Northland College Magazine by Northland College

Northland College MAGAZINE

SPRING 2016

Bridging the TheoryPractice Divide

Faculty, students, community, and agencies work together to investigate queries, deepen Faculty, students, community, and agencies work knowledge, and together to investigate queries, deepen knowledge, andfind solutions. find solutions. Pg. 7. Pg. 7.

Bridging the Theory-Practice Divide Also in this issue: News â&#x20AC;˘ Class Notes â&#x20AC;˘ Athletics

SPRING 2016

Northland College Magazine SPRING 2016 Mission

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

President Dr. Michael A. Miller

President’s Cabinet Dr. Leslie Alldritt, Dean of Faculty, Vice President of Academic Affairs Robert Jackson Vice President of Finance and Administration Mark Peterson, Executive Director, Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute Margot Carroll Zelenz Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Faculty Council President

Clayton Russell, Associate Professor of Environmental Education and Outdoor Education

Staff Council President

On the Cover The Northland College Center for Rural Communities and Northland’s Sustainable Community Development program are working to bridge the gap between theory and practice, and help rural communities make data-driven decisions about their futures. Learn more on page 12.

CONTENTS LUMBER STYLE PG. 2 WRITERSREAD PG. 5 A WINNING BUSINESS IDEA: GREEN FAST FOOD PG. 6 EDITORIAL: BATTLE IS BREWING OVER GREAT LAKES WATER PG. 15 BRIDGING THE THEORY-PRACTICE DIVIDE PG. 12 ACKERMAN BROTHERS GO NORTH, THEN WEST PG. 20 CLASS NOTES PG. 22

JOIN US FOR FALL FEST 2016 SEPT 23-25

From the President I attended the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) conference again this year and left feeling optimistic about our strategic positioning, our brightening admissions picture, and our history of efficiency. CIC reported good news: the increasing number of research studies and external advocates that identify the power of the liberal arts in terms of college completion, college completion of firstgeneration and students of color, peak salary year earnings, high representation of our graduates in graduate programs, positions of leadership, and professional careers. Since 2008 the outlook for enrollment and net tuition revenue for private, independent colleges has dropped or remained flat each year. There are still predicted winners and losers among colleges. The winners tend to be larger institutions, associate degree producing institutions, a subset of graduate degree producing institutions (niche and microdegrees), and institutions with strong and unique niches. I left these conversations impressed with our operational expertise, trustee engagement, and strategy. Northland College remains committed to make the most of our niche. Our location in a progressive region on Lake Superior is our greatest asset—something we’ll continue building upon over the next five years. We are developing and enhancing programs that belong in this place, at this time, that provide the opportunity to tackle the toughest contemporary challenges through applied facultystudent research and innovation in partnership with community. By partnering with government agencies, nonprofits, city, county, and tribal government, we are striving to deliver a place-based, experiential, individualized education focused on real world solutions.

This is the best place to study biology, climate change, forestry, Native American studies, natural resources, outdoor education, food systems, environmental communications and policy, and sustainable community development. Our highest educational priority to engage students with an integrated liberal arts understanding of the complexity of the world, fuel their critical thinking, build technical skills, thus equipping them with professional and entrepreneurial capabilities to live that passion productively throughout their lifetime. Merging location, education, and engagement, students develop the skills, confidence, and desire to be adventurous world changers.

Above: President Miller signs an articulation agreement with Gogebic Community College. The agreement makes it easier for students to transfer credits from courses taken at GCC, a two-year program based in Michigan, to Northland’s four-year bachelor’s degree programs.

SPRING 2016

LUMBER STYLE The American fashion industry finally caught up with Northland College—incorporating outdoor clothing and accessories into a manly look they call “lumbersexual” for urban hipsters and fashionistas. “Whether the roots of [this look] are a cultural shift toward environmentalism, rebellion against the grind of 9-5 office jobs, or simply recognition that outdoor gear is just more comfortable, functional, and durable, the [lumber look] is on the rise,” writes GearJunkie. We know this trend will be gone in the swing of an axe. Before it fades, we look back and revel at how much Northlanders have rocked this look for more than a century. —The Editors

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WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE WORKING TO FIND MORE PHOTOS TO GIVE THIS A BETTER GENDER BALANCE.

SPRING 2016

WritersRead A full house packed the Alvord Theatre January 30 for the sixth annual WritersRead, a community event sponsored by Northland College. Judges selected 22 writers and poets from the region—including juniors Brontë Gross and LK Kaiser. For full audio from Wisconsin Public Radio visit northland.edu/writersread-on-wpr

Shaving with Adam He sits on the edge of the bathtub sipping a beer, eyes on the razor cradled in my hands as lather drips from my neck. This is the moment I have dreamed of, anticipating the click of something falling into place. The blade strides over my cheeks like a wildfire, clearing away the traces of baby hair as I look for a different face under my skin; I always thought that people would understand me better if they knew I was meant to have a five o’ clock shadow. My mother still grieves over the thick mane of hair I used to have growing up, a proper creature all its own that gnawed at my sense of self and suffocated shower drains. It’s long gone now, left to reincarnate as the leg hair I’d stopped shaving around the same time; self confidence nestled carefully against my calves. Our mothers should meet—Adam’s and mine; perhaps they’d bond over the common grief of watching their baby girls become strangers, chests bound tight with polyester and dysphoria, hips hidden behind practiced swagger and strategic performance. It wasn’t meant as an act of violence— swaddling us in pink ribbons and roles, but it stings all the same: I swallow pills every day to convince my mind to stay inside my skin for a while longer while he presses needles into his thighs trying to shape his skin to the way his mind fits; every day another tally mark against our erasure every ‘lady’ ‘girl’ and ‘m’am’ like hail against glow-stick bones that refuse to break. ‘Keep your chin up,’ he says, ‘tilt the razor so it doesn’t cut your throat,’ and I do, paying homage to a body I’m not sure I’ll ever call home.

LK Kaiser

Junior Majoring in environmental geosciences with a water science emphasis

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Submerged This is a story about water and earth— and that makes it a powerful story indeed. This is about the interaction of the two, the intertwining of humans, ecosystems, and everything in between. In a word, this is a story about place. This place. Moreover, this is a story about transformation. It’s not just my story, though I do play a part, nor is it wholly someone else’s. This is the story of all of us who come—and stay—at Northland. Let’s rewind a few years. When I came to this school, I was a traveler. I was unbound, freewheeling. I had spent the previous year bumming my way across the world, propelled by graduation money, a little bit of grit, and a lot of ignorance. I signed up for my college classes the day before I left for my Outdoor Orientation trip. I told my advisor that I didn’t want to bother with general education classes because I wasn’t sure I would stay. “I’ve been around the world,” I had said, “and I’ve tasted the heady freedom that it has to offer.” What kind of place could hold me down? Back then, I thought that I could shed places like another skin, that no bond or connection could ever burrow so deep that it could change who I was. For Northland students, college starts with a rock. Everyone who goes through the Outdoor Orientation program gets an average looking stone plucked from Saxon Harbor on Lake Superior. Its purpose is to anchor us to this place and provide a foundation upon which to build our future. It took me a long time to understand this tradition and, honestly, I don’t know if my own rock will ever mean a lot to me. I picked it from a plastic Ziploc on the last night of my own mountain biking orientation trip, huddled in front of a fire, while a thunderstorm gathered its strength to the west. We spent that night sleeping in the van rather than the tents, neatly avoiding the requirements of the lightning protocols. In the morning, we drove home and I managed to misplace it for most of the week, barely finding it in time for the welcoming convocation, where I dropped my rock, my name hastily scrawled on it, into a bucket. I haven’t seen it since, but they tell me that I’ll receive it when I graduate.

