunch, he described a computing problem that was getting in the way of his neuroscience research, so we teamed up to see if Hadoop could help him out. Meanwhile, one of my graduate students, Ashish Singh, wanted to work on Hadoop with me in an independent study course, so we decided that he would work on this real-world problem.

During Jadin’s post-doctoral work, he acquired a lot of data from electrodes that were implanted in rat brains. These signals represent individual neuronal activity in a brain region called the hippocampus, which correspond to the rat’s position in space. When the rat finds itself at a tee in the maze and has to decide whether to move left or right to get its reward, the signals reflect the rat’s thinking about moving down the left path, then thinking about moving down the right path, then deciding which route to take and then physically moving. Amazingly, sometimes this signal pattern is generated while the rat is sleeping, so he can see a rat “dreaming” about moving in the maze!

Jadin needs to digitally signal process these signals using a mathematical technique called wavelet analysis, which can pull out both frequency and time information from the neuronal signals. The huge volume of data and amount of computation needed, however, overwhelm his individual computer; furthermore, he would like to have all his processed data available online to query and explore. We hope to show that this processing can be efficiently performed using the parallelism available on a Hadoop cluster, and that the results efficiently can be accessed with a data warehouse component called Hive, which leverages Hadoop. Jadin and I have identified other pre- and post-processing steps that we can explore in future projects in this cross-discipline area called computational neuroscience.

Both Jadin and I enjoy crossing academic boundaries to engage in interdisciplinary work. For me, it is a chance to learn about a new field from an expert and to see if I can apply the knowledge in my own domain to someone else’s real-world problem. This is far more interesting and challenging than contriving a problem. During this process, I also get to deepen my understanding of the MapReduce model and the Hadoop technology, which allows me to share my experiences more effectively with my students.

As another example of how these projects can spawn other activities, I have teamed with another member of our department, Dr. Saeed Rahimi, to create a new special topics course in big data for fall 2012. The course will include these technologies and several others that have gained traction in the industry to deal with the increasingly massive amounts of data and the desire to efficiently analyze them and turn them into information. These technologies provide alternatives to traditional SQL-based relational databases and are better optimized for the fast-growing amount of unstructured and semi-structured data.

In our department, we recently decided to form a Big Data Center of Excellence to integrate our faculty expertise in database, data warehousing, data mining, operating systems, computer architecture, information retrieval and business intelligence around this new area. Our goals are to spawn further research activity within our department, between St. Thomas departments, with other universities and with industry. This effort will influence the curriculum for our existing courses and future ones, including homework assignments, class projects, independent study opportunities and thesis topics. I think this is a good example of using applied research to further our twin goals of maintaining currency and competency in the classroom. This effort is also a good example of a traditional strength of the Graduate Programs in Software, which is to quickly respond to the ever-present changes in the information technology industry, bringing these technologies into the classroom for our students, which in turn benefits their current or future employers.

Bradley Rubin is associate professor at the Graduate Programs in Software program.

From Exemplars, a publication of the Grants and Research Office.

Thanks to the efforts of some University of St. Thomas geography students, members of the St. Thomas community can get a nice deal on an annual pass for the NiceRide bike-sharing program.

More than 1,500 NiceRide bicycles are located at 170 stations in the Twin Cities, including four on or adjacent to the St. Thomas campus in St. Paul.

Mitchell Schaps was one of the geography students who helped develop the NiceRide bicycle discount program for the St. Thomas campus.

An annual pass to the NiceRide program is $65, but St. Thomas students, staff and faculty receive a $55 discount.

The annual pass allows you to take a bike when you want one, and return it to any station in the system when you are done riding. Owned and operated by a nonprofit organization, NiceRide is the second-largest bike-sharing system in the United States and recently passed the half-million-ride milestone.

Coupons for the discounted annual NiceRide subscriptions are available at TommieCentral, the information desk located on the first floor of Anderson Student Center. For more information about how NiceRide works, click here. If you are on Facebook, you can visit the Nice Ride at UST page.

The coupons will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. The passes are good for one year from the date of purchase.

To see a map of the NiceRide stations in the Twin Cities, click here.

On St. Thomas’ St. Paul campus, you’ll find the NiceRide stations:

• at Grand and Cretin avenues, just outside the east entrance to the Anderson Parking Facility;
• on the east side of Cleveland Avenue just north of Laurel Avenue (across the street from the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas);
• on the walkway between Anderson Student Center and O’Shaughnessy Stadium;
• 0n Mississippi River Boulevard near the monument at the end of Summit Avenue.

Half a dozen NiceRide stations are located along Grand Avenue. You’ll also find them at St. Catherine University and in Highland Village.

Half a dozen NiceRide stations also are located within a few blocks of St. Thomas’ downtown Minneapolis campus. The two closest are on Hennepin Avenue between 10th and 11th streets, and on 10th Street between the Nicollet Mall and Marquette Avenue.

