FALL 2020
RETHINKING PLANTATION TOURISM Pg. 10
BURKE CENTER TURNS FIVE Pg. 14
LIVING DIFFERENTLY Pg. 16
MARY RICE’S ENDURING LEGACY Pg. 26 FALL 2020
1
ON THE COVER Dave Ullman, assistant professor of geoscience, teaches Introduction to Physical Geology in one of several outdoor classrooms constructed by a team of faculty. He says teaching outside has provided challenges and opportunities. For instance, Ullman is “flipping his class”— providing slideshows and computer work online, and making his outdoor lessons more hands-on and reflective.
From the President
The first day of class it rained buckets. Still, Ullman had his class go outside, everyone soaked in their rain gear as he introduced the course. “For geologists ‘weather is just one more garment to wear’,” he said quoting author John McPhee. “It’s been beautiful and sunny ever since.”
Dear Readers,
Stay Connected @northland_edu facebook.com/northlandEDU @northland_edu MARY O’BRIEN Major Gift Officer mobrien@northland.edu 715-682-1496 JACKIE MOORE ’05 Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving alumni@northland.edu 715-682-1811 JULIE BUCKLES Director of Communications jbuckles@northland.edu 715-682-1664
Northland College Magazine FALL Mission
Northland College integrates liberal arts studies with an environmental emphasis, enabling those it serves to address the challenges of the future. © 2020 Northland College Printed with soy ink on 10% post-consumer FSC Certified paper. Elemental chlorine free. Made with 100% certified renewable electricity.
During the long and solitary summer of 2020, I found myself drawn to the panorama afforded by my office windows, a southerly vista of the stunning Northland College campus. The natural splendor belied my distress about the future of liberal arts colleges during a global pandemic and mounting anxieties about the personal wellbeing of our Northland students. The lack of student presence for five months advanced to a knell the profound realization that we are a residential campus with experiential know-how, enthusiasm, and expertise. We simply had to open our doors again, a resolve that seemed insurmountable at first, but it soon became feasible as we began to mine the depths of Northland’s legacy of resiliency. Immersed in months of planning, we found courage in the higher way that is inherent to Northland’s spirit of resilience and perseverance. Our combined efforts, involving the remarkable contributions of every single college employee, deserve heartfelt gratitude and recognition, now that we have successfully launched the 2020-21 academic cycle.
Northland’s tenacity and resolve is a testimony to a remarkable institution, perched on Lake Superior, tucked away on the northern periphery of a nation scarred by unrest, in a world confronting a health catastrophe and economic uncertainties. Yet, we at Northland remain indelibly, steadfastly, incontrovertibly committed to our educational and community values.
This has always been Northland’s higher way—a highway shall be there! The wide-ranging contributions to Northland’s fall 2020 magazine speak to the vivid facets of the College today: faculty, staff, and student excellence; a chronicle of student talent and determination; alumni passionately devoted to our future; donors expressing enthusiastic forms of philanthropy; and the underlying resolve that constitutes the Northland ethos. Please rejoice with me as I celebrate the renaissance of our campus and be well.
Karl I. Solibakke President
If there was ever a time for Northland pride, this is it. Stand with our resilient students and make a gift of any amount today.
northland.edu/give
IN BRIEF
An Educational Home Run By Linda Mack, Trustee When Forbes higher education writer Lucie Lapovsky was looking for innovative ways American colleges dealt with the chaosproducing coronavirus, she found it on the south shore of Lake Superior. As of March 13, Northland had never offered an online course. It is instead known for its hands-on education and particularly its May field courses, where students study bog plants, work on local sustainable farms, or write about nature as they follow Sigurd Olson’s canoe route. Not an option this year. Instead, a group of faculty members did a quick pivot and within two weeks had put together a multi-disciplinary, four-week course called Pandemic! Northland Unites. Weekly lectures, readings, and online discussion groups explored everything from the history of the 1918 pandemic and the biology of viruses to a Buddhist perspective on suffering, from the physical and psychological value of outdoor recreation to how to parse news coverage of the pandemic, from the economic cost of the virus lockdown to the unequal health impact on indigenous communities. “We had two goals,” said Outdoor Education Assistant Professor Evan Coulson, “to provide learning from multi-disciplinary perspectives that are crucial to the moment, and to maintain and build our now distant community.” Eighty students signed up for the course and—in a move that Lapovsky notes could point the way to new paths for small liberal arts colleges—the class was opened to alumni and community members for free. Two hundred, including individuals from France, Costa Rica, and Indonesia, signed up to participate fully in the course’s lectures and discussion groups. Another one-thousandplus visited the website for lectures, reading lists, and student work.
Coulson said the discussion groups have been particularly crucial to maintaining a sense of engagement, among both students and community members, in a time of isolation. [Faculty led the twice-weekly discussion groups for students, while volunteer community members facilitated the community groups.] “Students were asked to keep daily journals and asked to submit a mid-term and final project—a reflection paper, research paper, or a creative expression of how the course impacted their experience and understanding of the pandemic,” said Coulson. “From there the creativity of our students ignited.” Several wrote poems or creative fiction, others created visual art pieces, one created a piece of graphic art, taking one sentence from each lecture and arranging it in a graphic form. “One student wrote a letter to her great-greatgreat-great granddaughter a hundred years from now,” Coulson said. “She realized that her great-great-great grandmother was her age during the 1918 flu epidemic and wished that she could have learned of her experience.” How did the course impact the students? It built a sense of resilience. Coulson said, “Without a doubt, it helped students find footing when many of them felt off-balance and afraid. I’ve seen a real arc in responses. As we all had to leave campus, there was confusion, fear, and frustration,” he said. When faculty members called every student, they found they were well but lacked motivation. “But in May term they overwhelmingly responded that this was a reset button for them to come to terms with the new normal,” Coulson said. “They were better equipped to understand and navigate the uncertainty of the times.”
Virus Demonstrates Faculty Can Be Full Partners By Lucie Lapovsky Forbes For the higher education business model to change, faculty need to be key partners in this effort. We have learned from this crisis that faculty, who have often been characterized as slow and loathe to change, can be extraordinarily nimble and creative. Beyond moving all of their courses online in less than two weeks, many have been exploring all the ways to use their new technology. Those new to Zoom have learned how to put their students into break-out rooms and foster engaged discussion. Some have been experimenting with using simulation and gaming software in their courses. Some faculty with whom I have talked are like kids in a candy store with the new “toys” at their disposal. Faculty at several schools have developed new courses in little more than a month that are directly relevant to the virus. Northland College had no online courses before the March 13 suspension of faceto-face instruction. Led by four junior faculty, joined by eleven other faculty from a variety of disciplines including biology, sociology, and music, a very unique virtual four-week course was developed as a part of the College’s May term: Pandemic! Northland Unites. To read full story visit northland.edu/news.
FALL 2020
3
Burke Center Receives Funding for Blue-Green Algae Research The Department of Administration’s Wisconsin Coastal Management Program has awarded the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation $59,667 to implement Phase 2 of their research investigating the potential sources of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) to Chequamegon Bay. The Burke Center researchers started their investigation a year ago (also with Wisconsin Coastal Management funding) to learn more about blue-green algae blooms in the bay. Blue-green algae blooms occurred in 2012 and 2018 along the south shore of Lake Superior stretching between Superior, Wisconsin, and the Apostle Islands region, but blooms have not yet occurred in Chequamegon Bay. The Burke Center has documented over the last five years that Chequamegon Bay has relatively warm summer water temperatures and high phosphorus loading. “These conditions suggest that the bay may be particularly vulnerable to algal blooms,” said Matt Hudson, Water Scientist and Burke Center Associate Director. The Burke Center research is trying to determine what sources of blue-green algae are in the bay, and what conditions would have to occur for a bloom to happen.
Burke Center research team
“We hope the results of this research will provide the needed information to assist resource managers, local governments, and public health professionals in responding to the risk of potentially harmful blooms. The information gathered can also give decisionmakers a framework by which to proactively respond,” Hudson said.
