“The Interview,” the third event of the “Are you workplace ready?” series at Minot State University, will feature Julie Vetter, North Dakota competency supervisor, and Rachel Allison, senior competency technician, for Hess Corporation. The event, sponsored by the Student Success Center, is Thursday (Nov. 5) in the Conference Center, 12:30-2 p.m.

Although tailored for students, regardless of major, everyone is invited to attend and learn more about how competency-based interviews can be helpful in any industry. Vetter and Allison use a process designed to identify future team members who demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities.

“We use a combination of traditional interview questions along with a participative demonstration of skills,” Vetter said. “This helps us as employers to determine skill level and anticipated behaviors in the workplace.” 

Minot State University’s Veterans Center will recognize veterans during Veterans Week (Nov. 4-10). There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house to celebrate the new MSU Veterans Center, and the center is bringing in speakers and representatives from veteran agencies and service organizations to share information with student-veterans.

“The Veterans Center is proud to increase awareness of, and appreciation for, current and past Armed Service members who at one time in their lives wrote a blank check payable to ‘The United States of America,’ for an amount of ‘up to and including their life,’” said Andy Heitkamp, Veterans Center director.

Activities, in the Westlie Room unless designated otherwise, include:

• Wednesday (Nov. 4), noon-2 p.m. — MSU Veterans Center open house, Dakota Hall.
• Wednesday (Nov. 4), 1 p.m. — Minot Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony with remarks by MSU President Steven Shirley, Veterans Center.
• Thursday (Nov. 5), 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. — Jared Klempel, North Dakota National Guard suicide prevention coordinator, visits the Veterans Center.
• Friday (Nov. 6) 1:30-2:30 p.m. — Kirsten Hanson, Fargo VA Hospital certified rehabilitation counselor, will present “Combat Veterans and Higher Education: helping student veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Achieve Academic Success.”
• Friday (Nov. 6), 7 pm. — Actors from the Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre will perform “Warrior Words,” monologues written by veterans of U.S. wars in writing workshops held in Minot, Grand Forks, Bismarck and Dickinson. The event is free and open to the public. The workshops were funded in part by the North Dakota Humanities Council, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional support came from the MSU College of Arts and Sciences and the Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre.
• Monday (Nov. 9), 8:45-9:15 a.m. — Sunrise veteran-and-warrior ceremony in the MSU Quad.
• Monday (Nov. 9), 11:30 a.m.-12:30 pm. — DiNell Polsfut, Minot Vet Center social worker, will present “Adjusting to civilian university education from a female veteran’s point of view.”
• Tuesday (Nov. 10), 11:15-11:45 a.m. — Daniel Haff and Dakota Brekhus, MSU student veterans, will present “Adjusting to civilian university education from a male veteran’s point of view.”
• Tuesday (Nov. 10), 1:15-2:15 p.m. — Margo Norton, Susan Thompson, Jack Klugh, all from the Fargo VA Hospital, will present “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and available treatments.”
• Tuesday (Nov. 10), 2:30-3:30 p.m. — Norton, Thompson and Klugh will present “Moral Injury and Military Sexual Trauma.”

For questions, contact Heitkamp at 858-4002 or andy.heitkamp@minotstateu.edu.

Minot State University’s Native American Cultural Awareness Club is sponsoring the Native American Cultural Celebration in November. The commemoration will include speakers, presenters and exhibits of Native American success and culture.

"Native people celebrate their culture by living it," said Annette Mennem, Native American Center director. "In November, the celebration is shared —attend, learn and celebrate with us."

Planned events, free and open to the public in the Conference Center unless designated otherwise, include:

