FACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS

Journal publishes student-faculty economics research
NOVEMBER 16, 2009 —

St. Olaf Associate Professor of Economics Mark Pernecky and Thomas Richter '05 have co-authored an article, "Keynes' Preface to the German Edition of the General Theory: Nazi Sympathies or Methodological Empathies?," that was recently accepted for publication in the journal Forum for Social Economics. The paper is an outgrowth of an independent study that Richter conducted with Pernecky. Pernecky presented an earlier version of the paper at the Midwest Economics Association meetings in Chicago in 2008.

After graduating from St. Olaf, Richter went on to earn a master's degree from Lancaster University, England, and is currently working in Germany for Cargill.

Schodt earns teaching, learning leadership award
NOVEMBER 5, 2009 —

The Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching & Learning has selected Professor of Economics David Schodt, director of the St. Olaf Center for Innovation in the Liberal Arts (CILA), as this year's recipient of the Stewart Bellman Award for Exemplary Leadership for the Advancement of College Teaching and Learning. The annual award, established in 2007, recognizes individuals and groups who have demonstrated their ability to inspire collaborative engagement and foster changes in higher education at and beyond their own institutions that result in measurable improvements in teaching and student learning. The award will be presented to Schodt Nov. 13.

In their nominating statement, Schodt's colleagues at St. Olaf emphasized his devotion to CILA (of which he was founding director in 2000) and the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. His leadership and expertise in these programs and many more have made him a mentor to many.

'Kierkegaard on the Couch'
OCTOBER 29, 2009 —

"All progress paves over some bit of knowledge or washes away some valuable practice. Within a few years, e-mail and Twitter moved the art of letter writing to the trash bin," begins Gordon Marino, St. Olaf professor of philosophy and curator of the college's Kierkegaard Library, in a piece he wrote recently for The New York Times.

"And in an age when all psychic life is being understood in terms of neurotransmitters, the art of introspection has been become passé. Galileos of the inner world, such as Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), have been packed off to the museum of antiquated ideas. Yet I think that the great and highly quirky Dane could help us to retrieve a distinction that has been effaced."

Editor's note: Marino's story currently (as of Oct. 30) is the most e-mailed story at the Times.

New Aspaas choral recording includes student composition
OCTOBER 27, 2009 —

Christopher Aspaas '95.

Christopher Aspaas '95, St. Olaf assistant professor of choral and vocal music and conductor of the Viking Chorus and Chapel Choir, will release a new recording with the choral ensemble Magnum Chorum as a kick-off to the group’s 19th season. 

Aspaas is music director of Magnum Chorum, a 44-voice mixed chorus founded by St. Olaf alumni and based in the Twin Cities.

The recording, Love Divine, is a compilation of Magnum Chorum’s live performance recordings from their 2008-09 season. It features contributions from various Minnesota composers as well as St. Olaf students and alumni, including the premiere performance of This is the Day by Stanford Scriven ’11.   

Love Divine will be released Nov. 1 at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Minneapolis, where Magnum Chorum will perform in celebration of All Saints’ Day.



Atzinger takes bronze in two international piano competitions
OCTOBER 23, 2009 —

St. Olaf Assistant Professor of Music Christopher Atzinger earned a bronze medal in each of two recent international piano competitions.

Atzinger took one of the top prizes in the Seattle International Piano Competition and Festival Oct. 10, finishing third in the professional division. He also received special recognition from Seattle-area music teachers, who awarded Atzinger the “Teacher’s Favorite Award” for his performance in the final round.

He followed that competition with a big win Oct. 16 in the San Antonio International Piano Competition. The competition featured 72 applicants from 19 different countries, and Atzinger was the only American to make it to the semi-final and final rounds. He finished third overall, receiving a monetary award of $5,000 as well as the prize for Best Performance of a Commissioned Work for his performance of Ivory and Ebony by Joan Tower. As a result of his third-place finish, Atzinger will return to Texas for a return engagement sometime between 2010 and 2012.



Ray Shows performs on 'A Prairie Home Companion'
OCTOBER 22, 2009 —

Ray Shows, instructor of violin and viola at St. Olaf, recently played on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio show at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. During the program, Shows and the other members of his Artaria String Quartet joined the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band to form a double string quartet with five other guest musicians to accompany several songs, including Beautiful Dreamer and What’ll I Do?