And the Emmy Goes To… A PBS documentary featuring researchers with the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation has been awarded an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Michigan Chapter. Linking Land and Lakes: Protecting the Great Lakes’ Coastal Wetlands follows the work of forty Great Lakes researchers and experts and explores the vital role coastal wetlands play in keeping the Great Lakes healthy. It aired in the fall of 2019. Produced by Central Michigan University Public Media, a crew filmed Northland College students Megan Mader ’19 and Erin Bergen ’19 and Burke Center Associate Director and Water Scientist Matt Cooper as they sampled fish and invertebrates in the Apostle Islands. “It was a thrill to be part of the documentary and to work with the talented PBS team,” Cooper said. “This program goes a long way in educating the public about the health and vitality of the Great Lakes as a whole.”
4
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Connecting Alumni and Students
HOT TOPICS
Julie Winter was hired as the student career advisor about the time the College shut down in March. She met her co-workers and learned the ropes via video chat. She was hired to support internships, career exploration, programming, and events. “I’ve been lucky enough to work with several students already in some of these areas and am beyond excited to continue in person—even if it is masked—now that everyone has returned,” she said.
Rise in Disease Linked to Deforestation
She has implemented a new career platform called Handshake and is currently rolling it out to students. She is also working with the alumni office to connect students to alumni in the their career development. For alumni interested in getting involved, they should contact her at jwinter@northland.edu.
Another Goyke Joins Faculty By Kelsie Shields ‘21
But Noah’s education stands on its own. With a master’s in forestry from Michigan Technological University, a PhD in forestry from the University of Georgia, three years in Paraguay with the Peace Corps, and his all-around love of learning, Noah fits in well. “I have always had a passion for liberal arts education, maybe even more than for natural resources,” he said. “For me, to be at Northland—the environmental liberal arts college—is just an absolutely perfect fit.”
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Rare Carnivorous Sundew Found Wisconsin Public Radio August 6, 2020 Professor Sarah Johnson ’02 and students canoed to a site to confirm sighting of a plant last seen in Wisconsin forty years ago.
Student Creativity Takes Projects to Future AgriNews August 3, 2020 The Hulings Rice Food Center fosters food sovereignty, resilience, and sustainable agriculture.
Andy and his wife, who is also a teacher at a local primary school, raised their family in Ashland; their four sons grew up with Northland as their playground; and there is no doubt that education is important in the Goyke household.
Noah can recount many memories surrounding the College: from sledding down Fenenga Hill to walking through the old science building, Bobb Hall, with his dad. During his high school career, he even took a summer ecology class with his dad. “He’s been well trained,” Andy laughed.
Professor Jessica Eckhardt ’07 and a colleague write about how climate change has created the perfect environment for diseases like COVID-19.
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
For the past twenty-seven years, Andy Goyke has been a staple figure on campus. The science professor is notorious for wearing funky sweaters and no shoes; teaching a plethora of classes from biology to limnology.
So, when a one-year fellowship teaching position opened up in the Department of Natural Resources, Andy told his peers that he “knew the perfect person for the job”— his son, Noah.
Bangor Daily News August 11, 2020
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The Violence at the Root of the Silent Majority
Hazelnut Development Funding Received The Northland College Hulings Rice Food Center has been awarded $49,300 from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection to work on product development for hazelnuts. The Food Center has been collaborating for years on hazelnuts as a farming solution to climate change. Last year, business students tackled hazelnut product development and marketing as part of a classroom project. “This grant allows us to expand our past work with American Hazelnut Company and hone in on exciting products to help bolster Wisconsin hazelnut production,” said Danny Simpson ’18, assistant manager at the Food Center. The Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grant is intended to provide consumers access to more Wisconsin-grown food products. The Food Center was one of nine projects selected from thirty-three funding requests. “Things are going to be nutty around here for a while,” Simpson said.
Washington Post July 31, 2020 Professor Brian Tochterman writes about how a forgotten film shows the problem with continuing to invoke this mythical group. (see page 12) ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Food Is Always Last on My List Wisconsin Public Radio June 11, 2020 Hulings Rice Food Center works with regional food banks to meet demand during coronavirus pandemic. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ The Virus Demonstrates Faculty Partnership in Higher Ed Forbes April 30, 2020 Forbes columnist Lucie Lapovsky applauds Northland faculty’s nimbleness and adaptability. (see page 3)
FALL 2020
5
SOEI Launches Literary Journal By Alan Brew Executive Director of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute
All of us are feeling the uncertainty of our circumstances acutely right now, with daily routines disrupted and future plans on hold, but when we’re honest, we acknowledge that this is always our condition. Where do we find the fortitude to step, with confidence and grace, into uncertainty? Sigurd Olson believed that we find it in the intangibles—in experiences that stir our emotions and affect us deeply, in experiences that bring us in touch with silence, cyclic rhythms, and natural beauty. It is these experiences, Olson maintained, that influence our happiness and make life worth living. They allow us to find ourselves and to regain our dignity and fulfillment as humans. My colleagues and I agree with Olson, but we find ourselves living in a society that often prioritizes the tangible over the intangible, promising happiness and fulfillment through material goods.
Timber Wolf Alliance and LoonWatch Posters Available
To counter this societal bias, we created Intangible—a publication devoted to sharing experiences that stir our emotions and that bring us in touch with the rhythms and wonder and beauty of the natural world.
Watch the video
Alumni Combine Expertise for Ecological Restoration
6
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
In our first issue, Kathleen Dean Moore writes about “the collision of beauty, distance, and fear” as she wakes to the “wondering joy” of a new dawn. Jenny Anderson writes about the heart-skipping excitement of sharing the outdoors with her young son. And Ambreen Tariq shares how her experiences in wild places gave her the confidence to reach out and connect, even in the face of racial isolation. The mission of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute is to ensure that people continue to experience and value wildness and wonder. Twice a year now, we hope that the words and images artists contribute to Intangible will help all of us to remember, as David Backes writes, that intangibles are “at the heart of everything.” northland.edu/intangible
Agreement Eases Transfer from Technical Colleges youtube.com/northlandEDU
northland.edu/SOEI
When colleagues and I gathered last year to envision this new publication for the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, none of us would have imagined that we’d bring the first issue of Intangible to press in the midst of a global pandemic.
Four Northland College alumni are bringing their expertise together on an ecological restoration project outside of Washburn, Wisconsin. Focused on removing invasive species and promoting native plants, the groups is using a combination of strategic mowing and rotational grazing to avoid the use of toxic herbicides. Nile Merton ’15 and Michael Sinclair ’16, co-owners of Bay Area Environmental Consulting, are handling the mowing, and Brigid Reina ‘15 and Jake Williams ‘14, co-owners of Regenerative Ruminants, are managing their “flerd” (flock of sheep + herd of goats) to put additional pressure on invasive species throughout the summer.
Students seeking to transfer credits from any of Wisconsin’s sixteen technical colleges to Northland College will have a much easier time in the future thanks to a comprehensive agreement between the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and Wisconsin Technical Colleges and the Wisconsin Technical College System. Under this arrangement, specified technical college credits will count toward requirements for a bachelor’s degree at Northland College. Technical college students must also meet the admissions requirements. “This is a benefit to transfer students who will be assured the transfer of specified course credits from Wisconsin technical colleges to private, nonprofit colleges such as Northland College,” said Wendy Gorman, dean of academic affairs. “Northland benefits by attracting these experienced students to complete their bachelor’s degree on our campus.”
Most Influential Clinic Executive
40 Under 40 Grower
Dr. Susan Turney ’75 was named one of fifty most influential clinical executives. Turney is the CEO at Marshfield Clinic Health System in Marshfield, Wisconsin. The 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives program honors physicians working in the healthcare industry who are deemed by their peers and an expert panel to be the most influential in terms of demonstrating leadership and impact.
Kari Kouba Molter ’03 was awarded the Fruit + Vegetable 40 Under 40 honor as an outstanding individual making a mark in the industry. Molter owns and operates Molter Produce, a certified organic farm in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Molter graduated from Northland with degrees in business administration and computer information systems. While at Northland, she worked in campus catering, managed the women’s soccer team, and ran the clock for the men’s home hockey games. After graduation, she moved back to Chicago and worked at a publishing house. In 2009, she decided it was time for a change and moved onto a farm in southwest Michigan with her future husband. Over the past eleven years their operation has grown from twenty acres to over seven hundred.