• Monday (Nov. 9), 8:45 a.m. — A sunrise veteran-and-warrior ceremony with the Myron B. Johnson/Nathan Good Iron American Legion Post 271 color guard posting flags and an eagle staff in the MSU Quad. A drummer will also play a flag song. NACAC partnered with the MSU Veterans Center for this event.
• Monday (Nov. 9), 10 a.m.-3 p.m. — NACAC and Mennem will host an open house for the campus community in the Native American Center, Student Center, third floor.
• Tuesday (Nov. 10), 10-11:15 a.m. — Joseph Marion, director of Minot’s Heart of the Turtle Gallery, will discuss art styles and tribal art. Artwork will be on display and for sale from 1 to 3 p.m.
• Nov. 18, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (or until gone) — Fry bread taco sale in the Old Main first-floor hallway. The fry bread tacos are $6.
• Nov. 18, 7 p.m. — "Success Stories of Two Generations of Three Tribes Males" presented by Chad Dahlen, rancher and former educator. Dahlen will use portraiture storytelling for his presentation in Aleshire Theater. This is in conjunction with the Northwest Art Center lecture series.
• Nov. 19, 10-11:15 a.m. — AnnMarie De Mars, chief executive officer of 7 Generation Games, will discuss the company's video games that combine math, Native American history and adventure gaming.
• Nov. 19, 1 p.m. — Duane McGillis, community elder, will speak on the significance of powwow regalia and music.
• Nov. 20, 11 a.m.-noon — The Metis Prairie Steppers, a First Nations dance group from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, will give the history of the Metis people and dance. Audience participation encouraged. NACAC and the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities, a Center of Excellence at MSU, sponsor this event.

For questions, contact Annette Mennem, Native American Center director, at 858-3365 or annette.mennem@minotstateu.edu.

“Should Higher Education Be Free?” is the opening program of the Northwest Art Center’s 2015-16 lecture series Tuesday (Nov. 10) in Aleshire Theater at 7 p.m. Guest speaker Maurides Macedo, a history professor at the Federal and Catholic Universities of Goiás, Brazil, and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Texas, Austin, will compare and contrast university systems in Brazil and the US.

Higher education in the United States has come under criticism for rising tuition costs that can result in heavy student debt. Higher education in Brazil is free, but stringent entrance exams limit access by underprivileged students.

Macedo holds a doctorate in history from the Catholic University of São Paulo and a law degree from the Catholic University of Goiás. She is a member of the bar association in Goiás.

The Minot State University Student Social Work Organization is sponsoring “Freezin’ for a Reason” Nov. 14 in the original Marketplace Foods’ parking lot (1620 South Broadway, Minot), 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

“MSU SSWO is very excited for its 13th annual Freezin’ for a Reason. It is a way to raise awareness of the difficulties the homeless face, especially in winter,” said Hannah-Ruth Patterson, event organizer. “This year, we added Community Action Partnership-Minot Region as a beneficiary in addition to the Minot Area Homeless Coalition. Many people are in need.”

MSU SSWO members stand in the cold and “freeze” to experience homelessness firsthand. Individuals can participate by dropping off food or monetary contributions at the parking lot or by “freezing” with the MSU SSWO members. Other MSU student organizations, such as the Beta Theta Sorority, are joining MSU SSWO members.

For questions about the Minot event, contact Dionne Spooner, MSU SSWO faculty advisor, at 858-3142 or dionne.l.spooner@minotstateu.edu  or SSWO members at sswo@minotstateu.edu. 

“Cries and Whispers,” the 1972 Swedish film, will be shown at the Northern Lights International Film Series Nov. 16 in Aleshire Theater at 6:30 p.m. In Ingmar Bergman's classic, long-repressed feelings between siblings arise when a woman dying of cancer in early 20th-century Sweden is visited by her two sisters. Conrad Davidson, College of Arts and Sciences dean, will lead discussion.

Minot State University and Dakota College at Bottineau are partnering to make teacher education programs more accessible to students. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed Oct. 21, stating that once students earn their associate degrees in early childhood education at DCB, they can then transfer to MSU to complete their Bachelor of Science in Education degrees in early childhood development.

The MOU also states that MSU faculty will travel to DCB once a year to recruit students to take advantage of this opportunity.

Leslee Thorpe, instructor and early childhood and education coordinator, and Erik Kana, assistant professor and chair within the Department of Teacher Education and Human Performance, plan to go to DCB this semester to visit with students interested in education.

“There is a large, well-documented need for quality child care in our community, as well as licensed early childhood education teachers in public schools,” Kana said. “Our goal is to initiate the conversation with other teacher education programs at MSU in the hopes of many more MOUs.”

A sequence of courses has been constructed for students who wish to utilize this partnership to efficiently complete their degrees. For questions, contact Kana at erik.kana@minotstateu.edu or 858-3064.

Pictured: MSU and DCB President Steven Shirley and DCB Dean Jerry Migler sign an MOU as Cheryl Nilsen, Erik Kana and Leslee Thorpe look on.