Four NiceRide stations are located on the university’s St. Paul campus, and several are within a few blocks of the Minneapolis campus.

The grant to fund the NiceRide program at St. Thomas was written by students in Dr. Paul Lorah’s Conservation Geography class. They are: Malia Foster, Lisa Miller, Andrew Henke, Mitchell Schaps, Nick Yannarelly, Jay Kidd, Sonkaley Nelson, Martin Tow, Lauren Reuss, Nicole Elbert, Julie Rech, Phil Gebauer, Emily Jorgensen and Tou Lor.

The $20,000 grant is funded by St. Thomas’ Campus Sustainability Fund, which supports the university’s commitment to become climate neutral by 2035 as outlined by the UST Climate Action Plan‌‎.

In addition to providing more than 600 discounted NiceRide subscriptions, the project has an educational component: Students will analyze how members of the St. Thomas community use the NiceRide system and then estimate reductions in carbon emissions that may result from using bicycles rather than cars.

• Beth Bergfield, Faculty Development
• Laurie Dimond, Theology Department
• Dede Hering, Tommie Central
• Rick Morcos, Physical Plant
• Bill Zych, Keffer Library

They will be joining the current members of the council: Debbie Cattoor, Development; Corey Getchell, Opus College of Business; Barb Joynson, Alumni and Constituent Relations; Lisa Keiser, Health and Human Performance Department; Julie Kimlinger, O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library; Pa Nhia Lee, Career Development; and Ann Schiffer, The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity.

The newly elected officers for 2013-14 are:

• Lisa Keiser, chair
• Julie Kimlinger, vice chair
• Dede Hering, secretary
• Ann Schiffer
• Corey Getchell, treasurer

The council also wishes to thank the following outgoing council members for their two years of leadership and service:

• Barb Dunker, Assistant to the Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer
• Julie Jepma, Psychology Department
• Kathy Sauro, Opus College of Business
• Brittney Wolf, Opus College of Business

The Nonexempt Staff Council aspires to build a strong and healthy workplace by fostering communication with the university’s administration and its constituents, identifying and advocating for common interests, focusing on collaboration and building community within the University. Visit its website. Suggestions, feedback and comments are welcome.

“Christians Must Confront Scientific Illiteracy,” Huffington Post, May 21, 2013. Commentary by School of Law professor Charles Reid.

“Extended interview with St. Thomas Geologist about gravel slide,” KARE 11, May 23, 2013. Geology professor Tom Hickson is quoted.

“Pope Francis Opens a New Chapter in Catholic-Muslim Relations,” Star Tribune, May 23, 2013. The Muslim Christian Dialogue Center is mentioned.

“Tommies Blog: St. Thomas Wins 6th Straight All-Sports Title,” WCCO, May 23, 2013.

“HOME SALES: Low inventory plagues Twin Cities,” KMSP, May 23, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Herb Tousley is quoted.

“Beyond Bounds: Dribbling 400 Miles Across MN For Social Change,” WCCO, May 24, 2013. UST alumni Alex Daley and Matt Scott are profiled.

“St. Paul begins search for answers after landslide that took two young lives,” Pioneer Press, May 24, 2013. Geology professor Tom Hickson is quoted.

“Soccer diplomacy puts bounce in nonprofit,” Pioneer Press, May 26, 2013. UST alumni Alex Daley and Matt Scott are profiled.

“Business forum: Most solutions create other problems,” Star Tribune, May 26, 2013. Commentary by Fred Zimmerman, professor emeritus of engineering.

“Ask the consultant: What’s a good way to bring products to market?” Star Tribune, May 26, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Jay Ebben is quoted.

“Reflecting on 50 years after Vatican II,” The Long Island Catholic, May 26, 2013. Theology professor Massimo Faggioli is profiled.

“St. Thomas grads crossing Minnesota one kick at a time,” Pioneer Press, May 28, 2013. UST alumni Alex Daley and Matt Scott are profiled.

“This Cool Spring Could Mean Big Sales On Seasonal Clothes,” WCCO, May 28, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Dave Brennan is quoted.

“Twin Cities home prices up, but troubles remain,” Pioneer Press, May 28, 2013. The monthly report from the Shenehon Center for Real Estate is referenced.

“Negative equity keeps number of metro homes for sale at historic low, KMSP, May 28, 2013. The monthly report from the Shenehon Center for Real Estate is referenced.

“Five writers win $25,000 McKnight fellowships,” Pioneer Press, May 29, 2013. English professor Matthew Batt is mentioned.

“What you need to know about health care reform,” Northwest Community Television Channel 12, May 29, 2013. National Institute of Health Policy director Dave Durenberger is quoted.

“Housing’s up, what about the economy?” KARE 11, May 30, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Herb Tousley is quoted.

