University of Minnesota, Morris

Campus Assembly Minutes

April 3, 2007

The Campus Assembly met on Tuesday, April 3 at 4:30 p.m. in the Science Auditorium.

I. Chancellor’s Remarks.

Chancellor Johnson commented on several important things happening on campus: 1) Two marketing research firms recently visited campus—Stamats and Lipman Hearne. We should be finalizing the RFP soon. She added that we received $100K from the Compact for market research. 2) We are currently working on getting three firms to campus to make a presentation on UMM’s Master Plan. The last one was done in 1995. After their presentations, an RFP will be done as well. 3) She thanked everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to meet with President Bruininks and Vice President Jones last week. 4) There are many searches currently going on—several tenure track positions, Major Gifts Officer and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean.

Additionally, Chancellor Johnson will report before the end of the semester the results of our various efforts in relation to program review, both in the academic and in the support areas. It has taken longer than she had anticipated. There are many good ideas contained in the review documents and in a variety of conversations and consultations that have gone on over the course of the past few months. She is close to having concluded her review, consultation, deliberation, and reflection and anticipates that within the next few weeks, she will return to the campus community with a series of recommendations and decisions regarding staffing. She has really appreciated the help, cooperative spirit and patience.

II. Minutes from 2/22/07 meeting approved as presented.

III. Elections.

Elections were held for the 2007-2008 Executive Committee, Parliamentarian, and Consultative Committee.

Executive Committee (1 year term, no limitations on terms)

Vice Chair – Paula O’Loughlin

Secretary – Dave Roberts

Faculty/P&A – Tom McRoberts

Faculty/P&A – Tammi Berberi

Parliamentarian (1 year term, no limitations on terms)

Greg Thorson

Consultative Committee (2 year term, 3 consecutive terms maximum)

Margaret Kuchenreuther

Jeff Ratliff-Crain

IV. From the Curriculum Committee. The following course additions/new major proposal approved as presented.

Education

1 New Course

Ed 2211: Issues and Current Trends in Literacy and Language Education

Interdisciplinary Studies (Honors)

2 New Courses

IS 3213H-Honors: The Theory and Practice of Community Based Learning

IS 3214H-Honors: Evolution and Culture of Human Aggression

Science and Mathematics

1 New Course

Phys 1063: Physics of Water

New Interdisciplinary Major Proposal:

American Indian Studies (AmIn)

2 New Courses

AmIn 1101: Introduction to American Indian Studies

AmIn 4901: Senior Project in American Indian Studies

V. From the Functions and Awards Committee. Scholar of the College nominations. (See attached).

As chair of the Functions and Awards Committee, Peter Bremer requests a motion to approve the slate of nominations. Several concerns/comments were made about the nominations including the following: there are no ethnic minority students; the fact that URS counts as criteria is problematic; the imbalance in representation among divisions; and it appears committee did not use the criteria as stated. Additionally, the fact that some academic fields simply offer more off-campus chances for a student to present a paper is problematic and varies greatly among disciplines. Kristen Strissel pointed out that resources available to students are limited and the URS provides another venue for students to present their work. Bremer noted that the committee’s interpretation may have differed from other years; however, the committee did not act lightly. It was also pointed out that many of the students nominated were in attendance at the meeting today and that it is incumbent on faculty to carefully read the criteria before nominating a student. Roland Guyotte did not think it was appropriate to change the criteria on the floor of Assembly and that we should have faith in the work of the committees on campus and called the question. Second by Mary Elizabeth Bezanson. Motion to approve the slate of nominees approved by voice vote.

