Northland College Magazine

Northland College MAGAZINE

FALL 2016

Celebrating Fall Festival and a New Stadium pg. 7 Welcoming Women’s Hockey pg. 11 Better than X-box: the Apostle Islands School pg. 19 Also in this issue: In Brief • Research • Art • And More NCMagazine-FALL2016.indd 1

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#GIVINGTUESDAY IS NOVEMBER 29. MARK YOUR CALENDARS. This #GivingTuesday join Northland alumni and friends on social media using #Give2NC and share stories about what makes Northland so special to you.

The goal is 250 or more donors in a single day—the most we’ve ever had. Help make history on #GivingTuesday.

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CONTENTS NCMagazine-FALL2016.indd 3

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THE RED CANOE

IN BRIEF

Northland College Magazine FALL 2016 Mission

Northland College integrates liberal arts studies with an environmental emphasis, enabling those it serves to address the challenges of the future.

President

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FALL FESTIVAL 2016

Dr. Michael A. Miller

President’s Cabinet Dr. Leslie Alldritt, Dean of Faculty, Vice President of Academic Affairs

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RESEARCH

Hal Haynes Dean of Students Robert Jackson Vice President of Finance and Administration

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

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ART

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WATER SUMMIT

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THE WOMAN BEHIND THE SCREEN

Mark Peterson, Executive Director, Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute Margot Carroll Zelenz Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Faculty Council President

Clayton Russell, Associate Professor of Environmental Education and Outdoor Education

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BETTER THAN X-BOX

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ON THE MOVE

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WHEELER HALL

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IN PRINT

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SNAPSHOTS

Staff Council President

Demeri Mullikin, Executive Director of Institutional Marketing Communications © 2016, Northland College

On the Cover A flight over campus reveals the newly completed Ponzio Stadium surrounded by fall colors. Learn more about the stadium dedication held during the 2016 Fall Festival on page 7.

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President Miller, front row center, joins the incoming class of 2016 and this year’s Outdoor Orientation student leaders (all in green) for a group photo in the new Ponzio Stadium.

From the President I’m happy to report Northland College welcomed one the largest classes of students in fifteen years. In what has become a kickoff tradition to the academic year, 210 first year students—representing twenty states and five Canadian provinces—walked across Fenenga Bridge to the cheers of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community. In an address to students, Professor Alan Brew urged students to immerse themselves into Lake Superior, academic life, campus life, and this community throughout their four years.

Every year Northland College deepens its commitment to regional economic and environmental health, community vibrancy, and educating students through engagement of faculty and students in real world initiatives. To facilitate this, we’ve created four centers that focus on food, health, economy, energy, culture, and water—in the region and on a global scale.

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Last year at this time, we launched the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation and this year we hosted the first Water Summit, bringing together national and regional experts to talk about the future of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in the post-Obama years.

The Center for Rural Communities provides research, nationwide examples of rural sustainability, and data about the rural issues facing this region, and collaborates with nonprofits and government agencies to bring greater understanding of rural attitudes and issues. The Indigenous Cultures Center continues to emphasize culture and diversity; and the forty-year-old Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute informs citizens about the environmental issues of the north woods and promotes understanding through citizen science and its speaker series.

As part of our commitment to the health of our students, we continue to invest in athletics. Right now, a significant portion of students are involved in one or more sports.

This month, our first-ever women’s hockey team hit the ice. And, as you can see from the cover of this magazine, we dedicated

the Ponzio Stadium and the reception has been outstanding. The stadium improves the athletic experience, allows us to add men and women’s lacrosse to our athletic menu (you can hear the LumberJacks practicing at night), to host community events, and comfortably seat one thousand fans.

But we’re not stopping there. In the next year, we’ll be building a commercial facility for Northland and for regional growers, expanding our campus gardens, and increasing the amount of local food served to our students. We’re currently developing graduate programs to launch in 2018. And we’re raising money for urban scholarships, to combat the trend of disconnection of urban kids to nature. The scholarships will cover four years of tuition and housing for deserving students. Look for more details on all of these projects in the coming magazines.

Please stay in touch and feel free to contact me. I’m always happy to talk more about the exciting things at Northland.

Michael A. Miller President, Northland College

NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE

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THE RED CANOE

Ask alumni of a certain era what brought them to Northland College and they will tell you that they received a postcard with a red canoe. And they knew. The canoe represents history, wilderness, identity, tradition, and transportation to places the curious have only dreamed.

This is our nod to this quiet, understated vessel that brought us all together.

FALL 2016

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IN BRIEF

Welcoming the Class of 2020 Northland College officially welcomed more than twohundred new students Friday, September 9 with a ceremonial walk, convocation address, and Everybody Party, sponsored by the Northland College Student Association.

Drummer Stevie Matier led the Class of 2020, pounding a Lambeg drum from Northern Ireland, over Bay City Creek, across the Fenenga bridge, to the campus mall, where students, staff, faculty, alumni, families, and friends stood cheering and clapping. Students then dropped ceremonial Lake Superior stones, given to them during Outdoor Orientation, into a bag.

The stones will be returned to them on graduation day when they march across the Wheeler Bridge.

Sitting on the campus lawn under blue skies and sunshine, an Ojibwe drum circle played an honor song and several people—including Director of the Indigenous Cultures Center Katrina Werchouski along with President Miller—welcomed students and encouraged them to show up, get involved, and take advantage of all the opportunities to contribute and learn in the region. Associate Professor of English Alan Brew further hit on these themes, telling students to immerse themselves literally into Lake Superior and metaphorically into Northland College.

“Learning is not a passive activity and an education is not something you can purchase—you cannot just fill in your billing information and then check out,” Brew said.

“Instead, learning is a journey of discovery.”

Princeton Review Names Northland Among Top Green Colleges Northland College is one of 361 environmentally responsible colleges according to The Princeton Review. The education services company known for its test prep and tutoring services, books, and college rankings features Northland College in the 2016 edition of The Princeton Review Guide to 361 Green Colleges.

“Northland College isn’t just meeting sustainability standards, it’s setting them,” reported The Princeton Review.

They noted the following: • Northland recently became a member of the Founding Circle for the Billion Dollar Green Challenge, which encourages the college and university community to invest a total of $1 billion in self-managed revolving funds that finance energy efficiency improvements.

• In 1971, the College built a commitment to green into the

curriculum when it added an environmental focus to its liberal arts mission.

• Students can take classes in subjects ranging from sustainable business to sustainable agriculture.

• The faculty emphasizes experiential learning opportunities through studentorganized conferences on organic farming and initiatives to promote locally grown food in the dining halls.

• Northland has taken aggressive steps to reduce energy consumption on campus.

The College has a wind tower, geothermal heat in the campus center and library, and furniture made from recycled materials.

Solar panels are visible around campus, including a studentinstalled panel at the president’s house.

• The College’s student-run bike shop is housed in a straw bale building, powered by a solar photovoltaic array, and heated mostly by the sun.

• Revamped bike-sharing services, along with free student bus passes, have helped mitigate the high vehicle emissions most rural universities emit.

• Northland’s dining services is a model of green eating. It offers sustainably harvested seafood, organic and fair-trade options, free range meat, and plenty of non-meat options for hungry vegetarians and vegans. Dining services also purchases produce from the on-campus garden and greenhouse. Work-study students compost food scraps for use in the campus garden.

2017 Native American Awareness Days •• •• •• •• •• ••

March 13—My Home is My Heart: Identity, Place, and Belonging in Sami and Anishinaabe Culture March 14­—Healing for the Next Seven Generations March 15—Craftwork Day March 16—The Creator’s Game: The Evolution of the Game of Lacrosse March 17—Alumni Dinner & Social March 18—43rd Spring Powwow

Professional Preparation of Early Childhood Teachers Northland College received an innovative teaching and learning grant in September for $24,849 from the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association.