“’Functional stupidity’: Is it smart to play dumb on the job?” Star Tribune, May 31, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Chad Brinsfield is quoted.

“Outside Consultant: Getting visitors to follow through,” Star Tribune, June 2, 2013. Master of Business Communication director Michael Porter is quoted.

“Car sales gain momentum in Minnesota,” KMSP June 2, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Dave Brennan is quoted.

“Hot Minn. Real Estate Market Leads to ‘Alternative’ Listings,” KSTP, June 4, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Tom Musil is quoted.

“U.S. home prices make biggest jump in 7 years,” KMSP, June 4, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Herb Tousley is quoted.

“Black school suspensions twice the population rates in St. Paul suburbs,” Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, June 5, 2013. School of Law professor Nekima Levy-Pounds is quoted.

“Late Start on Farming Delays Locally-Grown Food,” KSTP, June 5, 2013. Opus College of Business professor David Vang is quoted.

At 1:08 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, a UST student reported his residence on the 2100 block of Selby Avenue had been burglarized. The student had been out the night before and upon returning the following day, discovered two computers and a game system had been taken from his home. The student stated his neighbors heard people in his residence at approximately 11:45 p.m. the night before. The student could not recall if he had secured his residence and did not have further information on how this may have occurred.

At 6 p.m. Sunday, June 2, a UST student reported the garage of her residence on the 2100 block of Dayton Avenue had been burglarized. The student stated her secured garage had been forcibly entered and a bike was stolen. This incident was reported to the St. Paul Police Department.

There are no known suspects in either incident.

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.

For more information, see Public Safety’s June 4 Advisory. Other recent alerts, advisories and bulletins, as well as crime prevention and safety tips, also are posted on the St. Thomas Public Safety website.

My work at the Opus College of Business is not my first career, but I have been fascinated with intellectual property law since I wrote my first research paper on fair use in copyright as an undergrad. I’d planned to proceed directly to law school, but because I had developed an interest in the publishing industry, I spent my first ten years after college working in college textbook and scholarly publishing. It was this work, including negotiating international subsidiary rights and distribution agreements, which made me realize the importance of understanding foreign law in international business practices. I pursued my J.D. in the early 1990s, focusing on private and public international law and intellectual property, and practiced with a boutique business law firm in Minneapolis after graduating. It was during that time that I began teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas.

I love both teaching and research. My research always follows along two tracks: pedagogy and the scholarship of teaching and comparative law. The first stream helped me to develop my teaching philosophy and what I believe are appropriate projects to prepare undergraduates and graduate students for business careers. I’ve presented this work at conferences in the United States and Europe and am delighted my jury simulation has been used in colleges and universities across the United States, including Wharton’s M.B.A. program.

My substantive research has focused on comparative law in the digital age. As people and businesses interact on the internet, knowing foreign laws and the philosophical and  historical underpinnings for those laws becomes increasingly important. My first big scholarly piece delineated what U.S.-based multinational employers with operations in the EU needed to know about the European Union Data Privacy Directive. European views on privacy differ substantially from those in the United States. European Law gives people a fundamental human right in data about themselves that protects them from unauthorized processing. This means that businesses and employers must follow very specific rules if they are going to use someone’s personal information, including obtaining permission to do so. Because of my law school training, my co-writers gave me the tasks of researching the historical basis for the Data Privacy Directive and explaining the requirements of the EU law, including how the law varies from country-to- country. The work was important to me professionally, not only because it was published in a top journal, but also because I learned a great deal about European Union law. Data privacy also became a key topic in the undergraduate international business law class when we studied comparative privacy law and how differing perceptions on privacy impact how businesses operate.

My research then shifted to international and comparative intellectual property law. For companies based in the United States their intellectual property (patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets) are often their most valuable asset. Intellectual property law, long considered esoteric and outside public scrutiny, has become more and more controversial as millions worldwide download their favorite music and movies without paying the copyright owners and as patented technologies expand to include genetics and inventions implemented on computers or software. Increasingly, the international community has mandated a certain level of harmonization in national laws.

I began my comparative intellectual property work in the early 2000s, focusing on copyright in the digital era. Two World Intellectual Property Association treaties designed to address the issue of copyright infringement via the Internet recently had been transposed into national law. I completed one of the first comparative studies of the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the European Union Directive on Digital Copyright. That paper focused on some of the more draconian aspects of the laws, which circumscribe many of the uses we have come to expect, such as use for research, teaching, private use and news casting in instances where the digital content is protected by code.

