Northland College Magazine

Northland College MAGAZINE

PINK EXPLOSION Pg. 14

LEGACY OF NEWTON BOBB Pg. 6

TOUGH TIMES ALONG THE COLORADO Pg. 17

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ALUMNI ON THE MOVE Pg. 21 SPRING 2019

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Cover Artist James O’Brien is an illustrator and designer, creating conceptual, decorative, art and design for editorial, corporate, and publishing clients. Clients include Boston Globe, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Village Voice, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Stay Connected As a Northland College alumni you’re part of a big family. And we want to know what you're up to. So, stay in touch. Keep us posted on where you are and what you’re doing.

Go to: northland.edu/keep-in-touch to submit your information.

And you can follow Northland on social media to stay current on all the news from campus. Find us at:

@northland_edu facebook.com/northlandEDU @northland_edu

KRISTY LIPHART Executive Director of Institutional Advancement kliphart@northland.edu 715-682-1496 JACKIE MOORE ’05 Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving alumni@northland.edu 715-682-1811 JULIE BUCKLES Director of Communications jbuckles@northland.edu 715-682-1664

Northland College Magazine SPRING 2019 Mission

Northland College integrates liberal arts studies with an environmental emphasis, enabling those it serves to address the challenges of the future. © 2019 Northland College Printed with soy ink on 10% postconsumer FSC Certified paper. Elemental chlorine free. Made with 100% certified renewable electricity.

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Dear Friends,

From the President

An article in Forbes magazine recently piqued my interest for its optimistic outlook: “Good News for the Liberal Arts and Small Colleges.” This good news stems from a Gallup and Strada Education Network survey that asked more than 32,000 undergrads at forty-three randomly selected colleges about their experiences. Students majoring in the liberal arts strongly agreed they had at least one professor who excited them about learning, professors who cared about them, and had a mentor who singularly encouraged them.

Of course, this is what we do best. As you’ll read in these pages, faculty and students are working together to preserve our natural history; advance our understanding of the land, animals, and stars; and unearth clues to our past. Through these collaborations, students are graduating Northland College prepared to pursue advanced degrees and start meaningful careers.

As a lifelong advocate of the liberal arts and a strong supporter of Northland’s commitment to experiential learning, one of my primary goals since becoming president has been to raise the College’s profile and exposure to donors, foundations, and prospective students nationwide.

With that objective in mind, I have been crisscrossing the country to diversify and strengthen funding, as well as meeting with other college presidents to talk about the potential of small liberal arts colleges. I am working with faculty to ensure our curriculum remains relevant to young people and establishing programs to help with retention.

Northland is a unique and distinctive institution. The level of scholarship and opportunities to learn need to be more widely recognized inside and outside the College. It is my mission to seek new ideas, and I look forward to your discussions and debate in helping to accomplish just that.

My best wishes,

Marvin J. Suomi

President Suomi and Jonathan Martin, associate professor of forestry, talk research, forestry, and flying squirrels in the halls of the Center for Science and the Environment.

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IN BRIEF Fund the Change You Want to See Nancy Franz ’81 is a woman with a philanthropy plan.

“I will only fund outcomes,” she said.

“I have to look at the things I value in life and from that, think about what I want to see happen in the world.”

With guidance from Tracy Gary’s book, Inspired Philanthropy, she made a list of the things she cares about most—women in leadership, the Porcupine Mountains, nature and the environment, and empowering women in her community.

To address her first goal—women in leadership—she thought about something her friend, Tam Hofman ’80, had said: Hofman, who has worked at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore for much of her career, wished out loud for an internship at the lakeshore to help give Northland College women a leg up in career development.

Together Franz and six others raised $32,825 to fund an endowment for the Women in Leadership Internship.

“Look around and there are close to zero women superintendents in the park service,” Franz said. “I want half of that leadership to be women.”

Franz pitched the idea to Northland and then announced it to her friends on Facebook.

Together Franz and six others raised $32,825 to fund an endowment for the Women in Leadership Internship, a partnership between Northland College and the National Park Service to support women pursuing outdoor careers.

The internship is already yielding results. Abby Keller, a natural resources major, completed the first paid internship in March 2018; and outdoor education student Jessica Schultz finished a second internship in December.

Inspired by the experience, Franz has decided to help endow another internship in the Office of Institutional Advancement to provide alumni support. “It’s not exactly part of my philanthropy plan but I want to help get that off the ground,” she said. “And I know Northland can deliver.”

SOEI Receives $500K Gift for Stewardship and Land Conservation

student fellows to support the Apostle Islands School this spring.

A signature program of the Institute and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Island School has been introducing regional school groups to the ecology and wonders of Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands for more than thirty years. Nelson’s gift ensures funding of the fellows for another decade.

A retired orthodontist with a strong conservation ethic donated $500,000 to the Northland College Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute to expand youth outdoor programs and forest ecosystem research and restoration.

Nelson’s gift has also allowed the Institute to hire a full-time youth outreach educator who will begin supporting and developing programs for regional youth in June.

Donald Nelson of Northfield, Minnesota, had a twenty-fiveyear career as an orthodontist at

“Young people are spending less and less time outdoors,” Alan Brew said. “We believe it’s critical for them to have positive experiences in the outdoors for their physical and mental well-being and because they will be the ones to ensure the continued protection of wild places.”

“The long-term goal of this new position is to engage young people in outdoor and conservation activities as they come of age surrounded by the same forests, lakes, and rivers that inspired Sigurd Olson,” Brew said.

the Mayo Clinic before moving to Northfield, Minnesota. Although he has no direct connection to Northland College, Nelson completed forest restoration projects on farms that he owned in southern Minnesota and shares the College’s commitment to the liberal arts and the values exemplified by Sigurd Olson.

Additional initiatives funded by Nelson’s gift include ten years of funding for forest ecosystem interns who will complete research, restoration, and educational outreach on three forested properties owned by Northland College; and support for the Hulings Rice Food Center to design new campus garden spaces and to purchase necessary tools and supplies.

“This gift will have a lasting impact as we expand youth conservation and outdoor programs to connect more young people with the natural world,” said Alan Brew, executive director of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute.

With the support of Nelson’s gift, the Institute has hired three

“I’m over the moon.”

-Mary Sellars

GIVING IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF GRATITUDE

As the end of our fiscal year draws near, show students like Mary how much Northland means to you with a year end gift.

To learn more, contact Kristy Liphart, executive director of institutional advancement, at 715-682-1328.

northland.edu/give

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IN BRIEF

Knoblauch Publishes on The Global History of Peace William Knoblauch ’02, an alumnus and associate professor of history at Finlandia University, has published his second book, The Routledge History of World Peace since 1750.

Grad Pens, Illustrates Ojibwe Coloring Books WHSP Publishes Ojibwe Traditions The Wisconsin Historical Society Press recently published its first children’s coloring book series, Ojibwe Traditions The Northland College Indigenous Cultures Center team developed the content and produced the drawings for the series in order to engage and teach the traditions of the Ojibwe people. The idea for the series was sparked by a comment from a College trustee who recognized the resurgence of detailed coloring books for kids and adults, and the way they can be used for outreach education.

As a recent graduate of Northland College and a member of the Keweenaw Bay Ojibwe Community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, writer and illustrator Cassie Brown ’15 produced these informative books.

The series is compliant with Wisconsin Act 31, which directs public schools to teach students about the history and culture of Wisconsin’s American Indian nations.

“People are dying right now,” Knoblauch said “We are sitting here talking and people are dying.

There are crises all over the world and peace is a pretty important topic. We delve into it pretty deeply; about what are the actual ways to stop violence and ensure peace.”

