David Hood, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Kevin Buisman, Director of Athletics
Anne Gillespie, Vice President for Finance & Administration
Mark Johnson, Vice President for IT Solutions and CIO
David Jones, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
Henry Morris, Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Richard Ortega, Interim Vice President for University Advancement
Sheri Sargent, Chief of Staff and Vice President of Administrative Services
Travis Thul, Vice President for Academic Success and Engagement
Editorial Director, Sara Gilbert Frederick
Editor, Joe Tougas ‘86
Designer, Vanessa Knewtson ‘13, James Mackey
Original Photos, John Cross, Steve Woit, Vanessa Knewtson ’13, Nicholas Cachiaras
Printer, Corporate Graphics Commercial
Writers, Amanda Dyslin ’03, ’14, Helen Healy ’92, Kate Kolar ’24, Drew Lyon ’06, Robb Murray ’95, Autumn Schwertfeger, ’25
Print Coordinator, Ryan Schuh ‘00
Contributing Staff, Dan Benson, Kim Rademaker ’93, Connie Wodtke ’91
Today is published once per year by the Division of University Advancement. Today is distributed to more than 120,000 alumni and friends.
The mission of Today is to entertain, to inform and to connect the reader to the campus. Today welcomes story ideas supporting this mission. Full manuscripts are not accepted. Today is not responsible for unsolicited material.
Today is copyrighted in its entirety. This volume and all articles, images and photographs within may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the editor.
Address Change & Class Notes: Send to Today, Class Notes & Address Changes, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 232 Alumni Foundation Center, Mankato, MN 56001, e-mail to today@mnsu.edu, by fax to 507-389-2069 or call 507-389-2523. Death announcements must be accompanied by a memorial service program or published newspaper obituary.
Letters: Send letters intended for publication to Today, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 232 Alumni Foundation Center, Mankato, MN 56001, e-mail to today@mnsu.edu or fax to 507-389-2069. Today reserves the right to edit letters for space and clarity. Include name, address, graduation year and daytime telephone number. Unsigned letters are not considered for publication. All letters become property of Today Submission of your letter constitutes your permission to publish it.
Inspired to take action.
Giving to Minnesota State Mankato is easy and effective when you contribute to the University Achievement Fund.
The Achievement Fund puts your gift where it’s needed most.
• Scholarships
• Emergency Grants Campus Recreation
• Undergraduate Research
• Food Security
• Training and Employee Development
• Improved Educational Experience
Scan to give.
“With the scholarship support I can excel academically and build a strong foundation for my future career. None of this would have been possible without the original support of the donor who believed in my potential.”
-Gracie Johnson ’27
From the President
Dear Mavericks,
Welcome to the latest issue of the Today magazine, featuring the aptly themed article “Seeds and Inspiration.” I am thrilled to introduce this edition, which perfectly captures our innovative spirit and commitment to fostering growth across multiple disciplines.
The cover story delves into our expanding agricultural programs. Agriculture is often associated with traditional row crops and production, but at Minnesota State University, Mankato, we are taking a multi-disciplinary approach by intertwining fields such as technology, sustainability, business and social sciences. Our holistic approach prepares students for a diverse range of careers throughout agriculture and works to address the complex challenges of our changing world.
The theme “Seeds and Inspiration” serves a dual purpose. It also reflects our broader mission to sow the seeds of knowledge and cultivate a culture of inspired action. Just as a single seed can grow into a thriving plant, an inspired idea can lead to transformative change. This metaphor underscores everything we do at Minnesota State Mankato—from academic programs to community outreach.
Finally, I am excited to share the new look of our University’s brand, which you will see represented throughout this issue. Our refreshed brand identity embodies the dynamic, forward-thinking nature of our institution. It represents our core values and aspirations, reinforcing our commitment to excellence and innovation.
As you explore this edition, I hope you feel the same sense of inspiration that drives our faculty, staff and students every day. Together, we are investing in a brighter, more innovative future.
Thank you for being part of our vibrant community.
Go Mavs!
Edward Inch
President, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Just as a single seed can grow into a thriving plant, an inspired idea can lead to transformative change.” “ – President Inch
The University’s greenhouse is an exclusive, tropical spot on campus.
News Briefs
Maverick Moments
We look back at Twins Night, Homecoming and other events from the past year.
A look at new leadership and other developments across campus. 14
Remote Access
On the ‘Shelf’
Student research on hunger led to a change in the Mankato city bus routes. 8
Amy Brown and Madison Marien were able to keep working while earning their degrees online. 20
The Wide World Awaits
Suzannah Armentrout opens eyes to opportunities in sport management.
The Movement Artist
Yukina Sato aims to give dance students room to explore their own artistry.
How cities deal with tragic histories.
Grant helps increase school counselors of color.
28 Seeds and Inspiration
The multi-disciplinary role of food and agriculture at MSU continues to grow.
36
A Golden Life
Hockey alumna Sheri Hudspeth has found her calling with the Vegas Golden Knights.
38
The Innovator
Ryder Febo’s bear spray vending machines are an outlet for his restless energy.
40
The Crawford Couple
Pete and Ethel Nelson met in Crawford Hall in the mid-60s. They returned this year to greet new students moving in.
42
In Her Son’s Name
The scholarship Phyllis Rivard and family started in honor of her son Alan has helped the family deal with his death 40 years ago.
44
Love is On the Air
KMSU supporters put together another record-breaking pledge drive. What’s behind the love?
46
Shared Traditions
Sisters bring their cultural traditions to MSU.
58
That’s All for Today
Old Main celebrates 100 years.
The Green Room
Autumn Schwertfeger ’25
MSU’s greenhouse, annexing the Trafton building, has a members-only admission policy that’s limited to students and faculty working directly with the array of plants.
It serves as a place for hands-on learning in a number of biology and environmental sciences courses.
Tony Kopari’s role as greenhouse manager has a long list of responsibilities, including directing a team of student workers in tasks such as watering, soil changes, fertilization, and pest management.
The climate in the greenhouse is his favorite part of the job, he said.
“Going out there in January, when it’s freezing outside, is a nice and warm tropical place to escape to.”
4 Faculty members conducting research
12 Classes using the greenhouse
42 Families of plants
82 Genera of plants
5-10
Students caring for the plants
120 Species of plants
Tony Kopari tends to the diverse array of plants in the greenhouse.
New Leadership
Over the past year the University has hired or promoted several new leaders in key roles, including vice presidents, deans, associate provosts and more. These leaders bring a range of experiences and expertise to their roles at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Mohammad Alam was named dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. Alam taught at Texas A&M University-Kingsville for 20 years and was dean of the Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering.
Aaron Budge was named the interim executive director of the School of Applied Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. He served as acting dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology for more than four years and was most recently the associate dean of the college.
Lin Chase was named the Executive Director of Institutional Analytics and Planning after serving in that role as an interim. She had previously been the director of the Computer Science Program and faculty in Integrated Engineering. Before coming to the university, Chase held leadership roles at several private companies, including Accenture.
William Coghill-Behrends was named the dean of Global Education. Since 2014, Coghill-Behrends served as the director of Global Education Initiatives at the Linda R. Baker Teacher Leader Center at the University of Iowa.
Pieter deHart was named associate provost for research and dean of Graduate Studies. He comes to MSU after serving as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Wisconsin— Green Bay.
Shauna Elbers was named the associate provost for faculty affairs and learning innovation. Elbers was previously at the University of Washington, where she held several faculty-focused leadership positions and taught statistics and policy analysis.
Anne Gillespie was named Vice President for Finance and Facilities. Gillespie had been vice president for business and finance at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Michelle Moosally was named the vice provost for Academic Affairs. She had previously served as the associate vice president for programming and curriculum at the University of Houston-Downtown. Moosally, who has a doctorate in linguistics, earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Minnesota State Mankato.
Mwarumba Mwavita was named dean of the College of Education. Mwavita served 12 years as a founding director for the Center for Educational Research and Evaluation at Oklahoma State University.
Richard Ortega was named Interim Vice President for University Advancement. Ortega served as interim vice president for university advancement and executive director of the California State University Maritime Academy Foundation at Cal Maritime from October 2021 to July 2023.
Sheri Sargent was promoted to Chief of Staff and Vice President for Administrative Services. She has been at the University since 2012 and has served in various leadership positions in both the Office of the President and the Office of Human Resources.
Travis Thul was named Vice President for Academic Success and Engagement. Thul was a White House Fellow appointed to serve as vice president for transformational exports at the ExportImport Bank of the United States and was dean of technology, trades, business and transportation for Minnesota State College Southeast.
Distinguished Alumni Awards
In January, the Alumni Association presented three distinguished alumni awards to Craig Lloyd, Akram Osman and Ann and Randy Reichert. Lloyd received the Achievement Award, which is presented to graduates who have a widespread effect on communities. Osman received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award, which honors graduates who have reached professional achievements early in their careers. Ann and Randy Reichert received the Harold J. Fitterer Service Award, awarded to alumni who have provided exceptional service to the University.
DEED Grant Supports MinnPoly
MavPASS Receives Recognition
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded Minnesota State University, Mankato’s MinnPoly a $740,000 grant as part of the Drive for 5 Workforce initiative. The Drive for 5 Workforce initiative is aimed at supporting Minnesotans for high-demand jobs in five occupational categories: technology, the trades, caring professions, manufacturing, and education. This initiative benefits many aspects of the state including $20 million in grants to train and place 1,200 Minnesotans in highdemand jobs, helping 3,000 businesses statewide. MinnPoly’s grant will focus on workforce development and upskilling in the electronic manufacturing sector.
Real-World Challenge at MUDAC
In April, the Midwest Undergraduate Data Analytics Competition (MUDAC) gathered at the university. More than 200 students from 50 Midwest universities competed in a data competition. The sponsor, Agriculture Utilization Research Institute (AURI) provided the challenge of a real-world agriculture data problem. The students were given two days to solve the problem using data analytics, information technology, and statistics.
Honoring Guadalupe Quintero
Guadalupe Quintero, the former director of community partnerships at Minnesota State University, Mankato, received honors from Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Gov. Tim Walz upon her retirement from the university in May. Quintero is the founder and cofounder of many bilingual and bicultural educational programs in the university and the local community. Walz designated Friday, May 3 as “Quintero Day” in Minnesota to honor her achievements and 23 years of service.
MavPASS, Maverick Peer-Facilitated Academic Support System, received national recognition and the Exemplary New Supplemental Instruction award for 2024. The program aims at providing students with help from a fellow student who has already succeeded in the class. Since the start of the program in 2019, 23,773 students have enrolled in a MavPASSsupported course. Participants’ attendance and grade point averages have increased since the start of the program.
Former President Recognized by Minnesota State System
In June, Richard Rush, president of Minnesota State University, Mankato from 1992 to 2001, was recognized with the title of President Emeritus by the Board of Trustees of Minnesota State. Rush grew community and business partnerships that transformed the landscape on campus, ushering in the Andreas Theatre, the Taylor Center and the renovation of the Myers Fieldhouse and Centennial Student Union. Others recognized with the title were Adenuga Atewologun, president of Riverland Community College from 2013 to 2023, and Anne Blackhurst, president of Moorhead from 2014 to 2023 and former Minnesota State Mankato Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. Retired Chancellor Devinder Malhotra was named Chancellor Emeritus.
From left: Minnesota State Chancellor, Scott Olson, President Emeritus Richard Rush, President Emeritus Richard Davenport, Current President Edward Inch and Chancellor Emeritus Davinder Malhotra.
From left: Craig Lloyd, Akram Osman, Ann & Randy Reichert.
Twins Event
On Aug. 2, the Twins hosted Minnesota State Mankato Night at Target Field. Mavericks converged on the scene, where among other features the NCAA Division II basketball champions were honored and celebrated before the game.
4.
5.
1. The 2024 Maverick Machine showed how loud Maverick Pride can get.
2. Pre-game vibes from President Edward Inch and Stomper.
3. Stomper and the NCAA Division II women’s basketball champions.
Families enjoyed both the pregame activities and the ballgame.
T.C., the Twins’ mascot, got to pose with the NCAA Division II men’s basketball champions.
Homecoming
Mavericks past, present and future gathered to celebrate Homecoming Day, Saturday, Oct. 5. The festivities included a parade, pancakes, and dozens of interactive booths at Mavericks on the Mall.
1. The Maverick Machine kept the beat as they marched in the parade.
2. International students shared their traditions and colors during the parade.
3. Alumni had a chance to connect during Mavericks on the Mall.
4. 2024 DII Honda Female Athlete of the Year Denisha Cartwright received a warm welcome during the parade.
5. President Inch and Belen Fernandez led the parade.
6. Some of the post-parade pancakes were served airborne
A collection of some of the most memorable Maverick Moments from the past year.
1. Canadian hip-hop artist bbno$ performed at the University in April.
2. The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hosted a Welcome Back event on the campus mall in September. The band Alma Andina performed in both song and dance.
3. St. Louis Park Mayor Nadia Mohammed was a keynote speaker at the 2024 Pan-African Conference. Mohammed made history as the first female SomaliAmerican mayor in the U.S. and the first black mayor of St. Louis Park.
4. Ping-pong balls were dropped for prizes during MallFest in April.
5. Steve Burns, the longtime host of Nickelodeon’s “Blue’s Clues” came to MSU in January to discuss his struggles with success and depression. Burns posed with Student Events Team members, from left, Daria Oelkers, Lexi Pedersen and Jaycey Horton.
6. The Maverick Machine marching band performed in Chicago’s 2023 Thanksgiving Parade.
7. Alum and Vietnam veteran Bill Strusinski ’72 was interviewed on campus about his memoir, “Care Under Fire” which chronicled his experiences as a medic in the Vietnam War and his activism afterward.
8. Nowrin Akther Koly, a master’s candidate in Communication Studies at MSU, talks about her home country of Bangladesh to a first-grade class in Mankato. Koly was among several international students talking to area schools as part of a partnership with Twin Cities-based Global Minnesota.
Remote Access
Paramedic instructor at South Central College, is pursuing an applied leadership degree through Minnesota State Mankato online.
Amy Brown’s journey of teaching full-time and pursuing an online degree
Autumn Schwertfeger ‘25
South Central College’s faculty member of the year is also a student in Minnesota State Mankato’s applied leadership program.
Working full-time as a teacher while pursuing a degree in applied leadership is the situation Amy Brown has taken on for herself, and pursuing the degree entirely online makes the mix manageable.
“One of the reasons that I chose applied leadership as my major is because it was something that I could customize to myself and what I want to do,” Brown said.
At MSU, the applied leadership bachelor’s degree allows students to design plans to gain leadership skills within their area of interest, often a career already underway. The all online aspect underscores the program’s flexibility.
Trained as a paramedic at South Central College, she worked as one for 20 years. Today she’s a full-time teacher at South Central and still works on an on-call basis as a paramedic.
Brown started teaching full-time four years ago, and taught as an adjunct instructor for six years prior. She teaches a variety of classes ranging from medical terminology to training paramedics and managing clinicals. And she teaches them well—in April, Brown was awarded faculty member of the year at South Central.
At MSU, she’s a junior in pursuit of her applied leadership degree. Going online is crucial, she said, as it allows her to have flexibility and to customize her degree with her work. She credits her support system of faculty and advisors at MSU for keeping her moving ahead.
