The Scroll

Tonight as I was encouraging my 8-year-old daughter to put on her PJs so we could read and study “math facts” (12 divided by 4 = 3), she whispered rather loudly and with great enthusiasm: “Celie and I have a secret handshake.” Celie is Gracie’s best friend in all of 3rd grade. “What is it?” I began quietly recalling the many “secret codes” my grade school friends and I created, excluding our brothers, sisters and parents from our thoughts and conversations. My daughter scolded me. “I’m not telling! It’s a secret. Duh, mom.”

The beauty of secret language and private symbols is that they serve many communicative functions. In the Communication and Journalism Department we are offering a new class this year, COJO111: Communication and Citizenship. I’m lucky enough to be teaching it with three of my dynamic COJO colleagues. In our course we are experimenting with a secret code -- a simple hand gesture -- to foster a symbolic community of learners, communicate with efficiency and greet each other in public with no more than the flutter of a hand. We also are hoping our code will help each of us identify others as a “member” of COJO 111. Why would we need a hand signal? Don’t I know and recognize my own students? I will, but it might take a little bit longer this semester because COJO 111 is a “super-section” with 140 students all taught together in a highly energized classroom. So far, it’s been most fun seeing how our secret code is playing itself out as our COJO 111 bond develops.

For example, last Wednesday I walked back from South campus after learning budget training and saw a student, who flashed me the secret hand gesture. I yell out “Hey, 111! You’re Aaron, row 3, right? How are you?” He chuckled and we chatted a bit.

Friday night I was at a local watering hole when I saw a server who looked familiar. She smiled intently in my direction and then, a bit shyly but happily, executed the secret code. I returned the friendly gesture. It opened a conversation about how her semester is going (“excellent”), tips (“not bad!”) and what she thought about our first day at our community-based learning site (“so exciting!”). She assured me our regular server would be with us soon. Whew. All of this secret hand-gesturing fueled my appetite.

Just today I’m strolling with my daughter and her best friend Celie over to the grill to treat ourselves to a some soft-serve yogurt (“excellent”). Out of the corner of my eye I see a student in COJO 111. Although she is many yards away and walking in the opposite direction I – like a crazy school kid -- yell out “Jackyln. COJO 111!” She responds by raising her hand with the secret symbol. My daughter and her friend ask: “What did she just do?” I scolded them: “I’m not telling. It’s a secret.”

You want to know the secret code for COJO 111? Sorry. You’ll have to enroll. It’s a secret. Duh.

Two of the COJO 111 professors, Drs. Wyatt and Connery, are sworn to secrecy.

Posted by Mark Neuzil at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

“So, why do faculty get guaranteed lifetime employment? We staff don’t get tenure. Why should they?”

A fairly new and very committed staff member asked this question. That question made me think that there are lots of things that we don’t know about each other’s work and that sometimes it is important for us to know these things.

So, I thought I’d make a start with an answer in The Scroll.

First, tenure does not mean employment for life. There are very specific conditions under which faculty may lose employment. These range from financial exigency to moral turpitude, aka depravity. Admittedly, fairly serious grounds.

Why should the requirement for loss of tenure be so high? Because tenure is protection for one of the highest values of academic life – academic freedom. To fulfill our mission – in fact, the mission of any serious university – St. Thomas faculty must be able to address controversial, uncomfortable and unwieldy issues without fear for their jobs. Curricular activities and scholarly work are protected by the requirements of tenure.

Threats are real. In the not too distant past, there was the Great Margarine Massacre. Economists at a well-respected state university with strong agricultural ties were fired for failing to support the nutritional superiority of butter over margarine. Horrors, they even suggested that laws requiring yellow dye for the pasty white margarine to be sold separately were in restraint of trade.

Another, oft-overlooked value of tenure is the mentorship that comes with it. Senior faculty are able to offer advice on teaching, scholarship and service without fear for their own positions. When I was a new faculty member, senior members of the economics department – Mary Supel, Dan Fairchild, Mo Selim – gave me desperately needed tips on my teaching techniques much to the benefit of our students! Those students and I are eternally grateful. I have tried in my turn to help newer faculty over the years. I now see those then newer faculty mentoring yet newer hires.