“At a time when most rural hospitals are struggling, Marshfield is expanding its footprint. It recently completed deals to buy new hospitals and is building another. Turney has spearheaded efforts to control costs, including a program that’s saved more than $120 million since launching in mid-2017. The health system has developed innovative care models, including Home Recovery Care, which allows patients to get care at home instead of a hospital or nursing home. The program has a ninety-three percent patient satisfaction rate and reduced both treatment costs and readmission rates.” —Modern Healthcare
LINA BERTINELLI
|
M A D E L I N E JA RV I S
|
K AT H Y K O S I N S K I
|
TESS WILSON
A UNITED FOR LIBRARIES ACTION PLANNER
Library Mover and Shaker
Madeline Jarvis ’13, manager of the Marion Public Library in Marion, Michigan, was named as Library Journal’s 2020 Movers and Shakers. Jarvis and three peers conducted a national survey about identifying barriers to millennials serving on a library board. The 866 responses revealed some intriguing findings. The number one barrier to millennials serving on library boards: they simply weren’t asked. “Many of the challenges we’ve identified are unique to this stage of life, not the generation’s characteristics,” Jarvis said. Jarvis and her cohorts continue to give presentations and have created toolkits for recruiting and retaining millennial board members. They have also turned that material into a book.
ALL AGES WELCOME
Recruiting and Retaining Younger Generations for Library Boards, Friends Groups, and Foundations
“Northland played a large role in preparing me for what would end up being my path in life, and additionally equipped me with lifelong friends to share in the fun! My Watershed Restoration textbook from Grant Herman’s course is even on our bookshelf—major shout out to Bruce Goetz; the skills he taught me while earning my minor in GIS are some of the most helpful tools in my metaphorical farming toolbox,” Molter said. “I love learning about the many other alumni who work in various ag industries; Northland College helped shape us all.”
Grand Teton Chief of Science and Resource Management Gus Smith ’84 became the chief of science and resource management at Grand Teton National Park in Jackson, Wyoming. He moved in January from the Superior National Forest. Smith attended Northland, went onto to earn his PhD, and returned as a professor of biology and natural resources in 1998. In 2008, at 46, he left his tenure-track position to accept a job as a fire ecologist in Yosemite National Park and then as a district ranger in the Superior National Forest, home to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In January, he moved west again to take the Grand Teton position. “The research here is what created the dreams that interested me when I wasn’t really a big student,” Smith said in an interview. “Frank and John Craighead, in their wood-sided station wagon, trapping grizzly bears with their shirts removed—who didn’t want to be them?”
FALL 2020
7
DIVERSITY
Our Commitment
Northland College was founded on principles of equality and inclusion. As an institution of higher learning, we are unequivocal that Black lives matter and that the work of justice requires that we continue to confront white supremacy and all of its intersecting forms of oppression. We stand in solidarity with our students, employees, and communities who are voicing their anguish, anger, and deep frustrations with systems that oppress and devalue Black lives. The fight for racial justice did not begin with George Floyd’s murder, and it will not end once headlines change. We are pledging at this time to strengthen our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Let us dedicate ourselves to understanding and pursuing progressive social change.
Mandelyn Lyons is a senior, studying psychology, sociology and social justice, and gender and women studies at Northland. She helped organize the Black Lives Matter rally in Ashland this summer and helped start the Northland College Feminist Coalition last fall.
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Diversity Moves Into Much-Loved Space The Diversity Center has moved to the house formally known as Gaia’s Cradle, the women and gender issues theme house for twenty-six years. Former residents along with Cynthia Belmont, professor of women’s studies and advisor for the theme house, were consulted and most agreed it was a good move. “Gaia’s Cradle has a strong history of vibrant student engagement grounded in a residential setting,” said Ruth de Jesus, diversity and inclusion coordinator. “For me, this space speaks to the spirit that I strive to foster in my work.” Ruth plans to create a welcoming space for students of color and host groups in the space to converse, reminisce, and dream. “As a first-generation woman of color, who continues to live through the legacy of poverty and inner-city segregation, I welcome the opportunity to serve students more fully,” she said. “It is no small thing for someone like me to be seen, valued, and entrusted with this work. It is no small responsibility to care for Gaia’s Cradle in a new way.”
Students, faculty, and staff joined hundreds in Ashland to protest the murder of George Floyd and systemic nationwide racism.
FALL 2020
RESEARCH
Rethinking Plantation Tourism Time to Get Real About Our History
10
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
What should have been an eye-opening experience was reduced to a trip filled with trivial information about architecture, furniture, and ghost stories, including one about a slave named Chloe. By Amber Pickney ‘20 I remember the first time I was invited to visit a plantation. I was in the fourth grade and our teachers had planned a field trip to Chretien Point, a former plantation in Sunset, Louisiana. At the time I couldn’t understand why my three white teachers thought it was a great idea to take us to a plantation. Even at ten years old, I knew a plantation was not a happy place, so I pretended to be sick that day. Then in the sixth grade, the same teachers planned a field trip to the Myrtles Plantation, about an hour away in St. Francisville, Louisiana, and I along with my mother and father joined. The Myrtles Plantation is notorious for its ghost and has been called one of the most haunted places in America. I wish I would have stayed home a second time. What should have been an eyeopening experience was reduced to a trip filled with trivial information about architecture, furniture, and ghost stories, including one about a slave named Chloe. After leaving, I was so terrified of Chloe that I burned and then buried the ashes of a souvenir post card my mom bought with an “image” of her ghost on it. I still find it strange that Chloe, who had her ear cut off, was forced to work in brutal conditions and was hung from a tree as a part of public spectacle, was made to be more feared than the person or people who committed such violent crimes against her. I’ve thought about that experience a lot over the past years. So, when Professor Erica Hannickel asked my Nature and Nation class to write a paper looking at landscape and tourism, I knew what I wanted to do. While working on the paper, my need to better understand this subject grew, and I decided to continue my research for my senior capstone project. In March (right before we all started to learn about COVID-19), I spent five days driving the Louisiana River Road, a one-hundred-mile stretch from Baton Rouge to New Orleans that is lined with some of Louisiana’s most recognizable
plantations—Houmas House, Oak Alley, Laura Plantation, Nottoway Plantation, and Whitney Plantation. My mom and dad joined me again, along with a cousin and best friend, and together we took in our first plantation filled with idyllic southern charm and lush gardens. It was surrounded with paths and swooping oaks draped with Spanish moss, leading to a white pillared home that was designed to showcase the wealth of their owners—so breathtaking it’s almost like the designers were intentionally trying to distract you from what was happening here. Pulling into the parking lot at Oak Alley Plantation, I watched as tourists poured out from bus after bus, smiles etched across their faces and I wondered if they noticed the miles of deteriorating homes and communities of Black folk they passed to get here. I wondered if they would connect the dots and realize that many of those decaying houses were former slave cabins. Or that the people who lived in them were descendants of the slaves that toiled and died on the very ground where they stood. At this plantation and the four that followed, it was the same. I could feel the agony and despair of my ancestors. I could see my family and friends, their backs blistered. I could hear their moans and cries, and I could feel my heart breaking. I looked on at the low-hanging limbs of the old oaks with tear-filled eyes as the lyrics of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” echoed through my mind and wondered how anyone could visit these grounds and not feel the same way. For thirty minutes to an hour, my tour group listened to the guides discuss the materials used to build the house and the types of dinners that would have been served. The questions and comments of the other visitors made me wonder: how do white folk see themselves as they participate in the tours? Did they imagine themselves in this history too? In these spaces? And if so, what role did they play? Do they see themselves at all? My Louisiana River Road experience left me angry, hurt, and sometimes filled with hate.