Solomon wins Kappel Prize
OCTOBER 7, 2009 —

Jeff Solomon, visiting assistant professor of English at St. Olaf, has been awarded Twentieth Century Literature's Andrew J. Kappel Prize in Literary Criticism for his work, "Capote and the Trillings: Homophobia and Literary Culture at Midcentury."

According to the journal, the prize goes to a submitted work that is judged to make the most impressive contribution to understanding and appreciation of 20th-century literature. "[Solomon's] essay offers fine and nuanced close readings even in the heat of polemical battle," writes Bruce Robbins, who judged the work (and whose comments can be read via the link, above).



Armstrong named MSU distinguished alumnus
OCTOBER 5, 2009 —

Anton Armstrong ’78, the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College, has been named a distinguished alumnus by Michigan State University, where he received his D.M.A. in 1987. He received the award at MSU's Grand Award Ceremony Oct. 15.

Selected annually by the MSU Alumni Association Awards Committee, the Distinguished Alumni Award is the university’s highest honor. It is given annually to those who have distinguished themselves by obtaining the highest level of professional accomplishments.

David Rayl, associate dean for graduate studies and research at MSU, nominated Armstrong, noting that his “exceptional career as a choral conductor makes him an exceptional candidate for this honor. He has attained the highest levels of artistic achievement and professional respect and admiration among his peers.”

Armstrong has been on the St. Olaf College Music Department faculty and the conductor of the St. Olaf Choir since 1990. Prior to that, he served for 10 years on the faculty of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He is active as a guest conductor and clinician around the United States and abroad. In 2006 Armstrong was selected to receive the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching from Baylor University, the single largest award given to an individual in the United States for teaching.

Cherewatuk edits Arthurian legend book
SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 —

St. Olaf Professor of English Karen Cherewatuk has co-edited and contributed to The Arthurian Way of Death: The English Tradition, a new book that will be published in November.

"Our idea in putting together this collection was  to recognize that the power of the Arthurian myth derives in large measure from its tragic end and then to question how the motif of death has been handled by authors and artists who work in the English tradition," Cherewatuk says. "The essays begin with the trilingual culture of medieval Britain with its cross-fertilization of Latin, Norman French, and English versions of the legend, and move forward in time to the legend's movement across the Atlantic to American fiction and Hollywood film."

The book includes 13 essays, including Cherewatuk's "Dying in Uncle Arthur's Arms and at His Hands" that compares death scenes of Arthur's two nephews, Gawain and Mordred.

Coach Anderson gets 200th men's soccer win
SEPTEMBER 17, 2009 —

The St. Olaf men's soccer team recently delivered head coach Kurt Anderson his 200th win with the Ole men in a 2-1 victory over Hamline University.

The win didn't come easily for Anderson's Oles, who needed two goals from the bench inside the final 10 minutes to pick up the league-opening win.

Read more at St. Olaf Athletics ...

Hofrenning makes health care reform prediction on 'Almanac'
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009 —

St. Olaf Professor of Political Science Dan Hofrenning appeared on Twin Cities Public Television's Sept. 11 Almanac show (use the link to select the date and choose "The Political Science Panel" on the right) as part of the political science panel that discussed health care, states' rights, and congressional decorum.

Hofrenning's prediction for health care legislation? "It probably won't have the public option."

Qian teaches master classes in Taiwan
Qian
AUGUST 17, 2009 — This summer St. Olaf Assistant Professor/Clarinet Jun Qian traveled to Taiwan to teach master classes at Tainan National University of Arts and Kaoshung Educational Unversity, both of which host some of the top fine arts programs in the country. He also conducted a master class and recruitment activities at National CingShei Senior High school, which has one of the nation's top high school music programs.

In addition, Qian visited Nanjing Arts Institute in China -- home of the first arts institute established in China, where he opened discussions about possible future collaboration with St. Olaf.

Qian will travel to Singapore in October to teach master classes and present a solo recital.

DuRocher to edit Milton
Durocher
AUGUST 14, 2009 — St. Olaf Professor of English Richard DuRocher has been appointed to the editorial board of Milton Quarterly, a publication devoted to discussing the life and works of 17th-century English poet and author John Milton.

Last fall, DuRocher's 12-hour "Milton Marathon" event that featured a reading of the author's Paradise Lost was covered in a front page story in the Chronicle of Higher Education. And two years ago he received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for his book about Milton.

