Saint Mary's Newsroom

New this week

CULTURE OF LIFE CLUB PRESENTS: Movie Night
Thursday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m. in SLC 200
Come watch the powerful true story “Unplanned” with the Culture of Life Club.

Lasallian Day of Service
Saturday, Oct. 10, from 1 to 3 p.m. 
Serve our Lasallian community by volunteering. While we cannot leave campus to be on mission this year, there are lots of ways to volunteer on our own campus. Sign up with Sister Mary Elizabeth Anne at campusminsitry@smumn.edu.

REJOICE!: A Musical Evening of Praise
Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. in Page Theater
All are invited to a special night of music, following the success of our inaugural Jesus Jam in the plaza. A variety of artists will perform a mix of songs from rock to traditional, both covers and originals. The seminary band, Sons of Thunder, will close with a 30 minute set. You don’t want to miss it!

Sign up by emailing campusministry@smumn.edu.

Beirut Lebanon explosion
On Aug. 4, 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded causing at least 200 deaths, 6,500 injuries, $10 to $15 billion in property damage, and leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless. The people are in desperate need of help.

Please pray for everyone affected by this bombing, and, if you are able, take advantage of the opportunity to donate: Saint Maron’s Church, Minneapolis

Your generosity will help millions of people recover from the devastation. Thank you.

JOIN THE KNIGHTS
The Knights of Columbus are accepting members. This is a Catholic fraternity on campus that promotes faith and charitable works. Contact Isaiah Lippert at ijlipp17@smumn.edu to learn more today.

Every week

QUO VADIS
Mondays at 7 p.m. in Saint Mary’s 102
Life’s big question’s, Catholic answers. All faith traditions are welcome, Catholic or not. Contact Brian Kusek at bkusek@smumn.edu to sign up (or come play games in the plaza before at 6:30 p.m.).

APOLOGETICS
Wednesdays at 4 p.m. in Saint Mary’s 102
Want to learn how to explain your faith? Join the conversation.

BIBLE STUDY
FOCUS Missionaries, peer ministers, staff, and seminarians all host bible studies for different groups with varying interests. Sign up by emailing campusministry@smumn.edu.

Hello,

Student Senate is excited to begin meetings again! Meetings will take place over Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. Email senate@smumn.edu for the Zoom link if you would like to join us.

Tuesday, Sept. 29, agenda:

1. Call to order
2. Reflection/prayer
3. Roll call
4.  Senate vision and expectations for the year
5.  Constitution, bylaws, and Robert’s rules
6.  Discussion: ideas on celebrating being on campus
7.  E-board reports
8. Senator concerns
9. Adjourn

Respectfully,
Kendall Archer,
Student Senate President

Saint Mary’s Hendrickson Institute for Ethical Leadership recently received an Educator Curriculum Award from Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) to promote interfaith leadership development opportunities. Specifically, the $500 award will support the implementation and promotion of IFYC’s We Are Each Other’s: Interfaith Leadership 101 curriculum on the Winona Campus.

“This training aligns with the mission of Saint Mary’s of fostering lives of leadership and service. In our ever-increasing religiously and culturally diverse world, interfaith leadership is needed more than ever,” said Chris Bobier, Ph.D., associate director of the Hendrickson Institute and assistant professor of philosophy.

According to IFYC, the curriculum covers the vision, knowledgebase, and skill sets of interfaith leadership, alongside personal reflection opportunities and aims to equip young people to engage in acts of interfaith cooperation, anti-racism, and service with their communities. The curriculum is online and self-paced, ideal for the current reality of the pandemic.

April 2020 saw the launch of Mosaic, the student-led literary and arts magazine at Saint Mary’s.

At any other time, the publication would have been highlighted at the annual Celebration of Scholarship, and its student editor, then senior Haley Williams, would have been profiled for her academic contributions as well as those as a member of the women’s softball team. But the closure of our campuses, shift to online learning, and multiple operational changes as a result of COVID-19 obscured this amazing accomplishment.

“The magazine allows students in our English and World Languages Department to not only express themselves creatively,” said Erin Mae Clark, Ph.D., the faculty advisor for Mosaic, “but apply those creative skills in a real-world situation, building their skills as editors, publishers, and art directors. It’s a true showcase of a multitude of talents.”

The annual magazine is set for publication again in April 2021.

That “Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma” was published just as a global pandemic hit and just prior to a heightened Black Lives Matter movement is serendipitous and timely.

