Combining the spirit of entrepreneurship with efforts to increase campus sustainability, a group of St. Olaf College students is using a grant from the Piper Center for Vocation and Career to create the Ole Thrift Shop.

The "shop" will take items that students might otherwise throw or recycle as they move out of the residence halls this spring and will sell them during a campus-wide event this fall. Proceeds from the sale will support other environmentally sustainable projects on campus as well as several local organizations.

The students organizing the project — Sudip Bhandari ’14, Lyla Amini ’14, Corey Ruder ’16, and Emily Hoar ’16 — hope the Ole Thrift Shop will reduce the waste generated by student residential life. Bhandari says he was inspired to get involved in the project after seeing the amount of clothes, electronics, and other materials thrown in the dumpsters at the end of the academic year.

"Most of the things seemed to be new and working,” he says. “I did not understand why there was no systematic way of managing those items.”

The team is collecting donations through May 27 in large boxes that have been set up in each of the residence halls and honor houses, as well as other high-traffic areas on campus. They will then sell the items at a campus-wide event September 6.

The group’s efforts are supported by a $3,000 entrepreneurial grant from the Piper Center. After a smaller pilot run of the project last year that was led by Duy Ha ’14, the committee expects that the Ole Thrift Shop will hit the ground running this year.

The Ole Thrift Shop committee members believe that their interdisciplinary backgrounds will help this event reach its fullest potential. While Bhandari in interested in implementing social change through entrepreneurship, Amini aims for change in the environmental and social implications of perpetuated waste production, Ruder is fascinated by the environmental and economic backdrops to wasteful habits, and Hoar provides administrative support to the group through her interest in marketing and design.

“Through our collaborative effort in creating this project, we feel that we have a well-rounded, innovative effort to put forth, and one that considers many of the different implications of waste production by students on campus,” says Bhandari.

While they hope the event will eventually reach out to the larger community, the committee is adamant that the Ole Thrift Shop is a project for students right now. “Everyone has a say about how they want to live, but at the same time, we have to think about our actions and how those actions impact our environment,” Bhandari says. “By choosing to reuse through donation, students can give back to St. Olaf.”

During one class period, students talked with Justice David Stras about his time clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his current position on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

During another class, Judge Susan Richard Nelson led students in a discussion about how cases find their way to the federal district courts.

And every time the group met, the students analyzed constitutional law using insight their instructor, retired Minnesota Court of Appeals Justice David Minge '64, gained during his time on the bench.

This semester, students in American Constitutional Law had the opportunity to do more than read and discuss cases. They were able to learn about some of the most important periods of U.S. history directly from people who work on a daily basis with the constitutional issues they studied.

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the principles of American constitutional law, emphasizing how civil rights and civil liberties have been central to Supreme Court jurisprudence. When Minge learned that Associate Professor of Political Science Douglas Casson, who usually teaches the course, would be researching at the University of Oxford while on sabbatical this spring, he pursued the opportunity to teach at St. Olaf in addition his seminar at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Minge used judicial experience combined with his legislative experience to ensure students looked at material from a variety of different angles. His four terms representing Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives allowed him to paint the picture of how Supreme Court rulings are implemented through the creation of laws.

"It's crucial to analyze how the legislative branch looks at constitutional issues in order to understand their effects," he says.

In addition to hearing Minge's insights about the cases covered in the material, the class of 21 students heard from a variety of guest speakers throughout the recently ended semester.

"The speakers we had were stimulating because they gave us a feel for different perspectives," Minge says. "Not only did our guests offer various career experiences, but they offered a wide range of worldviews that enhanced our study of the material."

When the students briefed a property rights case earlier this semester, Minge invited the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the law firm that had litigated the case before the Supreme Court to lead a class discussion about the constitutional questions at hand.

After the class had read cases involving the American Civil Liberties Union, the class welcomed the executive director of the ACLU of Minnesota to share stories regarding the kinds of issues the organization represents in court.

Whether the class was hosting a speaker or Minge was leading the conversation, the students were able to hear insights from professionals who worked with the constitutional issues they had been studying.

"I enjoyed our speakers because their experiences provided us with personal accounts of what careers in the field of law might look like," says Ken Fox '14. "As a potential law school applicant, their stories have helped answer some personal post-graduation questions."

Although many students enrolled in the course are political science majors, being a major is not a requirement to be in the class.

"This course embodies what the liberal arts is all about — it teaches students how to think," Minge says.

Six St. Olaf College students have been named Fulbright fellows for 2013-14.

Three of the students will use their Fulbright awards to conduct research on topics ranging from social activism to cochlear implant use. The other three students will take on English teaching assistantships.

All but one of the St. Olaf Fulbright recipients are seniors. The group brings the college’s Fulbright total to 94 since 1995.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is sponsored by the Department of State and awards more than 1,500 grants to U.S. students every year. The program operates in more than 140 countries, seeking to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and people of other countries” and “contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.” Program participants are chosen based on many factors, including leadership potential and academic merit.

The St. Olaf Fulbright recipients and their projects:

Kristell Caballero-Saucedo ’13 will be in Oaxaca, Mexico, researching the social activism of Afro-Mexicans in the Costa Chica region. She plans on interviewing activists and elected officials and will then analyze their responses and the literature on social activist strategies. Caballero-Saucedo is a participant in the St. Olaf TRiO McNair Scholars Program and TRiO Student Support Services.

Lauren Carlson ’13 will conduct public health research with the Universidad de San Francisco Quito in Quito, Ecuador.

April Curtis ’12 will work as an English teaching assistant in Bulgaria.