His book combines the writings of multiple disciplines—history, philosophy, literature, art, sociology, and peace studies—with the hope of creating a dialogue about the topic of peace.

WPR Airs WritersRead Wisconsin Public Radio broadcast the 9th Annual WritersRead: Encounters, organized by and held at the College in January. Northland College in partnership with WPR coordinates the annual event where writers from campus and the community read fiction, non-fiction, and poetry before a live audience.

Listen Online wpr.org/writers-read-february-15-2019

Co-edited by Kyle Bladow, assistant professor of Native American studies, Affective Ecocriticism was released in November by University of Nebraska Press.

English Professor Cynthia Belmont writes about ecosexuals and the documentary, Goodbye Gauley Mountain, in the December issue of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment.

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IN BRIEF Reigniting Spiritual Life on Campus New E.P. Wheeler Chapel and Spiritual Life Center Dedicated The campus and larger community gathered in January to dedicate the new E.P. Wheeler Chapel and Spiritual Life Center.

Located on the fourth floor, the chapel overlooks the campus mall through large windows, where, during winter especially, one can view spectacular sun rises coming up over campus.

Forest Lodge Grows as Satellite Educational Campus Located on the shores of Lake Namekagon near Cable, Wisconsin, Forest Lodge is a satellite campus where Northland College continues to expand programming.

“The Forest Service and Historicorp are always updating and remodeling buildings, so each year programming grows with the facilities,” said Site Manager Sarah Szymaniak ’17, who was hired last winter to oversee the Forest Lodge programming.

Since 2016, the number of visitors to the property for programming and tours has more than tripled, and this summer the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute and its partners will host more than twentyfive programs and ten tours of the property.

No one is surprised by the increased popularity and interest. “Forest Lodge enchants everyone who comes here,” Szymaniak said. “I often get calls from past participants, just asking how things are going.”

The former summer estate of Mary Griggs Burke, Forest Lodge is owned and operated by the United States Forest Service, and the historic district of the estate has been managed by Northland since 2016.

With thirteen historic buildings, including a two-story boathouse, two miles of shore line, wooded acreage, and more than a thousand annual visitors to manage, Szymaniak and caretaker Ron Miller are always busy.

“But when the learners and students pack up and leave it gets so quiet that sometimes you can hear the stars shining,” said Szymaniak.

The College’s Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute coordinates day and residential programs at Forest Lodge, including workshops, conferences, seminars, college credit and non-credit courses, interpretive tours, skills certifications, environmental education classes, and arts and humanities programs related to the natural world.

The new chapel is a larger room which can accommodate meditation courses, theological discussions, and presentations.

The chapel library is being expanded to include essential scriptures from various religious and spiritual traditions which reflects the diversity of students’ spiritual lives and supports exploration of different cultures and traditions.

Coinciding with the campus’ celebration of Martin Luther

King Jr. Day, the dedication message and reflection was delivered by Diversity Coordinator Ruth de Jesus.

Focusing on topics of justice, equality, and the beloved community, her message reminded us of the work yet to be done in the world and to live the vision of social justice put forth by King.

“From its inception, Northland has been committed to a vision of a better world and for many alumni, the founder’s vision has been instilled in them with a sense of a deeper life,” President Marvin Suomi said.

“The opening of the new chapel reignites efforts to connect with our history and mission of the College to serve the spiritual lives of students.”

“An academy is not built of rock, or of granite, or of sandstone that hardens with exposure.

You may launch it with fine appointments and striking architectures, but it is not an institution until you have endowed it with a deeper life.”

—Professor Blaisdell at the laying of the cornerstone of Wheeler Hall in 1892

The Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation, which was established at Northland College through funding from one of Mary Griggs Burke’s foundations, conducts trainings for its staff at Forest Lodge and will eventually have a lab and facilities for conferences and water policy summits on site. northland.edu/forest-lodge

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The Enduring Legacy of Newton Bobb

By Sarah Johnson ’02, Associate Professor of Natural Resources

Newton Bobb’s contributions to Northland College run deeper than the building for which he was named and his image on the Northland College seal. For one, he taught at the College for sixty years. I keep running into Bobb’s name all over scientific collections in the Center for Science and the Environment, where I work.

He and his wife Ida Bobb submitted numerous pressed plant specimens to the Northland College herbarium. Some of these specimens are quite old (early 1900s) and represent what plants were in the Ashland vicinity and campus back then. I learned from them while I was a student at Northland and now I use them as teaching tools for my students.

Hours in the Herbarium: Digitizing the Past

By Patrick Simeon Shea ’19 On a Thursday night in the CSE, you will likely see students pacing around a room full of plant specimens as they mutter Latin names under their breath. These BIO 328 students are studying for professor Sarah Johnson’s weekly plant identification quiz, and the specimens they are memorizing represent many of the major species found throughout northern Wisconsin.

While local vegetative communities are studied extensively at Northland, there are gaps in data about the region in Wisconsin’s online flora database. For this reason, Johnson has

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led an effort to digitize Northland’s herbarium, which will be added to the Consortium of Midwest Herbaria—a web page that includes samples from plant collections from all around the region.

“Most of the submissions to the database are from counties around larger universities, or the southern part of the state in general,” Johnson said. “The north woods is underrepresented, and we have some great samples to contribute.”

Among the notable samples collected from the region is a dragon’s mouth orchid collected near the south shore of Lake Superior in 1936; this is

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YOU R S U P PO RT M A D E TH I S

P RO G RAM POS S I B L E

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RESEARCH

now considered a rare orchid in the state of Wisconsin.

This rare sample was collected

by Newton Bobb, who was a member of Northland’s very first graduating class in 1908. He later returned as a professor to build a strong biology program.

Although Bobb passed away in 1971, he and his wife, Ida, collected a great multitude of the samples. He also preserved many samples of fungus and rocks: specimens that are still used for educational purposes by professors today.

Digitizing data from long ago presents unique challenges like identifying the site where the plant was collected.

“Some of the samples pre-date our modern names for locations, so we have to get creative when determining where they’re from,” Johnson said. “One of Bobb’s samples, for example, is listed as coming from ‘Bad River Falls.’” Johnson speculates this is referring to what is now Copper Falls State Park.

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To preserve a sample for future observation and study, botanists use a time tested tool called a plant press. The plant is laid out on a sheet of white paper, and arranged so that both the upper and lower surfaces of a leaf can be seen. Next, it is stacked with multiple layers of corrugated cardboard to allow for airflow before the whole stack is cinched down with small ratchet straps, flattening the plant and preserving it as a dried specimen.

Preserved plant tissue from centuries past can be very useful for advancements in botanical understanding; using samples from an herbarium, scientists found that leaves from one hundred years ago had a higher density of stomata—microscopic openings on the leaf that allow for the exchange of gas. The decrease in stomatal density is likely due to increased CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. Pressed plant samples are also useful for teaching botanists how to recognize plants and

for resolving taxonomic relationships.

“Latin names are now changing faster than ever as molecular biology reveals more information about species relationships,” Johnson said.

“Some species we once thought to be related have turned out not to be, and vice versa.” When scientific plant names change, following new discoveries, physical plant samples can verify whether or not a historical record is referencing the same species being studied today.

The digitization of Northland’s herbarium has been underway for several years, but there is still a long way to go. Piles of samples still lay unentered, many of which were collected by students of Jim Meeker, Johnson’s predecessor at the College. Meeker often had students collect “voucher samples,” verifying that an alleged species was indeed found at a site referenced in a project or publication. These

days, Johnson is hesitant to send students out to collect physical samples.

