The following people have inspired and helped me along the long and winding road of my CIS major:

• First and foremost, thank you to my advisor and friend Professor Jim Farrell. Jim and I joke that I basically have a concentration in "Jim Farrell" because I've taken so many credits with him. (Seven, to be exact, plus co-teaching Campus Ecology with him!) Jim is the very definition of a person living out the liberal arts. His wise and complex mind weaves essays and lectures that draw from his extensive background in American Studies (the "moral ecology of everyday life") and U.S. history and the thousands of books he has read on virtually all topics worth knowing about, illuminating connections between all aspects of, as Mary Oliver would say, our wild and precious lives. Having such an excellent writer and thinker as an editor and friend has challenged me to continually improve my writing and to think outside the box. He always argues with me when I say this, but if I've accomplished anything here at St. Olaf, it is largely because Jim has encouraged me and set an example of how to live a life of worth and service.
  
  
• Thank you to my parents, Paul and JeanMarie Burtness, and my sister and best friend, Jessica Burtness '06, for supporting me in all ways during my time at St. Olaf.
  
  
• Thank you to Mary Titus and Susan Carlson of the Center for Integrative Studies. Susan and Mary are incredibly talented at listening to your thoughts and hopes and interests and then helping you craft a course of study that will enable you to get the most of a college career. From the moment I set foot in the Center they have been nothing but helpful and kind. Thank you Mary and Susan!
  
  
• St. Olaf is full of professors and staff who are not only true educators but darn good people too. Conversations and classes with the following professors have added depth and meaning to my time here: Gene Bakko, Sheri Breen, Becki Judge, John Schade, John Gianinni, Sherry Saterstrom, Pete Sandberg and Emily Swanson.

Dayna Burtness -- Senior CIS Web Portfolio -- 2007