Lake Superior College News Releases

(Duluth, Minn.) – Each fall semester, students enrolled in Lake Superior College’s Integrated Manufacturing programs design and build robots as part of a competitive classroom challenge. This year, the students are tasked with designing, building and operating a robot intended to grasp and transport ping pong balls through an obstacle course in a timed competition.

Instructor Max Udovich (far left) helps students Rory Rasmussen (middle) and Joe Seppala put the finishing touches on their robot for Tuesday’s competition at Lake Superior College.

“No one knows how the robots will perform during competition,” LSC Machining instructor Mike Koppy explained, “but we are sure the results will be entertaining and fun to watch.  Our students work hard to solve the engineering challenge and they look forward to competing.“

The robot demonstration and competition will take place at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 8, in the LSC Commons. Eight teams made up of LSC students enrolled in machining, welding and engineering CAD technology are developing robots for the competition.  There will also be bots from Proctor High School.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact machine technology instructor Mike Koppy at (218) 733-7631 or m.koppy@lsc.edu.

(Duluth, Minn.) — Lake Superior College’s annual student Fall Art Exhibit opens on Monday, Dec. 7 at noon with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m.  Free and open to the public, the reception will include refreshments and an opportunity to meet the student artists.

Students enrolled in LSC’s popular art courses will have an opportunity to display their work during the exhibit.  For many of the approximately 350 participating students, it will be their first-ever exhibition.

“Students are excited about showing their work.  This is a great way for the community to see emerging artists and buy affordable art since many of the pieces are for sale,” said Melanie Thomas, art faculty member.

Students will present a variety of art, including painting, sculpture, jewelry, digital photography, drawings, two and three-dimensional design projects, and ceramics.

Artwork will be displayed in the upper and lower concourse in LSC’s main building.  The exhibit will be open during regular campus hours, 8 a.m. – 10 p.m., beginning at noon on Monday, Dec. 7, and continuing through Wednesday, Dec. 9.

For more information, contact faculty member Melanie Thomas (218) 733-7764 or m.thomas@lsc.edu.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.  With more than 4,300 students enrolled this fall semester, LSC is northeastern Minnesota’s largest two-year college. LSC provides a wide range of programs and services, including liberal arts and science courses for transfer, technical programs intended to provide occupational skills, continuing education, and customized training for business and industry.  LSC is also a leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.

(Duluth, Minn.) – The Lake Superior College Choir and String Ensemble’s Candlelight Carol Concert will take place on Thursday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. in the LSC Atrium.  The concert is free and open to the public.

LSC Choir

The choir will perform a variety of carols including Sing We Now of Christmas (Trad. French), Still, Still, Still (German), Carol of the Bells (Ukrainian), What You Gonna Call Your Pretty Little Baby (traditional spiritual), Cantique De Noel (O Holy Night), Hine ma tov (Hebrew) and more. The choir is directed by Patricia Dorn and accompanied by Sharalee Maslowski.

The String Ensemble, directed by Dale Rogers, will be playing selections by J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel, Charles Dancla and Jean-Joseph Mouret.

An audience sing-a-long will include Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Angels We Have Heard on High and Silent Night. The concert will end with the choir, strings and audience singing Let There Be Peace on Earth.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.  With nearly 4,300 students enrolled this fall semester, LSC is northeastern Minnesota’s largest two-year college.  LSC provides a wide range of programs and services, including liberal arts and science courses for transfer, technical programs intended to provide occupational skills, continuing education, and customized training for business and industry.  LSC is also a leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.

(Duluth, Minnesota) – The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) have named Marlise Riffel of Lake Superior College the 2009 Minnesota Professor of the Year.

The U.S. Professors of the Year program, created in 1981, is the only national initiative specifically designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring.  Riffel was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States. This year, there are 38 state winners. Riffel was selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.

Following 10 years of work in the human services field, Riffel began her teaching career in Rochester, Minnesota in 1983.  Initially, she taught traditional classes, but eventually taught the evening and weekend community-focused classes for the sociology department in order to work with nontraditional students.  “I absolutely love sociology and there is nothing I’d rather do than teach.  My job is to create a desire to know and then to facilitate the development of students’ skills in finding out,” said Riffel.

As a result of her community teaching, the local newspaper editor asked Riffel to write a weekly column, and her sociology-women’s studies column ran for five years in the Rochester Post-Bulletin.  In 1991, she was honored by her colleagues at Rochester Community College with the Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award.  That same year, Riffel and her family moved north.