“I’m afraid that students would over-collect certain species that are declining due to habitat loss, overabundant deer, invasive species, and climate change,” Johnson said. “It’s likely that many students would travel to the same spots for collection, which could be a significant setback for populations living in the most accessible places.”

Despite a decrease in sample collections, current students still have many opportunities to get involved with Northland’s herbarium. Digitizing the collection is a top priority.

Johnson is also encouraging students to record their findings on iNaturalist, a smartphone app that is georeferenced and user-reviewed.

“Physical samples are still extremely important,” Johnson said, “but the use of technology can help us strike a balance where we aren’t taking too many plants from the landscape.”

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Coming Home to Stewardship

By Grace Vosen ’16 My arrival in Leopold country that July morning was the perfect homecoming. Except for one tiny detail: I’d never lived there. I felt at home because I was within twenty miles of where my parents and grandparents grew up. The Wisconsin River was in my blood.

I hoped that conservation would also be in my blood after this fellowship. I had never done field work before that summer of 2015. But as a senior majoring in natural resources, I felt sure I knew what “stewardship” meant.

When I imagined my future career, I pictured a life of prescribed burns, chainsaw classes, and brush piles. My perspective was about to change over what would be the best six weeks of my life.

Was I a real conservationist if all I did was touch plants and talk to people?

It was a slow time of year for the stewardship crew.

They had wrapped up their intensive garlic mustard control season, and it would be months before fall burns began. We spent our days doing many small tasks instead of one big project. I tried everything from assembling water pumps to surveying vegetation, from marking trees for cutting to planting a native garden.

When rain kept us in the office, I learned the finer points of writing management plans.

I kept an eye on the plants around the Leopold Center so I could collect, dry, and clean their seeds when ready. Species like spiderwort, wild columbine, and prairie cinquefoil became like friends to me. I loved that I could help ensure their future using only my hands.

I also enjoyed weeding in the gardens around the center.

Suddenly, I was the first person that visitors met when they arrived to visit the green building or tour the historic shack property. Some of them asked me what I was pulling and why; others had questions about the property. I gladly answered, proud to be an ambassador of Aldo Leopold’s land.

These two tasks, seed collection and visitor interaction, felt right to me somehow. Yet I resisted the feeling at first. Some of our crew worked in remote parts of the property for ten hours at a time. Was I a real conservationist if all I did was touch plants and talk to people? But it was starting to dawn on me that the word “stewardship” has multiple meanings.

The issues facing our planet are too big to be solved by land managers alone. Someone needs to engage and involve the public. Communication and hands-on tasks like seed collecting are tools for doing just that.

My time as a seasonal fellow and my experiences since have confirmed that my greatest passions lie in these two areas. I am determined to use my talents to care for the places I call home. As I wrote in my journal that summer, “I am really beginning to appreciate my role as seed collector. . . . I value my tasks and the way they draw me closer to the heart of this place.”

Grace Vosen was a fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation in 2015. She graduated from Northland College in 2016 and worked as a professional seed collector for two years before starting a master’s program in life sciences communication at UW-Madison. This article appeared in the Aldo Leopold Foundation blog.

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The Hidden Lives of Apostle Islands Carnivores Insights into Island Biogeography

black bears, bobcats, coyotes, fishers, gray foxes, gray wolves, raccoons, red foxes, and weasels.

The cameras also captured images of semiaquatic carnivores—mink, and river otters—as well as raptors, small rodents, squirrels, songbirds, and waterfowl.

The research offers new insights into a phenomenon known as island biogeography, which generally states that larger habitats and habitats closer to other habitats will support a greater diversity of species, due to factors influencing immigration and extinction within each habitat patch.

Researchers placed 160 cameras on nineteen of the twenty-two Apostle Islands to see which carnivores were living there.

After taking more than 200,000 photos over a period of three years, the team discovered that several carnivores are living on various islands in this remote archipelago in Lake Superior.

“This is one of the first studies to examine the carnivore community of the Apostle Islands archipelago,” said Erik Olson, associate professor of natural resources, who led the new research with Van Deelen at the University of Wisconsin, Julie Van Stappen of the Apostle

Islands National Lakeshore, and Illinois Natural History Survey Wildlife Ecologist Max Allen.

Reported in the journal Community Ecology, the study reveals a thriving community of carnivores, with some doing better than others on islands that differ in size and proximity to the mainland.

The researchers put motionactivated cameras on each of the islands studied, at a density of one camera per square kilometer. Over time, the camera traps recorded ten of twelve Wisconsin land carnivores, including American martens,

Most research on island biogeography has been conducted in tropical marine systems that have innately high levels of biodiversity. The new study is unique in that it examines carnivores in a remote island archipelago in a temperate locale.

Black bears were found on thirteen of the islands examined. They appeared to prefer bigger islands that were closer to other islands. Gray wolves, however, were only found on Stockton Island, one of the biggest islands of the archipelago.

These differences may have to

do with the animals’ diets and habits, Olson said. Bears tend to be solitary and eat a variety of foods, while wolves are social, with more specialized diets. The latter tend to prey on ungulates like deer and the Apostle Islands archipelago has relatively low densities of deer to the mainland.

The distribution of these carnivores is likely driven by how they move between the islands. Some of the carnivores may swim from island to island while others may use ice bridges that form in winter between the islands.

“Our data suggest that coyotes and red foxes use ice bridges to move between various islands, while black bears are likely swimming between the islands,” Olson said.

Documented declines in the duration of lake ice as a result of climate change may hinder the movement of carnivores, like coyotes and foxes, between islands and to and from the mainland.

“These island systems are great natural laboratories—allowing us to explore the ecological forces structuring wildlife communities and how human activities may influence those forces,” Olson said.

Monitoring Bats By Sound

The Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network Employs Students for Bat Research

By Patrick Simeon Shea ’19 For the past three summers, Northland students have helped monitor bat populations on National Park Service properties throughout the Great Lakes region. Acoustic bat detectors—designed to record ultrasonic bat calls—are placed at a multitude of predetermined locations each year.

The Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network, a division of the National Park Service, has relied on these students to help collect and analyze data from nine different national park units.

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The data could identify declines in the abundance of certain species; such a decline could indicate the presence of White Nose Syndrome, a deadly threat to local bat colonies.

“A decline could mean White Nose Syndrome has made it into the park, which is a pretty serious concern; of the twentysix counties that intersect the parks we’re monitoring, eleven have confirmed cases,” said Al Kirschbaum, a remote sensing specialist who oversees the bat monitoring project.

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Surveying Mussels in the Apostle Islands Discovery of First Invasives

By Kyle Antholt ’19 Research Associate Dr. Toben Lafrancois was shooting underwater photographs during a National Park Service resource inspection near Sand Island on Lake Superior in the summer of 2015 when the team noticed something attached to the bottom of a sunken steamboat. As Lafrancois picked it up, he and the team suspected they had found the first invasive zebra mussel situated in the Apostle Islands. The University of Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center confirmed their finding.

This discovery resulted in the first survey of the Apostle Islands mussel communities since 1991, when Wildlife Biologist Thomas Doolittle ’80 surveyed in the area. Since 2015, Lafrancois and other researchers have built on Doolittle’s survey, adding the zebra mussel along with another invasive, the quagga, to the survey inventory. They also confirmed five of the eight native species remain.

While there are two known zebra mussel communities in Lake Superior—in the major ports of Duluth, Minnesota, and Thunder Bay, Ontario—mussels generally have a tough go in Lake Superior because the lake is too cold and doesn’t offer enough nutrients to sustain them. The discovery of mussel communities in the Apostle Islands has raised questions about how these mussels survive.

the EPA, have begun mapping the mussel communities in the Apostle Islands and collecting samples of the invasive species for lab work.