For the last several years, my research has focused on patent law. I began this work with a marketing colleague in preparation for an international conference in Brazil. We compared the development of the pharmaceutical industries in Brazil and India based on how and when each country implemented World Trade Organization requirements for drug patents into their law. One of the most hotly debated issues in patent law has been the proliferation of patents for software and business methods. A colleague from the University of Florida and I recently have published the most comprehensive article on this side of the Atlantic comparing the U.S. approach to patenting software and business methods to how the issues are handled under European law in the European Patent Office, the United Kingdom and Germany. Last year, the United States passed the American Invents Act, our first comprehensive patent reform in almost 60 years. Shortly after the law was enacted, a group of scholars in the Academy of Legal Studies in Business invited me to provide a comparative law perspective in a book project designed to consider the impact the AIA will have on American businesses. Part of the impetus for the book is that much patent scholarship does not provide this kind of business orientation. My work considers changes in U.S. law that allow business competitors to challenge the validity of issued patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office without having to resort to costly litigation. The work compares the new U.S. system with that in operation in the European Patent Office, where post grant oppositions have been useful in weeding out bad patents. It also considers the U.S. system in light of national patent offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and China, which have abandoned their post grant review procedures in recent years.

My research in comparative and international law has opened a world of opportunities to me. Based on this research, I have been invited to teach in Russia, Hungary, France and Germany, and as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at Bene Suef University in Egypt. It also has led to other foreign travel, including Jordan, where I participated on a panel that considered the impact of culture on the development of intellectual property laws at the World Arbitration Forum on Intellectual Property. The forum was attended by academics, intellectual property lawyers and judges from around the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf.

Most recently, I traveled to Beijing, China, this year on a faculty development grant to speak with intellectual property scholars and practitioners. The opportunity to meet colleagues and practitioners from these countries, which are in the throes of developing patent laws appropriate to their cultures and economies in light of international norms, has been both fascinating and instructive and has helped me develop a sensitivity to how those issues play out in their laws.

According to my colleagues at the recent book colloquium, I am one of the leading experts in the academy on comparative intellectual property law writing in the United States. Because of its size and relative power in shaping global intellectual property law debates, some believe the United States has set the accepted, international standard for intellectual property protection. I don’t agree. There is much we can learn from how intellectual property laws function in other countries. In the creation of the America Invents Act, many looked to Europe when formulating post grant review procedures. In addition, as countries – such as China, India and Brazil – continue to develop as global economic engines, their laws also will develop in ways that best meet the needs of their economies. Because it is likely some of these countries, particularly China, will have a growing impact on the global intellectual property agenda, it is important to understand the economic and cultural norms driving changes in those countries.

I’ve been fortunate to have a number of very talented undergraduate, JD/MBA and law students involved in my work over the years. They have helped me with the discrete pieces of my comparative law research; moreover my comparative work has influenced my collaboration with students on their own research through a number of the Young Scholars and Collaborative Inquiry Grants and/or in their independent study courses.

Last year I worked with one of our legal studies in business students, directing her research on EU laws impacting social media. Her paper was selected as a finalist in the Academy of Legal Studies in Business’ student paper contest. She presented the paper at the academy’s national conference in New Orleans. This student has been accepted to the St. Thomas School of Law and it is my hope that this kind of research preparation will serve her well in graduate school. I hope to work with another law major during the coming academic year on a project that considers recent changes in China’s intellectual property laws.

Teaching is my family’s “business.” Both of my parents were teachers and the first generation in their families to attend college. They were my role models and played a pivotal role in my decision to become a professor. My dad was one of 13 children and the son of an immigrant from Slovenia. He was one of nine in his family to attend college and become educators. Education was the way he and his siblings moved toward the American dream. My mother also was the first in her immediate family to earn a college degree. She served as an inspiration as well. In addition to teaching, she became a researcher, writing one of the seminal works in listening communications. Both of my parents completed their undergraduate educations at private Catholic schools.

I am really proud to be following in their footsteps and that I’m able to teach and research at St. Thomas in the tradition I passed down to me by my parents. In the mid-1980s, while working in the publishing industry in Chicago, I wanted to teach at a college of business and had considered a Ph.D. in marketing at the time. My career, however, took me in a different direction. I’m absolutely delighted it has brought me to teaching in the Opus College of Business, where I have the opportunity to research the law in my areas of interest – areas that I believe will have an impact on the business community.

Susan Marsnik is associate professor of Ethics and Business Law at the Opus College of Business.

From Exemplars, a publication of the Grants and Research Office.

As one of the university’s wellness program enhancements, effective June 1, 2013, the University of St. Thomas will offer complimentary Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex (AARC) memberships to all regular full-time and part-time employees. AARC activity will automatically feed into Vitality, the new rewards-based wellness program, and employees who utilize Vitality will earn points for their fitness activities. Each point earned is worth one “Vitality Buck,” which can be redeemed for rewards at the online Vitality Mall.

Lockers and fitness classes will continue to be offered for a nominal fee. For more information visit the AARC website.

Locker rental

A limited number of faculty and staff lockers are available to rent at the AARC. Lockers must be rented by term. Rental is $10 per month for each month of the term. (Summer term is $30, which includes June, July and August.)

For more information about renting a locker visit the AARC website.