The Sunrise Rotary Club of Minot, in conjunction with Minot State University, dedicated an international peace pole Sept. 30 in the MSU Quad. A peace pole is a hand-crafted monument that displays the message and prayer "May Peace Prevail on Earth" on each of its sides, in eight different languages. There are tens of thousands of peace poles in 180 countries globally. They serve as constant reminders for everyone to visualize and pray for world peace.

Chuck Barney, Minot mayor and Severson Entrepreneurship Academy director, Jean-Francois Mondon, assistant professor of foreign languages, and Rolf Haugen, former Skien, Norway, city attorney and Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow, joined the Sunrise Rotary Club for the dedication ceremony. Beth Odahlen, Sunrise Rotary Club president and director of the MSU Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning, and Libby Claerbout, MSU director of international programs, coordinated the ceremony.

Minot State University welcomes new employees, Alysha Berg, Michele Burney, Trude Hendrickson and Jesse Watson.

Berg is a Minot Infant Development Program early interventionist for the North Dakota Center for Persons with for Disabilities. Previously, she worked at the North Central Human Service Center. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from MSU. She has two sons and lives on a farm near Sawyer. The family enjoys being outdoors with their nine barn cats and two dogs. In the summer, they love fishing and camping at Devils Lake.

Burney, NDCPD research associate, comes to MSU from Community Action Partnership-Minot Region. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from North Carolina State University. She and her husband, Trenton, have lived in Minot for five years, and they have a hedgehog.

Hendrickson is a social work instructor for the MSU social work program at North Dakota State University. She was previously employed by Fargo’s Village Family Service Center. She completed a bachelor’s degree at the University of Jamestown and a master’s degree in social work at the University of Iowa. She and her husband, Robert, have been married 30 years and have two children and two grandsons.

Watson, POWER Center academic coach, earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from MSU and a master’s degree in counseling from Adams State University. Watson’s father, Rick, teaches humanities and music at Minot State, and his fiancée lives in England. He plays the guitar, sings and writes songs.

Nov. 4-13 — "What Comes Before Words," mixed media sculpture by artist Patrick Luber of Grand Forks, Hartnett Gallery.

Nov. 4-Dec. 3 — "Fluid Nature,” acrylic paintings by Mali Vargas, Calgary, Alberta, Library Gallery. A closing reception will be Dec. 3 in the Library Gallery, 6:30-8 p.m.

Nov. 19-Dec. 30 — "The Space Between History and Hollywood," mezzotints by artist Linda Whitney of Valley City, Hartnett Gallery.

The Office of Public Information proudly shares the many accomplishments of faculty and staff with the campus community in every issue.

Dan Conn, assistant professor of teacher education, and Roslyn Billy, former Minot State University teacher education faculty member, and three MSU students, Camilla Keller, Cheryl Mortezaee and Malia Salyards, presented research at the American Association for Teaching in Curriculum Annual Conference at Portland, Maine, Oct. 8-10.

Conn and Billy-Mohamed discussed "Always Loved but Never Entitled: Professor Intentions to Promote Leadership in Women," while Conn co-authored and presented with Keller, Mortezaee and Salyards. Keller and Conn offered “Aesthetic memories: Using perceptual experiences to elicit prior knowledge,” while Mortezaee and Conn spoke about “Breaking the Mold: Rethinking Labels through Lesson Sketches,” and Salyards and Conn delivered “Reading well: Exploring aesthetic approaches in literacy.” 

Cheryl Nilsen, College of Education and Health Sciences dean, served as a state team member for the joint state and national teacher education accreditation visit Oct. 11-13 at Valley City State University. State team members and examiners from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation worked together to make recommendations to CAEP regarding continuing of accreditation.

Holly Pedersen, Department of Special Education assistant professor, and students from SPED 202: Introduction to Sensory Disabilities presented “Sensory Disabilities 101” at the North Dakota Community Staff Training Project Regional Meeting on Oct. 8 in Fargo. In September, Pedersen completed a course in “Special Education Meeting Facilitation” in Lander, Wyo.

ShaunAnne Tangney, professor of English, delivered a paper titled "Fear Not the River: Flood and Aftermath in Minot, North Dakota" at the Western Literature Association conference in October.