Saint Mary's Newsroom / Campus Notes
Winona Campus Newsletter
Adult learners graduate Oct. 13 on Saint Mary’s Twin Cities Campus
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — More than 500 adult learners will graduate from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and its Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs on Saturday, Oct. 13, where three commencement convocations will honor the graduates.
The ceremonies, to be held at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 3 p.m. at the Saint Mary’s University Center on Park Avenue in Minneapolis, will feature five graduates who have been invited to provide reflections as part of the ceremonies. Another six graduating students will be honored with Saint Mary’s Outstanding Final Paper Awards.
Graduating students providing reflections are:
- Dinyar Mehta, M.A., Marriage and Family Therapy
- Yeezong Vang, Psy.D., Counseling Psychology
- Andrew Gau Xiong, Ed.D. Leadership
- Abdirahman A. Warsame, M.S., Accountancy
Graduating students being honored with Outstanding Final Paper Awards are:
- Annie Undis, M.A., Counseling and Psychological Services
- Megan Joy Monson, M.A., Marriage and Family Therapy
- Karen Marie Johnson, M.Ed., Learning Design and Technology
- Diane Mary Reineke, M.A., English as a Second Language
- Boonmee Yang, M.A., English as a Second Language
- Teddy J. T. Oberle, M.A., Human Development
Saint Mary’s invites vendors to Oct. 24 career fair
WINONA, Minn. — Employers, graduate schools, and other vendors are invited to register now for the fifth annual Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Career and Internship Fair, to be held 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24.
Last year, the university welcomed many employers, graduate schools, and organizations to campus for the career fair, and this year, organizers are hoping to expand and improve upon the event.
Saint Mary’s graduates gain the advanced knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities necessary to be lifelong learners, successful workers, good neighbors, and ethical citizens — in other words, ideal candidates for employment at your company or enrollment at your school.
The event will be held in the Toner Student Center gymnasium and Hall of Fame Room at Saint Mary’s Winona Campus.
To register, go to smumn.edu/careerfairregistration.
For more information, contact Michael Hagarty by phone at 507-457-6695 or by email at mhagarty@smumn.edu.
Get set to scream at annual Walk of Horror
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary’s University fastpitch softball team is showing leadership on the field … and in planning new scares for this year’s “Walk of Horror.” Once again, these athletes are guaranteeing goosebumps for all those brave enough to face their fears.
The 22nd annual hair-raising fundraiser for the Saint Mary’s Cardinal fastpitch softball team will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 19-20 and 26-27, and Wednesday, Oct. 31 in the campus bluffs. Walkers are asked to meet on the lighted path between the Cardinal baseball and softball fields, where the haunted walk will begin.
Groups are then escorted through the dark bluffs for approximately 20 minutes.
The cost is $6 for adults, $5 for students with ID, and $5 for children 12 and younger. Tickets are available at the gate.
Saint Mary’s head fastpitch softball coach Jen Miller said the event is fun for all ages. The scare level is toned down for younger children and turned up for older and braver participants. Last year more than 1,100 courageous souls took the Walk of Horror.
Proceeds from this event will be used for the softball team’s travel expenses on their annual spring trip. For more information, contact Miller at 507-457-6923.
Inauguration schedule of events
We celebrate the inauguration of the Rev. James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D. as the 14th president of Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6. See you there!
SAINT MARY’S: A SIGN OF FAITH, HOPE, & KNOWLEDGE
Friday, Oct. 5, 2018
Inauguration Mass
10:15 to 11:30 a.m.
Saint Thomas More Chapel
Lunch
11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Gostomski Fieldhouse
Robing and Procession
Robing
1 p.m.
Toner Student Center Lounge (Trustees, Bishops and other Prelates and Stage Party)
Room 9, Toner Student Center (Delegates)
Gostomski Fieldhouse (Faculty, De La Salle Christian Brothers, and Flag Bearers)
Alumni Room, Toner Student Center (President’s Cabinet/AVPs/Deans)
Procession
1:30 p.m.
INAUGURATION CONVOCATION
2 to 4 p.m.
Gymnasium
Link for live stream: https://portal.
Inauguration Reception
4 to 5 p.m.
Gostomski Fieldhouse
Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018
Student service project
Registration
9:30 a.m.
Lillian Hogan Davis Art Gallery Lobby
Service
10 a.m.
Soccer tailgate
Food, inflatables, giveaways, and games
Noon to 5:30 p.m.
Artisan Fair
Food, artisans, and music
Open to the public
1 to 4 p.m.
Plaza
Many participate in activities during Family Weekend
Families of students and members of the Saint Mary’s community visited Winona for Family Weekend, Sept. 28-30. A full slate of activities took place including music events, sporting events, the Fall Frolic, and more. See more photos from the event.
Local student wins science fair award
Anthony Thorsell, student in the Cochrane-Fountain City School District and son of Saint Mary’s staff member Lisa Thorsell and former staff member Patrick Thorsell, received an ASBMB Science Fair award for his project, Collection and Amplification of DNA on Various Surfaces. Thorsell’s project addressed the issue of obtaining quality DNA samples depending on the surfaces on which they were found. His research tested the amount of DNA that could be extracted from different surface types using polymerase chain reaction.