Zebra and quagga mussels have worked their way through the Great Lakes and are infamous for their ability to reproduce exponentially and out-compete other species for food, causing over-filtration and effectively damaging aquatic systems. They also can clog up coastal infrastructure, such as pipes, that can have adverse inland effects as well.

Lafrancois and other researchers report the density of these invasive mussel communities have been fairly low in the Apostle Islands but surprisingly wide-spread throughout coastal areas.

“Right now, they are manageable,” said Andy Teal, the aquatic invasive species coordinator for Bayfield County. However, experts know that without close monitoring and control of the situation, the invasive mussels could cause irreparable damage to the Apostle Islands, the shipwrecks, and the marinas.

“At current densities and distributions, one of the most consistent means of clearing invasive mussels is by manually diving and removing them, Lafrancois said. “Work by divers from UW-Milwaukee at Sleeping Bear

Dunes National Park shows this is effective at a very local scale.”

Lafrancois emphasizes that diving is just one tool—“and at current conditions, I think a strong one, but it’s only part of a larger effort,” he said. “The bottom line is that viral agents and other chemical control measures are extremely expensive.”

Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world “so prevention is key as we struggle to manage what is already here,” Lafrancois added.

Along with other research and volunteer dive teams, Lafrancois is working to coordinate efforts to remove the zebra and quagga mussels, determine their distribution, and whether they are increasing in density.

Lafrancois would like to get students to aid in mussel removal as an ecologically interactive educational experience. Students of all ages could help guide underwater retrieval vessels around docks, learn to snorkel around the more shallow shipwrecks, and provide aid in the research labs. “With students, I can create a unique and rich educational experience that teaches them they have agency over their surroundings,” he said. “And at the same time, we can alleviate the problem of invasive mussels in Lake Superior.

“Is it genetic variance? A localized situation?

We still don’t know,” said Mark Hove of the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center. “We are still working with a variety of experts with specializations in areas from mussels to lake chemistry. It might be another year before there is a definitive conclusion.”

Having led more than thirty dives with the National Park Service regional dive team with the support of the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore and Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network, Lafrancois and Hove, in conjunction with

Photo by: T. Lafrancois (Zaaga’igan Ma’iinganag)

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Hooked on Planetary Science

Senior Frank Wroblewski Explores the Mountains of Venus In opposition to its neighbor Earth, Venus is hot, acidic, and under a lot of pressure. There’s no wind or water and the only discernible features are mountains, lava flows, volcanolike features like lava tubes and tectonic remnants, and meteor impacts.

It’s dystopia to some and a mystery to be uncovered by others. “In planetary evolution, Venus and Earth started out the same,” said senior Frank Wroblewski. “We want to understand why Earth is ‘nice’ and Venus is not.”

Wroblewski recently presented his findings on two Venusian mountains before the Venus Exploration Analysis Group, a NASA working group that helps prioritize and direct future research on Venus, and was asked to present again at the Lunar and Planetary Science conference in March.

Wroblewski graduates in May and is currently working on applications to planetary PhD programs at Brown, University of Chicago, and the University of Arizona.

He didn’t always have such a clear vision for his future. As a

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teenager on the south side of Chicago, Wroblewski pursued game development and graphic design. He loved creating worlds and the visuals of those worlds.

“It’s within these new worlds that an undiscovered suite of rocks and stories can begin to unveil the history of how planets function.”

rock, meaning it once held water.

Wroblewski mapped one region, called the Ovda Fluctus lava flow, concluding the lava to be basalt, not silica-rich.

He had an interest in science but it wasn’t until he got to Northland College that he pursued it.

He applied for internships—and got rejected.

He also mapped Maxwell Montes, the highest and steepest mountain range on Venus, a region characterized by a “snowline” of radar properties.

In his third semester, he took Glacial Geology with Professor Dave Ullman, who was impressed by Wroblewski’s academic vigor and desire to pursue research. For the class, Ullman asked students to write a National Science Foundationstyle proposal on a topic of their choosing.

Wroblewski’s proposal focused on the glaciallike landforms of Mars, aptly named “brain terrains.”

Then he tried again a year later for the longest running planetary science internship in the world and most competitive—the NASA Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Internship at the Lunar Planetary Institute.

Hundreds of students from around the world apply and only ten-to-twelve get accepted.

This internship launched Wroblewski into the world of international science and planetary research and exploration. In addition, he is the lead author on three academic papers to be published this spring.

It was a little outside the box—or off-planet—but Frank was able to show how unique landforms on Mars may actually be glacially-derived.

“It was a little outside the box—or off-planet—but Frank was able to show how unique landforms on Mars may actually be glacially-derived,” Ullman said.

Wroblewski says reading rocks is like entering a new library full of undiscovered reading materials.

Wroblewski was one of them, becoming the first Northland student ever to serve in this role.

Wroblewski was assigned the task of looking at the radar properties on Venus. One of the fundamental questions about Venus is whether its highlands areas are made of silica-rich

“It’s the constant stream of new stories and worlds that have me hooked on this field—some worlds are hot, some are cold; some have volcanism and some are full of ice and water, but none of them are flat,” he said. “To grasp these structures and their environment, will lead to new revelations of planetary theory.”

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Searching Star Beams to Tell an Ancient Story Undergrads Present at Science on Tap

By Patrick Simeon Shea ’19 The third Tuesday of every month at The Alley in downtown Ashland, an average-sized dinner crowd transforms into standing room only as the big screen is switched from a game to a slideshow presentation.

This is Science on Tap, where students, scientists, and community pour into a bar and restaurant for drinks, food, and an evening of educational entertainment. In February, legs dangled through the railings of the balcony overhead as everyone in the jampacked barroom found a comfortable place to listen to Northland geology seniors Karlee Prince and Michelle Morency.

“More people seem to come each time,” said Joe Koeller, a resident of Ashland for fiftytwo years who’s been attending the event since its beginning in 2011. “It’s nice to listen to a stimulating presentation while relaxing and having a drink.”

The pressure isn’t as high when the audience isn’t full of paleoclimatologists.

Geology professors David Ullman and Tom Fitz sat at a table and listened along as Prince and Morency explained how cosmic rays from supernova explosions have deposited historical evidence in boulders.

The two undergraduates spent the fall of their junior year collecting candy-bar-sized samples from the top two centimeters of boulders in Bayfield County and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The following summer, they took their samples to a lab in Madison for physical and chemical separation.

Clicking through photos from the field, Prince explained their research processes.

“What we were looking for is an isotope called Beryllium-10—even just a couple atoms of it could tell us a lot,” she said as four more people entered the room and found a seat on the stairwell.

“First we had to separate the quartz from all the other minerals, and then separate the Beryllium-10 from the quartz,” added Morency.

They went on to connect their findings to the glacial history in the surrounding area, talking about when modern-day Ashland was covered by a glacier and the nearby Brule River actually flowed the opposite direction, towards the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico.

When this glacier retreated, the Brule flowed back towards what is now Lake Superior. This switching of watershed directions caused massive changes in lake levels, and the routing of fresh water to the St. Lawrence seaway caused a rapid cooling in the North Atlantic.

In short, these two undergraduate geologists pieced together the ancient story of changing lake levels and climatic conditions by searching tirelessly for atomic traces of star beams.

As the presentation ended, the bar filled with spirited applause. Then after several questions from the audience, friends and strangers approached Prince and Morency with thanks and congratulations. Around the room, conversation grew louder as attendees debriefed from their barstools.