I was appalled at how easily so many of the majority of white, middle-class visitors were able to separate the lavishness of the houses and lifestyle of its owners from the agony of those who were forced to make it all possible. I hated that my family, the two or three other Black guests, and I were met with uncomfortable stares by other guests or that the guide stumbled over her words when talking to us. When I asked a question, the other visitors, who were all white, look at me with pity or disdain (and sadly I sometimes looked at them the same way). Why is it that my presence made them uncomfortable? Are these spaces not just as much a part of my history as it is theirs? Are the lives of the enslaved not just as important as the lives of the enslavers? Why do plantations exist if not to tell the history of slavery? In short, not much has changed about plantation tours since my sixth-grade experience. Two of the five still tell a one-sided history that focuses on valorizing the oppressors and celebrates the beauty of nineteenthcentury architecture and gardens. Two other plantations made attempts to include stories of the enslaved, through it was done through separate selfguided tours that were presented in a way that removes the inhumanity of slavery. Only Whitney Plantation focused solely on the experience of the enslaved. But even there, they work to maintain the “comfort” of their visitors. I read articles, books, personal diaries, census records, and whatever else I could get my hands on, in order to have a better understanding of what really took place on Louisiana plantations. It is impossible not to imagine myself in what I learned—a history where people who look like me were abducted, tortured, raped, and killed while people who look like the majority of plantation tourists were the ones who committed these atrocities. In order to move forward, plantation tourism needs to stop ignoring its past. Plantations should be used to educate the public about the horrors endured by slaves and the inhumanity our society is capable of. If done this way, perhaps plantation tourism can help bridge the gap between the modernday suffering of Black folk in America and the nightmarish past that has undoubtedly made it possible. Telling the stories of slavery and memorializing those who have suffered on plantations is the start of a long healing process that I believe must happen if we are to ever live in a society where black and brown existence is not continuously sacrificed for the comfort and ignorance of others.
FALL 2020
11
The Violence at the Root of the Silent Majority Brian Tochterman Associate Professor of Sustainable Community Development
It has been more than fifty years since Richard Nixon conjured the category of the “silent majority” to separate his base of support from the urban rebellions and vocal liberation, countercultural and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s. As a phrase that symbolizes a reserved, white, predominantly working-class conservatism, its power as a rhetorical political tool endures even after a half-century of social and cultural change. Donald Trump recently took a page from Nixon’s playbook, tweeting both “LAW AND ORDER” and “THE VAST SILENT MAJORITY IS ALIVE AND WELL!” hoping to energize his reelection campaign and mostly white base of support after the largest anti-racism uprising in the country’s history. But the silent majority is not just an electoral idea. It is also an enduring cultural trope. In fact, July marks the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Joe, a film that sought to capture and capitalize on seething political discontent among white conservatives. With a title that connoted the generic, white working-class everyman, Joe was the first of a number of films in the 1970s that suggested that authorities had failed to bring order after the rebellious 1960s. It may have faded from our cultural memory, but the film’s representation of volatile white racism and resentment echoes in our contemporary politics. It also highlights how swiftly popular culture can seize on and profit from political narratives. To read the full column visit northland.edu/joe. This article appeared in the Washington Post July 31, 2020.
12
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Before the Beginning In 1955, fifteen years before the Apostle Islands became a national park, little was known about the ecology of the islands. Partial surveys had been done in the 1820s and in the early 1900s but nothing comprehensive. Two Northland biology professors set out to change that. With retired Professor Bob Newton as their advisor, Jesse M. Caskey and Franklin C. Lane applied for and received an $8,500 grant from the Louis W. and Maud Hill Family Foundation (now called the Northwest Area Foundation) to survey the flora and fauna of the islands. And they wanted to do it with the help of students.
“We are confident that their almost encyclopedic work in classifying the flora in particular will be a landmark in botanical research to the area,” Turbeville concluded in a final letter to the Louis W. and Maud Hill Family Foundation. Caskey and Lane noted: “These students are now or plan to teach in the future. It is impossible to say how much improved their biology teaching will be as a result of having had this experience, but it is hoped that they will take advantage of their knowledge of nearby biological resources to improve the effectiveness of their teaching.” While the three students we know of—Harries, Larson, and Penn—have passed away, Northland records show, as Caskey and Lane had hoped, they went onto have prominent careers in science and in teaching. Caskey and Lane also correctly concluded in their 1957 report: “It is possible that this survey has initiated interest in the islands and we hope that interest will continue, and that in time, certain of the islands may be set aside as permanent wilderness areas.”
“By utilizing student help in some of the fieldwork, we hope that we will be doing a better job of preparing future teachers of science in secondary schools,” then-President Gus Turbeville wrote to the foundation. Caskey and Lane set up their headquarters on Rocky Island at the Laurie Norse cabins, transporting microscopes and lab equipment to establish a field laboratory. Monday mornings, they would load students and supplies into the Northland College Beagle, a twenty-five horsepower boat—one student arrived by seaplane—and they would get to work. The students were a mix of regional teachers and Northland graduates and students—Fred Harries ’55, Alan Larson ’57, and Paul Penn ’58 were named in a newspaper article. Seven attended the first summer; six the second. They would divide into two groups—Caskey’s group to collect zoological specimens; Lane’s group to gather botanical. Meanwhile, the students completed coursework in plant ecology, invertebrate zoology, general zoology, plant taxonomy, and conducted special research in mycology and plant pathology. They created and added to their own insect collections; pursued their own research; and spent evenings on photography hikes, making dinner and doing dishes, and of course, talking science.
Jesse M. Caskey
Franklin C. Lane
“There are some spirited discussion about the various findings of the day and looking them up in the many reference books on hand. In this informal atmosphere, faculty and students exchange more ideas, the latter getting not only theory but a practical knowledge of their subject,” a Minneapolis Star newspaper article reported. Faculty and students collected specimens from all islands except for Eagle and they made significant collections from islands never collected before. They documented 257 species of flowering plants, gymnosperms, ferns, and related plants. The specimens were processed, pressed, and labeled and sent to the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, and the National Museum. More than three hundred are stored at Northland and used in biology classes.
“It is possible that this survey has initiated interest in the islands and we hope that interest will continue, and that in time, certain of the islands may be set aside as permanent wilderness areas.” —Franklin C. Lane 1957 Survey of the Fora and Fauna of the Apostle Islands and Adjacent Lake Superior Waters
In 1970, United State Senator Gaylord Nelson sponsored the federal legislation that established the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Northland faculty, staff, and students have continued to assist the National Park Service in research and baseline ecological surveys ever since. Editor Note: This is first in a series to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. If you have participated in faculty-student research in the Apostle Islands and have photos or stories to tell, please contact jbuckles@northland.edu.
FALL 2020
13
“Our greatest achievement has been to provide scores of students with graduatelevel professional and academic experiences. Burke students leave Northland with skills that make them extremely competitive candidates for the job market and graduate school. We look forward to following their progress as they head off to change the world.”