Brown said she’s excited about getting the bachelor’s degree and using it in her current career. She also hopes to pursue a master’s program that—no surprise—is flexible enough to fit her lifestyle.
Amy Brown
Obtained her bachelor’s in nursing online, and is now going for her master’s the same way.
A nursing student goes back for more, thanks to online programs
Kate Kolar ‘24
As a child with a heart condition, Madison Marien spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals.
Today, at age 27, she still does—as a registered nurse at Lake City Care Center in Lake City, Minn. and at Gunderson St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Wabasha, Minn.
The doctors and nurses who cared for her as a child, she said, inspired her to go into health care, which was an adventure that began early. At age 16, Marien became a certified nursing assistant (CNA). In Lake City, where she works full-time, she obtained her bachelor’s degree in nursing in spring of 2024 through the University’s online program.
Her mantra then, as now, was, “I could do this,” she said. “I like taking care of people. It’s fulfilling.”
Before her bachelor’s degree, Marien had completed her associates degree at Minnesota State College Southeast in Red Wing, Minn. Minnesota State Mankato’s online program was perfect, she said, for her busy schedule and the otherwise four-hour round-trip drive to Mankato.
More than the online accessibility, however, the reputation of the nursing program convinced Marien to attend MSU. She worked closely with advisors from the start, which made the online experience a smooth one, she said.
“It was more slick than when I was actually going to an in-person college,” she said.
Attending online, Marien was not only able to complete her bachelor’s in nursing, but joined the National Society of Leadership and Success, which is a leadership program that encourages personal growth, advancement in careers and creating a positive community for young leaders.
Today, she’s enrolled again at the University, pursuing a master’s degree in nursing leadership and nursing education online. She will continue working in the Lake City area—her hometown.
The ability to work in Lake City along with the support she continues to receive from her MSU contacts made the decision to pursue her master’s degree online an easy one, she said.
“I knew right away I was going to go back.”
Minnesota State University, Mankato Online makes earning a degree possible, no matter how busy you are. Whether you’re advancing your career, switching paths, educating leaders, or providing top-tier healthcare, we’re here to help. Request information or contact us today—your future self will thank you!
Madison Marien
On the ‘Shelf’
Students’ food insecurity research leads to new city bus routes
Drew Lyon ‘06
According to a 2018 research study compiled by students from Carol Glasser’s Sociology in Action course, Minnesota State Mankato students were experiencing food insecurity at a rate of 64 percent, far above the national average. Of those students surveyed in 2018, nearly 40 percent reported that their academic work suffered as a result.
Over the past six years the University responded to the report’s recommendations by creating a food pantry and launching a “Swipe Out Hunger” program for students to request “meal swipes” at the University Dining Center. In fall 2023, students’ research and community outreach convinced the city of Mankato to change its bus route and accommodate Mavericks with limited transportation options by adding a stop at the Echo Food Shelf, an emergency food assistance program.
“Our students did a great job of getting the word out, setting up some meetings with people in the city,” Glasser said, “and the University really wants our students to be in the community more.”
There are myriad root societal causes of food insecurity. But with the issue rising to the forefront throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Glasser and student researchers in the sociology department aimed to further study how rising food costs coupled with limited transportation options in Mankato can hamper students’ access to nutritional meals—a topic that wasn’t directly studied in the 2018 research.
“You’d think that our food insecurity would decrease because of having those new resources,” said thensenior Mitchel Pomije, now a master’s candidate. “But then you look at the impact that COVID-19 had, not only with college students but the entire world, on food insecurity. So really, we’re dealing with a social world that’s still in dire need of some more support within both food insecurity and transportation insecurity. It’s definitely an issue of timeliness.”
Since all Maverick students can use their MavCARD to ride Mankato city buses for free, Glasser challenged her students as part of the 2018 study to try only using a Mankato city bus for two weeks to purchase groceries. Between limited busing hours and accessibility, students found the exercise revealing.
In 2022, Glasser’s class sought a deeper dive. “My students said, ‘Let’s follow up on this. This is what we want
Sociology professor Carol Glasser and her student Mitchel Pomije.
to do—do research and talk to key stakeholders,’” Glasser said. “It turned into a social research class.”
Pomije, who plans to teach social studies, was interested in studying the nexus between food insecurity and transportation. Pomije found in a 2023 research study that about 94% of domestic University students have their own vehicles. Meanwhile, only about 40% percent of international students
can access private transportation and only 22% of all riders reported that city bus routes provided enough options.
“(International students) are also the students who are likely to stay in Mankato over winter break and might have more culturally specific diets,” Glasser said.
Serving Students
Ashley Jaxal, a gender and women studies graduate student, also participated in the 2022 study. She and a student colleague met with Mankato city officials to encourage expanding city bus routes beyond Walmart, Target, Kwik Trip, etc., to include the Echo Food Shelf.
“They were very willing to hear us out and look into those proposed changes,” Jaxal said.
In fall 2023, Glasser and Pomije coauthored a study on the intersection of transportation and food insecurity that further underscored the need to diversify the city’s bus routes. With Glasser’s encouragement, Pomije received an undergraduate research grant to conduct surveys and later won an award from the Sociologists of Minnesota.
“Dr. G is an amazing human, amazing professor,” Pomije said. “She’s someone who’s going to be in your corner.”
After the study was published, Pomije spoke at a city transportation summit. City leaders heeded the requests: In November 2023, the Mankato Area Transit added Echo Food Shelf— which is located on Front Street—to Downtown Express Route 7.
“We’re being able to use the resources that we already have at the University, make some tweaks and better serve the students on our campus,” Pomije said.
Glasser lauded her students for making a real-world impact in addressing food insecurity on campus.
“I’m so proud of them,” she said. “This is a story of long-term cumulative student efforts where research served as a really strong foundation to provide a speaking point for student activists, student government and people who are in the community.”
For a Better Reflection
Grants help College of Education increase school counselors of color in Minnesota
Joe Tougas ‘86
Paulina Guse, a grade-school counselor and member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, recalls a powerful photo of her son amid his preschool classmates in Waseca, Minnesota.
It was one of several pictures from the school of kids taking part in normal activities for the parents to see.
“I remember looking at his picture and I thought ‘Woah—he goes to school and he doesn’t see anyone who looks even remotely like him,” Guse said. The moment was a reminder of her own childhood as a Native American in largely white Minnesota towns and the difference it could make if that color gap narrowed.
“Having one person who maybe isn’t blonde or maybe seems a little bit like you makes a difference,” she said in her office at the K-3 Hartley Elementary School in Waseca.
“I think it matters.”
So does the state of Minnesota.
Thanks to Department of Education grants to MSU, Guse is among nearly a dozen non-white graduate students in the Professional School Counseling program who are receiving financial support to become school counselors.
The program, formally titled the Student Support Personnel Workforce Pipeline Grant, seeks to ramp up the number of people of color and Indigenous people entering the school counseling profession across the state. Aimed at BIPOC graduate students in professional school counseling, it covers tuition, books, transportation, fees, mentoring, professional development and even emergency funds to help with surprises such as car problems.
“You name it, we wanted to break down every barrier to entry possible,” said Tracy Peed, chair of MSU’s Counseling and Student Personnel Department and coordinator for the Professional School Counseling program. Peed and her co-author, Laura Maki applied for the grant, which as of August totaled $750,000. Peed and Maki also helped select the recipients and mentors.
According to data shared by the College of Education, less than 10 percent of Minnesota’s licensed school counselors are indigenous or people of color, yet 35 percent of elementary school kids are.
Guse said she was excited to learn of the opportunity, which aligns nicely with her career goals. Having taught 11 years at the K-3 Hartley Elementary in Waseca, she
Elementary school teacher Michaela Alexander (with her son) is pursuing a school counseling master’s degree.
The difference in them becoming a successful student, adult, however far you want to go, is just that one positive person.”
– Paulina Guse
became the school’s counselor when the position became available last year. A year into the job, she heard of the Pipeline program and successfully applied.
A counselor’s job today is heavy on social and emotional fitting in, she said.
“The difference in them becoming a successful student, adult, however far you want to go, is just that one positive person,” she said. “Whether it’s a teacher or a coach or a counselor or a friend’s parent or just a friend. They just need one positive person. So I think making those relationships with kids and having that in the background is what motivates me in this position.”
Another teacher, Michaela Alexander ‘16, was a Black kid adopted by a white family and raised in the small town of New Richland. Alexander today is in her ninth year of teaching fourth grade at Franklin Elementary School in Mankato. She’s enrolled in the Pipeline program to prepare for becoming a school counselor. Were it not for the grant, she likely wouldn’t have done so.
“I still have student debt from my four-year elementary ed degree, so the money has made it possible,” she said. “I don’t think I would have been able to do this school counseling master’s program without it. I just couldn’t afford it, I wouldn’t have the time. It really opened up this opportunity for me.”
Alexander said she enjoyed growing up in New Richland, where she was active in cheerleading and 4-H. At the same time, she said, she stood out in a predominantly white school and knows what it’s like.
“As a school counselor, I can reach those minority kids more than I can as a one-classroom fourth grade teacher,” she said. “Yeah, they see me in the hall, but as a school counselor, they’re all going to see me. They’re all going to get to interact with me.
“I would have loved to have a school counselor or a teacher look like me growing up.”
Paulina Guse has been both a teacher and a counselor in the elementary school setting.
A Wide World Awaits
Armentrout opens eyes to the opportunities in sport management
Joe Tougas ‘86
As director of the University’s sports management program, Suzannah Armentrout knows that a lot of new students have some super-specific career goals in the sporting world. General manager of the New York Yankees, for instance. Or owner of an NFL team.
With the odds of getting such work being a few stars short of astronomical, Armentrout doesn’t quash her students’ hopes. Rather, she expands them.
“There’s a lot of opportunity out there, but I would say people put limitations on themselves when they want to be an athletic director for a division one university or they want to be the general manager of a professional sports team. There’s not a lot of those out there,” she said.
What is out there is a $300 billion industry loaded with opportunities, and exploring them has been at the core of the sport management program and Armentrout’s 17 years in it at MSU.
Offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees in sport management, the program exposes the wide, wide world of sports-related work as early as its intro classes. Early classes provide a lot of interaction with guest speakers who, collectively, illustrate the range of careers to be found, careers that include work in the fitness industry, college athletics and myriad roles in human resources and marketing.
Suzannah Armentrout has been teaching sport management at MSU for 17 years.
Armentrout said she takes pride in the program’s emphasis on hands-on experiences.
“For instance, in our event management class, you put on an actual event. In our sport law class, you’re doing a risk management plan. ... We try to provide a lot of handson opportunities there so people get the experience,” Armentrout said.
“We call ourselves an applied program. You’re getting out and there’s actually a job in the field. And what the research faculty do is more applied research that will be helping people in the industry.“
Armentrout grew up in Mukwonago, Wis., near Milwaukee. While attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she was on the school’s rowing team. She finished her undergraduate degree there and attended the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities for her graduate work. En route to her master’s degree and doctorate in kinesiology, Armentrout discovered she enjoyed teaching. That led her to a role as sport management faculty 17 years ago.
“I really like connecting with the students and I really like helping the students figure out what they want to do and where to go,” Armentrout said. “That’s what I enjoy the most.”
For the past 12 years, the program has partnered with HAN University in the Netherlands on student exchanges, giving both the chance to see how course work is done on the other side.
“It’s not just American students who are plopped into the Netherlands or Europe or vice versa,” Armentrout said. “We have combined classes so that when they’re here, half the class is Dutch. And so they really get to have more of a cultural impact and they get to see a little bit of the similarities and differences of what sport management would be in Europe compared to here.”
Here, the sport management program has been up and running for 40 years, with enrollment steady at 300. The draw to MSU’s program, Armentrout said, is its emphasis on getting students into the work more than the theoretical. It has research components and students do go on to get doctorates, she said.
“But our focus is the hands-on, real-world experience that we offer here.”
“
I really like connecting with the students and I really like helping the students figure out what they want to do and where to go...”
– Suzannah Armentrout
MSU sport management students in the Netherlands.
The Movement Artist
Amanda Dyslin ‘03, ‘15
New dance faculty embodies, encourages self-exploration through art
When Yukina Sato was a young child in Tokyo, Japan, her father put on a recording of the Latvian classical ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the normally active 3-year-old sat down quietly in front of the TV to watch.
That was the spark. Sato’s mother enrolled her in ballet class, and she went on to train in the Vaganova (Russian) style of ballet, which focuses on maximizing flexibility and whole-body expression. It would lead to a career in dance and choreography, most recently as the newest dance faculty member at MSU.
“I love contemporary dance the most,” said Sato, who joined the faculty in 2023. “In recent years, I have been stripping off my training and trying to understand my body. I am focusing on gravity and how we can ground ourselves, yet move lightly and sharply. I am interested in creating movement within two extremes, such as strong but light, powerful but soft.”
In Japan, during her formative years as a dancer, cultural expression didn’t factor into how she considered and choreographed movement. The awareness of her cultural identity emerged in 2016, she said, when she started her undergraduate studies at the University of Central Oklahoma and found very few international students in the dance program.
“Back home, I didn’t need to realize I was Asian or Japanese. But in the United States, I’m always keenly aware of my ethnicity and nationality,” Sato said. “However, this doesn’t mean that I explicitly showcase Japanese culture through my dance pieces. Instead, I embody my country and my lived experience as a Japanese woman in the United States.”
Sato says she grapples with the hybridity of her Japanese past and her present in the United States, and the two intertwine to shape herself and her art.
“I refer to my ‘embodied memories,’ archived through my body, as the inspiration behind all of my dance work,” she said.
Having wrapped up her first year as an assistant professor, Sato has also been encouraging her students to engage in self-exploration. She provides tools and guidelines, but there’s no “right” or “wrong” in her classroom.
“I see dance classes as a place where students can think and explore their own artistry,” she said. “I see each student as a movement artist, the same as I am.”
Daniel Stark, director of dance, said Sato’s collaborative style, standards of excellence, and positive attitude have been great contributions to the program.
“Yukina is unique in her multifaceted strengths as a dance instructor, dance maker and dance scholar. Intelligent, creative and an excellent example for our students of what a dance artist/educator can be,” Stark said. “She is amazing at challenging students to high standards while simultaneously inspiring them in finding their own joy as a dancer.”
Sato said the past year has included drastic change—earning her M.F.A. in May 2023 from The Ohio State University in Columbus, beginning her new position in a new city a couple of months later, and transitioning from the mindset of a student to a teacher.
“However, I had great colleagues who were welcoming and supportive, and students who were eager to learn from me,” she said. “It was a huge learning curve this year, and I am grateful for it. I’m excited for the upcoming years to expand my career not only in teaching at MSU but also in performing and presenting in the Minnesota dance community.”
Dark Tourism
A University professor researches how cities around the world deal with their dark pasts—or avoid them.
Joe Tougas ‘86
Beth Heidelberg’s interest in macabre history has been lifelong, from studying everything about the Titanic as a kid to honeymooning in Salem, Mass., site of the infamous witch trials and executions centuries ago.
The urban studies professor at Minnesota State Mankato is an historic preservation specialist who in the course of her work has merged both her academic studies and her penchant for the heebiejeebies. She’s achieved this combo by researching how various cities around the world cope with people traveling to visit sites where terrible things happened, from disasters to murder.
