Saint Mary's Newsroom / Campus Notes
Winona Campus Newsletter
An invitation to silent reflection in memory of George Floyd
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has issued a proclamation asking Minnesotans for a moment of silence at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, for 9 minutes and 29 seconds to honor George Floyd on the one year anniversary of his death. In keeping with this proclamation, we invite the Saint Mary’s community to join in silence, reflection, and prayer at this time, recognizing the need for ongoing work to eliminate all forms of racism and keeping in mind all who suffer from injustice — especially the lives lost through violence.
To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
— Psalm 50:23
First Generation Initiative student spotlight: Destiny Walker B’22
By Krista Joy Coleman
Criminal justice and psychology double major Destiny Walker hopes to make an impact as a community changer and is well on her way. Walker is already very familiar with being a proponent of change in an evolving community. She is heavily involved in the leadership teams of multiple clubs at Saint Mary’s University, including the Merging Intercultural Experiences (MIX) Club and Solidarity Club (to name a few).
Walker participated in Countdown to College (C2C), an immersive academic program on Saint Mary’s Winona Campus to help prepare high schoolers for college life and classes. Her favorite thing about C2C was learning firsthand what to expect in college. “I’m introverted, so stepping into a new environment and getting used to it before starting college was great,” she said.
Throughout the C2C summer program, high schoolers spend time on campus, take classes, and meet other students for two weeks every summer for four years. Students also have the opportunity to receive college credit through the C2C program, something Walker received.
With these credits, as well as credits from Post Secondary Enrollment programs and other advanced courses, Walker graduated early from Washington Technology Magnet High School in the Twin Cities and had a jump start on her college career. She has ambitiously chosen to pursue a double major and will graduate from Saint Mary’s in four years.The junior said she is happy her time on campus with her friends and clubs won’t be cut short.
Walker believes in working hard to achieve goals. However, when offered the First Generation Initiative (FGI) scholarship, she felt uniquely rewarded and recognized for her hard work. “It’s so great to have someone tell me what I do is important and that I need to give myself some credit for the hard work I do,” she said.
Walker has a special appreciation for Winona. She loves walking around town and discovering the local businesses. Drawn to creative environments, she often stops by Jovy Rockey Jewelry Shop, Art & Sõl, and JimmyJams Comic Bookstore to see local art and support creatives in the area.
When she’s not working with one of the clubs on campus or discovering Winona, Walker is diligently working on her coursework. Walker said she feels encouraged by many people at Saint Mary’s and lists Miles Dunna from admissions, Octavia Brown, and Alisa Macksey from the FGI program, and Erin Mae Clark, Ph.D., from the English Department.
“Having people to talk about social justice issues with on campus is so important,” Walker said. “Most of my community is within the FGI program. I really like the people, and they created a family for me when I first got here.”
As the eldest in her family, Walker represents a world of opportunities to her two younger sisters. She hopes succeeding at college shows her sisters they can do anything they set their minds to. “Everyone has different choices they can make. I want to show them that they can go to college if they want to,” she said.
Walker said she always wanted to go to college and was thankful to have the opportunity. She looks forward to a career working with juveniles re-entering society, helping them post juvenile detention to process their past and rejoin their communities. She feels many programs for juveniles have a one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t account for cultural background, personal individuality, and family history. It’s her dream to be a part of a program that takes these details into account so she can help young people on individual levels to thrive in the future.
Walker said she is so thankful to FGI benefactors who make everything she loves about the FGI program and C2C possible through their generosity. She’ll continue to pay it forward in a meaningful and life-changing career of helping young people.
Baseball alumni prove giving is contagious
It’s been scientifically proven that seeing others give makes an individual more likely to give.
Generosity is contagious, and head Saint Mary’s baseball coach Nick Winecke ’07, M’12 can attest to the fact because he’s seen it in action. Benefactors spanning more than five decades are giving back to a sport and a program they love.
It all began on Jan. 14, 2019, as Saint Mary’s unveiled its new $704,000 baseball clubhouse, “Pudge’s Place.” The 2,500-square-foot facility was made possible by a generous lead gift from Marc Weisenburger ’75.
Weisenburger had been inspired by previous benefactors of Saint Mary’s initiatives like the Science and Learning Center and the Kabara Institute.
“In thinking about how I could help define success for Saint Mary’s baseball, I wanted to try and determine what I could do to make a difference,” he said. “I am honored that my nickname is on this clubhouse, and I am proud to be forever connected to Saint Mary’s baseball … and all that it stands for.”