This is the second grant from this organization. Last year, Northland College received an articulation grant for $25,000.

Wisconsin institutions have been working to streamline how early childhood education credits transfer between twoand four-year colleges and universities. The grant dollars will help strengthen transfer agreements—also known as articulation agreements— between the schools in the University of Wisconsin System, tribal colleges, the Wisconsin Technical College system, and private colleges and universities.

Funds from both grants have been used to make it easier to transfer from twoyear institutions into the educator preparation program at Northland College and to complete degree and teaching licensing. In the last year, Northland College has signed articulation agreements with Nicolet College, Gogebic College, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa College, and all the schools in the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College system.

In addition, seven students have received enhanced support and financial scholarships for the various state-required licensure requirements.

“Offering this type of support to students is essential to increasing the number of wellprepared and highly qualified early childhood educators in northern Wisconsin,” says Annette Nelson, educator preparation program director and associate professor at Northland College.

Learn more at:

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Graduate Program Development Funded Northland College recently received $1 million from the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation to establish a graduate degree program.

The gift is intended to fund all facets of development until the program can support itself.

The College is currently working with a consultant to identify the best structure and types of programs and intends to launch in 2018.

“This graduate program will expand the offerings of Northland College to its current students and alumni to meet a need we see in the broader community,” said President Michael A. Miller. “It allows us to fill the growing demand for advanced study in fields like outdoor education, freshwater science, climate change, and environmental communication.”

The College is exploring different frameworks from micro-master certificate programs to a fifth-year master’s model. “A consultant will be working with faculty over the next six-to-eight months to determine the program and the next steps,” Miller said.

Last year, the Foundation funded the Mary Griggs

Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northland College, focusing on freshwater research and communication.

“The College has benefited from the steadfast support of the Foundation,” Miller said.

“We have shared common values and deep respect for the natural resources and people of the north woods region, environmental education, and we are expanding ways that Northland College and its partners can support the development of environmental leaders across diverse groups.”

The Foundation was established in 1966 to support the philanthropic interests of three members of the Griggs-Burke family—Mary Griggs Burke and her husband, Jackson Burke, and her mother, Mary Livingston Griggs. Mary Griggs Burke supported two great passions through her foundation: one for fine arts, specifically Japanese art, and the other for the woods, waters, and communities of northwest Wisconsin.

“We also share a commitment to deepening the connection between the natural world and the human spirit through experience, the arts, and shared engagement,” Miller said. “This is our opportunity to broaden our reach to effect real and positive change in the world.”

Northland College hosted its first-ever Community Soccer Day at the Ponzio Stadium in October. Pictured above are four Ashland and Washburn graduates who now play for the Jacks and Jills—from left, Alex Fischer, Kaiya Voldberg, Thomas Whiting, and Harley Kinney.

Backpacker Magazine Ranks Northland College Top School for Outdoor Enthusiasts Backpacker magazine ranked Northland College second in a list of the nation’s best colleges for hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts in its October issue.

The magazine noted the school’s proximity to trails, rivers, and other outdoor recreational opportunities, its outdoor clubs and participation, and the quality and diversity of academics for outdoor-related careers.

The article written by students for students, cited Northland College’s thirty-six-year-old Outdoor Orientation program for incoming students, the outdoor education major, the College’s location near Lake Superior, the Apostle Islands, the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, and its passionate professors.

“This summer, I went on a whitewater canoeing trip on the Montreal River in eastern Wisconsin,” senior Brontë Goodspeed told the magazine. “I texted my professor about it beforehand and she asked if she could come.”

Northland College Receives National Fundraising Recognition Again For the second year in a row, Northland College was nationally recognized for overall performance in educational fundraising programs in the category of private liberal arts schools with endowments under $100 million.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) awarded Northland College the 2016 Educational Fundraising Award for the second consecutive year. A panel of judges assess winners based on solid program growth, breadth of support, and other indicators of a mature, wellmaintained program.

“This is an indication of our broader success in strengthening the institution and building

new programs,” said Northland College President Michael A. Miller.

In the last two years, Northland College has launched the Center for Rural Communities and the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation, built a new lacrosse and soccer stadium, and expanded its local foods initiative, including breaking ground for a community food processing and composting facility.

More recently, the College secured $1 million in new funding to develop graduate programs and has kicked off an urban youth scholarship fundraising campaign.

“This is an exciting time for Northland College,” Miller said.

“We welcomed one of our largest classes of first year students in fifteen years, we’re located in one of the most desirable places on Earth, and now we have the momentum to create programs that will encourage underserved youth to study here.”

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IN BRIEF HOT TOPICS Waukesha Water Diversion Chicago Tribune June 22 Peter Annin, co-director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation, adds analysis on the historic decision to allow access to Lake Michigan for drinking water.

By Kellie Pederson, Lake Superior project coordinator

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Wisconsin Wolf Debate Wisconsin Public TV June 22 Erik Olson, assistant professor of natural resources, says the biggest weakness in Wisconsin’s policy toward wolves hasn’t been any one particular decision, but rather state and federal officials have mostly erred in changing their policies numerous times in only a few years. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Conceal and Carry Milwaukee Journal Sentinel June 27 Angela Stroud, assistant professor of sociology and social justice, and author of Good Guys with Guns, responds to the Orlando mass shooting, asserting a good guy with a gun is not the answer. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Climate Change and Infrastructure Milwaukee Journal Sentinel July 24 Randy Lehr, co-director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation talks about preparing for a wetter future in the Great Lakes region. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ NPS Turns 100 St. Paul Pioneer Press August 24 Mark Peterson, executive director of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, says we need to recommit to our national parks. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Read the full stories at:

northland.edu/news

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Purchase your Loon Appreciation Week Poster

Wolf Awareness Week Posters Available

Loon Appreciation Week is celebrated during the first week of May. The 2016 Loon Appreciation Week poster, featuring an image by photographer, David C. Olson, is available. Olson’s journeys take him to remote areas to witness animal behavior and capture stunning imagery with his camera. Olson captured this stunning poster image, named Sundown Solitude, on part of the Spider Chain of Lakes near Hayward, WI. Order yours for $7 per poster at: northland.edu/loonwatch.

Wolf Awareness Week celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service and its role in wolf conservation. Kevin Daniel submitted the winning artwork for the poster. A Minnesota native, his attention to detail and use of color gives his work a unique view of nature’s beauty.

“With my love and passion for nature, I wanted to focus on the realism of wildlife art, bringing to life the subtleties of the outdoors from a natural but unique position,” he said.

Posters are available for $7 at: northland.edu/twa.

National Marine Sanctuary Update

Golf Event Raises $50K The annual Northland College Golf Classic, held July 7, brought in a record number of golfers.

Some 144 golfers participated in the athletics fundraiser at the Apostle Highlands Golf Course in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

“This tournament benefits our student athletes and will enable us to provide the necessary means for them to be successful,” said Northland College Athletic Director Kim Falkenhagen.

The tournament grossed over $50,000 to go toward the day-to-day operations of the athletic department and provide equipment, travel, and other necessities to student athletes.

“The Northland Classic Golf Tournament was a big success— good weather, good cheer, and lots of money raised for our athletic programs and facilities,” said Northland College President Michael A. Miller. “It was a great chance to get students, alumni, staff, and our community together for a day of fun for a good cause.”

The 2017 Golf Classic will be held July 6 at the Chequamegon Bay Golf Club in Ashland, Wisconsin. The tournament rotates every other year with Apostle Highlands in Bayfield.

NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary System (NMS) protects some of the nation’s most precious submerged ecological and cultural resources.