She’s traveled and written extensively about how “dark tourism” is addressed effectively or, in some cases, not at all. The impetus for her ongoing research on the topic was her honeymoon in Salem, where in 1692 20 people were executed on charges of witchcraft.
Heidelberg noticed how the city didn’t avoid its dark past, but acknowledged it in a number of ways, including working with the tourism chapter to host events such as an annual Halloweenthemed festival that’s largely responsible for $40 million in tourist revenue annually.
“It clicked to me that here’s a city that’s got millions of tourists every year,” Heidelberg said.
The Salem Witch House Welcome Sign.
What is it like to be known as a city that’s pretty much only associated with something so dark?” “ – Beth Heidelberg
Beth Heidelberg’s research includes trips to Salem, Mass. where the city has embraced the dark history of its notorious witch hunts.
Witch Trials Memorial, Salem, Massachusetts
The Salem Witch House, the home of Justice Jonathan Corwin, now a museum owned and operated by the city.
“They get tons of revenue. How does that impact the people who live there? How does it impact the government? What is it like to be known as a city that’s pretty much only associated with something so dark. It’s fascinating.”
Some cities want nothing to do with promoting or engaging in any way with a tragic past. Amityville, N.Y., for instance, routinely draws tourists looking for the house that inspired the 1977 bestseller “The Amityville Horror,” subsequent film, and several sequels. Behind the wild claims of supernatural possession promoted by the book and films, the was the scene of a 1974 mass murder of a family by one of their own.
On one level, because the tourists are inevitable, Heidelberg sees missed opportunity. But she understands the strain of a small town of 10,000 not wanting a grisly murder to be its largest claim to fame. In her research, she interviewed a friend of one of the victims.
“They hated it when people came to visit,” Heidelberg said. “They felt it was people gawking at something already painful. So if somebody came to the community asking where the house was, they’d direct them miles away. I understand that.”
She noted how Holcomb, Kan., admirably deals with a similar history. Holcomb is the rural town where two men in 1959 killed the Clutter family in their home in a case that resulted in the nonfiction book “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote.
“[The city] developed a plaza and it doesn’t mention the murders at all. It explains who the Clutters were and how they contributed to the community,” Heidelberg said.
Turning tragedy into education is one way to handle the inescapable eye of history in places such as the Auschwitz WWII concentration camp in Poland.
“You see thousands, millions every year visiting, and that’s as dark as it’s going to get,” Heidelberg said. “And you see massive tourism to places that have promoted a positive educational aspect associated with their tragedy. If they can
In the city of Clear Lake, Iowa, a memorial built to resemble a turntable with records about to drop. Clear Lake’s Surf Ballroom was the last concert for rock legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, who died in a plane crash the night of their show.
turn it into something educational and say ‘Here’s our tragedy, here’s how we can use it to make the world a better place,’ you tend to find a lot of people going there.
“Even Auschwitz, here’s this terrible tragedy that happened, and here’s how we can teach you to never let it happen again. It’s a museum, it’s a tourist spot but they’ve retained as many of the original buildings as they could. People are going to it and they’re learning.”
A native of Forest Lake, Minn., Heidelberg received her master’s degree from MSU in 1999, after which she worked for the city of Eagan, Minn. for five years in its parks and recreation department. From there she pursued her doctorate, took on teaching at MSU and remains enamoured with the department and its approach to teaching as well as research such as hers.
Her goal—to coincide with her next sabbatical—will be a book on dark tourism directed toward cities grappling with the issue.
“What I want to do is create that best practice, those recommendations for local governments and members of the community who want to get involved,” she said. “One of the central themes of that will be: Involve friends and family of people who were impacted by these. Because If you don’t have them on board, you should just drop it because otherwise it’s not right.”
Outside of Surf Ballroom
Memorial outside Surf Ballroom
Seeds and Inspiration
Business, innovation, technology and science all intersect in the University’s new School of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
Amanda Dyslin ‘03, ‘15
For the College of Business’ inaugural FutureSolvers Cultivation Challenge held in fall 2023, groups of students were asked to dream up a financially viable ag business and prove why it would work.
They were given a pretend $5 million investment, shown the specs of a particular Southern Minnesota plot of land, and the only parameter was that they couldn’t sell the land.
The results showed the vast diversity of what the food and ag industry encompasses at the University. As an example, Minnesota State Mankato team The Tropical Wine Hub’s idea consisted of three integrated hubs: a winery/ vineyard, geodesic greenhouses, and a solar farm. South Central College’s Black Squirrel’s Creek team designed a self-sustaining farm with Jennie-O turkey barns, renewable energy, and a direct-to-consumer beef operation.
All six teams demonstrated a kind of thesis statement about both the agricultural pitch competition itself and the College of Business’ AgriBusiness and Food Innovation Program overall: The food and ag industry is about much more than row crops and livestock. It’s an industry where business, innovation, technology and the sciences meet and where demand for new talent is on the rise.
“Our message is: If you come from an ag background, there’s a job in ag for you. If you come from a different kind of background, there’s still a job in ag for you,” said Shane Bowyer, associate professor of management who helped develop the College of Business’ ag program.
Minnesota State Mankato was granted official status as a Non-Land Grant Agricultural School in 2016 in response to demand from students and regional industry partners who wanted an ag school. The following year, the College of Business started the AgriBusiness and Food Innovation Program as a minor, with the first class offered in spring 2018. The major was approved in 2022.
Bowyer said the diversity of student backgrounds and interests in his classes reflects the industry.
The first-place winning team in the Future Solvers competition.
Students presented their proposals during the Future Solvers event.
Members of the Ag Today student group along with faculty. From left: Shane Bowyer, Aaron Budge, Tim Anderson, Mriganka De, Morgan Robbins, Dalton Brunsing, Megan Cummings, Josh Nelson, Drew Smook, Peter Nelson.
Many Fields, One Roof
The School of Applied Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Launched Oct. 7, 2024.
Amanda Dyslin
‘03, ‘15
This fall, Minnesota State Mankato launched the School of Applied Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources to unify several key majors and serve as a beacon of talent for the region’s rich ag and food industry.
The school will include the BS in AgriBusiness and Food Innovation in the College of Business; and the BS in Agricultural Science and BAS in Agronomy in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.
David Hood, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said the majors will still operate out of their respective colleges, but the school will shine a light on the degree programs available for students and coordinate the applied research and learning related to agriculture, food and natural resources.
“It draws these programs in these colleges together to create unique, co-curricular opportunities and highimpact experiences for students; where the students in Agronomy might be able to partner with students from Agricultural Science or AgriBusiness on real-world learning experiences,” Hood said.
Aaron Budge was named the school’s interim executive director.
Budge, who earned a doctorate of philosophy, a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with geotechnical engineering emphasis from Utah State University, likened the new school to a multi-faceted graduate school.
“It will be a matter of pulling together some of those folks with common interests under a bigger umbrella across the university,” Budge said. “There will be opportunities to think bigger than the boxes, so to speak, within the programs as they currently exist on campus.”
“We will more intentionally begin to develop the talent pipeline for these rich industries and help students to realize the broad, diverse, amazing opportunities that are available to them in those various industries,” Hood said. “That’s one of the biggest things that industry has told us, that what they need is more of our talent on the applied side and not so much on the research side. … We’re looking to become that powerhouse on that applied side and really impact those industries in that way.”
Representatives from both MSU and South Central College were on hand to celebrate the new school and partnership (back row, left to right): T.J. Brown, agribusiness professor at SCC; Ryan Wersal, associate professor of biology at MSU; Laura Attenberger, vice president of academic affairs at SCC; David Hood, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at MSU; Aaron Budge, interim executive director of the School of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Amy Durand, dean of Agriculture at SCC. (front row, left to right): SCC President Annette Parker; MSU President Edward Inch.
“I have students who come from farms and some of them thought they maybe didn’t want to farm but then realized they still wanted to be involved in agriculture in some way,” Bowyer said. “I have a few students who are from the Twin Cities metro area who are drawn to the many career opportunities, and they know it’s an innovationand entrepreneurial-driven industry.”
Bowyer said the program has helped unify other offerings that had previously existed, including the longstanding Richard Schmitz Food Entrepreneurship Series, an endowment established in 1999 to bring in industry leaders in food processing, retailing and wholesaling industries to work with students. Jay Debertin, President and CEO of CHS, was the 2024 guest.
It also gave rise to new opportunities, including FutureSolvers; the Henze Ag Innovators program, which allows a select group of students to explore food and ag careers; and AgToday, a student organization that promotes the growth and awareness or agricultural economic vitality.
There are about a dozen students majoring in ag and food, and the goal is to grow the program by showing students how integrated business and ag truly are, Bowyer said.
One reflection of a new era of agriculture at the University is the creation of the School of Applied Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. The school’s interim executive director, Aaron Budge, grew up on a family farm in Utah and has been a longtime faculty member in the University’s College of Science, Engineering and Technology.
The new school’s role of bringing together students from various areas around campus makes perfect sense based on what he’s observed in his role in the college.
“ If you come from an ag background, there’s a job in ag for you. If you come from a different kind of background, there’s still a job in ag for you,”
–Shane Bowyer
Jay Debertin, President and CEO of CHS, was the 2024 guest of the Richard Schmitz Food Entrepreneurship Series on campus.
In April, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited campus and met with food and ag industry educators and students.
Ag in Action event at Sibley Park
“For a while, the vast majority of students graduating in civil engineering were going out and working to design hog farms, for example, throughout southern Minnesota,” Budge said. They were working on agricultural drainage remediation measures. They were working on different things related to agriculture, even though they were civil engineers. Budge saw similar work happening in aviation with drone technology and GIS with crop monitoring, to name a couple.
“A lot of things throughout our college and certainly across the university relate to ag even if it’s not directly visible,” Budge said. “There’s really cool opportunities to see more of those interactions across the campus and across the system.”
Opting for Ag
Engineering student changes lanes
Amanda Dyslin ‘03, ‘15
Morgan Robinson, a junior from Spencer, Iowa, is a food and ag major who didn’t come from a farming background—a trend that’s been increasing as the industry continues to diversify.
Robinson started out as a civil engineering major, but she learned through an internship in the field that the career wasn’t going to suit her. That’s when she started asking her boyfriend, who grew up farming, about the agricultural industry and what kinds of jobs are available.
The field was much more diverse than she could have imagined, so much so that she hasn’t carved out a specific career path yet. But she did officially switch her major to agribusiness and food innovation two years ago.
“I had an internship at a dairy manufacturing facility last summer, and I really enjoyed that. But I wanted to learn more about the crop side of things,” Robinson said. “So right now I have an internship with Crystal Valley as a sales agronomist, and I’m really liking that as well. I think I’ll either go into something with food manufacturing or something agronomy wise, where I’m out in the field talking to farmers and trying to help them achieve their goals by exploring new opportunities available to them.”
Robinson said as the food and ag program has grown, so have the opportunities for students on campus. For example, she was part of the Henze Ag Innovators program, which is a select group of students who get to explore food and ag careers and develop leadership skills.
“There are all kinds of different opportunities in this major. You get to be an innovator. You get to be creative. You get to help people,” said Robinson, who is also co-chair of Ducks Unlimited and president of AgToday on campus. “You don’t realize until you’re in it that you’re actually helping feed the world.”
Magic Maverick Moments
In ‘24, Athletics put the University in the spotlight
Drew Lyon ‘06
Weeks after graduating from Minnesota State, Maverick track star Denisha Cartwright beamed on the CBS Sports Network at primetime as she accepted the Division II Honda Athlete of the Year honors from the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards.
She would return to campus to train for the summer Olympics, where she represented her home country of The Bahamas. MSU junior Jabez Reeves and alum Emmanuel Matadi also took part in the Paris games.
National media earlier in the year captured MSU’s victories in both the men’s and women’s NCAA Division II basketball championships.
As a marketing major—not to mention the charismatic star and de facto spokesman of MSU’s men’s championship basketball team — Malik Willingham understands the power of such earned media. During a thrilling March Madness run alongside his female counterparts that helped #MavFam trend online, the quotable senior guard played a pivotal role in boosting a brand and burnishing the University’s reputation off the court.
“I feel like Joey (Batt) and I were people who stayed loyal to the University for five years and were a voice to tell people what the University is like,” Willingham said just days before graduation. “It’s super exciting to show people what we are doing here.”
Willingham and Batt, the elementary education graduate and floor leader for the University’s Division II women’s basketball champs, estimated they each participated in about 50 print, digital, radio and TV interviews during their respective title runs.
Their coaches, Matt Margenthaler and Emilee Thiesse, engaged in dozens more, generating buzz for the University and making Mankato the basketball capital of the world, as a euphoric Margenthaler told CBS Sports after the Mavs’ last-second victory over Nova Southeastern.
“The community and hometown support has been amazing,” Batt, said. “We go to the grocery store and at least one person will stop us and say, ‘Hey, you guys won—congrats!’”
Five times during the Elite Eight, University President Edward Inch and Athletic Director Kevin Buisman drove seven hours back and forth from the women’s tournament in St. Joseph, Mo., to watch the men’s team compete in Evansville, Ind.
“We had a lot of car time, and I said to (President Inch), ‘How do you put a value on this exposure?’” Buisman said. “We got on the national stage on ESPN and CBS Sports— the spotlight’s really been on the University, and we do feel like this will have an impact on future enrollment.”
Buisman showed his appreciation to NCAA Division II Coach of the Year Margenthaler and Thiesse, whose 228 wins are second-most in program history, by signing both to five-year contract extensions.
“Every time I hear it said—‘National Champions’—it starts to feel real, but it’s still incredible that all of this really happened,” Thiesse said. “It’s raising eyebrows on what this university is.”
Coach Emilee Thiesse celebrating the NCAA Division II women’s basketball championship.
Malik Willingham holds the victory trophy after the Mavericks took the title.
Putting in Work
In the weeks after the players cut down the nets, the magical postseason felt still akin to a dream (come true).
“It’s literally been a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Batt said. “It hasn’t totally set in with me that we won a national championship.”
Malik Willingham shook off foul trouble in the title game long enough to pass the game-winning assist to his younger brother, Kyreese, whose rainbow, three-point shot from the corner sent #MavFam into delirium. For Malik, who aspires to play professional ball, hoisting the championship trophy with his teammates meant delivering on a bold prediction.
“It sounds crazy, but I told coach (Margenthaler) when I got here, ‘I want to make sure before I leave that you’re a natty champ,’” Willingham said. “I knew if I put in the work, it was going to happen.”
#MavFam is more than a social media tagline, Buisman said. It’s a community that was on full display at athletic events. #MavFam is the Maverick Machine providing sonic energy at games; it’s cheering sections, watch parties and welcome-home celebrations.
“It’s a real thing,” he said. “MavFam is about the pride on our campus, it’s about how we feel about each other, how the other sports send videos of support and congratulations to each other.”
Racing ahead
The University’s basketball squads were hardly the only Maverick teams that achieved success in 2023-24. From the baseball diamond to the soccer pitch to the tennis court, the University continues producing what Buisman calls “generational student-athletes.”
“We’re getting this momentum,” he said. “It starts to attract a different caliber of athlete.”