“Their presentation really made me appreciate how all the beauty and recreation that bring people to this area is rooted in an amazing history,” said Katie Lamoreaux, a senior studying outdoor education at Northland.

The first Science on Tap presentations in Wisconsin began in Madison in 2007, and were organized by Mary Kay Bates.

Bates coordinated with the University of

Wisconsin to find scientists willing to present their work to an appreciative audience.

She moved north in 2008, and started the Ashland chapter of Science on Tap in the summer of 2011.

Prince and Morency are the first undergraduate researchers to present at Science on Tap but that’s not the only recognition their findings have earned them.

Their research took them to Washington DC in December for the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting.

“Our talk in DC was a much more formal and professional presentation, and it was great to learn so much from all the other presenters,” said Prince. “But Science on Tap was a blast, and much more relaxed; the pressure isn’t as high when the audience isn’t full of paleoclimatologists.”

Patrick Simeon Shea ’19, a natural resources and forestry major with a writing minor, has been earning additional writing credits working with the director of communications.

(You’ll find three of his articles—including this one—in the magazine.) He recently learned he has been accepted to the University of Montana Natural Resources Journalism program. Congratulations Patrick!

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RESEARCH

PINK EXPLOSION Armed With a Flashlight and a Sense of Wonder, Researchers Discover Hot-Pink Squirrels The four-person, pink squirrel research team knew they were onto something when their article was published in the Journal of Mammalogy and the media requests started rolling in.

“That’s when the excitement started,” said Allie Kohler ’18, lead author on the project and now a graduate student in wildlife and fisheries at Texas A&M. First came an article in Nature, one of the top scientific magazines in the world. And then came The New York Times, National Geographic, Newsweek, Smithsonian, and other publications, seventy-plus and counting.

And so what is all the fuss about?

In May 2017, Jonathan Martin, professor of forestry, read a paper by a researcher who had discovered the first frogs to fluoresce under UV light.

Martin is an amateur tree climber, photographer, and “wannabe” explorer, and has been working on a white pine canopy project for years with colleague Erik Olson, assistant professor of natural resources, learning about the critters that live at the top

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of the trees. One such critter they researched was the grey tree frog which can have bright yellow on its underside.

Martin wondered if this yellow also might fluoresce. It did not, but his search for other fluorescing organisms became an almost nightly activity. “The forest at night can be quite beautiful,” Martin said.

Then one chilly May night, he heard the tell-tale chirp of flying squirrels at his birdfeeder. He pointed his UV flashlight upward and noted a glimmer of pink coming from the underside of a flying squirrel—a nocturnal mammal that glides from tree to tree using its membranes or patagia that stretch between the forelimbs and hind limbs.

Martin knew he needed photographic documentation. “Which was quite a challenge in the low light, but I managed to get a few shots that demonstrated the effect,” he said.

“But it really has to be seen in person to appreciate the color and intensity.”

He showed Olson and Paula Spaeth Anich, associate professor of natural resources and

an expert in small mammals, what he found and the project began.

The team asked Kohler to take the lead.

She was an undergraduate biology major about to enter her senior year. She had time and she had access. She was already helping on a small mammal trapping project in the Apostle Islands with Olson; and she had worked on a mammal survey with Anich.

This project represents what Northland does best: creative research with undergraduates.

For her first step, she captured a flying squirrel and with a black light confirmed it was hot pink.

Next Kohler took a trip to the Minnesota Science Museum. She knew the curator and told him she had something cool to show him. They pulled out every drawer with all three species of flying squirrels—the

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Northern flying squirrel, the Southern flying squirrel, and the Humboldt’s flying squirrel—and all of them fluoresced pink.

Funded by the Northland College Professional Development Funds, Anich, Martin, and Olson then took a trip to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago to photograph more specimens— testing gray and red squirrels, which did not fluoresce, and flying squirrels.

In all, the team tested one hundred flying squirrels and they all showed pink at varying levels of intensity.

“This project represents what Northland does best: creative research with undergraduates,” Anich said.

Kohler became the lead author of the paper, an unusual place of honor for an undergraduate student.

Kohler said she transferred to Northland College after her freshmen year at another institution because “they were teaching me about nature from a textbook.”

She heard about Northland and knew immediately that this is where she was meant to be and she took full advantage.

Applying for and joining Olson’s Wildlife Research Lab and then signing on for the pink squirrel journey.

There still is a lot left to understand about this phenomenon. Faculty are continuing to work with students to answer the next big questions. “Our results help us understand the way nocturnal forest animals communicate,” Anich said. “We live in an ecosystem with these animals and we still have so much more to learn.”

Kohler’s research on pink squirrels will also continue.

Working with Chemistry Professor Sharon Anthony and the researcher who documented the fluorescent frog, Kohler is now working on a project to identify the fluorescent compound.

“Once we know that, then we can ask how do they see it and then what its purpose is,” Kohler said.

Regardless, if it has a role in animal fitness or if it’s a relic of some evolutionary twist and turn, Olson believes there is a bigger lesson to be learned from the pink squirrels. “These kind of discoveries are reason to pause in wonder at the world around us.”

Paula Anich and the pink squirrel team evaluated more than one hundred flying squirrel specimens.

Olson deliberately shares space with Martin’s forestry researchers.

Kohler said it has been eyeopening to watch Olson’s philosophy play out. “From the very beginning, Erik told us that just being present in the area of people who don’t study the same field, allows for collaboration.”

Olson believes workspaces that bring people from different backgrounds together in one space can inspire creativity, lead to unique collaborations, and the development of novel ideas and hypotheses.

There are two working hypotheses to explain the pink. The squirrel uses it to communicate or as a way to avoid predators.

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RESEARCH

Ashland Adopts CRC Plan for Renewable Energy The City of Ashland in February adopted a plan for using twentyfive percent renewable energy by 2025. The Center for Rural Communities (CRC) developed and delivered the 25x25 plan in October with action steps.

The city council also passed a directive for the city’s Sustainability Committee to prioritize the report’s recommendations and provide a guide with timelines for the city departments.

CRC estimates the city needs to invest $1.8-2.9 million in solar

for the city to meet its goal of getting twenty-five percent of the city’s energy through renewable sources by 2025.

“The initial upfront investment will pay for itself after twelve to sixteen years, and depending on the solar panels, could result in substantial savings for the city well beyond the initial payback period,” said Brandon Hofstedt, CRC director.

The City of Ashland commissioned the CRC in 2018 to update a 2009 plan for energy independence. Funding

for this report was provided by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin’s State Energy Program—Planning for and Implementing Clean Energy Investments in Wisconsin Communities.

“The plan will help the city to improve energy efficiency where most needed and help us reduce the costs of our solar infrastructure,” said Mayor Deb Lewis.

As an exciting first step toward renewable energy, the city was recently awarded a $99,000

grant from the Public Service Commission to install solar panels on the new police facility being built.

“I am pleased to see that the City of Ashland is moving forward with sustainable development and energy independence,” said Scott Grinnell, CRC faculty research associate, co-author of the report, and director of sustainability initiatives at Northland College. “I am also glad that Northland College had a role in advancing this decision.”

Better Methods for Buckthorn Removal

By Patrick Simeon Shea ’19 One Northland graduate’s capstone research project could provide a creative new method for the eradication of European buckthorn, a troublesome invasive shrub that outcompetes native flora for sunlight and nutrients while also altering habitat for native wildlife.

After a summer of spraying buckthorn with the a liquid mixture containing the chemical compound 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)—a standard in the industry for buckthorn removal—Luke Myers ’18, a recent graduate in forestry, decided to explore more environmentally friendly alternatives.

