| JOURNEYS | |
| To give St. Olaf alumni and friends an opportunity to return to the Hill, meet with old friends, hear thought-provoking and interesting programs and indulge in good food. | |
-Inception, Fall 2000 |
|
| ". . .Commitment to lifelong learning. . ." | |
Speakers are scheduled for the following dates:
|
|
| Guest Speakers | |
  |
Thursday, September 18, 2008 Michael Stitsworth will speak about the recently reorganized ACR division which is celebrating its first birthday. He will share with you a bit about the history of philanthropy as well as current priorities and needs of the college. Michael came to St. Olaf well prepared for the tasks ahead. He
arrived from Purdue, where he and his team had just celebrated
the completion of a capital campaign. After 25 years at Purdue,
he did not take the decision to come to St. Olaf lightly, and
he's excited about the change. "One of the most important
reasons for me to come to St. Olaf is that it's a college of
the Church," he said. "The opportunity to work in a
setting where students can explore their professions and their
passions and then have that come together in a vocation is exciting." As
a parent of Allison Stitsworth ’05, he has seen the beauty
of that outcome personally. He is an eager advocate of the college,
working to secure resources and tell the world about what's happening
at |
 |
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 Professor Richey graduated from Kenyon College in 1981 with a major in mathematics and physics. He received his Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Dartmouth College in 1985. He joined St. Olaf in 1986. Today, his area of interest is in applied mathematics as it relates to computation and algorithms. Another of his specialties, software and database design and implementation, has led him to an involvement in the college’s redesign of the student information system. Matt enjoys talking about the new science and mathematics building, Regents Hall, as he has been involved in its evolution from inception to completion. He will share with you how the decision-making team applied St. Olaf’s mission and its belief in the importance of environmental integrity to all aspects of the building process and yet provided cutting edge technology and processes that have created innovative and inspiring learning spaces for students. |
 |
Thursday, November 20, 2008 O. Jay Tomson, A ‘58 serves as chairman of the board of First Citizens National Bank in Mason City, Iowa, with branches in 10 North Iowa communities. With over twenty-two years of serving as a board member for institutions of higher education, Mr. Tomson currently serves as Chair of the Board of Regents of his alma mater, St. Olaf College. He has served on the St. Olaf board for thirteen years and on the Board of Regents of Warburg College, Waverly, Iowa for nine years. Mr. Tomson is a past president of the Independent Community
Bankers of America and the Iowa Independent Bankers Association.
He is a former member of the U.S. Region Business Committee of
MasterCard International. Mr. Tomson and his wife, Pat, also an Ole alum of the class of 1959, reside in Mason City, Iowa. In his spare time, Mr. Tomson looks after his interest in a row crop and livestock farming corporation that owns or operates 1,600 acres of land and maintains a 90 head stock cow herd in Floyd County, Iowa. |
 |
Thursday,
January 15, 2009 What is the role of a religion department at a college of the Church? What is the face of the Church today on St. Olaf’s campus? These are questions Charles Wilson will address at his Journeys presentation. Professor Wilson graduated from St. Olaf College in 1969 and later received his Ph.D. from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago in 1986. His area of study is in Christian Theology. Wilson is well qualified to address the topic of the current St. Olaf campus and religion department, the changing face of both, and how St. Olaf is positioning itself as a college of the Church. |
 |
Thursday, February 12, 2009 Jim Farrell is a professor of History, American Studies, Environmental Studies and American Conversations. As an interdisciplinary scholar and teacher, Jim's teaching has been weird, if not innovative, including courses on Environmental History, the Mall of America, Nuclear Weapons and American Culture, Walt Disney’s America, Consuming College Culture, and Campus Ecology. Despite this record, Jim was chosen as St. Olaf’s first Boldt Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities, proving that Norwegians have a rich and refined sense of humor. At the end of the millennium, Jim chaired the committee that wrote St. Olaf 2000: Identity and Mission for the 21st Century. As “John Cummins,” Jim performs a one-man Chautauqua show based on the life of a nineteenth-century Minnesota pioneer. As “Dr. America,” he was also curator of the magnificent (but wholly imaginary) American Studies Museum on public radio station WCAL. And recently, as a member of the college’s Sustainability Task Force, he’s had a hand in the greening of St. Olaf. Jim holds a B.A. in Political Science from Loyola University in Chicago (1971), and both an M.A. in History (1972) and a Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Illinois (1980). His books include Inventing the American Way of Death 1830-1920 (Temple University Press, 1980), The Nuclear Devil's Dictionary (Usonia Press, 1985), The Spirit of the Sixties: Making Postwar Radicalism (Routledge, 1997); and One Nation Under Goods: Malls and the Seductions of American Shopping (Smithsonian, 2003). Currently, he is working on a book on the nature of college, linking college culture, consumer culture and campus ecology. Growing up in “the land of Lincoln” and being about the same height and weight as our 16th President, Jim has long appreciated the way that Lincoln operated at the intersection of ethics and politics. On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, Jim will talk about the lessons of Lincoln for today’s politics, as the United States faces challenges—economic, ecological, social and cultural—as daunting as those that faced Lincoln in the 1850s. |
 |
Thursday, March 19, 2009 After briefly exploring the roots and development of the ancient quarrel between philosophy and rhetoric (i.e., wisdom and eloquence), May will examine Cicero's attempted reconciliation of the quarrel in the person of his ideal orator, a reconciliation that still forms the basis of our conception of the liberal arts and still offers to many American undergraduates a viable and exhilarating way to pursue their higher education. May is uniquely qualified to speak on the topic of Cicero, having co-authored Cicero's On the Ideal Orator ( De oratore)—the first translation in 60 years of the Roman orator's classic work. He also has authored or edited four other books, including Trials of Character: The Eloquence of Ciceronian Ethos (1986) and A Companion to Cicero: Rhetoric and Oratory (2002). May previously served St. Olaf as chair of the Department of Classics and, from 1997 to 2001, as associate dean for the humanities. He has been a member of the faculty since 1977 and is a teacher of national distinction. He received the American Philological Association's Award for Excellence in the Teaching of the Classics in 1986 and the Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award in 1991. May is a summa cum laude graduate of Kent State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Latin and English in 1973, and of the University of North Carolina, where he earned his Ph.D. in classical philology. He has twice conducted National Endowment for the Humanities' Seminars on Cicero at St. Olaf and twice received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for College Teachers. He has served as vice-president for education and a member of the board of directors for the American Philological Association, and as president of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. |
 |
Thursday, April 16, 2009 Gene Bakko, professor of biology and curator of the St. Olaf natural lands, has long been a respected academic in the field of biology and an active advocate of the “greening” of the St. Olaf campus. He received his B.S. in mathematics and biology from Moorhead State University, MD, his M.A. in zoology in 1966 from the University of Wyoming and his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Minnesota. Gene has been a professor at St. Olaf since 1978 and is currently working to restore the natural habitat (woodlands, prairie, wetlands) on land northwest of St. Olaf campus on current natural areas, as well as working with the sustainable agricultural project on St. Olaf farmland. Professor Bakko will share ideas and information about the role nature plays in the lives of children and the impact the exposure (or lack of it) has, and will have, on our next generation. |
Committee Members |
|