After my orientation trip, my leader, Ivan Gaikowski, gave me a map of the area. That map, my friends, and more than a few borrowed cars have propelled me around many of the spectacular areas that surround us on this coast, and inland. On those journeys I rolled up my pant legs and waded through pools at the bottom of rocky waterfalls, climbed the wooden steps to the wind-blasted tops of abandoned fire towers, and picked blueberries from the sandy shores of Long Island. I jumped from the tops of the Devil Island’s cliffs, and rode my bike to Morgan Falls. When the apples ripened, I cycled through Ashland, picking apples from the trees that line the corridor, and bringing them back to campus to press them into cider. If I didn’t go somewhere at least once a week, I started feeling restless. I figured it was emblematic of my traveling soul. Occasionally, of course, I attended class. By my second semester here, I heard a fact that floats around campus. Your body is well known to be around seventy percent water, right? It runs through our veins, is cached in our cells and generally lubricates what we call life on this earth. It’s the kind of fact that we learn in grade school, but it wasn’t until I came to Northland that I had ever heard anyone take this one step further. The old adage says, “You are what you eat,” but, percentage-wise, we are what we drink. And up here, on the shores of the world’s biggest lake (by surface area, at least), we drink Lake Superior. All of Ashland’s water—and concomitantly, Northland’s water—comes from Lake Superior. Drink from the tap for long enough and you become seventy percent Lake Superior. For me, it wasn’t just a connection, or a bond, it was a shock, an epiphany. I realized that all of my adventures weren’t a case of restless feet, that they weren’t just adventures, or destinations, or an escape. They were all celebrations of this place that I found myself not just visiting, but living in. I realized that every day I went outside I thought of how lucky I was to breathe this air, see this beauty, and drink this water. I felt welded to this place, and my freshman summer I took a job teaching kids how to sail in the Chequamegon Bay Area.

That beautiful summer I spent most of my days wetting my calves in the always cold waters of Superior, shoving eight year olds in small boats off the beach and into the depths. I’ve been living up here ever since, and with every drink, I’m becoming a little more lake. I guess you can say that I am a convert. This place has enchanted and ensorcelled me. This place, and the lake, has gone much further than skin deep. It runs through my veins in more ways than one. But none of this really, really hit me until this fall. I had just gotten back from canoeing on the Brule, and I had furiously pedaled down to the Ashland marina to catch the last of the sun slipping beneath the clouds. To the south, the storm cells hid night beneath their folds like a weapon, but to the west, over the far hills, a patch of blue sky showed the clouds aflame with all the colors of fall. I sat on the concrete breakwater and looked out over the bay and I realized just how deeply I loved this place, and all its lights and its sounds. And to love this place was to love myself. During my summers, I often swim in Lake Superior. Cradled between the waves that travel across Chequamegon Bay, I realized that when I swim, most of me is home, floating right where it belongs. I am more lake than anything else. Now I’m the one who hands out the imperfect Lake Superior stones to Northland’s incoming freshman. I try to do a better job of handing out rocks, and I try to help them see the beauty that is everywhere up here. Because I know that, for me, this place has spread its roots throughout my mind. I am a different person because of what I’ve experienced up here and I hope—and know—that others can feel a version of what I’ve felt. At heart, I’m still a traveler. I will one day move away from this lake. I will one day drink some other place’s water, and the Lake Superior in me will slowly leach away. I will become someplace else. But before that day happens, before I take my last step away from these shores, I will take my rock, the rock that perhaps started it all, and I will throw it into the lake. After all, I can only hold the lake for a few years. But Lake Superior? Lake Superior can hold me forever.

Brontë Gross

Junior Majoring in outdoor education

SPRING 2016

A Winning Business Idea: Green Fast Food Chain A late night meal made from local ingredients is hard to find in Ashland, or anywhere in small town America, really. Northland College business senior Jesse DiLillo (right) and junior Matt Hoszko (left) set out to solve this problem at the Wisconsin Innovation Network’s Lake Superior Business and Technology Conference in August. The conference, held at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in Ashland, is a symposium for business students and entrepreneurial professionals from across the state. The conference encourages entrepreneurism and invites professionals to present their best ideas. DiLillo and Hoszko went up against engineers and other professionals when they proposed, “A Taste of the North: Taking Advantage of a Food Distribution Gap in North Wisconsin.” Their idea won the Green Energy prize, the Sustainability award, and tied for first place overall. They were awarded $2,500 and asked to compete at the state level. The conference theme, “Shaping Our Future Through Innovation,” encouraged participants to focus on technological breakthroughs and novel approaches to business. DiLillo and Hoszko’s winning business idea zeroed in on a niche of late night foods made from locally-sourced ingredients from the Chequamegon Bay region and Wisconsin, creating a restaurant business from the ground up. Hailing from Ontario, Hoszko wanted to bring a bit of Canada to northern Wisconsin with his country’s staple of poutine, a dish of french-fried potatoes topped with curd cheese and a tomato-based sauce, or gravy. “The food service that we will be introducing will be cheap and delicious,” DiLillo and Hoszko wrote in their proposal. “Supporting local farmers and Wisconsin’s staple food, we will be feeding poutine to hungry students, Wisconsinites, and tourists.”

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The project not only incorporated local products with the convenience of fast food, but operated entirely on green energy. DiLillo and Hoszko heard about the conference from Dick Joyal, professor of business administration and economics, during a 2014 May term class, The Legal Environment of Business. Joyal, who has taught at Northland College for thirty-eight years and has been involved with the conference for twelve or more years, said that this was the first time ever that Northland students have competed. “And then they won,” he laughed. “Matt is a go-getter and Jesse grinds his way through—the two worked hard and they deserve all the accolades.” The two share a strong work ethic, working jobs from a young age. They are both double-majoring in business management and sustainable entrepreneurship, play hockey and soccer—and are looking to make green while being green. “Jesse and I consider ourselves a one-two punch and often try to work together on projects,” Hoszko said. They are both, however, quick to credit the business and the sustainable community development departments for their knowledge and support. “Entrepreneurship at Northland is expanding to include themes of sustainability and socially responsible business practices,” Hoszko said. “And right now entrepreneurial education at Northland is really starting to take off.” DiLillo and Hoszko both hope to actualize their dreams of being business owners and are open to the idea of “A Taste of the North” in Ashland. “Right now,” Hoszko said, “We are just waiting to catch the eye of an investor.”