Since arriving in Mankato for the 2020-21 year, Denisha Cartwright has taken Division II track and field (both indoor and outdoor) by storm. During her senior year, Cartwright raced to four of the top-five marks in Division II history in the 60-meter hurdles, including a DII record-setting 7.93 mark—the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history. In May 2024, she notched another DII record by posting a 12.60 mark in the 100-meter hurdles.
Cartwright’s long list of titles and accomplishments as a student athlete culminated in being named DII Central Region Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
“Her accolades are staggering,” Buisman said. “It almost seems like she’s got the ‘cheat code’ on Xbox, but nothing’s impossible for Denisha.”
Months after graduating, Cartwright finished eighth in the Paris Olympics’ 100-meter hurdle event. Now the most decorated track and field student-athlete in Minnesota State Mankato history, she’s the first Maverick to make an appearance in women’s track and field in the Olympics.
Cartwright said the University, her coaching staff and teammates have been vital to her success.
“I feel like coming here helped bring me out of my shell and taught me how to lead,” she said. “I’m so glad I chose to be a Maverick.”
Denisha Cartwright’s record-breaking career as a Maverick track and field star included eight NCAA individual championships. She was named the Collegiate Women’s Sports Honda Division II Athlete of the Year in 2024.
Joey Batt ’24, floor leader for the women’s team.
A Golden Life
Sheri Hudspeth has found her calling with the Vegas Golden Knights
Robb Murray ‘95
For a woman raised in hockey-crazy Canada, finding a way to live out her passion for the sport was challenging when she and her husband moved to the desert.
Sheri Hudspeth, a goal-scoring specialist recruited to play for Minnesota State Mankato’s Division I women’s hockey team, confronted that challenge when her husband’s job meant relocating to Las Vegas. But as she’d done in previous relocations, Hudspeth found a way. And the Las Vegas stop on her hockey journey—while it may seem an unlikely development—has turned into a dream job.
“It’s rewarding,” says Hudspeth. “It’s definitely an honor to take a sport you love and grew up with and share it with families who you know didn’t grow up with it.”
Hudspeth, a native of Aurora, Ontario, who played two seasons at MSU, is Director of Youth Hockey Programs and Fan Development for the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights, a role that keeps her extremely busy—especially during hockey season.
On the ice, she works with youth teams that come to skate between periods at the Golden Knights games as well as with the team’s AHL affiliate The Henderson Silver Knights. She also coaches a Jr. Knights team for girls 10 and under and oversees the NHL Learn to Play program and the Lil’ Knights program.
Off the ice, Hudspeth works on the Vegas Golden Knights marketing team doing outreach events at schools, community centers and throughout the VGK TV territory with the VGK Roadtrip.
“I’m never bored,” she says. “This job utilizes the skill sets I have with hockey, management, being good with people and customer service.”
Hudspeth arrived at MSU in 2000 on an athletic scholarship and played for two seasons until a knee surgery and concussions ended her Mavericks career. As for what Minnesota State Mankato did for her, Hudspeth says just getting asked to play Division I hockey, and then doing so at a high level, changed the trajectory of her life; the rigors of competing at the highest collegiate level improved her time management, training regimens and teamwork.
“The skills you learn playing Division I hockey translate into your professional life,” she said. “If I didn’t play Division I hockey, I don’t know if I’d be working in the NHL. Playing at Mankato is something that’s always stuck with me. I am proud to be a Maverick”
Sheri Hudspeth with the championship ring from the Golden Knights’ 2023 Stanley Cup win.
Hudspeth at the Rivalry Games with Kendall Coyne Schofield of the USA Women’s National Team and Marie-Philip Poulin of Canada’s team.
Hudspeth with the Stanley Cup and Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy.
Sheri Hudspeth (right), with former teammate Shari (Vogt) Dickerman (now the Mavericks head coach), during the Alumni Game at Hockey Day Minnesota in Mankato in 2022.
Hudspeth with a young hockey player.
The Innovator
Ryder Febo goes his own way
Drew
Lyon ‘06
Few phrases in the English language grind Ryder Febo’s gears more than when he’s told “that’s how it’s always been done.”
“To me, that’s just kind of a lame answer,” he said. “I always try to think about different ways that things can be done and at least explore those avenues.”
Febo, a graduate of the second cohort of Minnesota State Mankato’s Twin Cities Engineering (TCE) program, is confounding expectations by, in his words, “reimagining the status quo”—one vending machine and bear spray canister at a time.
Two years ago, Febo and his fiancée, Holly Longen, created the Bear Spray Shack, an automated bear spray rental machine (like Redbox, but for bear spray) for hikers and campers to protect themselves from bears in a sustainable and affordable fashion.
“It’s a business idea that not a lot of people would expect I could get into,” said Febo, who currently lives in Salt Lake City. “Let’s make the (machines) available 24/7, invest in technology, make it better and change the way it’s always been done.”
Rebecca Bates, a professor and chair of the University’s Department of Integrated Engineering (which houses TCE and Iron Range Engineering), said Febo’s determination and outside-the-box approach were apparent from the moment he started the program.
“Ryder was always invested and interested in the quality of the program,” Bates said. “And one of the best things about him was that he really took it upon himself to think of ways that would help the program improve.”
Febo said TCE’s project-based curriculum helped turn his Bear Spray Shack vision into reality.
“Once I got some industry experience under my belt, I saw how well TCE prepped me,” he said.
Febo has already built three vending machines from scratch and is currently building two more. The Bear Spray Shack rental kiosks are available at Yellowstone and Glacier national parks. More locations across the country are in the works.
“TCE really gives you the experience to start to learn things that you need to learn and gives you the confidence to take that on,” he said. “When you get into TCE, you’re given these open-ended problems that have no answers and that’s stuck with me through my entire career so far.”
Febo is giving back to the program that helped launch his career. He’s become a TCE adjunct instructor, and for the past several years has served as an industry mentor, creating an environment for University students to challenge conventions through project-based learning.
“TCE really prepared me, and so when the opportunity came along to be a mentor to help engineering students have the same advantages that I did, it just clicked,” Febo said. “I want to give them the opportunity to elevate their experiences.”
A graduate of the Twin Cities Engineering program, Ryder Febo has produced Bear Spray Shack vending machines used in national parks.
A promo photo for Bear Spray Shack.
The Crawford Couple
Pete ’66 and Ethel ’69 Nelson came back to Crawford to help on Move-in Day
Joe Tougas ’86
Not even one day into her first year of college and Ethel Wilcox’s new roommate was already setting her up with a guy.
Wilcox was carrying her belongings alongside her mother into Crawford Hall on an August afternoon in 1965. An outgoing cheerleader from Luverne, Minnesota, she was attending college to be a teacher.
“We get up to my room, there was a girl in there and she looked at me and said ‘I know the perfect guy for you. Do you want to go out tonight?’”
The guy was Pete Nelson, a senior at what was then known as Mankato State College from the small town of St. James. The two met in Crawford that night and made their way to a small party at an apartment in town.
They have remained together ever since, marrying two years after meeting. Their life together has been one of successful careers in computer science and teaching, raising a family and traveling the world.
This fall, almost 59 years to the day of that first meeting, the couple found themselves in the exact spot where they first talked to each other: the lobby of Crawford Hall. Heeding a social media request from MSU’s Alumni Association for alumni interested in helping move students in, the Nelsons traveled to campus to assist on Move-In Day.
“One of the things that always hits me is a little bit of nostalgia,” Pete said. “But it’s only a little bit because the campus has changed so much.”
As for that crucial first date in 1965, Pete and Ethel had fairly different takes on it immediately afterward.
“I thought it went great,” Ethel said, “even though I spilled a Coke on Bob Humphrey’s camel saddle.”
The party had been at the apartment of Bob Humphrey, son of Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Secret Service staff were there serving Cokes, they recall.
Pete, on the other hand, fretted that he had not shown Ethel a good time.
“ – Pete Nelson
If she had a wonderful time on a mediocre date, how could this go wrong? So we went out again. And again.”
“I sort of ignored her half the night,” he said. The other half must have worked, though, because he was told secondhand that Ethel had a fine time.
“I thought, ‘Oh, this has promise,” Pete recalled thinking. “If she had a wonderful time on a mediocre date, how could this go wrong?’ So we went out again, and again…”
Their second date was at a coffee shop in the lower level of Brett’s department store in downtown Mankato. The two shared Pete’s favorite dessert: A donut with ice cream and chocolate on top, called a Brown Derby.
“We’ve shared a lot of desserts since then,” Pete said.
At Move-In Day 2024, the pair wanted to come down to help in any way they could, they said. One way was to help anybody—particularly parents—who might feel uneasy about saying goodbye to their kids.
“I’m going to read their body language, read their face,” Ethel said. “See if they’re apprehensive. And just assure them that this is the greatest place.”
Pete Nelson’s class ring, with his Phi Delta Theta fraternity’s letters and the image of Old Main’s entry.
In fall, Pete and Ethel Nelson returned to the site where they met in 1955: Crawford Hall, where Ethel was a new student in 1955. The couple married two years later and in 2024 came back to help students on Move-In Day.
Pete and Ethel Nelson with the yearbooks of their respective graduation years.
In Her Son’s Name
The Alan Rivard scholarship has been given for 40 years
The diagnosis and the end were only weeks apart for Alan Rivard.
A 1981 graduate of Mankato East High School, he joined the U.S. Army with plans of returning and attending Minnesota State Mankato upon finishing. But Rivard was diagnosed with acute leukemia while stationed in Germany in 1983 and died two weeks later at the age of 20.
How the Rivard family – mother Phyllis, father Dick and brother Dan – chose to memorialize him began the following year and continues to this day. It’s a scholarship, in Alan’s name, that has been awarded to dozens of Mankato East graduates over the past 40 years to continue the path that Alan could not—an education at MSU.
Phyllis Rivard still recalls the shock of him telling her that he had cancer.
“But 40 years later you learn how to deal with it,” she said recently, “and the scholarship has helped.”
A longtime businesswoman in Mankato, Phyllis used Alan’s life insurance to start a scholarship for highachieving Mankato East graduates. Over the years, she added to the fund, resulting in an annual scholarship with a value of $4,000.
The money she continued to add to the fund would have gone to Alan, Phyllis said.
Joe Tougas ’86
Alan Rivard
Alan Rivard’s military photo.
Summary
The Minnesota State University, Mankato Foundation awards more than 1,000 privately funded scholarships to students each year. Students apply through Scholarship Finder, which makes it easy for them to find scholarships for which they are qualified. Foundation scholarships start at a minimum of $2,000 a year to four-year renewables of $10,000 and more. The numbers below are for the 2024-25 academic year.
1,035
– Phyllis Rivard
“If he had been here, if he still had been alive, he would have gotten that money,” she said. “In a way by doing the scholarship, it felt like it was just continuing honoring him.”
The scholarship itself has helped 40 students over the years attend MSU and become what they’d hoped: computer engineers, teachers, principals, corrections professionals, business owners, bankers and more.
Alan himself had gone into linguistics in the Army, learned German and was stationed in Germany.
Phyllis’ hope is to someday establish a reunion for all the recipients of the scholarship honoring Alan. At first, she and her son Dan would meet each recipient and their family.
“It was a very comforting experience for us, because they were so excited to go to MSU,” she said. “We vicariously had that pleasure of seeing someone going on to college.” it was just continuing honoring him.”
Students Received Scholarships
$18,572 $2.823
Endowed Scholarships totaling over $1.5 million
926 549 Scholarships Awarded Largest Scholarship Awarded, $2,700 Average Scholarhip Million in Scholarships Awarded
Love is On the Air
Pledge drives keep KMSU soaring
Kate Kolar ‘24
How does a community radio station some 60-plus years old continually blast the doors off of its pledge drives?
“We support the community, so the community supports us,” said Dwayne Megaw, general manager of KMSU, the listener-sponsored University radio station. This fall, its $33,333 pledge drive goal was surpassed early in the drive. Few were surprised, given recent drives.
In April’s spring pledge drive, listeners responded to the station’s $40,000 goal by pledging a total of $54,000. Surpassing pledge drive goals is becoming an easily met challenge at the station.
They happen twice a year, giving listeners, supporters and local business an opportunity to come together to show their love and appreciation for the station’s diverse programming—much of it from volunteer hosts.
Those volunteers are music aficionados in a wide range of genres, from the jazz and blues shows hosted by Gary Campbell of St. Peter to the mod rock shared every Tuesday afternoon by University communications professor Jen Tiernan.
“College and community radio are an integral part of university campuses and communities and I love being a part of that,” Tiernan said.
Longtime listener Eric Steinmetz said he pledges the equivalent of a dollar a day to the station to support “the reality and the possibility of the radio station itself as a proponent of music, art, and culture.”
“It’s one of those institutions that seem to transcend personalities and fads,” Steinmetz said.
Mostly behind the scenes is Megaw, a 1992 alum now in his fifth year of directing KMSU after spending much of his career in commercial radio throughout the Mankato area. It’s Megaw who strategizes the drives, arranges for matching grants from community businesses and tends to the station’s ad-free, listenersponsored programming. Megaw graduated from MSU with a mass communications degree and soon after worked for stations in the area that are now part of Radio Mankato. He joined KMSU in 2019 as station manager.
He credits much of the station’s pledge drive success to staffers Tim Lind and Shelley Pierce, co-hosts of the longstanding “Shuffle Function,” show. Each spring, Lind and Pierce conduct a “24-hour Pledge Drive-a-Go-Go” in which they stay on the air for 24 hours straight with quirky programming and appeals for pledges.
“They’re the drivers,” Megaw said, noting that the pair routinely pull in a couple thousand during their regular 6-9 a.m. morning show at pledge time.
The station is getting increasingly out and about as well, supporting community music events such as Blues on Belgrade, Songs on the Lawn and the Rock Bend Folk Festival.
Money is used to upgrade equipment—from CD players to a new transmitter, recently—as well as fund the kind of tech that allows the station to provide an app, giving users access to previously aired shows as hear the new all-Minnesota music channel curated by Pierce that airs on an HD radio channel the station created.
In an era where traditional media is contemplating what to cut, KMSU has enjoyed being able to add to its strength, a strength built on a loyal and growing listenership eager to see—and hear—what’s next. “That’s what I’ve done throughout my whole radio career,” Megaw said. “I try to find the next thing that people are connecting through.”
Eager to support the Mavericks and Minnesota State Mankato? Explore the many ways to contribute at mnsu.edu/giving
Station Manager Dwayne Megaw.
From left, volunteer Stacy Larsen joins ‘Shuffle Function’ co-hosts Shelley Pierce and Tim Lind for a pledge drive shift.
KMSU sponsorship helps the City of Mankato’s annual Songs on the Lawn continue.
Shared Traditions
Scholarship-winning Williams sisters aiming their studies toward teaching others back home
Robb Murray ‘95
Winona and Ayasha Williams, twin sisters in their third year attending Minnesota State Mankato, are both active in indigenous life in and around campus.
In Mankato, they brought a traditional Round Dance to a community-wide arts crawl in April. They participated in September’s 52nd annual Mankato Pow-Wow, attended over the years by tens of thousands of people, white and Native. They have both served as presidents of the Native American Student Association and have led activities in the annual Native American summer camp for kids.
The two credit the university with providing opportunities and comfort they might not have had anywhere else. For these two enrolled members of the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Nation, their time here has been made possible with help from the annual $2,000 Andreas American Indian Scholarship, which both have received at different points. Winona twice received the scholarship; this year Ayasha received it.