Marino says real healthcare problem is 'compassion deficiency'
Marino
AUGUST 13, 2009 —

St. Olaf Professor of Philosophy Gordon Marino writes in the Christian Science Monitor (Aug. 13, 2009) that "The healthcare debate has revealed that Americans suffer from a compassion deficiency," and that "there are a lot of folks who would choose to have young mothers with cancer go without chemotherapy, instead of giving up a bit of that disposable income that is our badge of freedom and individualism."

Marino writes that Denmark, where he lived 20 years ago, has "superb universal coverage." In contrast, he adds, the U.S. life expectancy (No. 42) and infant mortality (No. 29) rates "attest that our healthcare system is not even a contender for the best.

"Anyone who values honesty will have to admit that many of us are not appalled by children dying for lack of medical treatment," he concludes. "We don't like it, we wish that it could be otherwise, but it doesn't exactly make us sick. And that is appalling."

Hofrenning on Franken
Hofrenning
JULY 1, 2009 — In a commentary piece for Minnesota Public Radio, "Edgy persona may not be much help in the Senate," St. Olaf Associate Professor of Political Science Dan Hofrenning discusses the fact that Senator-elect Al Franken will go to Washington "with one of the lowest approval ratings of any newly elected official in history."

St. Olaf hosts international social work conference
Carlsen
JUNE 23, 2009 — St. Olaf Professor of Social Work and Family Studies Mary Carlsen '79 recently led her department's effort to host the first international conference on the use of representational family sculpture technique in working with families.

RepFamilySculpture
Some 40 people attended the conference, called "Family Sculpting: an International Tool for Brief Assessment and Intervention," that included a keynote address by Australian psychologist Anne Hollingsworth. The conference, sponsored by the David H. and Karen Olson Endowment for Marriage and Family, also was the college's first collaboration with the National Association of Social Workers. Julie Thorsheim '63, who learned the technique from its Norwegian creator, helped organize the event.

Read more about the Olson endowment in "Family Matters" (in PDF format) from the fall 2003 issue of St. Olaf Magazine.

Zorn elected mathematics association president
Zorn
JUNE 23, 2009 — St. Olaf Professor of Mathematics Paul Zorn has been elected president of the Mathematical Association of America -- the largest professional society that focuses on mathematics at the undergraduate level. Zorn, who also chairs the St. Olaf Mathematics Department, will serve for one year as president-elect of the 27,000-member organization (beginning next January), followed by a two-year term as president and one year as past-president.

Zorn's long association with the MAA includes his winning the Carl B. Allendoerfer Award for "expository excellence" for an article he wrote for Mathematics Magazine.

Merritt wins composition competition
Merritt
JUNE 23, 2009 — It's been an eventful start to the summer for Assistant Professor of Music Justin Merritt. He recently won the Grassroots Music Festival Composition Competition for his piece titled River of Blood, and he was also chosen to participate in the Zeitgeist Composer Workshop.

Zeitgeist is a new music ensemble based in Minneapolis that organizes composer workshops funded by Meet the Composer. The five-day workshop is designed to give composers the opportunity to develop creative ideas and stretch their artistic boundaries. This year the ensemble chose Merritt, along with Abbie Betinis '01 and J. Anthony Allen, to participate in the workshop. "The idea is that we will work with them to compose some music over the course of a few days that will then be publicly presented," Merritt says, noting that it was a fun coincidence that two composers with St. Olaf ties were chosen for the workshop. A performance of the composers' piece will be held July 16 at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul.

A few days after the workshop concludes, Merritt's work will be honored at the Grassroots Music Festival, which is held over four days in Trumansburg, N.Y., and features a wide variety of music ensembles. Merritt's River of Blood, which was premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra in November, will be performed at the festival July 19.

Marino tells Tyson tale for Chronicle
Marino
JUNE 3, 2009 — "It was a strange day," writes St. Olaf Professor of Philosophy Gordon Marino in the Chronicle of Higher Education. "Before I knew it I was lecturing [Mike Tyson] that he should bury the acts of self-degradation. Tyson listened politely, laughed, and replied, 'Cus [his old trainer] always taught me, you have to put on a show, you have to put fannies in the seats.'