The ASBMB Science Fair award is presented to a middle school or high school student participating in a local science fair who demonstrates outstanding achievement in biochemistry and molecular biology research. The award carries a $50 prize and a certificate. Thorsell’s award was sponsored by the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota ASBMB Student Chapter.
Story and photo retrieved from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).
Public invited to art exhibit at Saint Mary’s University
WINONA, Minn. — The public is invited to the opening reception for a new art exhibit titled The Bridge. The reception will take place Wednesday, Oct. 10, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Lillian Davis Hogan Galleries at Saint Mary’s University. There will be refreshments and an opportunity to meet the artists.
The Bridge includes collaborative work by artists Brooks and Tamara Turner from Minneapolis. The Turners work collaboratively and independently in sculpture and multimedia installation. Brooks received his bachelor’s degree in art and art history from Amherst College; Tamara received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Manitoba. Both received master’s degrees in fine arts from UCLA in sculpture.
Brooks and Tamara find inspiration in the past, using historical and philosophical narratives to explore existential expressions of subjecthood as well as material intra-relations of forms, gestures, tool marks, and handprints. They have exhibited throughout the United States and Canada, but this is their first exhibition in Minnesota.
The exhibit will be on display Oct. 10-Nov. 20.
Artists’ statement
Through three installations that blend into each other, The Bridge brings history, politics, and philosophy together in one space through the conceptual and aesthetic examination of three figures and their historical context: Menachem Begin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Martin Heidegger. While none of these men met, their lives are connected spatio-temporally by World War II and conceptually by fascism.
At the center of the exhibition, a collaborative installation titled The Bridge collages together photographs, drawings, diagrams, and other research materials, obscuring the walls and enveloping the viewer in the fragments of a world, both past and present, real and imagined. A mother holding her child, a hut on a wooded hillside, nazi soldiers marching, a ship on fire, a bombed out building, classical figurative sculpture — these images form an open network of narratives, representations, and references, tying the sculptures to historical and philosophical realities across time and space.
Today, we feel the fragility of our democracy in the face of growing fascism in the West. Through formal and conceptual aesthetic techniques, these installations explore how the actions, philosophies, and politics symbolized in Heidegger, Begin, and Roosevelt are still tangled up in today’s world. By exploring the philosophical and historical labyrinth of the past, we seek to untangle the mythologies of our present political moment, and more importantly to uncover the fractal patterns of individual human impulses, fears, and desires.
Prestigious internship benefits future pediatric psychologist
For a psychology student, having the opportunity to put Mayo Clinic as an internship site on your résumé is a real attention-getter. Saint Mary’s senior Nick Sawchuk is hoping his experiences at the renowned Rochester medical facility will help him stand out in pursuing his dream to become a pediatric psychologist.
Sawchuk has interned in the Department of Psychology and Psychiatry at Mayo Clinic for the past year and a half during which he has worked both summer months and school breaks. His role involves research, data entry, chart extraction, and analysis on a variety of clinical studies. Working closely with fellows, physicians, and statisticians, he’s also been collaborating on publishing manuscripts.
“Everything here is a team effort, which is how I work best,” said Sawchuk who also serves as captain of the Saint Mary’s swim team, dive team, and water polo team. “It’s great having the support of world-renowned physicians and fellows. The community here is super positive.”
The Rochester native said he was originally a biology major with a psychology minor, but after reexamining which classes he enjoyed (and excelled in) most and after seeing the type of career opportunities at Mayo Clinic, he switched to a psychology major and a biology minor.
“There’s a battle between psych and bio on which discipline is the true science, so to speak,” explained Sawchuk with a laugh. “Originally I wanted to be a pediatric psychiatrist, where I would be focusing on medication management and course of treatment, but I decided I wanted to be more hands-on and work in the area of cognitive behavioral therapy and become a pediatric clinical psychologist instead.”
He would especially like to focus on the connection between eating disorders and chronic pain, a path which he says was inspired by the research he’s doing at Mayo Clinic.
“There’s not a lot of research around eating disorders and chronic pain in conjunction with each other. It’s a very important field because a child’s pain often affects their eating,” Sawchuk explained.
In fact, he decided to do his senior thesis on the relationship between eating and body image and a person’s overall functioning, carrying this same topic a bit further. “As a student athlete, I constantly watch what I eat and make sure I’m getting the calories I need to perform well,” Sawchuk said. “The same sort of thing goes with these eating disorders. Sometimes the reason why these kids aren’t functioning properly is because they don’t have enough food in their system.”
Sawchuk is being exposed to many different types of studies at Mayo Clinic, which is helping him develop a more diverse background in the field.
For example, he’s recently been working on a neurocognitive study about children with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a psychosomatic disorder where patients experience intense autonomic symptoms. Among these symptoms, difficulty concentrating is prominent. After these children take different performance tests, the data is analyzed to see if they have any cognitive deficits.