The same security in one’s position also allows departments to hire better than themselves. Every year the academic quality of the University is maintained and strengthened as current faculty pursue the best new colleagues possible.

There is a down side of tenure, too, but that’s for another day. This is the beginning of a glorious new fall semester, a time for appreciating only the values of academe. With the falling leaves, the crashing financial institutions, and a presidential election hanging on economic issues, the itch to be in the classroom is strong for an old economist.

Posted by Mark Neuzil at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Most recently having worked for three years with the Arizona State University women’s basketball team, basketball always is on my brain. At St. Thomas, while I embarked a year ago on a new higher education career path – Student Affairs – you still will find me using basketball analogies because I believe the academic year is much like that of a basketball game.

Off-season/pre-season: After successfully graduating another class of Tommies who will go out into the world and make a difference, there comes a summer lull. Other students have left for their summer breaks, whether it be studying abroad, an internship or job, taking a class or just relaxing. We all know how quiet it gets on campus during the summer, and I miss the constant buzz of students – much like I feel after March Madness. Just as basketball has its “off-season” in which teams prepare for the next season, summer is when my Student Affairs colleagues and I prepare for yet another great year in which we will provide programs and support to our wonderful students here at St. Thomas. It’s our own “off-season.”

Warm-Up: Slowly but surely, student leaders return to campus in August for the Fall Leadership Institute and a variety of specialty training programs for resident assistants, Linkages, Tommie Ambassadors and many more areas.

Introductions: During Father Dease’s Move-In Day, the “returners” welcome the “incomers.” First-year students meet their roommates and get to know others in their halls. The introductions continue with the March Through the Arches, new student convocation, the president’s academic convocation, opening Mass, and the interfaith blessing and picnic. What a grand introduction our students have, and they are ready to immerse themselves in the community and their college careers.

First half (fall semester): This is my favorite time of year as the campus comes alive with energy! We start with a plethora of activities during Welcome Week. Students are excited to see old friends and make new ones, and the campus buzzes all hours of the day.

Timeouts: Fall break and Thanksgiving allow us to catch our breath and get re-energized for the remaining days of the semester so we can pull strongly through final exams. (Spring break is our big timeout in March, although I’m not quite sure students get the rest they need ☺.)

Halftime: The holidays, and for many students January Term, provides a nice, long breather – unless, of course, you decide to take or teach courses, study abroad or take a VISION trip. We also use this time to prepare for the rest of the school year.

Second half (spring semester): We push ourselves to the limit and improve on our first-half performance. The end is in sight and the seniors are focused and ready to win that championship . . . or get that degree! Others are setting themselves up for success in the seasons to come, always assisted by their coaches in the classroom and in Student Affairs.

Then the off-season and pre-season training begins – again!

As you can see, working in Student Affairs really isn’t that different than working in college basketball. We share in the peaks and valleys and celebrate our successes at the end of the year. There is nothing more I love than to share in those successes and in the achievements of our amazing students.

It was a pleasure to get to know many students, staff and faculty during my “rookie,” or “freshman,” year and I look forward to many new memories.

Here’s to another great year . . . Go Tommies!

Posted by Doug Hennes at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I was teaching at St. Thomas, an old newspaper colleague - then the college relations director at Carleton - would regularly give me a not-so-gentle shot about how much smarter he thought the Carls (students) were than the Tommies.

I’d counter that while Carleton students were congratulating themselves about how smart they were 10 years after graduation, my Tommie students were out in the world kicking butt and taking names – trying to make the Republic a little better.

That old argument came to mind as I thought about the Republican National Convention last month. Four former editors of The Aquin had a role, from the inside or outside, in the gathering that attracted the country’s attention.

Bill Nowling, Aquin editor in 1991, came to St. Paul as the spokesperson for the Michigan Republican Party. He must have been important because he was interrupted a half dozen times during supper by urgent text messages on his Blackberry. Nowling, the insider, got his start covering the State House for the Fargo Forum. I gave him a little shot for selling out, but I picked up the check.

Chris Havens (2000), a Star Tribune reporter, also spent his time inside the Xcel Energy Center, talking with the delegates from Minnesota. “The convention was pretty scripted,” Havens said, “but it was exciting to see that mass of people in downtown St. Paul.”