"Like some philosophy professor with elbow patches on his sport coat, I assured Tyson that with his fistic talents he didn't need to talk about eating his opponent's children and so on. He laughed and said, 'You just don't get how it works, Gordon.'"

Pearson gets MIAC's Distinguished Service Award
Pearson
MAY 22, 2009 — Wes Pearson, a St. Olaf chemistry professor, was given the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's Distinguished Service Award earlier this month after it was announced he would be leaving his post as the faculty athletic representative (FAR) at St. Olaf.

Pearson has been a Professor of Chemistry at St. Olaf since 1958 and the school's FAR since 1984. He served as president of the MIAC twice before the conference office was established. Pearson was voted in as vice president in 2007 and has served on the league's budget committee three times.

In the late 1990s he served on a committee that created the mission statement for the league and was again on the committee when the statement was revised in 2005.

Besides working on legislative issues with the MIAC and NCAA, Pearson is an active participant in the St. Olaf athletic department, as he runs the game clock for both basketball and football.

Bakko, Hanson receive Hilleboe Award
MAY 15, 2009 — The Division of Student Life at St. Olaf College has named Gene Bakko and James Hanson the recipients of this year's Gertrude Hilleboe Award for Faculty Involvement in Student Life.

Bakko, a professor of biology and curator of the natural lands, began teaching at St. Olaf in 1966. His nomination notes that he has "a long record of engaging students in environmental studies and hands-on work in creating natural spaces that are beautiful and give opportunities for learning."

Hanson, an associate professor of religion and associate dean of students, has been at St. Olaf since 1992. His nomination notes that he "is a teacher at heart, but has a long record of going beyond the classroom door to be a mentor, educator, advocate and champion for students."

The award honors Gertrude Hilleboe's commitment to students during the more than 40 years she served as a faculty member and Dean of Women. Hilleboe was well known for her individual interest in every student with whom she came in contact as well as her dedication to the St. Olaf community.

MPR talks choral music with Christopher Aspaas '95
Aspaas
MAY 13, 2009 — Minnesota Public Radio's Steve Staruch recently interviewed St. Olaf Assistant Professor of Music Christopher Aspaas '95. The two talked about Aspaas' experiences teaching at his alma mater, and his work with the Twin Cities a cappella ensemble Magnum Chorum. Listen to the interview, below.



Archbishop installation features Ferguson hymn
Ferguson
APRIL 16, 2009 — The hymn "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today," arranged by John Ferguson, the Elliot and Klara Stockdal Johnson Professor of Organ Music at St. Olaf College, was featured during the April 15 ceremony that installed Timothy M. Dolan as archbishop of New York.

Read more about the event at the New York Times' "City Room" blog ...

Marino tackles business ethics in Boston Globe
APRIL 13, 2009 — "Over the last half-century, Americans have developed an almost fetishistic taste for expert opinion," writes St. Olaf Professor of Philosophy Gordon Marino in "The Business of Business Ethics" in the April 11 Boston Globe. "We have of late come to bow before experts on just about everything: sex, grief, diversity, and, of course, the economy." But, he wonders, where are the business ethicists?

"If business ethicists cannot do anything to diminish the tendency toward greed," he concludes, "they ought to close up shop."

Zempel selected to attend NEH institute on American immigration
Zempel
APRIL 8, 2009 — St. Olaf Professor of Norwegian Solveig Zempel has been selected to participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute titled "American Immigration Revisited."

Zempel will join 24 other college instructors from across the country in Washington, D.C., in July, where they will spend four weeks exploring various dimensions of immigration. Through lectures, panels and site visits, they will focus on four broad topics: American immigration as part of a global phenomenon; migrations between cultures; changes in immigration law, policy, and practice; and approaches and resources for teaching immigration history. The group will also take a three-day excursion to New York to tour Ellis and Liberty Islands, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, "little Italy" in the Bronx, and other ethnic neighborhoods.

This is a National History Center project that has the support of the American Historical Association, Community College Humanities Association, Immigration and Ethnic History Society, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Library of Congress, where most sessions will be held. It's one of a number of summer institutes the NEH offers each year to enable college instructors to study humanities topics and learn more about current scholarship.

Farrell contributes to New York Times editorial blog
APRIL 6, 2009 — New York Times editors asked St. Olaf Professor of History James Farrell for his take on their blog post, "101 Uses for a Deserted Mall."