VI. From the Student Services Committee. Policy on Student Organization Advisors

Dave Roberts, chair of SSC, provided some background information on the proposed policy. Because of an article in the UR earlier this year, the SSC hoped an institutional change would help in the future. He met with MCSA last week and there was a very forceful opposition to the proposal. The SSC voted to withdraw their proposal requiring that student groups meeting certain criteria have advisers. A motion from the SSC will be forwarded to Assembly next fall. Blair Jasper noted that simply having advisers for every student group on campus would not actively correct the problem. There was a concern that this came about because of the article in the UR but there is no connection between the policy and what happened. Paula O’Loughlin encouraged faculty members to really think about this because is takes a tremendous amount of hours and time to be an adviser and asked if faculty are willing to give up 10-15 hours a week. She thinks the article in the UR was stupid; she thinks the students learned this; and she thinks we’ll be talking about this again in a few years. A student reporter from the UR stated that no one ever asked what the problems were and no one stepped up to help as well.

VII. From the Scholastic Committee. Proposed interpretation of the NCAA Division III athletic eligibility policy.

Nic McPhee, chair of the Scholastic Committee, explained the proposed interpretation of the Div III eligibility policy. Under Division II, the eligibility was very strict; under Division III, it is up to the campus. The proposed criteria is stricter than the DII rules. As faculty rep, Tracey Anderson, offers her endorsement of the proposal. The proposal will be presented for action at the next Assembly meeting.

Paula O’Loughlin moved to extend the meeting for 10 minutes Motion passes.

VIII. All University Reports.

Peh Ng reported on the Student Evaluation of Teaching forms. Craig Swan is willing to implement the new form this semester if we are interested in doing a pilot program. There was some concern about the open-ended questions. Peh said UMM can add or change the questions. Faculty should contact Peh if they have suggestions/comments about the form.

Paula O’Loughlin moved to extend the meeting another 5 minutes. Motion denied.

Meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.

SCHOLAR OF THE COLLEGE NOMINATIONS

FINAL 3-14-07

Nicole Abel ’07, chemistry: biochemistry, researched with Scott Mueller, doctoral candidate, at the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy, Madison. Her project was titled “Influence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea on Humoral Vaccine Responses.” The results were presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference as well as the American College of Clinical Pharmacy’s Annual Meeting. She is also co-author on work submitted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. She will also give a presentation at the spring 2007 national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Jessica Anderson ’07, psychology and political science, worked closely with Greg Thorson, associate professor of political science, investigating school funding in Minnesota. Their paper, “The Minnesota Miracle Abandoned? Changes in Minnesota School Funding, 2001-2007,” was published in the Rural Minnesota Journal and presented at the Center for Rural Policy and Development’s Conference on Education. Anderson is participating in a study with Leslie Meek, associate professor of psychology, exploring the effects of paternal alcohol use on development and learning in offspring. With Sara Jamieson ’07, psychology and biology, Anderson designed and implemented the study. Their findings will be presented at the 2007 Minnesota Undergraduate Psychology Conference and at the 2007 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Jenna Benson ’07, chemistry: biochemistry, performed undergraduate research her sophomore year with Tim Soderberg, associate professor of chemistry. She worked with Nancy Carpenter, associate professor of chemistry, on a Research Sites for Educators in Chemistry (RSEC) funded project in summer and fall 2005. She also research with Coran Watanabe, assistant professor of chemistry, at Texas A & M University. Her project was titled “Synthesis and investigation of the biological roles of 1,4-disubstituted and 1,2,4-trisubstituted cyclohexadienes.” The results have been accepted for presentation at the spring 2007 national meeting of the American Chemical Society. The research is also being included in an article for the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Corina Bernstein ’07, English and studio art, shaped her Senior Honors Project around a belief that art can affect social change. Bernstein worked with Native Harvest’s Wild Rice Campaign, which promotes continued traditional rice harvesting. Endorsed by activist Winona LaDuke, she photographed this year’s harvest with plans to allow the cooperative to use her photographs. Her photographic work is exemplary in its sensitive approach to subject, care to detail, understanding of compositional design, and high level of craft. She researched American Indian literature and anthropological resources to complete her project. Bernstein’s interdisciplinary and intercultural scholarly work is important in the area of American Indian studies and visual anthropology, and she has been encouraged to submit it to the American Anthropological Association for a student award. In April, Bernstein’s work will be on exhibit at the Prairie Renaissance Cultural Alliance gallery, and she will speak at a public presentation about her scholarly process.

