Alumni Association Home > Minnesota Magazine > Past Issues > 2006 > September-October 2006

U Gave Tools to Lead
By Dennis Schulstad, B.A. '66

My days as a student at the University of Minnesota were full of fun. Some of the best times involved Gopher football Saturdays. We would arrive early in the morning, have a picnic lunch, play touch football, walk down University Avenue behind the band, sit in the “Rooter Club” section (the best student seats), and cheer for our team. After the game, win or lose, we would party into the night. Basketball and hockey games, along with many clubs and organizations, were also top priorities, which may help explain my lack of an honors degree.

In spring 2005, as a commencement speaker for the College of Liberal Arts, I told the new graduates that I was surprised to be invited to speak to them but that I had an important message to share. After graduating as a public speech major almost 40 years earlier, I had worried that I wasn’t adequately prepared for any job, let alone one as an Air Force lieutenant with 850 people reporting to him. Soon I was providing counseling, handling discipline, motivating people, and calming worried parents and spouses. I hadn’t taken classes in any of those subjects and doubt any existed. No wonder I was worried.

Years later, as an Air Force brigadier general, I worked with billion-dollar budgets and national security. Again, I was concerned that having taken a physics class and memorizing some lines for a theater production would not be of much help. However, thanks to my total U of M experience, I had learned how to communicate, organize, effectively manage, and make sound decisions. The confidence and judgment needed to handle immense responsibilities were part of my training. Virtually everything I have accomplished is due to my background at the University of Minnesota.

Is it any wonder that I have strong feelings for the U and feel a huge sense of gratitude and obligation to this vital institution? To show some of our appreciation, my wife, Pam, and I have endowed a scholarship for a student athlete, with preference given to an ROTC cadet. We have also made financial commitments to the University’s Athletic Department, Landscape Arboretum, Raptor Center, and Air Force ROTC.

Now, to be named national president of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association is another opportunity to serve and is one of the most meaningful honors of my life. This dynamic organization of 56,000 members is playing an essential role in the future of our University and in achieving the goal announced by President Bob Bruininks to become one of the top three public research universities in the world.

The UMAA also continues to be a key player in the return of Gopher football to campus. In 1968, my then-future wife (a Pasadena, California, native and USC fan) and I had our first date when the Trojans came to town to play the Gophers. We bet a steak dinner on the outcome and she won when O.J. Simpson scored on a last-minute run. Since then, Pam still wears maroon and gold (USC’s colors), but for the Gophers. Every year I assure her “this is the season” for a Rose Bowl invitation. After 38 years, she is beginning to doubt me. But we never miss a home game, and when we travel to away games we realize how much we’ve been missing on football Saturdays.