Support the U Day was coordinated by the University Legislative Network and U student organizations: Minnesota Student Association, Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, Morris Campus Student Association, Crookston Student Association, and UMD Student Association.

For more information about the University’s legislative request, visit www.SupportTheU.umn.edu.

One Last Lesson
We knew that Walter Bond (B.A. ’91) could captivate a crowd. But who knew he could sing? The former Gopher basketball star, who went on to play in the NBA, sang to, entertained, and inspired more than 500 graduating University students March 27 at the annual Senior Send-off in the McNamara Alumni Center. Bond spoke about how “No One Can Stop You but YOU!” and covered presenting oneself in an interview, beating the competition, and achieving success. Case in point: He noted that he doubled his NBA salary by becoming a motivational speaker.

Each student at Senior Send-off received a free lunch and a key that they could use to try to open a treasure box full of prizes. Thirty keys fit the lock, and the lucky winners took home $50 in cash. Other prizes—including iPods, Twins tickets, and gift cards to Target, Macy’s, Best Buy, and Ikea—were given away in a drawing.

Wowed by Science
Nearly 500 people—from preschoolers to retirees— got charged up at TechFest in February, playing with circuits, hydraulics, and robotics. The Institute of Technology Alumni Society partnered with the Society of Women Engineers and The Works (a hands-on science and technology museum in Edina, Minnesota) to present the third annual TechFest. The day included experiments in electrical engineering in which kids learned to build circuits and wire buzzers, motors, and light bulbs. University students also demonstrated their homemade robots.

“I think the hands-on aspect is a big reason why it’s so successful and also why kids get so much more out of it,” says Jim Pichler (B.S. ’92, M.S. ’03), who sits on the K–12 outreach committee for the IT alumni society and is senior director at Digital River, one of the event’s sponsors. “The approach of ‘experiment first, reflect later’ helps capture the kids’ attention because it plays to their motivations and natural inquisitive behavior.”

The University of Minnesota Alumni Association sponsors 16 college-based alumni societies and three affiliate societies, which provide alumni with an important link to the University and its colleges, faculty, students, and fellow alumni. A society might act as an informal advisory board for a college; assist in fund-raising efforts; honor outstanding alumni, faculty, and students; help recruit prospective students; or provide educational and professional programs to alumni and students.

Joining an alumni society is free for alumni association members. To learn more, visit www.alumni.umn.edu or call 612-624-2323 or 800-862-5867.

Saluting Excellent Teachers
This year, 12 University of Minnesota faculty members have been named recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Award, the U’s most prestigious award for excellence in teaching. The awards include a salary stipend, a monetary award to the recipient’s department, and induction into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

The alumni association sponsors the Distinguished Teaching Awards with the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and the Senate Committee on Educational Policy. To read the profiles of the 2007 inductees into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, visit www.alumni.umn.edu/distinguishedteaching.

The Horace T. Morse–University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education

PRAVEEN AGGARWAL
Associate Professor and
Chair
Marketing
Labovitz School of Business and Economics
Duluth campus
“It is my dream to instill in my students the ability to think independently . . . the intellect to defend their positions, and the courage to question conventional wisdom.”

JAY C. BELL
Professor
Soil, Water, and Climate
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences
“The most precious reward we ever receive from teaching is the gratitude of our students and our ability to touch the future.”

THOMAS R. HOYE
Professor
Chemistry
Institute of Technology
“I am proud that a number of my former [students] have begun their careers as faculty members at primarily undergraduate campuses. . . . It is very rewarding to see my former students perpetuating the development of tomorrow’s organic chemists.”

PATRICIA JAMES
Associate Professor
Postsecondary Teaching and Learning
College of Education and Human Development
“Teaching cultural diversity is not merely a matter of including content that represents diverse cultures, it is also a matter of using students’ diverse knowledge as part of the process of teaching and learning.”

NED MOHAN
Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Institute of Technology
“This is a time for learning beyond the chosen specialty by cultivating friendships, reveling in [the] tremendous diversity this University offers . . . and learning the ethics of mutual respect and trust. If I can facilitate this in any way, I consider this my duty and privilege.”

PAULA L. O’ LOUGHLIN
Associate Professor
Political Science
Division of the Social Sciences
Morris campus
“When I can help a student get the national recognition for excellence he or she deserves, realize her opinion on an issue is important, or make a presentation and have her parents say, ‘I never knew she had it in her,’ then I am doing what I should be doing.”

JOEL B. SAMAHA
Professor
Sociology
College of Liberal Arts
“Teaching undergraduates, to me, means making students uncomfortable with their assumptions. . . . I don’t see my job as picking the right or best assumptions for students, but as driving home a different point: That there are several reasonable meanings to any topic worth studying.”

The Award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education

MARIA DAMON
Associate Professor
English
College of Liberal Arts
“I value and encourage in my students what I found meaningful in my own intellectual formation: freedom, leaps of thought connecting seemingly unlike things . . . which in turn yield unforeseen insights.”

JOHN W. DAY
Professor
Neurology and Pediatrics
Medical School
“I think our role in academia is primarily, not secondarily, to teach: training students, educating ourselves and our colleagues, and educating patients and society in general.”

RUTH A. LINDQUIST
Professor
Adult and Gerontological Health
School of Nursing
“My faculty role allows me to actualize the words on my Ph.D. diploma . . . awarded with ‘all its privileges and obligations’— obligations, I believe, to help and make a difference in the lives of patients and students.”

THOMAS W. MOLITOR
Professor
Population Medicine
College of Veterinary Medicine
“We are not born as outstanding teachers but require training, experience, mentorship by other faculty and an interest in experimentation.”

BRUCE F. WOLLENBERG
Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Institute of Technology
“I love teaching in the classroom and working with undergraduate and graduate students. I also enjoy working with the engineering managers who are board members of the University of Minnesota Center for Electric Energy as it keeps my research and teaching grounded in the ‘real world’ of electric power engineering, and not just an academic viewpoint.”

Meet in Your Campus Home
The McNamara Alumni Center opened its doors in 2000 and quickly became the most popular venue for University of Minnesota gatherings. Now, more than 850 meetings and events are held in the building each year—by U groups, corporations, private individuals, and others.

The McNamara Alumni Center is home to the alumni association, which also envisions the building as a campus home for alumni, where they can entertain and celebrate with their colleagues, family, and friends. Doing that has just become more feasible for life members of the alumni association.

Life members now receive up to 20 percent off room rentals at the McNamara Alumni Center as well as reduced food and beverage minimums. (The life membership must be paid in full at the time the reservation is made.)

Designed by world-renowned architect Antoine Predock, McNamara Alumni Center reflects the landscape and icons of Minnesota—our 10,000 lakes, the North Shore, the Iron Range, the Northern Lights, and the forests. Some of the more striking features are the copper- and granite-covered exterior, the star-shaped glass fissures, miles of wood lining the walls of

Memorial Hall, where the arch from the old football stadium is reconstructed, and an interior stream and pool. Memorial Hall holds up to 500 people for dinner and is a dramatic backdrop for large events such as weddings. The Johnson Great Room, which can accommodate 160 people, is ideal for receptions or corporate meetings. Both of these venues feature state-of-the-art audio-visual capabilities. The more intimate Curtis L. and Arleen M. Carlson Heritage Gallery—filled with photographs, artifacts, and videos documenting U history—can host 50 people for a dinner or reception. The most delicious feature of the McNamara Alumni Center? Its in-house caterer is the award-winning D’Amico Catering.