"Some shopping centers will die, and others will be repurposed for housing or offices or civic centers," he writes. "But I don't think the economy will kill them because they are too fundamental to us in that they are among the few public places in America."

St. Olaf, Carleton music faculty to perform at MacPhail Center
MARCH 6, 2009 — St. Olaf College music faculty members David Hagedorn and Jun Qian will perform with Carleton College music faculty members Gao Hong and Nicola Melville at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis Saturday, March 7, as part of a new Asian-fusion classical ensemble called "Intersections." The concert will also feature world premiere performances of new compositions by St. Olaf music faculty member Justin Merritt and Carleton music faculty member Alex Freeman as well as New York composer Doug Opel.

The performance, which begins at 1 p.m., is free and open to the public. For more information or tickets visit the MacPhail Center online or call 612-321-0100.

Hong will perform on the Chinese pipa, Melville on the piano, Qian on the clarinet and Hagedorn on percussion. The program will include traditional Chinese and Western works and will also feature Hong's work.

Hofrenning on inauguration's religious 'paradox'
Hofrenning
FEBRUARY 1, 2009 — "The challenge for President Obama -- and any political leader -- is to appeal to the followers of particular traditions in the context of a pluralist America," writes St. Olaf Professor of Political Science Dan Hofrenning, who attended the Jan. 20 inauguration, on MinnPost. "A President must preside over the entire country -- not religious America or nonreligious America."

But, he adds, "The American tradition both invites and restrains religion in the public life of the nation."

Qian to premiere Rabl quartet in Shanghai
Qian
JANUARY 15, 2009 — St. Olaf Assistant Professor of Music Jun Qian will be the featured international artist of the Chinese New Year Concert Series at the Shanghai, China, Times Square Saturday, Jan. 17, beginning at 7 p.m. The clarinetist and Shanghai native will perform Carl Maria von Weber's Grand Duo Concertante and Walter Rabl's Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano.

Although Rabl's quartet was written in 1896, Qian's performance will mark the piece's China premiere. Playing with Qian will be Yayoi Toda, first-prize winner of the Queen Elisabeth International Competition, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music faculty Zheng Chen and Weicong Zhang.

Marino on 'just war' theory
Marino
JANUARY 11, 2009 — "How much harm can a nation legitimately deliver to make itself feel safe?" asks St. Olaf Professor of Philosophy Gordon Marino in "Justice must still justify the means," a piece he wrote for the St. Petersburg Times (and that was expanded from a piece that he originally wrote for the Huffington Post). "Is everything permissible after the call to arms?"

Faculty members deliver interdisciplinary session at language conference
DECEMBER 11, 2008 — Four St. Olaf faculty members delivered an interdisciplinary session focusing on literature and terrorism at the Midwest Modern Language Association's recent convention in Minneapolis.

Associate Professor of French Jolene Barjasteh, Professor of Religion and Philosophy Edmund Santurri, Associate Professor of Russian and Department Chair Marc Robinson, and Assistant Professor of History Anna Kuxhausen delivered the session at the 50th annual MMLA convention.

Their presentations examined terrorism in a wide range of literature, including Dostoevsky's The Devils, Albert Camus's play Les Justes (English translation: The Just Assassins), the 1999 play Terrorism by the Presnyakov brothers, and Les Sirenes de Bagdad, the final book in Algerian-born writer Yasmina Khadra's controversial trilogy. Within those texts, they explored topics ranging from the techniques authors use to portray terrorism within the norm of the human condition to what drives certain individuals to acts of violence and self-destruction.

Barjasteh organized and moderated the session in addition to giving one of the presentations.

Milkweed Press to publish Schwehn story
NOVEMBER 24, 2008 — In December, Milkweed Press will publish an anthology titled Fiction on a Stick: New Stories by Minnesota Writers. One of the included authors is Kaethe Schwehn, visiting assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies at St. Olaf.

"Selected in part to reflect the rapidly changing and increasingly diverse nature of the state's population, this anthology of short fiction presents a literary portrait of Minnesota at the outset of the twenty-first century," notes Milkweed.org. "Including fiction by and about an extraordinarily wide and diverse range of voices and characters, Fiction on a Stick is an essential volume for those who love the North Star State, and for those who love great literature."