Rebecca Bombyk ’07, biology and art history, worked as a research assistant with Timna Wyckoff, assistant professor of biology, studying agricultural contributions to the development of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Bombyk tested the antimicrobial susceptibility of over 400 Staphylococcus bacterial samples isolated from conventional and organic dairies in west central Minnesota. She presented a poster detailing this work at the 2006 American Society for Microbiology meeting, and a poster has been submitted to the 2007 meeting.

Benjamin Buer ’07, chemistry, worked as a research assistant with Timna Wyckoff, assistant professor of biology, studying agricultural contributions to the development of bacterial antibiotic resistance. He was awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant to characterize the macrolide/lincosamide resistance determinants of about 60 Staphylococcus strains from organic and conventional dairies. Buer participated in a Purdue University summer undergraduate research program in 2006, presenting his work with V. Jo Davisson, professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology, at the 2007 American Chemical Society National Meeting in a poster titled “Isolation of specific proteins via copper(I)-catalyzed alkyne-azide ‘click’ cycloaddition.”

Maria Brun ’08, economics, worked with Pareena Lawrence, associate professor of economics and management, as a Morris Academic Partner (MAP). They co-authored “Advocating for HIV/AIDS in India” highlighting the problem of HIV/AIDS in India and examining the progress that is being made in fighting this epidemic by examining the efforts, experiences, and challenges faced by two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Their results will be presented at two national conferences. The paper has been submitted to the journal Feminist Economics. Brun is working with Lawrence on a second project titled “Women as Policymakers: A case study of Northern India,” and will travel in May and June 2007 to conduct fieldwork in Northern India. The outcome of this research will be incorporated into a book/manuscript project.

Matthew Bryan ’07, mathematics and statistics, completed a Morris Academic Partnership (MAP) with Mark Logan, assistant professor of mathematics. He formulated and proved a new proposition concerning chain decompositions of Boolean lattices. He presented his results with a poster at the 2006 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium and a talk at the Math on the Northern Plains Undergraduate Conference. Bryan has twice taken the Putnam Examination, an extremely competitive nationwide undergraduate math competition organized by the Mathematical Association of America.

Emily Christiansen ’07, computer science, received two prestigious national awards: the Distributed Mentorship award from Computer Research Association and 2006 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship finalist award. She completed a Morris Academic Partnership (MAP) with Elena Machkasova, assistant professor of computer science, on a highly challenging theoretical subject: rigorous proofs of meaning preservation of program transformations. She has published three papers, one co-authored with Machkasova and one solely authored, in Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium, and co-authored a report in UMM Working Papers Series: “A Call-by-name Calculus of Records and its Basic Properties.” Christiansen completed a summer research project on automated language translation with internationally renowned scientist Maria Jini on the Twin Cities campus. The resulting paper, “Evaluating Automatic Translators,” was accepted and will be published at the 2007 Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium.

Jason Fiedler ’07, biology and chemistry, participated in the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates program at The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience at the University of Florida. He worked under the supervision of Bernard Okech, postdoctoral associate, in the laboratory of Dmitri Boudko, research assistant professor, on the role of amino acid transporters in the nerve cells of the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, which is a malaria vector. He presented this work at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference in 2006 where his poster received a rating of superior.

Ellery Fisher ’07, political science, received a Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant to complete a research project on “North Korea's Economic Crisis and Its Implications for Korean Unification” under the direction of Seung Ho Joo, associate professor of political science. Fisher will present his research at the 2007 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium.

James Gambrell ’07, psychology, statistics, and philosophy, completed an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) project on retention of information by students in statistics courses. He assisted Eric Klinger, professor emeritus of psychology, with an analysis of UMM faculty teaching loads and in a research project relating measures of motivational structure to age of which a poster proposal has been submitted to the Association for Psychological Science. As an intern in the Center for Small Towns (CST), Gambrell has contributed statistical analysis and report writing on characteristics of participating communities and how these relate to social outcomes. Gambrell has co-authored several publications including: Age Differences in Motivational Structure, poster; Social Capital Survey Factor Analysis and Item Reduction Recommendations; Social Capital Survey Results and Preliminary Analyses; Dimensions of a Healthy Community Newspaper; and Western Minnesota Home Values: Analysis of Change, 2000-2005.

