Around Campus

Orchestra Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Beethoven

The Southwest Minnesota Orchestra (SMO) is having a Beethoventhemed season during the 2021-22 academic year.

The year-long, five-concert series features all five Beethoven concertos, said SMO Director Dr. Daniel Rieppel. “For any pianist, Beethoven is the absolute center of the repertoire,” he said.

The series is called the “Beethoven/SMO 2/50 Festival,” in honor of the composer’s 250th birthday, and the 50th anniversary of the orchestra. The orchestra was formed by music professor and cellist, True Sackrison.

The Beethoven event was originally scheduled for last academic year, but due to the pandemic, had to be pushed back.

Two concerts have been held so far. The other three will be performed Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022 at 4 p.m. in the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts at Marshall High School; Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts; and Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 4 p.m. in the SMSU Fine Arts Theatre.

Rieppel said the SMO “has done a fair amount of Beethoven in the past. We’ve done the Choral Fantasy, a sketch of the 9th symphony, three times, and the 9th symphony once, a long time ago.”

Each of the concerts will feature a guest artist, said Rieppel. “All of the soloists in the concertos are friends or former students of mine,” he said. The first concert featured a colleague, Minnesota State, Mankato music faculty member Dr. David Viscoli, and the second, former student Reed Tetzloff.

Rieppel is excited for the final concert on May 1. “That’s the 4th concerto, which was the first piece I ever played with the orchestra, before I even became the music director. It was five years before I got that job. I was teaching in Minneapolis, and doing freelance work. I’m looking forward to that, bringing it full circle, if you will.”

Photos from top: the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra performance in October 2019. True Sackrison is shown directing the orchestra in an undated concert photo. Dr. Daniel Rieppel conducting the orchestra during a recent concert.

Dr. May Lee Moua-Vue

In a lot of ways, Dr. May Lee Moua-Vue is a surrogate mother for the international students at SMSU.

Moua-Vue is in her second year at the University as the Director of International Student Services and Global Studies, and after a year navigating COVID-19 restrictions, she’s enjoying a more ‘normal’ experience as she helps international students acclimate to SMSU.

She welcomed 66 first-year international students this academic year. Counting transfer students and 17 MBA graduate students from Taiwan, there’s approximately 90 new international students on campus. The total number of international students is approximately 177, from over 30 countries, she said.

This year’s first-year international students represent 14 different countries, with Ethiopia leading the way. “Jamaica, Indonesia, Portugal, Tanzania — they are from all over the world,” she said. That number is a sharp increase from a year ago.

SMSU was ranked the safest campus in Minnesota a year ago “and that is important to the international students,” she said. “They look online, and find the rankings. SMSU is ranked in the top seven in the country as far as affordability for international students. We offer a quality education in a safe setting where everything you need is right here. We have a wonderful community transit system that’s free to the students and allows them to access local services, ethnic restaurants, and grocery stores. That partnership with Marshall Area Transit Service has been wonderful.”

SMSU international students make a great impact on the area economy bringing $14.1 million to the area and supporting 21 jobs. This is according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators. “Some of the international students come here having never stepped foot on campus,” she said. “That’s a big leap, to travel halfway around the world. They come without family members, without anyone accompanying them.” International students have concerns that most students don’t face, she said. “This year, for the first time, we are working with a cellular phone company to get them phones. Their phones won’t work here, and they arrive and haven’t called home. On top of that they don’t know anyone here, and they have to rebuild their support system, make new friends. One of their biggest fears is who they can rely on. There’s so much of a cultural difference, too. It’s hard for them to approach locals. What are the cues for making new friends? What are the cues for dating? They all have to navigate these things.”

Several church groups and individuals in Marshall yearly make quilts for the international students. “We have wonderful partnerships with them, and the students are very appreciative,” she said.

She embraces her role as “the campus mom. I can be an older sister or auntie, too. I’m their best cheerleader and advocate. I am the first one to congratulate them, and I also tell them we have high expectations.”

She comes to SMSU from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. “I have an international background — my family came over here from Laos during the Vietnam War; I was a refugee. I can relate to their needs and concerns. The best part of my job is that I get to talk with students from all over the world. That’s amazing. They teach me as much as I teach them.”

