Archive for November, 2022
Skylar Abrego ’20
“Born into hockey and raised through her Gustie profs, she’s the current graduate assistant in Gustavus Sports Information.” It started when Communications Studies professor Pamela Conners said to her, “I think you’re holding yourself back.” Abrego had planned on becoming a teacher, but she loved Conners’ class Public Discourse far more than she loved her […]
Mula Lay ’22
“All you need is a microphone to make a podcast. And some editing software. And some stories. And a student champion with a great voice for radio.” His first major was computer science. But like so many Gusties before him, Lay questioned his first choice when the poetry and stories he was writing were competing […]
Regina Olono Vidales ’22
“From zero public speaking experience to the commencement podium, serving on Student Senate changed the trajectory of Vidales’ life: I Found a Voice.” “If you don’t speak up for what you want, it’s not going to happen. So you have to speak up for the things that you care about.” When Vidales started at Gustavus, […]
Matt Rasmussen ’98
“Studying And Writing Literature Felt Superfluous Like a Hobby. At Gustavus, I Learned It Was My Passion.” I was a hockey player jock in high school, and I wanted to play in college. When I applied to Gustavus, I included a poem in my application. I don’t know why. Maybe I thought I wasn’t smart […]
Audrey Ochtrup-Dekeyrel ’22
“From farmhand to food researcher, Gustavus planted the seed for a new career path—that of professor.” A “terrible, bratty child” when it came to helping on her family’s farm in southeastern Minnesota, a younger Ochtrup-DeKeyrel couldn’t have imagined making a career out of agriculture. Now, shaped by her upbringing and her experiences as an environmental […]
Professor Colleen Stockmann
“For this Gustavus professor and art historian who started teaching in historic times, adapting to change is nothing new.” “It was 10 years between when I finished undergrad and when I started graduate school — absolutely the right amount of time for me.” At Stanford University, San Francisco, and across the country, their work spanned […]
Professor Marie Walker
“Mental health and development was a long-discussed choice for the subject of the 2022 Nobel Conference. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Walker knew the topic had to confront today’s mental health crisis in adolescents and young people.” “I watched my students’ lives turn upside-down,” she remembers. “Then George Floyd was murdered. I was thinking […]
Professor Hayley Russell
“This Canadian professor teaches sport and exercise psychology, framed within the American concept of liberal arts learning. Teaching in the health and exercise science, public health, and gender, women, and sexuality studies, Russell has a courtside seat to today’s biggest sports trends. First, there is equity. “The strongest student writing and reflection has been on […]
Emily Ford ’15
“Emily Ford thought she knew winter. Then she thru-hiked the Ice Age Trail. In February. With only a sled dog, Diggins.” Post-holing. It’s when you hike through deep snow without skis or snowshoes. Imagine stomping your leg into crusted snow up to your knee, then doing the same with your other leg, then pulling the […]
Professor Erik Gulbranson
“In one of the coldest places on Earth—and 250 million years in the past—he predicts the future of our planet.” Oppressive cold. Deafening silence. Never ending day (or night). Low atmospheric pressure that warps the human body. Nevertheless, Professor Gulbranson and his international colleagues have ventured to Antarctica five times over the past decade to […]