In 2014, NOAA created a new process allowing communities to nominate areas to be considered for designation in the NMS System.

In 2015, a citizen steering committee representing the Chequamegon Bay Region began work to nominate a portion of Western Lake Superior as an NMS. The proposed area encompasses Wisconsin waters adjacent to the shores of Bayfield, Ashland, and Iron counties and the reservation lands of the Red Cliff and Bad River Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa, including Chequamegon Bay and the waters adjacent to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

This nomination has received broad-based community support, with unanimous resolutions of support passed by the Board of Supervisors in Ashland, Bayfield, and Iron counties. The nomination includes over sixty letters of support from agencies, educational institutions, and NGOs, as well as resolutions of support from fifteen coastal municipalities along the proposed sanctuary shoreline.

The nomination is currently in review by key partners and slated for submission to NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in the fall 2016. If accepted, NOAA could choose to initiate a formal designation process.

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US Senator Tammy Baldwin presents Cindy Dillenschneider and President Miller with the National Accessibility Award.

College Recognized for Forest Lodge Accessibility Design, Planning Work Northland’s Super Fan Meet super fan Joyce Neumann, who has attended every game— all sports—at Northland College since 1975, when she moved here with “Doc” Richard Neumann, professor of biology. She says she’s appreciative of all the time, practice, and sweat that goes into any sport—”and yes, it’s entertainment,” she said.

We posted this photo on Facebook and the comments poured in.

To post your own comment or to read the rest, visit our FB page.

Students from Northland College’s Inclusive Outdoor Education course created a plan that would enable anyone— regardless of ability—to enjoy Forest Lodge while maintaining its historic and natural character.

Forest Lodge is an 870-acre, Forest Service managed estate located on the shores of Lake Namekagon, near the town of Cable, Wisconsin.

Their efforts were officially recognized August 24 with the National Accessibility Award.

US Senator Tammy Baldwin presented the award to Cindy Dillenschneider, outdoor education professor (recently retired), and College President Michael A. Miller.

The outdoor education students presented a twentypage proposal last spring with recommendations for improving the accessibility of the lodge’s boathouse, greenhouse, and gatehouse to Daryl Dean, architect at ChequamegonNicolet National Forest and Jason Maloney, director of Forest Lodge and Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center.

As part of their coursework, the students spent time touring and measuring the 870-acre estate’s structures, poring over blueprints, and researching accessibility laws and historic building preservation guidelines.

“The students’ work saved our Forest Lodge partnership from $50,000-$80,000 in architectural and engineering costs,” said Maloney. “These are real-life solutions for the Forest Service and couldn’t come at a better time.”

The Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota, awarded a $10 million endowment to Northland College last year to support freshwater research at Northland College and at Forest Lodge. In addition to studentfaculty research, the College began hosting adult summer programming at the lodge this summer.

“This student work enhances and amplifies our partnership with the Forest Service and involvement with Forest Lodge,” Miller said. “It’s satisfying to know students had a real impact in helping us build programs and ready the structures for the public.”

Some of the class’ recommendations were completed last summer; later projects will incorporate the remaining recommendations.

Dillenschneider praised her students for “undertaking this challenge with earnestness and professionalism” and for their “creative and workable solutions” to the accessibility issues they encountered.

“As renovation of the Forest Lodge facilities takes place and programs are established, people of all ages and abilities will come to Forest Lodge to be inspired to solve environmental challenges through research, education, arts, literature and civic engagement,” she said.

Make Your IRA Rollover Gift Today If you are 70 ½ or older, you can make a gift from your IRA account to help support Northland. To learn more, contact Margot Zelenz, vice president of institutional advancment, at 715-682-1328.

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Next page—Top left: Craig A. Ponzio ’72 on the field of the new Ponzio Stadium. Top right: Sam Komp ’69 and his family after his induction into the Northland College Hall of Fame. Bottom right: Komp during his time at Northland. Circle: Women’s hockey athletes Breena Gaskov and Kylie Fahmer hand out Northland spirit sticks at the stadium opening celebration. Center: Northland fans cheer for the opening of the new stadium.

FALL FESTIVAL 2016

This page—Top left: the Jack Brass Band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, plays at the Alumni Dinner. Top right: (front row from left to right)Jim Quinn ’73, Maureen Roup ’74, David Bednarski ’73, Pat Pesko ’73, (back row from left to right) Photo bomber Stu Goldman ’69, Mike Pesko ’73, Ron Roup ’74. Circle: Marian Penn ’52 and Marjorie McManus ’53 representing the two earliest classes at the 2016 Fall Festival. Center: (back row left to right) Tomi Castaneda ’14, Melissa Newman ’10, Laura Lojpersberger ’11, Alicia Wiebe ’10, Carrie Hein ’08, (middle row left to right) Gabby Jukalla ’13, Miranda Arneson ’10, Carrie Dohlman ’11, Emily Snow ’13, and (front) Erin Roembke ’13 Photos this page by Dave Bednarski ’73.

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ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME Sam Komp ’69

PONZIO STADIUM OPENING CELEBRATION Some six hundred faculty, staff, students, athletes, alumni, and community members attended the opening celebration of the Ponzio Stadium Saturday, September 24.

The multi-million-dollar stadium can seat onethousand people in the grandstand. Other amenities include: a concession area, Wi-Fi, lighting system, and press box. The LumberJack and LumberJill soccer teams began playing on the field in August and lacrosse will begin in the spring.

Artificial turf extends the playing season and incorporates features that fit with the College’s mission of sustainability, with zero storm water discharge.

Komp majored in English, minored in physical education, and participated in both football and golf. Komp was a two-way starter on the LumberJacks football team for three years, playing as receiver and defensive back. He was a three-time football letter winner, served as team captain in 1968, and capped his football career by being named to the NAIA District 14 first team as a defensive back and having the longest interception return (100 yards vs. Bethel in St. Paul). In addition to his induction into the Northland College Athletic Hall of Fame, Sam was inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Hall of Fame in April.

Northland College Trustee and alumnus Craig Ponzio ’72 funded the stadium. “Ponzio has been a tireless champion for Northland College, giving generously of his time and resources over the years,” said President Michael A. Miller.

The afternoon celebration included a dedication, reception, lacrosse introduction, and the induction of Sam Komp ’69 into the Athletic Hall of Fame.

“This is a special addition to the Northland College campus and has provided a state-of-the-art venue for athletics, intramurals, and a whole host of other student and community events,” Miller concluded.

FALL 2016

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RESEARCH

THE PUBLIC SECTOR SHOULD ENSURE WATER IS SAFE TO DRINK.

IF PUBLIC WATER INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS REPAIR, THE CITY SHOULD INCREASE...

A PRIVATE ENTITY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO EXTRACT AND SELL WATER FROM LAKE SUPERIOR

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CRC Public Opinion Poll Reveals Support for Oversight

A recent Northland College Public Opinion Poll reveals overwhelming support for public sector oversight of drinking water resources. The public sector includes publicly-owned utilities, tribal water utilities, local city and town officials, tribal governments, and state and federal agencies.

The Center for Rural Communities at Northland College conducted the poll in May, interviewing 640 randomly selected households in Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, and Iron counties. Residents connected to public utilities or private wells were included.

Over ninety percent of respondents agree that the public sector should notify the public of any changes in water quality or treatment methods,

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ensure water is safe to drink, and protect drinking water sources from pollution.

The vast majority (83.9 percent) of respondents also say the public sector should be responsible for guaranteeing access to safe drinking water regardless of someone’s ability to pay.

This is well-aligned with strong opinions of water as a human right, said Brandon Hofstedt, associate professor of sustainable community development and faculty director of the Center for Rural Communities.