Riffel started teaching at Duluth Community College in 1991 (now Lake Superior College) where she pioneered the use of computers in the sociology classroom to teach students research skills.  “If I can make the sociological perspective contagious, students can catch it.  Once they’ve caught it, they’ll want the tools — critical analysis, verifying, and using sociological research — that put them in charge of their own continued learning.  The way I teach tools is to use them with students — this transforms sociology from an abstract theory to a strategy for tackling life’s puzzles and provides a new perspective on students’ everyday experiences.”

During her 26 years of teaching, she has taught 16 different undergraduate courses, connecting with 160 students each semester.  “As a student of Marlise’s, the wonderful thing is that I know if I truly need help with something she is just the right teacher to go to.  She is smart in more subjects that just sociology and never places herself up on a pedestal like some college professors might do,” said former student Hannah Packer.  “I can’t even count how many times she had students share their personal experiences in class because she was so truly fascinated by them.  I have not known one student who didn’t appreciate Marlise’s straightforward but truthful approach to teaching.”

Riffel and her LSC colleagues eventually designed a “soc lab” with moveable tables and chairs for group work surrounded by computers for each student along the classroom walls.  “This team-based learning is incredible,” said current student Debra Burmeister.  “The classroom itself is perfectly set up.  With my other classes, it’s impossible to get the intimate feel sitting behind rows of computers.  I wish more classrooms were set up this way.”

“A good teacher is in love with her subject,” commented Riffel.  “She models for students how to wonder, how to struggle with conflicting data or polarized attitudes, how to settle for more questions than answers.  To ask the questions of ‘how’ and ‘why,’ because students can always look up what, where, who, and when, but they are invited to think and process with questions of how and why.  A good teacher finds exciting news or research results from his discipline and shares them with students.  A good teacher changes techniques and resources and assessments each term based on feedback from the previous term’s students.  A good teacher is still learning, and changing, and learning more.”

Riffel uses a variety of formats, from face-to-face teaching in the classroom to online learning to a hybrid/blended course.  “I’m personally aware of her dedication to her students and their learning,” said faculty member Kent Richards.  “Marlise ‘gets it’ that assessment of student learning is really about improving what we do in the classroom.  When the majority of our colleagues still had little idea what academic assessment was all about, Marlise already had all of her course activities and assessment measures aligned with her course outcomes.”

In 2007, Lake Superior College nominated her for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Teaching.  “Marlise not only inspires her students but her creative teaching methods also inspire her colleagues to experience teaching in new, innovative ways,” explained Hanna Erpestad, LSC dean of liberal arts and sciences.

(Duluth, Minn.) –Again this December, students and area artists will use their creativity to fight hunger throughout the region.  Members of the Lake Superior College Art Club have announced plans for a Throw-a-thon fund-raising activity in support of Duluth’s “Empty Bowl” project, an annual event to raise money for Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank.

The tenth annual Lake Superior College Throw-a-thon will take place from 3 p.m. until midnight on Friday, December 4 and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, December 5. Held in the ceramics studio in LSC’s Fine Arts building, the event attracts dozens of students and some of the region’s most accomplished artists to throw ceramic bowls for the Empty Bowl.

“This is the tenth year of the Throw-a-thon and it promises to be another great occasion for students and professional artists to help the community in a creative and fun way,” Sue Hansen, president of the LSC Art Club, explains. “In addition to raising funds, the Throw-a-thon is a one-of-a-kind social networking event for students and artists.  Participants return year after year to be part of something special.”

“The club and college supply materials and studio space and organize the event.  Volunteers bring their skills, creativity, and dedication,” says Bob Husby, LSC art faculty member and event coordinator. “We’ll be continuing that tradition with another great effort this year.”

College officials estimate that the Throw-a-thon has produced more than $100,000 worth of bowls for the Empty Bowl over the last nine years.

The completed works of art will be available for a donation of $15 at the Duluth Depot on Tuesday, April 20, 2010. The bowls will be offered along with a variety of delicious soups that have been donated by area restaurants on that day.

Area artists and community members are encouraged to participate. For more information, contact Bob Husby at b.husby@lsc.edu.

The proceeds from the “Empty Bowl” support the Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank, the sole distributor of surplus food products to over 140 charitable food programs, including the region’s soup kitchens, food shelves and shelters.  As a non-profit food bank, its primary role is to provide food to the front-line charitable agencies that offer meals to the hungry.  The food bank also provides food to over 1,000 people per month as part of their direct service programming.   For more information about the Food Bank and its services, contact executive director Shaye Moris at shaye@northernlakesfoodbank.org.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.  With nearly 4,300 students enrolled this fall semester, LSC is northeastern Minnesota’s largest two-year college.  LSC provides a wide range of programs and services, including liberal arts and science courses for transfer, technical programs intended to provide occupational skills, continuing education, and customized training for business and industry.  LSC is also a leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.

