As part of ND Spirit Week, an exciting new strategy in fundraising will take place on January 13 and 14 during the UND vs. U of M men’s hockey series. You will have the opportunity to send a text to make your pledge in support of the Pride of the North Marching Band.  The Pride of the North works as a team to represent the University of North Dakota and it’s time to show our appreciation.  Hugo’s will double your pledge!  Thank you to Hugo’s Family Marketplace for contributing a generous match to the Pride of the North during the UND vs. U of M hockey series Text to Pledge campaign.  To take part in this fundraising opportunity, simply text: UND (space) your pledge amount (space) your full name to 95495. For more information, visit:http://www.undalumni.org/text

The (MPH) is a professional degree program designed for graduates and employees in health-related fields holding a bachelor’s degree or higher in their field of practice. This unique integrated program is offered by UND and NDSU, and focuses on rural health and health care, health promotion and disease prevention, disease management, health policy and related activities of interest to North Dakota public health care practitioners and policy makers.

In addition to the core coursework, individuals will select one of seven tracks at either the University of North Dakota or North Dakota State University. Applicants will apply to the institution that houses the track they wish to follow. Both institutions offer core coursework. More tracks are anticipated in the future.

Mission Statement and Goals
The M.P.H. program will prepare individuals who will serve as practitioners competent to carry out broad public health functions in local, state, national, and international settings.

Goal 1: Students will be knowledgeable in the core discipline areas of biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, social and behavioral sciences and health services administration.

Goal 2: Students will be able to demonstrate competencies in leadership, communication and informatics, diversity and culture, public health biology, professionalism, program planning and systems thinking.

Goal 3: Students will be able to apply social, administrative and population health skills to meet public health needs.
Specialization Coursework: Students will complete additional course work in one of the following tracks of specialization.

UND offers specialization tracks in Rural Health Management and Policy, Rural Health, and Health Care and A Healthy Society. Students interested in these tracks will apply to UND.

NDSU offers specialization tracks in Health Promotion, Pharmacy and Public Health, Infectious Disease Management, and Emergency Management. Students interested in these tracks will apply to NDSU.

Read the MPH program fact sheet for the University of North Dakota.

To put things in context, I graduated with my MFA from UND in 2009. Instead of a thesis, MFA students are required to have an exhibition. Mine included six digital drawings and two animations. The department of Art and Design decided to purchase the drawing/print Adaptation to include in their permanent collection. During the last two years I was aware the department was showing my drawing in various places, but this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity and time to see it again.

After Eric told me about it, I wanted to go right away. But for some reason, I was a little nervous to go by myself, so Anna and Evan agreed to come with me. Anna’s our Receptionist, if you’ve called The Graduate School you’ve probably talked with her. Evan’s our Graduate Director of Admissions. (He thought it would be a good idea to bring the camera.) We weren’t quite sure where the drawing was, so we started on the first floor and worked our way up. As we were walking around I was humbled to think that my drawing is among so many other amazing art works. We passed Peter Kuper’s This is not a pipe…, Kim Abeles’ Pile, and many others.

On the third floor, we spotted Adaptation. What a strange feeling to see it again. I spent hundreds of hours working on that drawing. Hundreds of hours spent drawing and listening to music, audio books, or just hearing the scratching of my pen on the computer tablet. Hundreds of hours spent arguing in my head with the questions I knew would inevitably come from my peers and professors. To see the drawing again was kind of like meeting an old friend. There was something familiar yet foreign.

Matt and Anna find Matt's Adaptation on display in the new Education building

I realized that I don’t know every line of the drawing any more. I don’t see all the mistakes and I don’t see all the little hidden pieces of “creative genius”.  I just see my drawing. And in that moment I’m still learning. I remember the chair of my committee, Professor Patrick Luber, telling me I would probably contend with the ideas I leaned in graduate school my entire life. Yep. In a very positive way, I’m still reflecting and learning from my grad school days. I turned to Evan and Anna, and not meaning to sound cliché said, “I couldn’t have done this without everyone else.” But it’s not a cliché.

There is no way that I would have grown as an artist, student, and person without all of the people that made up my graduate school experience. I’m so very thankful for the opportunities that were presented to me by the community that makes up the University of North Dakota.