Winecke said that Weisenburger’s generosity inspired a giving trend for the baseball program. Of the 46 lockers located in Pudge’s Place, all (plus two coaches’ lockers) were quickly sponsored. The cost to sponsor a locker was set at $2,000, but several alumni, Winecke said, have made gifts over the requested sponsorship amount.
In total, 66 individuals and families supported the project.
Even more impressive, about 50 percent of the lockers were supported by young alumni from the past 13 years — alumni like Taylor Thelemann ’14, who played shortstop for the Cardinals between 2011 and 2014.
“I decided to sponsor a locker and give back to the program in general because of how much the team and university did for me as a person,” Thelemann said. “I matured and developed more than I could have ever expected, and I attribute a lot of that to the inclusivity and camaraderie associated with the program. The culture that Coach Winecke has built at Saint Mary’s is truly special, and I wanted to help make that bond more noticeable to prospective students.”
Thelemann said having his name permanently attached to the facilities is an honor.
“Alumni banded together collectively to make the opportunity a reality,” he said. “My former teammates who were contacted agreed to assist without hesitation.”
As great as the on-field accomplishments were, Thelemann said it’s the time spent off the field with teammates he misses the most. “Coach Winecke always said that the first day you come on campus as a new student and member of the baseball program, you gain 40-plus best friends, and that could not be more true. It is hard to find a professional environment where everyone cares more about the common goal than individual accomplishments or milestones.”
Weisenburger shared this same experience while playing under the guidance of Hall of Fame Coach Max Molock between 1971 and 1975. To further honor Molock, Weisenburger has now committed generous funding for another important Cardinal baseball initiative.
This generous donation has established “The Max” player package. “The name, in addition to being inspired by Molock, is also centered around the knowledge that giving the max effort and having the max contributors will lead to max results,” Weisenburger said.
As part of the package, all Cardinal baseball players every year will receive a pair of spikes, training shoes, and practice gear (two T-shirts and a pair of shorts). Moving forward, first-years will get a certain package every year, and returning players will be able to choose from a menu of options, based on their need.
“He’s allowing us to have a Division 1 experience at a Division III institution,” Winecke said. “This sets us apart to win with recruitment, but it also takes the financial burden off of some students and their families.”
Sophomore biology pre-med major Brandon Merfeld said it took awhile for the news of this gift to sink in.
“Playing Division III sports, it is really unheard of to get all that equipment for free,” he said. “It really speaks to the quality of alumni that this program produces. It also displays that there is a high level of investment from our alumni, which in turn will make our team work harder as we do not want to let down those who came before us.”
Ryan Wolfe ’20, enrolled in Saint Mary’s finance certificate program, agrees. “ ‘The Max’ shows a lot of what our program and culture is all about. Alumni care about this program so much that they give generous donations year after year. They want to make sure this program is in a better place and make our experiences even greater than theirs were.”
Merfeld said as a member of the baseball team he feels part of a family, one in which everyone has each others’ back. “I think that’s why Saint Mary’s is special,” he said. “This goes beyond the baseball program to the professors and administrators who are always there to lend a helping hand.
“If I am ever able to give back in any way, I will certainly do so. I have seen first-hand how ‘The Max’ package has impacted my teammates, not only emotionally but financially,” he said. “I think it would be a surreal opportunity to be able to bring joy to Cardinal Baseball players to come.”
Message of reflection and planning from Father Burns
Dear Saint Mary’s community,
As announced earlier this month, Mr. Leon Dixon will be joining Saint Mary’s on June 1 as vice president for inclusion and human dignity. Our strategic plan, Building a Future Full of Hope 2025, identifies the goal of increasing diversity and a greater sense of belonging. While progress has been made, we have more work ahead of us. We are fortunate to have the depth and breadth of experiences Mr. Dixon brings to support our commitment to build an inclusive culture that promotes and upholds the inherent human dignity of all. This work will require all of our efforts and the summer months will provide time for Mr. Dixon to meet with many areas and frame actions and a work plan for the academic year ahead.
Suffice to say that the past year has been fraught with pain, anger and, in some cases, despair. Issues have included a contentious election, socio-cultural challenges that have created splintered factions, violence, protests throughout our nation’s communities and the tragic loss of so many lives. Among these losses and close to home we recall the recent death of Daunte Wright and soon we will remember the anniversary of George Floyd.
Rarely has the value of and need for education been so evident nor the call to respect life so clarion. We are grateful to be able to educate students to enhance their critical thinking and analytical skills; we advocate and showcase productive debate and civil discourse; we support and welcome a variety of perspectives as we seek common understanding and the truth in all things, while embracing the inherent goodness of people. We do all of this in pursuit of peace and toward greater justice through education, in our Lasallian Catholic tradition. Our collective work is founded in truth, goodness, and beauty.
