Saint Mary's Newsroom
Campus ConnectionAn update from the president to alumni and parents
Heukeshovens preview new duet before European tour
WINONA, Minn. — Longtime Saint Mary’s music faculty members and husband-wife duo Janet (piccolo) and Eric (euphonium) Heukeshoven will perform “Birdie’s Favorite” at the free Winona Municipal Band concert Wednesday, June 27, at 8 p.m. in the Lake Park Bandshell.
Following their Winona Municipal Band preview, the couple will perform the duet with a selected group of high school musicians from throughout the state as part of the Minnesota Ambassadors of Music 2018 European tour, for which the music was commissioned. The Ambassadors concerts will take place in London, Paris, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany in July.
Eric Heukeshoven adapted and arranged “Birdie’s Favorite” from an original solo for piccolo and band by John S. Cox, one of John Philip Sousa’s most renowned piccolo players. Director Levi Lundak will lead the ensemble for the premiere performance in Winona.
Photo caption: Eric and Janet Heukeshoven performing with the Winona Municipal Band.
Saint Mary’s honors four alumni at reunion weekend
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary’s University honors outstanding alumni each summer during Reunion Weekend. This year, four alumni will be honored during a reception Saturday, June 23, on the Winona Campus.
This year’s Distinguished Alumna Award recipient is Dr. Bobbie (Smith) Gostout CST’78, ’83 of Rochester and Winona, Minn.; the Alumni Appreciation Award recipient is Judy (Mullins) Lucas ’83 of Oak Brook, Ill.; the Outstanding Young Alumna Award recipient is Ania McNamara ’11 of Tampa, Fla.; and the Lasallian Service Award recipient is Sarah (Bellingham) Laitinen ’07 of Warwick, R.I., and Harmony, Minn.
More than 300 alumni, family, and friends will return for Saint Mary’s Reunion Weekend festivities, which begins Friday, June 22, and will run throughout the weekend. To register or for more information about the many activities and events planned, visit mysmumn.org/rw18.
2018 Saint Mary’s Reunion Weekend honorees:
Distinguished Alumna Award
Dr. Bobbie (Smith) Gostout CST’78, ’83
In her role as vice president for Mayo Clinic, Dr. Bobbie (Smith) Gostout ’83 is accountable for setting vision and providing oversight for the Mayo Clinic Community Medicine practices, including 18 regional hospitals and 68 regional clinics. After graduating from The College of Saint Teresa, she enrolled at Saint Mary’s University to complete a biology degree in pursuit of applying to medical school. She credits the professors and learning experiences at Saint Mary’s with providing her the knowledge, vision, and confidence to get into Mayo Medical School. Following 13 years of medical training, she joined the staff of Mayo Clinic. She enjoys her surgical practice, which is focused on caring for women with gynecologic cancers. In 2007 she was appointed chair of the Mayo Clinic department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and in 2014 she was appointed as a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Governors. Gostout enjoys biking, cross-country skiing on the Winona Campus trails, getting out on the Minnesota lakes and rivers, and spending time with family and friends.
Alumni Appreciation Award
Judy (Mullins) Lucas ’83
Judy (Mullins) Lucas ’83 and her husband, John Lucas ’84, and their families are longtime supporters of Saint Mary’s University. As an alumna, Judy Lucas has been an avid supporter of Saint Mary’s athletics, especially the women’s softball program as she was a softball player all four years at Saint Mary’s. Many of her best college memories were made on the field and with her teammates. Until recently, Lucas owned and operated their family business, Mullins Food Products, with her 10 siblings. They’ve since sold the business, but she and her brothers and sisters continue to manage it. Over the years, the Mullins and Lucas families have graciously taken leadership roles with several university events. They’ve sponsored Chicago golf outings, Saint Mary’s conventions, and the Chicago Centennial Celebration event. Lucas serves on the Saint Mary’s Athletic Advisory Board and is involved with the Bogey Bash as a member of the Chicago planning committee. In 2012, the Lucas family created an endowed scholarship, the Daniel E. ’47 and Veronica M. Lucas Legacy Scholarship, which supports children of undergraduate alumni.
