Author: btaylor

  • Dr. Darsa Donelan

    “Science Does Not Just Happen in a Silo – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Award-winning teacher Dr. Darsa Donelan of the Gustavus Physics Department and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies program on their path to science, physics, and the Gustavus faculty, the influence of their grandmother Jane and other important women mentors on their interests…

  • Dr. Whitney Dirks

    “Monstrosity, Freakery, and Print Culture in Early Modern England – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Dr. Whitney Dirks, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Gustavus Department of History, talks about her young “gender bending” acting in Shakespeare plays, her self-designed interdisciplinary major in Renaissance and Theater Studies at Beloit College in Wisconsin, her research on…

  • Professor Joaquin Villanueva

    ” ‘Spatial Relationships,’ Colonialism, and Debt – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Professor Joaquin Villanueva of the Gustavus Department of Geography talks about growing up in Puerto Rico and his “political awakening” in college there, his path from business major to languages and geography, the transformative experience of studying abroad in France, the diversity and…

  • Michael Carroll and Kayla Vrieze ’22

      “Playing for the Crowns on the Front of Your Jersey – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” In this 50th anniversary year of Title IX’s passage, Gustavus Head Women’s Hockey Coach Michael Carroll, the winningest coach in the program’s history, and senior All-American team member Kayla Vrieze ’22 speak about their paths to hockey…

  • Dr. Sharon Marquart

    “Charlotte Delbo and Writing and Reading the Holocaust – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Dr. Sharon Marquart of the Gustavus Department of Modern Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies (GWSS) program converses about her background and path from initial biology major to BA and PhD in French and eventually Gustavus…

  • Ainsley Langerud ’24 and Alex Dillon ’25

    “Childhood Poverty: Uniting Voices to Empower Tomorrow – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Gustavus students Ainsley Langerud, ’24, and Alex Dillon, ’25, co-chairs of this year’s annual student-run Building Bridges (BB) Conference at the College on Saturday March 2, 2024, talk about their backgrounds and paths to Gustavus, the conference’s focus on childhood poverty,…

  • Dr. Pamela Kittelson

    “The Liberal Arts College I Went to Changed My Life – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Dr. Pamela Kittelson of the Biology Department and Environmental Studies program at Gustavus talks about growing up in Colorado, her path to college and eventually an unanticipated PhD in plant biology, coming to Gustavus, teaching Gustavus students in the…

  • Dr. Jeff La Frenierre

    “Researching Glacial Melt in the Ecuadorian Andes – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Dr. Jeff La Frenierre of the Gustavus Environment, Geography, and Earth Sciences Department at Gustavus on his path to the discipline of Geography, how and why he decided to research glacial melt and its impact on people and communities, the process and…

  • Ashley Ley ’23 and Tessa Yeager ’24

    “Unseen Passages: Refugees and the Collective Fight for Vitality – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Ashley Ley ’23 and Tessa Yeager ’24, co-chairs of the 2023 Building Bridges conference on March 4, talk about their backgrounds and paths to Gustavus, how and why they became involved in Building Bridges, the rewards of their involvement, developing…

  • Dr. Martha Ndakalako

    “From Young Namibian Reader to Gustavus Professor of Comparative Literature – Listen to the Learning for Life Podcast” Dr. Martha Ndakalako joined the Gustavus English Department in 2021 and talks in this episode about growing up in the De Beers mining town of Oranjemund in Namibia, her early love of reading, her “complicated” (aka interesting) path to…