Before we all break for the Memorial Day holiday, I am reminded of the “Declaration on the Lasallian Educational Mission: Challenges, Convictions and Hopes” that was crafted last year by the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The document states,
Societies and individuals are seemingly finding ways to overcome the many problems of an age marked both by inequality and injustice, as well as by means of making new inspirations flourish, of creating new commitments, and of facilitating a new spring. The power of hope once again launches the commitment of Lasallians to the human and Christian education of children, young people, and adults in whom we find the face of God and the best expression of what is deeply human.
The power of this kind of hope is alive and well at Saint Mary’s. We will make much progress, together in solidarity. God bless you and may the summer bring time for rest, reflection, renewal, and reinvigoration.
Saint John Baptist de La Salle, pray for us!
Rev. James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D.
President
Student ‘miles ahead of his peers’ after research experience with Mayo Clinic Health System
By Tom Brandes
Who knew that when Brandon Merfeld tore his ulnar collateral ligament in high school, the result would be a positive, life-changing experience? Merfeld, now a sophomore majoring in Biology at Saint Mary’s University, discovered his calling in life.
“I went to an orthopedic surgeon and thought he’d recommend Tommy John surgery, but instead I avoided surgery with three months rest,” said Merfeld. “I was very impressed with the surgeon and realized my ideal job would be to work in sports medicine and be a physician for a college team.”
Merfeld grew up in La Crosse, Wis., so when it was time to choose a college, he knew about the university’s beautiful Winona campus, strong science program with great facilities, and beneficial relationship with Mayo Clinic. But when the school’s baseball coach, Nick Winecke, reached out and encouraged him to attend Saint Mary’s, it might have sealed the deal. Today, Merfeld is both an outfielder on the baseball team and an experienced sports medicine researcher.
“About two years ago a friend who is a pre-med major at Georgetown University was working with Andrew Jagim, Ph.D., the director of Sports Medicine Research for Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse,” Merfeld said. “I visited the lab and learned what they did there. I was intrigued by the thought of doing research in sports medicine and offered to help in an informal role.”
Dr. Jagim was impressed with Merfeld’s eagerness to learn and willingness to help as an unpaid volunteer in order to gain experience and bolster his résumé. Together they collaborated on a project studying daily physical activity and sleep based on firefighters’ shift-schedules.
“He helped with various tasks including data management and putting together an abstract summarizing our research findings, which identified differences in daily physical activity and sleep based on shift schedules in fire fighters for a regional sports medicine conference,” Dr. Jagim said.
Merfeld’s work involved consolidating data gathered from fitness watches that tracked sleep time, the daily number of steps and total daily calorie expenditure. He also analyzed the differences between when the fire fighters were working and not working. After presenting the abstract, he moved on to help with the full manuscript with the intent to submit the article for publication this summer.
Merfeld wrote and revised multiple abstract drafts, sending them to Dr. Jagim who marked up and returned them. Although at times the process was grueling, Merfeld gained much valuable experience.
“I sent Dr. Jagim the first drafts, and I felt they were bad because he had so many changes, but he reassured me that it was O.K.,” says Merfeld. “I’ve learned so much from him. It’s valuable working with someone like Dr. Jagim who has excelled in his field. He understands undergrads are busy. I wanted to help his research and not be a burden.”
Ultimately the abstract was submitted and accepted for presentation as a poster at the American College of Sports Medicine’s Northland Regional Spring Meeting, which was held virtually in April. Merfeld worked with Dr. Jagim to create the poster, recorded his 8-minute presentation on his phone in a student lounge, and uploaded it via Zoom.
Dr. Jagim notes Merfeld successfully demonstrated the traits of a good researcher, including being organized and responsible, and having good time management skills. Merfeld meticulously mapped the process and addressed issues on the fly as they came up.
“I reassured Brandon that it takes time and patience to develop scientific writing skills, but Brandon is already miles ahead of his peers by being exposed to this now and it will certainly help him with his future plans of medical school,” said Dr. Jagim. “It’s pretty rare to see students get involved with research until their senior year of college or even at the grad level. Getting this experience says a lot about the type of student Brandon is, and he’s still hungry for more ways to get involved.”
In fact, Merfeld is currently working on a similar research project involving Division III athletes, looking at the effect of early morning workouts on sleep. Spoiler alert: coaches might want to let their players sleep in.
“Dr. Jagim mentored me through this process. I can’t express how much he’s helped and taught me about research,” Merfeld said. “I’ve been working with different groups in my labs and try to pass along to them information that I’ve learned.”