“Nearly all respondents— ninety-seven percent—agreed with the statement ‘water is a human right, and every person should have access to clean and safe drinking water,’ making it the most highly agreed upon item in the survey,” Hofstedt said.

In light of legislation considered by the Wisconsin State Legislature earlier this year, which would ease the process

of privatizing municipal water utilities, respondents were asked about their attitudes toward publicly and privately owned water utilities.

Participants tend to disagree that privately owned water utilities are more trustworthy, transparent, accountable, and efficient compared to publicly owned utilities.

Over half of respondents (55.8 percent) did not think that a private entity should be allowed to earn a profit from the supply of drinking water to households.

When asked about whether a private entity should be allowed to extract and sell water from Lake Superior or the aquifers, streams, and rivers that feed it, over seventy-five percent of participants disagreed.

Founded in January of 2015, the CRC applies research-based solutions to social and economic challenges, partners with community members to build on local knowledge and promotes the long-term health and vitality of rural communities in the north woods region.

8/15/16 10:26 AM

Kaylee Thornley ’16 began working at the Democracy Collaborative in Washington DC as special assistant to the co-founder, Gar Alperovitz, in August, months after graduating with a degree in sustainable community development and three years as a research assistant at the Center for Rural Communities.

YOUR SUPPORT MAKES THESE

STUDENT EXPERIENCES

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NSF Award to Fund Chemical Recycling of Plastics Research Northland College received its first National Science Foundation award for research purposes in August. The $365,000 award will, in part, support Associate Professor of Chemistry Nick Robertson’s student-intensive research on the synthesis and chemical recycling of plastics.

“Robertson’s research will provide students with state-ofthe-art research experiences and could lead to important commercial advances that would have a significant impact on lessening the environmental impact of plastics,” said Les Alldritt, vice president of academic affairs.

The research supported through this award is a collaborative undertaking with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where Robertson earned his undergraduate degree under his mentor, Michael Carney, who will be heading up the UW-Eau Claire contributions focused on catalyst development.

The two will oversee their undergraduate research teams over a three-year period, with roughly two-thirds of the approximately $365,000 grant supporting work at Northland College and one-third supporting work at UW-Eau Claire.

“Robertson has been working diligently towards this since arriving in 2009, and Northland has been building its capacity to obtain and house such awards here since 2010,” said Lisa Williamson, director of sponsored awards. “The odds of obtaining an NSF award are about one in four, with greater challenges for new/young investigators, new institutions, and first submissions.”

Value-Added Dairy in the Chequamegon Bay Region The Northland College Center for Rural Communities received a $5,000 grant from AgStar Financial Services to head up a market study to estimate the demand for locally produced and grass-fed and organic dairy products across the Chequamegon Bay region.

“Many small farmers are struggling in the region, and transitioning to a diversified dairy market may offer a more stable revenue source,” said Robin Kemkes, faculty research associate at the Center for Rural Communities, who will be heading the project. “The study will determine if this is feasible.”

Kemkes said that studentresearch assistants, staff, and faculty will be contributing to this effort.

Enhancing Behavioral Health in Northern Wisconsin The Northern Wisconsin Health Network, Essentia Health, and the Northland College Center for Rural Communities were awarded $162,754 in June to support the first of an eight-year project designed to improve behavioral health outcomes in a four-county region. The eightyear initiative is funded by the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and will total approximately $1.5 million.

The first phase of the project was launched in July, and will support planning efforts for

a five-year implementation phase. The Center will lead the evaluation of project activities, work with the Medical College of Wisconsin to ensure fidelity to the broader evaluation model, and support partners’ efforts to meet project goals.

The Northern Wisconsin Health Network consists of two critical access hospitals, Memorial Medical Center and Hayward Area Memorial Hospital, four County Health and Human Services Departments in Ashland, Bayfield, Sawyer and Washburn

counties, and NorthLakes Community Clinic.

The Endowment recently announced funding for ten community coalitions to support community-based improvements in behavioral health. The overall goals of the initiative include: statewide improvement in behavioral health, improved physical health among those with behavioral health conditions, and improved prevention and healthcare resources.

Canfield Inspires Students with Science Every year, dozens of rural high school students from all over Wisconsin converge on the UW-Madison campus for a hands-on scientific research experience.

Northland College alumnus Scott Canfield ’06, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in the Shusta and Palecek Laboratories at UW-Madison, serves as program faculty, inspiring the students to see awesome science and engineering research—and that it’s all within their reach.

“The ability to give back to students who are coming from a very similar background that I had is very rewarding,” says Canfield. “I really enjoy the opportunity to talk to students who are coming from these small schools and explain my journey from a small high school to a small college to graduate school and now to a post doctoral fellow in chemical and biological engineering.”

Canfield’s workshop is based on differentiating cardiac myocytes (heart cells) from pluripotent stem cells. He and the students add varying pharmaceuticals and monitor the contraction rates of the myocytes in the dish.

“Whenever you are working with biological samples there is some degree of uncertainty whether or not the cells will perform the way we expect them to,” he says, “so there is a bit of pressure that the experiment will work.”

Working with high school students for three summers has helped Canfield with his own research: further understanding the blood-brain barrier, the cellular barrier that maintains a metabolic, and physical barrier between the blood and the brain.

“Observing their interest, passion, and excitement really motivates me in the lab and gives me a reminder that what I am doing is exciting.”

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WOMEN’S HOCKEY This winter is the inaugural season for women’s hockey at Northland College and athletes came from across the US and Canada to join the team. Find out who they are:

Chloe Marshall, goalie

From: Neilburg, Saskatchewan Played for: Battlefords AAA Sharks Major: Biology My parents put me in hockey at a young age. As I got older, it became a big passion. I would never want to get off the ice because I love the sport so much. Hockey isn’t just a game to me, it’s a way of life and I was born to play it.

Robyn Matula, forward

From: Winnipeg, Manitoba Played for: AAA Eastman Selects Major: Business When I was younger I used to watch hockey games with my family and I told them when I was three years old that I wanted to play hockey. I’ve been playing hockey ever since. I’m super excited about being part of the first ever LumberJill hockey team.

Madysen Zachmeier, forward/defense

From: Mandan, North Dakota Played for: Mandan High School Major: Biology I watched my stepsister play for a year then decided the next year I was going to try it. My sophomore year, my high school team made it to state for the first time ever. I keep playing because I have a love and passion for the sport. Eat, sleep, hockey.

Markia Smith, forward

From: St. Joseph, Minnesota Played for: Sartell Sauk Rapids Storm’n Sabres Major: Secondary Education I got interested in hockey from a hometown hero Sarah Erickson. She played for the Minnesota Gophers and the US Olympic hockey team and really made me realize that girls can be successful in playing hockey.

Maggie Cusey, goalie Allyson Reilly, forward

From: St. Paul, Minnesota Played for: Roseville, Minnesota Major: Business Hockey runs in my family.

From: Mankato, Minnesota Played for: Mankato West Scarlets Major: Biology, Pre-med My dad introduced me to hockey when I was two; I started playing at the age of four. I keep playing because it is my escape from life and stress.

Ashley Hammes, forward

From: Rochester, Minnesota Played for: Rochester Mayo Spartans Major: Business One of my close friends, Shannon O’Hara, died of a brain tumor five years ago and I was the one to encourage her to play hockey. After her death, we’ve had tournaments and scholarships dedicated to her, showing me that the littlest things matter and to keep doing what ya’ love.

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Breena Gaskov, forward

From: Anchorage, Alaska Played for: Alaska Allstars Major: Biology, Pre-med I started figure skating when I was really young and was pretty good until my feet wouldn’t fit right into my figure skates. I discovered hockey skates were more comfortable. From there I learned you couldn’t figure skate in hockey skates so I signed up for hockey instead and it was the best decision of my life.