Aside:

I am also very grateful for the support I have received from the North Dakota Museum of Art. The day after I finished this blog I received notification from the NDMOA that they would be showing their print of Adaptation in their upcoming Nov. 29^th – January 15^th exhibition Winged Shadows: Life Among Birds.

Chaired by Dr Rebecca Simmons (Biology), Dr Phyllis Johnson (VP for Research), Dr Phoebe Stubblefield (Anthropology), Dr Susan Ellis-Felege (Biology) and Dr Jody Ralph (Nursing) talked about their sometimes unconventional journeys to academia, and some of the challenges they encountered along the way. The discovery of their chosen discipline ranged from childhood passion to accidental good fortune late in undergrad. There were amusing anecdotes, advice on balancing career and family and the value of good mentorship. Good advice to both undergrads and grads – don’t shy away from tackling the hard classes!  Here are a few photos from the event.

WIS Faculty Panel discuss their career pathways

Dr Phoebe Stubblefield found Forensic Anthropology late in her undergraduate career

Dr Phyllis Johnson, VP for Research at UND, and chemistry graduate.

Next month, UND WIS is planning an end of semester social event, so watch for details. You can also read some of the contributions made to our blog from various students and faculty for the Women in Science series. If you would like to contribute to the series, contact Susan Caraher in The Graduate School.

Gretchen Mullendore and Rebecca Romsdahl discuss the challenges in being an (overly) supportive mentor.

Nicole Haese, Microbiology & Immunology

Annie Wargetz, Space Studies

Lisa Burnett, Microbiology & Immunology

Tuesday, November 15th
12:30-2:30 River Valley Room, Memorial Union

Panel is from 1:00-2:00 preceded and followed by brief reception and conversation. All are welcome!

We are soliciting seed funding proposals from UND faculty members outside the School of Engineering and Mines that address important energy challenges in education, research, and outreach. A total of $10,000 has been set aside for funding and we anticipate making five awards for $2,000 each.

Proposal Components:

1. Title of proposal

2. Key project participants – name and University affiliation

3. Answers to the following questions:

a. What is the specific energy-related challenge or need for research, outreach or education?

b. What is your approach to identifying funding resources that have the potential to fund the proposed initiative?

c. What facilities are currently available to support your proposed initiative?

d. What is the potential for growth of the initiative at UND?

4. Budget summary

5. Short half page resume of key participants

Due Date: November 30, 2011 at 5pm
Send to: Shanna Corbett at shanna.corbett@engr.und.edu
Questions: Steve Benson, 701-777-5177

Institute for Energy Studies Background:

Vision – The Institute for Energy Studies pursues new frontiers in energy education, research and outreach that enables the development of the next generation of integrated energy technologies that are economically competitive, reliable, sustainable, and politically and environmentally acceptable.

Mission – Educate energy experts who are cognizant of the issues facing the energy industry by engaging students in education focused on the technical, social, political, environmental, and economic needs of the world-wide community.

Develop a multi-disciplinary balanced portfolio of energy initiatives aimed at accelerating the implementation of efficient, clean, affordable, and reliable energy production technologies.

Provide outreach programs to enhance the energy literacy of a range of important stakeholders, including the general public, civic leaders, industry leaders and public officials.

So, what is it?

Social Entrepreneurship is a rapidly evolving field. It can be generally described as the use of entrepreneurial principles to address existing social problems. The entrepreneur is a creative person dedicated to a social cause, creating and managing ventures and social enterprises.

New graduate certificate uses entrepreneurial principles to address social problems

The certificate program evolved out of a cross-disciplinary partnership at UND. Students are provided the diverse academic background needed to succeed as a social entrepreneur.

Dr Jason Jensen, MPA Program Director said, “Students are often very socially conscious and are looking for academic offerings that allow them to pursue this interest. Focusing on social entrepreneurship allows us to match a student’s interests with societal needs. We want tomorrow’s leaders to think about if they want to just live in the world or whether they want to change it for the better.”

The program provides a regionally-unique educational opportunity to students at all points in their career paths. The student body has diverse backgrounds, since solutions to social and community problems can come from creative-minded people from a ariety of fields.

