In This Issue:

Metropolitan State University is the only MnSCU University lacking a Dean’s List

When you cross the stage to accept your hard-earned diploma, will you be wearing golden cords around your neck? Is graduating with honors one of the goals you have set for yourself? It’s a hard-won honor at Metropolitan State University. To graduate with honors, students must be in the top 10 percent of graduates of their college; no automatic honors are awarded based solely on individual grade point average (g.p.a.). This policy differs from most colleges...

A rocky start to the Metropolitan State University co-location project

In 2005, Metropolitan State University and Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) announced a "co-location initiative." In other words, a shared campus space between the two schools to better serve their spatial needs. For the past year and a half, Metropolitan State University and MCTC have been working together to create a combined campus in downtown Minneapolis. A group made up of faculty and service staff collaborated to ensure a smooth transition to the new location...

Hoping to help broken education system, student leads group to Somalia

On Jul. 1, Ali along with two Somalis and three Americans, two of whom are professors at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) and Inver Hills Community College (IHCC), traveled to Somalia on a "fact finding mission." The group, who is self sponsoring, is hoping to connect MCTC and IHCC to Puntland State University and Nugaal University, two relatively new colleges in Somalia. They are also hoping to set the foundation for a full fledged library...

Metropolitan State’s biggest event of the year: FallFest 2006

FallFest will take place Saturday, Sep. 16, from 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., in New Main’s court and lobby, and in Founders Hall Auditorium. While the main events will take place on Saturday, Sep. 16, other activities will be scheduled throughout the week (Sep. 11–Sep. 16). Without a sport to unify the schools’ community, those involved in planning must find alternatives to ensure student participation. In preparation for the celebration, the committee members focus on food, entertainment, logistics and public relations...

Membership important step to accreditation of public relations program

Metropolitan State University has no shortage of student-run organizations, but it may be getting one more. In addition to a modification of its curricula, the Professional Communication Public Relations Program is hoping to establish a chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) this year. Shannon Skarpohl Kaml, the curriculum coordinator of the Public Relations (PR) Program at Metropolitan State University, explained to her Public Relations Writing class that forming a chapter of the PRSSA at the college would be an important and critical step toward accreditation of the PR Program...

Local Muslims poised to abandon dual loyalty

In America, the followers of Islam, a faith under fire, abandoning the prevailing dual loyalty to native lands and America is the only path to repair their religion’s terrorism-entangled image. At the center of an inner struggle among Muslims is who deserves the first loyalty of the faithful: The native land, Islam or America? During the third annual Muslim convention held in Minneapolis in mid-April, faith leaders said there’s no contradiction between being a patriotic American and being a good Muslim...

Student Spotlight: Shvonne Johnson

Shvonne Johnson was 13 years old when she won an Outstanding Author Award for her poem titled, "Consider Me." That was just the beginning for this talented wordsmith. Since then, she has written over 300 poems, and writes about anything that inspires her, from love to self-esteem, to social issues and stoplights. Yes, stoplights, she said with a smile. "At first, writing poetry was a way to vent and to feel understood. Now, I realize that I can help people through my poetry and other people can benefit," she said...

Vice President Brannen understands transitions

Vice President Cathleen Brannen came to Metropolitan State University seven years ago with plans to help the school with its collaborative partnership with Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), by providing financial planning for the collaboration of the two schools. Both she, as well as Scott Erickson, MCTC vice president, were presented an Outstanding Service Award two weeks ago by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) Office of the Chancellor for their hard work...

"End of the Spear" - The fatal mission of five that transformed many

More than a box office film meant to entertain, this 2005 Heartland Film Festival Grand Prize winner for Dramatic Feature is a story of great measure, courage and sacrifice. Based on true events around 1956, "End of the Spear" retells the story of five young missionary men (Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming and Roger Youderian) who endeavored to make peaceful contact with the Huaorani Tribe...

Commentary - Back to school at 60

Being an older student can be a shock to the system. All of a sudden you have reading assignments and your teacher, who is younger than you are, springs surprise tests on you. One mentor called them "wraps." The only wrap I ever knew about you ate, and was filled with cream cheese and ham. Yum-yum for the treats. Yuk-yuk for the quizzes...

Old school meets even older school in a surprising performance

Generations came together Monday, Jun. 26 and Tuesday, Jun. 27 as ‘90s grunge icons, Pearl Jam, opened for veteran rockers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The two-show line up had been one of the most anticipated music events of the summer. At the Monday night show, Pearl Jam packed their 85 minute set with familiar favorites that sent the late-twenty to early-thirty-somethings that dominated the crowd into a singing frenzy...

Twin Town Sound:
Musician "in on the joke" - A review of High on Stress

I moved to Minnesota in 1997. More precisely, I moved to northeast Minneapolis to a duplex with three roommates. A beer soaked, tumultuous time in my mid-twenties; I will always have a place in my heart for the dark, dingy Northeast bars. I first found High on Stress at one of those Northeast bars. Maybe that is part of the reason they bring me back to those days when I was first learning the streets of the Twin Cities. They have that sound I love. There are no overproduced hollow vocals, no electronic blips and beeps...