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Kara Winter, defense

From: Oshkosh, Wisconsin Played for: Fond Du Lac/Waupun/ Oshkosh Warbirds Co-op Major: Biology and Natural Resources One of my favorite moments in hockey was spending my summers traveling to different areas on summer leagues. This will be my last chance to play before graduating in December and I am so happy to have this opportunity because I love the game and have missed it since starting college in 2013.

Kylie Fahmer, forward

From: Fort Worth, Texas Played for: Dallas Stars Elite Major: Geology I learned how to play in Okinawa, Japan, in the only hockey rink on the entire island. I loved sharing a bond and making new friends through hockey, especially in women’s hockey since there aren’t many girls who play.

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Destiny Muir, defense

From: Black River Falls, Wisconsin Played for: Lindenwood-Belleville Lynx Major: Elementary Education I got interested in hockey because I used to watch my younger brother play. A highlight: going to nationals last year at Lindenwood-Belleville, which was our second year in the program. I just love the game and the friends I make on the way.

Michaela Isetts-Williams, forward

From: Racine, Wisconsin Played for: Kenosha Komets, Yellow Jackets (Crystal Lake, Illinois), Milwaukee Jr. Admirals Major: Graphic Design I started skating when I was twoand-a-half years old. My dad played hockey and when my baby brother was born, he put me in skates so I didn’t feel left out because of a new baby in the house.

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Amanda Abounader, defense

From: Montreal, Quebec Played for: Gilmour Lancers Major: Biology, Pre-med My dad is probably the reason why I was in skates at three years old. I love the game and I love how in shape it keeps me. I feel healthy and happy playing hockey.

COACHES

Emma Vandergeest, forward

From: Toronto, Ontario Played for: Etobicoke Dolphins and North York Storm Major: Business Management I love the competitiveness and the battle against other teams and I love the feeling of nerves and excitement before games and the excitement and adrenaline that you share as a team during the game.

Samantha Scott, forward

From: Guelph, Ontario Played for: North Halton Twisters Midget AA Major: Education One of my best moments was when our team played against Team China’s Olympic hockey team last year. And we beat them 2-1. I scored the first goal after being down 1-0.

Vivienne Kallio, defense

From: Hancock/Houghton, Michigan Played for: Keweenaw Storm and Marquette Sentinels Major: Elementary Education I got interested in playing hockey because I wanted to get out of figure skating. I hated figure skating—the toe pick always made me fall. I keep playing because I want to improve and to be the best player I can be and because I love to compete.

Kelly Rider

Head Women’s Hockey Coach From: Glenmont, New York Talent is needed to win games and winning is important, but recruiting good people and creating an environment where players propel the winning culture creates limitless possibilities and opportunities to learn valuable life lessons and be successful on and off the ice; and long after your playing career is over.

Cheyenne Otto, defense

From: Ashland, Wisconsin Played for: Ashland U19 and Northern Exposure Major: Social Justice I love hockey because it is the most challenging of sports. With hockey, I found a second family who will always be there. I chose Northland College because I would not be able to find another community like Northland—it’s more like family.

Harley Kinney, forward

From: Ashland, Wisconsin Played for: Hayward Co-op High School Team Major: Natural Resources My brother played hockey and when we would go to his games and practices, my parents would let me go on the ice afterwards, to walk while they held my hands. I would get really upset when it was time for me to get off the ice. Soon, I was skating and hockey became a large portion of my life. It’s all I’ve ever really known and it gives me a different, indescribable feeling on the ice.

Lauren Zachwieja

Assistant Women’s Hockey Coach From: Franklin Park, Illinois I believe a coach’s responsibility is to make their players better athletes, and more importantly, better people.

Character building is so important because it creates coachable players that will become successful adults when they leave college.

Emily (Ally) Covert, forward

From: Powell, Ohio Played for: Ontario Hockey Academy and AAA Columbus Blue Jackets Major: Biology and Natural Resources My father has always loved hockey so when my brother and I were old enough—about five years old—he put us on the ice.

Kylie Wickiser, forward

From: New Albany, Ohio Played for: Ohio AAA Blue Jackets Major: Fisheries and Wildlife Ecology My older brothers got me interested in hockey. I keep playing because hockey makes me so happy and I make a lot of close connections with the other girls.

Hilary Jewell ’09

Volunteer Assistant From: White Bear Lake, Minnesota I’m a strong believer in servant leadership and strive to instill that spirit of putting others first, putting the team first, into my athletes.

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ART

Baylor’s Work Selected for the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Exhibit The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art has selected two pieces of artwork by Brendan Baylor for its 2016 Wisconsin Triennial, an exhibit featuring the work of Wisconsin artists. Baylor is the Northland College Hulings Teaching Fellow and an instructor in art.

More than six hundred artists applied; only forty were selected.

“This is a very prestigious exhibition,” said Jason Terry, professor of art at Northland College. “Brendan is the only

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artist selected that resides north of Highway 29.”

The exhibit will be up through January 8, 2017.

Baylor will have two pieces in the exhibit—Transmission Networks, where he maps his relationship to coal mining through the electricity consumption in his home, and 50 Million Acres, a deeper look at the clearcut era in Wisconsin’s history.

“This is such a great opportunity for me, and I am grateful to be included in the show,” he said. “There is so much strong work in the Triennial; it’s been very inspiring to meet and connect with other Wisconsin artists. There are so many people doing interesting things around the state who I wouldn’t have met any other way.”

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Dawes Opens Ceramics Studio in England Alumna Victoria Dawes ’13 recently opened her own ceramics studio in Sheffield, England.

At Northland, Dawes studied studio art, and ceramics and screen printing made up the majority of her senior exhibit work.

She moved to Sheffield in October 2014 to participate in Yorkshire Artspace’s Starter Studio Programme for Ceramics, a plan that supports early career artists.

Dawes works primarily with red earthenware, a clay rich in oxides and detritus that gives it a deep color and low-firing properties.

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“My favorite aspect of my process is that at all stages, the raw clay and the pieces made are manipulated entirely by hand and made for other hands to hold,” she says. “The clay moves between your fingers: materials are tested for thickness on the back of a hand; cups are brought up to lips.”

Touch is especially important in Dawes’s work. “Working with clay, touching and manipulating the material allows me to access an inner calm—a place where worries and anxieties don’t matter. I am trying to learn to bring some of that calm into the other aspects of running a business.”

Most recently Dawes has completed a collection titled “For Dennis,” commissioned by MADE North for the Northern Industrial Project. Responding to a call to create “Something from the north of England, for the north of England,” she made a bread and butter collection in memory of Dennis Black, a former Sheffield Steel worker whose house she cleaned in the last year of his life.

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Jenny Robinson ’07 was featured in the August 1 issue of the Cap Times for her business, Isthmus Instruments LLC, and for her speciality: building handpans. “One of just a few handpan makers in the US, Robinson spent years researching the instrument before she launched her own company,” reports the Cap Times. At Northland, Robinson earned a bachelor’s degree in natural resources and learned how to make Native American-style wooden flutes. She later enrolled in a two-year machine tooling program at Madison Area Technical College, and spent time working at a machine shop.

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Water Summit Discusses Future of GLRI The Northland College Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation hosted its first Water Summit September 30 and October 1 to discuss the future of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).

The Burke Center invited representatives of industry, American Indian tribes, government, and environmental groups to think about and create a list of policy conclusions about the next iteration of GLRI. The six-year-old federal initiative has funded more than 2,500 projects by hundreds of groups. Congress has invested $2.2 billion in projects to clean up the Great Lakes.

GLRI has always received bipartisan support. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have endorsed Great Lakes restoration, but questions remain over funding and the focus of the initiative.

The summit began with a public panel discussion in the

Alvord Theatre with more than two-hundred people in attendance.