Other locker options

• Daily lockers are available for use in the women’s and men’s general locker rooms. Daily locker users must bring their own locks to secure belongings. Contents of daily lockers may be kept in the lockers only on the day the lockers are being used. Locks that remain on daily lockers longer then 24-hours will be removed, and contents will be placed in the lost and found at the AARC front desk for seven days. After seven days the contents will be donated or thrown out.
• Airport-style lockers also are available for day use and are located at the entrance of the restricted-access area. Contents of these lockers, which are smaller than the daily lockers described above, may be kept in the lockers only on the day the lockers are being used. Contents left in an airport style locker longer than 24-hours will be removed and placed in the lost and found at the AARC front desk for seven days. Visit the AARC front desk to be issued a key to use a daily airport-style locker.

Fitness classes

A variety of fitness classes are offered to faculty and staff during each term for a fee. Faculty and staff can sign up for fitness classes at the Tommie Central desk inside the Anderson Student Center.

For more information about fitness class offerings and related fees visit the AARC website.

For information about your employee status contact the UST Benefits Department, (651) 962-6520.

Conklin, 77, of Mendota Heights, died Tuesday after suffering a heart attack last week.

A native of Minneapolis and a 1958 graduate of St. Thomas with degrees in English and psychology, Conklin was a reporter for the Minneapolis Star before he returned to his alma mater in 1962 to serve as News Bureau director, journalism instructor and Aquin adviser.

He moved to South Bend, Ind., in 1967 to become assistant director of public information at Notre Dame and stayed for 35 years, retiring as associate vice president for university relations. He received a master’s degree in American studies at Notre Dame and served as the biographer of Father Theodore Hesburgh, president of Notre Dame from 1952 to 1987.

Conklin and his wife, Annette, moved back to Minnesota after his retirement in 2001. He wrote for Notre Dame and St. Thomas magazines and was the author of the 2009 book, 125 Years: A Look at Interesting and Influential People in the History of St. Thomas. A voracious reader who loved to discuss everything from literature to public policy to sports, he took several undergraduate English classes offered to senior citizens through the Selim Center for Learning in Later Years at St. Thomas.

“You would be hard-pressed to find a wiser communications professional or a better writer than Dick,” said Doug Hennes, vice president for university and government relations at St. Thomas. “He had an absolutely wonderful way with words, he wrote with wit and eloquence, and he always had me scrambling for a dictionary to look up a word that he would use in a story.”

When Conklin turned 70, his children published Irish Whiskey Neat and Other Remembrances, an anthology of his stories, essays, letters to the editor, scripts, Christmas letters and pithy notes “of putative interest,” as he would describe them.

He also was a stickler for correct language, and always said he would haunt anyone who misused “who” and “whom” at his funeral. He often quipped, “When I get old and you’re pushing me around Lake Harriet, one day I’m just going to say, ‘Take a left.’” As his death notice in the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune on Friday will add: “Always one for planning, he has taken that turn on his own. And he will be greatly missed.”

In addition to his wife, survivors include children Rick, Christy and Marc, three grandchildren, four brothers and two sisters. Memorials may be made to St. Thomas, Notre Dame, St. Catherine University or the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Mendota. Visitation will be from 9 to 11 a.m. at the church, with burial in Resurrection Cemetery, Mendota Heights.

Read more from Notre Dame News – In Memoriam: Richard W. Conklin, former associate vice president of University Relations

Harold Macoubrey Cragg

Please remember in your prayers Harold Macoubrey Cragg, a lifelong St. Paul resident who died Thursday, May 23.

Cragg, 91, had a passion for learning and took classes at the University of St. Thomas until his death. He was a graduate of St. Mark’s School, St. Thomas Academy and the University of Minnesota.

He was a U.S. Marine Corps aviator during World War II.

Mass of Christian Burial was held Tuesday, May 28. An obituary and guest book can be viewed at legacy.com.

At 9:52 p.m. on May 25, three UST students reported they were victims of an armed robbery on Marshall Avenue at Moore Street. An unidentified male suspect approached the students from behind and stated that he had a gun. He instructed one of the students to give him her purse. The suspect took the student’s purse and another student’s wallet. The suspect then fled in an unknown direction on foot. The students reported the suspect had a small silver handgun in his hand, but it was never pointed at them. The students then went to Izzy’s Ice Cream and contacted the St. Paul Police Department.

The suspect is described as a white male, in his 40s, slightly overweight, wearing a red hat and gray sweatshirt.

The University of St. Thomas believes that descriptors alone are not a valid reason to profile or cast suspicion on any individual. They are included here because they may reasonably assist in identifying the perpetrator of this incident.

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.

For more information, see Public Safety’s May 26 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.

Members of President Sullivan’s Move-in Crew will greet new students and help move their belongings from their cars to their residence hall rooms. It is a great way for the UST Community to welcome our new students who are living on campus.

