April 5, 2022

Next Issue: May 2, 2022
» View archived issues

Minot State University and Dakota College at Bottineau have finalized a Land Acknowledgement Statement, recognizing the MSU and DCB campuses reside on lands of Indigenous Peoples.

The statement was developed by a committee comprised of Minot State and DCB faculty and staff, along with students at each institution, tribal elders, and regional stakeholders.

Minot State and Dakota College at Bottineau President Dr. Steven Shirley believes this is an important step to continue building authentic relationships with Indigenous People.

“We are proud of the deep and rich history our campuses have in serving all citizens of North Dakota. Native American students have long come to MSU and DCB to further their educational goals, and we have been proud to call them alumni of both institutions. Important programming and cultural activities have become significant aspects of campus life, such as MSU’s annual Spring Honor Dance and Powwow as well as our Community Garden based on Indigenous gardening traditions. This Land Acknowledgement Statement is yet another important step reinforcing our commitment and ensuring mutual understanding, collaboration, and partnerships with our Native American friends,” Shirley said.

While the statement recognizes the history of Native Peoples in northwest North Dakota, the spirit of the document emphasizes the continued presence of Native Americans at both institutions, the region, and across both the United States and Canada. This initiative continues to fulfill the mission of MSU’s Diversity Council as well as the Native American Cultural Center.

Annette Mennem, director of the Native American Cultural Center at Minot State and chair of the Land Acknowledgement Statement committee, believes the statement will be a living document, inclusive beyond the walls of each institution, and read at events and gatherings.

“Tribal nations are still here, thriving, contributing to society in so many ways, and graduating tribal members from campuses like ours,” said Mennem, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa/Ojibwe. “Our Native American student population is, and has been, an important part of the overall student body. This land acknowledgement represents them and the many generations of ancestors who broke the path for them to be here today.”

MSU’s Native American Cultural Center is one of the ways the University has worked to coordinate and correspond with area tribal councils, offices, and colleges to support MSU students. Mennem and the Center have worked to create campus and community events to promote public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of Native American people and their culture.

Along with the Native American Cultural Center, MSU features a Native American studies curriculum including a minor and a concentration. Minot State has an active Native American Cultural Awareness Club and features an annual Spring Honor Dance and Powwow — set to host its 32nd year in 2022 — and is home to an extensive collection of important cultural creations of the Indigenous People of the Upper Great Plains at the Northwest Arts Center.

Minot State University is saddened to announce the passing of longtime booster and alumnus Rod Romine, who died at the age of 89 on March 29.

Romine was bestowed an honorary degree in broadcasting at Minot State University’s Spring Commencement in 2014 after a 40-plus year career in radio and television. Romine retired as the manager of Reiten Broadcasting in 1994.

“Rod was an absolute pillar within the Minot State University community and especially with his longstanding commitment to Beaver Athletics. He bled MSU red and green,” said Minot State President Dr. Steven Shirley. “Not only was Rod a genuine friend to so many of us in the community and across the state, he was truly one of the nicest people to ever grace the planet. He was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. We will certainly miss seeing Rod on campus supporting our students, and our thoughts and condolences are with his daughters and extended family.”

Following his retirement, Romine gave his time to multiple organizations in the greater Minot community but was especially generous with MSU. He was a charter member of the Minot State Board of Regents, was a Beaver Booster member since its inception in 1958, served as chairman of the MSU Athletic Committee, and is credited for establishing the MSU Athletic Hall of Fame.

The Minot State University Alumni Association will host its premier fundraising event, the 38th annual Gala Dinner and Auction Friday, April 29 at the Clarion Hotel.

The Gala and Auction commemorate the University’s history, alumni, and students with a social, dinner, silent auction, and live auction. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the social and silent auction. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. with a live auction to follow.

The fundraiser supports student scholarships and Alumni Association sponsored activities. Individual tickets for the Gala are $60 and tables of eight are still available and are priced at $500. Tickets can be purchased by calling the MSU Alumni Office at 701-858-3373.

“Our annual Gala is our premier event and our largest fundraiser of the year, supporting both students and the Alumni Association,” said Janna McKechnie, director of alumni relations and annual giving. “The Minot community is wonderfully supportive of Minot State and this is another example of that. They have shown time and time again that they believe in what we are doing and that continues to help us grow.”

