| CONVERSATIONS | |
Conversations programs provide opportunities for Ole men and women to reconnect with other alumni and parents on a monthly basis, hear a presentation from St. Olaf faculty or staff, and engage in thoughtful dialogue. "...knowledgeable citizens of the world..." |
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Speakers are scheduled for the following dates:
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| Guest Speakers | |
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Monday,
Sept. 21, 2009 Gary will lead a conversation and story-telling about three great St. Olaf faculty members, Agnes Larson, Emil Ellingson and Albert Finholt. Audience storytelling will follow. Historian and college archivist Gary De Krey '71 came to St. Olaf as a student in 1967, too late to meet Agnes Larson, who died a few months before his arrival. He did his graduate work at Princeton and taught at Columbia and Colgate before returning to the St. Olaf history department in 1988, three years after Albert Finholt’s retirement. Although he never got to experience Al as a faculty colleague, he had opportunities to interact with him, especially as a co-editor of Called to Serve (1999), the college’s 125th anniversary anthology. De Krey now also serves as archivist for the Norwegian-American Historical Association, a body that was of importance to Larson and Emil Ellingson, each of whom took pride in Norwegian-American culture and accomplishments. |
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Monday,
Oct. 19, 2009 Bruce A. King is the special assistant to the president for institutional diversity. As a member of the president's cabinet, King serves as chief diversity officer of the college and helps coordinate campus initiatives to increase and maintain the diversity of its faculty, staff and students. In addition to developing strategies for promoting an inclusive workforce at St. Olaf, he is responsible for overseeing St. Olaf's multicultural programming and outreach to diverse communities. Bruce brings a wealth of experience in multicultural education and developing effective strategies for recruiting and retaining underrepresented faculty, staff and student populations. He also has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities for enhancing diversity at small liberal arts colleges. Over the course of his career, King has worked in multicultural and students affairs at Wesleyan University and Carleton, Hope, and Lake Forest colleges. |
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Monday,
Nov. 16, 2009 For the past 25 years, Russell A. Anderson, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, has worked along side judges, administrators and lawyers to improve the justice system in Minnesota, doing everything from enhancing court sensitivity and effectiveness in domestic violence issues to promoting problem solving courts that focus more on rehabilitation than punishment. After graduating from St. Olaf, Anderson earned his Juris Doctorate in 1968 from the University of Minnesota Law School and his LLM from George Washington University Law School. Returning home to northern Minnesota, Anderson added private practice to his experience, as well as service as a Beltrami county attorney from 1978 to 1982. Anderson was chief judge for the Ninth Judicial District when, in 1998, Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson appointed him to the state supreme court. Eight years later, Governor Tim Pawlenty appointed him chief justice. |
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Monday,
Dec. 14, 2009 The founding artistic director of the Chanhassen
Theaters in suburban Minneapolis, Gisselman has directed nearly
200 productions of plays, musicals, industrials and operas at
the Cricket, Illusion and Park Square theaters in Minneapolis
and St. Paul, the Pioneer Theatre in Salt Lake City and A Contemporary
Theatre in Seattle. He
was also the artistic director of the Arizona Theatre Company
from 1980-1991. |
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Monday,
Jan. 18, 2010 How does an organization maintain financial stability in such an uneven economic time? How does an organization decide on an appropriate tuition cost? How does an organization look long range in order to provide top notch opportunities for years to come? The answer: hire Alan Norton. Known as the master behind the college’s financial health, Alan Norton approaches his work on the college’s endowment, budget, spending, and regulation with a very careful and conscientious eye. Our morning session with Norton will focus on issues related to the college’s endowment, spending, and budgeting as it relates to the economic crisis. He will share case studies and examples from his work, in order to give guests clarity for their own. |
| Monday,
Feb. 15, 2010 Each year, more than 800 St. Olaf students leave the Northfield campus to study. St. Olaf College offers academic programs in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North, South and Central America and the Pacific. Some programs extend the scope of particular majors, language concentrations or area studies; all add a cross-cultural dimension to a liberal arts education. St. Olaf off-campus opportunities are not limited to language students or specific major fields. Many programs, taught in English, provide significant opportunities for cross-cultural study and experience in the broader area of the humanities – including the natural sciences – within the general education program of the college. At our morning breakfast, we will welcome back four students from their off-campus experiences and take-in, second hand, their renewed and deepened view of our world. |
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Monday,
March 15, 2010 The St. Olaf College Student Congregation was organized in the spring of 1952 as the center of the spiritual community at the college. It exists to help students encounter the Christian Gospel and hear for themselves God’s call to faith, as college is often the first significant long-term absence from home for many students. Bearing witness to God’s love is the main focus of the congregation. Through the programs of the congregation, students motivated by Christian love are active in outreach concerns, engaged in dialogue regarding the application of the Christian faith to current issued and seeking to make worship an integral part of life. Our featured speakers will include Jennifer Anderson Koenig ’87 and pastoral intern Andy Willis. They will share stories and anecdotes about the life of the student congregation and how it affects the spiritual life of St. Olaf students. Jennifer Koenig has been the associate college pastor since 1997. She choreographed and performed for three years with the professional modern dance company Ballet Harren and later served for three years on the dance and on the fine arts committee at Luther Seminary. Koenig served in parish ministry in Iowa before coming to St. Olaf. Andy Willis graduated in 2003 with a degree in English and Political Science. Since his graduation, he has served a Christian congregation and community in Jerusalem, received a degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, and now is finishing his coursework at Luther Seminary. Andy joins the St. Olaf community as a pastoral intern, funded through a Sustainability Grant from the Lilly Endowment. |
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Monday,
April 19, 2010 Rolvaag Memorial Library looks fairly similar to how it did in the 1950s – tall limestone walls, study carrels, stacks and stacks of books, and plenty of students bustling through its doors. However, how students use the library and its resources has drastically changed. Kasia Gonnerman, a reference and instruction librarian at St. Olaf, will spend the morning with us, discussing the new ways a student approaches his/her scholarship and work. Gonnerman serves as a library liaison to several departments on campus, including English, Russian Language and Area Studies, Norwegian, Theater, Linguistics, German, and Media Studies. She spends much of her time preparing instructional sessions for classes. In addition, she works a reference desk shift daily, and assists students, faculty, and staff with questions from a wide range of topics. As the coordinator for Rolvaag Library's Interlibrary Loan and Circulation Department, Kasia helps handle requests for particularly difficult titles. Kasia got her start in Rolvaag supervising students in the Circulation Department. With a background in teaching, she quickly grew interested in the work of reference librarians, and attained a Master's degree in library science to pursue her interest in reference work. |
Conversations Planning Committee: Linda Aasen Bjerke '63, Don Feroe '51, D.D. Wilson Fleming '58, Joan Andersen Hagman '51, John Hagman '49, Ed Hatlem '49, Paul Haugen '54, Marjorie Klomps Jerpbak '50, Jim Lee '58, Mary Ann Cart Matson '52, Bud Nelson '49, Lois Jacobson Nelson '49, Pete Obermeyer '60, Paul Roe '51, Donna Vibber Roe '52, John Sylwester '61, Wayne Tellekson '56, Solveig Alsaker Westby |
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