He wanted to help mitigate the risks of spraying 2,4-D in aquatic habitats while still effectively killing the buckthorn that often invades them.

Explore and experience Northland College this summer.

It’s a great way for students entering grades 9-12 to develop adventure and leadership skills while getting a taste of college life.

SAIL THE APOSTLE ISLANDS June 9-14 AQUATIC ECOLOGY FIELD ACADEMY July 21-26 16 NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE

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Working with Professor of Chemistry Nick Robertson to produce the test product for his research, Roberston converted the active ingredient to a solid form that holds the system together and delays the release rate of the chemical compound.

Meyers then drilled a small hole into the trunk of twenty different buckthorn shrubs along the Bay City Creek. After inserting the solid 2,4-D inside, he sealed each hole with glue and began the long wait. Five plants were treated with the average dose used when spraying stumps, five were treated with a lighter dose, and five were treated with a particularly high dosage.

“The idea is that the buckthorn might take in water through the roots and run that water through the solid herbicide, slowly releasing the active ingredient and distributing it throughout the plant,” Meyers said. “If effective, this could kill the buckthorn without the risk of spraying anything potentially toxic into the nearby stream.”

While the study has been inconclusive so far, it may take multiple growing seasons for Myers’ method to take effect.

High School Summer Programs northland.edu/summer

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Tough Times Along the Colorado River Mary Griggs Burke Center Director Peter Annin, who has spent the last two decades reporting on and writing about water diversions in the Great Lakes, has turned his attention westward to the Colorado River.

Most recently, he attended a conference of farmers, water managers, scientists, and government officials in Las Vegas to learn about the state of the Colorado River. “The crowd knew the situation was grim,” he wrote in January for an op-ed in The New York Times.

They just didn’t know how grim. The United States Bureau of Reclamation estimates that the Colorado River’s watershed could face an annual shortfall of 3.2 million acre-feet by midcentury. That’s 1.04 trillion gallons, almost half what Arizona uses per year.

In the face of a prolonged drought, the federal government could step in and reduce water use in the Southwest.

“We’ll soon see if the solution by the Southwest states is transformative, incremental, or a whiff. What’s clear is that this century on the Colorado is turning out to be very different from the last one—and it could end up being unlike any century the river has ever seen,” Annin wrote.

To read entire article visit northland.edu/news

How to Train a Sled Dog

While sled dogs are born to pull, they aren’t necessarily born to lead.

Just ask December graduate Gretchen Hamernik-Smith ’18, a pre-vet biology major, who grew up with dogs, including two Siberian huskies and stories of heroic sleddogs like Balto and Togo.

Poseidon, Zeus, and Athena

(right), haw (left), or on by (straight).”

Hamernik-Smith and Buckles agreed on four methods of training: working alone on a leash; running behind veteran leaders; running next to a veteran lead dog; and having the pups co-lead together.

“I tried to move my own huskies in the ways of a musher—‘Mush Dasha! Mush Suzy! Let’s go!—but they wouldn’t budge,” she said.

Through weekly experimentation and data collection, plus a survey of the literature, Hamernik-Winters wrote a twenty-page paper, “Methods of Sled Dog Training.”

So when three husky puppies—Athena, Poiseden, and Zeus—presented themselves during a dogsledding internship with Julie Buckles, director of communications, she decided to learn more about training lead dogs.

“We sought to develop the potential in each dog, making them as successful as possible, using the training methods developed, and determine if lead was indeed each dogs’ place on the team,” she writes in her abstract.

“Lead dogs must have confidence, competitiveness, and a desire to please,” Buckles said. “They keep the line taught, the team calm, and follow commands—gee

In the end, she concluded that multiple training methods are needed to successfully train a sled dog—and personality plays a role.

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ART

Abe McCowan ’07 says he followed Professor of Art Jason Terry’s advice and went to graduate school, earned an MFA in printmaking, worked hard, and now does art for a living.

“Northland College was the best thing I ever did,” he says. “It has inspired my prints to reflect everything I love about my natural environment.”

on Jas

y printing their cr b s e e r t s e z i l a oss ort m sec m i art, tio f o r o s s e f o r ns. p , y r Ter

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Senior Ruby Sevilla takes advantage of the Newton Bobb specimens during her drawing class.

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ATHLETICS

Senior Danon Briggs Head Coach for AHS Boys C Team

By Jake Brown, Ashland Daily Press

Danon Briggs wasn’t sure how long he might stay at Northland College when he first arrived as a junior transfer student three years ago.

“Right away, I didn’t want to when I first got up to Northland,” Briggs said. “I didn’t like it at all. Being a big city kid, it was a hard transition to come to a town with 8,000 people and a school with 500 kids. It’s a huge difference.”

Briggs grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota, the largest suburb of the Twin Cities, and home to the Mall of America. Adjusting to life in a much smaller town took some time.

But there was always basketball, the one constant in his life that sustained him no matter where he went. And now, he’s used his aptitude for the game to become even more a local fixture in his first season as head coach of Ashland High School’s boys basketball C team.

Thursday, July 11, 2019

SAVE THE DATE

Briggs transferred to Northland after two years of playing basketball at St. John’s

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University in St. Cloud, Minnesota, following the appointment of long-time mentor Scott Sorenson as head coach of the LumberJacks in 2015.

“I’ve known Danon since his sophomore year of high school,” Sorenson said. “I was an assistant coach at a Division II school when I took notice of this small but lightning-quick point guard at an AAU tourney. Over his high school years, Danon and I built quite the strong relationship. When it came time for him to choose a college, I had just moved on from the Division II school to take over the Northland program.”

It didn’t take long for Briggs to find himself at home in Ashland once the small town charm took hold.

“I love Northland, and I loved playing for them,” he said. “It’s a small community.

Everybody knows you. Everybody supports the basketball team, so it’s just great to walk around and people are talking to you about basketball. You get to see familiar faces everywhere.”

Summer Athletic Camps VOLLEYBALL CAMPS June 10-13 grades 6-8/9-12 BASKETBALL CAMPS June 17-20 grades 1-5/6-8 June 24-27 grades 9-12 SOCCER CAMPS August 12-15 ages 4-7/8-14

northand.edu/golfclassic

northand.edu/sports-camps

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ON THE MOVE

HALL OF FAMErs

Sarah Johnson and Kate Miller

On the Path of Plants

The Ashland School District named Clarence Campbell ’69 and Tim Hicks ’73 (#11 above) as part of the Class of 2019 inductees to the Oredocker Athletic Hall of Fame.

Known as the “Voice of the Oredockers,” Campbell began his career announcing Ashland High School sporting events on the radio in 1974 and has attended every Oredocker football playoff game since 1976. Campbell serves as deacon at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church and remains involved in AHS co-curricular activities, athletics, and the surrounding community.

Kate Miller ’02 grew up in Indiana and is a bit fuzzy now on how she landed at Northland College. But, she clearly remembers her freshman year with professors Jim Meeker and Dorothy Lagerroos—a life-changing block semester of outdoor labs, long-term monitoring, and plant identification. “I didn’t know people who knew plants before that,” she said.

Hicks earned twelve varsity letters while competing in baseball, football, basketball, and track for Ashland. He earned all-conference honors for basketball during his junior and senior years and was also a member of 1965 All-Tri-State basketball team. Hicks was also a three-sport athlete at Northland College, earning four letters for football, three for baseball, and two for basketball.

Miller is now the plant ecologist for the Northeast Temperate Network Inventory and Monitoring Program and is the project lead for implementing forest health, freshwater wetlands, and invasive species early detection protocols. Last year, she earned her PhD in biological science from the University of Maine.

