Saint Mary's Newsroom / Campus Notes
Winona Campus NewsletterParking permit registration to begin Aug. 1
Parking permit registration for the upcoming 2021-22 school year opens Sunday, Aug. 1. Parking permits can be purchased through the student portal.
When your window opens to register, it will remain open. Please be aware that off-campus students who drive to campus will need a permit to avoid being ticketed and towed. Your permit allows you to park in your assigned color lot only.
Priority registration begins:
- Graduate students and seniors: Sunday, Aug. 1
- Juniors: Sunday, Aug. 8
- Sophomores: Sunday, Aug. 15
- First-Years: Sunday, Aug. 22
Parking permits are $60 for students who live on campus and $40 for students who live off-campus and commute to class. Permits can be picked up from the Office of Campus Safety (Toner 115-Information Desk) two business days after you have completed the registration.
The parking permit registration portal will close Tuesday, Sept. 7. Parking enforcement begins on the first day of class.
For further questions, thoroughly review safety.smumn.edu/parking-and-traffic, email winsafety@smumn.edu or call Campus Safety at 507-457-1703.
Developing Saint Mary’s as a leader in ethics, character, and virtue education
Matthew Gerlach, Ph.D.
To further support and enhance Goal 1 of the strategic plan, Building a Future Full of Hope 2025, Matthew Gerlach, Ph.D., has been appointed as vice president for character, virtue, and ethics and core associate professor of ethics and leadership as well as the director and endowed chair of the Hendrickson Institute. Dr. Gerlach will lead efforts to advance the university’s vision around character education and virtue formation with constant focus on our mission to awaken, nurture, and empower learners to ethical lives of service and leadership. Working with all areas of the university, Dr. Gerlach will pilot opportunities that transform teaching, learning, service, scholarship, and more through both in person and technology platforms that will further develop and highlight Saint Mary’s as a leader in ethics, character, and virtue education.
Dr. Gerlach will also advance the Hendrickson Institute as a resource for the university, greater community, current and emerging leaders, and as a forum to explore ethical principles, models, and issues. He currently serves as dean of the Institute for Lay Ministry at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He has extensive teaching experience in theology and has served in academic administrative positions at several universities as well. Dr. Gerlach will join Saint Mary’s on Aug. 1. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy, Religious Studies, from Marquette University and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of St. Thomas.
“Dr. Gerlach’s position is supported through an endowed chair, made possible by a recent gift from a generous benefactor,” said Father Burns. “This benefactor shared that this investment has been made to promote the focus on ethics that Saint Mary’s is known for but should be even better known for, and will be, as we join this approach to character education and virtue. It sets us apart as a leader in Lasallian Catholic higher education for the good of all.”
Important feast day for the Catholic Church
“I have abandoned this miserable body to hunger and any other misery so my soul could be content and have its usual nourishment.” – Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
On Wednesday, July 14, the Catholic Church recognizes and celebrates the life of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Indigenous/Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Saint Kateri converted to Catholicism at age 19. She was very devout but died at age 24, just five years after her conversion. Canonized in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI, Saint Kateri is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile, and Indigenous/Native Americans.
Saint Kateri Prayer
By Harold Caldwell
O Saint Kateri, Lily of the Mohawks,
Your love for Jesus,
so strong, so steadfast,
pray that we may become like you.
Your short and painful life
showed us your strength and humility.
Pray that we may become
forever humble like you.
Like the bright and shining stars at night,
we pray that your light
may forever shine down upon us,
giving light, hope, peacefulness
and serenity in our darkest moments.