The courses are designed to complement each other with minimal overlap or repetition. They are ‘non-linear’ so students may begin in any semester. The certificate is made up of four courses – one offered each semester – in the evenings, to accommodate working professionals. The courses are offered both online and on campus in a hybrid format. They include Creation and Management of Social Enterprises; Political Advocacy and Social Entrepreneurship; Seminar in Social Entrepreneurship; and Sociology of Social Entrepreneurship.

If you would like to learn more, you can download the Social Entrepreneurship fact sheet or visit My GradSpace to apply. The deadline for Spring admission is December 1st!

Wednesday evening, former UND history professor and archivist Dan Rylance gave an entertaining presentation to honor the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Chester Fritz Library. Rylance is co-author of Ever Westward to the Far-East: The story of Chester Fritz. Fritz was one of UND’s most prominent donors for his contributions for the library, and the auditorium named for him. It was fascinating to learn of Fritz’s adventures in China, in business and in life, and to learn about the man from Buxton, ND with very humble roots who became a very successful businessman and philanthropist.

On Friday afternoon, The Chester Fritz Library again cleared out the huge Reading Room to make way for an all-campus reception to celebrate not only Fritz’s legacy, but the critical place our library holds in our community. The CFL has been core to research and scholarship for countless students and faculty for the past 50 years – a golden anniversary worthy of a campus-wide party and a big cake.

Our History Department drove the Fritz@50 project

The Reading Room was transformed, if only for a little while.

Lots of treats!

A golden anniversary deserves a big cake.

Friday also saw the dedication of the newly renovated and greatly expanded Education Building in the middle of campus. The building was completed just in time for the Fall 2011 semester and the dedication ceremony gave us all the opportunity to celebrate. The renovations were the first since the Education Building opened in 1953. Now, the classrooms are stocked with cutting-edge technology, and the building is LEED certified for its energy efficiency. (We’re definitely a “green” university!)

Most importantly, as the College of Education & Human Development’s Dean Rice mentioned, the Education Building is a great learning environment for our faculty and students. Many of our graduate students and graduate programs call the Education Building home. From Early Childhood Education to Educational Leadership, UND’s CEHD has provided leaders and leadership to the state’s education system. At the ceremony, State Representative Mark Sanford, spoke of the College’s efforts to advocate and transition North Dakota’s education system.

The Graduate School is proud to work with the Education faculty, staff and students. We know that the strength of our programs is the strength of our people, and we’re happy that the Education Building matches the excellence of the people who work and study inside.

Many scissors were used to cut the ribbon, which symbolized the many partnerships between State, Federal and University leaders who worked together to realize the new Education Building

And one of the most fun adventures TGS participated in last week was the search for a 40 year old photograph on special request by an alum. I don’t want spill ALL the beans on the fabulous Storify story that our Director of Admissions, Evan Nelson, created, so I’ll let you check out the journey here:  http://storify.com/evannelsonund/finding-a-photograph-a-homecoming-story

As a woman in a scientific discipline, what are some of the challenges you have faced?

I have been lucky to have good teachers and mentors throughout my career, who gave me encouragement and challenged me to grow academically and personally.  What has been more difficult is the lack of role models- seeing someone like me in my field.  I often had the experience of being the in the gender minority in my college classes.  I enjoy collaborating with male colleagues, but I’ve found over the years that my female colleagues provide an important network of support and feedback that is hard to find with a male colleague.  My personal goal for the UND Women in Science group is to create a mentoring network on our campus and in our region, so that women scientists- including myself! -will have a greater opportunity to build that network of support.

Do you/how do you think the role of women scientists has changed?

I don’t think the role of women in science has changed.  Honestly, I still would like to see more women in decision-making positions.  For example: program managers at federal agencies, and director positions at federal and private research labs.  As previous bloggers described in their interviews, the drop-off in women in science careers is quite dramatic after the PhD-student/postdoc level.  And another major “leak” in the so-called science “pipeline” occurs at the administrative level.

Can you describe your research? 

Most of the work I do focuses on understanding cloud-scale dynamics through numerical modeling.  Examples of applications of this type of research are: quantifying the amount of chemicals transported from the surface to the stratosphere in severe storms; investigating the role of convectively-generated gravity waves on triggering new convection; and understanding the role of regional lakes (e.g. Upper and Lower Red Lake, Devils Lake) on snow forecasts.