And what they get here, they’re taking home to the Native school they attended near their hometown of Milwaukee. A private elementary school, Indian Community School taught several native languages, including Ojibwe, which their family’s elders spoke.
Winona initially came to Minnesota State Mankato seeking an alcohol and drug studies major, but it was only a matter of time before she switched to something more meaningful to her.
“I realized that I wanted to teach the language,” Williams says, “and I understood how it felt to not know the language.”
Now she’s an indigenous studies major with a goal to return to that school and give back by teaching students the Ojibwe language.
It is not an issue of keeping a language alive, Winona said.
“It’s the opposite,” she said. “In our generation specifically, there’s more people that want to be language teachers compared to the older generation before. There’s way more people wanting to be language teachers now. They’re doing a lot of work in Ojibwe immersion schools.”
Ayasha also plans to return to her old school to serve as a guidance counselor. She’s a psychology major who will also minor in Indigenous studies. She excited, she said, to give back to what her first school gave her.
“Once I left Indian Community School, I no longer had people who wanted to help me preserve my cultural identity, so eventually I lost it,” Ayasha said. “That journey is what motivated me to pay forward the positive impact of the support and guidance I had received at ICS and help ensure Indigenous students continue to learn and engage in their culture within the classroom, preserving their cultural identities too.”
The role MSU has played, Ayasha said, has been significant in maintaining that identity, specifically meeting and working with Megan Heutmaker, director of American Indian Affairs at MSU.
“Megan showed me that I didn’t have to sacrifice one thing or the other, that my academic and cultural identities could both thrive,” Ayasha said, “which gave me a feeling of the environment I cherished as a kid at ICS, an environment I didn’t have throughout middle school and high school.”
In joining the Native American Student Association, she said, “I was then re-engaging with my culture and relearning my native language.
“This all led me back to the feeling of a sense of community again in an academic setting. MSU helped greatly.”
Megan showed me that I didn’t have to sacrifice one thing or the other, that my academic and cultural identities could both thrive.” “
–Ayasha Williams
In April, Winona and Ayasha helped organize the first Round Dance in Mankato at the Kato Ballroom with help from the Native American Student Association and American Indian and Multicultural Affairs. Pictured from left: Sydney Sistad, Ayasha Williams, Redwing Thomas, Megan Heutmaker, Riley Evans, Winona Williams and Atrinity Tipton.
Both Williams sisters have been president of the Native American Student Association on campus.
Class Notes
1940s
Evelyn (Ellingboe) Horwath ’48, ’69, ’76, Mankato, MN, is a retired grade school teacher and library technician. She lives in an apartment in Old Main Village where she had her first college classes and met her husband, Otto Gaylord ‘59, in 1947.
1950s
Mark Lammers ’53, ’57, Minneapolis, MN, retired in 2018 after teaching music at a number of schools in various Minnesota school districts, University of Minnesota, and Gustavus Adolphus College, where he also was a research professor.
Jerome Erickson ’55, Stevensville, MI, retired in 1995 after holding teaching positions in public schools, colleges and universities. He also was a health officer in Michigan.
John O’Reilly ’58, ’62, Lady Lake, FL, had been a teacher for two years, teacher principal for 31 years and a certified flight instructor for more than 50 years prior to retiring.
Ann Ruddy ’58, Fort Collins, CO, is retired but also an artist, librarian, political activist, local history researcher, and gardener.
Dale Reedstrom ’58, Martinez, GA, retired as the director of forms and information management at the University of Minnesota.
1960s
Sylvia (Reinke) Miller ’60, Tucson, AZ, is retired.
James Lembcke ’60, Orange, CA, is retired.
Helen (Berger) Christianson ’60, Minneapolis, MN, has fond memories of her time at MSU and continues to stay in touch with fellow students.
George Maddison ’62, Iron, MN, is the retired owner of Voyageurs Adjusting and Appraisal.
Elain (Cluever) Johnson ‘65, Brooklyn Park, MN, is a retired ESL teacher who taught in Pelican Rapids, MN.
Stephen Ochs ’65, Dallas, TX, started his career as a computer programmer trainee and retired as director of management information systems.
James Gunst ’65, Reynoldsburg, OH, is retired.
Sally (Johnstone) Irrgang ’65, Bloomington, MN, is retired.
Russell Hoeffner ’66, Janesville, MN, retired after working 33 years as a teacher, high school principal and superintendent.
Shari (Davis) Ness ’66, Redwood Falls, MN, is a retired elementary teacher who taught for 41 years.
Terence Conway ’67, Hilton Head Island, SC, is retired after serving in the U.S. Air Force, where he held many different positions.
Yvonne (Wolff) Cory ’68, Easton, MN, is a self-employed fiber artist who owns Joys and Tears in the Apron Strings. She also is a public speaker.
John Huisman ’68, ’72, ’79, is a city councilor with the City of Blue Earth.
Gerald Bentson ’69, Minneiska, MN, is retired after 25 years working in purchasing, material management, and sales. He enjoys collecting coins and wildlife art. Gerald and his wife, Sally, spend their winters in Apache Junction, AZ.
Errol Carlstrom ’69, Minneapolis, MN, is a retired CEO.
Gerhard Skaar ’65, Pensacola, FL, retired from the U.S. Navy.
Richard Swenson ’67, is a self-employed real estate agent in Edina, MN, who has two grandchildren.
Ken Smisek ’69, ’80, Le Center, MN, is a retired proud parent of three daughters, three sons-in-law and nine grandchildren.
1970s
Bonnie (Clapp) Cowles ’70, ’91, Apple Valley, MN, is an elementary teacher in the Inver Grove Heights, MN, schools. Her husband, Robert Cowles ’66, was a teacher and computer programmer with Northwest Airlines. He passed away in May 2023.
Jerry Carstensen ’70, ’79, Champlin, MN, is happily retired and enjoying traveling as well as helping to care for his 13th grandchild.
Paula (Wornson) Krugel ’70, Spring Hill, TN, is a retired elementary school teacher.
Professor Richard J. Roiger teaching a class in 1982. Photo courtesy University Archives.
John Noterman ’70, is a retired Northwest Airlines pilot.
Gene Bygd ’71, Silverthorne, CO, is retired.
Oscar Bygd ’71, Silverthorne, CO, is retired.
Reid Cleland ’71, St. Cloud, MN, is retired.
Michael Severeid ’71, San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, is the owner/director of Toddler Tree Preschool.
Scott Andreasen ’71, St. Joseph, MN, is a private detective and owner of Scott Investigation.
Arlene (Ruter) Pooley ’71, Janesville, MN, is retired.
Carole (Peterson) Winterrowd ’71, Vadnais Heights, MN, is a retired nurse.
Emil Mattson ’71, Tucson, AZ, lives in Arizona.
Gary Sween ’72, Mankato, MN, and his wife Norma (Pearson) Sween ’74, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The pair met while playing in the Minnesota State University, Mankato marching band. Two of their three children also graduated from MSU.
Patricia (Neary) Bieber ’72, Ely, MN, retired from Lutheran Social Services and is living at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota.
Perry Butler ’72, North Palm Springs, CA, is a writer with the Desert Daily Guide in North Palm Springs. Prior to this he was a home and hospital teacher with Palm Springs United.
Ken Gardner ’73, is an adjunct faculty member at Minnesota State University, Mankato where he is supervising teacher candidates within the College of Education.
Kenneth Fisher ’73, is a self-employed physician who is considering re-entering the field on a part-time basis.
Edward Peterson ’73, Aiken, SC, is married and living in South Carolina.
Paul Carlson, ’73, Ransom Canyon, TX, recently published his 26th book, “Heaven’s Harsh Tableland: A New History of the Llano Estacado.”
Catherine Petersen ’74, ’78, St. Paul, MN, is retired and was appointed to the board of directors of Jawaahir Dance Company for a two-year term. She is a member of Khazanah, a middle eastern dance troupe for women.
June (Stager) Farwick ’74, Aiken, SC, is retired and enjoying the south.
Ronald Weyl ’74, ’81, Le Sueur, MN, is a retired rehab director who worked for the State of Minnesota for 17 years and in the private sector for more than 30 years. His wife, Rose (Amundson) Weyl ’81, retired from her work in therapeutic recreation. She also worked for the State of Minnesota and in the private sector.
David Cress ’74, Naples, FL, had a successful accounting career, thanks to MSU.
Dianne (Mattson) Melcher ’75, St. Anthony, MN, retired as a clinical nurse specialist in psychiatry.
Willis Lewis ’75, Surprise, AZ, is a retired teacher and army SGM.
Steve Solberg ’75, Mankato, MN, is retired.
Diane St. Laurent ’71, Rochester, MN, retired after working 30 years in education including districts in Rochester, Stewartville and Chatfield, MN. She has four children and nine grandchildren.
Jim Butcher ’76, Burnsville, MN, is a sales associate at Edina Realty and owner of Redstone Design LLC, which builds custom homes in the Twin Cities area.
Scott Anderson ’78, Bradenton, FL, is a security representative with Hertz Rental Car in Sarasota, FL.
James Wrobleski ’79, Eagan, MN, is retired after 30 years in the private sector and 20 in the public arena in economic and workforce development. He earned his MBA from the University of Minnesota. His wife, NANCY MAREK, ‘81, is also retired.
Pamela Brunfelt ’79, ’00, Ely, MN, is a retired professor who taught at Minnesota North College-Vermilion.
Michael Magnusson ’76, Russell, KS, is the owner of Front Range Packaging, LLC in Russell, KS.
L. Oliver Hueng ’76, Richfield, MN, retired after working in accounting for 40 years.
Stan Nelson ’76, Rancho Mission Viejo, CA, retired after owning a home remodeling business. He also worked for the State of Minnesota, forensics. He is enjoying retirement and spending time with his grandchildren.
Thomas Forbes ’77, ’81, Fort Dodge, IA, is living in Ft. Dodge.
Michael Cole ’77, Burnsville, MN, is an agency owner of American Family Insurance, which he has been with for 34 years. He also worked for Target Stores. He has six children and five grandchildren.
John Leer ’77, Eden Prairie, MN, retired in January 2024 after 30 years as an independent sales rep in the tabletop and accessories industry and 18 years as a reverse mortgage banker.
Cheryl Wiersema ’77, Estero, FL, is a retired Washington County social worker.
Mark Gardner ’77, Oakland, CA, has been working in real estate since the late 1970s.
David Sorensen ’78, Eagleville, PA, is a retired Lutheran minister who has written numerous books and articles.
Steve Erickson ’79, Kingwood, TX, retired in 2020 after 40 years in regional retail field management with Foot Locker, Footaction and General Nutrition Centers.
Terry Davis ’79, Hutchinson, MN, is a retired small town newspaper reporter/ photographer. He is working with cousins to update a 50-year-old family genealogy book.
1980s
Carl Wieman ’80, ’81, Owatonna, MN, is retired. He and his wife, Denise, raised more than $10,000 for multiple sclerosis last year by participating in the MS Road Run, a motorcycle tour in Minnesota. This is the couple’s 22nd year participating.
Tom Johnson ’80, Estero, FL, is retired and living in Florida after working 42 years in IT in Minneapolis, MN.
Greg Carlson ’80, Blooming Prairie, MN, retired in 2017 from the Austin Public Schools.
Jim Mattke ’80, Stoughton, WI, is married and lives in Stoughton.
Class Notes
Frederick Simon ‘81, New Prague, MN, has been retired for seven years. He volunteers with Meals on Wheels and works at the local food shelf. He has belonged to of an assortment of other organizations as well.
Michael Lepage ’83, Mesa, AZ, is a principal software engineer with Boston Scientific. He and his wife recently celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary.
Manuel Palaganas ’84, Meycauayan, Province of Bulacan, Philippines, is retired.
Robert Davis ’85, Chaska, MN, is the founder and owner of Financial Compass Corporation, Deputy Grand Master of Minnesota Freemasons and former Peace Corps volunteer.
Robert Tatro ’80, Efland, NC, recently retired as a production technician with Flexcell International Corporation after more than 35 years of service.
Mary Grosscup ’81, Minnetonka, MN has been a licensed psychologist since 1995.
Steve Loomis ’81, Gilbert, AZ, is retired.
Randy Schaub ‘81, Danube, MN, is a state director with the Minnesota American Legion Baseball.
Daniel Kellander ’83, Lake City, MN, is a maintenance director with Camp Victory in Zumbro Falls, MN. He received his master’s degree in 2022.
Joseph Hamilton ’81, Irvine, CA, is an attorney at the John J. Hamilton Law Office.
Richard Merwin ’82, Blaye, France, retired and is living in France.
Shawn Mahaney ’82, Prior Lake, MN, is retired after spending more than 30 years as a law enforcement officer. He retired as a sergeant with the Burnsville Police Department.
Daniel Gartner ’82, Houston, TX, recently retired from practicing law.
Tom Johnson ’82, Paynesville, MN, is retired after 12 years with Johnson Brothers Construction and 20 years as the vice president of risk control at St. Paul Companies/Travelers Insurance.
Thomas Pesch ’83, Victoria, MN, is a partner with Olsen Thielen & Co. in Eden Prairie, MN.
Sandy Mader ’84, Plymouth, MN, retired in January after working 33 years with Scott County Human Services as a chemical dependency/adult mental health case manager.
Kimberly (Miller) Sodergren ’84, Central Islip, NY, retired after 34 years as a director at Suffolk County Department of Social Services in Hauppauge, NY.
Viv (Nelson) Watson ’84, Willmar, MN, is an inventory specialist with Runnings. She has been playing the clarinet in pit orchestras at The Barn Theater in Willmar for more than 17 years.
Susan Krall ’84, Gold Canyon, AZ, retired from her human resources administration career in 2018.
(Janie) Isabel (Mendiola) Smith ’85, Carmel, IN, is a supplier diversity manager-Midwest with Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas, NV.
May Tseng Lin ’86, Apopka, FL, is retired and living in Florida.
Carol Herman Isaacson ’86, Brooklyn Park, MN, recently changed careers to learn more about specialty coffee by becoming a barista with Ebar Specialty Coffee Nordstrom.
Sheryl Larson ’86, Monticello, MN, is a COA with North Memorial Health in Elk River, MN.
Rada Alamat ’87, Madaba, Jordan, is a retired colonel.
Alfred Chinema ’87, Roseville, MN, is a data center engineer with M Fairview Services in Minneapolis.
Alan Swanson ’87, Maple Grove, MN, is a senior database engineer with Ams Osram Vixar in Plymouth, MN, and is the proud grandfather of three grandchildren.
Ruth (Stevens) Lemmon ’88, Amboy, MN, recently retired after a 35-year career teaching elementary-aged kids.
Todd Thoma ’88, Minneapolis, MN, is married and living in Minneapolis.
Steven Kennedy ’88, Nahua, NH, has had three orchestra premieres in 2023, two by UMASS-Lowell Symphony and one by the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra.
Sue Bowles ’88, Pataskala, OH, is a speaker, author and master certified life coach with My Step Ahead, which she founded. She works with clients domestically and internationally and has written two books.
Paul Goettl ’89, Lutsen, MN, worked in financial control for Bluefin Bay Family of Resorts until he retired in June 2024.
Marie (Pooley) Pirsig ’89, Moorhead, MN, is married.