Burke Center Co-director Peter Annin interviewed panelists Cameron Davis, senior advisor to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Kathryn Buckner, president of the Council of Great Lakes Industries; Todd Ambs, campaign director of the Healing our Waters Coalition; alumnus Mic Isham ‘87, chairman of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa & chairman of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission; and Burke Center Co-director Randy Lehr.

The next day, summit participants met on Madeline Island where they produced a white paper for the next administration to consider. The white paper was delivered to the transition teams in mid-October and is now online.

The summit and white paper were funded by George and Jean Shinners, The Joyce Foundation, The Brico Fund, and The Fund for Lake Michigan.

Read the results at: northland.edu/watersummit.

Jim Zorn (left), executive administrator of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commissions, and Dave Ullrich (right), executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative

Kathryn Buckner, president of the Council of Great Lakes Industries

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Mic Isham ’87 (center), chairman of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa & chairman of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, and Todd Ambs campaign director of the Healing our Waters Coalition (right). Photos by billkelleyphotography.com

Lynn Broadhurst, conference facilitator

Peter Annin (left), Burke Center co-director, and Cameron Davis (right), senior advisor to the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency

Randy Lehr, Burke Center co-director

President Michael A. Miller

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@northland_edu @northland_edu facebook.com/northlandedu

The Woman Behind the Screen Northland College senior Mikaela Fischer is a quiet, self-possessed student with a strong voice. She’s one of those rare students who takes in information, digests it, devises a plan, and executes it.

“She’s mature and still knows how to be playful. I would want her in any class I teach,” said Jason Terry, associate professor of art.

Fischer majors in biology and minors in art. She works two jobs—at a bakery and as a social media assistant in the Office of Marketing Communication at Northland College. And she is the captain of the women’s cross country team.

“Mikaela takes it seriously,” said her coach, Peter Macky.

“She’s always there to be a friend, supporter, and mentor to her teammates.”

Fischer can’t pinpoint how or why she fell in love with biology.

“I’ve always been an outdoorsy kid—camping and hiking,” she said.

Plus, her mom is a nurse.

“Biology doesn’t gross me out,” she laughed.

Fischer discovered Northland College by chance during a drive north from her hometown of Boyceville, Wisconsin, near Eau Claire. She was on her way to tour a college in Michigan but saw a sign for Northland College.

She asked her mom to stop and they toured campus.

She was hooked on the place and the location.

She expected to study biology; she didn’t expect to study art. But she received a grant requiring she take art classes.

She registered for black and white photography and learned to print film in a dark room. “I’m not a people photographer but I love nature and animals—and the chemistry of printing was an added benefit.”

That photography class led her to an internship that further cemented her love for biology and her affinity for the arts.

She interned as a photographer at the Minnesota Zoo in the summer of 2015.

She submitted internship photos to a Northland College Instagram campaign asking students about their summer experiences and caught the eye of Julie Buckles, director of communications.

“She had a fun, spirited voice, she took great photographs, and I looked at her Instagram account and could see she had a level of professionalism, even about her own life,” Buckles said.

Fischer was hired as a social media assistant in September 2015. As social media assistant, she photographs, creates campaigns on Instagram, posts to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, designs prizes for her campaigns, and dabbles in videography. Her biggest project so far: she initiated, planned, directed, edited, and posted a “welcome back to campus” video starring College President Michael A. Miller.

Her video stands as one of the most successful posts in Northland College social media history.

“Mikaela is the full package— creative, detailed, organized, smart, and reliable” Buckles said. “She has a vision and the confidence to see it through.”

Fischer says that even though social media is supposed to be second nature to millennials, she had a lot to learn. “I’ve gotten even more organized, better at planning and staying on track,” she said. “I’ve learned about

communication and the types of posts to reach a certain audience and I’ve gotten more creative with my writing.”

Her senior capstone project—a requirement of graduation—is quintessential science meets art. She’s cultivating bacteria, isolating the different colors, and then painting them on agar.

She will then take those plates and take photographs of them.

After graduation, she’s not so sure. “I love bacteria. If I go to grad school it will be for microbiology,” she said.

“Maybe I’ll go back and work at the zoo—whatever I do will incorporate biology.”

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Better than X-box: the Apostle Island School Sixty middle school students participated last summer in the Northland College Apostle Island School, held on Stockton Island. The twenty-eight-year-old outdoor and environmental residential program is a partnership between the Northland College Outdoor Education Department and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore with participating middle school teachers and parent volunteers.

The Island School is a group effort. The participating middle schools raise money and provide food, families pay a nominal fee to cover equipment and bus costs, the National Park Service provides staffing, and the Friends of the Apostle Islands provide transportation to Stockton Island, where the students spend three days.

In surveying students about their experience, Katherine Jenkins, visiting assistant outdoor education professor, who heads the program, said their answers echoed an unwavering historical programmatic theme—that students recognized a deeper felt sense of connectedness to nature and appreciation of nature.

One student commented: “It’s a very different environment. Everyone should get this experience. It might make people see the world a different way so they might take care of the world better.”

And another wrote: “It’s changed me by teaching me to go outside. There’s the Bear Trail right by my house that I want to hike on now.”

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“This is something we always hope students will gain from the program and will stay with them as they transition back into their own lives,” Jenkins said. “Not only is this understanding and experience necessary for our survival as a species, it is necessary for understanding and sensing our place in the world and how we relate to all life.”

When Island School staff checked in with students about their fears they heard something new. “Typically, they talk about things like bears and outhouses,” she said.

“This year it was: ‘having to leave my cell phone at home.”

However, Jenkins said, the post-program interviews exposed an overwhelming gratitude for getting away from technology, having the opportunity to spend time with friends, and developing social skills.

“This came as a surprise to staff as this message was not embedded into or even a focus of the curriculum. Students brought this up of their own accord,” Jenkins said.

One student said about the Island School: “It’s important because it gets kids out of the house. A lot of kids stay inside. It’s a chance to get fresh air and exercise. Here there’s no civilization, there’s no X-box. It’s better than X-box. Here you are hanging with friends and you’re occupied.”

And another wrote: “It got us away from technology. We’re on our phones a lot as a society and getting kids out into the wilderness shows them how it is not to be a robot and look at a screen all day.”

“This and the other comments are potent,” Jenkins said.

“These comments expose the prevailing disconnect, and resulting anxiety and depression, that is occurring in our society along with deadening senses and lives as students engage with screens on average eight hours a day,” she said.

Students also reflected on feeling relaxed and peaceful in ways that they haven’t experienced before.

Wrote one student: “I felt peaceful. It’s not loud here. I felt like I am a part of nature.

I am proud this all stands without being destroyed. There aren’t many places that are like this.”

“The wisdom of the Island School students’ words and experience tell a story of peace and relaxation, of connecting to nature, of a joy in departing from technology for a little while, of pleasure in getting to socialize with friends, of a concern and hope for the future,” Jenkins said.

“At this time in human history, when mental health issues in youth are increasing alongside an increasing obesity epidemic, Apostle Island School students give us the key to the future: they are reminding us to integrate the experience of the natural world into our lives.”

Note: The Apostle Island School was formed at the Northland College Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute twenty-eight years ago. Twelve years ago, it shifted to the Outdoor Education Department, under the leadership of Professor Clayton Russell. Next year the Island School will return to the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, under the direction of the new Bro Professor Evan Coulson (see facing page).

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“It got us away from technology. We’re on our phones a lot as a society and getting kids out into the wilderness shows them how it is not to be a robot and look at a screen all day.”

