Connie Delaney, dean of the University’s School of Nursing, addressed Legislative Briefing attendees about the correlation between the nationwide nursing shortage and a critical shortage in nursing educators. Adequate funding of the health sciences is the only way to address the crisis, she said.

Net Speed, Net Gain
Approximately 130 students and their mentors sharpened their personal business skills at a Speed Networking event at the McNamara Alumni Center in January. Sponsored by the alumni association and the collegiate alumni societies, the Mentor Connection workshop featured an overview by Darcy Matz, who trains executives on personal presentation, persuasion, and polish. She gave attendees a few pointers, such as to stand up when shaking someone’s hand, and to ask for a business card to contact someone later instead of monopolizing anyone’s time. Participants then sat in rows facing each other and networked. Every five minutes for a half hour, half the participants got up and moved to the next chair and met another person in their field of interest. Participants networked in designated discipline areas, including health and medical, computer sciences and engineering, and architecture and design.

To learn how to become a mentor to a University student in any college, visit www.alumni.umn.edu/mentorconnection or call 612-624-2323.

Advocate for the U
Citizen lobbyists are the most potent tool the University has at the Minnesota Legislature. That was the key message delivered to more than 300 students, staff, and faculty who attended the 2007 Legislative Briefing January 24 at the McNamara Alumni Center. President Bob Bruininks and other speakers laid out the specifics of the U’s biennial request, which includes $123.4 million in operating expenses and $310 million for biomedical sciences. The bottom line, Bruininks said, is that the funding is needed to hold down tuition costs while maintaining academic excellence.

The majority of the $123.4 million would go toward staff and faculty salaries. The University currently ranks 27th in faculty compensation among the top 30 public research universities. Steven Rosenstone, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, told the assembly that there are dire consequences for not paying competitive salaries. “Nothing works at the University without great faculty and staff. If we don’t act to shore up compensation, our hard-fought gains will erode. We can’t be in the top three [public research universities in the world] if we pay in the bottom four,” he said. The remainder of the request would be used on technology and infrastructure, education initiatives, and general operations.

The $310 million request would be used to establish the Biomedical Sciences Research Facilities Authority, an initiative that calls for creating 600,000 square feet of state-of-the-art research facilities on campus over the next 10 years. The new facilities would allow the University to gain a foothold in the top tier in the fiercely competitive world of biomedical research.

Your voice is still needed at the legislature. Join other alumni, students, faculty, and staff for a rally at the state capitol on March 28. It’s your opportunity to tell your legislators how important the University is to the future of Minnesota. Access to further information, educational materials, and other resources are available at www.SupportTheU.umn.edu. Or, call UMAA Advocacy Director Mary Kay Delvo at 612-626-1417 to learn how you can get involved.

Alumni Spotlight: Matthew Wehling. Fiddling with Bows
Ask Matthew Wehling (B.S. ’87) about life as a chemistry student at the University of Minnesota and he rattles off the 400 Bar’s Thursday through Saturday music lineup: the Barking Ducks, the Jayhawks, and Willie Murphy. A musician himself, Wehling played guitar with the rhythm-and-blues band Avogadro and the Moles. “I spent a lot of time doing a lot of music—for better or worse academically,” he recalls.

Still, he succeeded in chemistry and worked six years for a medical device company. But damage to his violin led to a more rewarding career. Today, Wehling is a nationally recognized violin, viola, and cello bow maker—one of only about 100 full-time archetiers nationally. Now 44, he works from the basement of his modest Northfield, Minnesota, home making bows that sell for up to $5,200. His clients include Minnesota Orchestra violist Ken Freed and violinist Michael Doucet, founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil.

Wehling works with musicians to get the balance and feel they want. For instance, adjusting the bow’s camber or curve affects its response for off-string moves, played with a bouncing- type stroke. “Different musicians will want different amounts of bounce,” he explains.

As a chemist, Wehling investigated implant failures and developed catheter coatings to prevent blood clots. But he didn’t enjoy the bureaucracy of the job, he says. He continued playing music and one day, in the early 1990s, he picked up his unlatched violin case and the instrument tumbled out and broke. The fix was prohibitively expensive, so St. Paul violin maker John Waddle invited him to come to his shop on Saturdays to learn how to repair it.

During that experience Wehling thought about violin making school, but he got interested in bow making instead and took summer courses with bow maker Bill Salchow. “By doing the work with my hands—and getting fulfillment from that and from the people I was meeting—I gradually realized that the [chemistry] work was not very fulfilling,” he says. He took the next step and applied for apprenticeships in France, known for its world-leading bow makers. Less than a year later, master bow maker Benoît Rolland invited Wehling to come to France, interview, and show his work. Wehling was accepted, quit his job, and moved to Brittany in 1995. He lived there six years, studying under Rolland and later Georges Tepho. Since returning to the United States, he has won four Violin Society of America gold medals—two each for his violin and cello bows.

In one corner of Wehling’s basement is a small stack of prized pernambuco, a dense reddish Brazilian hardwood and the gold standard for bows. “It’s heavier than water,” he says. “If it’s good, it sinks.” Stored nearby are hairs from Asian stallion tails for bowstrings. Files, chisels, and other tools are readily handy on his two-by-four-foot workbench. He still uses the wood planes he made himself, a pre-apprenticeship test and essential tools for bow makers. Rolland sent him instructions and told Wehling to make the planes on his own. It “tells him that you have the wherewithal and the interest,” Wehling says. “Looking back, it doesn’t take all that much hand skill, but figuring out how to do it took quite a bit of chutzpah.”
—Scott Russell