Dr. May Lee Moua-Vue

Ezira Tafa Dedicated to His Role as Student Body President

“The stuff you see yesterday is the stuff you see today; it doesn’t change.”

So says Ezira Tafa, the SMSU student body president. Tafa is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the youngest of five children. His parents strongly encouraged their children to pursue higher education. All but one of his siblings earned degrees from institutions in either Europe or Africa. He is the first to attend college in the United States, and he is pursuing a degree in Healthcare Administration and Human Resources.

Tafa enjoys many sports, notably soccer (fútbol in Ethiopia) and UFC fights. In his free time, you can find him hanging out with friends and watching movies.

Globally, there are agents that can help international students find colleges in the U.S. They aide in school placement and counseling when it comes to families sending their children to college. Tafa used an agent to help him in his educational search, and chose SMSU over several other schools.

Tafa said he’s happy to have found SMSU. “The professors, community, and job opportunities on campus are all things I like about SMSU,” he said. His advisor, Heather Rickgarn, has played a key role in his academic journey, he said. “She has helped in class selection, and career planning.”

“I was the type of student who did not participate in anything my first year,” he said. Tafa saw an email about running for student body president — the deadline was that evening. He turned his application in at 11:57 that night. Little did he know, that application would change his experience at SMSU. The position of student body president comes with it a lot of responsibility. From leading meetings, appointing members to committees and positions, and writing reports, all were new things to learn. “During the pandemic, it was really difficult to get members to join (student government),” he said. Since then, there’s a leadership team in place. The Student Senate currently has 21 members. Tafa said the position has really helped his skill development in a number of ways. From speaking at convocation, managing an entire student organization, and meeting regularly with SMSU President Kumara Jayasuriya, all of these have helped him improve his leadership skills. His goals while he is in office are focused on campus experiences. He would like to see international students have more job options on campus, he said. His dedication to the well-being of students radiates when he speaks about his position as student body president.

Tafa’s advice to new students? “If you want to change, you have to change something in your life.”

That’s exactly what he did.

Ezira Tafa

Exercise Science + Employee Wellness

Norma Streich is a big believer in the Community Fitness Program, an employee wellness collaboration between SMSU and Schwan’s Company.

Streich, an Employee Health and Wellness Partner who has worked for Schwan’s Company for 44 years, picked up the phone 10 years ago and took a call from Dr. Kris Cleveland, SMSU Exercise Science Professor. Cleveland was inquiring about the possibility of creating a pilot program matching Exercise Science students with Schwan’s employees. The idea was to give her students real-life experience while supporting the health of the employees.

“I was part of that pilot program and started in the fall of 2012,” said Streich, also an SMSU alumna. “It was a wonderful experience for me.”

Streich was dealing with “messed up knees” from her days as a softball player when she first began. She stayed with it through spring 2017.

“I couldn’t do a squat or a sit-up when I started. It took a long time to walk a mile, and I had never worked out with weights in my life,” she recalls. “I walked a timed mile, was tested for balance, how long I could hold a plank, and we talked about what I wanted to focus on during that time period.”

The collaboration is in its 10th year, “and it’s a two-pronged program,” said Cleveland. “First, it allows students to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to real people — they work individually with them. Second, for the employer, it improves the health and wellness of the employees.”

The Community Fitness Program began with Schwan’s employees, and has grown to include some Ralco employees, community members, as well as faculty and staff at SMSU.

Exercise Science students are paired with adult participants, who are tested at the start of each semester, and go over individual goals. They usually meet two times per week. The participants are then tested again at the end of the semester, so progress can be measured. The overall program data is shared with Schwan’s Company.

In Streich’s case, she lost weight. Immediately. “Between the fall of 2012 and spring of 2013, I lost 35 pounds. And I’ve kept it off,” she said. “The students I worked with helped me a lot. You get comfortable with them, and you can communicate. At the end of the semester they provide an action plan for going forward.” “Norma was instrumental in helping this program get started,” said Cleveland.