1990s
Shanon (Moose) Knudtson ’90, Frisco, TX, is a program underwriting manager with Am Trust Financial Group in Addison, TX. She refereed the NAIA National Semi-Finals for women’s volleyball in December 2022 and was an alternate referee for the final.
Mary (Greden) Klepper ’90, Rochester, MN, is a business analyst with Mayo Clinic.
Michelle (Tupper) Hector ’92, Myersville, MD, is a software developer manager with GDIT.
Larry Rockow ’94, Sioux Falls, SD, is a truck driver with CFI Temp Control.
Beverly (Glaser) Butler ’98, Shakopee, MN, is the principal/founder of Icon Interior Design LLC in Minneapolis. She and her husband have five grandchildren.
Todd Nichols ’90, Brownsville, TX, is an assistant technology director with the Brownsville Independent School District.
Heather (Hartwig) Isaacs ’90, ’92, Edina, MN, is the director of energy careers academy for Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Minneapolis.
Wayne Johnson ’90, Sergeant Bluff, IA, is vice president of transportation with Ag Processing Inc. in Omaha, NE.
Barrie Evans ’90, ’98, ’13, Moraga, MN, is a partner, Sr. Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, QRP, with State of California, Disability Works California. Prior to this he worked for the State of Minnesota.
Nolakay (Storm) Williamson ’91, River Falls, WI, is the owner of the Anytime Fitness franchises in Mankato and White Bear Lake, MN.
Matthew Pothast ’91, Park Ridge, IL, is a key account manager with Ocular Therapeutix in Chicago. He and his wife have two sons.
Mary (Greden) Klepper ’91, Rochester, MN, is a business analyst—department of anesthesia and perioperative medicine with the Mayo Clinic who earned her ECBA Certification through the International Institute of Business Analysis.
William Malinen ’92, St. Cloud, MN, is retired.
Pamela (Ommen) Swanson ’92, ’94, Lakeville, MN, is a special education teacher, volleyball and track coach with Independent School District 194 in Lakeville.
Joseph Cotter ’92, Prior Lake, MN is the co-founder and former CEO of Learners Edge.
Kelly (Shea) Barke ’93, ’94, Prior Lake, MN is a financial coordinator with Lakeville Orthodontics. Prior to this she was a dental hygienist.
Manoj Sharma ’94, Las Vegas, NV, received a Community-Based Research Faculty Award from the University of Nevada Las Vegas in 2023. He is a highly ranked global scientist, according to Elsevier.
Gordon Gwathney ’94, Seymour, TX, is a patrol lieutenant with the Knoxville Police Department, where he has worked for about 27 years. He also served three years active duty in the United States Army and six years in the Army National Guard.
Amy Olson-Treptow ’94, ’96, ’98, Rochester MN, is a research protocol specialist with the Mayo Clinic.
Rodney Blais ’94, North Mankato, MN, is in part time retail with C & S Supply in Mankato, MN.
Genet Simone ’94, Seattle, WA, is a career and technical education teacher with the Seattle Public Schools who recently published her first book, which is a memoir.
Tara Enedy ’95, Altoona, PA, is the executive director of the Altoona Community Theatre, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
Cory Mcintyre ’95, Minneapolis, MN, is the superintendent of Anoka-Hennepin Schools in Anoka, MN. Prior to that he was the superintendent of Osseo Area Schools.
Darin Bratsch ’95, Danube, MN, is in facility operations with Olivia Hospital & Clinics in Olivia, MN. In addition to his current position, he has spent time working in agriculture production and education. He also served as a school board member for 16 years, He and his wife, Stacy Bratsch ’95, have three daughters.
Jodi Erickson ’95, is one of the organizers for the Mankato River Ramble, which saw more than 1,000 people riding their bikes in the Mankato area last October.
Dr. Amy Ladue ’95, Victoria, MN, is the associate superintendent for instruction for Minnetonka Public Schools who received the 2023 Richard Green Scholar Award, an award developed to honor the scholarly work and professional development of Minnesota school leaders.
Jane Arnold ’95, Le Mars, IA, was named UnityPoint Health - Sioux City’s 2023 Market President, overseeing operations at UnityPoint Health—St. Luke’s and UnityPoint Clinic locations in Siouxland.
Paula (Willhite) Ludlum Fleenor ’96, Moab, UT, is a retired clinical laboratory scientist.
Dr. Roberta Pellant ’96, Hingham, MA, recently published her memoir, “Searching for Sea Glass,” through Amazon.
Tim Kirchoff, ’97, Longmont, CO, recently began an apprenticeship as an optics fabrication technician. Prior to this he was teaching physics.
Patrick Truman ’97, Ballston Spa, NY, is a captain with REVA, Inc. He spent time in Montana and Alaska, and has two children. He has been flying air ambulance since 2001.
Jacqueline (Bartolomei) Hanson ’97, Grand Forks, ND, is a treatment director with Meridian Behavioral Health in East Grand Forks, MN, and has an extensive background in her field and education.
Nicole (Meyer) Weedman ’97, Jordan, MN, is a senior recreation supervisor with the City of Eden Prairie where she manages the areas of therapeutic recreation and youth development. Her son is a freshman at MSU.
Mary (Kasella) Twining ’97, Palo Cedro, CA, is the owner of Sparrow Valley Ranch.
Tina Palmer ’97, Eden Prairie MN, recently joined Ecumen as a senior vice president and chief mission advancement officer. She has years of experience in fundraising with local, regional and national nonprofit organizations.
Kimberly Penning ’98, ’06, ’16, Owatonna, MN, is in her seventh year of teaching high school science in the Owatonna Public Schools, and in her 25th year of teaching. She enjoys spending time gardening and being outdoors.
Amelia Anderson Calvert ’99, Reno, NV, is a development coordinator with Jobs for Nevada’s Graduates. She and her husband celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in May.
Dr. Laura Ingry-Kile ’99, Minneapolis, MN, is a specialized education services director with the Eastern Carver County Schools who received the Minnesota Administrators for Special Education 2023 Legacy Award. She has worked in education for 29 years.
Class Notes
2000s
Darlene (Mucha) Turner ’00, Fort Dodge, IA, is a retired family nurse practitioner who is enjoying spending more time with her 4 children and 4 grandchildren.
Kate (Robbins) Hansen ’00, ’06, Mankato, MN, is the owner of Blue Sun Designs, LLC who created and also owns Cabin No. 4, a brand of t-shirts and other products. The shirts are about all of the hard things people are doing in life. To date, she has donated more than $8,400 to the American Cancer Society, Jonathan Zierdt Cancer Fund and B the Light.
David Nadolski ’05, Chicago, IL, along with his sister is launching Culinary Cannabis Company.
Cassandra (Masters) Postel ’08, New Ulm, MN, is married and living in New Ulm.
Ally (Kwikkel) Fisher ’09, Cedar Falls, IA, is the clinical director of operations with Healogics in Jacksonville, FL, but works in Iowa. Prior to that she worked at a critical access hospital in wound and specialty clinics/surgery and as a clinical nurse manager and clinical program director. She and her husband have two young boys.
Lisa (Anderson) Barbery ’00, Woodbridge, VA, is a pastor with United Methodist Church outside of Washington D.C. She has one daughter.
Baldomero Valle ’00, Oakdale, MN, is an enterprise release management manager with 3M.
Andrew Baugher ’01, Ankeny, IA, is a B747 first officer with Atlas Air. He retired after 21 years of service in the United States Marine Corps where he was an FA-18 Hornet plot. He served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Africa, and Asia.
Jason Kennedy ’02, Beaumont, CA, recently was promoted to an administrator with the Riverside Community College District. He now is the director of workforce and economic development projects. Jason and his wife have a son and enjoy hiking in the mountains in California.
Kavin Lynch ’03, Rochester, MN, is a teacher in the Rochester Public Schools.
Celeste (Peterson) Ondich ’03, Brooklyn Center, MN, is a quality assurance supervisor with SpineThera Inc. whose son is a junior at Minnesota State University, Mankato pursuing a degree in ecology.
Lani (Remer) Drill ’03, Lakeville, MN, is a senior social worker with Hennepin County in Minnesota who is also a licensed nursing home administrator and licensed assisted living director.
Corinne Johnson ’04, Apple Valley, MN, recently received her master’s degree in leadership and management from Concordia University in St. Paul.
Barbara (Houser) Vanderham ’04, Brandon, SD, is a human resources business partner with General Motors. Prior to that she worked inn the talent acquisition field.
Joseph Williams ’05, ’07, Durham, NC, is a full professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jennifer (Bruns) Myers ’05, St. Paul, MN, is an associate professor of exercise science at the College of Kinesiology at Concordia University, St. Paul.
Amanda (Rosenau) Schindler ’07, Le Center, MN, is a warranty administrator with Harrison Ford in Mankato, MN.
Christina Olson ’07, Statesboro, GA, is an associate professor of creative writing with Georgia Southern University who recently released her third full-length collection of poetry.
Josef Makatewassi ’07, McAllen, TX, is a field researcher.
Andrea (Thorkelson) Moen ’08, Otsego, MN, is a human resources, global supply chain and logistics with Target in Minneapolis who is training to be a certified life coach.
Andy Wilke ’09, Mankato, MN, is the executive vice president of Greater Mankato Growth.
2010s
Misty (Mccolley) Riebel ’10, ’12, ’18, Sleepy Eye, MN, is an MS/HS principal with the Cedar Mountain School District in Morgan, MN.
Shawn Tweten ’13, North Mankato, MN, ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a primary challenger. He is a licensed counselor and marriage and family therapist.
Cole Kukowski ’13, Aberdeen, SD, is a financial advisor with Edward Jones. He and his wife have a 2-year-old son.
Garrison Spangler ’17, Mankato, MN, is the former assistant football coach at Ellsworth Community College who now is the assistant football coach at Mankato West High School.
Patricia Dominguez-Mejia ’19, Watertown, MN, is a regional ombudsman for long term care with the State of Minnesota.
Phillip Wiltzius ’10, Chehalis, WA, is a health educator who has more than 10 years of service with the Washington State Department of Health. He helped lead the state’s COVID-19 vaccine communications to health care providers during the pandemic.
Bri (Jennissen) Morbitzer ’11, ’14, St. Paul, MN, is a speech language pathologist with Superior Speech Therapy, which she owns. She also runs a stuttering group/conversation group for adults who stutter. She and her husband, Chris, are expecting their fourth child this fall.
Meagan Mcconnell ’11, Milwaukee, WI, is a youth services librarian at the Oak Creek Public Library in Oak Creek, WI. She and her husband welcomed a baby in January 2023.
Jenna (Zanter) Peckman ’11, Roanoke, VA, is a marketing program manager with Carter Machinery in Roanoke, who welcomed her daughter in summer of 2023.
Dira Thokwane ’11, Gauteng, South Africa, is a lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology. Prior to this she worked at the University of Pretoria, teaching English for academic purposes for four years.
Derek Hillinger ’12, Mahomet, IL, is an operations services manager with Constellation Corporation.
Madeline (Greene) Korva ’12, Shoreview, MN, is a senior digital strategist with Tunheim in Bloomington, MN, who got married in December 2023.
Keith Peterson ’13, Walker, MN, is a social worker with Cass County who was recently recognized for his six years of service with the county.
Andrew Ramirez ’14, Bloomington, MN, is a recreation supervisor for the City of Eagan who serves on the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association’s Board of Directors, as well as Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Recreation and Parks Leadership Studies Advisory Board. He was awarded the Horizon, Presidential, and Meritorious Services Awards, and also received an Alumni Excellence Award from MSU.
Jill (Starzecki) Flaherty ’14, Lakeville, MN, is an R&D GLIMS/ELN supervisor with the new 3M Healthcare Company. She has been with 3M for about 10 years.
Julia (Putz) Whitcomb ’15, Mankato, MN, is a public health preparedness consultant with the Minnesota Department of Health in Mankato, MN.
Kathie (Kallevig) Peterson ’15, Chino Valley, AZ, is a professor at Yavapai College in Prescott, AZ.
Erica (Oberender) Pawletzki ’15, Oakdale, MN, is a district dietitian with South Washington County Schools in Cottage Grove, MN. Prior to that she worked with the South St. Paul Food Service Department.
Sara (Johnson) Harvey ’16, Owatonna, MN, attended Minnesota State University, Mankato along with her husband, Harvey. The couple welcomed their first son in January 2023.
Kyle Broten ’16, Rochester, MN, is married.
Nicole (Theobald) Job ’17, Florence, KY, is the general manager at Fun.com in Elsmere, KY, who is set to open a new distribution center outside of Cincinnati, OH.
Robbi Will ’17, ’21, Eagle Lake, MN, is an elementary principal within the Madelia Public Schools. Prior to this she was an elementary mentor and instructional coach with the Mankato Area Public Schools.
Chelsea (Calhoon) Mccann ’18, Huntington, WV, is a quality coordinator with Ascend-Maximus who welcomed her first child in February 2023.
Amber (Wise) Rounsville ’18, Willmar, MN, is a registered nurse with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota.
Ethan Janak ’19, Boulder, CO, is an environmental professional with H2E Incorporated, where he has worked in a number of positions.
2020s
Natalie Vorel ‘20, Piedmont, OK, is a professional rock climber with USA Climbing who also is an American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) certified instructor. She was the first USA climbing certified disabled route setter in the world who has placed in a number of competitions.
Marcis Corbin ’20, Mankato, MN, is a software developer with Dotson Iron Castings in Mankato, MN who will be transitioning into a JDE developer.
Tamarah (Frank) Humphreys ’20, Boulder, CO, is a hall director at the University of Colorado Boulder. She met her husband, Webster Humphreys ‘23, while working in Residence Life at .
Denae Henning ’21, Minnetonka, MN, is a senior account manager with Business Impact Group in Chanhassen, MN. She was married in June 2024.
Joshua Geary ‘21, Owatonna, MN, is in IT with Metronet.
Kenzie Burdick-Levang ’22, Maple Grove, MN, is a teacher continuous substitute with the Birch Grove Elementary School for the Arts.
Joniesha Hayes ’22, Bloomington, MN, is an onboarding foster care licensor with American Indian Family & Children Services in St. Paul. She recently received her Master of Social Work degree.
Sean Williams ’22, Austin, MN, is the executive director of the Owatonna Area Business Development Center.
Shawna Keating ’23, Suamico, WI, is a career advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Benjamin Homeister ’23, Austin, TX, is a coordinator, ticket operations with Round Rock Express.
Gavin Arntzen ’23, Forest Lake, MN, is a CS, training to become financial advisor, with Ameriprise Financial.
Jacob Anglin ’24, Rochester, MN, is a field engineer with PCL Construction.
Rachel Iverson ’20, St. Louis, MO, recently was promoted to assistant director for Student Transitions at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
Leah Reynolds ’24, Osseo, WI, is a 2LT in the U.S. Army Reserves as an engineer officer.
Braxton Fair ’24, Eagan, MN, is a software engineer with Thomson Reuters. He and his partner, Mikaila Malone ‘24, recently celebrated 4 years together.