Dr. Kathleen Nelson, President of Lake Superior College (LSC), has announced her intent to retire after 13 years as the college’s CEO and after 30 total years as a leader in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.  Her retirement will be effective June 30, 2010.  Nelson became the second president of LSC in 1997, two years after the legislatively driven merger of Duluth Technical College and Duluth Community College Center created Lake Superior College.  The college, under Nelson’s leadership, has become one of the premier colleges in the state and a leading partner in education and training in Duluth and northeastern Minnesota.

Nelson exudes tremendous pride in the work of the college’s learning community.

“The college’s employees are tremendously talented, creative, and compassionate. They have, together, created a college culture which speaks clearly to our students and to our community partners about the value of the human spirit and the importance of higher education,” says Nelson.

Lake Superior College has seen sizeable enrollment growth and change throughout Nelson’s tenure.  LSC has nearly doubled in size, from the full-time equivalent of 1,900 students in 1997 to more than 3,500 today. More than 8,200 individual students are touched by the college’s programs and services each year.

“In her years as president, Lake Superior College has become a national leader in providing online courses and using cutting-edge technologies,” said Chancellor James McCormick, head of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. “President Nelson has a passion for excellence and student success.”

McCormick also noted that she has achieved national recognition for her work on the Higher Learning Commission, the agency that accredits colleges in the Midwest, where she served as chair of the commission’s board.

Nelson’s entrepreneurial spirit undergirds much of the college’s progress during the past 12 years. The college’s leadership in e-learning has led the state and much of the nation in offering students an opportunity to complete courses and entire educational programs online.  LSC was the first public higher education institution in the state of Minnesota to receive permission from its regional accreditor to offer all of its programs through online learning.  Nelson herself took a major leadership role in this endeavor by being the founding chair of the Minnesota Online Council, the state’s online consortium of 32 colleges and universities. Governor Pawlenty visited LSC a year ago to announce his initiative to have all public higher education institutions offer at least 25 percent of their enrollment online by 2015. LSC surpassed that goal last year and currently offers approximately 27 percent of its enrollment online.

“Connections” has been a key concept during Nelson’s administration at LSC.  Connecting to and serving the community has been fundamental to LSC’s success as an education and training partner in the City of Duluth, the region, and the state.  Nelson’s energy and enthusiasm for community engagement has been the cornerstone to the college’s development of its highly successful Workforce and Community Development division.  Her belief in the importance of serving public education in true partnership has helped the college develop an outstanding High School Connections program.  Working with more than 30 high schools in northeastern Minnesota, the college has established successful programs to meet the learning needs of nearly 800 high school students each year, students who enroll in college-level classes on their high school campuses, online, or on site at LSC.

“The concept of community and community development is very important to me.  We serve others by being open and responsive to them.  We listen, and we act.  To engage in community learning and community work is one of the highest ideals to which we strive.  Civic engagement is clearly the reflection of democracy in action,” Nelson explains.

David Ross, President and CEO of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, offered the following assessment of Nelson’s contributions: “Our community experienced an energy surge when Kathleen Nelson arrived in Duluth to become the Lake Superior College president in 1997. It was my good fortune to immediately develop a close working relationship with Kathleen. Her leadership enabled LSC to quickly become a leader within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. Beyond providing LSC exceptionally strong leadership, Kathleen has shared her time and abundant talent to move our community forward. LSC, and our community, are far better places because of Kathleen.“

Nelson has been an active community leader, a leader in state higher education and a leader in national higher education accreditation circles.  She is ending her term on the Higher Learning Commission’s Board of Trustees, having served two years ago as the board’s chair.  The Commission accredits all public, private, for-profit, and not-for profit colleges and universities within a 19 state region.  Nelson’s leadership has helped to shape the new policies and practices engaged in by higher education institutions, including an emphasis upon quality improvement and outcomes assessment.

True to her nature as an outdoors woman who loves to kayak and still camps in a tent, Nelson finds not only her most reflective moments on still waters and within the wilderness, but she derives a strong sense of professional pride in LSC’s commitment to environmental stewardship as well.  She is a signatory on the national President’s Climate Commitment, a national movement to commit LSC to reducing personal and institutional carbon footprints.  The college is a leader in its sustainability initiatives, supported by Nelson’s strong sense of the importance of environmental issues.

When Nelson speaks, you can see the pride she feels in the people, the programs, and the services she has helped to develop at Lake Superior College.  “A dear friend reminds me often that I said, 12 years ago, as I became LSC’s president, that our most important work is not about building new buildings but, rather about what goes on inside those buildings.  I still believe that today.  People create community.  Community creates a place where learning takes place.  LSC is the most wonderful learning community I know, and I have been honored to serve as the college’s president,” Nelson reflects.