Steve Willborn ’74 was recently inducted into the Pecatonica High School Athletic Hall of Fame. He played baseball and basketball at Northland College before getting a law degree from UW-Madison. He is now an international labor law professor at the University of Nebraska and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.

She stopped by campus in November while on a workrelated trip to the region. In addition to work, she squeezed in a talk to the campus and community about what she learned from twelve-plus years of forest monitoring in eastern national parks, a hike on Meeker’s land with her college friend Sarah Johnson ’02, associate professor of natural

resources, and a conversation with Johnson’s botany class.

She and Johnson both studied under Professor of Botany Jim Meeker, now deceased, and both credit Meeker for their passion for plants. “Jim Meeker got me on the path,” Miller said.

Miller left Wisconsin for Maine in 2003 with partner Tara King ’01 to pursue a master of science at the University of Maine, where she studied the impacts of forestry on arboreal lichen and insect communities. Soon, after finishing her masters, she started her current job as a plant ecologist with the National Park Service, and received her PhD in 2018 focused on regional vegetation patterns to assess condition and vulnerability of eastern park vegetation to climate change.

Miller is responsible for analyzing the plant life in the forests from Acadia National Park in Maine down the coast to New Jersey. “Acadia forests are in good shape but in other parks, not so much,” she said. “We know the problems—invasives and an overabundance of deer—we just need the funds to address the problems.”

Laura Loucks ’18, who served as the first sustainability intern for the City of Ashland and wrote a $99,000 grant for solar panels on the city’s new police facility, has been hired as a sustainability specialist for Inpro, a manufacturing company in Muskego, Wisconsin. Not surprisingly, she’s already on the board of the Waukesha Green Team and in the midst of planning the Waukesha Sustainability Fair.

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ON THE MOVE

Three Alumni Find Home at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center Once a farm for the Schlitz Brewery draft horses, Schlitz Audubon Nature Center is Milwaukee’s comprehensive nature center. Three alumni work at the Schlitz Audubon Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We caught up with them to find out more.

Jessica (Biswell) Knox ’98

School Programs Manager

One of your favorite things ?

Great Lake Michigan! It’s only a ten minute walk down to the shore from our parking lot. I recently developed a Beach Treasures program for K-2nd graders, where we go beachcombing to find treasures to make an artistic mosaic.

How did you get started?

I began in 1999 as a fall intern. I started by shadowing the other naturalists and getting familiar with the school programs. I was teaching on the team shortly after. I’ve been here ever since.

Tips for future students?

Be willing to be an intern or volunteer. They are a way to get your foot in the door. I recently hired our spring intern as a naturalist. She blew us away and we found a way to keep her on the team.

Spring Holz Houston ’15

Development Coordinator

Best kept secret?

My favorite trail is the West Meadow Trail. It really makes you feel like you are in the middle of the north woods, not right outside the city of Milwaukee.

How did you get your job?

I was an AmeriCorps member with College Possible for two years, first as a coach, then as a community partners team member. They saw that I had potential in development and were trying to steer me down that path.

When I saw the position for development coordinator open up and looked at the job description, I realized that development is the right path for me. I’d be doing all the things that I get nerdy about anyway, so why not get paid for it?

What experiences at Northland helped lead you on this career path?

Northland really helped me find a passion for nature that I hadn’t gotten elsewhere. Since growing up poor, my family didn’t have many opportunities to really help me dive into different career paths and we would never have had a membership to a nature center.

I was the first in my family to not only get a high school diploma, but a bachelor’s degree. Having my degree has opened so many doors for me that my family never got to experience, so I thank Northland every day for helping me stay there and finish my degree because I wouldn’t have had this opportunity without my education.

Nick Holz Houston ’15 Facilities Assistant

What’s an average day look like for you?

I may be leading a small group of volunteers in a project such as pruning and clearing a play space, maybe disassembling a board walk. Last fall, my supervisor and I built a large boardwalk through an area of wetland in our prairies.

What do you love best about the center?

The center is a fifteen-to-twenty-minute drive from downtown Milwaukee, but when I’m standing in the middle of our Northern Prairie, or in Solitude Marsh, I feel like I’m five-to-six hours from Milwaukee.

How did you get here from Northland?

It was on the trip back from a week in Kentucky volunteering with Hardin County’s Habitat that I started looking for opportunities to get involved with Milwaukee’s affiliate. This was the first and only time that I’d participated in this annual trip through Northland, but it was such a great experience that I wanted it to continue. I applied and got a job through AmeriCorps with Milwaukee Habitat within a few weeks.

When my time with Habitat was coming to a close, I knew I wanted a physical job where the fruits of my labor were immediate. I happened to find the perfect position here.

Map data ©2019 Google

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Sustainability in Charlottesville As the real estate project coordinator at the University of Virginia Foundation, Elise Cruz ’12 juggles thirty construction projects at different points from planning to completion—all focused on sustainability.

Patrick Guilfoile ’82 Appointed Interim Chancellor

• Biology classes with Dr. Dick Verch that still make me reflect . e.g. “in humans, menstruation is the only time that bleeding is a sign of health.”

The UVA Foundation oversees real estate and development on behalf of the university; holding, managing, and building on land at UVA’s request.

Cruz has also recently started serving on the President’s Committee on Sustainability at UVA, collaborating with faculty and staff at the university to promote sustainability throughout the curriculum, campus life, and the Charlottesville community.

Barbara Keller Named Minnesota’s Big Game Supervisor Wildlife Researcher Barbara Keller ’02 was named the new big game program supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in February, overseeing the state’s deer, elk, and moose populations.

Keller studied natural resources at Northland, and earned a master degree in wildlife science from New Mexico State University, and a doctorate degree in wildlife science from the University of Missouri.

PATRICK’S MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• Reading The Challenge of Chief Seattle in my freshmen English course.

Patrick and Audrey (Franz) at the Kearsarge Pass along the Pacific Crest Trail. The Northland couple hiked part of the trail last summer and plan to continue this summer.

The University of Wisconsin announced Patrick Guilfoile ’82 will serve as UW-Stout’s interim chancellor starting this August. He has been serving as UW-Stout’s provost and vice chancellor since July 2015.

Guilfoile studied biology and outdoor education at Northland, then went on to earn a master of art in teaching in biology from UW-Eau Claire, a PhD in bacteriology from UW-Madison, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After his postdoctoral work, he accepted a position at Bemidji

State University and stayed there for more than twenty years as a faculty member, department chair, associate dean, and associate vice president of academic affairs.

Guilfoile says his undergraduate years played a transformational role in his professional life.

“One, it kindled an interest in learning that continues to the present,” he said. “Two, it inspired me to help others learn—initially in the form of my working as an outdoor educator, then a high school teacher, a faculty member, and ultimately an university administrator.”

• Whitewater kayaking on the Bois Brule and Montreal rivers with Dr. Dave Whisnant.

• Canoeing on the Chama River with Professor Al Kesselheim, which, along with a letter of recommendation from Professor Lynn Gentling, helped lead to a position as a raft guide and kayak instructor at the Nantahala Outdoor Center after I graduated.

• Meeting my future wife Audrey Franz ’82! We just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary.

NO RTH L A N D GI VI NG DAY, M AY 1

northland.edu/give

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Senior Mary Sellars was recently accepted into the College of Veterinary Medicine at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. “I’m over the moon,” she said.