To learn more about what these and other students are doing at Northland go to:

northland.edu/students

Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Plan

The Deeper Story of Good Guys with Guns Today, more than 11 million Americans hold concealed handgun licenses, an increase from 4.5 million in 2007. Yet, despite increasing numbers of firearms and expanding opportunities for gun owners to carry concealed firearms in public places, little is known about the reasons for obtaining a concealed carry permit or what a publicly armed citizenry means for society. Enter Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Justice Angela Stroud. Through interviews with permit holders and observations at gun ranges and a licensing course, Stroud examines the social and cultural factors that shape the practice of obtaining a permit to carry a concealed firearm. In May, the University of North Carolina Press will publish her book, “Good Guys with Guns: The Appeal and Consequences of Concealed Carry.” “Most permit holders that I talked with insist that a gun is simply a tool for protection,” she said. “I demonstrate in this book how much more the license represents—that possessing a concealed firearm is a practice shaped by race, class, gender, and cultural definitions that separate ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys.’”

Timber Wolf Alliance Coordinator and wolf biologist Adrian Wydeven is helping provide input on a Mexican gray wolf recovery plan for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). He is part of a team that met near Tuscon, Arizona, in December 2015 and will be meeting again in the southwest in March and April. The Mexican gray wolf was nearly wiped out with only a few remaining in Mexico. They were bred in captivity and reintroduced into the wild in Arizona and New Mexico beginning in 1998. Today, roughly 110 Mexican gray wolves live in the wild in the U.S. and thirteen in Mexico. About 240 Mexican gray wolves live in captivity in the U.S. and Mexico. “The role of our group is to inform the USFWS on scientific aspects of Mexican wolf recovery,” Wydevan said.

SPRING 2016

Baseball Awarded Funds to Improve Fields Turface Athletics presented its 2015 Field Maintenance and Scholarship awards at the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) annual luncheon January 9, held in Nashville, Tennessee. The maintenance awards recognize outstanding field maintenance at the high school and college levels, while the scholarships provide assistance to two schools in need of field improvements. Northland College was selected as the recipient of the ABCA/ Turface Athletics Field Maintenance Award for the college division. Nick Weinmeister, head baseball coach and head women’s golf coach, accepted the award. “It is very important to me, as well as the team to maintain and always strive to improve LumberJack Field any way we can,” Weinmeister said. “It is exciting to think about the improvements we will be able to make with this award and the benefits it will provide our program.” As part of the award package, Northland received three tons of Turface and $250 per year for two consecutive years to be used by the program for maintenance equipment needs. “I want to thank Turface Athletics and the American Baseball Coaches Association for this award,” Weinmeister said. “It will provide immediate help to our field as we prepare for the upcoming season.”

49th Annual Folk Fest: Sustainability, Community, Women’s Hockey Lands and Music First Recruits The annual Folk Festival was originally organized by John Everatt, Tom Perry, Chuck Perry, and Pop Wagner in 1968. They were students at Northland College at the time and little did they know that the event would continue for so long. Folk Fest celebrates forty-nine years this year, solidifying its place as Wisconsin's longest lasting folk festival. The event will take place on campus April 15-17. Organizers have chosen themes of sustainability, community, and music. Northland College Special Events Coordinator Marissa Neitzke is looking forward to implementing these themes in every aspect of Folk Fest, starting with designating the festival as a "zero landfill waste” event. Joining forces with Northland's Sustainability Work Group, led by senior Parker Matzinger, Neitzke hopes to make every aspect of the festival, from signage to concessions, as low-waste as possible, incorporating recyclable and reusable materials at every level of organization. Accompanying various live performances of both acoustic and amplified music is a local arts bazaar and memorabilia T-shirts designed each year by a Northland College student, in addition to several new events this year such as workshops, a collaborative service project, and local food concessions. "One of our goals this year is to bring several different groups to campus, focusing on diversity in the community," said Neitzke. For more information about events and scheduling, please check the northland.edu calendar or email Marissa Neitzke, special events coordinator, at neitzm344@myemail.northland.edu.

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Head Women’s Hockey Coach Kelly Rider landed her first recruit last fall. Kylie Fahmer, a forward from Fort Worth, Texas, committed to playing for the LumberJills in their inaugural season in 2016-2017. A senior at Timber Creek High School, Fahmer began playing hockey at age six in Okinawa, Japan. She has played the last four seasons with the Dallas Stars 19U Elite team and was an alternate captain last year. She helped the Stars reach the USA Hockey National Tournament two of the last three seasons Rider has since secured commitments from players from Alaska, Texas, Wisconsin, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

To stay up to date on news about athletics at Northland, go to:

northland.edu/athletics

Named in Top 5 for Outdoor Enthusiasts

Waterway Near Proposed CAFO Has High Phosphorus Levels DNR Plans To Add Creek To Impaired Waters List By Danielle Kaeding, WPR Researchers in Ashland are seeing higher amounts of phosphorus in waters near Lake Superior. They say levels exceed state water quality standards in a creek that’s downstream from where a large hog farm may be built. Randy Lehr with the Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northland College said they’ve been sampling water quality at three sites in South Fish Creek, near the site where Iowa-based Reicks View Farms plans to build 26,000-hog operation in Bayfield County. “The data we’ve collected so far suggests that runoff from agricultural lands is likely a significant contributor to the elevated phosphorus concentrations,” he said. According to Lehr, satellite images show around 37 percent of land in the South Fish Creek watershed is used for agriculture. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ Nancy Larson said the state reviewed the data from Northland and is adding the creek to its draft list of impaired waters. But, she said Reicks View wouldn’t be affected by that unless a phosphorus reduction plan is created for the watershed. “Then the nutrient management plan may need to take that into account in the intensity of the spreading or the areas where they’re spreading manure,” said Larson. Reicks View Farms crop manager John Thomas said they want to avoid any phosphorus runoff. “That’s why we’re looking at, with the manure part of it, injecting it all,” he said. The farm plans to inject up to 10 million gallons of manure into the soil each year.

Written by students for students, College Magazine named Northland College to its list of top picks for outdoor enthusiasts. “Surrounded by nearly a million acres of forest, this private university in northern Wisconsin satisfies every outdoor adventure imaginable. From kayaking on Lake Superior to dog sledding in the winter, you might as well just live in your hiking boots,” wrote the article’s author Jackie Bannon. We couldn’t agree more. College Magazine is a national daily guide to campus life, reporting articles for college students regarding university rankings of U.S. colleges, college guides, academic advice, college prep, career advice, student health, and collegiate dating tips.

This article reprinted with permission from Wisconsin Public Radio.