Women and men: Together for change
When Michelle Wieser, Ph.D., became dean of the School of Business and Technology at Saint Mary’s in 2019, she brought with her a vision for opening new pathways to degree completion for a new generation of students. Many of these innovations are designed to appeal to underrepresented groups in business and technology, including women.
Statistics show that women in the United States have made slow progress toward gender parity in the workplace. According to McKinsey & Company’s 2020 Women in the Workplace report, between January 2015 and January 2020, the percentage of women in senior vice president positions increased from 23 to 28 percent, and women in executive-level positions increased from 17 to 21 percent. On average, Minnesota women were more successful. The 2019 Minnesota Census of Women in Corporate Leadership showed that women held nearly 23 percent of executive-level positions in the 76 largest publicly traded companies headquartered in Minnesota.
These findings and the fact that the pay gap between men and women also had been gradually narrowing is good news. This is pre-pandemic though. McKinsey & Company predicts “the progress we’ve seen over the past six years could be erased.” On Nov. 6, 2020, the Washington Post reported that the percentage of women in the U.S. labor force was equivalent to what it was in 1988.
The pandemic has a two-pronged effect on working women: Many of the eliminated jobs are low-paying service sector ones traditionally held by women, particularly women of color. Another issue is a lack of childcare and online school, forcing working mothers to juggle even more responsibilities than they usually do. Many have chosen to stay home. In September 2020 alone, 865,000 women dropped out of the workforce.
Involving men in gender diversity matters
Dean Wieser and others are addressing these matters by engaging men. In January 2020 Wieser joined the pilot group for Menttium’s new program, Women Mentoring Men: Standing Together for Change. Menttium is a woman-owned business specializing in mentoring programs. Women Mentoring Men activates men as advocates for gender parity. An expert in gender equality in the workplace, Wieser jumped at the opportunity to get involved.
The pilot group of 10 included senior leaders with the power to create change within their companies. Mentors and mentees met one-on-one and in group sessions with structured discussion topics and deliverables.
Wieser’s mentee was Rob Grubka, president, employee benefits, at Voya Financial. He was searching for insight into gender imbalances on one of Voya’s teams, which includes sales reps, most of whom are men, and client service employees, most of whom are women. Most women weren’t interested in the hours or travel that was typical on the sales side, raising questions for Grubka, such as “How do we change the job to make it more inclusive? What does the job really need to be?”
Allies and advocates
Naturally, participants discussed how women are being affected by the pandemic. Mothers often carry more of the parenting load. They have more difficulty juggling the demands of work and parenting children who are no longer in school or daycare.
The already negative impact on the careers of mothers has disproportionately affected Black women, and women who are senior leaders. McKinsey & Company reports that women are worried about being negatively judged because of their caregiving responsibilities, and they are uncomfortable sharing their challenges with colleagues. This makes conversations like the ones that took place between mentors and mentees more important than ever.
From conversation to change
Menttium designed the program to have depth and to produce change, but the outcome was better than anyone expected. Wieser’s mentee Grubka reports that he has material to share with Voya’s leadership team and that he is prepared to elevate the conversation on how to deliberately create an environment that values diversity.
The mentors reported that they got a lot out of the program too. “Because of the level of individual and group interaction in this program, we couldn’t run from tough conversations,” Wieser said. “That made all the difference for me. I have always been deeply passionate about gender equality in the workplace, but this program helped me view all of this through a race and ethnicity lens, too.”
Wieser will use what she has gained from the program in her next research project. Her Ph.D. dissertation was a major study on the impact of an MBA on women’s careers, conducted for Forté, a nonprofit dedicated to women’s career development. Comparing both extrinsic and intrinsic factors, Wieser found that men outpaced women in most factors, particularly in extrinsic areas. Her next study will consider how race and gender affect the experience of MBA students, from the application process through career success after graduation.
If workplaces are to achieve gender parity, it is important for men to be involved. In order to do that, we need safe spaces for courageous conversations about bias and privilege. When women mentor men, men have the opportunity to gain a different perspective and build skills for advocacy and allyship. If there was ever a time when women and men need to work together for change, it’s now.
To learn more, visit menttium.com/services/women-mentoring-men.
Find the results of Wieser’s dissertation research by searching for “Women, Men, and the MBA: A Quantitative Assessment of the Impact of the MBA Degree on the Extrinsic and Intrinsic Career Outcomes of Graduates.”
First Generation Initiative student spotlight: Raekwon Livingston ’21
By Krista Joy Coleman
Saint Mary’s criminal justice major Raekwon Livingston has his eyes set on changing the world, one person at a time. As a Chicago native, he understands first-hand the community’s sometimes negative view of the Chicago Police Department and hopes to change it for the better. He decided to minor in psychology to better understand how to defuse potential situations he might encounter as a police officer.