Outside the Xcel on the last night of the convention, Amy Forliti and Jon Krawczynski, both reporters for the Minneapolis bureau of the Associated Press, covered the final anti-war march. Before it was over, police threw percussion grenades and tear gas and made nearly 400 arrests.

One of those grenades hit Krawczynski (2001), and police arrested him and Forliti (1995) for unlawful assembly. “We were on the on Marion Street bridge and couldn’t get out of the crowd,” Forliti said. “It was loud and scary, especially since I saw Jon go down.”

Forliti and Krawczynski contributed crisp, clear and concise coverage of the convention protests. Once they were arrested, their colleagues took over the reporting because the pair had become part of the story.

Krawczynski is back at his regular sports beat. Forliti is a spot news veteran who covered the murder of seven at Red Lake High School in 2005. “I love to be in the thick of things,” she concluded.

Precisely the point I was trying to make to my Carleton friend.

Posted by Doug Hennes at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

The Jeremiah Program promises single mothers in poverty a chance to succeed. This residential program, with on-site child care and parenting classes, requires a mother to sign a contract that she will enroll in post-high school education while working a job and living by the rules of the house. There is a Jeremiah house in Minneapolis and one in St. Paul.

It is an extraordinarily successful program because these young mothers are extraordinary people. They don't, however, develop without the help of others.

A few weeks ago, while attending a fundraiser for Jeremiah, I was seated at a table with a resident of the program who was going to share her experiences. She was about 20 years old with one young child and was full of enthusiasm. After giving well-deserved praise to the staff of Jeremiah, she continued that she has received considerable help from her school, the University of St. Thomas, where she is majoring in English.

She identified two people at St. Thomas who have been her support and her mentors: Sr. Sharon Howell, Assistant Dean of Students, and Dr. Brenda Powell, English department. You would have thought these St. Thomas educators had written her speech. Such was the praise heaped upon them.

Driving home that evening I was very proud of being part of the St. Thomas community. I also wondered if Sr. Sharon and Dr. Powell had any idea how significant each has been in this young woman's life. I am still wondering, but now at the start of another academic year my wonder is: Do any of us appreciate what an impact we have on the lives of students and the privilege of doing so?

Posted by Mark Neuzil at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I take 172 steps to get from my front door to my faculty office at St. Thomas. Don't underestimate how treacherous my commute can be. When my neighbors haven't shoveled, leave piles of leaves on the sidewalk, or Mother Nature turns rain to ice, it can darn well take me an entire three minutes to navigate to OEC. And the traffic on Cleveland as I try to cross: often relentless. And the hawks who are raising a family right in the tree above my neighbor's car: big poop. And the smell of Coffee Bene brewing or Davanni's baking bread for the day: cruel.

I mention my difficult walk not to encourage envy among those of you who navigate stoplights, gas prices, potholes, and rage-full drivers on your commute. Rather, I was just reflecting – as I sat on the front stoop of our home last evening, 68 degrees and an early fall sun peeking at me and my family through the trees on Portland Avenue, bells atop Murray Herrick singing their evening song – on how much we enjoy being "in the zone." That's what we call it in our neighborhood, the blocks immediately surrounding our own little playground called St. Thomas. We're "in the zone" of students and all the youthful excitement that comes along with 19-to-22 year olds living, learning and "placemaking" (the academic term for finally getting your own house, apartment or duplex and decorating it without the rules or confines of residence hall staff).

In the zone we get to enjoy the energy on Labor Day weekend, as minivans and sedans towing trailers brimming with futons, hand-me-down dressers and vacuum cleaners are unloaded into student's "new homes."

In the zone we see the eager and optimistic students sipping hot coffee and chatting (any roommate gossip?) as they scurry down the sidewalk at 7:55 a.m. toward campus for a seat in their 8 a.m. class.

In the zone I love it when – and it happens almost every day – I run into a current or former student: "Hi Dr. Bruess! What's up?!" If I'm having a good-memory day and am in my zone, I call out their name and, maybe, even a fact or two he or she has shared in class.