In Memoriam
1940s
Mary Jane (Roebuck) Jacobson ’40
Maxine Louise (Mason) Faust ’41
Vera Gale (Page) Kreykes ’41
Lois Edith (Ulrich) Dale ’42
Alice Lucille (Schurtz) Mayer ’46
Kathryn Elizabeth (Thul) Resner ’46
Eunice Margaret (Bebler) Grunzke ’47
Irene Beatrice (Holmgren) Nelson ’47, ’68
Glenys Ardella (Wolner) Hotzler ’48, ’70
Beverly Jane (Tjosvold) Mattheis ’48
Arnold Frederick Sexe ’48
Mayone Joy (Zabel) Eppen ’49, ’77
Alberta Lou (Golly) Greimann ’49, ’70
Dorothy Agnes Heidel (Drescher) Schultz ’49
Janet Arlene (Jenkins) Smith ’49
Etta Bernice (Sparks) Steinke ’49
Marvin LeRoy Tenhoff ’49
Inez Mae (Nelson) Timmerman ’49
1950s
Arlouine Anne (James) Breuker ’50
Joyce Elaine (Osell) Keene ’50
Doreen Viola (Mueller) Kloth ’50
Elouise Grace (Filkins) Lucking ’50
Lois Ethel (Beattie) Mathews ’50
Gladyce Ilene (Bertness)
Nosbusch ’50, ’55
Edmund Dean Thul ’50
Nada Joyce (Fredericksen) Wiggins ’50
Betty Belle (Kile) Dallman ’51, ’70
Patricia Ann (Jones) McCormick ’51
Delores Ann (Johnson) Morrison ’51
Dorothy Lucille (Lyman) Nelson ’51
Marjorie Olive (Lokke) Zimmerman ’51, ’63, ’77
Rita Marie (Rector) Anderson ’52, ’62
Lula Margaret (Rollings) Fleming ’52
Janice Dorn Hexem ’52, ’82
Mary Margaret (Schneider) Myerly ’52
Ralph William Radant ’52
Margaret Ann (Hanna) Silvernale ’52
Louise Roberta (Sprecher) Crosbie ’53
Barbara Louise (Nelson) Erdahl ’53, ’72
Bernita Jean (Morris) Ladrigan ’53, ’61
Melvin Jacob Loewen ’53
Norvald Arthur Osland ’53
Lois Ruth (Krapf) Shella ’53
Kathryn Ann (Enger) Sjostrom ’53
Helen Kathryn (Meyer) Thelemann ’53
Evelyn Ruth (Sauer) Bernet ’54, ’58
Mary Therese Boggie ’54, ’56, ’89
Ara Boranian ’54
Eileen Leona (Smith) Leland ’54, ’68
Marlyn Joan (Seitzer) Miller ’54, ’59
Thelma Linnea (Bloomquist) Pokorny ’54
Ruth Annette (Gabriel) Reck ’54
Harold Howard Rickert ’54
Joelyn Ann (Partridge) Saemrow ’54
Barbara Kay (Jensen) Sanderson ’54
Betty Ann (Forseth) Sanger ’54, ’57, ’69
Joyce Elizabeth (Warner) Sinko ’54, ’60
Donna Delphine (Cramer) Smith ’54
Beverly J. (Schock) Boyne ’55
Joseph Jerome Campbell ’55
Frederick Herman Dauer ’55
Gerald Duane Hansen ’55, ’62
Catherine Ann (Finley) Johnson ’55, ’58
Wesley Krahn ’55
Ethel Edna (Klaassen) Neufeld ’55
David George Shaffer ’55, ’59
Joan Kathryn (Fisher)
Vanbeek-Reynen ’55
Nancy Marie (Cogan) Will ’55
Mary Ann (Mithun) Grimstad ’56, ’62
Stanley Walter Hansen ’56, ’62
Inez Lenore (Rasmussen)
Haukoos ’56, ’65
Alan Charles Hines ’56, ’65
Dorothy Mae (Jacobson) Hoffman ’56
Thomas “Tim” Bertrand Kiecker ’56, ’60
L. Donald Lobitz ’56
Katherine Jane (Evans) McKelvey ’56
Marilyn Jean (Meschke) Quiram ’56
Edwin Carl Sorebo ’56
Darold Keneth Baumgard ’57
Marcia Louise (McLaughlin) Chalgren ’57
Joanne Maurine (Goltz) Dressel ’57
Lorna Mae (Ekgren) Erickson ’57, ’67
Robert George Johnson ’57
Virgil Eugene Johnson ’57
James Harold Killen ’57
Gerald Leo Kleve ’57, ’59, ’62
Pierre Joseph LaFrance ’57
Beverly Carolyn (Anfenson) Machacek ’57
Marilyn Louise (Stoll) Murray ’57
Nancy Jo (Copenhaver) Olson ’57
Beverly Joyce (Riskedahl) Oyer ’57
Marita Ann (Hickey) Pagel ’57
William John Rausch ’57, ’60
Charlotte Louise (Johnson) Rogers ’57
Ronald George Schroer ’57, ’63
Eugene Clifford Shouts ’57, ’64
Helen Johanna (Birr) Thedens ’57
Thomas Dean Tonneson ’57, ’64, ’73
Marie Ernestine (Birr) Volkmann ’57
Carol Ann (Boyum) Welsh ’57
Charlotte Anne (Schottler) Winslow ’57
William Clemens Breer ’58
Dale Robert Kain 58
Maria del Refugio (Flores) Kautto ’58
Curtis Jean Kenyon ’58
Marjorie Ann (French) Lundquist ’58
Andrew Martin Madson ’58, ’65
Roger Dale Mathwig ’58
John William Mowan ’58
Eldon Oren Peterson ’58, ’64
Mary Margaret (Dickman) Stevermer ’58
Frederick Paul Temple ’58, ’64
Arlene Hazel (Brooks) Voecks ’58
Anita Louise (Allen) Wagner ’58, ’60
Sharon Lee (Kauffman) Anderson ’59
Jon Scott Arnold ’59
David Walter Bangerter ’59
Elizabeth Joyce (Walz) Biermann ’59
Robert Edward Butters ’59
Walter LeRoy Fust ’59, ’65
Rodney Sylvester Harman ’59
Karen Mary (Johnson) Hed ’59
Merle Edward Johnson ’59
Melvin Victor Karnitz ’59
Thomas Victor Liesch ’59
Roger Duane Mattison ’59
Thomas Ronald McCoy ’59
Jesse Frank Roberts ’59
Robert Andrew Schade ’59
Warren Walter Schueneman ’59
Nancy Elizabeth (Boldt) Schuenke ’59
Doris Mae (St. John) Thamert ’59
Floyd Alvin Thompson ’59
Ellen Anna Maria (Blakeway) Wehrman ’59
1960s
Paul John Anderson ’60, ’65
Charles David Beardsley ’60
Ann Louise (Erickson) Blasing ’60
Jerome William Bolte ’60
Richard Warren Deick ’60, ’60
Beatrice Evon (Tenley) Demaray 60
James Allen Hamann ’60
Paul Norman Herzberg ’60, ’72
Kennes Calvin Huntley ’60
Gerald Arden Inglebret ’60
William Harold Johnson ’60, ’75
Richard Edward Lyke ’60
Virginia Anne (Moses) McPhee ’60
Gladys Marie (Olson) Mullin ’60
Gerald Leonard Peterson ’60
Raymond Frances Schmitz ’60
Ethel Marie (Johnson) Sens ’60
Donald Edward Haack Smidt ’60
Kenneth LaVerne Trom ’60
Larry James Walsh ’60
Gene Fredric Wiebusch ’60
John Arthur Amann ’61
David Paul Arens ’61
George Norbert Bassett ’61
James David Brozik ’61
Merlyn Herbert Bruns ’61
Dennis Frank Buschkowsky ’61, ’72
Owen Paul Ensrud ’61, ’68
Robert Joseph Huschle ’61
Beth Ann (Newel) Johanneck ’61
Marlys Ann (Milbrath) Kilen ’61
Gregg Anthony Kruse ’61, ’64
Ronald John Kubes ’61
George Francis Maca ’61, ’68, ’76
James William Mittelstadt ’61, ’65
Lewis Olaf Olson ’61
John Williaim Peterson ’61
Michael Mack Peterson ’61
Richard Delmar Peterson ’61
David Grant Raney ’61
Howard Hugo Schroeder ’61, ’63
Avis Ann (DeVrieze) Tracht ’61
Marilyn Minnie Wick ’61
Dale Ralph Williams ’61
Ellen Kay (Handke) Bangtson ’62
John Jay Barrett ’62
Ardon Edward Buscho ’62, ’66
George Theodore Dalluge ’62
Jeanette Grace (Reinartz) Doggett ’62
Gene Robert Dumas ’62
Arthur Joseph Elliott ’62
Elvira Grace (Jones) Epp ’59, ’62
Elizabeth Marie (Bullemer) Haus ’62
Betty Kay (Hacklander) Hulsebus ’62
Dean Raymond Kolden ’62
Rolf David Nackerud ’62
William Duane Ness ’62
Robert Charles Randall ’62
Lester Jerome Swenson ’62
Loretta Eleanor (Mittelstadt) Wiehr ’62
Frederick Philip Bonthius ’63
Gerald Loren Cox ’63, ’69
Robert Edward Dubke ’63
Dean John Hartman ’63
Elizabeth Mae (Bemis) MacLeod ’63
Rodney Roland McNab ’63, ’67
Kenneth Wesley Moritz ’63
Laverne Charles Motzko ’63, ’69
George Henry Myers ’63
Bambridge Evans Peterson ’63, ’68
Sharon Margaret (McLean) Scheurer ’63, ’80
Russell Karl Schmitz ’63
Jean Kay (Schramm) Sedgwick ’63
Lois Stella (Jenson) Stenger ’63, ’70
Beatrice Lillian (Michaelis) Tews ’63
John Stanley Todd ’63
Virgil Carl Voigt ’63
Peggy Colleen (Walker) Youngstrom ’63
John Leland Anderson ’64
Donna Margaret Bruno ’64
Suzanne Mary (Schroeder) Buchert ’64
Gary Leonhard Dallmann ’64, ’69
John Byron Doyle ’64
David Dexter Getsch ’64
Kenneth Roy Hatch ’64, ’66
Gary Harlan Hughes ’64, ’65, ’70
Mary Helen (Golly) Larson ’64
Robert Henry Herman Lauer ’64
Cecelia Mae (Hick) Majeres ’64
Larry Daniel McKimm ’64
Thomas Frederick Nehls ’64
Wilfred Lee Phinney ’64
Bruce Allen Purdie ’64
Ronald Dale Robinson ’64
Karen Ann (Miller) Rudy ’64
David Lawrence Schleicher ’64
Carroll Dean Austinson ’65
Robert Daigneau Bulger ’65
Julie Ann (Vipond) Dickinson ’65
Margaret Jean (Siebenaler) Hamilton ’65
Carol Marie (Berndt) High ’65
Jan Ellis Johnson ’65
Roger Arnold Johnson ’65
Michael Scott Kirkeby ’65, ’68
John Edward Korpela ’65
Richard Michael Lynch ’65
Barbara Jean (Plotnik) Martin ’65
Kenneth John Meyers ’65, ’72, ’83
Lyle Burnett Noble ’65
Sharon Mary (Vrieze) Peacock ’65
Miles Daniel Pooler ’65
Cheryl Kay (Ingham) Regan ’65
Richard Leroy Aakre ’66
Adair Elizabeth (Murray) Anderson ’66
Rodney Vito Black ’66
Patricia Judith (O’Neil) De Jesus ’66
John Edward Lewison ’66
Gerald Robert Plahn ’66
Terry Phanis Swanger ’66
Kay Louise (Durkee) Tempel ’66
Dennis Leroy Thisius ’66
Judy Orrine (Malmquist) Trochlil ’66
Elaine Ruth (Verbrugge) Untiedt ’66
Rita Mae (Reindal) Usselman ’66
Albert Theodore Annexstad ’67, ’12
Donald Micheal Bailey ’67
Allen Lee Bode ’67
Coralee Sandra Boyer ’67
Ogden William Confer ’67
Douglas Glen Denisen ’67
Rodney Alan Foster ’67
Kermit Richard Hansen ’67
Gene Raymond Hoffmann ’67, ’77
Kathleen Kay (Westrum) McBride ’67
Suzanne Marie (Schoen) Newton ’67
Richard Charles Overholt ’67
DeLyle William Pankratz ’67, ’69
Dennis Dexter Parker ’67
Sally Ann (Boys) Phillips ’67
James Harold Reed ’67
Eugene Paul Roemhildt ’67, ’70
Jean LaVonne (DePyper) Short ’67
Kenneth Roger Siems ’67
Thomas Stanley Skiba ’67
Gary E. Thomas ’67
Lora Lee (Timm) Timm-Knuth ’67
Alice Beverly (Burzlaff) White ’67
Helen Arline (Knudson) Aase ’68
Donald Henry Berkland ’68, ’70, ’78
Marcia Ann (Hanson) Cherland ’68
Jeri Lynn (Snyder) Dockhorn ’68
Ann Louise (Mishek) Frederickson ’68
Sharon Lee (Duren) Jacobson ’68
Nancy Kaye (Friesen) Jeske ’68
Margaret Ann (Olson) Klaus ’68
Joan Dorothy (Harn) Landas ’68
Thomas Clayton Larson ’68
Jean Ann (Johnson) Ledvina ’68
Mary Catherine McComb ’68, ’73
Harry Gerald Miller ’68
Thomas Lynn Morgan ’68
Douglas Lyle Pedersen ’68
Gene Joseph Shavlik ’68
Diane Joy (Ramstrom) Shelton ’68
David Wayne Wartenberg ’68
Caroline Ann (Arndt) Whitney ’68, ’96
Calvin Carl Wurpts ’68
Richard Ernest Anderson ’69, ’77
Mary Louise Bolek ’69, ’83
Ernest Lumir Danek ’69
Gerald John Fischer ’69
Walter Arthur Goede ’69
Craig Garet Grudem ’69
Robert Gordon Hansen ’69
Grace Louise (McNeil) Haukoos ’69
Joyce Kay (Arndorfer) Hill ’69
Dee Etta Kay (Legler) Hollatz ’69
Sheldon Joseph Lieberg ’69
Glenn Harry Lueders ’69, ’71
Floyd Leo Mathiowetz ’69
Rebecca L. (Jordan) Merrill ’69
Allen Elmer Ronnenberg ’69
Mark Henry Schuck ’69, ’70
Lowell David Schwalbe ’69, ’77
Lois Margaret (Griffin) Stevenson ’69
Dianne Christie (Black) Stewart ’69
Vernon Russel Sunset ’69
1970s
Carole Lynn (Greiman) Busick ’70
Robert Bruce Cooper ’70
Robert Lawrence Day’70
Donovan Weston Ellendson ’70
James Michael Felten ’70
Dennis John Gillespie ’70
Gilbert Lee Hildreth ’70
Donald Joe Howard ’70
Ralph Wayne King ’70
Roger Lee Krull ’70
Francis Joseph Linster ’70
Frederick Oscar Lorenz ’70
Elizabeth Anne McKenzie ’70
Gary Daniel McNab ’70
Gerald Eugene Nelson ’70, ’81
John Gilbert Peterson ’70
Glen Francis Pike ’70
Diane Marie (Schumacher) Reasner ’70
John Daniel Reedy ’70
In Memoriam
Jerilyn Kaye (Michaletz) Ring ’70
Robert Will Runke ’70
Theodore John Sauers ’70, ’76
Darrel James Schroeder ’70
James Allen Scudamore ’70
Vicki Jean (Trom) Tischler ’70
Edythe Mae (Pinkava) Dittmer ’71
Roderick Adrian Downer ’71
Andrew Nelson Dvorak ’71
Nathan William Groote ’71
Brian Keith Hage ’71, ’74
Lawrence Dale Larsen ’71
Robert Alan Leonardson ’71
Rush Victor Lind ’71
Michael M McInerny ’71
Julie Ann (Sletta) Miron ’71
Jeanne Marie (Hemmelgarn) Moritz ’71
Marceille Lynn (Reed) Myers ’71
Douglas Kent Nelson ’71
Roger Allen Norland ’71
Gary Darwin Olson ’71
Frederic William Otto ’71
Cynthia Ann (Staples) Poulton ’71
David Earl Scearcy ’71
Jack Ray Schlicht ’71
Thomas John Sheehan ’71
Thomas Patrick Stienessen ’71
Katharine Lee (Allen) Sufka ’71
Roger Charles Totman ’71
Melville Woods Adams ’72
Lorna Mary (Hample) Bader ’72
Dwayne E Barker ’72
Bruce Allen Bateman ’72