“I want to see a change in how police officers work with people with mental illness,” said Livingston. Having a family member who has a mental illness, he believes the root of change is in understanding the disease. Livingston is particularly fascinated in studying cognitive perspective illnesses. “People with cognitive perspective illnesses are wired differently and have a different way of thinking than we do,” he said. As a police officer, he wants to focus on helping people by understanding how they think and feel from their point of view instead of his own.
Livingston said his parents weren’t strict growing up; instead, they encouraged him to make good choices with his freedom. To help him not get distracted, his mother enrolled him in after-school programs to help with his homework, and she made life itself a learning environment. His parents always valued college and are immensely proud to watch him thrive at Saint Mary’s University. “I would say my parents are my biggest support system,” Livingston said.
It was a high school counselor who first told Livingston about Saint Mary’s First Generation Initiative (FGI) scholarship and encouraged him to apply. Livingston said he immediately enjoyed the community within the program and was thankful to have their support to help him adjust. Relocating from big-city Chicago to small-town Winona, Livingston said he experienced a bit of culture shock when he arrived. “Octavia (Brown) and Alisa (Macksey) helped me become comfortable on campus. It’s great to have someone outside of your parents believe in you and be so caring,” he said.
Livingston added he feels so thankful to have a full college scholarship and said he wouldn’t have gone to college if he hadn’t received the financial support. “With the First Generation Initiative program, students of color get a sense of belonging, a second family away from home, and they are surrounded by other students who are going through the same culture shock who can provide a sense of comfort,” he said.
Livingston said he works every day to bring his ‘A’ game because he knows many others can only wish they had the same opportunity he has. “Use your college experience to better yourself,” the senior says as advice to high schoolers and college freshmen. “Devote yourself to learning about the people different from you who are all around you on campus. It’ll apply to life later on.”
Livingston further encourages, “No matter where you come from, no matter your economic background, you should have a dream and live up to it. It’s all in your mind. No one can stop you but yourself. If you have the mindset that you will complete your dream, that it is what you want for your life, hold onto it no matter what, and don’t get distracted. No matter how many people tell you that you can’t do it, you can. It’s up to you.”
Livingston is thankful to Saint Mary’s — and to FGI supporters — for providing him with the tools he needs to bring about change as the next generation of law enforcement.
Alumna uses degree to lead in geographic information systems
Kendis Scharenbroich M’00 can’t recall too many other female CEOs in her industry, but she’s more concerned about doing her job and the work she’s trained to do.
Scharenbroich, a self described knowledge seeker and fact finder, has worked in geographic information systems (GIS) for 20 years, since she graduated from Saint Mary’s University with a master’s degree in resource analysis (now the M.S. in Data Intelligence and GeoAnalytics program).
Today, she is the president and CEO at Pro-West and Associates, Inc., a consulting firm in Bemidji, Minn., that offers GIS services for cities, counties, and state and federal governments.
GIS involves using computer systems and software to capture, analyze, and display data related to geographic locations, to better understand patterns and relationships. At Pro-West, for example, they use GIS to collect and assess information about land use, roads, and property tax assessments. They have also worked with public health departments during the COVID-19 pandemic, tracking infection rates and providing data that has been essential in creating safe reopening plans and vaccine distribution systems.
After earning her undergraduate degree in biology, chemistry, and mass communication from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, Scharenbroich learned about GIS from a mentor. As a visual learner, she says she “fell in love with it, because of the maps, statistics, charts, and graphs.” So she started looking at graduate programs in the field.
“Saint Mary’s stood out above and beyond all of the other programs that I looked at. They had a wide variety of courses, so not only did they focus on core GIS technology, but they also taught programming and had a focus on communications, public speaking and writing,” she says. “That breadth and diversity of the course work has served me well throughout my entire career. It felt like this was a place where I was going to be able to learn and grow professionally, and that was 100% the case.”
Scharenbroich started working at Pro-West in 2002, after moving to Bemidji with her husband. Her first job was as a GIS technician, and she rose through the organization to become CEO in 2019.
“When I started, everything that I learned at Saint Mary’s came into play: I was asked to create spatial data and do technical work, to write case studies for clients and present at conferences, to meet with clients and learn about their needs and figure out how to apply the technology,” she says. “I really enjoyed the diversity of the work, and the communication aspect of it, as well. All the courses I went through in Saint Mary’s program prepared me for that.”
Scharenbroich has Saint Mary’s graduates on her team, and says that the same holds true today: They are prepared.