The official first-year student move in day is Saturday, August 31. The following volunteer times are available:

• 7-11 a.m.
• 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
• 3-7 p.m.

Sign up here to become a member of the Move-in Crew.

If you are a faculty or staff member and would like to work a half shift, complete the form and email Cari Fealy with your preferred two-hour time slot.

Knudson suffered a serious head injury in a recent motorcycle accident and is in intensive care at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester.

Knudson and Lee have three young children.

“House listings in the Twin Cities up 7.7 percent; sales up 5.3 percent,” Star Tribune, May 10, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Herb Tousley is quoted.

“Time to celebrate other ‘mothers,’ too,” Star Tribune, May 10, 2013. Communication and Journalism professor Carol Bruess is quoted.

“Minneapolis political upheaval signals possible major change at City Hall,” MinnPost, May 13, 2013. Communication and Journalism professor Kevin Sauter is quoted.

“Good Question: How Often Are Women Taking Their Husbands’ Names?” WCCO, May 15, 2013. Communication and Journalism professor Carol Bruess is quoted.

“Obituary: Robert Cherry Foy II, professor at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul,” Star Tribune, May 16, 2013.

“Friday Opinuendo: Minnesota: On business ethics, memorials, and more,” Pioneer Press, May 17, 2013. The Center for Ethical Business Cultures is mentioned.

“Youth sports experts answer viewer questions,” KARE 11, May 17, 2013. Head men’s basketball coach and Psychology professor John Tauer is quoted.

“Parents Express Concerns about Day Care Unionization Costs,” KSTP, May 17, 2013. Finance professor Dave Vang is quoted.

“The Vatican’s Rebirth in the Face of Scandal,” Huffington Post, May 17, 2013. Theology professor Massimo Faggioli is featured.

“Higher sales, hiring and spending signal robust business optimism,” Star Tribune, May 17, 2013. Finance professor Dave Vang is quoted.

“Foes of Minnesota’s same-sex marriage law don’t see way to block it,” Star Tribune, May 18, 2013. School of Law professor Tom Berg is quoted.

“Minnesota: Don’t cherry-pick: be real about the effects of higher taxes,” Pioneer Press, May 18, 2013. Commentary by Finance professor John Spry.

“Heartland Institute wastes real scientists’ time – yet again,” The Guardian, May 20, 2013. Commentary by Engineering professor John Abraham.

“Christians Must Confront Scientific Illiteracy,” Huffington Post, May 21, 2013. Commentary by School of Law professor Charles Reid.

“Extended interview with St. Thomas Geologist about gravel slide,” KARE 11, May 22, 2013. Environmental Science program director Tom Hickson is featured.

“If You Build It, Who Will Come?” Washington City Paper, May 22, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Charles “Mel” Gray is mentioned.

“MALL OF AMERICA: Does bigger mean better?” KMSP, May 22, 2013. Opus College of Business professor Dave Brennan is quoted.

“Disproving science when it comes to an afterlife,” The Catholic Register, May 22, 2013. Theology professor Terence Nichols is mentioned.

Budget managers and requesters should plan ahead by using the following guidelines regarding the purchase of goods and services as we transition from one fiscal year to the next.

Charging Appropriate Fiscal Year

The date that goods or services are received is used as the determining factor in deciding which fiscal year to charge. This method is based upon Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Payment should be made out of the current FY ’13 budget if:

• Supplies and products are received on or before June 30, 2013
• Services were performed on or before June 30, 2013

Payment should be made out of the FY ’14 budget if:

• Supplies and products are received on or after July 1, 2013
• Services are performed on or after July 1, 2013
• A trip occurs on or after July 1, 2013, even if a Prepaid Expense Report is submitted earlier
• Services are performed on or after July 1, 2013, even if they are prepaid

Services that will cross over both fiscal years will be charged to the year in which most of the services are provided. For example, if a consultant begins providing service on June 24 and ends services on July 19, the entire amount will be charged to FY ’14.

FY ’13 purchases: Before you place your order, verify that the vendor can and will deliver before June 30. Your purchase requisitions for FY ’13 must be complete and through the approval process by Friday, June 7, 2013. Please keep in mind that some product categories (for example: furniture and technology) may require longer lead-times.  

FY ’14 purchases: You may start to order goods or services against the new budget on Monday, June 3, 2013. To use the new budget, the accounting date must be changed to July 1, 2013 or later, and goods or services must be delivered on or after July 1, 2013. The vendor should be aware that they must deliver after July 1, 2013. Keep in mind that if the goods or services purchased are received before June 30 they will be charged in the current FY ’13.

Payments processed in Accounts Payable: Submit all FY ’13 employee reimbursements, prepaid requests, cash advances, independent contractor requests, check requests, invoices, PO invoices and miscellaneous payment requests by Friday, June 21, 2013. If you incur expenses between June 22 and 30, please submit payment requests by Friday July 5, 2013. Remember that the current fiscal budget must have funds available to cover these expenses.