SPRING 2016

Battle is Brewing Over Great Lakes This piece, written by Peter Annin, codirector of the Northland College Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation, appeared in The Buffalo News. The Great Lakes states will be considering a proposal for water diversion this spring. Annin is closely following the hearings as he updates his book, Great Lakes Water Wars. He is also teaching a class of the same name on campus this spring. In 1990, the small town of Lowell, Indiana, made Great Lakes water history by proposing to divert one million gallons of water per day outside the Great Lakes watershed. Under the rules at the time, any water diversion proposal required the approval of all eight Great Lakes governors, and the word on the street was that if Governor John Engler of Michigan didn’t veto Lowell’s application, Governor Mario Cuomo of New York would. The decision date was scheduled for May 8, 1992, and as the dramatic vote approached, word circulated behind the scenes that Michigan and New York had softened their positions, thanks to some last-minute tweaks to Lowell’s application. But the day before the vote, Michigan shocked the state of Indiana—and Governor Evan Bayh—by releasing a statement saying that Engler planned to deny Lowell’s application. The Great Lakes states convened by phone the next day

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anyway. The vote came in alphabetical order. Illinois and Indiana both voted yes. Then Michigan, as expected, voted no. Since that’s all it took, the voting stopped, so the world never got to see whether Cuomo had really softened his position. While Lowell was crestfallen, Engler’s reason was simple: He was worried about precedent. Yes, Lowell’s request was tiny; it would have had an unmeasurable impact on the 5,500 cubic miles of water in the Great Lakes basin (almost twenty percent of the Earth’s entire fresh surface water supply). And yes, Lowell was just five miles outside the rim of the Great Lakes watershed. But that wasn’t Engler’s point. If the Great Lakes governors had set legal precedent by allowing a community five miles outside the basin to get water, would the governors be able to deny water to a community fifty miles out? What about five hundred or one thousand miles out? Engler feared the Lowell water diversion might be the first stone laid in a yellow brick road to Las Vegas. A quarter century later, there is a new Great Lakes water diversion on the table. Waukesha, Wisconsin, is a Milwaukee suburb that lies just outside the Great Lakes watershed. A century ago, Waukesha was sprinkled with clear, gurgling, nationally renowned freshwater springs. Today, most of the springs are gone, and Waukesha sits atop a declining, contaminated deep aquifer. It has applied for a Lake Michigan water diversion of up to 10.1 million gallons per day. After reviewing the application for five long years, the state of Wisconsin has decided that Waukesha’s proposal is worthy of circulating with the other seven Great Lakes states for a vote. But is Waukesha’s situation the same as Lowell’s? Not really.

The legal water landscape has changed markedly in the Great Lakes region since 1992. In 2008, Congress overwhelmingly voted for the Great Lakes Compact, which serves as a legal water fence designed to keep Great Lakes water inside the Great Lakes basin, with very limited exceptions. While the compact still requires water diversion applicants like Waukesha to gain the approval of all eight Great Lakes governors, there is a significant legal difference today. Under the compact, only communities on or near the edge of the basin line can apply for a Great Lakes water diversion. That means any precedent that Waukesha would set would be only for other towns on or near the watershed line. That’s it. No yellow brick road to Las Vegas—which is the most important change that the compact brought to the regional water management paradigm. The compact also requires diversion applicants like Waukesha to return Great Lakes water after it is used, so there is no net loss to the waters of the basin. How will Governor Andrew Cuomo vote on Waukesha? He hasn’t said, yet. But on January 7, the state of Wisconsin released the final version of Waukesha’s water diversion application, kicking off a months-long process of controversial hearings and media attention spanning from Minneapolis to Montreal. As usual, all eyes will be on Michigan—the “Great Lakes State”—which has always prided itself on being the most vigorous vetter of Great Lakes water diversion applications. But eyes will be on New York, too. Like Quebec, New York is at the tail end of the massive five-lake ecosystem stretching

from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario, and beyond. Any drop of water pulled out of the basin upstream is lost to New York’s ecosystem—and economy. The largest and most controversial Great Lakes diversion has been in Chicago for more than a century. It sends up to 2.1 billion gallons of Lake Michigan water to the Gulf of Mexico every day. That’s a lot of lost electrical generation for New York—at the Robert Moses hydro facility near Niagara Falls, or the MosesSaunders Dam near Massena—especially when you add it up for more than one hundred years. When it comes to Great Lakes water, what happens upstream matters to New York. That’s why New York’s congressional delegation worked so hard to get the Great Lakes Compact passed, and it’s why the state has a history of heavily scrutinizing water diversion applications. With Waukesha’s judgment day coming later this year, the question is this: Will Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder give Waukesha a pass, providing Cuomo the opportunity to wield the veto pen that his father never had the opportunity to pick up? (Or perhaps never wanted to.) Or will both governors decide that after more than five years of waiting and wondering, Waukesha has met all the compact’s fine print? We’ll have to wait a few more months to find out. But if history is any guide, the state of New York will be giving the Waukesha water diversion application a very, very close read.

SPRING 2016

BRIDGING THE THEORYPRACTICE DIVIDE

NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE

As a historian, I love this major—I like trying to use my knowledge of the past to create solutions for the future. —Brian Tochterman assistant professor of sustainable community development

Northland College is undoubtedly situated in the best place on Earth for student learning. Located in the midst of Lake Superior, the Apostle Islands, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, three tribal communities, a vibrant farming community, Northland researchers and students have access an unparalleled living laboratory. The College continues to take advantage of the location as it develops its focus on place-based learning. Six years ago faculty developed one of the first sustainable community development undergraduate programs in the country. Then last year they created the Center for Rural Communities with a polling laboratory to provide science and guidance to rural cities, agencies, and government. Merging its location with social science, environmental education, and civic engagement, the College is teaching students how to contribute their minds and hearts to issues that will continue long after they are gone.

To stay up to date on news about athletics at Northland, go to:

northland.edu/athletics

Sustainable Community Development Six years ago, Northland College became one of the first institutions to offer an undergraduate degree in sustainable community development. “We created it as a way to push environmental studies in the direction of community activism, change, and justice,” said Kevin Schanning, professor of sociology. “We saw it as a chance to make a difference in the environmental movement with a focus on humans and how they live.” Today it is roughly one of three undergraduate programs in the country, and has become one of the most popular programs on campus. “Small towns are fertile ground for experimentation,” said Brian Tochterman, urban historian and assistant professor of sustainable community development. “That’s why Northland College is in a great location to study.” For example, Tochterman’s students created a plan for improving community participation in the City of Ashland Comprehensive Plan and presented their plan to the city council and planning commission. In its short six years, Northland College has already sent students into the world to work in city planning, nonprofit advocacy, and in green building design. Below are just two examples.

SPRING 2016

The CRC plans to operate as a knowledge warehouse for the region. —Brandon Hofstedt associate professor of sustainable community development and CRC faculty director.