Meet the New Bro Professor The Bro Professorship is an endowed teaching position, with time divided between teaching and the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. Evan Coulson, the newly-hired Bro Professor, holds a masters of education in outdoor recreation resource administration and a PhD in agricultural sciences with a concentration in forest recreation management specializing in recreation ecology and the human dimensions of natural resources. Coulson’s research interests include outdoor recreationist minimum impact attitudes and behaviors, Leave No Trace efficacy, and the transfer of learning in outdoor education.

“The Bro Professorship will provide a rich foundation from which to promote Sigurd Olson’s legacy while answering his call for connecting people to the land and to one another,” he said. “I envision utilizing this opportunity to advocate for and create direct, meaningful experiences aimed at uncovering and celebrating the intangible values of wilderness resources for people across the spectrum of age, ability, and background.”

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ON THE MOVE

she had worked seasonally in Cape May, New Jersey, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the Big Island of Hawaii before relocating for a permanent position in Texas. Her proudest career moment thus far is being awarded Urban Bird Treaty City designation by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

The designation came with a grant award which will allow the nature center to complete a reforestation project to begin expanding their wildlife habitat in late 2016.

Allisa Stutte ’13, Evan Flom ’14, and Andy Butter ’15 completed their 1,352.31-mile run around Lake Superior. They departed Ashland May 20 and returned August 15—eighty-six trail days.

To find out more about their journey and the people they met, log onto ourshoresrun.org.

Jacob Wustner ’08 tending to his hives. Photo by Shannon Holmes ’09, Wustner’s partner and fellow Northland graduate.

Wustner Brings Beekeeping to Larger Audience Jacob Wustner ’08, who majored in environmental studies at Northland, is taking his natural, organic beekeeping skills to a larger audience, teaching a popular online beekeeping course through Organic Life Guru.

In Bee Keeping 101: Organic, Natural, Traditional, Wustner instructs on topics ranging from honey bee biology to caring for the hive to harvesting honey, including feeding only pollen and honey and avoiding all plastic and treatments.

The course was filmed over an entire summer at the hive to show students how the season affects what bees do.

“A lot more people are trying to be organic beekeepers,” says Wustner. “They try to be hands-off, which is okay in some respects, but until you get your hands dirty and get inside the hive, you really don’t know what’s going on.”

As a second-generation beekeeper, Wustner learned

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beekeeping growing up in Missoula, Montana. He now lives in Stevensville, Montana, and owns Sapphire Apiaries, where he applies permaculture principles—self-sufficient, sustainable agricultural practices—to produce honey bee products, mushrooms, and produce. He is currently working to breed disease-resistant honey bees.

The professional beekeeping world is small, Wustner says, and most of the beekeeping newcomers are backyard hobbyists. “Beekeeping, like other forms of agriculture, has become so dependent on chemicals. I’m teaching to carry on the tradition of chemical-free beekeeping that’s been lost in the last thirty years.”

His online course has proved so successful that Wustner hopes to offer intermediate and advanced courses in the future. He has also started a new endeavor, milking cows at a biodynamic dairy and learning that aspect of farming.

“I’m always going to be into bees,” he says, “but I’m getting into different types of permaculture and agriculture that I might want to do someday.”

Keith and Michelle (Melanson) Dunham ’96 live in Birch Bay, Washington, with their twelveyear-old son Malachi. Chelle is a high school science teacher and Keith is an elementary teacher.

They keep busy kayaking, camping, and trying to keep up with Malachi.

Erik Bruhnke ’08 leads tours for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours as well as his own business, Naturally Avian Birding Tours, and is an official hawk counter at Cape May Bird Observatory in New Jersey. His wildlife photography has won national awards, and his writings have been featured in Birder’s Guide via the American Birding Association, BirdWatching, and Birdwatcher’s Digest. Bruhnke loves to cook and bake in his free time, often while sipping birdfriendly coffee.

Tiffany Kersten ’10 has settled (for now) four miles from Mexico in the city of McAllen, Texas, where she is the manager of the McAllen Nature Center. Upon her graduation,

Want to see your news in the magazine?

To submit notes, please contact Jackie Moore ’05, Director of Alumni Relations Phone: 715-682-1811 Email: alumni@northland.edu Mail: Office of Alumni Relations, 1411 Ellis Avenue, Ashland, WI 54806

To submit your news go to: northland.edu/submit-alumni-news

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Robert “Bob�

Vern Cramer Northland College President 1968-1971 Born January 6, 1933, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Robert Cramer died July 5, 2016, in his home in Louisville, Kentucky. He was eighty-three. In 1968, at the age of thirty-five, Cramer accepted the presidency of Northland College, becoming the youngest college president serving at that time. While at Northland he served as vice-president of the Wisconsin Foundation of Independent Colleges. In 1971, he went on to become the twelfth President of Carroll College, now Carroll University, in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

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W

heeler Hall’s solid— even stolid—exterior speaks to its status as the oldest building on campus, Northland’s “Old Main.” But when I stepped inside, I found a fresh feel and unexpected layout with a central atrium on each floor acting as welcome social space for classrooms and faculty offices.

contributions, it was rebuilt in five months, in time for school in the fall! But, with four stories rather than three.

In ensuing years, the chapel moved elsewhere and the third floor was remodeled to enlarge the Music Department, adding a concert hall and more practice rooms. Wheeler has also housed a print shop, administrative offices, reserve reading library, computer labs, and lounges.

I found out why when I took a tour in July with Don Chase, a 1962 Northland graduate and longtime staff member, now retired, and board member. Wheeler Hall is, indeed, the campus’ first building—completed in 1893 for North Wisconsin Academy, the private high school that became Northland College in 1906.

In 1977, the State of Wisconsin named Wheeler Hall to the National Registry of Historic Places.

By the early 1990s, Wheeler Hall had become structurally unsound and, “we wondered what we would do with it,” said Chase, who was then vice-president of institutional advancement. President Robert Rue Parsonage felt strongly it should remain a campus icon and architects HGA and LHB devised a plan to build a new structure within its walls—a process which took only a year. As it did for much of its life, Wheeler now serves as a pleasant setting for classes and faculty offices. The atrium grounds the building in its locale—with granite, a Native American medicine wheel in the floor, and the North Pole and South Pole represented in the ceiling.

The academy was built of locally quarried brownstone, in the style of the time. The original entrance faced north and, without the present dense growth of trees, there was a view of Chequamegon Bay. There were living quarters on the first floor, classrooms, a library, and chapel on the second, and the third floor acted as a gymnasium.

Reverend E.P. Wheeler, the pastor of the Ashland Congregational Church, which had founded the North Wisconsin Academy, became the College’s first president.

His parents, Reverend Leonard Wheeler and his wife, Harriet, were missionaries to the Ojibwe on Madeline Island and at Odanah.

Harriet was involved in the College from the start. She even attended the 1892 ceremony when the building cornerstone was laid at a gathering of Congregationalists honoring the work of the early Protestant missions on Madeline Island.

In 1907 the building was named for the Wheeler family, in honor of the Wheeler family’s service to the region and to the Institution.

Just eight years later, a fire gutted the building. With the help of student and faculty

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Wheeler Hall

By Linda J. Mack, trustee

And Wheeler Hall continues to serve the College as it has for 124 years. The north entry stairs are still a favored site of many group photos, and the tradition of carving each graduating class into the brick of building façade continues. “I can’t think of anything that hasn’t been in there!” said Ori-Anne Pagel, a 1969 graduate and Northland’s passionate archivist. “It’s just the cornerstone.”

Linda Mack, former architecture critic for the Star Tribune, writes about architecture and design for regional and national publications including Architecture Minnesota and Artful Living.