—Director Peter Annin September 8, 2020
200
Five Years of M Public Lectures and Presentations
$2,200,000 in Grants, Awards and Donations
24
Courses Taught
14
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Published
The Great Lakes Water Wars (Second Edition)
Two
High-Profile Water Summits
Making a Splash 1
White House Presentation
715
Media Citations
26
$6.4
Academic Publications, Technical Reports, and White Papers
42 in Summer
Students Employed
Research
+ 25,000 40 21 20 Streams and Rivers
Coastal Wetlands
M
in Media Attention for Northland
3
World Water Day Events
Seven Major
Op-ed Articles Published
Samples Run in the Burke Lab Collected From
Lakes
12
Beaches FALL 2020
15
WAYS
ntly e r fe if D g in iv L d n a g in k Northland is Thin DURING COVID-19
By Kelsie Shields ’21
Another Kind of Test
drive-up testing The College engineered a for each new and lts facility with rapid resu -September, every mid By t. den stu g returnin ltiple times. mu ed test n student had bee
Masked Up and Socially Distancing
here—indoors Masks are required everyw l time and in mea and outdoors—except at e is kept anc dist ial Soc ms. roo residential s starts clas red gge whenever possible. Sta ys and signs lwa hal in tion ges con uce help red fic flow. around campus direct traf
A Unique Outdoor Orientation Experience
ial for exposure, To reduce travel and potent stayed on ups all outdoor orientation gro ing day tak ups gro h wit r, yea campus this te edia imm the trips to locations around . ion reg nd northla
16
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Classrooms Off the Beaten Path
tive ways to teach Teachers have chosen crea ancing, including during a time of social dist , chalkboards sks ma er und es microphon mall, limiting inthe on s outside, classroom eaming lectures. -str live and g, hin teac person
Condensed, Intensive Courses
of instruction, fall To optimize the flexibility two academic into ided div term has been ran August 31 sessions. The first session session from to October 13 and the second dents generally Stu 2. er October 15 to Decemb session. h eac ing dur ses clas two take
Creative Community
stop togetherness. Social distancing does not just the cafeteria from ed and exp Dining was tions in loca tive to include two alterna rd Olson Sigu the and atre The ord the Alv nts like eve e Som te. titu Ins Environmental altered but still the Everybody Party were ked up and got happened, and students mas , go rock climbing bee fris outside to kayak, play the mall. on out g han and g, oein and can
Fall Sports See a New Season
golf, soccer, All fall sports—volleyball, g— have had and cross-country runnin until spring in competitions suspended tocols. pro AC accordance with UM
On-Campus Living
ncy limits, Residence halls have occupa ial distanced face covering rules, and soc campus visitors community areas. Only once halls when den resi are allowed in other campus offNo t. hos a by ied pan accom halls. ce den resi in wed visitors are allo
Studying Apart
and seating in the Study spaces on campus this year seating but , library are still around cted. Group dire fic traf and out ead is spr ough video thr ine onl e don projects can be ents. um doc calls and with shareable
RESILIENCE
Slow Down, Do Less
Teaching Through COVID-19 Requires Flexibility By Elizabeth Andre Associate Professor of Nature and Culture How are you going to teach outdoor education online? was the question I was asked most this summer. As a professor of outdoor education, each time I’d read a news story about another COVID-19 outbreak at a summer camp, athletic program, or military base, I’d doubt anew whether we’d be able to run our signature Outdoor Leadership Immersion Semester. In a typical fall, our students spend seventy days outdoors living together and learning a succession of technical skills from a succession of instructors, each an expert in their skill. My colleagues and I wondered how we would be able to do this without risking illness in our group, perhaps while we were far from medical care. We first considered wearing masks and maintaining physical distance from each other, but keeping everything else the same. We figured we could transport people in vans at half-capacity, and that everyone could cook individually and sleep in their own bivy sack. But then we’d wonder how masks and physical distance would work for things like whitewater canoeing, swift-water rescue, and sailing. How do you stay six-feet apart from each other when you’re packed into the cabin of a sailboat? We were flummoxed until we allowed ourselves to let go of our attachment to the way we’d always done it. We were trying to shove the square peg of our previous model into the round hole of “the COVID fall.” Once we asked ourselves what possibilities exist, given the new reality, rather than wondering how to do what we’d originally planned, the answer was clear—we would make our group a quarantine bubble and go into the wilderness for a long, continuous expedition.
We had to slow down and do less. After all participants tested negative for COVID-19, we started a fourteenday quarantine at our satellite campus at Forest Lodge near Cable, Wisconsin. We spent the time getting to know each other, learning skills that do work with masks and social distancing, and planning our next forty days. The students decided to canoe the two-hundred-mile border route from Voyageurs National Park all the way to Lake Superior, over the Grand Portage, and then to backpack and climb in the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan—places they figure we can avoid contact with anyone outside of our group. We’re now nearing the end of our quarantine and are preparing to depart for the wilderness. It will feel odd, yet liberating, to pack away our facemasks and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our group. We might even hug, or hold hands— human contact we’ve missed over the past six months. The days will flow, one into the next, as we move at human speed through the crimson leaves and shortening daylight. We won’t need to rush through the curriculum of one pursuit, and then jump into learning the next. Students won’t need to reintroduce themselves to the next instructor. The students’ “technical resumes” won’t be as stacked at the conclusion of the experience. But we will have shown care for each other, flexibility in our thinking, and a practiced ability to adapt.
Shields Is Trying it All Kelsie Shields is a senior majoring in business administration with an emphasis in management and sustainable business and minor in writing. She is currently completing a business internship with the Office of Institutional Marketing Communications. Shields grew up on a small hobby farm north of Washburn, the youngest in a big family. She was deeply involved in 4-H growing up— photography, leadership-camp counselor, sewing, and nature-based projects. “High school was when I really fell in love with this area,” she said. “Small town, nice people, a plethora of outdoor activities, and—of course—Lake Superior. There is nothing like the lake.” She didn’t know what she wanted to do when college came around but decided it wasn’t time to leave the lake yet. “Northland had everything I liked: small class sizes, approachable professors, a beautiful campus, a mindset rooted in sustainability and community,” she said. “I remember taking the tour and everyone who walked past me smiled. I hadn’t had that on other college tours.” It was also the best financial choice and it allowed her to play soccer, stay near Lake Superior, and continue doing the things she loved like running, skiing, hiking, kayaking, ice-skating, snowshoeing, and gaining experience as a writing tutor, a first-year student mentor, library assistant, and trail builder. She interned last summer as a content creator with Bedtime4dogs.com, then spent a semester at the College of the Atlantic through EcoLeague. Now in her last year, she’s hoping to get a larger view of marketing, of how photography, video, and writing work together to create the story of a place. “This internship is the perfect way to meld business and writing together,” she said. “Being a part of this internship means I get to learn and tell about a wide array of subjects, stories, and people. Since its physically impossible to try everything, learning about other’s experiences is the next best thing, you know?”
FALL 2020
17
Build It
Alumni Sew Masks for Incoming Students
In a moment of can-do scrappiness, professors Nick Robertson, pictured above, Tom Fitz, Jonathan Martin, and Dave Ullman— with help from their children—built blackboards and installed them. They then sawed logs into stumps for seats and created a suite of outdoor classrooms. Fitz has been teaching beneath a bur oak tree at the north side of the CSE parking lot. “So we’ve been calling it the bur oak classroom,” he said. “It’s a sweet spot to teach and learn.”
Ashland City Council Resolution 2391 Passed June 9, 2020 RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF NORTHLAND COLLEGE’S EFFORTS TO RE-OPEN SAFELY IN THE FALL OF 2020 WHEREAS, Northland College, through its President, Karl Solibakke, has expressed its intent to re-open its doors to the student body for the Fall Term 2020 and has indicated its intention to follow all recommendations of the local health authorities and to monitor members of the student and faculty body on an ongoing basis throughout the 2020-21 school year and to continue to collaborate and communicate with the Ashland community in a forthright manner going forward. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by a vote of the Common Council of the City of Ashland at its meeting on June 9, 2020, the City of Ashland hereby supports the efforts by Northland College to re-open its doors to student and faculty members commencing with the Fall 2020 Term using best practices as recommended by the local health authorities.
1
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Laura Grom-Domoto ’78
By Kelsie Shields ’21 When the pandemic hit, Nancy Carey Mullenbrock ’78 got to work doing what she does easily—sewing. She created masks first for family and friends—then this summer, she starting thinking about students returning to campus. Apart from cutting the waste caused by using disposable masks daily, Mullenbrock explained that making masks was a “very tangible, very easy way to support incoming students; to reach out and say, ‘I made this for you personally.’” Knowing her old dorm neighbor Laura Grom-Domoto ’78 had been sewing masks as well, Mullenbrock made a call, and the two brainstormed the idea of the Northland Mask Ask—a letter sent out to other alumni to buy or make reusable masks for the Northland community. “Life is about being part of a community,” Mullenbrock said. “And it’s the little things that count; those are the things that keep people healthy.” Along with making and purchasing reusable masks, Mullenbrock and Grom-Domoto asked their alma mater family to include words of encouragement to go along with the gift, like this one from Nancy:
Nancy Carey Mullenbrock ’78 This is really a Superior hug from a Northland College alumna to a current student. Wishing you the best in all your endeavors. May your future be ever bright, Within the first few days, they received responses from alumni around the US, and together, alumni, have created over two hundred, fun-patterned cloth masks that are now available across campus for students, staff, and visitors alike. “You got the feeling when you were at Northland that you could make a difference one step at a time,” said Grom-Domoto. “It was something engrained in the culture.”
