KYJA KRISTJANSSONNELSON NAMED MN PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR

By Kristi Monson, MSUM Marketing & Communications

Marketing & Communications

Fargo native Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson took her first film class from local film legend and Minnesota State University Moorhead film professor Ted Larson. At the time, MSUM didn’t have a film production degree so she transferred to the University of Minnesota.

Nearly 10 years later, she joined the film faculty at MSUM. “Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be back here,” K-Nelson said. “I’m so happy to be a part of MSUM’s film program because this is the exact program I wanted when I was a student.”

K-Nelson is a highly decorated educator earning numerous teaching awards. She gives students flexibility to engage in projects that interest them; encourages them to take risks, and to fail; and stresses practice, critique and more practice. She incorporates real-world experiences by pairing service-learning projects with classroom assignments and providing leadership opportunities that are essential to MSUM’s mission of helping students transform the world. She has honed her teaching style through supportive faculty colleagues, strong interdisciplinary collaborations with academic departments and a welcoming community that embraces the creative arts.

These are the reasons she was named the 2014 Minnesota Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She’s the 11th MSUM professor to be recognized by the Carnegie Foundation.

The U.S. Professors of the Year awards program celebrates outstanding instructors across the country. Sponsored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, it is the only national program to recognize excellence in undergraduate education.

K-Nelson praises MSUM’s built-in collaborative laboratory.

“One of the greatest strengths of our program, and many MSUM programs, is that students do projects with students in other majors,” she said. “We have excellent programs in theatre arts, music, English and art and these collaborative and creative collisions are powerful.”

Her commitment to students who’ve been under her guidance is her greatest impact.

MSUM student Zach Marion (2007, film studies) was a strong cinematographer, editor, and sound designer, but he had a secret desire to direct … “stunted by a great fear of failure,” he said. “I thought people would think my creative voice was insignificant. Kyja identified this fear and used her encouragement and support to create an environment for me to try with my thesis film.”

Today, he is an MFA film-directing candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Kyja came into my life at a moment when I was struggling, and, through her abilities as a film educator, revealed my life’s passion to me,” he said.

Katie Diiro, a 2007 film studies graduate, said, “I was lost my senior year. I did not know where I fit in the world, much less in the world of filmmaking. I met with Kyja weekly to talk about my life.”

After graduating, Diiro did not seek a job in film production. So when she returned to campus to reconnect with her mentor, she was nervous.

“I had this idea that I let down the whole film department. As I entered Kyja’s office, she couldn’t have been happier to see me. I mattered. From that moment on I have been unstoppable,” Diiro said.

“With Kyja’s unending support I had the confidence to raise funds to travel to Tanzania, Africa, to create documentaries about an orphanage and rural medical clinic, a goal and concept I first developed in Kyja’s Advanced Video Production class years earlier,” Diiro said. “I have achieved more than I ever thought possible because I knew my worth did not depend on success in film.”

Diiro found her calling through filmmaking, and is now enrolled in MSUM’s counseling graduate program.

“Part of being a teacher is to help students find their path in life, and I don't care what that path is,” K-Nelson said.

“Kyja did not choose my path for me, yet she guided me every step of the way. That is what makes her a truly excellent professor,” Diiro said.