Sam Geller ’07, computer science and physics, has contributed significantly to the development of a project on vacancy behavior on molecular crystals. He pursued the development of an original computer model for this purpose under utilization of parallel-programming features. His contributions to the research of Sylke Boyd, assistant professor of physics professor, have been presented at the 2006 American Association of Physics Teachers meeting, the 2007 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium, and will be included in future publications on this research.

Lauren Goodrich ’07, chemistry, performed undergraduate research with Jennifer Goodnough, assistant professor of chemistry, and with David F. Watson at the State University of New York—University at Buffalo. Her project title was “Synthesis, Characterization, and Photochemically-Directed Self Assembly of Au Nanoparticles.” The results have been accepted for presentation at the spring 2007 national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Anne Hayes ’07, physics, minors in statistics and mathematics, completed a Morris Academic Partnership (MAP) with Gordon McIntosh, associate professor of physics, investigating the statistical correlations among the silicon monoxide maser transitions of R Cassiopeia. She presented the results at the 2006 Minnesota Area Association of Physics Teachers Meeting, as which her poster received best undergraduate honors, and at the 2006 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium. Hayes participated in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program at Michigan State University during which she studied experimental nuclear physics. This work resulted in a presentation at the American Physical Society's Division of Nuclear Physics meeting. Hayes continued observation of silicon monoxide masers through an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant. Results were presented at the joint meeting of the American Astronomical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Tyler Helland ’07, chemistry and music, worked as a research assistant for Timna Wyckoff, assistant professor of biology, using multiplex PCR to characterize the tetracycline resistance determinants of about 50 Staphylococcus strains from organic and conventional dairies in west central Minnesota. He presented at the annual meeting of the North Central Branch of the American Society for Microbiology receiving first prize in the undergraduate poster competition. Helland is co-author of a poster submitted to the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology to be held in May 2007.

David Hermanson ’07, chemistry, worked with Ted Pappenfus, assistant professor of chemistry, as a research assistant on a National Science Foundation curricular development grant focusing on lab development in the fields of polymers and catalysis. Hermanson was involved in designing four undergraduate chemistry laboratory experiments of which one has been submitted for publication to the Journal of Chemical Education and a second has been accepted for presentation at the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Hermanson has been accepted into the medicinal chemistry graduate program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Alyssa Herzog ’07, theatre and English, researched the dramaturgy for Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters. She conducted extensive research and analysis on Goldoni’s text, as well as the commedia dell’arte style on which the play is based. Highlights of this project included a lobby display, the creation of a comprehensive Web site targeted at enriching both audiences and company members, and talks to high school groups on commedia plus closely rehearsed Latin details in the play. Herzog will present this project to the 2007 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium. She plans to attend graduate school to study dramaturgy.

Amanda Holter ’07, theatre, music, and geology, has been involved in more than a dozen UMM theatre productions. She presented twice at The American College Theatre Festival in the categories of summer stock auditions, and also at The Critics Institute, where she received a national award. Holter has directed two theatre productions, one for an area high school and one for UMM. In addition, she stage-managed for the well-known Barn Theatre in Willmar.