Eden Wales Freedman, Ph.D., vice provost for faculties and academic affairs, describes her book as detailing how we can respond to one another in times of crisis, particularly after people have survived trauma. It was recently selected as the Eudora Welty Prize winner for 2020.

“The specific traumas I analyze have to do with identity, namely people who have survived trauma because of who they are and because of their race or gender specifically. The book explores traumas fueled by racism and sexism in the U.S. and how we can respond to that violence both as intellectuals and as empathic compassionate people,” she said.

“Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma” delves into an important area not frequently addressed. Dr. Wales Freedman found an immense amount of literature, both fiction and nonfiction, that explores what happens to people because of who they are. And, she said, theorists have written a great deal about why and how people write about the violence they survive.

”But not a lot of people, no one really before me, has written about what we do with those traumatic narratives once they exist,” she said. “I became concerned that readers and listeners were inadvertently contributing to imparted trauma just by reading or listening to it. If you read trauma and treat it voyeuristically, like gossip, that doesn’t help folks work through the trauma they have endured. Negative reading or listening could actually do more violence to them. Similarly, if we deny what they said has happened, because it’s so horrible we can’t get our arms around it, we can also do violence to them.

“We, as human beings, are really bad at responding to other people’s pain.”

Dr. Wales Freedman said her book, which emanated from her doctoral dissertation, has an academic focus but also a practical community focus. “If we can respond appropriately to one another, even when someone has experienced something we haven’t or we can’t quite comprehend, we can help make the world a better place,” she said.

“The book is academic. It’s about literature. Not everyone wants to read literary criticism. But in terms of theories, the book has a practical element: Here are things you can say when confronting others’ experiences that are helpful, and here are things you can avoid saying that risk doing damage. We are becoming more and more aware of the violence we do to one another, of the suffering that humans endure. Violence and suffering have existed since human beings have existed, but, in many cases, our awareness is new. It’s good to have heightened awareness of others’ experiences. But awareness alone doesn’t change the world. The way we treat one another does. One thing we can do to help heal a broken world is to respond to others with compassion, to listen to one another and allow others’ stories to unfold in a way that feels healing vs. harmful.”

Dr. Wales Freedman will be recognized at the virtual Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium Oct. 22-24. The University Press of Mississippi nominated “Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma,” and a committee of faculty at Mississippi University for women made the selection. They wrote, “This was a very strong field this year. The committee felt, however, that “Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma” made the greatest contribution to the field by presenting a new approach to understanding Southern Literature and culture, especially through the experience of women writers of color.”

Jennifer Cochran Biederman ’05, M’08, Ph.D., joined Saint Mary’s University as an assistant professor of biology on Aug. 17.

Dr. Cochran Biederman

Prior to joining Saint Mary’s, Dr. Cochran Biederman was an assistant professor of biology at Winona State University where her research focused on the conservation of freshwater ecosystems in southeastern Minnesota, including the application of citizen science monitoring to identify pollution in at-risk streams.

“I am really passionate about integrating hands-on research into the learning experience,” said Dr. Cochran Biederman. “As a freshwater biologist by training, I love finding opportunities to connect students with water and all of the incredible biodiversity it holds.”

Dr. Cochran Biederman holds a Ph.D. in conservation biology with a concentration in fisheries and aquatic biology from the University of Minnesota. She also holds an M.S. in wildlife and fisheries sciences from Texas A&M University, an M.A. in life science instruction from Saint Mary’s, and a B.A. in environmental biology from Saint Mary’s.

Dr. Cochran Biederman doing fieldwork with students in Gilmore Creek on the Winona Campus

With many familial connections to Saint Mary’s, Dr. Cochran Biederman is grateful to be back at the institution.

“Since attending Saint Mary’s university as a student, I’ve had a great journey to graduate school and teaching at a mid-size public university. However, I’ve always missed the sense of institutional mission,” said Dr. Cochran Biederman, whose dad formerly taught biology at Saint Mary’s. “The Lasallian charism has really influenced my life, and I am so grateful to be immersed in that mission again. Even after just a few short weeks back on campus, I am reminded and excited about what a student-centered and high-quality education that’s offered at Saint Mary’s.”

Dr. Cochran Biederman has extensive research and field experience, has been the recipient of numerous grants and scholarships, and has authored supplemental content for four recent textbooks.

Join us in welcoming Dr. Cochran Biederman!

Related: Brown trout research will measure effects of climate change