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St. Olaf education professor Larry Zimmerman honored as WCCO Radio Good Neighbor

mjc
February 12, 2001

NORTHFIELD, Minn. ? St. Olaf College education faculty member and former Minneapolis teacher, counselor and school principal Larry Zimmerman was recognized as WCCO Radio?s "Good Neighbor" Feb. 7.

Zimmerman was given the award for his outstanding contributions to the Twin Cities and Northfield communities. He retired this week from St. Olaf after 43 1/2 years as a professional educator.

"Larry?s contributions extend far beyond the walls of the schools in which he served," said Mark Schelske, chair of the St. Olaf Education Department. "He coached athletics and served the Boy Scouts, his church, the YMCA and his community. He has never asked for anything in return ? just a better world for all of us.

"His greatest contributions to education came during the tumultuous 1970s and early ?80s, during the desegregation of the Minneapolis Schools. Larry became a civil rights and educational opportunity leader and a principal on whom every member from every community could count."

Zimmerman spent most of his career with the Minneapolis Public Schools, where he was a math and science teacher, a school counselor and a principal at both the junior and senior high levels. He has been an education faculty member at St. Olaf College for the last 10 1/2 years. He is a member of Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Brooklyn Center, Minn.

Zimmerman graduated from Grey Eagle (Minn.) High School and St. Cloud State College; earned a master?s degree in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota; and earned a Ph.D. in counseling from the University of Wyoming.

St. Olaf College prepares students to become responsible citizens of the world, fostering development of mind, body and spirit. A four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), St. Olaf has a student enrollment of 2,950 and a full-time faculty of approximately 250. It is one of Money Guide?s top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nation?s colleges in percentage of students who study abroad.

Contact Michael Cooper at 507-786-3315 or cooperm@stolaf.edu.