Outstanding Young Alumna Award
Ania McNamara ’11
Ania McNamara ’11 is finding success in her career and in her personal passion of providing gifts to orphans throughout Poland. A senior marketing professional who specializes in digital marketing, McNamara has broad perspective on the marketing needs of small companies as well as the complex world of modern marketing and technology. She prides herself in approaching every project with a multifaceted perspective and a goal to uncover the most creative and strategic way forward. In 2016, she founded McNamara Marketing, a flexible marketing resource firm providing full-service marketing to businesses worldwide. In her spare time, McNamara organizes the CCF4Orphans Project, a 10-year initiative sending Christmas gifts overseas to children who reside in Polish orphanages. This cause is particularly close to her heart as she and her sisters were adopted as young children from an orphanage in Poland. She strives to continuously improve living circumstances and quality of life for these children.
Lasallian Service Award
Sarah (Bellingham) Laitinen ’07
Sarah (Bellingham) Laitinen ’07 has dedicated her life to Lasallian service. From August 2007 to June 2009, she served as a Lasallian Volunteer at the San Miguel School in Providence, R.I. In June 2009 she was hired full-time as the sixth-grade homeroom teacher and remained on faculty for seven years. Laitinen was appointed to the International Council of Young Lasallians in 2015. She has taken part in a number of formation programs and Lasallian gatherings, including graduating from the Buttimer Institute of Lasallian Studies in 2012, serving as a delegate to the third International Symposium of Young Lasallians in 2014, and participating in the USA – Toronto Region VEGA program in 2010. She has also served in various capacities for the District of Eastern North America (DENA), including the Young Lasallians Council, Association for Lasallian Mission Committee, and planning committees for formation programs. She was a delegate to the DENA Mission Assemblies in 2011 and 2015. Laitinen is the director of Lasallian Programs in the Office for Lasallian Education at Christian Brothers Conference. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband, Eric, and son, Logan.
Prayer for Father Burns
As a member of the Saint Mary’s University community, please help us to welcome Father James Burns as our next president with prayer. Leading up to this selection and announcement we have been praying for the candidates, the search committee, board of trustees, and our community.
We invite you to join us in praying for and welcoming the president by posting a comment below!
Welcome Father Burns,
We are excited for your presence at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. With the prayer below, we have been praying throughout the selection process both for you and for our community as we begin a new transition. We hope when you look at this, you will see comments written by our students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni, and friends of the university who welcome you.
Through our Lasallian tradition we value community, and we hope as you read through these comments you will feel a part of this community, even before you fully settle in. We are excited for your arrival and are praying for wisdom and guidance for your leadership.
Leader: Let us remember …
All: That we are in the holy presence of God.
God, in this time of transition for Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, we seek your blessing and guidance. We lift up Father James Burns as our next president, may he rely on your wisdom and direction. In the light of our Lasallian Catholic tradition, guide him with a love for this place, for our history and purpose, and for our people.
May he come with an open heart and a clear, prophetic vision — full of faith and dedicated to service, community, and scholarship. Guide him with strength and conviction, wisdom and courage, humility and cooperation. Above all, may he be a model for our students and community dedicated to our mission to “awaken, nurture, and empower learners to ethical lives of service and leadership.”
We pray for our community — students, educators, staff, alumni, and friends — that as we enter this time of transition we do so with anticipation, hope, and a desire to embrace God’s plan for the future. We ask for the grace to warmly welcome Father Burns into our community and “together and by association” live fully the tradition of Lasallian education.
We look forward to what lies ahead. In the legacy of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, we rely upon your providence to always give abundantly both in our challenges and successes. We call upon you each step of the way and place this process in your hands as you shape Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and our call to be prophetic in all that we do.
We pray all these things through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Leader: Saint John Baptist de La Salle …
All: Pray for us.
Leader: Mary, Patroness of our University …
All: Pray for us.
Leader: Live Jesus in our hearts …
All: Forever!
Learning in community benefits students
A new program at Saint Mary’s for undergraduate students provides opportunities for learning in a dynamic and transformational community. Inspired by the First Generation Initiative model and its strategies of providing academic, financial, social, and cultural support to scholars, the First Generation Initiative Office has collaborated with the Student Success Center to create the Cardinal Success Program. The Cardinal Success Program serves academically motivated students who benefit from membership in a dedicated learning community. Students invited to the Cardinal Success Program have a strong work ethic, are community-minded, and hold leadership characteristics. The Cardinal Success Program and the First Generation Initiative are strategically serving and unifying students who have similar needs but come from different areas and backgrounds. Students in these programs will participate in a number of community and academic events together, with the support of the Student Success Center, the Education Department, and the First Generation Initiative Office, and also have access to academic support, including:
- Guided study hall with academic coaches, Writing Studio tutors, and peer mentors
- Literacy labs facilitated through two of their first-year courses
- Academic advising and coaching
- First-year course plan with choices
- Instruction in reading and writing for college, study skills, and time management
- Workshops in academics and professionalism
Cardinal Success Program students who demonstrate an effort to meet standards outlined by the program are eligible for a $500 tuition credit per semester, totaling $1,000 for their first year at Saint Mary’s. Students can ask about program availability, but spaces are limited at this time.
