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< July 2007
September 2007 >


Opening Convocation to feature Santurri on war
Santurri
AUGUST 31, 2007 — Recent international events have prompted St. Olaf faculty member Edmund Santurri to develop a longstanding teaching and scholarly interest in war and morality. His address, "Liberal Arts, General Petraeus and the Counterinsurgency Manual," will discuss the recently published U. S. Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual.

California paper profiles composing alumnus
AUGUST 31, 2007 — "Improvisation is important for composing music. Composition is improvisation written down on a line of music notation," Blaise Douros '07 recently told The Union, one of California's oldest newspapers. The paper calls the recent St. Olaf graduate "a composer with all the skills he needs to launch his career."

Congressman Kline checks on St. Olaf TRiO students
AUGUST 31, 2007 — "There's no doubt that this program is fundamentally changing the lives of kids," said Rep. John Kline during a recent visit with St. Olaf students who benefit from the federally funded TRiO programs.

Reuters quotes student on political web
AUGUST 30, 2007 — A Reuters story about how presidential candidates are using the Internet (or not) quotes St. Olaf student Alex Cutler '09 on how Sen. Amy Klobuchar's campaign used Facebook last year to find campaign supporters. "We were shocked," he said. "We didn't know if all these people on Facebook would show up."

'Veggie' Ole goes coast to coast
AUGUST 30, 2007 — St. Olaf student Jenny Morrill '10 was a member of the 'Veggie Girls' this summer -- a group of California teens who traveled 3,000 miles to New York in a biodiesel-powered pick-up to help spread the word about alternative fuels. Morrill met up with classmate Kirby Norris '10 during a stop at the Iowa State Fair ...

Ryan wins grant for film
Ryan
AUGUST 29, 2007 — A $9,000 grant from the Jerome Foundation has been awarded to St. Olaf Assistant Professor of Art and Art History Dave Ryan to support his experimental animated film, The Hungering Deep, which explores the foundations of self.

Alumnus attorney shot Friday hailed for actions
Radtke
AUGUST 27, 2007 — Despite being shot in his Lakeland home by a man who was fleeing police, Keith Radtke '92 was able to keep the intruder subdued until help arrived. The act "required a significant degree of bravery" by Radtke, said Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton.

Taking 'Ideals to Action' to Chinese children
AUGUST 27, 2007 — St. Olaf student Lyndel Owens '10 couldn't help noticing a trend in her curriculum throughout her first year of classes. "As nearly all my classes emphasized cross-cultural perspectives, I came to believe ... that passivity and indifference were not options." So she packed her bags and spent part of her summer teaching in China.

Chris and Johnny are back -- and bigger than ever
AUGUST 25, 2007 — "Now that we have the confidence of who we are, we feel free to surrender to the duo when we're together," says Johnny Hermanson '93 about performing with Chris Cunningham '94. The duo, known to their legion fans as "Chris and Johnny," are happy to be reunited and producing new material.

Alumnus to lead women's basketball
AUGUST 23, 2007 — Dave Stromme '83 has been named head women's basketball coach at St. Olaf. He most recently was interim head women's coach at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, helping the Division II Bulldogs to a 15-14 record and a trip to the NCC playoff semifinals.

Ruby comments on financial aid consultants
Ruby
AUGUST 21, 2007 — "We don't want to say these consultants can't help families," says Kathy Ruby, director of financial aid at St. Olaf, in a Star Tribune story about companies that help clients search for college financial aid packages. "But $1,700 is a lot of money. The question is, how much benefit do they derive from it?"

Atzinger scores on summer piano circuit
AUGUST 20, 2007 — According to one reviewer, St. Olaf's Christopher Atzinger played "probing, emotional accounts of autumnal classics" during the recent New Orleans International Piano Competition, where he earned a bronze medal. And that was already his second major performance of the summer.

Billiam to Mitt: 'Lighten up slightly'
AUGUST 20, 2007 — Billiam the Snowman (created by alumni siblings Nathan Hamel '03 and Greg Hamel '06) recently suggested to Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney that he "lighten up slightly," after Romney stated that a snowman was "beneath the dignity" of a presidential debate.

Alumnus follows Little Mermaid home to Denver
AUGUST 20, 2007 — Denver Post Theater Critic John Moore spoke recently with Denver native Aron Accurso '01, a keyboardist for Disney's The Little Mermaid show that will close in Denver Sept. 9. Accurso has been with the show since October, and he'll continue with the show when it debuts on Broadway in December.

Body of bridge collapse victim Scott Sathers recovered
Sathers
AUGUST 20, 2007 — The body of I35 bridge collapse victim Scott Sathers, who attended St. Olaf from 1995 to 1997, was recovered over the weekend by Navy divers, reports the Star Tribune.