Fill our hearts, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
with your same love for Jesus
and pray that we may have the strength and courage
to become one like you in Heaven.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
School of Education announces new hire, leadership and program updates
DeAundra Jenkins-Holder, Ed.D., joins M.A. in Teaching (MAT) program
Michael Lovorn, School of Education dean, is pleased to announce that DeAundra Jenkins-Holder, Ed.D., has been hired as associate program director for the newly merged M.A. in Teaching program (more information below). Jenkins-Holder has many connections to the Twin Cities but comes to Saint Mary’s most recently from Tennessee, where she worked as a renowned and accomplished master teacher and school leader for several years. She has taught pre-K to higher education and has significant experience in private, public, and charter schools in Minnesota, Utah, and Tennessee. Jenkins-Holder describes herself as a “teacher of teachers” and has specialized expertise in cultural competency, teacher efficacy, instructional design, and student achievement. She also has significant experience working with Title I budgets, hiring staff, student activities, and all matters related to school improvement. She is the founder and director of the Dream Fulfillment Center, Inc., a nonprofit tutoring, ACT/GED Test prep center. To date, her center has helped more than 500 students reach or surpass their ACT goal score. We are indeed fortunate to have DeAundra join our Saint Mary’s community and look forward to her contributions to the M.A. in Teaching program.
Clinical Field Experiences (CFE) offices merge
In promotion and achievement of our one university initiative, the School of Education has merged the Winona and Twin Cities Clinical Field Experiences (CFE) offices. Effective July 2021, this new centralized CFE office will fall under the direction of Becki Warnock. In addition to performing in her role as director of field placement in the Twin Cities, Warnock will now serve Winona-based education licensure students in the B.A. in Education and the M.A. in Teaching programs. Warnock has been at Saint Mary’s for nearly 17 years and has served the School of Education since 2015. Office of Field Placement staff members Patricia Leonard and Katie Dierkes will continue in their roles of serving licensure students in the M.A. in ESL, M.A. in Special Education, and M.A. in Teaching programs.
M.A. in Teaching (MAT) programs merge
The School of Education is also in the process of merging the Winona and Twin Cities M.A. in Teaching programs. Effective July 2021, Katie Hubbard has been named program director of the newly-merged M.A. in Teaching and is leading efforts to combine and streamline advising and course offerings. She is joined by new associate director DeAundra Jenkins-Holder and assistant director Cindy Kronebusch in these efforts, and together, the team is looking forward to supporting students on both campuses.
M.A. in Special Education (SPED) program searches for program director
In June 2021, the School of Education initiated a search for a new M.A. in Special Education program director. ESL program director Shannon Tanghe has agreed to serve in the interim role until the end of August 2021. Simultaneously, Lisa Thorsell has moved into the permanent assistant program director role. With her experience in disability services and in the role of SPED program coordinator, Thorsell will provide much-needed stability throughout this transition and going forward. Thorsell will continue to assist Katie Hubbard with the K-12 Reading program through December 2021.
Albee named associate dean for Advancing Studies and director of Summer Programming
Lynn Albee ’06, M’07, Ed.D., has been named associate dean for Advancing Studies and director of Summer Programming. This new position will assist in achieving goal two of the strategic plan: growing enrollment. Albee will focus on the vital work of building and evolving our B.S. Completion programs in the School of Business and Technology and the School of Health and Human Services, while also identifying new ways to leverage our campus locations to build a vibrant suite of summer programming.
In this role, Albee will report to Michelle Wieser, Ph.D., dean of the School of Business and Technology. She will work closely with staff and faculty within our bachelor’s completion programs and across the university’s operational units to enhance visibility of degree completion and summer programs and to connect these programs to the educational and training needs of organizations. Her work will include collaborating with stakeholders across the university to develop short- and long-term strategies to achieve growth.
Albee recently served as acting dean and department chair for the School of Education. Prior to that, she was the program director and assistant dean of the Master of Arts in Education program, where she led the program to an online delivery format while offering graduate certificates and specializations in Curriculum and Instruction, Mental Health in Education, and Culturally Responsive Teaching.
Albee is excited to assume this new role at Saint Mary’s. “I look forward to finding new ways to keep students engaged and help them remain relevant in their careers. I have loved working with everyone in the School of Education for the past nine years, and welcome the opportunity to grow and learn in a new position that will make a lasting impact on our students and the university.”
Brother John Grover to be honored Aug. 11
Brother John Grover, FSC
Save the date for an ice cream and cake outdoor social on Wednesday, Aug. 11, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the plaza on the Winona Campus (indoors if inclement weather) in recognition and celebration of Brother John Grover, Saint Mary’s Environmental Awareness Center coordinator. Brother John has served an impressive 60 years as a De La Salle Christian Brother and 60 years at Saint Mary’s.