Geoscience students Karlee Prince, Michelle Morency, and Schmitty Smith presented their research at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting in Washington DC, accompanied by Professor of Geology Dave Ullman and geology student Audray Hinkemeyer. The AGU is the preeminent geoscience professional organization. “I had all kinds of people ask if this was my masters or PhD research, and while I was pleasantly surprised, all I could think is just wait to see what I can do then,” Morency wrote in an Instagram post.

Junior Abigail Gentry will be pursuing the new Northland College sustainable agriculture minor and wants to own her own organic farm someday. She

is using Parsonage Funds to do a self-planned World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) trip to Slovenia this summer. She’ll stay on each farm for about six-to-twelve days, then travel on to a new farm. Since she’s a geology major, she’s also planned out a bunch of stops at various caves along the way.

Freshmen Mya Simon and Jackie Stacy attended the 2018 Ivy Native Council Fall Summit at Columbia University in New York City in early November. This summit is the largest gathering of Native American undergraduates in the Northeast. The theme was “Intervention, Expansion, and Refusal: Representing Indigeneity Through Art in NYC.” The summit also covered

LIFELONG LEARNING

Sellars plans to use her doctor of veterinary medicine to study human wildlife conflict and epidemiology and work with wildlife conservation as climate change continues to influence ecosystems.

more general topics relevant to Native American students like culture shock and living away from home, and how to help more first-generation students learn about the college application and financial aid processes. Simon ran for an atlarge seat to represent schools that lie outside of the northeast and she and Stacy both hope to establish connections so in the future more Native American students can attend and represent Northland College on the east coast.

Sellars credits her hands-on experiences at Northland in wildlife research and biology as well as her opportunity to study abroad in Botswana through Round River Conservation.

Northland’s wildlife research lab gave her the opportunity to lead a raptor ecology project, working with animals and the agencies that manage them.

“For me, Northland was the best place to combine classroom learning with real world applications to a field that I was passionate about and gifted me with so many tools to succeed in a professional environment.”

Scherenschnitte Workshop May 9

Creative & Spiritual Forest Retreat May 24 – 26

Tea Talks at Forest Lodge July 11, 18, 25

Infinity Card Workshop May 10

Geology Field Trip: Penokee Hills Story June 22

Stand Up Paddle Boarding Weekend July 12 – 14

Field Sketching & Watercolor Workshop May 10 – 12

Geology Field Trip: The Bayfield Peninsula June 23

Whose Land is This? Anishinaabe Sovereignty July 20

Loon Ecology & Pontoon Tour May 18

Forest Lodge Tours Wednesdays July 3 – Sept 11

Northern Wisconsin Forest Ecology August 9 – 11

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,

NORTHLAND COLLEGE ARCHIVES Thanks to you, we were able to identify many of these people!

126 YEARS

+8,744 LIVING ALUMNI

Julie Francis '85

TONS

Amy Foster '93

OF GREAT STORIES

Dale Hallet '92 Rob Robl Mark Vapnar '92 Dan Vise '92

Christine Kelly '89

Help save, collect, and protect our history.

Send stories, photos, and memorabilia to alumni@northland.edu.

SYMPATHY TO THE FAMILIES OF: Terrie Ann (Torosic) Brink ‘68, Terre Haute, IN, 2/19/2014

Barbara (Kinney) Peterson ’46, Green Bay, WI, 12/18/2018

Jason R. Stevens ‘94, Elmira, NY, 6/21/2015

Richard D. Sundberg ’63, Ashland, WI, 12/24/2018

Bonnie (Verstegen) Pomo ‘63, Kissimmee, FL, 8/16/2017

William H. Seeger ’77, South Bend, IN, 12/29/2018

James B. Morley ‘63, Jacksonville, FL, 11/19/2017

Richard A. Berthiaume ’59, Port Washington, WI, 1/13/2019

Geraldine (Crase) Geraci ’49, Milwaukee, WI, 3/19/2018

Edward R. Huhtala ’71, Wakefield, MI, 1/17/2019

Susan M. Marconeri ’54, Baxter, MN, 3/31/2018

Howard D. Bolsterle ’69, Laconia, NH, 1/20/2019

James K. Nordling ’58, Ironwood, MI, 5/7/2018

Walter J. Albrecht ’61, Glen Flora, WI, 1/30/2019

Ronald C. Molis ’67, Denver, CO, 6/19/2018

Elaine (Hanson) Duchac ’52, Shawano, WI, 1/31/2019

Cary (Taylor) Bloomquist ’00, Palmer, AK, 9/3/2018

Clareen (Pingel) Erickson ’69, Waunakee, WI, 2/6/2019

David R. Sorenson ’79, Ashland, WI, 10/22/2018

Constance (Williams) Junker ’57, Ashland, WI, 2/8/2019

Dallas H. Middlekauff ’52, Wynne, AR, 10/24/2018

Donald N. Metz ’48, Butternut, WI, 2/9/2019

Thomas D. Frizzell ’62, Bayfield, WI, 11/1/2018

Cardell A. Solberg ’62, Sheboygan Falls, WI, 2/12/2019

Eugene C. Potter ’52, Lagrange, IN, 11/3/2018

John C. Gardner ’60, Bourbonnais, IL, 2/15/2019

John C. Hill ’66, Grafton, WI, 11/5/2018

Susanne Bush-Wilcox, Santa Fe, NM, 2/26/2018, Trustee Emeritus

Gary S. Jellish ’70, Wausau, WI, 11/14/2018

Mildred “Daws” Strother, Madison, WI, 1/20/2019, Former Trustee, 1998-2006

William S. Moore ’65, Phelps, WI, 11/14/2018 Linda (Woodmansee) Christianson ’70, Edgar, WI, 12/3/2018 Leona (Laakso) Hill ’67, Wakefield, MI, 12/12/2018 Don S. Varnum ’62, Bar Harbor, ME, 12/16/2018 Cynthia (Coleman) Eberhardt ’87, Stuart, VA, 12/17/2018

CORRECTION: The daughter of trustee emeritus Richard F. Wartman, who died July 7, 2018, contacted us to let us know that we had made an error in the last issue. He did not live in Pennington, New Jersey. He lived in Minnesota at his death but his daughter wanted to clarify, his heart always belonged to Ashland, Wisconsin.

SPRING 2019

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My most favorite experience was having the remarkable opportunity to spend multiple months with other young people who came from around the world friends that I still keep in contact with.

OT S

to live and work at Sólheimar Ecovillage—

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Sen

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Senior Alec Drachenberg spent a semester in Iceland through the Center for Ecological Living and Learning.

8 3/26/19 11:13 AM

@grassfedsass

1

3

2

4

@lily_sevilla

1. Watering spinach at thirty-three degrees (outside) in the high tunnel greenhouse.

2. A toast to President Suomi at his October inauguration.

3. LumberJack basketball competed for a playoff spot—all the way to the end.

4. Three friends drinking

7

6. Orientation Coordinator Lucas Will dusted in snow.

7. Erik Olson teaches students to read the tracks in the snow.

8. Social Epidemiology student collects birth and death records at Mt. Hope Cemetery.

6

9. Sophomore Katie Tapper interns at Honest Dog Kennel and helped bring sled dogs to campus for a dogsledding demo.

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at the Black Cat.

5. Nordic Club skied three times per week and sent a record number of skiers to the Birkebeiner.

SPRING 2019

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® NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID DULUTH, MN PERMIT NO. 1944

1411 Ellis Avenue Ashland, WI 54806-3999

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Nominate alumni who have accomplished great things!

northland.edu/alumni-award-nominations

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IT’

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OUTRAGEOUS LY FUN

ALU MNI

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FESTIVAL

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LAND COLLE RTH GE NO

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