Along with the silent and live auctions, the fundraiser will feature mobile bidding sections and multiple games of chance. Successful bidders in the silent and live auctions may win a $500 Visa gift card donated by Dacotah Bank, a Rockstar Energy Drink refrigerated cooler from Northern Bottling Company (Pepsi Cola), a Maui Mat from Vallely Sport & Marine, Minot State clothing and items, and more.

The fundraiser is semi-formal. For more information, contact McKechnie by EMAIL or by phone at 701-858-3373.

Minot State University’s Summer and Fall 2022 semesters registration opened for all currently enrolled MSU students on April 1.

Students can register for classes throughout the spring and summer, subject to availability, but priority registration is only offered until April 8.

On April 9, Minot State will open registration to over 100 new students attending Beaver Bound day.

Due to the success of the Hometown Pride Scholarship, available class sections will reach limits earlier than in prior years. To encourage current MSU students to register, Minot State has partnered with SCHEELS of Minot to offer a $500 gift card. All current MSU degree-seeking undergraduate or graduate students who enroll by April 8 will be in the drawing to receive the card.

“SCHEELS continues to be a great partner with the University, and we are grateful for their sponsorship of this promotion for our current Minot State students,” said Cole Krueger, MSU director of marketing. “We typically have over 1,000 students register in the first week available and hope to see as many as possible who are eligible to do so early this year.

“The Hometown Pride Scholarship program has gone very well for Minot State and we expect a large number of students to take advantage of their early registration so it is extremely important for our current students to register for the classes they want in the fall.”

Minot State students should also consult their academic advisor by appointment and check with the MSU registrar’s office — first floor, Administration Building or contact by EMAIL — for any holds on their account as part of their planning for their Fall 2022 schedule.

Classes are scheduled to begin on Monday, Aug. 22 after 4 p.m.

The Minot State University Alumni Association has added Bullseyes to its annual Beavers and Brew events.

The Alumni Association will host Beavers, Brew, and Bullseyes on Saturday, April 9 starting at 7 p.m. at Up Your Axe in Minot. The event is limited to 42 people as seven axe throwing lanes can hold six individuals.

“These local events are always fun,” said Janna McKechnie, MSU director of alumni and annual giving. “It’s a great opportunity to enjoy what our community has to offer and partner with a fantastic local business. We are excited to bring this next version of the Beavers and Brews series to Up Your Axe!”

The Beavers and Brew series original concept was born from International Beaver Day and National Beer Day falling on the same date (April 7 in 2022). The Alumni Association has partnered with local businesses to celebrate both dates including Beaver, Brew, and Burgers and Beavers, Brew, and BBQ.

The 2022 event will be at Up Your Axe, Minot’s original axe throwing venue, located at 21 East Central Avenue in Minot. Up Your Axe is an official venue of the World Axe Throwing League.

Teams of six can sign up prior to the event as well as pairs and individuals. Groups without six will be paired at random. Ticket price will include two hours of axe throwing, burger and fries from Iron Horse Kitchen and Bar, a draft beer, and a Beavers, Brew, and Bullseyes T-shirt.

Tickets are $60 per person and are available ONLINE. For more information, contact McKechnie at 701-858-3373.

Ziigwan Ondaadiziike (Spring Birth) Community Garden Gathering will be held Friday, April 22 at 3 p.m. at the MSU Community Garden accross street south from Model Hall. Alex DeCoteau (Gechitwaabandang), Elder and Ojibwe Language high school teacher from Turtle Mountain, will be sharing a message about the spring season. We will also be honoring Dr. AnnMaria DaMars, founder of 7 Generation Games, as well as the oldest living member of the Three Affiliated Tribes, Carol (Brugh) Lone Fight. Ziigwan Ondaadiziike is open to the public, and we have music and snacks for all to enjoy. For questions, please contact Dan Conn (teacher education and kinesiology) by EMAIL or 701-858-3267.

The Student Leader Summit will be held on Saturday, April 30 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. This event is intended to prepare and inspire incoming and returning student for leadership roles within campus organizations at Minot State University. The schedule will feature guest speakers, break-out workshops, individual and group strength assessments, team building and much more! Breakfast and lunch are included. Prizes will be awarded throughout the day! This event is free-of-charge and designed for all student leaders – club officers, members, or those interested in future leadership roles. While we encourage clubs to attend as a group, students are welcome to attend independently as well. Student leaders can sign up HERE by April 15.