“She really saw its value.” This past summer, Schwan’s Company had the program analyzed, the first time its value was studied thoroughly.

It showed that program participants are healthier across nearly all measures, leading to savings for the company for long-term participants. “Our recommendation would be to increase program participation deeper into the population and longitudinally,” reads the report, issued by the firm workpartners.

“By all biometric indicators, the SMSU exercise program is improving employee health.”

A healthier workforce equates to a more productive workforce.

The program has obvious benefits to participants, but equal benefits to SMSU students. “From our perspective, we see how beneficial it is to the students. It builds their confidence, and they critically think about all this data, and also get to know the person, what their goals are, and how to work with people. There are just so many benefits to our students, no matter what they choose to do with their degree,” said Cleveland. Many Exercise Science students go on to graduate school.

The collaboration is a real win-win for all parties, said Cleveland. “Our students are very excited for the opportunity to take their education to a practical level.”

Norma Streich and Dr. Kris Cleveland

Dr. Judy Wilson Appointed to National AWP Board

SMSU English Professor and Director of Creative Writing Dr. Judy Wilson has been appointed to the national board of the Associated Writing Programs (AWP), and will also serve as the Chair of the Midwest Region Council, which represents all the creative writing programs in the Midwest.

Her appointment is for four years, and began in the summer of 2021.

Wilson is in her second stint as the Creative Writing director at Southwest Minnesota State University. She has been at SMSU since 2002 and yearly attends the national AWP conference, which draws approximately 9,000 participants.

She will represent the Midwest Region on the national board. It is one of six regions in the U.S., and represents over 200 writing programs, including high school, college, master’s and Ph.D. programs.

One of her objectives is to “boost membership. The stronger your membership numbers, the stronger voice you have at the national level,” she said. “The numbers have been falling off the last four to five years, and now with this pandemic, a lot of organizations are trying to save money by scaling back on membership (fees). That will be a big job going in, to boost membership.” She also wants to “increase visibility for our Midwest programs, build stronger reputations for the same, downplay business model approaches to all things liberal arts, and push for increased diversity and equity at every level.” The AWA board “produces the standards that writing programs adhere to; it controls how we operate our programs, and what has to be offered. It handles program reviews and assessments, too. It is the organization that sets the bar — the gold standard as far as creative writing is concerned,” she said.

Wilson is the founder and Executive Editor of Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art & Thought, which has an international reputation and features Indigenous writers from around the world, filling a gap in the mainstream literary culture. She is also the coordinator of the campus literary journal, Perceptions.

Dr. Judy Wilson

Mustangs Give

SMSU hosted its first Day of Service on Oct. 6, with a theme of “Mustangs Give.”

President Kumara Jayasuriya had the vision for the program and deemed the day a complete success.

“Marshall and the region have been very supportive of the University since it opened its doors in 1967,” he said. “This was a good way to give back. I’m appreciative of those in the Mustang Family who donated their time.”

Over 250 SMSU faculty, staff and students participated in the event. They donated their time in two-hour shifts to a number of local volunteer projects, including Adopt-A-Highway, Light Up the Night, leaf raking, trash clean-up around town, Red Cross Blood Drive, Memorial Park painting at the 9-11 memorial, and Park Side Elementary sidewalk painting, among others.

A good example of a project was the painting at the 9-11 memorial at Memorial Park. A beam from the Twin Towers is displayed there, and bricks surround the memorial. The bricks have embedded stars, designating in three colors those who died — firefighters, police and civilians. Volunteers repainted those stars, one by one and on their hands and knees, and were done by noon, something that surprised Marshall Parks Superintendent Preston Stensrud. “I can’t believe they got done so fast,” he said.

President Jayasuriya and his wife, Sal, traveled from site to site and handed out bottles of water to the many volunteers during the day.

The SMSU Foundation provided a “Mustangs Give” t-shirt to each volunteer. It is expected that the Day of Service will become an annual Homecoming Week activity.

Photos below: The group painting stars at Memorial Park; Sal and Kumara Jayasuriya; Lori Engebretson painting stars; highway cleanup crew; an enthusiastic volunteer; a team at work cleaning the grounds at Red Baron Arena; the volunteer sign-in at Founders Hall.

