STEM scholars under the guidance of Dr. Todd Frauenholtz, professor of mathematics, volunteered as judges at the Bemidji Middle School Science fair on Feb. 2. Afterward, students students Mattie Osborn, Emily Long and Carly Shore were interviewed by Lakeland Public Television, along with current BMS science teacher and Bemidji State alumnus Kyle McMartin.

FACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS

• Erika Bailey-Johnson, sustainability coordinator, and Anna Carlson, assistant sustainability coordinator, attended a five-day leadership retreat hosted by the Grand Rapids-based Blandin Foundation. The retreat is part of the foundation’s eight-day Blandin Community Leadership Program, which develops and trains local leaders to build healthy communities.
• Bill Blackwell, Jr., executive director of the American Indian Resource Center, will be joined by Erika Bailey-Johnson, BSU sustainability coordinator, and Dr. John Gonzalez, professor of psychology, for presentations at the Project Graduate “Helping Native Youth Find Success” conference for teachers and community leaders in Bemidji on March 24.
• Dr. Stephen Carlson, professor of music, performed on the grand piano at the University of Minnesota Crookston’s Kiehle Auditorium on Feb. 16. The concert, which included works by Beethoven, Chopin, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, was sponsored by UMC Concerts and Lectures, Liberal Arts and Education Department and the Music/Theater Department.
• Michael Lane, assistant professor of Indian studies, presented “Indigenous Sovereignty: A Personal and Professional Reflection on the Journey” along with Sharon Heta as part of Bemidji’s spring Adventures in Lifelong Learning presentation series on March 7.
• Dr. Michael Murray, associate professor of economics, edited “The Job Guarantee and Modern Money Theory: Realizing Keynes’s Labor Standard.” The book supports the theory that a flexible Job Guarantee program able to react to an economy’s fluctuating need for work would stabilize the labor standard, the value of employment in relation to money.
• Dr. Patrick Welle, professor emeritus of economics, will present at a forum on the value of clean water hosted by Central Lakes College in Brainerd on March 23. Welle, who has done extensive research on the relationship between water quality and property value, will present on the economic reality of clean and healthy waters. The forum will be hosted by the Gordon Rosenmeier Center for State and Local Government, Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation and the Northern Water Alliance of Minnesota.

New Hires

• Ashleigh Hougen has joined the Division of Human Resources as a human resources specialist.