Minot State Staff Senate is proud to present the 4th annual Staff Senate Scholarship Raffle. Tickets are $10 each and the grand prize is $500. Staff Senate will announce prizes during the week of finals. All tickets sold will be eligible for the grand prize but our big winner will be announced on the final day or our week of giving! Along with the grand prize, 15 other prizes from $50-$150 will be drawn during the week. See below for payout schedule and watch campus announcements for daily winners. Tickets are available from Minot State Staff Senators, see LINK for 2021-22 Senators or by stopping at Public Relations & Fundraising chair Michael Linnell’s office on second floor of the Administration Building. All proceeds from the raffle will help fund the Minot State Staff Senate Scholarship Endowment. For more information, contact MICHAEL LINNELL or by phone at 858-3065.

Payout Schedule:

• Monday, May 9
  • $100
  • $100
  • $50
• Tuesday, May 10
  • $100
  • $100
  • $50
• Wednesday, May 11
  • $150
  • $100
  • $50
• Thursday, May 12
  • $150
  • $100
  • $50
• Friday, May 13
  • $500
  • $100
  • $50

Northwest Arts Center
The gallery is located on the lower level of the Gordon B. Olson Library, with its own entrance on the south side of the library. The arts center is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 1-5 p.m., and by special arrangement. It is closed holidays.

• Juried Student Show: The Northwest Arts Center presents the annual Minot State Juried Student Art Show. Open to all Minot State University students, the Juried Student Show has been a campus tradition since the early 1980s. The exhibition is on display April 7-30. The competition invites area and regional artists, educators, and other art professionals to serve as jurors each year. Visiting Minot State as juror for 2022 is artist Andrea Fagerstrom, assistant professor and art gallery coordinator at Bismarck State College.
• Minot State Juried Student Show Reception and Online Viewing: Join us for the opening reception and online viewing of the annual Minot State Juried Student show at the Northwest Arts Center on April 7, from 6:30-8 p.m. Scheduled is a juror’s talk with Andrea Fagerstrom and awards presentation at 7 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
• Art Seminar: Andrea Fagerstrom: Artist Andrea Fagerstrom, Minot State Juried Student Show juror, will be presenting to art seminar students at Aleshire Theater at 12 p.m. on April 8. Fagerstrom received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from North Dakota State University and earned her Master of Fine Arts in Integrated Arts and Education from the University of Montana, Missoula. Fagerstrom approaches art creation as a combination of play and process. Using a variety of media including painting, drawing, weaving, encaustic, and installation, she embarks on the artistic journey where each step dictates the following with the end result being the conclusion and solution to multiple decisions and problem-solving along the way. Fagerstrom is currently an assistant professor of art and the art gallery coordinator at Bismarck State College.
• Serendipity: An exhibition by North Dakota artist and printmaker Sharon Linnehan, on view in the Northwest Arts Center’s Walter Piehl Gallery from March 3 to April 15. Linnehan grew up in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin and moved to rural northeast North Dakota in 1971. She received her BFA from St. Mary’s College of Notre Dame, then her MA in Art Education from Michigan State University. Linnehan then went on to earn her MFA in Printmaking from the University of North Dakota. She has spent her career teaching a large number of different art courses and has worked as the Chair of the Art Department at Erskine College in Due West, SC where she had taught since 2002. Linnehan has also taught art full time at Dickinson State University, the University of North Dakota, Bemidji State University and Valley City State University. ‘Serendipity’ is a series of monotype prints, a technique Linnehan has been working with since the late 90s. She prints on 100% cotton paper by first painting on a smooth, beveled plexiglass plate with colored French etching ink. The inked plate is placed on dampened paper and run through an etching press in order to transfer the ink to the paper and reverse the image. Since the press can exert 1,000 pounds of pressure per square inch on the print, pushing the ink into the softened paper, the effect of the color is totally different than that of painting directly on the paper. Colors appear to recede in space, creating a sense of atmosphere and layering within the image. The end result is combination of painting and printmaking elements.

Flat Tail Press
Flat Tail Press is an educational printmaking studio at Minot State University. The gallery is located in the landing space on second and third floor of the Minot State Student Center, west entrance. It is open Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-12 a.m.