Center for Rural Communities In rural communities such as Ashland, policy-makers and concerned citizens often find it difficult to locate relevant, accurate, and up-to-date data. From large scale proposals like an iron ore mine in the Penokee Hills or a potential Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in Bayfield County, to smaller scale planning like main street revitalization, affordable housing, and waterfront rehabilitation, many find themselves wishing they had better data to both understand local concerns and needs, and to identify unique opportunities for community driven development. To remedy this data void, the sustainable community development faculty established the Center for Rural Communities (CRC) to provide research and consultation services, and support data-driven development and programming in the region. “Other than county level data collected by federal and state entities, we really are lacking specific community level data to make informed community and economic development decisions,” said Brandon Hofstedt, associate professor of sustainable community development and faculty director for the CRC. “The CRC plans to help fill this void and operate as a knowledge warehouse for the region.” He hopes the center will provide support for faculty research, real-world experiences for students, and build collaborative relationships between the College and surrounding communities. The CRC start-up is funded by the Otto Bremer Foundation and a private gift from former Northland trustee Susan Taylor Brown and her late husband, Robert.

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Editor’s Note: Susan Taylor Brown and Robert have been long time supporters of Northland College and were named Philanthropists of the Year in 2012. We were saddened by the death of Robert, who passed away November 7, 2015. Bob was a great friend of Northland College, attending most board meetings as an observer and always asking important questions. In addition to start-up funds for the CRC, Bob and Susan generously support scholarships, internships, the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, and the Dexter Library, in addition to establishing two endowment funds. Bob was a successful business person, an outdoor enthusiast, and had a huge heart for family, friends, and all of humanity.

Partnerships In the past year, the CRC has worked on a number of projects and collaborations with the College’s new Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation as well as community-based organizations and local government agencies. For example, the center partnered with the Northwest Wisconsin Workforce Investment Board, the Concentrated Employment Program, the Chequamegon Food Co-op, and UW-Extension to conduct a local food survey. The purpose: to identify opportunities for workforce and economic development anchored in our burgeoning local food economy. Northland College students have been highly involved in CRC research. Sustainable community development major and CRC Research Assistant Kaylee Thornley believes the experience she has gained in the center is invaluable. “I think my work at the CRC has been very beneficial for my future. With the CRC, I actually feel like I’m participating in the research and that my input for our various projects is valued and taken into consideration,” she said. “I’m gaining real-world experience working with the community and building my research skills.” As a research assistant, Thornley has interviewed local stakeholders, developed survey questions, prepared mailings, analyzed data, written reports, and helped plan CRC events. She was instrumental in the center’s Maslowski Beach Project this year, which recorded risky swimming behavior during beach closings due to E. Coli, and developed water quality signs that

children and their families are most likely to pay attention to. “I’ve enjoyed talking to people and spending time at the beach,” Thornley said. “The CRC has offered me such great opportunities that I don’t think would be available to me at very many other colleges.” For one, the Midwest Sociological Society awarded her first prize for her paper, “Social Capital and Community Attachment: Understanding How Social Ties, Trust, and Reciprocity Relate to Rural Resident Attachment.” This summer, the Maslowski Beach Project will enter its second phase. The focus will be to find ways to change risky swimming behavior, including placement of a new sign that features a colorful fish. The Maslowski Beach Project was made possible through collaborations with the Burke Center Codirector Randy Lehr, and by funding from the Ashland Parks and Recreation Department through a Wisconsin Coastal Management Program grant. Lehr and the CRC are also working on five separate surveys for lakes and lake chains throughout northern Wisconsin including Lake Owen, Lake Nebagamon, Namakagon Chain of Lakes, Cisco Chain of Lakes, and the Penokee area lakes. Data from these surveys will be used to help implement successful management plans according to each lake’s relationship between the desired use of the lake and the physical, chemical, biological, and social processes that shape the lake’s ecosystem.

We hope to use these data to develop a public database of assets and amenities for communities in the region. —Ana Tochterman CRC director of research programs

SPRING 2016

How can we do economic development keeping the environment in mind? How do we develop in a smart way that doesn’t do harm? These are the questions of the twenty-first century. —Robin Kemkes assistant professor of economics and the Chapple Chair of Regional Economic Development

Regional Database The center completed the Ashland Assets and Amenities report, which compares Ashland to other north woods communities that are similar in size, to identify opportunities for expanding existing assets and expanding amenities. “Building on this report, we worked with the City of Ashland on a forum to disseminate findings and promote discussion around potential community-led economic development strategies for the city,” said Ana Tochterman, CRC director of research programs. “We hope to use these data to develop a public database of assets and amenities for communities in the region.” Tochterman said an objective of the center is to “support development that aligns environmental and economic goals, and development that is more inclusive, meets diverse needs, and creates resilient communities.” This fall, the CRC hired Robin Kemkes, an assistant professor of economics and the Chapple Chair of Regional Economic Development to create research projects and programs that focus on the connections between a healthy environment and sustainable economic development. Kemkes is currently collaborating with a student to calculate the economic value of ecosystems in Ashland and Bayfield counties. Going forward, she will be developing programs to support locally-owned small businesses in the region. “This work has the potential to build on our region’s strengths and create vibrant communities,” Kemkes said. “I’m excited to be part of something where we have the chance to collaborate to improve the quality of life here for residents and to attract newcomers to the area.”

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Based on a project called, Social Capital in the Chequamegon Bay, funded by the Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation, CRC also completed the Roots in the Chequamegon Bay report, the first in a series of reports exploring the relationships between social capital and attachment to place. According to Hofstedt, this work aims to, “inform investment in social infrastructure that is often overlooked, but has the potential to attract and keep people in the region.”

Environmental Attitudes Surveys and Public Opinion Polls In December, the CRC completed its first “timely and relevant” public opinion poll to gauge the feelings of Ashland and Bayfield county residents about a proposed CAFO in Bayfield County. (see next page) In addition to public opinion polls, the CRC plans to conduct two environmental attitudes surveys annually. Both Tochterman and Hofstedt are confident that the CRC will be an asset to students, faculty, and the community for generations to come. “We’re confident this center will help bridge the theory-practice divide in rural communities,” Hofstedt said. “We’re applying knowledge to real life issues and problems—and bridging the disciplinary divide between natural and social sciences by finding ways that social science methods and theory can help inform natural science questions.”