Photo Jeremy Oswald ’94
“Northland taught me what it means to be rooted in community and about the ethics of community.”
—Amy Fazio Trimbo ’07
Ethical Design for Our Time After winning an entrepreneurial competition in May 2019, Amy Fazio Trimbo ’07 established her dream business, AdventureUs, in downtown Washburn. She studied psychology at Northland where she met her husband and business co-conspirator, Jared Trimbo ’06. They have three children who provided the inspiration for Amy’s first product line—Snow Sleeves, a stretchy wrist gaiter that fits over gloves and jacket sleeves to keep out the cold. Their mission: to inspire friends and families to get outside together. “Snow Sleeves make winter more enjoyable by avoiding frozen wrists,” Amy said. Built on environmental ethics, inclusiveness, and outdoor fun, she focused on gear, clothing, and zipper repair, Snow Sleeves, and on creating products to enhance the outdoors. Then in March, COVID-19 hit, and with it, a mounting body of evidence that masks are the best tool for stopping the spread of the virus. Amy resisted making masks at first. Many people had dusted off their sewing machines and were distributing them for free—maybe that would fill the need. But as demand grew and more people asked, she did what many businesses have done—she pivoted. “I had the skills and resources, how could I not?” she said, sitting in her storefront filled with swatches of material, sewing machines, and colorful spools of thread. On April 2, she posted a photo to Instagram, announcing she would be selling masks. She postponed other commitments and with a crew of three sewers—including best friend Audrey (Herold) Weaver ’06—went into full-on mask mode, creating the pattern design, sourcing American made, recycled, and organic materials, and wondering for how long.
So far, the need has only increased. Since April, AdventureUs has sold and donated nearly 3,000 masks. As a child, Amy sewed with her grandmother Tina. “I loved it but I stopped doing it,” she said. It was Audrey who reintroduced her to sewing when she invited Amy on her family’s annual “quilting vacation.” After that, Amy took a quilting course at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College, and started dreaming up AdventureUs. “Audrey has been with me every step of the way,” Amy said. The two talk daily, have children of similar ages, and brainstorm ideas for the business. Audrey recently left her job to work full-time for Amy as her production manager. “This is not just a job for either one of us,” Audrey said. “We’re both so passionate about empowering people by teaching them to sew, about the outdoors, about this community.” While their keystone product has shifted from Snow Sleeves to masks, the mission for sustainable, reusable, well-designed fashion remains strong. The business gives back one percent of sales to 1% for the Planet, as well as other nonprofits like the Washburn Public School system. “Northland taught me what it means to be rooted in community and about the ethics of community,” Amy said. “The main reason I’m doing this is for the community.” Find out more at getadventuresus.com.
FALL 2020
1
Celebration of Graduates With campus closed and students gone last spring, the Class of 2020 experienced a quiet end to their college careers. Not wanting to let the moment pass, Northland staff, faculty, and students came together to create three virtual celebrations. Professor of Geoscience Tom Fitz provided a live address of his last lecture, “Living a Good Life on a Crazy Dynamic Planet;” graduating seniors submitted a sentence of gratitude and Stacy Craig ’04 along with 2020 graduates Alison Lourigan, Seth Bayliss, and Evin Avery shared them; and President Solibakke shared his congratulations while faculty and staff read off the names of the 2020 graduates. This was not a replacement for a commencement ceremony—that will happen later—but rather an acknowledgment.
#NCWhatsNext
Watch the videos
northland.edu/2020celebration
20
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
ATHLETICS
VARSITY CLUB
Victoria Joins Oakland A’s
JOIN TODAY
northland.edu/varsitymember
Coordinates Educational and Cultural Programming for Latin American Players
Luis Victoria ’17 studied business and sports management and sustainable entrepreneurship, minored in psychology, played baseball, and earned an internship with the Kansas City Royals in the Dominican Republic while he was a student at Northland. He went on to earn his master degree in sports management from Concordia University in St. Paul. In January, he accepted a position as coordinator of educational and cultural programs with the Oakland A’s. Interview by Julie Buckles Buckles: Congratulations on your new job! Is this a position you ever imagined? Victoria: Thank you very much. For as long as I can remember, baseball has always been a part of my life. My dream was to become a professional baseball player but throughout my college baseball career, I developed an understanding that my true calling was as a professional in the field of sports management. Tell me about your job. I work under the baseball operations department where I assist in overseeing and developing the cultural and educational program of the Latin American players as they adapt to life in the United States. Some of my duties consist of assisting the players with English classes, housing, travel, paperwork, immigration status, life skills, amongst others. On many occasions, I also serve as a Spanish/English interpreter between the players and the front office staff, on and off the field. This job entails building strong relationships with both the players and the managers, making sure that the players’ cultural and educational development is going hand in hand with their baseball development. While many Latin American players may be ready to become Major League players, sometimes they are not ready to build a life in the United States outside of the baseball field. It is my job to make sure that these players receive
and gain the necessary tools and skills in order to successfully adapt to a life in the United States during their time as professional baseball players. In March, you sent everyone home and the minor leagues haven’t started back up again. How has it been working remotely? How are the players doing? Working remotely has been a different environment for many of us. In my case, since I was new to the organization, I was just starting to get acquainted with the culture and structure of the team while also meeting many new co-workers and players. It has been a challenge considering the fact that we were in the middle of spring training when everything was halted and many things about our style of work had to change, but I was able to adapt to the different format in hopes of supporting the organization as best as I could. Without stating the obvious, the players would rather be on a baseball field playing at this time. It was rough at first, but many of them have been able to adjust to a different lifestyle while patiently waiting to be productive again for themselves and for their families. The A’s have done a great job overall at keeping in touch with all of the players and making sure that everyone is doing well. I am certain that everyone, including players, staff members, and myself, are more than excited to go back to work on a “normal” basis.
MLC Welcomes Northland The Midwest Lacrosse Conference will add Northland College to its membership in the 2021 season the league announced. “We are incredibly excited to have Northland join the MLC,” said Commissioner Kelly Anderson Diercks. “Northland is a strong addition to the league and is a good fit both academically and athletically with our member institutions.” The LumberJacks men’s lacrosse team began varsity competition in the 2017 season and has been competing as an independent for the past four years. “This is an important step in the right direction for our program and long overdue” commented Northland Athletic Director Seamus Gregory.
FALL 2020
21
REFLECTIONS
A Spirit of Imagination How Northland Faced the 1918 Pandemic
By David Saetre Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Religion Some years ago, I began an address to an organization facing uncertain times with a quote from the poet T.S. Eliot: “humankind cannot bear very much reality.” As I repeated the line for effect, an elder in the crowd uttered, “but young man, we must!” After the laughter in the room subsided, I recovered enough to reply, “Yes, you are right. The question is how.” Facing uncertainty and hard realities is nothing new to Northland College. The entire history of the College is the story of perseverance and grit through all kinds of calamity. That includes a pandemic. The “Spanish” Flu of 1918 posed the most serious threat to the fledgling College since its inception a decade earlier. We now know that the epidemic was the result of an extremely infectious H1N1 virus that began in the spring of the year followed by a second wave in the fall that swept across the entire nation including northern Wisconsin. The Chequamegon Bay area reported the first cases of this deadly flu in October and the disease quickly afflicted all the surrounding communities. The College responded with a campus quarantine. The College magazine, Northern Light, reported, “No one was permitted to go off campus. For eight weeks this careful isolation effectively kept the flu at bay and not one case of sickness appeared until after the ban was lifted.” The College, like the nation itself, was primarily focused on World War I, and a number of students had abandoned their studies to join the legions fighting abroad. Fall enrollment fell to twenty-five men and women. The pandemic posed an added threat to the fledgling school. President Brownell led the faculty, staff, and students with a series of initiatives responding to the realities they were facing. Students honored the campus rule and off-campus students moved into the dormitories to complete the quarantine. New courses were added to the curriculum including one on Practical Citizenship, and instruction emphasized discussion and weekend meetings.