Faculty participate in international Lasallian leadership program
Christine Beech, Dr. Roxanne Eubank, and Zakary Mayo at the Generalate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Rome.
Saint Mary’s faculty members are attending the International Leadership Program for Faculties from Lasallian Universities at the Generalate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Rome. The two-week summer seminar brings together faculty members from Lasallian colleges and universities worldwide to deepen understanding of and commitment to Lasallian partnership by studying the Lasallian charism, the Catholic intellectual tradition, and the international Lasallian educational network. Participating faculty members return to their institutions and share their new knowledge and insights with their communities.
Attending from Saint Mary’s are Zakary Mayo, Business professor, and Christine Beech, Business professor and director of the Kabara Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. The seminar director is Dr. Roxanne Eubank, director of our Institute for Lasallian Studies and professor in our Ed.D. in Leadership program.
Brother William Mann receives honorary doctorate
From left, Dr. David J. Livingston, president of Lewis University; Brother William Mann; and Russ Smyth, previous chair of the Lewis University Board of Trustees.
On May 20, Brother William Mann, 13th president of Saint Mary’s University, was presented with an honorary doctorate from Lewis University, a Lasallian Catholic university in Romeoville, Ill., for his service in education and to the De La Salle Christian Brothers.
Lewis University honored Brother William for “his dedication to enhancing the global family of Lasallian institutions and deepening the formation and education of the Brothers and their lay partners in the Lasallian mission.” Lewis University also noted that Brother William has “partnered with others to awaken, nurture, and empower young people; to reach out and help heal a sometimes too fragile world; and to be open to the possibility of a relationship with the living God.”
SGPP meeting covers important topics
Faculty and staff met on the Twin Cities Campus for an all Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs meeting that covered active shooter training and featured a discussion on building relationships in an effort to maintain a safe campus and provide a transformational experience for students. Mike Christianson from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security gave an informative presentation on active shooter preparedness and response. Prior to his current role as a protective security advisor, Christianson spent 30 years in the Army and Minnesota Army National Guard. He was also an emergency manager for the City of Saint Paul and a school safety specialist for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
The Retention, Persistence, and Completion Committee then lead an exercise on building relationships that generated important small group discussions. Participants submitted creative responses using their phones to the question: How do you build relationships?
Lasallian campus ministers gather
John Vitek, left, CEO/president of Saint Mary’s Press, leads a conversation on religious disaffiliation.
Several campus ministers from Lasallian colleges and universities around the country gathered last week on the Twin Cities Campus to talk about shared mission and how to continue reaching diverse populations of students. Representatives from Saint Mary’s University, Christian Brothers University (Memphis, Tenn.), Manhattan College (New York), and Lewis University (Romeoville, Ill.) met in an effort to strengthen and preserve their Lasallian Catholic identity, open avenues for collaboration, and understand their call to reach beyond borders. Campus ministers met with Brother Larry Schatz, Midwest District Visitor, and John Vitek, CEO/president of Saint Mary’s Press, to exchange ideas on serving both Catholic students and students of other faiths, and to understand the continuing trend of young people who are choosing to disaffiliate from formal religious structures. Participants also met with representatives from Lasallian Volunteers and Brothers Vocation to share ideas on promoting volunteer service and Lasallian vocational education and discernment.
Brother William Mann says farewell
“Thank you all most sincerely for a wonderful 10 years. Please know that you and this university will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers.”
– Brother William Mann, FSC, 13th president of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
We thank Brother William for his service to Saint Mary’s and wish him well in his next steps. As we transition from Brother William to Father James P. Burns, president-elect, Ann Merchlewitz is serving as interim president and will continue to communicate strategic initiatives at Saint Mary’s through the President’s Update each Tuesday.
The Rev. James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D.
President
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
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