“Compiling data can be messy sometimes. It’s such a rewarding feeling when you finish a data set, everything is clean, and everything works,” explained Sawchuk, who is working under the supervision of Michelle Skime M’15, a Saint Mary’s alumna. “The research I’m involved with is primarily about finding validation for specific studies, instead of exploration.”
The student athlete is preparing to go to graduate school after he finishes his undergraduate degree. He’s hopeful the experience he’s gaining in this internship will help him get his foot in the door.
“It’s important to have a diverse clinical and research background. They want to see research experience and experience relevant to what you’re specializing in,” explained Sawchuk.
Through his internship, he’s also gained a base knowledge of data entry and analysis using important statistical data software like SPSS, JMP, and R, some of which he was first introduced to in courses at Saint Mary’s.
Sawchuk is grateful for the opportunities he’s had at Mayo Clinic and is looking forward to his final year at Saint Mary’s.
“Saint Mary’s has helped me grow as a person and as a leader. It’s taught me to be confident, to ask questions, and to take initiative,” said Sawchuk. “Being involved in sports and groups like Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) has helped bring my faith and sports together, and it’s also helped me bring other people together and excel.”
We welcome our new and returning students
The new school year is well underway on our beautiful Winona Campus. Just a few weeks ago we welcomed both new and returning students. They are already immersed in academic excellence, service activities, and life on a vibrant residential campus. It has been such a great experience meeting faculty, staff, students, and alumni, and I greatly look forward to spending more time getting to know the wonderful people in our Saint Mary’s communities. For now, here is a sampling of what happened over the summer and what our students are doing now.
— The Rev. James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D. (fall 2018)
Getting to know Father Burns
It’s been nearly three months since our new President, the Rev. James P. Burns, has joined Saint Mary’s. Several internal and external community welcome receptions have since taken place in Winona, Minneapolis, and Rochester to help him get acquainted with the university. Check out the links below to see news coverage associate with these events and Father Burns:
- Father Burns’ new calling: Grow Saint Mary’s, Post Bulletin
- Father Burns radio interview with Greg Taylor, Leighton Broadcasting
- Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota welcomes new president, Fox 47
- ‘Hopefully, I’ll lead by example’: Q&A with the Rev. James P. Burns, Saint Mary’s new president, Winona Daily News
- Burns vows to maintain Saint Mary’s momentum in first visit as president, Winona Daily News
- Guest view: What we’ve learned about Winona, Winona Daily News
- New leader at the helm of St. Mary’s, Winona Post
- Guest Opinion: What we have learned about Winona, Winona Post
Photo caption: Father Burns, left, talks with community members at the Rochester Community Welcome July 27.
Ready to start their college careers
We greeted enthusiastic first-year and transfer students during Welcome Week and provided a special program of activities to help them to connect to each other and the university; to engage with their new home and the broader community; to understand and prepare for the expectations of learning and living at college; and to know the resources available to help them succeed. Popular special sessions were led by faculty and staff who volunteered to share their interests or favorite local spots. The engagement continued during the first week of classes with the student activities and clubs fair and fun community-building events each night.
Students take their education to the extreme
This summer, nine Saint Mary’s University students worked on site at the X Games Minneapolis 2018 gaining knowledge in fan experience, business operations, sports marketing, and more. Through the X Games Student Work Program sophomores Isabel Bettag, Hannah Crowe, Courtney Moser, Grace Mulcahy; juniors Blair Sanders and Spencer Smec; seniors Caroline Hoffman, and Alyssa Thiel; and 2018 alumna Sarah Egbert received valuable first-hand experience to put on their résumés. Taking place this year July 19-22 at the U.S. Bank Stadium, the X Games brings top athletes in sports such as skateboarding, BMX, Moto X, and more from around the world to compete. Saint Mary’s was one of only four schools chosen to participate in the Summer X Games Student Work Program. All Saint Mary’s students were assigned to work at X Fest, the outdoor action sports festival experience that showcases vendors and fun activities. Read the full story.
Photo caption: Saint Mary’s junior Blair Sanders works with youth at the X Fest through the Summer X Games Student Work Program.
Students build the Lasallian network worldwide
Saint Mary’s University students Fabian Alvarez ’19 and Emma Mockler ’20 attended a two-week student conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in collaboration with students from other Lasallian colleges and universities worldwide. Focusing on leadership and global understanding, this annual program is sponsored by the International Association for Lasallian Universities. This year’s program followed the 2017-18 theme of “Lasallians without Limits,” emphasizing the increasing globalization and skills needed by leaders to understand how actions, decisions, and policies go beyond the borders of communities, states, and nations. With the goal of continuing to build a strong international global Lasallian community, students worked in groups to understand life, politics, and cultures in other countries. Students also engaged in service learning activities, intercultural and cultural understanding, community leadership, and pedagogy that encouraged students to take responsibility for their own learning.
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