Cosby Ronnenberg publishes book, applies research to role as dean
Susan Cosby Ronnenberg, Ph.D.
Binge-watching a television series comes easily to most, but analyzing characters and finding parallels between the series and literature is a different skill — a skill demonstrated by Susan Cosby Ronnenberg, Ph.D., dean of the College, through her recent publications.
“Shakespeare and Deadwood: The Henriad in the Old West,” authored by Cosby Ronnenberg, examines parallels between Shakespeare’s Henriad, his second history tetralogy, consisting of “Richard II,” “Henry IV, part 1,” “Henry IV, part 2,” and “Henry V,” and the critically acclaimed HBO western TV series “Deadwood.” Critics and viewers frequently compared the writing on “Deadwood” to that of Shakespeare, in terms of character soliloquies or dramatic monologues, a mix of both high and low social class speech, as well as its incorporation of scriptural references. There are a number of studies on its language, but Cosby Ronnenberg didn’t see anyone writing about character or plot parallels.
“For many years I taught courses on Shakespeare, early modern English women writers, and an ethics course that utilized pop culture fictional narratives (mostly TV) as case studies for ethical decision-making,” said Cosby Ronnenberg, whose earlier scholarship focused on the writing of early modern English women, with an emphasis on gender roles in England in the 16th and 17th centuries. “Of special interest to me were themes of madness and melancholy in relation to gender; distinctions between mental illness and nonconformist behaviors were often elided in the literature of the 17th century in particular.
“My original interest in analyzing cultural constructs of gender roles, restrictions, and transgressions in defiance of those restrictions in early modern English literature then shifted from a focus on women to a focus on men’s roles and relationships to others when I started writing about ‘Deadwood’ and Shakespeare’s Henriad. I also began to examine the storytelling devices of dramatic texts and performances in comparison to those of television, an area of increasing academic interest,” she said.
Following the 2018 publication of her book, Cosby Ronnenberg went on to publish a chapter in “Gender and Contemporary Horror in Television” (part of Emerald Studies in Popular Culture and Gender). In her chapter, “So Many Chick Flicks: Dean Winchester’s Centrifugal Evolution,” she claims the lead character, Dean Winchester, from CW’s long-running series “Supernatural,” transgresses conventional gender role boundaries in the same way as his predecessor, Buffy Sommers, from the WB/CW’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” She identified the presentation of gender roles and transgressions in “Supernatural” adds an element that “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” didn’t: the lower socioeconomic class of its main characters who essentially live out of their car.
“Engaging students (and audiences) in applying analysis and critical thinking skills interests me,” Cosby Ronnenberg said. “Popular culture artifacts can be used to assist in this process, pairing something students are familiar with alongside material that is new to them, i.e. using a popular TV series like ‘The Walking Dead’ to apply ethical theories of deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics to characters’ dilemmas and decisions.”
Cosby Ronnenberg also has an invited chapter in a collection coming out this year. The collection is “Television Series as Literature.” In this, she analyzes the Sundance drama series “Rectify,” the TV series which comes closest to a novel, in her opinion, but still falls short. Her chapter is “‘It’s the Beauty that Hurts the Most’: Rectify as Televisual Novel.”
As a teacher-scholar who specializes in 400-year-old English literature and culture, Cosby Ronnenberg said she’s always alert for connections between the past and present. “Using an educational approach to engage others in applying critical thinking skills highlights one small aspect of the relevance of studying historical texts and teaching students how to write for varied audiences and purposes — learning how to effectively use analogies to help audiences understand a claim is invaluable for any writer. Analyzing power structures (gender, race, socioeconomic class, education, age, vocation), hierarchies, and representation is always relevant.
As a child, Cosby Ronnenberg loved to search for four-leaf clovers, a pastime that turned into a brief obsession (she once collected 26 four-leaf clovers, 10 five-leaf clovers, and 3 six-leaf clovers from her parents’ yard and pressed all of them in the pages of her Nancy Drew books). She relates this to her scholarship and role as dean.