22
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Students initiated regular campfires, weekend discussion groups, Friday night socials, and a “movie night” (remember, this was 1918). The College also increased its own farm production, partly in response to the war, with forty acres of crops, including feed for the campus chickens, cows, horses, and nine acres of table produce. These initiatives helped keep the College safe, while preparing the school for changes that would come with the end of the war and the passing of the pandemic. As I read through the old records I am struck by the frequent references to faith, and the way the community encouraged one another. The student issue of The Wedge for 1918 included this dedication: Because we love and honor the deep, sincere spirit that founded Northland; because we feel and realize that enduring and extensive influence that this spirit now has; and because we know that the Northland spirit will do still greater things in the future for those who possess it, we dedicate this book to The Northland Spirit. President Brownell made a similar reference to “the Northland Spirit” as he looked back on a year of struggle. In his annual address to constituents, Brownell wrote, In this year of struggle… some cherished hopes have faltered and grown faint in the heat of day, but they have not died. The Northland Spirit never faltered, in fact, at the moment of greatest trial it seemed to gain its greatest strength and power. This idea of a “Northland Spirit” abides. As before, a pandemic challenges us with anxious uncertainties amidst national turmoil. How, indeed, do we respond when overwhelmed by “too much reality?” One response is fear. But fear cuts us off from creative possibilities on the other side of struggle. So, let us include The Northland Spirit as an antidote to fear while we live through the uncertainties of the day—a spirit of a beloved community; a spirit of imagination and innovation; a spirit of connection to one another, the northland, and all its creatures; the spirit of belonging, grounded in love and compassion. Spirit enough to bear our reality.
PHILANTHROPY
Endeavor Funds Essentials SOEI Receives Facelift The faculty joke about the circus act they have been performing in the classroom. From talking into a mask behind plexiglass with fogged up glasses to sitting on a log, shouting above the wind and traffic, they have had to adapt, innovate, and juggle to teach students face-to-face and online. All of this has involved technology upgrades funded in part by the Endeavor Foundation, an organization focused on small, liberal arts colleges nationwide and on the performing arts in New York City. Northland is one of twenty colleges in this cohort. In the middle of March, the Foundation sent an email invitation to the cohort of college presidents. “In the face of a public health and economic challenge like this one,” wrote the foundation’s director of grants and research, “continuing to guide and mentor students in their process of discovery is especially important. We are prepared to offer you each a grant of up to $50,000 to offset shortfalls which are likely occurring on your campus.”
“The Endeavor Foundation has fully embraced our mission by showing extraordinary generosity in a time of grave need.” —Karl I. Solibakke
Northland applied for and received $50,000 to upgrade the College’s e-learning platform, to purchase necessary licenses, and expand the suite of higher ed-specific collaboration tools, including HD video conferencing. A second round of funding—$70,000—allowed the College to purchase remote learning technology upgrades. “Devoted to a select group of very small liberal arts colleges, the Endeavor Foundation has fully embraced Northland’s mission and values and shown extraordinary generosity in a time of grave need,” President Solibakke said. “Not only do we find ourselves among peer institutions, which lend expertise as well as spiritual and emotional support, but we are also among friends, who are emboldened by our aspirations to achieve operational and strategic stability.”
John Beauchamp was an artist, conservationist, and a defender of wildlife. Born in Mankato, Minnesota, in 1925, he had a somewhat isolated childhood, due to an illness, so he kept company with Plato, Socrates, Shakespeare, and Sigurd Olson, among others. He received a master of fine arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1954 and was an instructor of drawing and painting at the University of Minnesota from 1957-1959. His paintings are in the collections of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, where he lived for part of his adult life. John held a lifelong interest in the Midwest and his natural surroundings, traveling to Isle Royale and the north shore of Lake Superior to gain deeper understanding. Beauchamp died in 2019 at the age of 94. He never married and had no children. Before he died, he added the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute to his will. “His main concern and question was ‘Is Northland College tied to the community?’” said Michelle Schnabel, retired stewardship coordinator, who spoke with him in 2015. “To
which he meant, in ways related to being good stewards to the environment.” This spring, Northland College used a portion of Beauchamp’s estate gift to renovate the building that houses its Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. Originally constructed in 1981, the building had begun to deteriorate because of water infiltration attributed to a failing roof and the unique, sloped siding of the original building. Beauchamp’s gift allowed the College to repair water damage, add insulation, and replace both the siding and roof of the building. “Given Beauchamp’s interest in community connections,” Alan Brew, executive director of the Institute, observed, “this is a particularly appropriate use of his gift because the Institute’s building has long provided a venue for community programs focused on the environment and its stewardship.” The remainder of Beauchamp’s gift will be used to sustain established programs of the Institute and to expand programs that support writers and artists whose work focuses on the natural world.
FALL 2020
23
The Minar Family gathers at a celebration of Carol Minar’s (above) life in Washburn. Pictured L to R Ashley Hilderbrand Minar ’13, Arthur Minar ’13, Janet Minar, Dick Minar, Barbara Minar (daughter of Louis ’36).
Ann Minar Tribbey ’30 Mathematics
Three Generations of Northland Connections Alva Tribbey ’29 Mathematics
Like many high school seniors, Arthur Scott Minar ’13 procrastinated making a plan for attending college. And time was ticking. “I couldn’t decide, and I was being lazy,” he laughs. Then, members of his family— his dad and his aunts—pointed to Northland College, a college consistent with his views, the place where his grandfather, great aunt, and two great uncles attended. “I never knew my grandfather, but I flew up to Ashland with my Aunt Janet, went on a tour, and I liked it,” he said. “I also liked the family connection.”
Arthur Aloysius Minar ’32 Mathematics
Louis Minar ’36 Chemistry
24
The first to attend Northland was Arthur Scott’s Great-Aunt Ann ’30, the third oldest of seven children living on a farm in Phillips, Wisconsin. Her parents emigrated from what is now the Czech Republic. After high school, Ann worked at the telephone company office, saved money, and then made the bold decision to journey alone seventy-seven miles north to Northland College. Ann met Alva Tribbey ’29, her future husband, at Northland and both worked their way through college: Alva as a janitor and Ann in the library. Ann valued the college experience as a way to escape the farm life,
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
and she encouraged her younger brothers Arthur Aloysius ’32 and Louis ’36 to join her at Northland. Ann talked them into going: “your life will be better after attending Northland,” she told them in a letter saved by Phyllis Tribbey Vinson. Arthur and Louis and a cousin started the Copper Craft shop. Their products were sold nationwide and brought income to the College and to the young artists. Arthur was on the tennis team and sang in the choir, which toured extensively; Louis played football and was on the wrestling team. Alva, Ann, Arthur and four others ate regularly at the same table, calling their group “the Hungry Seven,” a group that remained friends for life. Ann and Alva graduated one year apart, and both went to Milwaukee to work for the telephone company. The Great Depression had started and without prospects, Arthur returned to the farm in Phillips. Ann wrote to Arthur from Milwaukee encouraging him to go out into the world. “She was the insistent one, the leader,” Janet said. Arthur, became a teacher, a principal, then superintendent,
obtained a master’s degree from UW-Madison, and eventually retired from education and joined a firm that sold school supplies to rural schools. Arthur’s three children—Carol, Janet, and Dick—did not attend Northland, but in the 1990s Carol, who was a landscape designer and patron of the Denver Opera Guild, attended a summer writing camp on campus. “She was so inspired by Lake Superior, the north woods, and Northland that she changed her world and decided to move,” Janet said. Carol died April 7, 2020, leaving a generous bequest to the College’s annual fund. Janet plans to follow suit with a bequest to support efforts to research, conserve, and protect water through the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation. “The family has been inspired by Northland and its values,” Janet said. “I want to honor that.” Arthur Scott graduated in 2013 with a degree in geology and biology. He also met his future wife, Ashley Hilderbrand ’13, at Northland, and they now live and work in Lockport, Illinois. Of Northland, Arthur says, “I loved my time there.”
Alumni and friends raised $2,607 to purchase baskets of necessities for international students from Australia, Great Britain, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine.