“I am reviewing résumés every day from GIS programs across the region and the country, and the Saint Mary’s students always have a diverse background and relevant internships. They definitely stand out,” says Scharenbroich, who also mentors fellow GIS professionals through the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium.
Scharenbroich emphasizes that she never set out to be a CEO, but that she simply enjoys her work every day and is committed to it.
“Basically, over the last 19 years, I did my job,” she says with a chuckle. “I’m a knowledge seeker and fact finder, and I was always engaged with the job. I’m just so glad that I went to Saint Mary’s and got my education there.”
Creating real-life experiences in a virtual world
Mere months from graduating, Saint Mary’s sport management students were set up to successfully market themselves into successful careers.
Their résumés already contain direct real-world experience; they’re comfortable with presenting; and they’ve built valuable networks with well-known and well-respected names like X Games, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, and Fanatics (previously WinCraft).
In the most recent example, this past fall, Zakary Mayo’s Sport Marketing class prepared marketing presentations for the Minnesota Whitecaps of the National Women’s Hockey League, and Elete Dribble, an app designed to improve dribbling skills for basketball players of all ages.
As a basketball player and overall sports fan, Caily Landers, a senior sport management and management double major, enjoyed the challenge. She hopes one day to both be an entrepreneur and to work for an organization just like the Minnesota Whitecaps.
Although, prior to the introduction of this project, Landers didn’t know much about the Minneapolis-Saint Paul-based women’s hockey team, she and her class immersed themselves in how to creatively increase fan engagement during a pandemic. Her team chose to come up with ideas that were both affordable (knowing the sports industry has taken a financial hit) and COVID-19 safety conscious.
They developed five winning strategies that would not only work during a pandemic, but could also carry through when social distancing is no longer necessary. Each appealed to various interests and audiences, and could drive revenue, increase visibility, and keep fans connected and engaged.
The Whitecaps representatives were impressed with the PowerPoint Landers designed for her team.
“I think it makes you feel appreciative of all the work you put into it and gives us lots of confidence,” Landers said. “My professors — and that goes for the whole Business and Communication Department — have taught me a lot of skills that we could implement. They definitely do a great job in preparing us to present. They’re always providing real-world experiences, and when you’re looking for jobs, all that networking and all that experience is great for a résumé.”
Senior Nick Nast also hopes his future career combines his love for sports and his double major of business intelligence and analytics and sport management.
When thinking about marketing ideas for the Whitecaps, Nast dipped into his background as a lifelong hockey fan, channeling ideas he’d seen other teams do, or things he wished teams would implement more to engage their fans.
“Sports is such a big part of so many people’s lives,” he said. “During this pandemic, people need that out, and that’s where sports comes in. It’s important to have that escape, and as an athlete myself, I know the advantage of having that escape.”
To hear from the Whitecaps representatives that his ideas could be utilized by the team, was — in a word — cool.
“Anytime any pro organization compliments the ideas you’ve come up with, it is pretty cool,” he said. “It feels even better as a student. One day you’d like to work in that kind of industry, so it’s a reassuring or feel-good moment. The Business and Communication Department tries to set us up for success and they’re doing a good job of it from what I can tell.
“I think it motivates you that much more to be sure you do the best you can to come up with these ideas. For us as students to be able to interact with those kinds of organizations in those industries — that we all want to get into — it makes the dream more realistic for you.”
Brady Stevens ’21
Brady Stevens, a senior marketing and management double major, was also on the Cardinal basketball team, so his dribbling skills came in handy when creating a visual marketing pitch to Elete Dribble.
His team focused on improving their social media presence to get more exposure through market penetration and to increase visibility and revenue by pairing with other companies.
“Because they’re already an app, during this pandemic, it could be an advantage for them that more people will want to do online training instead of in person,” he said. “We decided that marketing to parents is key as they are the ones who would pay for the app, and they want their kids to have every opportunity.
Stevens hopes to work for a professional sports team as a marketing manager and experiences like this, he said, mean all the difference. “We put more effort and care into it because it’s actually something real. For us to get several different real-world projects and for the companies to take the time to talk with students … they hire professionals to do what we did, but the fact they took the time to listen to us is pretty awesome.”
Senior Stephany Beck echoed that she and her teammates utilized a lot of skills learned from previous classes during their presentations, from advertising and promotions to strategic management.
The marketing and entrepreneurship major was impressed by the entrepreneurial aspect of Elete Dribble.
After college, she hopes to get a career in marketing, potentially something in advertising or social media. “It was a surreal experience to present in front of the Elete Dribble co-founder as well as build our connections and complete a project that has more meaning and could potentially be used. Being an entrepreneur, it was cool to create and implement and propose a social media platform. It looks good for a résumé and portfolio.