Northland College Releases First Opinion Poll: CAFO The Northland College Center for Rural Communities released a public opinion poll regarding the proposed Badgerwood LLC Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in Bayfield County. Pollers conducted telephone interviews with a random sample of 701 households in Ashland and Bayfield counties in December. The interviews focused on the proposed CAFO in the town of Eileen in Bayfield County as well as CAFOs in general. When asked whether they favor or oppose the proposed CAFO in Bayfield County, 63.3 percent of interviewees responded that they are strongly opposed or leaning toward opposition, 19.5 percent strongly favor or lean toward favoring it. The remaining 17.2 percent are neutral.  Nearly three-quarters—72.5 percent—of households support tighter local regulations on CAFOs, while 19.8 percent oppose tighter regulations, and 7.6 percent remain neutral. All participants were asked whether they agree or disagree with concerns on both sides of the issue. The top five concerns are water quality, smell, divisions in the community, air quality, and health risks. A majority of respondents are also concerned about harm to local fishing, decrease in property values, inhumane treatment of hogs, and harm to tourism. Those who favor the proposed CAFO are most concerned about missing out on jobs and sending the wrong message to other businesses. “One of the most interesting findings is that regardless of where people stand on the issue, the majority are concerned that a CAFO will create divisions in the community,” said Brandon Hofstedt, faculty director of the CRC. This is the first of a regular series of public opinion polls designed to capture the opinions of people living in the north woods region. Interviewers asked twenty-six questions to a random sample of 701 households between Dec. 3 and Dec. 22, 2015. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.6 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. A summary of results can be viewed at northland.edu/crc/polling. Percentages do not add to 100% due to rounding error. Based on a poll of 701 households in Ashland and Bayfield counties (Wisconsin) during December 2015. Polling conducted by the Northland College Center for Rural Communities, northland.edu/crc/polling

PUBLIC OPINION: PROPOSED CAFO IN BAYFIELD COUNTY PUBLIC OPINION: LOCAL REGULATIONS FOR THE PROPOSED CAFO IN BAYFIELD COUNTY UNSURE 7.6%

I THINK TIGHTER LOCAL REGULATIONS ARE

WRONG 19.8%

RIGHT 72.5%

FOR MY COMMUNITY.

PUBLIC OPINION: TOP FIVE CONCERNS ABOUT PROPOSED CAFO IN BAYFIELD COUNTY I AM CONCERNED THAT A CAFO WILL: DECREASE WATER QUALITY 73.0% MAKE COMMUNITY SMELL BAD 72.5% CREATE DIVISIONS IN MY COMMUNITY 71.9% DECREASE AIR QUALITY 67.9% POSE A RISK TO THE HEALTH OF PEOPLE 62.4%

0 SPRING 2016

The CRC has offered me such great opportunities that I don’t think would be available to me at very many other colleges. —Kaylee Thornley CRC research assistant

Thornley Takes Top Prize The Midwest Sociological Society (MSS) awarded first prize to Northland College senior Kaylee Thornley for her paper, “Social Capital and Community Attachment: Understanding How Social Ties, Trust, and Reciprocity Relate to Rural Resident Attachment.” The MSS will present Thornley her a plaque and $250 prize in Chicago at a ceremony in March.

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The First Sustainability Community Development Graduates

Andrew Van Gorp ‘13 Founder of Sustain DuPage After studying the needs of my community in DuPage County, Illinois, I realized that there were many needs not being met by any organization—and so I decided to meet those needs myself. I founded a nonprofit last year called Sustain DuPage. Sustain DuPage is a regional advocacy organization with a two-fold mission. We facilitate sustainable living and a sense of cultural stewardship through the creation of educational media covering social, economic, and environmental sustainability issues. Our county is capital rich, but data poor. This is why our second mission is to amass data through action research that can inform the ways in which local policy could be improved for greater sustainability outcomes. We continue to grow day by day. The systems-based approach I learned through the sustainable community development major at Northland College has been invaluable. It not only provided me with tangible knowledge of proven solutions ripe for replication, but with a strength in conceptual and divergent thinking that sets me apart in the workforce.

Elise Cruz ‘12 Graduate Student: Master of Urban and Environmental Planning, University of Virginia The sustainable community development curriculum provided me with a solid grasp of the issues many communities face, how we got there, and what we can do to begin to make things better. Fast forward to today, when I am nearly three-quarters done with my master of urban and environmental planning degree at the University of Virginia. More than ever before, I am grateful for the multifaceted, creative, personalized education that I received at Northland. Being the only member of my graduate class at UVA with a liberal arts degree, I challenge others to see a problem from a different perspective and push for collaboration between departments and disciplines whenever I can. I am currently working on a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with a team of researchers from the U.S. Green Building (think LEED certification) and a doctor from UVA. We are understanding how green building has totally changed the industry and applying those same practices and methods to healthy building, in the hopes that building for health and wellness will soon be as mundane as installing lowflow toilets and LED light bulbs. This multidimensional project is exciting because I am seeing cross-disciplinary collaboration and problem-solving happen in real time. I have the opportunity to continue work on this grant after my graduation in May 2016.

SPRING 2016

Ackerman Brothers Go North, Then West By Amber Mullen ‘12 Nick ’00 and Mike ’04 Ackerman grew up on a small dairy farm six miles away from their hometown of Pecatonica, Illinois. With panoramic views of fields, neither of them ever expected they would wind up dedicating their lives to the rivers and fish of the west. However, once Nick made the decision to “go north,” everything felt right. In 1995, Nick couldn’t wait to see the Northland College campus for the first time. During that first commute from Pecatonica to Ashland his mother “forced” him to speed nine miles over the speed limit. Outside of Menomonie, Nick was pulled over. Lucky for Nick and his mother Barb Ackerman, the cop acknowledged their excitement and let him off with a stern warning. “I wanted to see what the commute would be like if I were driving. It turned out to be about seven hours,” Barb recalled, laughing. On the way home from his first visit, Nick decided to gamble, but not by speeding. A leaf had blown into the windshield wiper of their family van and Nick told his mother that if the leaf were still there when they got home that he would definitely attend Northland. “I just knew that Northland was the place. I had visited a number of different schools and none of them felt right,” Nick said.

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The leaf survived and the risk paid off. Today, Nick is married to his Northland College sweetheart Caryn Green ‘00, who he met on his outdoor orientation trip and who works as a fish biologist for Portland General Electric in Oregon. Nick spends most of his time ensuring the best fish passage for salmon and Pacific lamprey on the Clackamas River outside of Portland. “I’m provided an opportunity to work outdoors in a beautiful setting—my job involves rafting, boating, snorkeling, hiking, or even fishing. I get to balance that with an opportunity to conduct data analysis and write reports, and I work with an excellent team of people who are also my friends,” Nick said. “I often tell people I wouldn’t trade it for any other job.” Nick graduated from Northland College in 2000 with a degree in environmental sciences and attributes much of his success over the years to his education and connections garnered at Northland. In the fall of 2000, Nick’s younger brother Mike started his own Northland College adventure. Mike and his family often joke about the fact that he “copied” Nick in his decision to attend Northland, but everyone agrees that it was the right choice. Mike graduated from Northland in 2004 with a degree in natural resources with an emphasis in fish and wildlife ecology. “Northland put them where they belong—and now they both love their jobs,” Barb said, her voice cracking (to be expected, according to her sons). Today Mike lives and works as a fisheries geneticist in Boise, Idaho, for the Pacific States Marine Fish Commission on a contract with Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game. Mike discovered his passion for fieldwork as a Northland College junior during an internship for the Department of Fish

ALUMNI

and Game in Idaho. The internship taught Mike a number of things, but most importantly how to stay afloat. “Before Northland, Mike couldn’t even swim a stroke,” Barb said. “Then, he just decided to spend a whole summer snorkeling in the rivers of Idaho counting fish!” Since leaving Northland, Mike has worked in remote and beautiful locations including the Grand Canyon, Alaska, and the Taylor Ranch Wilderness Research Station. These experiences led him to pursue his masters in fish genetics at the University of Washington. To this day, Mike stays in touch with Northland College professors and has collaborated with Derek Ogle on several occasions. Ogle said the success of the Ackerman brothers isn’t surprising. “They were two of the brightest kids that I have ever had in class and they both took advantage of the opportunities available at Northland, socially and professionally.” From cow pies and utters to rivers and fish, the two brothers say they wouldn’t be who they are, or where they are today without Northland. “Going out to Northland was huge for both of us,” Mike said. “Who knows where we would be without that experience.”

