Lake Superior College News Releases

(Duluth, Minn.) - Wade Gordon has been hired as the new Director of Diversity for Lake Superior College. He will be responsible for developing and implementing a college-wide comprehensive diversity plan to recruit and retain underrepresented, underserved, and American Indian students; to increase and retain the number of diverse faculty, staff, and administrators; and to enhance diversity and inclusion in the college’s instructional programs, curriculum and activities.

Gordon previously worked for the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet for the last eight years. During that time, he served as director of vocational and technical education programs, grants development director, and also served as the institution’s affirmative action officer.

Gordon is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Superior. He lives in Cloquet, Minnesota.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,800 students enrolled this spring 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.) — Lake Superior College has named Tom Tonkin interim dean of business and industry. He will administer and lead the college’s Business and Industry Division, supervising more than 70 full- and part-time faculty members and staff in 22 programs.

Tonkin served as dean of construction, manufacturing and transportation and taught surveying and civil technology at Hennepin Technical College in the Twin Cities. He has worked in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system since 1975. Prior to that, he taught high school industrial technology courses for Minneapolis Public Schools.

Tonkin is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is originally from Duluth where he now lives. He retired in 2005 and moved back home to Duluth after living and working in the Twin Cities for 38 years.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,800 students enrolled this spring 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.) — Lake Superior College has named Hanna Erpestad Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She will administer and lead the college’s Liberal Arts and Science Division, supervising more than 100 full and part-time faculty members.

Erpestad served as interim dean at Lake Superior College during a national search to fill the position. Prior to that, Erpestad was an English instructor at LSC, and also served as Faculty Chair of the Liberal Arts and Science Division. She has been a member of the LSC faculty since 1999 and has received several awards for teaching, including Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Faculty Award of Excellence (2006) and LSC’s Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology (2007).

Erpestad holds an associate in arts degree from Lake Superior College and bachelor and master degrees in English from the University of Minnesota Duluth. She has also completed graduate courses in humanities and educational leadership at Hamline and Bemidji State University respectively, and is a 2006 graduate of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ Luoma Leadership Academy.

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 the leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.

(Duluth, Minn.) – Candace Barnack, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lake Superior College (LSC) in Duluth, Minnesota, was recently honored with a “Women in Leadership” award. This prestigious award is presented annually to 10 women who are nominated by their peers and colleagues. It honors women who have given themselves to the betterment of their family, their place of employment, and their community. The awards program is sponsored by the NBC affiliate, Channel 6 in Duluth, the Northland’s News Center.

Barnack was nominated for the award by LSC President Kathleen Nelson and Proctor School Superintendent Diane Rauschenfels. “Candace provides exemplary leadership not only within her position at Lake Superior College but also throughout our region,” said Rauschenfels. “Collaboration and creativity are her strong suits. Her experience with changing systems makes her a natural leader in whatever setting she happens to find herself.”

For almost three decades, Barnack has been involved in higher education. She began serving in her current position as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lake Superior College in 1998. She came to LSC with a broad vision for academia. Under her leadership, program development has increased significantly and more recently, she provided leadership and direction in the creation of the Center for Advanced Aviation at LSC. Prior to her tenure at LSC, she served as the Dean/Chief Academic Officer at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Her career began as a professor in Speech Communication at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She has also provided quality improvement training for government agencies, private and public educational institutions, and business and industry corporations since 1981.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,100 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 the leader in online courses and programs in Minnesota.

(Duluth, Minn.) — Lake Superior College has named Hanna Erpestad Interim Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She will administer and lead the college’s Liberal Arts and Science Division, supervising more than 100 full and part-time faculty members. She will serve in that role as LSC conducts a national search to fill the position.

Erpestad, an English instructor at Lake Superior College, also served as Faculty Chair of the Liberal Arts and Science Division prior to her appointment. She has been a member of the LSC faculty since 1999 and has received several awards for teaching, including Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Faculty Award of Excellence (2006), and the Teaching Excellence Award (Runner-up) for Lake Superior College Online (2007).

Erpestad holds an associate in arts degree from Lake Superior College and bachelor and master degrees in English from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. She has also completed graduate courses in humanities and educational leadership at Hamline and Bemidji State University respectively, and is a 2006 graduate of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Luoma Leadership Academy.

Erpestad will be on a leave of absence from her teaching duties while serving in the interim position.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,000 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 the leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota

(Duluth, Minn.) – Dr. Kathleen Nelson, president of Lake Superior College, has been elected chair of the Board of Trustees of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Nelson is completing her fourth year as a trustee, a position to which she was elected by her fellow higher education CEOs across the Commission’s 19 states in 2003.

Nelson served for two years as the HLC’s Board Development Committee chair and has just completed a year as the Board’s vice chair/chair elect.

The HLC is the accrediting body for more than 1,100 public and private higher education institutions and serves as the policy and decision-making organization for these colleges’ and universities’ accreditation activities.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,500 students enrolled this spring 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 the leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.

(Duluth, Minn.) — Barry Dahl, vice president of technology and the Virtual Campus at Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Instructional Technology Council. Affiliated with the American Association of Community Colleges, the Council works to advance distance education in higher education at member institutions in the UnitedStates and Canada.

Dahl will represent the North Central Region, encompassing the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. His term will run from June 2007
through June 2009. Dahl is the current chair of Minnesota Online, the online instructional service of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

More information about the Instructional Technology Council is available at www.itcnetwork.org.

LSC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. With more than 4,500 students enrolled this spring 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 the leader in Internet-delivered courses and programs in Minnesota.