Sympathy to the Families of: Edith (Fisher) Lowden ’49, Indianapolis, IN, 2/15/2018
John J. Blahnik ’61, Washburn, WI, 6/16/2020
Nancy (Mayotte) Boone ’89, Odanah, WI, 4/14/2018
Joyce (Heglund) Rannow ’43, West Bend, WI, 6/18/2020
Peggy (Slining) Squire ’75, Saint Paul, MN, 9/7/2018
Gaetan A. Riopel ’63, Rhinelander, WI, 7/4/2020
Jacqueline (Theisen) Grom ’52, Crystal Lake, IL, 11/2/2018
Marilyn M. Larsen ’91, Bayfield, WI, 7/13/2020
Bonnie (Anderson) Angell ’63, Gilroy, CA, 9/28/2019
Dr. Eugene A. Perry ’60, Galesburg, IL, 7/17/2020
Michael E. Powless ’82, Odanah, WI, 12/19/2019
Brandon E. Bristol ’03, Bayfield, WI, 7/17/2020
Marlene A. Baron ’79, Hudson, WI, 2/28/2020
Kenneth C. Swanson ’66, Redmond, WA, 7/19/2020
Donald C. Brenholt ’63, Iron River, WI, 3/8/2020
Janice (Glidden) Scanlon ’64, Horseheads, NY, 7/21/2020
Kalley A. Rittman ’19, Madison, WI, 3/17/2020
Dennis F. Harvey ’63, Washington, IL, 7/23/2020
Jean (Kyle) Goze ’65, Mundelein, IL, 4/2/2020
Dennis F. Sechen ’71, Ashland, WI, 8/6/2020
Kevin P. Tilley ’76, Daytona Beach, FL, 4/11/2020
Pamela F. Mack ’97, Ironwood, MI, 8/12/2020
Gerald R. Stroshane ’66, Slidell, LA, 4/15/2020
Patricia (Winter) Mendius ’46, Los Alamos, NM, 8/13/2020
William L. Bergschnieder ’74, Hayward, WI, 5/9/2020
Melissa (Sanders) Lombardo ’72, Eden Prairie, MN, 8/22/2020
Robert J. Howard ’52, Trempealeau, WI, 5/9/2020
W.L. “Buck” Martin, Madison, WI, 11/18/2019, Former Trustee, 1975-1986
Laura (Flory) Lubahn ’81, Aurora, MN, 5/16/2020
Robert P. Knight, Lake Forest, IL, 5/10/2020, Trustee Emeritus, 1975-1990
Thomas J. Cvengros ’67, Hurley, WI, 5/19/2020
David D. Donovan, Oregon, WI, 6/19/2020, Former Trustee, 2009-2017
Alden E. Morland ’63, Washburn, WI, 5/19/2020
Elizabeth Crosby Johnston, Jupiter, FL, 6/25/2020, Former Trustee, 1999-2008
EllenAnne (Enright) Tidstrom ’51, Ashland, WI, 5/22/2020
Dr. Donald E. Fouts ’59, Springfield, IL, 8/12/2020, Former Trustee, 2003-2012
Mary Kay (Gazdik) Washnieski ’10, Ashland, WI, 5/25/2020
Dr. Robert K. Maxwell, Ashland, WI, 8/21/2020, Former Faculty Member
Katherine (Holmes) Johnson ’86, Duluth, MN, 6/6/2020
Dr. John Beecher Bennett, Hamden, CT, 8/30/2020, Former Faculty Member
FALL 2020
25
26
NORTHLAND COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Wisdom, Work, Wallop, and Wealth Mary Rice’s Enduring Legacy President Karl I. Solibakke and Major Gift Officer Mary O’Brien called on Mary Hulings Rice at her home in Bayfield this past summer to chat about the College and talk about her legacy. Mary recently turned eighty and she retired from the board of trustees in 2019, after serving for thirty-five years. As the two were standing to leave, Rice told them, “Take care of my college—and don’t forget about me. I won’t forget you.” As if the College could forget such a formidable, charismatic force. A graduate of Carleton College in 1962, Rice spent her early adult life running a cooking school and cooking equipment store with her sister, Martha Kaemmer. She volunteered at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and started Grand Old Day—a festival with a parade, food, and events along three miles of St. Paul’s Grand Avenue. A member of the Andersen Windows family, she knew the Lake Superior region from her time spent at Sand Island, where the family has one of the last private inholdings in the Apostle Islands. And she knew a bit about Northland through her mother, Betty Hulings, who served on the board of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute and later received an honorary degree from the College. She moved to Bayfield in 1980 to kick back. Instead, within weeks, she transformed an old bar into Maggie’s, and then added Mainstreet Maggies, the Egg Toss, The Clubhouse on Madeline Island, and the Wild Rice Restaurant that together created the restaurant scene and made the region a food destination. She helped start the Bayfield rec center, Big Top Chautauqua, and Madeline Island Music Camp. She established CORE Community Resources to support the elderly, and the Apostle Islands Area Community Fund to support area nonprofits. Through her family foundation and her own personal giving, Rice is one of the largest donors to Northland College. “Mary not only gives generously, she gifts every organization she touches with her energy, style, and deep love for this region,” said O’Brien, whose first summer job was washing dishes at The Clubhouse; she now serves as chair of the Apostle Islands Community Fund. Don Chase, who has worked with Mary since the start, agrees. “When she joined the board of trustees in 1984, she changed the culture,” said Chase, who was vice president of advancement at the time.
She turned a working board into a giving board by challenging others to match her giving, by opening the doors to her home and restaurant for staff and faculty parties and donor dinners, and by funding things small and large—everything from St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concerts on campus to student ski trips to repairs on the president’s house to the creation of the Hulings Rice Food Center. She organized “mystery bus tours,” taking trustees on rides through neighborhoods in Duluth and the Twin Cities. “We went to places we knew about but had not been,”
In Italy, Rice would engage students around the breakfast table out on the veranda. “She wanted to know what they were learning and what they were experiencing,” Saetre said. She incorporated art, food, and people from the village, invited painters, mechanics, and even magicians to come speak to students. “One year an oil painter who did large, surrealist street scapes showed his art— interesting local folks,” Saetre said. It was in Italy that the seed of an idea for the Food Center started. Exploring her interest in regional foods, she started conversations with Italian professors and
“Your generosity and commitment to Northland College continues to take my breath away. You have always made a full commitment of all the fours W’s: wisdom, work, wallop, and wealth.”
—In a letter from Don Chase to Mary Rice in 2002.
Rice said during an interview on her porch, overlooking Lake Superior. “It was a chance for us to talk.” Rice says her memory is not what it used to be but she easily recalled the mystery tour that ended on the roof of Prince’s Minneapolis night club, Glam Slam, with a scrumptious meal. “It built trust among the board,” Chase said. “That was her way to solidify the support and the commitment of the board.” In 2003, Mary invited David Saetre, emeritus professor of religion and philosophy and a good friend, and students for May term at her remote Italian villa, a fourteenth century Franciscan monastery. The idea was to create a living and learning location to expose students to art and Italian village life. These trips occurred for several years. “Her gifts and philanthropy benefit the whole of the College,” Saetre said. “The motivation has always been to provide a place in the north to educate students on the environment and the history of the region.”
growers about varieties and cultivation of heritage produce. She brought that idea back to Northland and propagated it via the Food Center. This is Saetre’s telling. When asked about this origin story, Mary shrugs, then with a laugh, says, “let’s go with it.” In a satisfying twist, two of Rice’s most recent projects, the Food Center and CORE Resources, have been working closely since the start of COVID-19, to create a food bank for the region. Forty years since her arrival in Bayfield, Rice has officially slowed down but she is far from done with Northland College. When asked what her goal for Northland would be, she quipped: “solvency.” Then she continued, “I want it to be a place where people seek to learn more about the environment and how we’re going to live in that environment.”
FALL 2020
27
® NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID DULUTH, MN PERMIT NO. 1944
1411 Ellis Avenue Ashland, WI 5406-3
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Planned gifts make a world of difference.
“I am very happy to support Northland’s legacy, to help ensure that the College will continue to enrich our diverse Chequamegon Bay community for future generations.” Carolyn Sneed Washburn, Wisconsin
northland.edu/give
To read more about Carolyn and why she gives visit northland.edu/sneed.