Jeff Hubers ’08, chemistry, performed undergraduate research with Tim Soderberg, associate professor of chemistry, on a project focused on chalcones, a prominent class of molecules found in a variety of biological compounds. Hubers also performed research on the Twin Cities campus under the direction of Karin Musier-Forsyth, principal investigator at the Musier-Forsyth Lab at The Ohio State University, in the area of chemical biology through the Lando summer research program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He investigated the interaction between two proteins necessary for the HIV-1 life cycle. Hubers will present the results of his summer research at the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Scott Hubers ’08, chemistry, worked with Nancy Carpenter, associate professor of chemistry, on a project focused on enolate chemistry of organometallic complexes. He was accepted into the National Science Foundation’s Research Site for Educators in Chemistry (NSF-REU) summer research program at Purdue University, during which he performed research under the direction of Chris Rochet, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacy that centered on the investigation of proteins thought to be involved in Parkinson’s disease. Hubers will present his summer research results at the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society. This semester, Scott began a project with Ted Pappenfus, assistant professor of chemistry, aimed at the investigation of fluorescence in organic molecules.

Robert Jansen ’07, computer science and mathematics is a Morris Academic Partner (MAP) with Dian Lopez, professor of computer science, on parallel scheduling algorithms. Their work resulted in a refereed paper accepted for presentation at and publication in the proceedings of the Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium conference. Jansen received a Research Experience for Undergraduates grant at the University of South Carolina last summer. He is applying for an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant to complete his research with Lopez and to submit a paper to the journal IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Computing. Jansen presented research as a sophomore at the UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Jared Johnson ’07, chemistry and Spanish, performed undergraduate research with Ted Pappenfus, assistant professor of chemistry, focused on tailoring the electronic properties of organic materials. His efforts resulted in a multi-authored publication in Chemistry—A European Journal in 2006 in which Johnson is listed as a co-author. Elements of Johnson’s research were presented at the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society in March 2005.

Scott Lembcke ’07, computer science, worked with Elena Machkasova, assistant professor of computer science, on a Morris Academic Partnership (MAP) research project on program optimization for the Java programming language. Lembcke is the first author on the resulting published paper, “Specialization of Java Generic Types,” in proceedings of the 2006 Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium. Lembcke also presented the paper at the 2006 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium. Lembcke participated in a competitive Google Summer of Code program, writing additions to a widely used open-source GNU Image Manipulation Program. Lembcke researched computer graphics for his Senior Seminar. Lembcke and fellow computer programming competition teammates achieved first place at Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium competition in 2006, first place at DigiKey programming competition in 2006, and a 22 place out of about 180 in the North Central North America region of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest in 2005.

Matt Little ’07, political science, will present “Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Minnesota Political Contribution Refund Program: An analysis of the Minnesota State House of Representatives Elections from 1986-2002” at the regional Great Plains Political Science Conference this spring as well as at UMM’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Little is co-author with Paula O’Loughlin, associate professor of political science, and Nathan Swanson ’08 the chapter “Gay Marriage in Minnesota: Inputs, Outputs and Elections” in the edited volume, Perspectives on Minnesota Government and Politics, 6th edition.

Emily Loehr ’07, political science and economics, has completed four capstone projects including an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) project in economics titled “Prisoners of Geography? The Relative Impact of Trade on the United States.” Loehr’s political science Senior Seminar is titled “The Subjective Political Power of the Objective Economy—A Comparison of United States Census Regions.” Loehr’s research will be presented at the 2007 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium. She has also presented independent research at regional undergraduate political science conferences.

Megan Mekoli ’07, chemistry, worked with Ted Pappenfus, assistant professor of chemistry, as a research assistant on a National Science Foundation curricular development grant. Her work focused on lab development in the field of polymers, developing a general chemistry experiment related to the redox chemistry of polyaniline. Mekoli also contributed to the design of an inorganic chemistry lab experiment and is a co-author on a manuscript submitted to the Journal of Chemical Education. She will present her work at the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society and is a co-author on three additional papers to be presented at the conference. Mekoli has been accepted into the chemistry graduate program at Iowa State University.

Jacob Melby ’07, chemistry and physics, worked with Ted Pappenfus, assistant professor of chemistry, on designing experiments for the undergraduate chemistry lab to investigate organic materials using theoretical methods. His efforts are part of a manuscript to be submitted to the journal Organic Letters. For summer 2006, Jacob accepted a research position at the Materials Research Site for Educators in Chemistry in the department of chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Melby will be presenting the results of his designed experiments at the spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Melby has been accepted into numerous prestigious graduate programs in materials chemistry.

