Saint Mary's Newsroom
Campus ConnectionAn update from the president to alumni and parents
Next Cardinal Update Live is Feb. 11
Mark your calendars for the next Cardinal Update Live Thursday, Feb. 11, at noon. This will be a similar format to the first Cardinal Update Live held in November.
Looking ahead, the next event, the spring Update, will be Thursday, April 15. All current staff and faculty from all campuses are welcome to attend.
Topics to be shared at the meeting include the introduction of new employees since November, plans in place for this term and semester (including COVID-19 safety precautions), an update on the strategic plan, and other news.
Father Burns shares thoughts on Lasallian Catholic education
Father James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D., president, is profiled in the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities section called @ the helm. Included is a biography as well as a Q&A about Saint Mary’s mission, strategic plan, and other visions for American Catholic higher education.
Additionally, Father Burns and Michael Hahn, Ph.D., director of Character and Virtue Education, co-wrote an article titled “Lasallian Education: Following in the Footsteps of the Greats” for the most recent AXIS Journal. This paper is inspired by and responds to the annual theme for 2019-2020 developed by the Brothers of the Christian Schools: “Great Things Are Possible.”
Human Resources update
Verify your first paycheck of 2021 is accurate
To ensure your 2021 benefit deductions are accurate, please review your Jan. 8 and Jan. 22 paystub. You can view your paystub by visiting the faculty/staff portal > My Payroll > Pay History tab > Paystubs. If you notice an error in the “Payroll Deduction” section of your paystub, please contact HR at hr@smumn.edu.
Staff performance evaluations
The staff performance evaluation process began Dec. 3, 2020, and concludes Jan. 31, 2021. This year, we have an improved performance review form and simpler guidelines. The new form and guidelines are saved on the HR page of Blackboard. Please speak with your manager or HR if you have any questions. HR will collect the completed reviews and ensure they are placed in employee personnel files.
2020 W-2
All current employees may access their 2020 W-2 form by logging into the faculty/staff portal > My Payroll > Pay History tab at the top > Tax Forms. The 2020 W-2 will automatically appear, and you have the ability to access your 2019 and 2018 W-2s if necessary. If you have any questions concerning your W-2 form, contact Paul Wildenborg at pwildenb@smumn.edu.
Looking for orientation leader recommendations
The New Student Orientation and Registration (NSOR) staff is looking for your recommendation of student leaders in your area who would be great representatives on the orientation leader staff.
If you know of any students who are exceptional leaders and great representatives of your department, please fill out this form. The NSOR staff will personally reach out to recommended students and encourage them to apply for this position.
Orientation leader applications are available on Handshake and due Friday, Feb. 12. Students should be current first years, sophomores, juniors, or continuing seniors who have a 2.5 GPA or higher. Resident assistants, peer ministers, and admissions ambassadors for the 2021-22 school year are not eligible to be orientation leaders.
Doctor of Education in Leadership alumni and students making a difference
Students, faculty, and alumni of the Doctor of Education in Leadership are making a difference.
Here are some of the most recent examples:
Dr. Michael Butzow (Ed.D. alumnus) was recently named the director of Field Experiences and Student Teaching in the School of Education at the University of Northwestern St. Paul.
Joann Reeck (Ed.D. student) was promoted to vice president for Equity and Inclusion at Augsburg University.
Carrie Bowler (Ed.D. student) was promoted to operations manager for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mayo Clinic. She has operational oversight of the Divisions of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Innovation, and Quality.
Milpha Blamo (Ed.D. student) was promoted to vice president of Talent and Culture at The Minneapolis Foundation.
Amy Woxland (Ed.D. student) was elected to the 2020 School Board for Rushford-Peterson school district in Minnesota.
Publications by recent alumni, faculty, and students include:
Hudda Ibrahim (Ed.D. student) is an author, community advocate, and educator. Her closet is full of hijabs in different styles, patterns, and of course, colors! Her first book, “From Somalia to Snow,” explores how central Minnesota became home to Somalis. Ibrahim hopes this book brings joy to the girls who wear hijabs and brings light to all of the people they meet. “What Color is My Hijab?” is a children’s “learn your colors” book where a Muslim girl chooses what color hijab she’ll wear today. In the book, women of all different professions, including doctors and teachers, artists and politicians, are featured wearing their very colorful hijabs and a variety of clothing. Ibrahim says the variety is intentional, as it illustrates that like all Americans, Muslim women come from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and abilities.
Dr. Todd Redalen (Ed.D. alumnus) and Dr. Jack McClure (Ed.D. faculty), Redalen, T. & McClure, J.P. (2020). At-risk High School Students and High Prestige Extra-curricular activities. Journal of Scholastic Inquiry: Education 11(1) 48-60.
Dr. Ayodeji Oyebola (Ed.D. alumnus), Oyebola, A. (2020). Caring: The soul of leadership. Retrieved from www.emmright.com.