May named American Philological Association VP
May
NOVEMBER 13, 2008 — The American Philological Association has announced the election of St. Olaf Professor of Classics James M. May, who also serves as provost and dean of St. Olaf, as its next vice president for professional matters. The APA, founded in 1869, is the principal learned society in North America for the study of ancient Greek and Roman languages, literatures and civilizations. The Professional Matters Division, one of six divisions of the association, oversees the social, ethical and professional contexts of the discipline of classics. Its goal is the promotion of equity in all aspects of the profession.

May has served the APA in various other capacities, including as a member of the board of directors (2004-07), director of the campus advisory service (2000-04), as a member of the executive committee of the board (1995-96, 2006-07), and vice president for education (1993-97). He will assume his new duties during the annual meeting of the APA in January.

Minnesota Orchestra premieres Merritt composition
Merritt
NOVEMBER 11, 2008 — On Nov. 7 the Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Osmo Vanska, premiered a new piece by St. Olaf Assistant Professor in Music Theory and Composition Justin Merritt. The concert was part of the ensemble's "Future Classics" program in which the ensemble performs the new works of a select group of young composers (in this case seven out of the 168 who applied). The program also includes a weeklong course at the Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute, where participants delve into the workings of a professional American symphony orchestra.

"Much to anticipate from these 7," said the headline of the St. Paul Pioneer Press review of the performance. "For singularity of style, Merritt's piece was the standout," concluded the review. Read more about Merritt and the other composers in the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune. Also check out Merritt's blog about the experience, where he writes, "I didn't realize when I moved to Minnesota four years ago that I was landing in one of the epicenters of new music in America."

Marino on 'business ethics'
Marino
NOVEMBER 11, 2008 — "A profound knowledge of ethics and acumen in dissecting problems is by no means incompatible with the kind of rapacious behavior that led to the Wall Street bailout," writes St. Olaf Professor of Philosophy and Kierkegaard Library Curator Gordon Marino on Slate's site, The Big Money, in "Why 'Business Ethics' Fail."

"In fact, with a little bit of legerdemain, the greedy need not even feel guilty," he continues. "As moralists like Bishop Butler and Soren Kierkegaard have made plain, our capacity for self-deception, and for rationalizing what amounts to greed, is boundless."

Lundin named coach of the year
NOVEMBER 7, 2008 — The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has named Phil Lundin cross-country coach of the year. Lundin is in his first-year as head coach of the St. Olaf men's cross-country team, and the award comes in the wake of a St. Olaf team title at this year's MIAC Championships. In addition, team member Dubuol Ruon '11 was named athlete of the year.

Lundin was previously head of men's track and field at Division I University of Minnesota.

Election keeps Hofrenning busy
NOVEMBER 4, 2008 — On Nov. 1 St. Olaf Associate Professor of Political Science Dan Hofrenning participated in a panel discussion of the 2008 presidential campaign, called "Talking America: The Challenges Ahead," that was produced by the BBC World Service and Minnesota Public Radio. The event was broadcast live globally by the BBC and across the United States. The discussion was moderated by MPR's Kerri Miller and the BBC's Claire Bolderson.

"The idea is to ask, 'What does America want from its next president?,'" Piers Scholfield, a senior broadcast journalist with the BBC World Service, said before the event. In addition to Hofrenning, the panel included: Keith Ellison, Democratic Congressman from Minnesota's 5th Congressional District; Chris Georgacus, chair of the Minnesota Republican party 1993-97 and head of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's gubernatorial campaign; Ann Markusen, director of the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs; and Rick Aguilar, CEO of Aguilar Productions and director of the McCain campaign effort for small businesses in Minnesota.

Hofrenning also has made regular appearances on Twin Cities Public Television's Almanac program and as part of their political science panel (his most recent appearance was Oct. 31), and has been quoted in numerous papers, including the Los Angeles Times. On election night he will provide commentary for ABC TV affiliate KAAL 6 in Rochester, Minn.

Marino on boxing in the Financial Times
Marino
OCTOBER 14, 2008 — "The financial fettle of boxing has always depended on the ability of fighters such as Muhammad Ali and Oscar De La Hoya to attract crossover fans," writes St. Olaf Professor of Philosophy and Kierkegaard Library Curator Gordon Marino in the Financial Times.

"The battle for the heavyweight crown has been the main draw for such fans. However, since Lennox Lewis retired in 2005, there has not been a sole, undisputed heavyweight champion."

Read the rest of Marino's piece in the Financial Times