What’s next for LSC’s president?  She states, “New adventures, new challenges, and, no doubt, more kayaking.”

“Locally Adapted Food Systems”

Finding whole, organic and unprocessed foods is becoming an increasing challenge in our hurry-up fast food culture.

But that might be changing.

In “Locally Adapted Food Systems,” presenter Randel Hansen discusses how more and more people are pursuing alternatives such as farmers markets, agricultural endeavors, community and household gardens. Hansen, a food systems planner, will also discuss actions, tools and resources for expanding the economic, ecological, social, and health benefits of local food production and consumption.

This presentation will take place from 6:30-8 p.m. in room S2964 on the Lake Superior College campus.

Past “Green 101” sessions have included such topics as “Greening Your Home: From Energy Efficiency to Renewable Energy Options,” “Solar Technology Introduction” and a make and take rain barrel workshop.

More information is available at www.lsc.edu/Green101.cfm. “Green 101” is presented by Lake Superior College – Workforce and Community Development.

Lake Superior College student Jess Randby is this year’s first place winner of the Car Care Council Women’s Board Scholarship. The program’s scholarships are awarded to female students who are pursuing education to prepare them for a career in the automotive field.

Jess Randby

Randby is a second year student pursuing an associate of applied science degree in LSC’s Automotive Technician program.

In addition to a $2,500 scholarship, Randby also wins an all expense paid trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, to attend the Automotive After Products Expo (AAPEX) and the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show (SEMA) later this year. She will be recognized for her award at a reception while in Las Vegas.

Randby is a resident of Duluth and a 2007 graduate of Duluth East High School. She also attended the Duluth Secondary Technical Center’s (STC) Automotive program and completed Automotive Youth Education System testing. Both LSC and STC are National Automotive Technician Education Foundation certified programs, which allows credit transfer between secondary schools and post-secondary education.

Lake Superior College Earns National Ranking for Technology

For the second year running, Lake Superior is among the nation’s most technically advanced community colleges.  According to an annual survey conducted by the Center for Digital Education and Converge magazine, Duluth’s Lake Superior College is one of the nation’s top examples of technology delivery in higher education.  LSC was ranked seventh among the medium-sized Community Colleges (3,000 – 7,500 students) in the fifth annual Digital Community Colleges Survey.  The survey identifies and spotlights colleges that provide a high level of service to their students and faculty through information technology.  LSC was ranked 10th last year.

“We are very proud of our staff’s efforts to provide service and technology to our college community,” explained Barry Dahl, LSC’s vice president of technology and the e-Campus.  “LSC continues to invest the time, expertise and resources needed to acquire the technology to provide an excellent learning environment.”

Schools were placed in three categories based on size of enrollment, with college officials providing information from the 2008-09 academic year. At the survey’s conclusion, the top 10 in each of the three categories were named.  The survey addressed multiple areas in digital technology, including online registration; distance learning; tutoring and advisory services; technology training for students and faculty, and Web 2.0 social and collaborative capabilities.

View the full list of winners at www.centerdigitaled.com or www.convergemag.com.

Marina Leight, vice president of the Center, said, “Community colleges, year after year, impress us as forward-thinking and quick to adapt. Our survey results show overwhelmingly that community colleges are fast embracing cyber technologies used by “First Digitals” fostering collaboration in learning by using tools students are familiar with. Those institutions chosen as this year’s top community colleges are exceptional examples of this investment in learning.”

The Center for Digital Education is a national research and advisory institute providing education and industry leaders with decision support, research and educational services to help them effectively incorporate new technologies in the 21st century.  The Center is a division of e.Republic, Inc. a national publishing, event and research company focused on information technology in the public sector.

For more information on the Center visit www.centerdigitaled.com.  For more information on the Digital Community Colleges Survey, please contact Janet Grenslitt at (916) 932-1363.

(Duluth, Minn.) –  As an offshoot of their “Green 101” Lecture Series, Lake Superior College is hosting a “Make ‘N’ Take” Rain Barrel Workshop this Saturday, October 10 from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. in room S2964.

Leading the workshop will be David Stark, owner of Stark Enterprises, LLC, an environmental consulting firm specializing in water, waste and energy conservation. He’ll provide expert information on how to properly design, construct, use and install your rain barrel. Participants will be able take a rain barrel home and after learning how to correctly install and use it.

The cost of participating in the workshop will be $50. This fee will cover material costs.

Future “Green 101” lectures include third of this three-part lecture series, titled “Locally Adapted Food Systems,” on Tuesday, October 27.
More information is available at www.lsc.edu/Green101.cfm. “Green 101” is presented by Lake Superior College – Workforce and Community Development.