Two Ed.D. graduates also had their dissertations annotated in AXIS Journal of Lasallian Education:
Dr. Anthony C. Behan III (Ed.D. alumnus), “Lasallian Workplace Spirituality: Toward an Understanding of Meaningfulness, Belonging, and Person-Organization Fit of the Lasallian Workplace” Ed.D. dissertation, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, 2018, 163 pp. was annotated in AXIS Journal.
Dr. Christopher Fay (Ed.D. alumnus ), “Implementing Open-Education Resources in a Sustainable Manner: A Two-Case Study Using a Sustainability Model” Ed.D. dissertation, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, 2019, 131 pp. was annotated in AXIS Journal.
Winona Campus parking reminders
Campus Safety reminds Winona Campus faculty and staff that students are returning to campus, so faculty and staff should resume parking in the Purple Parking lots. Also, please remember to display your staff parking permit in the vehicle you have on campus. We have new mirror hanging staff parking permits for this academic year, and some faculty and staff members have not gotten their new one yet. Come to the Campus Safety office in Toner room 115 (the information desk area) and have your vehicle information with you to get your new staff parking permit.
Get to Know Our Faculty: Dr. Matt J. Nowakowski, MBA, Ed.D.
We are thrilled to introduce you to Matt J. Nowakowski, MBA, Ed.D., program director and core associate professor for the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program. Dr. Nowakowski is an incredible professor and we are lucky to have him on our team for the last 13 years.
What courses do you teach for the DBA program?
- Global Markets and Resources
- Qualitative Research Methods
- Topical Papers in Innovation
- Seminar
Please share a little about your professional experience.
- Corporate and customer training at Nicolet Instruments/Thermo Electron Corporation with international assignments in Japan, Sweden, Finland, and Saudi Arabia.
- Academic administration and faculty at Saint Mary’s University. I was awarded the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota “Distinguished Lasallian Educator” award in
What is one of your favorite quotes?
“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.” – Unknown
What are some of your hobbies?
Wildlife photography, weightlifting, martial arts.
What do you enjoy most about teaching?
Being in a state of perpetual academic wonder.
What is your favorite classroom assignment and why?
The field assignment in Qualitative Analysis. Students collect raw observational data and then apply theory and technique to try and make sense of it. It is practice for dissertation research.
What is your contact information?
You can email Dr. Nowakowski at mnowakow@smumn.edu or find him on LinkedIn.
Faculty Spotlight: John Ebert
We are so proud of the passionate professors we have instructing the enrolled students in our master’s programs in technology. John Ebert, Ed.D., has been a member of the Saint Mary’s faculty for 19 years, and is program director for the M.S. in Data Intelligence and GeoAnalytics program. We are so excited to share more about him!
What courses do you teach?
- Geospatial and Analytics Technologies
- Data Acquisition
- Research Methods
- Grant Writing
- Geo-AI (Artificial Intelligence)
- Marketing and Trend Analysis
Please share a little about your professional experience.
I have more than five years of experience in local government prior to starting my career at Saint Mary’s.
What is one of your favorite quotes?
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
What are some of your hobbies?
I enjoy beekeeping, motorcycling, land management, the great outdoors, trout fishing, city entertainment, etc. I pretty much enjoy a lot more than I can list here.
What do you enjoy most about teaching?
Seeing and working with students learning new technologies for the first time in class (for many) and then five years later, seeing them in leadership roles and innovating change in the field is very rewarding.
What is your favorite classroom assignment and why?
I love working through data-oriented problems or scenarios with students especially when a range of answers can be possible. This helps us to evaluate pros and cons of establishing various creative workflow processes.
What is your contact information?
You can email Professor Ebert at jebert@smumn.edu or find him on LinkedIn.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of character
A timely piece about Martin Luther King Jr. is featured on the Character and Virtue website. The article, titled “The Goal of True Education: Remembering the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.” focuses on Dr. King’s references to character and how it ties to our work at Saint Mary’s.
An excerpt: In fact, in 1947, while he was an undergraduate student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, the young King authored an essay titled “The Purpose of Education.” “We must remember that intelligence is not enough,” King wrote, “Intelligence plus character–that is the goal of true education.”
Today, as American higher education defends the value of “true education” against recent trends toward transactional understandings of education, King presciently wrote in that same essay, “Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.”
Saint Mary’s renewed focus on character education and virtue formation echoes King’s vision of true education. Grounded in our Lasallian Catholic mission, Saint Mary’s students receive a rigorous intellectual formation but also opportunities to develop their character and ethical leadership. “Despite all of the challenges that we face today, even with change throughout history, and respecting our differences, character is still capable of uniting us,” said Michael Hahn, Ph.D., program director of Saint Mary’s Character and Virtue Education program. “It remains a worthy and attainable goal of higher education.”
The Rev. James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D.
President
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
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