Top left: Nick ’00 and Mike ’04 Ackerman fly fishing on the Crooked River in central Oregon circa 2004. Top middle: Mike holds a sockeye salmon in spawning phase. Top right: Nick holds a Chinook salmon at River Mill Dam on the Clackamas River near Estacada, Oregon, 2007. Bottom right: Nick and his wife Caryn Green ’00 in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area west of Las Vegas.

SPRING 2016

CLASS NOTES 2010s

Small, Connected World of NC Alumni Stephanie (Krohn) Schneider ’03 and her husband, Andy, bought a 160-acre farm in 2009 called Together Farms, just south of Eau Claire in Buffalo County. They didn’t know it at the time, but they had moved in next door to alumna Kari (Van Den Heuvel) Jehn ’90, who has served as a “surrogate grandma” to their two young girls. “We wouldn’t be where we are today without her,” Stephanie said. “We all benefit from the small yet connected world of NC alumni.” Stephanie studied natural resources at Northland earned a masters from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in environmental science and policy, and now works as a nutrient management specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Their first year of farming, Stephanie and Andy faced extreme weather problems. To adapt, they learned about permaculture—a type of farming that works with nature and creates a resilient farm that can withstand weather extremes much more gracefully. “Most Wisconsin farms are designed, for example, to get rid of excess water,” she explains. “Our farm is being set up to capture every drop of water we receive. Without water it doesn’t really matter what perfect balance of nutrients you have, so to us, on our sandy soils, water is our most precious resource, we would be fools to watch it go flowing off to the Mississippi.” While they work on capturing all of their water via networks of ponds, berms, and swales, they are also planting the perennial crops that want to grow on their land already—including wild hazelnuts, elderberries, mulberries, apples, and plums. Rows and rows of this food forest could be harvested and sold to the public, but until full-time farming becomes a reality, they can let the animals do the harvesting and not be reliant on outside feed sources. “What you eat has a tremendous impact on the environment and your community—especially meat,” Stephanie said. Still, Stephanie doesn’t recommend running out and buying a farm. They know a lot of like-minded farmers that have quit because of the sacrifices that are required. “Andy and I have both wanted to quit more than once, but never on the same day.”

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Joelle Fiedorowicz ‘13 married William Hickman of Washburn in August 2014. One year later, she accepted a position with the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency as an agricultural program technician in August 2015. Since starting at the Farm Service Agency, Joelle has become the geospatial data manager for the combined county office as well as increased awareness of and participation in farm programs available including the Conservation Reserve Program and the Margin Protection Program. Karen Breit ’12 has recently began a new position as the dean of students and enrollment management at the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College. Brian Finch ‘10 and Emily Anderson ‘10 are happy to announce they became engaged October 4, 2015 with a surprise proposal at Copper Falls State Park. Brian and Emily met in August of 2006 on campus, but didn’t start dating each other until October of 2011. Brian is currently seeking a graduate degree program in wildlife ecology and management or fisheries ecology and management. Even after five years of working for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as an LTE, he can’t seem to figure out whether he likes fish or wildlife better. Emily is the coordinator for the Wild Rivers Invasive Species Coalition, a cooperative invasive species partnership operating in northeast Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As the coordinator, Emily works

with the board of directors, coordinating action teams, educating the public on invasive species, and utilizing GIS.

2000s Scott Wold ’09 received an environmental studies and natural resources degree in his time at Northland and then attended the Vermont School of Law, where he received a juris doctor and a graduate degree in environmental law and policy. In September, Scott began a position as the director for Redwood County’s environmental department. He enjoys being able to get outside and work with the community as part of his job. Katie (Christenson) Bledsoe ’07 spent the last six years living and working in Kona, Hawaii. She was a scuba instructor and deckhand. In September 2014 she got married and moved from sunny Hawaii to Alaska to start a new adventure. Now she is working at a local greenhouse where they focus on interior tropical plants. When she is not at work she can be found rock climbing, hiking, or training for upcoming running races. Christy (Van Wey) Tice ‘05 and her husband Dietrich recently adopted their baby girl, Mackenzie, who was born on July 2, 2015. Aaron Stainthorp ’05 just landed his dream job leading sustainability initiatives for the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Sonoma, California. He enjoys working for a leading winery interested in reducing their footprint and producing outstanding wines. Sonoma is a long way from Northland, but he wanted to extend an open invitation to any Northlanders passing through the area to swing by.

Melissa Damaschke ’03 recently started working as the Great Lakes program officer for the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation. Previously, Melissa worked over eleven years for the Sierra Club, most recently as its Great Lakes program director. Melissa lives in metro-Detroit with her husband, Chris, and two dogs, Ollie and Archie. Sonya (Welter) Mirus ’02 got married in 2013. She and her partner decided that instead of taking each other’s last names or hyphenate their last names, they would create a new last name for themselves. They decided on Mirus which is a Latin word meaning “strange and wonderful.” Their daughter, Eloise, was born on February 9, 2015. Sonya has written a coming-of-age titled “Tigerlily,” and is looking for a publisher while she works on her third novel.

1990s

1970s

Joseph Darling ’99 along with his wife, Emily, and son, Samuel, recently moved from the mountains to the coast of North Carolina. Joe was promoted to the Hatteras Island District Ranger at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. He left the Blue Ridge Parkway after working a decade as a Park Ranger chasing numerous ginseng poachers, speeders, and the occasional bear out of campsites.

Thomas Adams ’76 retired in September after thirtythree years in the engineering division of Wisconsin Public Broadcasting.

Thomas (Blake) Gross ’96 is a partner with the law firm of Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman. When he is not neck-deep in complex civil litigation, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Jennifer and his son, Max, as well as cycling along the scenic drainage ditches of the eastern Las Vegas valley and its wetlands.

Laura Urban ’76 currently serves as president of Alexandria Technical and Community College in Alexandria, Minnesota. Prior to this, she was provost and vice president for academic affairs for Gateway Community and Technical College in Kentucky. Her and her husband reside in Brandon, Minnesota.