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,

SYMPATHY TO THE FAMILIES OF: James D. Borowick ‘49: Cary, Illinois; died 5.1.2013 Dee William Dailey ‘63: Argonne, Wisconsin; died 8.31.2014 William D. Swanson ‘71: Canton, Connecticut; died 6.23.2015 Isabel (Iverson) Nyberg ‘51: Marshfield, Wisconsin; died 7.7.2015 Rita (Reed) Roberts ‘50: Waukesha, Wisconsin; died 1.30.2016 John A. Richards ‘66: Southport, North Carolina; died 5.2.2016

Alumni Association Board of Directors: Craig Mullenbrock ’77–President Beverly Harris ’72–Vice President Gail Fridlund ’15–Secretary Richard L. Ackley ’71

Tami J. Stiller ‘89: Menasha, Wisconsin; died 5.26.2016

Laurel Fisher ’72

Debra J. Planer ‘77: Sparta, New Jersey; died 5.31.2016

MaryJo Gingras ’00

Dennis M. Kerrigan ‘83: Monmouth, Maine; died 6.2.2016

Stuart Goldman ’69

Paul D. Olson ‘80: Batavia, Illinois; died 6.5.2016

Blake Gross ’83

Warren J. Bradley ‘52: Racine, Wisconsin; died 6.16.2016

Richard Harguindeguy ’78

William E. Schorr ‘58: Eau Claire, Wisconsin; died 6.23.2016

Tam Hofman ’80

Mark A. Pennell ‘12: Juniata, Nebraska; died 7.5.2016

Max Metz ’10

Dean J. Merrill ‘69: Hayward, Wisconsin; died 7.7.2016

Peter Millett ’69

Robert C. Scamfer ‘57: Nekoosa, Wisconsin; died 7.22.2016

Travis Moore ’11

Kenneth B. Bowman ‘81: Ironwood, Michigan; died 8.8.2016

Jaime Moquin ’98

Bernard C. Burzynski ‘38: Neenah, Wisconsin; died 8.20.2016 Dianne (Sneen) Shane ‘71: Eau Claire, Wisconsin; died 8.31.2016 Zygmund Jablonski ‘63: Ashland, Wisconsin; died 9.4.2016 Everett B. Fredrick ‘51: Andover, Minnesota; died 9.5.2016 Kathleen (Marzofka) Kublank ‘72: Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin; died 9.10.2016

For additional alumni stories and events, go to: northland.edu/alumni-news

Sam Polonetzky ’70 Jim Quinn ’73 Kaeleen Ringberg ’12 Stuart Schmidt ’17 Patti Skoraczewski ’74 Leanne Wilkie Schamszad ’04 Kelly Zacharda ’05

High School Summer Programs Our high school programs are focused on individual experiences.

Most sessions are limited to sixteen participants. This philosophy mirrors the class sizes of Northland College, ensuring participants have the opportunity to ask questions, receive individual attention, and get a unique experience in the north woods.

Go North! Registration for Summer 2017 opens on December 1, 2016.

northland.edu/summer

FALL 2016

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IN PRINT this Halloween. Kirkwood also published a poem titled “Duck Dance, Two Step” in the online magazine Strange Horizons.

Kirkwood was hired as a content writer for the online magazine The Body Is Not An Apology earlier this summer and is now in graduate school, studying creative writing at Hamline University.

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Emily Stone ’04 published her first book in September, a collection of essays titled Natural Connections: Exploring Northwoods Nature through Science and Your Senses. She shared her book with the Northland community at this year’s Fall Festival.

She was also recognized for three of her articles and columns as an award recipient during the 2016 Outdoor Writers Association of America Excellence in Craft Contests.

This annual awards program recognizes and honors the best work of outdoor communicators who are members of OWAA. Stone is a naturalist by birth, training, profession, and passion.

Her childhood spent as a “mud and water daughter” in northeast Iowa led to a degree in outdoor education from Northland College and a field naturalist master’s from the University

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Sean Devlin ’15 is a graduate student at the University of Limerick. He is finishing his dissertation stateside, living in Madison with partner Lily Zehfus ’16. He recently had a short story accepted for publication in The Cardiff Review.

○ ○ ○ Elizabeth Meyers ’08 was chosen as one of twelve emerging Minnesotans to participate in the year-long Loft Mentor Series in Poetry and Creative Prose. Selected writers will work with six awardwinning, established writers in their chosen field. Meyers grew up in northern Wisconsin, and graduated from Northland College with a degree in English and creative writing. She now lives on the eastern edge of Minnesota in the St. Croix River Valley where she writes poetry and fiction that often focuses on rural life. The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis is one of the nation’s leading literary arts centers. ○ ○ ○ Jake McGinnis ’14 earned his MA in literature in May 2016, and is a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Idaho and the managing editor of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment.

He plans to pursue a PhD in English in the near future.

On weekends, he still enjoys traveling, fly fishing, and playing with bird dogs.

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Kurt Johnson ’94 celebrated the release of his newly-designed and updated Yellowstone & Grand Teton Field Guide.

Johnson works as a wildlife biologist and naturalist guide in all corners of the world, but his passion for the greater Yellowstone ecosystem inspired him to write the most comprehensive field guide ever created to the world’s first national park and surrounding area. Johnson’s biology degree from Northland College launched a career working with a wide diversity of species across the globe. His conservation work has included studying Alaskan wildlife affected by the 1989 Exxon oil spill, working with birds of prey in Utah, and surveying for some of the world’s most endangered birds in Hawaii. Johnson now works in ecotourism. His photography and field guides can be found at wildthingsofwyoming.com.

Brian Blickenstaff ’06 covers Vice magazine European sports beat. His piece, “Chasing Down the World’s Greatest Dogsledder,” was listed as “notable” in the 2016 Best American Sports Writing collection. On a lighthearted note, he published a retrospective piece that involves Bruno the bear, “The Problem Bear that Overshadowed the 2006 World Cup.”

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of Vermont. She is now the naturalist/education director at the Cable Natural History Museum in Cable, Wisconsin.

○ ○ ○ Halee Kirkwood ’15 has a short story, “Black Hole,” forthcoming in the anthology Haunting Muses: A Lesbian Ghost Story Anthology due out

NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE

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Clockwise from upper left: Students in a ceramics course taught by Lauren Duffy make sketches for sculptures based on live chickens from Defiant Field Farmstead.

Superior Connections students identify wetland plants. Photo by Sarah Johnson.

Plucky chicken farmer and award-winning author Lucie Amundsen (wearing red jacket) of Locally Laid Egg Company schooled students in mid-size farming, marketing, and writing.

High school students in one of Northland College’s summer programs prepare to raise sail aboard the Abbey Road.

Native American Student Association leaders, alumni, and Indigenous Cultures Center Staff at the Water Summit. Left to right: Katrina Werchouski ’07, Kelsey Corn ’20, Karen Breit ’12, Mic Isham ’87, Kervin Candelaria ’20, Brittany Brown ’20, and Cassie Brown ’15. Photo by billkelleyphotography.com.

Circle: Northland College organized its first campus-wide read of Kathleen Dean Moore’s Great Tide Rising.

The Chequamegon Bay People’s Orchestra including from left to right Greg Weiss ’93, lecturer in outdoor education; Tim Hiel ’13; Jodi Supanich, teaching fellow in mathematics; Seth Vasser (back); and Alex Strachota (far right) perform at the Everybody Party.

Sami-side Swedish singer Sofia Jannok performed for the public and spent three days on campus talking to students about indigenous issues around the world. (submitted photo) Northland College women’s soccer players Laura Rethmann, Emily Romuald, and Madeleine Wieland celebrate after winning the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Championship.

FALL 2016

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Northland College student Jane Kittaka and recent alumna Jordan Welnetz ’16 collect water quality data at the mouth of Fish Creek as part of their work with the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation. The Center employs several students every semester to help collect water quality data from lakes, rivers, and streams. Photo by: Bob Gross.

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