How important is mentorship in the development of young scientists?

Mentorship is very important and young scientists should be encouraged to have several mentors!  Mentorship helps in networking, and networking is the best way to learn about opportunities and open doors to new career pathways.  There are an incredible number of ways to be successful in science.  I think most young scientists think there is one main trajectory to be successful, and that if they step off of that trajectory even a little, they will fail.  But many successful scientists have taken more circuitous routes, like taking time off (or working part time) when children were small, or jumping into different fields later in their schooling or career.

Do you feel there are still stereotypes surrounding women in the sciences?

Most women in science, including myself, have anecdotal tales about having to deal with negative stereotypes, either from family, or colleagues, or the media.  But the impact is a difficult thing to quantify, and the power of these negative stereotypes, like “girls can’t do math” or “male students are better with computers”, is often downplayed.  I highly recommend reading this blog post about a 15-minute writing exercise tested in University of Colorado physics classes that closed the performance gender gap.  This writing exercise to build self-confidence and self-worth worked to improve female performance better than even extra study groups.  This result suggests that the primary element holding women back in scientific pursuits is not academic capability, but the fear that the negative stereotypes pervasive in society are correct and they are therefore doomed to fail.  As the blog referenced above says, it’s only by changing the environment in which learning happens that the gender gap can be eliminated.

As a postscript to Dr Mullendore’s interview, the UND Women in Science group held a social and panel last week to discuss and share thoughts on the graduate school experience. Here are a few photos from the afternoon!

Undergraduates, graduate students and faculty came together as Women in Science, to network and support each other

Sharing experiences and stories about their graduate school experience

Panelists included graduate students from Nursing, Atmospheric Sciences, Biology and the School of Medicine

I have one question for you: “YP… Why Not?”

I suppose I should back up and introduce myself. My name is Stacey Heggen, and I’m the Executive Director for the Greater Grand Forks Young Professionals, or as we like to call ourselves, YP. Consider this your invitation to join us!

Greater Grand Forks Young Professionals, or GGFYP, is a nonprofit group dedicated to helping the region’s young professionals get more involved in their community, stay connected to one another and giving them a bigger voice. To our members, we offer volunteer opportunities and a way to network with other young professionals. To our community, we offer our energy and enthusiasm. GGFYP is involved in events such as ArtSee, the annual showcase of area artists, Beans on the Bank, a chili cook-off and Launch Grand Forks, a survey of young professionals and their hopes for the region.

Simply put, The Greater Grand Forks Young Professionals are both young and young at heart. We care about our community, and we represent the interests of the 20-40 year olds in our area. We are made up of college students, pencil pushers, parents, and people whose collars come in many colors. We love living here and we think other people should too. We plan some two dozen events throughout the year for our members to network and learn. Through our committees, our members are able to get involved in both GGFYP and the community.

What does it take to be a member? Committing to:

• Launch Grand Forks. This means looking at your community through the lens of possibility. It means encouraging our children, our leaders, and our neighbors to think bigger and more optimistically about Grand Forks’ future. It means valuing the people, places, and quality of life in Grand Forks and instilling the community with a renewed sense of pride.

• Be supportive. Be actively involved in the organization and represent the interests and beliefs of the organization. Here are some ideas on how to be involved: raise your hand for leadership opportunities, step forward with new ideas, attend events, invest in another member – personally or professionally, recruit other members, help secure funding, add ideas to this list.

• Pay up. Pay your dues when your dues are due. ($35/year- basically a steak dinner on a Saturday night) That’s it.

We believe in empowering our members to take on leadership and organizational roles for different events with our different committees. Board members and committee chairs are elected positions, but anyone can join a committee or more than one, if the volunteer bug has bit you hard.

• Board of Directors

• Community Involvement

• Marketing Committee

• Professional Development Committee

• Programs Committee

• Social Committee

Again, we encourage anyone and everyone to join us, whether you are in the professional working world or the professional student world. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me: Stacey@ggfyp.com. Our website, www.ggfyp.com, also has more fun information about our group. We hope you will join us!

And if you have a minute, check out a couple of their videos by Matt and Michaela.