1960s Patricia Wensel ’61 Recently moved out of the family home she owns with her brothers and into a house in Iron River, Michigan. Between remodeling her new home and trying to sell the old place, she is a substitute teacher for the local school district. A lover of music, Patricia sings in her

church choir and recently auditioned for another local music ensemble. She also has a good lead on an available home in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for any interested buyers. Roberta Olson ’62 serves in a fifth grade language arts class as a foster grandparent. She also is still a newspaper reporter.

1950s Jim and Judy (Moll) Francois ’59 are currently living in Kenosha, Wisconsin but still come to visit and enjoy Northland every year, as well as old friends. Weir McQuoid ’52, who passed away in 2004, was the varsity wrestling coach at Watertown High School from 1960-1973. In November 2015, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association George Martin Hall of Fame.

And the Beat Goes On Julie (Penn) Coy ’78 and her husband Jack Coy ’80 are creating an endowed scholarship in memory of Julie’s sister, Vina “Bunny” Penn ‘78. Bunny was born on Easter day of 1956, earning her the nickname Bunny. She was the thirty-eighth member of the Penn family to attend Northland College, where she studied English and music. She sang and played bass drum. Professor Joel Glickman said he liked her strong, steady beat. Bunny died ten years ago from an aggressive brain tumor, on February 19, 2006. The Coys are creating the scholarship with gifts matched by their employer, State Farm Insurance. If you are interested in contributing to this scholarship, or would like information on ways to create your own endowed scholarship, contact Lois Albrecht, director of gift planning at 715-682-1394.

SPRING 2016

Journalist Rocky Barker ’75 Honored with Aldo Leopold Award  Rocky Barker ‘75 was presented the Wilderness Society Aldo Leopold Award for Distinguished Editorial Writing during its annual governing council meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho, September 24. The award is given to editorial writers who articulate the importance of protecting American wilderness. The Wilderness Society said they awarded Barker because of “his tremendous influence in Idaho, including the protection of the Boulder-White Clouds wilderness areas.” “In his journalism career he has covered every environmental issue in Idaho—endangered species, salmon recovery, wilderness, wolf reintroduction, grizzly management, fire, and climate change. Barker is doing the best, if not only, investigative reporting in Idaho. By seeking out diverse voices and opinions, his coverage sets the tone for serious, in-depth conversations that affect all of Idaho. His perspective fuels honest, no nonsense reporting on Idaho’s environmental issues,” the Wilderness Society said.

FALL FEST 2015

Join us for Fall Fest 2016, September 23-25. To learn more and register, go to:

northland.edu/fallfest 24

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SYMPATHY TO THE FAMILIES OF: Eric A. Shorock ‘78; Kearny, NJ; died 05.20.2015 Raymond W. Mollard ‘81; Ashland, WI; died 05.20.2015 Mary L. (Slaby) Arts ‘49; Madison, WI; died 07.04.2015 Marjorie E. (Patzer) Thogersen ‘49; Racine, WI; died 08.17.2015 Vera J. (Simmonds) Drengler ‘44; Neenah, WI; died 09.20.2015 Phil W. Clark ‘67; Ashland, WI; died 09.28.2015 Donald W. Baird ‘44; Redwood City, CA; died 10.9.2015 Patricia A. (Tapplin) Meyer ‘57; Park Falls, WI; died 10.23.2015 Michael J. Quinlan ‘91; Beaver Dam, WI; 10.27.2015 James D. Cudmore ‘52; Kennewick, WA; died 11.05.2015 Luke J. Halverson ‘04; Prairie Farm, WI; died 11.08.2015 Richard A. Andersen; Lake Forest, IL; Former Trustee; died 11.11.2015 Sylvia A. (Friesmuth) Wildes ‘38; Rice Lake, WI; died 11.15.2015 David K. Rusinak ‘73; Port Charlotte, FL; died 11.17.2015 Robert A. Olson ‘53; Ashland, WI; died 12.03.2015 Verne W. Critz ‘71; Little River, SC; died 12.09.2015 Richard J. Cook ‘70; Moose Lake, MN; died 12.11.2015 Carolyn (Flesia) Tarasewicz ‘52; Ashland, WI; died 12.13.2015 Sharon M. (Heim) Lemieux ‘87; Ashland, WI; died 12.18.2015 David J. Nemec ‘77; Wausau, WI; died 12.23.2015 Daniel P. Parent ‘84; Ashland, WI; died 12.24.2015 Patricia E. (Stenman) Parent ‘73; Ashland, WI; died 12.24.2015 Gladyce A. (Thomas) Nahbenayash ‘62; Duluth, MN; died 12.29.2015 James P. Nyberg ‘58; Jacksonville, IL; died 01.05.2016 Karin R. (Wright) Pierson ‘82; Clifton, NJ; died 01.05.2016 Meredith Alden; St. Paul, MN; Former Trustee; died 1.31.2016 Dr. Joseph Jauquet; River Falls, WI; Former Trustee; died 2.1.2016

Want to see your news in Class Notes? To submit notes, please contact: Phone: (715) 682-1811 Email: alumni@northland.edu Mail: Office of Alumni Relations 1411 Ellis Avenue Ashland, WI 54806 Director of Alumni Relations Jackie Moore ‘05 Alumni Association Board of Directors: Craig Mullenbrock ’77-President Beverly Harris ’72-Vice President Gail Fridlund ’15-Secretary K. Scott Abrams ’77 Richard L. Ackley ’71 Laurel Fischer ’72 MaryJo Gingras ’00 Stuart Goldman ’69 Mark Gross ’83 Tam Hofman ’80 Max Metz ’10 Peter B. Millett ’69 Jaime Moquin ’98 Sam Polonetzky ’70 Jim Quinn ’73 Patti Skoraczewski ’74 Kelly Westlund ’07 Leanne Wilkie Shamszad ’04 Kelly Zacharda ’05

Don R. Larson, ‘57; Osseo, MN; Former Trustee; died 2.3.2016

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

IT’S SIMPLE MATH MORE STUDENTS = MORE SCHOLARSHIPS Freshman applications are up more than 70% compared to this time last year, and higher than anytime this decade. That means we expect a big class in the fall, and that’s great news. But it also means we need more scholarships to help those new students pay for their Northland education. That’s where you can help. A gift of any size can make a big differnce for our students. Show your future fellow alumni that you support their hard work by giving a gift today. To submit a note go to: northland.edu/alumni

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SPRING 2016

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Northland College senior Willie Cox presents accessibility recommendations for the greenhouse at Forest Lodge to Daryl Dean, architect for the Forest Service, and Jason Maloney, director of Forest Lodge, as part of an Inclusive Outdoor Education course. The Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation in St. Paul awarded a $10 million endowment to Northland College last year to support freshwater research at Northland College and at the former estate of the Burke family in Cable, Wisconsin, known as Forest Lodge. The Forest Service manages the property in partnership with Northland College. Photo by Bob Gross.