alumnotes ditional and social/digital tactics. During this time he also served on the board of directors for the American Advertising Federation (AAF) of North Dakota, where he previously held the position of president. Last year he was elected as First Lieutenant Governor and National Student Advertising Competition Chair of the Eighth District of the AAF, which includes Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In July he will take on the role of Governor and will be responsible for leadership and collaboration throughout the entire district as well as representing the region on the AAF Council of Governors. During this exciting transition, he is also making another move to start a new job with Campbell Mithun (Advertising Agency) in Minneapolis. His primary responsibility will be design/creative on all digital team for their General Mills account. “I am proud to be an MSUM alum and that I’ve had many opportunities to come back to MSUM and talk to students (both GCOM students with Mike Ruth and Trista Conzemius, as well as AdClub students, primarily MassComm), assist in portfolio reviews, review student work through Jody Mattern’s Portfolio class and judge on GCOM senior projects. I’ve even had the opportunity to help NDSU as their Professional Advisor, where they started their first AAF AdClub and NSAC team. NDSU even placed 4th in our district…yes a few steps behind the ever impressive MSUM (Tape and Glue) team who won 1st place in our district and went on to represent our entire district at the national competition! Proud to be a Dragon!” Rebecca Reuss Hilbrand ’05 (special education) teaches in Alexandria at the intermediate elementary level. She is attending MSUM for her master’s in special education and license in early childhood education. She resides in Alexandria with her husband. Bronson Lemer ’05 (mass communication, English) recently accepted an English lecturer posi-
tion at the University of Minnesota Rochester. His memoir, The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twentysomething Survived a Year in Iraq, was published June 2011 by the University of Wisconsin Press. He began the memoir his senior year at MSUM. He resides in Bottineau, N.D., but will move to Rochester in August.
ager with Whirlwind Building Concepts in Sioux Falls, S.D. Blake played basketball with the Dragons for four years. He lives in Sioux Falls with his wife, Angie Klosner Strouth ’08 (elementary education), who is an operations specialist at Great Western Bank in Sioux Falls. The couple was married on September 24, 2010. Congrats!
Scott Swanson ’06 (paralegal) is an attorney at Swanson Law in Crookston. He also recently accepted a part-time assistant Norman County attorney position. He lives in Crookston.
Cor y To llive r ’08 (mass communic ations) is the assistant programming director for WDAY/ WDA Z a n d K B M Y/ KMCY TV. He also manages the production and creative services departments at WDAY-TV. He resides in Fargo.
Carin Hinman ’07 (elementary education) is a teacher at Fargo Public Schools. This past school year she taught Title 1 reading and ESL. This summer she taught English overseas in Cambodia. She resides in Fargo. Eric Eager ’08 (mathematics) is a graduate student and graduate teaching assistant in the Mathematics Department at the University of NebraskaLincoln. He received an Emeritus Faculty Fellowship at the University of Nebraska Math Department in last December; served on UNL’s Student Senate and Committee for Fees Allocation during the school year 2010-2011; published a paper in the Theoretical Ecology http:// www.springerlink.com/content/ q2504204w1382x45/; served on short-term missions trip in May to Hungary with River Valley Christian Church in Stillwater; and served on the first-ever alumni service tour with Students Today Leaders Forever in April. During his time at MSUM he was starting tight end on the football team in ’06-’07, won the Math Department’s Outstanding Junior and Senior Awards and Bill Ritche Fellowship in Mathematics and was also selected to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Football Team in 2007. He also was one of the first members in MSUM’s chapter of Students Today Leaders Forever. He resides in Lincoln, Neb., and is engaged to be married July 30, 2011. Blake Strouth ’08 (business management) is a regional sales man-
Christopher Haskell ’09 (film studies-production) is a runner/production assistant with Workshop Creative in Los Angeles. Originally from Minnesota, he recently moved to Los Angeles to follow a career in film and music. He hopes to be editing movie trailers soon at his current employer and ultimately, his end goal is to write, edit or direct feature films. He keeps in contact with most of his film professors at MSUM who were strong motivators in getting him to follow his career path and make the move to Los Angeles. His family has also been a huge role model to him. He lives in Studio City, Calif., and hopes to be a flood gate for other Dragons who are on the fence about making the big move to a larger city. “I feel that the larger the congregation of alums that grows here (LA), the easier it will make it for graduates to make the leap of faith. From opening up our living room to helping out with the job hunt, I really just want to pay it forward what was done for me.” Nicole Haverland ’09 (biochemistry, biotechnology) is a graduate student studying v ir o l o g y a n d immunology at
University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Haverland is the first in her family to attend graduate school and admits she is a science nerd. She was Miss Nebraska 2010. She took over as Miss Nebraska in January 2011 when then Miss Nebraska Teresa Scanlan was crowned Miss America. Haverland was the third runner up in the Miss Nebraska pageant a year ago. Her platform presentation, Grab Life by the Protons – Encouraging Science in our Schools, has kept her busy all over the state. After graduate school she plans to work in Germany and Australia. She lives in Omaha. Anne Kaese ’10 (international business) is a Fargo calligrapher and teacher, who was named the 2011 “Woman of the Year” for Art and Communications by the YWCA Cass Clay. She was nominated by the Red River Watercolor Society with recommendations for nomination from the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County and Northern Pines Retreat Center for her work promoting and educating over 1,500 people with 30+ presentations on the St John’s Bible when the print edition was on display at the Hjemkomst this winter; and for her work creating new retreat and learning opportunities for artists and calligraphers in the area. She has been doing calligraphy for over 30 years. As a young adult, she took formal classes and has had the privilege of studying with wonderful teachers from England, the U.S., Australia and South Africa. She enjoys teaching calligraphy and related art subjects focusing on lettering, color, illumination, fine detail painting, using a wide variety of media. She does calligraphy and art commissions for special occasions out of her home studio in Fargo. For more information visit www.AnneKaese.com. Danielle Gohl Olson ’10 (art) was accepted into the MFA in collaborative design at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Ore. The program consists of 15 students. She currently resides in Stillwater, with her husband, Robert Olson ’10 (psychology).
Alumnews Summer 2011
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