Alexis Grinde Mom, Scientist, and Professor

by June Breneman

Attaining the top rung of education – a doctorate degree – is a challenge tackled by less than one percent of the population. It is a rigorous, intellectual pursuit. Alexis Grinde was conferred her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota Duluth in May 2015. But what’s remarkable about her story is everything else she was doing at the same time.

Wife, mother of a 5-year-old, professor, and working scientist, Grinde got very little sleep when she started on her doctorate in 2011. An added challenge was that she and her young family lived in Pine City where she taught biology courses at Pine Technical and Community College.

“The first year of the doctorate pro- gram, we had classes every day at UMD so that’s an hour and a half commute each way,” she says. “I’d be in class until five o’clock at night and hopefully get home before my daughter went to bed.”

But Grinde wouldn’t see her own pillow until she graded papers, went through emails, and studied. It was usually one or two a.m. “Then I’d get up and do it again, praying for Friday to come!” she laughs.

If that sounds exhausting enough, Grinde also does these things really well. In 2015, she was one of 15 faculty chosen nationwide to participate in a prestigious mentorship and training opportunity, recognized as an Ecological Society of America Scholar and nominated as Outstanding Educator in the Systemwide Minnesota State Colleges and University award program.

Today, with child number two due in May, this full-time professor, parttime scientist, and mom feels like she has “100 percent freedom.”

A Passion for Nature

Grinde’s passion for biological sciences started at Bemidji State University when she was undecided about a major. “But then I took mammology and biology classes and conservation issues really excited me,” she says.

Her advisor lined her up for a researcher’s dream job – studying endangered geese in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park. “It intrigued me that we could actually do something to fix problems caused by humans and keep species from declining,” she says. “I knew what I wanted to do for my career.”

In 2003, she was accepted into the master’s degree program at the University of North Dakota, and got a job bartending to pay the bills. It was there she met bar manager Rob Fosaaen and the two fell in love. Grinde took on a research project in California, studying the effect of wild pigs on the oak woodland ecosystem. The couple married in 2004.

The master’s thesis project required long stretches away from home, hiking California’s back country, and sleeping in tents. During her last months of field work, Grinde found out she was pregnant.

“I worked with a crew of guys and it was pretty demanding, but I didn’t want them to know I was pregnant,” she says. “I remember throwing up out the back of my tent.”

Baby Makes Three

Luckily, her daughter arrived after Grinde wrote and defended her master’s thesis. A part time adjunct professor position allowed her time with baby Amaya.

After nine months, she accepted a full-time professor position at Pine Technical College, spending summer months on bird research for UMD’s Natural Resources Research Institute. She learned of UMD’s intriguing doctorate program in Integrated Biological Sciences and enrolled to expand her teaching opportunities.

If not for her work-from-home husband, Grinde says she would never have attempted it. After missing her daughter’s first day of kindergarten she cried when she finally brought her to school on her third day.

“During that first year, especially, there was the constant feeling of needing to be somewhere else and not be 100 percent for any one thing,” she says. “I’d think, ‘when was the last time I did dishes or laundry?’ My husband was amazing.”

By the second and third years of her Ph.D. program, the class schedule lessened and her time was more flexible. Many parents tire of shuttling their kids around, but Grinde relished having the time to drive her daughter to school in the mornings.

Lessons Learned

Throughout her studies, Grinde would talk to her daughter about the work she was doing. When she had to dig deep and focus completely on a project, Amaya was promised a fun family activity when it was done.

“This really helped because she would encourage me to get the work done so we could spend time together,” says

Grinde. “And then we would not sit on the couch. We really valued our family time.”

And now, with the academic accomplishment in hand, the pay-off for Grinde’s efforts comes in more than career opportunities. It’s Amaya telling her that she’s glad her mom is teaching people about the environment and birds. D

by Sheryl Jensen

Living in the Northland where we often have overcast skies and the summer season is short, many of us live under the misconception that we do not have to worry about sunscreens or sun protection.

“My grandparent’s generation had excessive sun exposure from not knowing the importance of sun protection. My generation is a generation of tanning booths and sun bathing despite the warnings given. Everyday more and more younger people undergo invasive skin procedures to remove skin cancers,” explains Katie Hipsher, APRN at Essentia Health.

had a spot on her nose that she decided to ask about when she had her son in to see a dermatologist to have some warts removed. After a biopsy, she was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma. Thankfully, she has not had a recurrence in the twenty-five years since.

Burkhart notes, “I am so thankful that I decided to ask the doctor. I have been vigilant about skin check-

Street (First Floor).

Patients will have a 10-minute skin check appointment with one of the dermatology providers. “Anyone who has an issue found during these exams will then go to their regular doctor for a biopsy, treatment of the spot, or referral to Dermatology,” says John Slettedahl, APRN at Essentia Health.