Ajeng Puspitasari ’07, psychology, sociology, liberal arts/human services and anthropology conducted a cross-cultural study in Indonesia related to altruistic behavior that coincides with her ongoing humanitarian efforts to assist tsunami victims in her native Indonesia. She collected data and guest lectured on research design and human subjects procedures to classes at the University of Indonesia. She interned with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Jakarta developing an art therapy program for children affected by the tsunami. Puspitasari was a delegate to the McGill Model United Nations, interned with UMM’s Center for International Programs, and taught English in China. On her last trip to Indonesia, Puspitasari spent evenings running what became an informal grade school for street children without access to formal education and mentored older children to help tutor younger ones. Puspitasari presented the results of a study, Non-formal education as an approach to diminish risky behaviors among street children in Indonesia, at the 2006 Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) and will present the results of her internship at the upcoming 2007 URS. She will submit a paper to the American Anthropological Association for competition in their student award category.

Cara Rudney ’07, elementary education with a music minor and a specialty in communication arts and literature, has taught in diverse settings including Brooklyn Park, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; El Paso, Texas; and Tiospa Zina Tribal School in New Agency Village, South Dakota. In 2006, she worked in Tanzania with a summer program for students with special needs. Rudney was the 2004–06 co-president for Education Minnesota Student Program. As a Morris Academic Partner (MAP) with Carol Marxen, associate professor of education, Rudney took the lead role in a collaborative research project on the use of the Japanese lesson study model with pre-service teachers. She presented the results of this action research in a poster session at the 2006 Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Gus Rustan ’07, physics, minors in chemistry and mathematics, completed a Morris Academic Partnership (MAP) with Gordon McIntosh, associate professor of physics, in which he conducted radio astronomical observations and investigated the orbital parameters of the symbiotic star R Aquarii. He presented the results of this research at the 2006 Minnesota Area Association of Physics Teachers Meeting and at the 2006 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium. Rustan participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities studying the magnetic properties of strontium ruthenate, and resulting in a public presentation. With an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant, Rustad continued observation of the R Aquarii system. The results were presented at the 2007 joint meeting of the American Astronomical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Anna Schliep ’07, physics, was involved in two research projects with Sylke Boyd, assistant professor of physics. An Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant supported research on the sound generation by strings in wind. She presented a poster during the 2006 meeting of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Schliep is developing a computer model of edge dislocations in a molecular crystal. She will present a poster on her results at the 2007 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Emily Stout ’07, English and Spanish, excels in formulating and articulating critical analysis. An essay on Wuthering Heights and essay for an English research seminar attest to the consistent excellence of Stout’s work. Both are exceedingly rare examples of an undergraduate student essay with the potential for scholarly publication.

Nathan Swanson ’08, political science and history, co-authored with Matt Little ’07 and Paula O’Loughlin, associate professor of political science, the chapter “Gay Marriage in Minnesota: Inputs, Outputs and Elections” in the edited volume, Perspectives on Minnesota Government and Politics. He co-authored with Greg Thorson, associate professor of political science, “Is the Electorate Polarized, or Does It Just Vote that Way?: An Examination of Policy Extremism and Voting Behavior from 1960 to 2004,” which has been submitted for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in August 2007. The paper will also be submitted for publication in the Journal of Politics.

Adam Turgeon ’07, economics and management, is working on a service-learning research project funded by the City of Benson and the UMM service-learning program that examines the economic health of businesses in the Benson area. The Benson Community Cash Flow Project’s main objective is to assess and analyze the current cash flow within the area, evaluate customer satisfaction, and make recommendations based on the analysis. Turgeon has been involved in data management, analysis, and writing aspects of the project, including writing a final report. Turgeon will present his research and recommendations to the Benson Area Chamber of Commerce and City of Benson officials in April 2007 and at the 2007 UMM Undergraduate Research Symposium.