Ole athletics look to build on last year's impressive run
McDonald
AUGUST 19, 2007 — St. Olaf athletic teams hope to build off last year's championship finishes and impressive milestones as they gear up for action-packed seasons in 2007-08. "One of the great aspects about college athletics is that every year is a new and different experience," says St. Olaf Director of Athletics Matt McDonald '89.

Upward Bound in the Chronicle
AUGUST 17, 2007 — St. Olaf's Upward Bound program got major coverage in the Aug. 17 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education with a half-page photo that illustrates a story about the TRiO program.

Star Tribune asks president about college rankings
Anderson
AUGUST 17, 2007 — "I understand that families ... are hungry for any kind of information you can get," St. Olaf President (and college parent) David Anderson '74 says in a Star Tribune story about college rankings. "The problem is that many of the rankings are trying to quantify an unquantifiable experience."

Mbele to participate in inaugural Twin Cities Afrifest
Mbele
AUGUST 17, 2007 — "Africans like Minnesota because of its social and economic opportunities -- not because of its weather," says St. Olaf faculty member Joseph Mbele in a Star Tribune story about the inaugural year of the Twin Cities Afrifest.

Almanac broadcasts a bit of St. Olaf history
AUGUST 15, 2007 — Reporter Mary Lahammer visited St. Olaf recently to interview Jeff Sauve, Solveig Zempel '69 and Dan Dressen about the college for a program she's creating on Northfield history for the Almanac news program as part of its "Hands on History" series.

Inside Higher Ed quotes Lund on international studies
Lund
AUGUST 15, 2007 — Referring to St. Olaf as "the leader" in study abroad, Inside Higher Ed interviewed Eric Lund, director of the St. Olaf International and Off-Campus Studies Office, for commentary on a recent New York Times article that highlighted some questionable practices by various international study programs.

Alumni siblings create sensation with Billiam the Snowman
Billiam
AUGUST 15, 2007 — Billiam the Snowman's video from the recent CNN/YouTube Democratic presidential debate has been viewed online nearly 107,000 times. His creators, Nathan Hamel '03 and Greg Hamel '06, hope that's just the beginning.

'Blindness fails to dim bright outlook'
Freedman
AUGUST 14, 2007 — "Sight is a sense I completely don't understand," St. Olaf student Sydney Freedman '09 recently told a Phoenix paper. "Technically, I am disabled," she said. "I can do a lot but I need others sometimes to tell me I don't look like a dork."

Keillor broadcast features St. Olaf
Keillor
AUGUST 14, 2007 — Garrison Keillor labeled a recent broadcast of his A Prairie Home Companion show "all things Norwegian." It included highlights of Keillor's broadcast from St. Olaf in 2001 that featured performances by the St. Olaf Orchestra and St. Olaf Choir.

Marino sheds tears in Newsweek
Marino
AUGUST 13, 2007 — "As though I were going though a kind of 'maleopause,' I sometimes find myself choking up at peculiar moments," writes St. Olaf faculty member Gordon Marino on the My Turn page of this week's edition of Newsweek. "Though men don't talk about it much, I don't think I'm alone in my middle-age crying jags."

Jothen comforts New Yorkers
AUGUST 10, 2007 — "Does God aim to lay city low?" asks a headline by New York Sun reporter Lenore Skenazy. "It's hard not to wonder ... when you look at the trials wreaked upon [New York] this summer: a geyser erupting in Midtown, ... a blackout ... sweltering heat, a price hike at Starbucks and now, the Flood." One of the people she turned to for insight was Peder Jothen '94, a member of the St. Olaf religion faculty.

Leming documents public sociology
Leming
AUGUST 10, 2007 — A column by St. Olaf Professor of Sociology Michael Leming is featured in the July/August 2007 e-newsletter of the American Sociological Association, part of an ongoing series that highlights how sociologists can engage in service to organizations and communities.

Hofrenning on Pawlenty's handling of crisis
Hofrenning
AUGUST 10, 2007 — When Minnesota Public Radio asked St. Olaf Professor of Political Science Dan Hofrenning for an assessment of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's handling of the Minneapolis bridge crisis, he said that Pawlenty has responded in an appropriate and effective way. "Crises afford incumbents the opportunity to get a lot of air time and to reassure the public ... ."

President Anderson comments on bridge collapse
Anderson
AUGUST 3, 2007 — The St. Olaf College community extends condolences to the families and friends of individuals who have been affected by the tragic collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis.

Star Tribune notes Ole's stargazer software
AUGUST 3, 2007 — A recent Star Tribune article about stargazing "on the cheap" included mention of the free Celestia software developed by Chris Laurel '92, a software engineer who lives in California.