WellsOne purchases: If you are using a UST WellsOne Commercial Card to make material purchases near year end, you must be aware that the bank cycle ends on June 30, 2013. Please be aware that if purchases are made close to the bank cycle end date, it is not guaranteed that the charges will be charged to FY ’13 (because there may be a timing delay from when the actual purchase was made and when the vendor submits the credit card charges to WellsOne). Please return completed reconciliations to Room 202, Aquinas Hall, or mail them to Mail #AQU 202 by Tuesday, July 9, 2013.

If you have questions regarding these procedures please email Phyllis Meath, Purchasing Services; Jim Johnson, Accounts Payable; or Allison Hanson (for budget matters), Controller’s Office.

2013 Timeline:

• Monday, June 3, 2013: FY 2014 Budget opens
• Friday, June 7, 2013: All FY ’13 requisitions must be complete and through the approval process
• Friday, June 21, 2013: All FY ’13 payments need to be submitted
• Tuesday, July 9, 2013: All June WellsOne reconciliations must be turned into Room 202, Aquinas Hall, or Mail #AQU 202

The programs are free and offered in part to celebrate the center’s 40th year at St. Thomas. The center offers an extensive calendar of spring and fall semester short courses and educational programs that are tailored for those 50 and older.

No registration is required for the summer programs. Each will be held in Woulfe Alumni Hall on the third floor of Anderson Student Center, located at the corner of Summit and Cretin avenues.

The summer programs are:

“The Seductive Quality of the Music of Film” will be presented from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 5.

Dr. Christopher Kachian of the St. Thomas Music Department will discuss the purpose of film music and techniques that composers and directors employ to keep viewers entranced.

Kachian heads the Guitar Studies Program at St. Thomas and has given more than 500 performances in Japan, China, Africa, Cuba, Costa Rica, Peru and throughout Europe and North America.

“Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” will be presented from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 19.

The programs begins with Stanley Kubrick’s funny and thought-provoking 1963 film and ends with a discussion on the making of the film, its impact 50 years ago and its relevance today.

The discussion will be led by filmmaker James Snapko, who has taught film studies and filmmaking at St. Thomas since 2002.

“Psychology and Aging” will be presented from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 17.

Dr. Ben Denkinger of the Augsburg College Psychology Department will examine how our thinking, memory, socialization and acquired knowledge changes in the course of normal, healthy aging. In particular, he will discuss how different forms of intelligence and memory stay stable or fluctuate as we age, as well as some of the approaches to managing and accommodating these expected changes.

Denkinger is a cognitive and biological psychologist who specializes in age-related changes in memory and the perception of time.

Evon, 91, died Tuesday, May 21, at her residence in Apple Valley at Seasons Care Center. A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at Czapleweski Funeral Home in Hayfield, Minn.

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?”

The survey generated overall favorable responses between 58 and 84 percent in seven theme areas: Catholicism in today’s world; communication and community engagement; diversity effectiveness, commitment and accountability; diversity engagement; diversity-related experiences; equitable treatment; and satisfaction with the university.

The 5,429 respondents who completed or partially completed the survey gave higher marks to St. Thomas in all seven theme areas compared to the 2007 campus climate survey. Double-digit percentage favorable increases were uniform among faculty, staff and students in the equitable treatment and Catholicism in today’s world themes.

“Upon conclusion of the 2007 survey, I asked that the community work to make the university a more welcoming and inclusive place,” said Father Dennis Dease, president. “Clearly, all have taken that to heart. I am gratified by the improvement.”

“We have made significant progress since 2007, but we realize we still have areas to address,” said Dr. Susan Alexander, executive advisor to the president and the university’s affirmative action officer, and Dr. Michael Cogan, associate vice president for records and institutional effectiveness. “We have done some very good things over the last six years, but with any project like this we always need to look at ways to make St. Thomas more inclusive for everybody.”

Cogan credited the 36-person Climate Study Advisory Group (CSAG), which began meeting last September, with playing a key role. The group’s objectives were to provide a variety of perspectives and ideas in developing survey questions, encourage participation and develop research questions answered by data analysis when the survey was completed.

“I am impressed with the participation at all levels,” Cogan said. “Everybody pitched in here – from CSAG’s involvement on each and every issue to such a strong response rate from students, faculty and staff  – and that made a big difference.”

Survey results will be turned over to Dr. Julie Sullivan, who will become president on July 1, for further analysis and study on ways to continue to improve campus climate. (Links to survey results are at the bottom of this story.)

Survey conducted in March

Cogan’s office sent survey invitations to 13,619 St. Thomas community members in late February and followed up with four email reminders before closing the survey on March 22. Nearly 4,200 people (31 percent) completed the survey and more than 1,200 people responded to at least one question for a combined response rate of 40 percent.