Like yesterday. I'm strolling down the street (about step #68) when I see three young female students chatting with two young males who are tossing a football. I get closer and hear the familiar "Hey! Dr. Bruess! How was your summer?" I remove my sunglasses, as if that will help me get a better look. It's Bobby from my first-year student public speaking class last year. Or at least I think it's Bobby, who has the most-identical twin brother ever. Seriously. Completely identical. So I say "Hey! Bobby! Is that you… or is it your brother?" With a grin he assures me. I welcome him back to the neighborhood and to fall semester.

In the zone - like two nights ago during the first week of classes - I walked our dog Fred down and around the block while soaking in the delightful sounds and even more pleasurable aromas of students grilling in their backyard. It had the palpable feel of "Hey! We have our own place. Awesome."

If I wasn't in the zone, I surely would have missed the opportunity to meet our four super-friendly-smart new student neighbors: Brooke, Rachel, Taryn and Kristina. They moved in right across the street. And we met their parents, too, as each hauled boxes and helped our new friends hang pink curtains (we love pink) in their dining room. We will soon bake them our famous welcome cookies. One by one, I've watched each of my adorable neighbors pop over to extend a warm "hello!" into the zone, where families and kids and professors and students and alums and dogs… and many others… all thrive and live dynamically together.

UST students -- Brooke, Rachel, Taryn and Kristina -- show off the trendy pinkish décor in their new "home," just 171 steps from campus. Way to go, gals!

Posted by Mark Neuzil at 07:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first week of class in the fall never fails to provoke a vivid memory of my initiation as a fledgling journalism professor at St. Thomas. I’d left my job as a reporter at WCCO-TV in 1989 to come here, knowing I wanted to be a teacher and suspecting I had a lot to learn.

The opening convocation was in the chapel and Monsignor Terrence Murphy, then the president, introduced and welcomed the new faculty; I was the only one of 29 with a simple bachelor’s degree. The others had their Ph.Ds, wearing gowns adorned with colorful capes signifying their achievement. In my basic black robe, I looked like a sparrow in a flock of cardinals.

I felt just as uneasy in that first News Writing class at 8 a.m. on the second floor in OEC. Eighteen students sat around the horseshoe table looking at me; the hour-long lecture I’d planned took 20 minutes, leaving me to slide, stammer and stumble through the next 40. I was wringing wet when the bell rang.

Fortunately, in the weeks that followed, I began to find my rhythm. We developed a real dialogue in class. I quit preaching. I started listening. I made it clear this was a writing class that aimed higher than learning the inverted pyramid.

I gave an A to one student in that class. She brought me a bouquet of daisies – after I turned in her grade. In the next 11 years, she was the first of hundreds of students whose generous spirits I’ll always recall.

We wound up teaching each other.

Ifrah Jimale, a 2008 St. Thomas alumna, confers with Dave Nimmer on a paper.

Posted by Doug Hennes at 09:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The excitement always is contagious on our campus over Labor Day weekend, when most of our new and returning students move back to campus after a summer I’m sure most of them feel was too short.

On Saturday, as I walked around meeting parents and students on Move-In Day for freshmen, I was impressed with the organizational effort that it takes to get more than 1,300 first-year students smoothly into the residence halls. There were all manner of pick-up trucks, trailers, station wagons and SUVs jammed with anxious young people and their parents. The traffic flowed along, and our returning students were ready with carts and strong backs to help tote everything inside.

My favorite moment was when one father asked me how to find the nearest hardware store – he needed a new bit for his power drill.

When the heavy lifting was done, a taco bar, bottled water and cookies provided some nutrition.

I wondered when the last time St. Thomas had as few as 1,300 total students, much less freshmen. It turns out that our enrollment was under 1,000 every year from our founding in 1885 until after World War II. When my father came to campus as a freshman in 1929, there were 482 students on campus.

Then came the GI Bill. Only once since the war ended, in 1954, did our enrollment drop below 1,300. We are now more than 11,000, including graduate and law students. I would suspect the eagerness is much the same in students in 2008 as in years past, although there was probably no taco bar in 1885.

Father Dennis Dease joins student Mai Nhia Vang, Vice President for Student Affairs Jane Canney and Tommie during freshmen move-in day on Aug. 30.

Posted by admin at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)