How about that winter?
5:
days of classes UMD has canceled due to weather this academic year.
117:
Duluth’s seasonal snowfall total in inches. It’s the city’s seventh highest on record.
THE STATESMAN WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH
WWW.UMDSTATESMAN.COM
Froelich outlines his plans for University BY GRAHAM HAKALA Staff Reporter
Next year’s Student Association (SA) is taking shape as newly elected members prepare for next semester. The annual SA elections were held last week, and Jacob Froelich, who ran unopposed, is the student body’s presidentelect.
“I really want to say thank you to everyone who voted,” Froelich said. “Not just for me, but for Froelich all of the student representatives.” When Froelich came to
UMD as a freshmen, he got involved in the community and volunteering. “Everyone tells you to get involved when you first get to college,” Froelich said. “So I kind of went crazy.” He started volunteering with Students Engaged in Rewarding Volunteer Experiences (SERVE), a group that helps students connect with
their communities. In both his sophomore and junior year, Froelich was an on-campus event organizer, a job that required him to plan and coordinate events once a month. It was during this time that he decided to get involved in SA. “I kind of fell into SA last year when there was an open spot,” Froelich said. “I thought
A creative and ‘cautionary tale’
Scandal-ridden writer’s visit draws delight, criticism BY KIM HYATT Statesman Correspondent
W
hen UMD freshman Sara Karpik heard that writer Jonah Lehrer would be speaking on campus as part of the Sieur du Luht Creativity Conference April 1 and 2, she had what she described as “a mini-panic attack.” “Without his book (“Proust was a Neuroscientist”), I wouldn’t be the person who I am today,” Karpik said. A theater major minoring in sociology and English, Karpik said she based a 17-page research paper on
“Proust” in high school. She wanted to combine her love for music and science, and in the end discovered a new one: writing. Lehrer, a 32-year-old freelance writer who has contributed to Wired Magazine, The New York Times Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, said the conference was his first major public appearance in 13 months. He had been on hiatus since national media exposed cases of him plagiarizing articles and book material. He said his “gravest sins were the five Bob Dylan quotes,” which appeared in his most recent book, see LEHRER, A4
Jonah Lehrer (left) shares the stage with Martin Shapiro of California State University, Fresno (middle) and moderator Karen Sunderman of PBS (right). SARAH HUGHES/SUBMITTED
Professor of levity When the time is right, Organizational Behavior Professor Jim Lyttle brings humor into the classroom BY PAIGE WALTER Staff Reporter
With a last name like Lyttle, this UMD Organizational Behavior professor has a sense
INDEX:
News: A1 - A4 |
of humor that is anything but. Jim Lyttle is in his third year of teaching classes in the Labovitz School of Business and Economics (LSBE). In addition to teaching, Lyttle researches humor and its effect on learning, as well as incorporating humor into the workplace. April is National Humor Month, and Lyttle has a pocketful of jokes ready. Humor is incorporated into his daily lesson plans using PowerPoint slides and quick, spontaneous jokes. see A LYTTLE LEVITY, A3
Opinion: A5 - A6 | Sports: B1 - B2
| Student Life: B3 - B5
I’d check it out. I ended up really liking it. I really liked talking to administration and helping student’s voices be heard.” Froelich made the decision to run for SA president this year, an opportunity he described as “once in a lifetime.” see FROELICH, A3
Officials will meet on budget this week BY KYLE FARRIS News Editor
The University of Minnesota’s Richard Pfutzenreuter and Julie Tonneson are scheduled to convene with UMD officials and campus community April 10 and 11 over budgetary issues facing the universities. Pfutzenreuter, U of M chief financial officer, and Tonneson, U of M associate vice president for Budget and Finance, are expected to present finance information and have discussions with UMD administrators, Student Association members and other officials. The meetings will be the first of their kind since UMD presented its budget for Fiscal Year 2015 to the U of M on March 14. In the budget, UMD targets its $9.4 million deficit by requesting that any new funding from the U of M go toward making up the shortfall. System President Eric Kaler is expected to review the budget request this month. Mike Seymour, vice chancellor for Finance and Operations, said last month that UMD has been in constant talks with the U of M since making the request. “The communication channels are open,” Seymour said. “We keep talking, and there’s maybe a little bit of wiggle room in there if they have questions or if we want to bring one more thing to their attention.”
Professor Jim Lyttle says humor in the classroom works best when it is natural and considerate of students’ feelings. JIM LYTTLE/ SUBMITTED