“I have long been interested in identifying patterns and anomalies in those patterns; to me that is my primary interest in analysis and interpretation of texts within an historical and cultural context. It applies to the printed text (literature, a script) as well as a televisual text (TV, film, performed drama, etc.).
“Comparing and analyzing seemingly disparate artifacts, looking for commonalities and trying to identify disruptions to existing structures all apply to my role as dean. What patterns do I see in course scheduling or the course format? In consistently low-enrolled courses? How can we best support or disrupt those patterns to benefit our students, to maximize course enrollments, to provide better faculty support?”
Saint Mary’s experts discuss LMS during Inside Higher Ed webinar
Several Saint Mary’s experts joined K16 Solutions to participate in a national Inside Higher Education webinar titled, “Migrating to a New LMS: Implementing a Best-In-Class Strategy,” on June 30. Andrea Carroll-Glover, vice provost for online strategy and programs; Abram Hedtke, director of instructional technology; and Tianna Johnson, assistant vice president for information technology, discussed innovation in higher education as it relates to the learning management system (LMS) work being done at Saint Mary’s. They shared the approach taken to successfully migrate course content, archive student data, and implement a new LMS campuswide through an aggressive but achievable timeline.
Visit Inside Higher Ed to view the webinar slides or the on-demand recording.
Pye receives recognition for geography work
Yvette Pye, Ph.D.
Yvette Pye, Ph.D., core professor in the Ed.D. in Leadership program, was recognized in February 2021 by The University of Florida as part of Black History Month for her contributions in the field of geography. Her research interests are Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, education consulting, traditional African education, youth development, and urban social geography. She is a published author, community advocate, and founder of both the Dream Big Institute and the Pye Foundation of Education and Literacy.
Prompt response with information helped grad student pursue long-term interest
It was the end of his workday – and the beginning of a new career era – when Jeff Keen hit ‘send’ on an online form. He wanted to learn more about Saint Mary’s Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics (BIDA). The program was among five or six data analytics graduate programs he was considering.
“Three minutes later, as I was walking out of the building, my phone rang and I was talking to the program director,” Keen said. “I was very impressed by the rapid response and the admission process wasn’t overwhelming, and soon I decided to attend Saint Mary’s.”
Keen, who has a political science degree, was working at the University of Northern Iowa Foundation when he began pursuing his interest in data analytics. Starting in the fall of 2018, he took several free online courses, including an intro to computer science and a couple of coding classes.
As he took these classes, Keen worked analytics into his job in order to better serve the organization. Soon he wished he could do this type of work full time, rather than shoehorning it into whatever he was working on.
“I had taken some free courses that helped convince me that I wanted to do the analytics track in grad school,” Keen said. “I also discovered that it’s more difficult to stick with free and self-guided learning options. Despite being a self-starter, I found it’s a real challenge to stick with them. I also know employers value credentials, and I needed the degree to prove I could do the work.”
Keen began Saint Mary’s BIDA program in the fall of 2019, taking all his classes remotely. This was a big plus in his eyes because with a young child and another on the way, he couldn’t commit to a long commute and sitting in class at prescribed times each week.
He also appreciates the fact that his classes varied between having a business focus and a technical focus. Keen describes his classes as an eight-week sprint that combined reading books and practical hands-on activities to accomplish something big – a large project completed by the end of each class.
“My instructors at Saint Mary’s are well informed and approachable, and I really appreciate the wide variety of courses. I’ve done everything from ethics and economics to learning to write code in Python,” he said. “Most of my classes have been project-based, so you learn a lot by doing. My favorite classes have been Decision Support Systems, where I built a data warehouse, and Data Mining for Decision Making, where I built a logistic regression model and really had a lot of opportunity to be creative and learn by doing.”
Keen has been eyeing opportunities to get into analytics for several years, consistently applying for interesting positions as he worked through his master’s program, and updated his résumé with courses and projects he completed.
“All the experiences and applications of my courses and projects finally got to the point that I could be taken seriously as a data analyst candidate even though I didn’t technically have the word ‘analyst’ in my job title,” adds Keen. “Two months ago, I landed a new job as an associate, Media Analytics and Insights for Mindstream Media Group.”