Spotlight: Veterans Resource Center

Veterans Day on Nov. 11 is the day set aside to honor those who serve our country and sacrifice so much to defend our freedoms.

Many veterans choose to attend college after being discharged. At SMSU, they are met with a welcoming environment at the Veterans Resource Center.

The Center is something of a safe haven for these veterans, who tend to speak in military acronyms, have their own language, and unique sense of humor. They share common experiences that are foreign to the majority of the student body.

Justin Guggisberg is the Higher Education, Benefits and Resource Coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. The Wabasso, Minn., native is a 20-year Air Force veteran, and is in his 11th year on the campus of SMSU, where he finds great satisfaction assisting veterans and active service military wishing to continue their education at the university.

“I actually started school here in 2009, and was finishing up my degree in Justice Administration and Social Work. I was a work-study student for Pat Ebner, and when she had passed away all of the work-study students had applied for her position and I was lucky enough to get it.”

RJ Hogrefe is from Holloway, Minn., and is a four-year Marine Corps veteran, where he was a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear defense specialist. The non-traditional student decided to return to college to finish his History degree, which he started in the Marine Corps.

Both Guggisberg and Hogrefe reflected on the benefits that the Veterans Resource Center has for them individually. The Center helps veterans, of course, but also their dependents. “We also assist the families of our veterans,” said Guggisberg. There are so many benefits available, and Guggisberg makes sure all questions are answered.

Hogrefe said the move from military to college life was a real change. “Going to college after serving was a huge culture shift. Going from a very structed lifestyle to a very relaxed atmosphere was difficult. Making the transition to the real world is difficult, so being able to have a place where I can speak in our military acronyms makes me feel a lot better about college,” Hogrefe said, reiterating that the Veterans Resource Center is a place he calls home. “Everyone that comes to this Center understands me and I really enjoy that.”

Guggisberg and Hogrefe mention some of the outreach activates that the Veterans Club sponsors. Walking Tacos [sales] are a popular event, and Veterans Club sponsors a 5K/10K run each Homecoming. They are proactive in raising awareness of the Veterans Resource Center.

“The best part of my job is getting to see the different groups come through and make those connections throughout their college journey,” said Guggisberg, a sentiment shared by Hogrefe. “I probably would’ve never spoken to some of the vets on campus because, as military, we are very quiet and keep to ourselves. This Center is a place for us to just come and talk about our struggles, accomplishments, and help one another just get through college knowing we aren’t alone,” he said.

Veterans bring an interesting perspective to college, said Hogrefe. “They view courses as a job; you’re getting paid (from the GI Bill) for this, so they have the intentions of doing well in the class. Veterans have various life experience that will change them forever, so why not bring that into the courses that they are taking and share that experience with others?”

SMSU has been ranked third in the nation as a Military Friendly school, and a Military Spouse institution. It’s a culture Guggisberg has worked hard to establish. Area veterans thinking about returning to college may contact him by email at justin.guggisberg@smsu.edu. Story by Annika Freiburger ’21

Justin Guggisberg and RJ Hogrefe

SMSU OFFERS FULLY ONLINE DEGREES ATTEND CLASS FROM ANYWHERE!

Southwest Minnesota State University now offers 16 degrees totally online. Complete online delivery started in Fall Semester 2020 with additional degrees being added to the lineup in 2022.

To ensure the full programs can be offered online (0-120 credits), SMSU offers online options to meet the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (general education goal areas) for the following undergraduate programs: • Accounting • Community Psychology and Health Promotion • Early Childhood Education (MN Licensure Prep) • Early Childhood, Special Education (MN Licensure Prep) • Elementary Education (MN Licensure Prep) • English - Creative Writing • History • Hospitality Management • Management: General Management; Supply Chain

Management; Human Resources; or Entrepreneurship • Marketing • Nursing: RN to BSN • Psychology • Social Work • Sociology • Special Education (MN Licensure Prep) • Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL Licensure Prep) To learn more about online options, visit: www.SMSU.edu/online; or email OnlineLearning@smsu.edu.