“When we were presenting, Sean Possemato, co-founder, asked me for one of the mock social media graphics I had made. It was pretty cool knowing that as a student you can make a bigger impact.”
Faculty spotlight: Nancy Johnson
As an institution, it is incredibly rewarding to witness the successes of our students and faculty. Recently, Nancy Johnson, master’s and Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) professor, published an article in the North American Accounting Studies research journal. In the article, “CPA Exam: Correlative Study of Preparation Activities and Exam Results,” Johnson shares the outcome of her study which determined whether there was an association between candidate preparation and their CPA exam results. You’re invited to view the article.
Now, let’s get to know Johnson a bit better.
How long have you been teaching at Saint Mary’s?
3.5 years; I started in fall 2017.
What courses do you teach for Saint Mary’s?
I teach these courses in the master’s and DBA programs:
- ACCT660 Strategic Management Accounting
- ACCT600 Financial Communication
- MBA644 Financial Markets and Institutions
- MBA648 Security Analysis and Portfolio Management
- DBA818 Topical Papers in Finance
Please share a little bit about your professional experience.
I have more than 30 years as a finance professional leading financial process change and standardization, analysis, project management, including 20 years as a managing director and institutional equity trader; I also have taught in higher education for 15 years in areas including accounting, finance, and business strategy.
What is your favorite quote?
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
What are some of your hobbies?
Gardening, painting, travel, and reading.
What do you enjoy most about teaching?
I enjoy being part of what inspires transformation of the learner’s self-confidence to realize they are capable of reaching goals far greater than they envisioned possible.
What is your favorite classroom assignment and why?
I like any and all assignments which result in the student feeling a sense of accomplishment — the assignments which take them outside of the comfort zone. For some, it’s a memo, others a complex set of calculations; it’s different for every student.
What is your contact information?
You can email me at nljohnso@smumn.edu or connect with me on LinkedIn.
Irish involved in revolutionary research during pandemic
In the global race to combat COVID-19, Cole Irish M’18 and his team at Mayo Clinic are often among the first off the starting block to work on critical, revolutionary new research that will affect patients’ lives.
And though the race is far from over, hurdle after hurdle, these skilled researchers are motivated to get the right tools in place to help medical personnel establish effective treatment, verify test outcomes, and obtain faster results.
Irish has worked at Mayo Clinic for 16 years, but has served as a translational research innovation and test development supervisor there since 2018, when the office was created as a rapid paced innovation and discovery department within lab medicine.
Earlier this summer, he was involved with Mayo Clinic launching a new SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody test in support of the national Expanded Access Program for Convalescent Plasma.
“It was a neat opportunity to be involved with,” Irish said. “That assay was critical to physicians in order to find out which patients have antibodies in their system that may help combat COVID-19.”
According to a Mayo Clinic article, information from the new test or assay — developed after just two months — will help assess critical research efforts to establish effective therapies and vaccines for COVID-19.
Irish’s team is also involved with testing another assay that delivers COVID-19 test results in as few as 15 minutes to an hour, instead of the current wait time of 24 hours or more. That time difference could lower transmission rates, but also, importantly, will ease patients’ minds.
“For a parent, it’s about being able to take your child in for a test and get a result in a timely fashion,” he said. “It takes a lot of anxiety out of the situation if you can know within a few minutes to an hour.”
Irish said he finds it especially exciting to be on the front end of the test development process. “There is some really cool stuff coming down the line; it’s a big need,” he said. “People are going to benefit from a lot of the tests we are bringing forward.”
Each day for Irish is fast paced, exciting, and varied — but it isn’t without its share of disappointments, as well as discoveries.
“That’s just science as a whole,” he said. “You have to be comfortable with failure.” Ironically, much of Irish’s work is actually about eliminating failure. “From our side, when we look at a test development project, the needs of the patient come first; it’s the hallmark at Mayo Clinic. We ask ourselves how we can make the best test with the best results but also have it be easy and understandable for the people operating it. Complex protocols are needed to run these assays.”
Irish said he has always been fascinated by science. With a background in biology, he started out at Mayo Clinic in the department of lab medicine, where he began working with viruses. “On the other side, I was involved in performing these tests,” he said.
As he looked for other opportunities within Mayo Clinic, Irish found that obtaining his MBA degree from Saint Mary’s in 2018 gave him added confidence and skills to advance his position.
He found the university’s flexible schedule and blended online and onground delivery a perfect way to balance his work at Mayo Clinic and his studies simultaneously.