He describes the job as a great combination of data wrangling, with data blended and combined to provide a holistic look at a media campaign. Once the data is in place there’s a need to build visualizations, before looking for insights and presenting them.
Because analytics is such a broad field, Keen has no idea what his ideal job would be. But he does know he’s having a blast in his new role and he believes Saint Mary’s BIDA program, which he will complete this fall, has helped prepare him to work in many different parts of analytics.
“My job requires broad knowledge. Not just discovery and ETL data integration. Not just insight generation. Not just communication. Everything in the cycle from start to finish,” Keen said. “The BIDA program is really focused on a more holistic view of analytics, and it’s worked well for me. It provided the structure I needed to stick to my goals, and a really well-balanced framework. I wish I would have started this program three years ago.”
Biology students focus on understudied area of ecology for senior projects
Saint Mary’s seniors Rose Kraus, Cole Gunneson, Abbi Mazurek, Ally Niedospial, and Julia VanWatermeulen are laying down the tracks for research in a newer, lesser-known area of ecological study.
In June, the five students, along with assistant professor of biology Ben Pauli, Ph.D., spent time in the bluffs near the university’s Winona Campus trying to find out how train noises could affect animals in the area.
The research into what is known as “railway ecology” is a part of the students’ senior project.
Extensive research has been done to find how roads and highways can harm animals. However, Pauli says little research exists about the effects of trains.
“There are roads essentially everywhere, but there are lots of railroads as well. So, does the scientific community have less of an understanding of how railroads affect wildlife?” Pauli said. “We suspect [railways] may have some of the same effects roads have on wildlife but we don’t really know.”
Performing research in a less observed area of science can come with its headaches, but the students working with Pauli said the unknown is part of what sparked their interest in the project.
“I’m excited to see what we find because when you look for this kind of research on the internet, there is slim to none,” VanWatermeulen said.
Watching students come to those “aha moments” is what’s crucial to Pauli as a professor.
“It’s kind of turning that first frustration into, ‘Well, there is a real opportunity here,’ he said. “I think that’s important and also shows them what it feels like to be on the leading edge of a scientific discipline.”
To gauge whether train noises have an impact on wildlife, Pauli and the students set up two test areas on the trails behind campus. In one area, speakers were placed to play train sounds at different times throughout the day, while another area was kept completely silent.
Using an assortment of different tools and techniques, the students gathered data to see how the activity and habits of animals differ between the two locations.
Each student was tasked with tracking a different variety of animal, including mice and small mammals, squirrels, mid-sized carnivores, bats, and birds.
Not only does the project allow students to take part in research in an understudied area of ecology, it also allows some of them to dive into areas of science they are enthusiastic about.
“I eventually want to become an ornithologist, someone who studies birds, so having an opportunity like that is exciting for me,” said Niedospial, who is grateful to study birds in this project.
For others, it’s an opportunity to engage in research that is outside of their area of study. Wanting to take advantage of his liberal arts education, Gunneson, a student in Saint Mary’s 3+2 Physician Assistant Program, decided to look beyond the health care sciences for his senior project and consider research in wildlife biology.
“I thought it would sort of be interesting to get a different experience, knowing that a lot of my time from here on out is going to be focused on health care,” Gunneson said. “I’m absolutely still committed to doing what I’m doing, but I thought it would be interesting to get that holistic experience I might not get elsewhere.”
An added benefit, students may also experience having their work published in a scientific journal, something Pauli says isn’t afforded to most undergraduate students. The five students involved know having published research is beneficial when pursuing graduate school and careers in the sciences; they see it as an opportunity that would put them ahead of students at other institutions.
“It’s really exciting, the thought of being published so early in my career,” Niedospial said. “I think it’s super cool that the professors at Saint Mary’s want to have their students be published.”
Published or not, the students know their work could lead to solutions that might help mitigate the harmful effects of human interaction with wildlife, especially when it comes to secondary effects like noise pollution.
“When people think about the effects of railroads on ecosystems and wildlife, they think of ecosystem fragmentation or railroad collisions, usually not the noise. I really hope we can find some compelling data to show whether railroad noise affects wildlife,” Kraus said.