In addition to quantitative results, nearly 1,050 people responded to the question, “Please provide any additional comments … that you would like to share as it relates to your experience at the university, campus culture, or the university’s diversity and inclusion initiative.” Those comments were grouped into five themes: affiliation, diversity, leadership, mission and finances.

Cogan defined several university “strengths” as determined by the quantitative survey:

• Five questions related to the “satisfaction with the university” theme generated an 84 percent overall favorable rating (75 percent in 2007), with students at 85 percent (78 percent), staff at 81 percent (70 percent) and faculty at 76 percent (61 percent). The range was 73 percent for full-time faculty to 88 percent for graduate students; male and female respondents were equally satisfied.
• The community had the most favorable perception of the four questions presented in the “diversity engagement” theme – 86 percent overall (compared with 80 percent in 2007), 86 percent of students (82 percent), 84 percent of faculty (78 percent) and 83 percent staff (78 percent)
• Graduate students were more favorable than undergraduate students on six of the seven themes.

Cogan also defined several “opportunities” coming out of the quantitative survey:

• Respondents who identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender had a less favorable perception of campus climate than heterosexuals, and reported lower satisfaction scores on all seven themes.
• People of two or more races had a less favorable perception than those of one race in responding to 14 questions that were part of the diversity effectiveness, commitment and accountability theme.
• Full-time faculty generally had the least favorable perception of the university’s climate when compared to staff and students.
• Women had a less favorable perception of the eight questions related to the equitable treatment theme than men.
• Those who identified English as their native language were less favorable regarding all seven themes when compared to those who indicated English was not their native language.

In addition to Cogan and Alexander, CSAG members are: Jill Akervik, Young-Ok An, Bernard Armada, Kristine Baker, Maureen Bird, Sanjeev Bordoloi, Chad Brinsfield, Jane Canney, Nicholas Chang, Linda Dorn, Barb Dunker, Bridget Duoos, Terry Eggert, Kristi Flanagan Villar, Kari Fletcher, Marla Friederichs, Lori Friedman, Michael Glirbas, Mari Graham, Sara Gross Methner, Ann Johson, Lisa Keiser, Sushant Khullar, Aaron Macke, Father John Malone, Susan Myers, Mike Orth, Peter Parilla, Eleni Roulis, Julie Seykora, Victoria Svoboda, Becca Swiler, Mark Vangsgard and Amanda Wright.

Links to climate survey data

For more information, go to:

• The Office of Institutional effectiveness climate survey website.
• A summary of the survey findings (PDF).
• The abridged results (PDF).
• The extended results (PDF).

Huber met recently with Dr. Julie Sullivan, president-elect, and agreed to remain for another year before ending an association with St. Thomas that began as a graduate student and continued with roles as a professor and administrator for more than two decades.

“I want to thank Sue for her exceptional service to the university,” said Father Dennis Dease, president, who appointed her executive vice president and chief academic officer on an interim basis in June 2008 and on a permanent basis the following April. “She has performed with distinction in every position she has held, and she has been a great leader and collaborator on so many projects.”

“I am pleased and grateful that Sue will remain with St. Thomas for another academic year,” said Sullivan, who will succeed Dease as president when he retires June 30. “Continuity is necessary in a position as critical as chief academic officer, especially with issues such as our accreditation visit this fall. It’s important that Sue is involved in those issues.”

Sullivan said she will launch a national search this fall for Huber’s replacement.

Huber said she will retire with mixed emotions because she has loved each of the faculty and administrative positions that she has held at St. Thomas since 1992.

“I have never been bored at work, and that’s because St. Thomas is such a dynamic institution,” she said. I can’t imagine having a more satisfying career. This is a stimulating educational community, and I will always treasure the time I have spent in the classroom with students and outside of the classroom engaged with colleagues in efforts to improve our programs and our learning environment.”

Huber joined the St. Thomas community as a graduate student and earned two degrees: a master’s in curriculum and instruction and a doctorate in educational leadership. Her bachelor’s degree in Latin and English is from the former College of St. Teresa in Winona.

She taught English in Burnsville and Roseville public schools and English as a Second Language at Hamline University before she moved to St. Andrew’s Catholic School in St. Paul as an English teacher and then principal. She was dean of continuing education and special programs at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota before joining the St. Thomas School of Education faculty.

She served as chair of the Teacher Education Department and was associate dean of the School of Education before she was appointed interim dean in 2006. She became the first dean of the College of Applied Professional Studies in 2007 after a decision to bring the School of Education and the Graduate School of Professional Psychology into the new college (since renamed the College of Education, Learning and Counseling).

Huber’s professional appointments include service on the boards of Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, and the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at St. Thomas and St. John’s University. She is a board member at Risen Christ School in Minneapolis and a former board member of the Convent of the Visitation School in Mendota Heights.