And he found that much of what he was learning has directly applied to his career. “A lot of the strategy components learned during class are things you can really start to consider during test development as a whole,” he said. “Learning who you can reach out to and realizing you don’t have to be the content expert on everything. It’s important to learn how to use your network to figure out where you need to move to. Finance classes have also been extremely helpful and very eye opening when planning.”
At Mayo Clinic, Irish is involved in an extensive annual planning process that involves aligning resources and budgets. Still, he said, priorities are frequently realigned based on the needs and priorities of the areas he assists. He stresses that, at Mayo Clinic, a large network of teams, from development and lab technologists, to physicians, facility crews, and beyond collaborate together to ensure success.
“You look at these projects and see how everyone is working for that one piece to move forward,” he said. “I’m a very small component. The people I work with every day are truly making a difference, and I just go along for the ride.”
First Generation Initiative student spotlight: Crystal Chavez ’21
By Krista Joy Coleman
Only one thing could draw Saint Mary’s senior Crystal Chavez away from the comfort of her very close knit family — the opportunity to become a teacher and make a difference to generations of students. Her love for working with youth began when she herself was young. Chavez recalls early memories of caring for and educating her five siblings, and cooking for her family.
It wasn’t until her seventh-grade teacher showed her how much amazing educators could change their students’ lives that Chavez considered going to college.
Chavez looked up to her first teacher of color. The class struggled to adjust to this teacher’s strict curriculum initially, but there was something different about her that won them over. “She was the only teacher I had who also taught us social and emotional learning strategies,” Chavez said.
Growing up in Chicago, Chavez explained harmful activity in the surrounding neighborhoods was often difficult for children to understand. Her teacher helped the class process what was happening in their lives through journaling, social-emotional learning, and being cared for as individuals.
Chavez was so inspired by how her teacher pushed the class academically while also helping them process the world around them in a healthy way for the first time. Following in her hero’s footsteps, Chavez channeled her desire to care for others and her love of academics into becoming a teacher.
The first time she was ever in Minnesota was while participating in the Countdown to College (C2C) summer program at Saint Mary’s University’s Winona Campus in eighth grade. As she returned to Winona every summer throughout high school to attend the two-week academic program, she got a feel for college and Saint Mary’s. “It was great to have teachers who understood, and accepted, and cheered us on,” she said. When she finished the program and was offered a First Generation Initiative (FGI) scholarship to Saint Mary’s, she was thrilled. “It was more than a full scholarship,” she said. “It was opportunities, and a family I wouldn’t have had from another school … without the full ride, I would still be at home. It made leaving home worth it.”
Chavez said she is thankful for FGI advisers, Octavia Brown and Alisa Macksey, who have guided her throughout her time at Saint Mary’s. Having helpful conversations with women who understand the difference in culture between living in a big city and moving to college helped her feel more comfortable on campus.
While working diligently on her education major, Chavez capitalizes on more opportunities to learn about the world and become a good global citizen. She was chosen for a student trip to Washington, D.C., and to participate in the Lasallian Leadership Conference in France. “The FGI staff helped me with my passport and everything I needed to go. They let me experience not only the real world through the school, but let me see the real world in a global sense as well. That reinforced my desire for my students to be global citizens and learn about different places and cultures.”
Chavez loves how the Saint Mary’s education department exposes her to real classrooms through observation opportunities and student teaching. While student teaching a fourth-grade classroom, she had the opportunity to watch young minds grow and mature. “They are all such amazing kids,” she said. Remembering her appreciation for her seventh-grade teacher, roles were reversed as Chavez got to see how the children matured by being exposed to a teaching assistant of color.
At the beginning of her student teaching, some children mimicked her accent. “I took it as an opportunity to teach them why that wasn’t okay. If I don’t tell them now, they might not know,” she said. Chavez was happy to see her students learn about interacting with new people from different backgrounds and enjoyed watching them mature into more respectful and caring people through the year.
She looks forward to graduating this year and helping students grow to be good global citizens. Complete college education soon in hand, Chavez is ready to be an exemplary teacher. All she needs is a classroom.
Business Intelligence Summit is June 2
Saint Mary’s University is proud to announce the first annual Business Intelligence Summit to recognize students’ achievements throughout the most recent academic year. The summit will inspire engagement between students, industry leaders, faculty, and alumni to engage in innovative, best-practice artificial intelligence and business analytics in a Catholic and Lasallian spirit. Participants will engage in topics from drone technology to sports analytics, supply chain, and more.
The virtual summit is scheduled for Wednesday, June 2, from 1 to 4:30 p.m.
Visit the Business Intelligence Summit website to find more information and register for the event.
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