• Nest: mixed media montages by Emily Verdoorn. Nest will be featured in the gallery from March 9-May 15. Flat Tail Press is an educational printmaking studio at Minot State University.  
  • Artist Bio: For as long as she can remember Emily has loved drawing and making things. As a child, it was simply unselfconscious enjoyment that encouraged her to make, but gradually making grew into a posture of paying attention and pressing more deeply into the life of the world around her. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Emily received her BFA in Visual Art at Belhaven University, in Jackson Mississippi, and is now continuing in her artmaking process in Wheaton, Illinois. 
  • Artist Statement: “For me, working in mixed media is like participating in a quiet conversation with the places, spaces, and the natural world around me. As I respond to my context in a variety of different materials, I slowly build layers of textures, and imagery exploring themes of place, belonging, and the particular kind of sharp, bitter-sweet homesickness which comes to us in times of generative solitude, in the loneliness of isolation, as well as in deep community." 

Hartnett Hall Gallery
The gallery provides exhibition space for students, faculty, and community artists, and is located on the second floor on the west side of Hartnett Hall in Room 233. The Hartnett Hall Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Eric Furuseth and Robert Kibler of world languages and cultural studies have had the following papers accepted for presentation at the Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature (NPCEBL), to be held in April at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion. If anyone wants a copy of either paper, please contact the writers. "I'll Drown My Book": Why Does Prospero Abandon Utopia in "The Tempest?," by Furuseth. How Ludwig Wittgenstien's Theory of Language Conditions Meaning in 10th Century Anglo-Saxon Metrical Spells and Charms, by Kibler.

Robert Kibler was re-elected to a three-year term on the Eureka Township Board of Supervisors. The board sets the township mil levy, assures tax equalization, maintains the roads, oversees zoning, sprays for weeds, cuts down encroaching trees, coordinates with state and county townships for decision making, and responds to problems throughout the township.

Ernst Pijning, professor of history, published a scholarly article: “The Ungodly Inspectress: Monopoly and Womanhood in the Beginning of Pombal’s Reign,” Anais de História d’Alem Mar XXI (2020) [published in 2022] 152-174. LINK. He published a book review: Lisbon: a Biography, Dartmouth, MA: Tagus Press, 2019, by Magda Pinheiro, in: The Middle Ground Journal. World History and Global Studies, November 2021. LINK And, he presented a paper at an online conference: Ovelhas, Navios Estrangeiros e Reciprocidade. Domingos Luís da Costa e o contrabando entre Holanda e Brasil,” presented at the Thematic Symposium “Governo e Justiça em Movimento. Circulação de pessoas e de Conhecimento: histórias de sucesso e fracasso nos Mundos Ibéricos, Séculos XVI-XVIII,” VII^th Encontro International da História Colonia, (online) September 17, 2021.

The Minot State registrar's office has hired a new administrative assistant named Sophia Balker. Feel free to stop in and say hello. Courtney Armstrong and Kim Johnson have also moved into new positions. If you'd like to see what everyone does, check out our CONTACT US page.

Jane Brodie was selected as the ASC Student of the Month for February. She has contributed to the Academic Support Center’s programs as a Peer Mentor.

Election Results: SGA 2022-23 Officers & Senators

• President: Maggie Anderson
• Vice President of Finance: Praise Okunbor
• Vice President of Internal Affairs: Upama Thapa Magar
• Vice President of State Affairs: Tam Vu
• College of Business: Luke Anderson
• College of Arts & Sciences: Shawn Bennett and Divine Daminabo
• College of Education & Health Sciences: Gloria Nyantakyiwaa Oppong Kyekyeku, Heather Parrish, and Ankita Rijal
• Athletics Senator: Fadzai Madavo
• Off-Campus Senator: Jada Clarke and Christopher Scott

This email is a promotional item for Minot State University. To unsubscribe from this list, please click HERE and confirm by sending email.

Submissions Due: April 25, 2022
University Communications, Administration, second floor
Email: michael.linnell@minotstateu.edu
Voice: 858-3298 - Fax: 858-4481

Minot State University is a public university dedicated to excellence in education, scholarship, and community engagement achieved through rigorous academic experiences, active learning environments, commitment to public service, and a vibrant campus life.