Saint Mary's Newsroom / Campus Notes

As part of their 2018 tour, the Saint Mary’s Chamber Singers performed in the San Francisco, Calif., area. The 26-voice select ensemble is directed by Dr. Patrick O’Shea of the Music Department. Tour performances throughout February and March included concerts at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, Calif., Chapel of Saint Mary of the Angels in Winona, and more.

The repertoire included a cappella works by Tomas Luis de Victoria, Stephen Chatman, Knut Nystedt, Mark Growden, David Conte, and Moses Hogan. The concerts featured the West Coast premiere performances of “Queen of Queens,” an English setting of a John Donne sonnet by Dr. O’Shea.

Caption: Chamber Singers performed at Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, Calif., as part of their 2018 tour.

Saint Mary’s will break ground this April on a new baseball clubhouse on the Winona Campus, made possible by a generous lead gift from alumnus Marc Weisenburger ’75 of Plymouth, Minn. Weisenburger made the gift in honor of his experiences at Saint Mary’s, both in school and on the field‚ particularly under the guidance of Hall of Fame Coach Max Molock. The $704,000, 2,500-square-foot facility will be located on the south side of the Gostomski Fieldhouse. The clubhouse will include a players’ locker room and a lounge where the student-athletes can gather, a coaches’ locker room, bathrooms and showers, laundry, and storage.

This is the latest in a series of recent and ongoing upgrades to our athletic facilities that enhance Saint Mary’s recruiting success, ensure that our student-athletes can train and compete well, and assure that our athletic programs are competitive. The clubhouse and the many other athletic program enhancements (e.g., the enhanced cardio facilities) are being funded through the generosity of alumni benefactors who cherish their experiences and want to help future student-athletes have the same great opportunities.

Caption: Baseball alumni including lead donor Marc Weisenburger ’75 (front row, center left) are funding a new clubhouse on campus.

Construction continues on the Saint Mary’s Cascade Meadow addition with the project on track for a summer 2018 completion. This 10,000-square-foot addition will allow the Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs to deliver at Cascade Meadow a number of classes formerly housed at the Rochester Community and Technical College. The ribbon-cutting and celebration marking the opening is May 24.

In addition, the Cascade Meadow expansion will house the collaborative Saint Mary’s/Mayo Clinic physician assistant studies program (PA). The PA space includes faculty offices, classrooms, clinical labs, and simulation spaces to prepare students prior to their clinical rotations at Mayo Clinic. Recently, Mayo Clinic named Dr. Michael J. Huckabee to lead the physician assistant studies program. Dr. Huckabee will work with Saint Mary’s faculty and academic administration to finalize the curriculum and prepare for a 2019 program launch.

An initial exploration was recently completed regarding the opportunities and potential to develop and deliver a traditional nursing program. This review was favorable, and we’ve engaged an external consultant to help us further understand the faculty, accreditation, clinical, and facilities requirements to offer a nursing program.

Michael Calhoun M’06 knows first-hand that there are various ways to grow and share entrepreneurial ideas — whether you’re part of a corporation or whether you want to start your own business. And he shared his success in both venues with Saint Mary’s undergraduate business students in February.

Calhoun works at C.H. Robinson, an international supply chain firm in the Twin Cities, but started his own company while getting his master’s degree from Saint Mary’s. The Winona native said he was drawn to the Saint Mary’s because of the opportunity to study in Europe, which is where he got the idea to start an online company selling Italian-made leather goods in the U.S.

“While I was getting my master’s degree 12 years ago, Saint Mary’s taught me that classic brick and mortar shops were going to struggle, and the future of retail was in e-commerce － which was spot on.” Calhoun said. “I got a very relevant education at Saint Mary’s.”

After developing a business plan in his entrepreneurship class, he used it to co-found Poppi Italian Leather with his mother. The online Italian leather import and retail business, which now includes a storefront in Rochester, Minn., has been successfully running for 12 years.

“Starting a business is hard and takes a lot of work. I quickly learned that making a large amount of money isn’t easy,” said Calhoun. “My mom runs the business, and it supports her. But I still need to have my own career and have a steady income to support my family.”

Calhoun has been at C.H. Robinson for six years but first learned about the company while at Saint Mary’s. He explained how after he got his master’s degree and was looking for a job he didn’t simply hit the web looking for any analyst job. He specifically targeted C.H. Robinson because of what he learned about them in the Saint Mary’s program.

“I really appreciated that we studied Minnesota-based businesses,” Calhoun said. “We were learning about international and global business in my classes, and C.H. Robinson was referenced frequently. The fact that they’re a good company that’s been around a long time and worthy of talking about inside of a master’s course set me up really well to pursue a career there.”

Starting at C.H. Robinson as a business analyst, Calhoun is now the global customer analytics leader. He talked with Saint Mary’s students about how they can be an entrepreneur right inside of a corporation.

Calhoun references his own experience at C.H. Robinson when he saw an opportunity to grow and decided to risk putting himself out there. He circulated an idea among leaders at the organization saying, “there’s an opportunity in the marketplace to provide e-commerce supply chain solutions that we’re not doing today.” It got people talking, and a few months later the company formed a team across divisions and geographies to figure out the next steps to move forward with an e-commerce supply chain strategy.

“Today’s companies absolutely need people that think and act like entrepreneurs. We need new and better ideas,” Calhoun explained. “Entrepreneurial skills are transferable and can be applied anywhere you’re passionate.”

For a problem-solving lover like him, Calhoun is grateful to work at an organization that supports personal and professional growth. His biggest advice for students was that nothing happens overnight; perseverance pays off, and it takes time to build experience.

“Finding your passion and being determined is super important,” said Calhoun. “Having a supportive culture at work allows ideas to happen. But ultimately you need to work for a company that’s the right fit for you.”