Photo caption 1: Senior biology students and assistant professor Ben Pauli conduct research on how train noises affect wildlife. Photo by Blake Darst.
Photo caption 2: Speakers placed on the trails near Saint Mary’s campus play train sounds as senior biology students research the noise’s effect on wildlife. Photo by Blake Darst.
Photo caption 3: Senior Cole Gunneson collects data as part of his research on how train noises affect wildlife. Photo by Blake Darst.
Coursework, preparation helps Saint Mary’s grad land job at top accounting firm
When Daniel Trupin, an alumnus of the B.S. Accounting program, received a phone call informing him he had been offered a position with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), he was elated. The offer was the culmination of countless hours spent researching, preparing, and interviewing. For Trupin, landing a position with PwC, the second-largest professional services organization and one of the Big Four accounting firms, was a dream, but also a long shot.
He recounts how selective the organization is, “PwC looks for certain qualities in all their new hires: business acumen, tech-savvy capabilities, the ability to develop new relationships, and experience working with a wide variety of people. I was lucky enough to meet these qualifications, but I know there are countless qualified people who just aren’t what this particular firm is looking for.”
Working with a recruiter for several months, Trupin was finally invited to interview with the state and local tax division of PwC. During this time, he was also offered positions with other firms. Not wanting to give up on his dream job, Trupin reached out to his recruiter and learned he was not selected for the position, but that he might be a good fit for an opening in the international tax division. This opportunity perfectly blended Trupin’s degree in international studies at NYU and his degree in accounting from Saint Mary’s. Even better, he did not have to re-interview for it; the committee would contact him with their decision.
“Two days later I got a call that my job offer would be emailed to me later that afternoon, and I was ecstatic. I was overwhelmed with joy because this is exactly the position I had wanted and had been working so hard to get,” Trupin said.
He credits his success to months of determination and his preparation in the accounting program. He said the instructors in the program were knowledgeable and offered many valuable resources. He also points out that though there were many long nights of studying, the content was manageable and classwork was about more than just doing the work for a grade – an experience he has not always had in his educational journey.
Trupin advises current and incoming students to delve into the program content. He also encourages students to dive into the workforce while in school, and remember that internships or other work experience are attractive to employers and convey an ability to balance commitments.
Trupin looks forward to his new opportunity with PwC and is preparing to take the CPA exam. While he’s considering Saint Mary’s master’s program in the future, for now, he’ll focus on excelling at his dream job.
Story by McKayla Collins
Advanced degree benefits both graduate and employer
By Maura Sullivan Hill
For Gerald Ondimu D’18, pursuing a doctor of business administration degree was the key to his own career growth — and it has also turned out to be a great decision for his longtime employer, Wells Fargo.
“Besides helping me advance in my current banking profession, this degree has also greatly benefitted my current employer,” he says. “I have moved up the ranks using the refined writing and presentation skills acquired from the program.”
Ondimu leads the capital markets division of Wells Fargo Bank in Minneapolis, managing the movement of investments in the form of securities between the bank and those in need of capital. He chose Saint Mary’s DBA program because of its flexible evening classes and affordability.
Ondimu is also the chair of the board of directors for Minnesota Kenyans International Development Association (MKIDA), a nonprofit that works to improve the educational, economic, and cultural welfare of Kenyan Americans. He has been involved since the organization’s founding in 2003, and one of their goals is to encourage entrepreneurship among Kenyans in the U.S.
Ondimu says, “My interest in consulting on ‘doing business’ in and with emerging economies and young entrepreneurs has gained momentum from the research skills I gained in the Saint Mary’s program.”
Whether he is working at the bank or mentoring local entrepreneurs, Ondimu always utilizes a key principle from his Saint Mary’s education.
“I learned so many skills in the DBA program, but the one that stands out on a daily basis is ethical business decision making,” Ondimu says. “Every day when I make decisions, I consider the feelings and needs of others beyond the profits or anything else. Prioritizing ethical thinking in day-to-day decisions builds invaluable trust that then leads to greater business growth.”
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