Nancy Jane (Hoien) Beck ’72
Albert F. Becker ’72
John Henry Berg ’72
Colleen Roling (Roling) Brownworth ’72
David Lee Casper ’72
Timothy Patrick Connor ’72
Thomas Edward DuChene ’72
David James Goff ’72
Michael Bernard Griffin ’72
Marcelyn Junette (Johnson) Kvittem ’72
Charlotte Ann Lemke ’72
Marcia Mary Lundin ’72
Gerald Wayne Martinson ’72
Julia Jeanne (McAllister) Nelson ’72
Sally Ann (Lerud) Nelson ’72
Koral Sue (Bruesewitz) Rosendahl ’72
Clara Louise (Emmett) Schiller ’72
Beverly Jean (Medchill) Sorensen ’72
Damon Charles Thorsrud ’72
Christine Helen (Aufderheide) Fossum ’73
Jeffrey Hugh Daniel ’73, ’77
Gary Wayne Doolittle ’73
Clyde William Ekbom ’73
Kathy Anne Hurlburt ’73
Kent Wilson Jones ’73
Deborah Lynn (Gackle) Krueger ’73
Norman Alan Leistikow ’73
Mary Ann (Rode) Marietta ’73
Rodney Wayne Schmidt ’73
Kay Anne (Marshall) Tetrault ’73
Richard Allen Willman ’73
Dean Richard Willrett ’73
Barbara Ann (Bliesmer) Young ’73
Craig Myron Ayers ’74
Donnie Dean Chizek ’74
Larry Dean Christenson ’74
Karen Kaye (Gilbertson) Damlo ’74, ’94
Jolene Marie (Henning) Danielson ’74
Gale Robe Eichhorst ’74
Karen Kay (Palke) Henslin ’74
Loren Wayne Hoyhtya ’74
James Philip Krause ’74
James William Lang ’74
Henry Martin Larsen ’74
Thomas Ira Ramboldt ’74
Peggy Louise (Pierce) Skewes ’74
Philip Raymond Stroetz ’74
Lynn Patrice (Juaire) Wetherbee ’74
Douglas Walter Wichmann ’74
Debra Lane (Willson) Claxton ’75, ’78
Joseph Daniel Fuhrman ’75
Robert Earl Reid ’75
Daniel David Tierney ’75
James Edward Tierney ’75
Geraldine Ann (Younghans) Tucci ’75
Jay Clifford Anderson ’76
Craig Stephen Berberich ’76
John Patrick Cavanaugh ’76
Duane Alfred Christenson ’76, ’82
Wesley Lawrence Eral ’76
Craig John Grekoff ’76
Eldon Clarke Hirsch ’76
Bradley Eugene Johnson ’76
Wanda Louise (Tinklin) Lightburn ’76
Ronald Elton Peterson ’76
Robert Steven Zust ’76
Alexander Lee Allen ’77
Jewels Daniel Beebe ’77
Diane Roberta (Nelson) Bongiorno ’77
Carol Ann (Neufeld) Dick ’77
Curtis James Hokanson ’77
Ronald Kenneth Morris ’77
Adolph Richard Thor ’77
Lawrence Erwin Treanor ’77
Peter George Weisbrod ’77
Norman Dennis Bussian ’77, ’78
David Daniel Carr ’78
Richard Lee Cody ’78
Donn Archie Eide ’78
Michael James Hensley ’78
Steven Mark Johnson ’78
Douglas Mark Lowinske ’78
Audree Ardene (Arneson) Maguire ’78
Letitia Ann (Haws) Peterson ’78
Ralph Clarence Reneson ’78
John David Smith ’78
Lee Charles Ulland ’78
Diane Marie Vack ’78
Robert Allen Arett ’79
Robert Ray Doeden ’79
Louise Ann (Ballentine) Erickson ’79
Mary Susann (Tauber) Krebs ’79
Bradley Dean Larson ’79
Margaret Jean (Smith) Nelson ’79
Debra Marina (Cox) Strachan ’79, ’82
Charles Claud Van Wey ’79
Steven Christian Wernick ’79
1980s
Alan Dwayne Benney ’80
Joloyce Ann (Larson) Falgren ’80
Russell Owen Lokken ’80
James Norman Palmer ’80
Randall Lee Resick ’80
Ann Marie Richard ’80, ’84
Dean Paul Sharits ’80
Myrna Agnes (Michels) Yenter ’80
Loren Dale Bregel ’81
James John Wychor ’81
James Turley Farrar ’82
Debra Kay (Augustin) Gorres ’82
Thomas John Kienlen ’82
Paul Henry Lienke ’82
Karla Jean (Berry) Manske ’82
Mark Edgar Wiechmann ’82
Marjorie Ann (Klomps) Jerpbak ’83
Joel Delbert Loose ’83
Daniel Lee Porisch ’83
Kent Allan Carlson ’84
Edith Sarah (Glass) Englund ’84
John Charles Hellendrung ’84
Lawrence David Jansen ’84
Darcy Lynn Meyer ’84
Janet Lenore (Holmgren) Anderson ’85
Doreen Kaye (Maag) Dietrich ’85, ’91
Keith Leroy Hanson ’85
Gwendolyn Sheri (Schmall) Maxson ’85
Thomas Edward Maynard Midthun ’85
Richard Gerard Rauzi ’85
John Kenneth Riles ’85
Duane John Kroeger ’86
Richard Lee Minter ’86
Mary Ann (Haight) Nienhaus ’86, ’88
Robert Thomas Rae ’86
Dean Maynard Shaner ’86
Donald Gregory Tomlinson ’86
Julian Alroy Baas ’87
Daniel Lawrence Bruggeman ’87
Ronald Latson Maynard ’87, ’94
Jayson Lee Altmann ’88
Arnold John Koeppen ’88
Jeannine Ann McDonald ’88, ’97
Dennis Craig McKinney ’88
Judy Linda (Nelson) Meister ’88
Georgia Marie (Morgan) Morgan-Pietan ’88, ’96
Cindy Krueger (Krueger) Proehl ’88
Kurt Francis Vegdahl ’88
Kristen Denise (Londroche) Willey ’88
Richard Duane Aaland ’89
Genevieve Bonnie (Bliss) Bartels ’89
Bryce Edward Bauman ’89, ’91
David Christian Bjork ’89
Debra Kay (Winkelman) Fauskee ’89
1990s
James Arnold Berger ’90
Karen Ann (Henry) Bresser ’90
Beth Ann (Forstner) DuChene ’90
Dana June (Daws) Engh ’90
William John Hart ’90
Kevin Axel Johnson ’90
Robyn Lynne (Harder) Lundsten ’90
Marlene Hedwig (Dupre) Thiesse ’90
Sean James Hudak ’91
Tammy Jo Mason ’91
Jody Lee Quam ’91
Michelle Denise (Bauer) Rigdon ’91
Gene Edward Rosenthal ’91
Julie Mae (Freeberg) Stier ’91
Bradley David Bulver ’92
Ann Fellows (Fellows) Christenson ’92
Steven Leo Connelly ’92
Jill Marie (Bates) Holland ’92
Carol Ann (Peterson) Hustuft ’92
Wayne Norman Kruse ’92
Edward Kelly Micus ’92
Tammy Jo (Fjermestad) Mosel ’92
Mary Katherine (Artlip) North ’92
Cindy Rita (Haider) Peterson ’92
Wayne C. Fain ’93
Michelle Lee (Simonson) Gawienowski ’93
Anthony Shawn Hallum ’93
James Maurice Staloch ’93
Carmel Ann (O’Rourke) Bennett ’94
Jacqueline Sue (Ortloff) Hicks ’94, ’03
Angelena Christine Kelly ’94
Darci Janel (Pankratz) McVay ’94
James Elin Peterson ’94
Jennifer Melissa (Nelson) Wintheiser ’94
Ronald Lynn Bentten ’95
Daniel Scott Hodge ’95
James Allen Pierick ’95
Dale Richard Powers ’95
Anne Eileen (Nelson) Benson ’96
Kathleen Ruth (Brummund) Rinehart ’96
Jacob Carter Helgestad ’97
Matthew Elger Anderson ’98
Linda Kathryn (Brown) Applegate ’98
Marlys Corinne (Sebens) Daly ’98
Jeffrey Scott Pefley ’98
Kristin Michelle St. John ’98
Ryan Patrick Schaffer ’99, ’02
2000s
Joshua Michael Mathwig ’00
Lucas James Snyder ’00
Nancy Ellen (Carlson) Sager ’01
Lance William Price ’02
Tory Christopher Decker ’03
Krista Lee Finley ’03
Lucas Daniel Caruso ’04
Alek Michael Halverson ’05
Kathleen Denise (Jacobson) Sessions ’05
Megan Bailey (Cunningham) Lynch ’06
Eric Joseph Joerg ’07, ’09
Sarah Josephine (Hanson) Clark ’08
Paul Silas Trapp ’08
AnneMarie Catherine (Sens)
Burgess ’11, ’13
Lynne LuAnne (Bennigsdorf) Johnson ’11
Shannon Marie Martin ’11
Daniel Thomas Terrell ’12
Carrie Lee Dahle ’14
Thomas Jon Kluck ’16
Preston William Otterson ’17
Matthew Henke Ruge ’18
Lindsey Rae Knutson ’19
Chloe Craig Nicol ’19
Richard Michael Raffesberger ’20
Anthony James Erickson ’21
Faculty & Staff
Donald Jerome Amiot
Richard Keith Beckman
Jewels Daniel Beebe
Robert Clyde Bensch
Francis “Frank” Richard Birmingham
Billy Dean Bleasdell
Thomas George Bliese
Harlan H. Bloomer
Darwin Lee Bruns
Dale Kelley Carrison
Lewis “Mickey” Henry Croce
Maxine Louise (Mason) Faust
Donald Eugene Glines
Darwin Glennes Hanson
Bonnie Louise (Johnson) Huebsch
Gary Harlan Hughes
Kennes Calvin Huntley
Thomas “Tim” Bertrand Kiecker
William Edward Lass
Judith K. (Greer) Luebke
Robyn Lynne (Harder) Lundsten
Rometo “Rummy” George Macias
Patricia Ann Magwire
Edward Kelly Micus
Joseph George Moosally
Thomas L. Peterson
Duane Leland Radeke
Douglas Edmund Ralston
Cheryl Kay (Ingham) Regan
Mary (Swanson) Rolfes
Howard Hugo Schroeder
Mark Henry Schuck
Diane Joy (Ramstrom) Shelton
Delcy Virginia (Rodriguez) Sotillo
John Edwin Spurgin
Paul Raymond Vaughan
Ray Ellis Williams
Friends
Thomas Edward Andresen
Leutitia Ann (Hollen) Englin
Ronald Vernon Flatgard
Bang K. (Won) Lee
Pauline Anne (Burroughs) Luther
Barbara Louise McMahon
Michael “Mick” David Montag
Daniel Lee Probst
Donald “Skip” Kenneth Raridon
Donald Everett Selger
Arthur Dale Stough
James William Vonderharr
Raymond Worden
Celebrating a Century
Old Main Village’s 100th Anniversary
Autumn Schwertfeger
‘25
In April 2024, the halls of Old Main Village echoed with celebration as the iconic building marked its 100th anniversary, a century rich with memories and historic significance to Minnesota State Mankato.
This notable building was once the centerpiece of the Minnesota State Mankato campus when it was located near Mankato’s downtown area. Built in 1869 for the young campus, it was destroyed by fire in 1922. Old Main was rebuilt and opened in 1924, a cause for celebration—then and now.
For 50 years it served students in downtown’s “valley campus,” and when the University migrated uphill to its present location, the building no longer served as a University facility.
Mankato developer and alum Curt Fisher ‘72 saw the opportunity to turn the storied building into something remarkable. In 1988, the building was finally opened as a senior living facility called Old Main Village.
In January 2024 Nick Brown ‘20, the marketing manager of Old Main Village, was inspired by a family
member who works at the Blue Earth County Historical Society to commemorate the 100 years. Brown said he thought this milestone would be the perfect opportunity to work together with MSU. The Minnesota State Mankato Alumni Association, the Blue Earth County Historical Society and the MSU Archives worked together with Old Main to create a memorable celebration that took place in April.
Many of its past and present residents have histories with the building and MSU. Former university president James Nickerson, and former faculty members Gladys Olson and Mary Dooley all called Old Main Village home in their later years.
“That’s one reason why I love this building, because of the history and the stories that I hear,” Brown said. “It fascinates me to this day.”
Looking ahead, Brown plans to preserve the history of the building and expand its collection of historical artifacts.
Old Main Village as it appears today.
Remnants of the 1922 fire that destroyed the original building.
About You About Your Spouse/Partner
Name (including maiden)
Nickname
Graduation year(s)
Major(s)
Degree(s)
Mailing address
City State Zip
Home phone
Preferred email
Professional title or position
Employer
Work phone
Name (including maiden)
Spouse/partner
Graduation year (if Minnesota State Mankato graduate)
Professional title or position
Employer
Employer’s address
City State Zip
Work phone
Notes
How may we share the information you’ve provided to us here (contact information will never be shared)? Check all that apply: Print version of TODAY Online version of TODAY On University social media sites
Please list any career changes, awards, honors, marriages, births or memorial information you’d like to see in Today in an email to today@mnsu.edu or msuupdates@mnsu.edu. Due to publication schedules, your news may not appear in the next issue. Class Notes may be edited for length and clarity.
Mail: Editor, Today 232 Alumni Foundation Center Mankato, MN 56001
Fax: 507-389-2069 Email: today@mnsu.edu
Online: today.magazine.mnsu.edu
Update your information online: mnsu.edu/alumni/update
The Minnesota State University, Mankato Alumni Association invites all Mavericks to a special evening of rock ‘n’ roll musical theater at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.
Join fellow alumni for a performance of Grease, featuring MSU graduate Sam Stoll in the lead role of Danny. Enjoy the nostalgia, laughter, and energy of this classic show while reconnecting with the Maverick community! For more information on the event, contact Alumni Relations at alumni@mnsu.edu.