Kelsey Klein ’13 will be investigating the factors relating to the variable outcomes of cochlear implant users in Oslo, Norway. She will join a research group working at the University of Oslo and the Oslo University Hospital to help gather data through various cognitive tests and self-report surveys.

Martha Nielsen ’13 will work as an English teaching assistant in a university setting in Argentina from March to December.

Brynn Rathjen ’13 will work as an English teaching assistant in Malaysia. She will be working in primary or secondary schools, leading activities that teach English language skills and demonstrate culture from the United States, along with helping with various extracurricular programming.

In addition, five St. Olaf students — seniors Christopher Bowman, Reed Deardorff, Benjamin Keisling, Catherine O'Connor, and Andrew Rudd — were named Fulbright alternates.

Three St. Olaf College students recently received an award from the Council on Undergraduate Research for their study of perceptual learning of cochlear implant simulations.

Jane Burton ’13, Sarah Phillips ’13, and Carly Stork ’13 presented their research, which they conducted under the guidance of Assistant Professor of Psychology Jeremy Loebach, at the Midwestern Psychological Association conference in Chicago.

Over the past few years, the team has worked to develop a training program for people who are deaf and receive a cochlear implant. Burton, Phillips, and Stork examined how listeners who are put through a training program recognized environmental sounds compared to a control group who received no training.

"For cochlear implant users, we hope that such training will help them learn how to hear using their prostheses, and therefore be better able to understand spoken language as well as the sounds and events that are occurring around them," says Loebach.

The St. Olaf Psychology Department and the college's Collaborative Undergraduate Research and Inquiry program provided the team with the resources to travel to Chicago to present their research.

They were accompanied by four other teams of St. Olaf students:

• Hannah Erickson ’13 and Kelsey Klein ’13 presented their research on phoneme identification under a cochlear implant simulation, which they conducted under the guidance of Loebach.

• Juan-Ita Effiom ’13 presented her research comparing speech perception between normal hearing listeners and cochlear implant users, which she conducted under the guidance of Loebach.

• Jonathan Aga '13 and Christopher Stolp-Smith '13 presented their research on the preference for phonetically extreme words among extraverts, which they conducted under the guidance of Associate Professor of Psychology and Department Chair Donna McMillan.

• Nancy Castaneda '13 presented her research on how children learn about emotions through reading with their parents, which she conducted under the guidance of Associate Professor of Psychology Grace Cho.

St. Olaf College Writer in Residence Benjamin Percy recently released his second novel, Red Moon, to widespread critical acclaim.

In Red Moon's alternative vision of America, werewolves live alongside humans as second-class citizens and must take mind-numbing drugs to suppress their monstrous sides. But in the beginning of the novel, a violent werewolf attack sparks a lycan revolution against the government, and thereby transforms this horror story premise into a political allegory.

Against this backdrop of civil unrest, Percy weaves together six story lines following characters that include a politician on an anti-werewolf crusade, a pair of young lovers, and a history professor involved in the rebellion.

The reviewer in the Star Tribune writes, "I charged into the lycan world of Benjamin Percy’s Red Moon with wild abandon and was rewarded with a remarkably rendered speculative history of America, as well as a gripping, grisly horror story."

USA Today says that "while some writers of paranormal novels wrap their creatures in romance and comic subplots, Percy has chosen a darker, more literary path. Red Moon is a morality tale cloaked in fur, fangs, and social injustice."

Entertainment Weekly calls the novel "sharp pulp" and gives it an A-. Percy says that this is "so much better than the B- Mrs. Zeeganhagen gave me in sixth grade for my werewolf research paper."

Additionally, Percy's Red Moon appears on CNN's list of "must read books for May," and on the Amazon editor's top picks list.

Listen to Percy talk about his new novel on Wisconsin Public Radio (download the audio here), and catch him reading from Red Moon and signing copies in Northfield May 20.

St. Olaf College Associate Professor Emerita of Psychology Mary Ellen Ross, 66, died May 5 at Three Links Care Center in Northfield, Minnesota.

Ross came to St. Olaf in 1977 and taught at the college for three decades before her retirement in 2007. She ran the center at the college dedicated to improving teaching and was an advocate for women’s rights, especially the rights of St. Olaf’s female students. She also taught in the Paracollege and the women’s studies program.

During her time at St. Olaf, Ross was particularly interested in developmental and school psychology. Early in her career, she spent time in Cuba studying psychology as it relates to medical and school systems. As her research subjects aged, however, her focus evolved. Much of her later research dealt with the psychology of aging women, especially in regard to biological phenomena like menopause.

Ross earned her bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and both her master’s and doctorate degrees from Syracuse University. She also completed postdoctoral work at the John F. Kennedy Child Development Center at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver.

A memorial service will be held May 29 at the First United Church of Christ in Northfield.

Read Ross’s obituary.

"A photography exhibit opening May 9 in Northfield offers us a window into the lives of community members rarely seen with such intimacy. But the eyes opened widest were likely those of the young photographers themselves," Star Tribune columnist Gail Rosenblum writes about 12 St. Olaf College art students who developed the exhibit as part of a class.

Each student in the intermediate photography course, led by Professor of Art Meg Ojala, spent six hours with a client of Laura Baker Services Association, an organization that provides resources to people with developmental disabilities.

The St. Olaf students took hundreds of photos of everyday moments, from one client visiting his mother to two others making lunch. They then selected the best images to display at nine locations around Northfield.

Gina Gaetz '13 tells the Star Tribune that she initially worried about feeling a sense of separation from clients Larry and Glen as she got to know them from behind a camera lens. Instead, she wrote in her artist's statement, “I formed unforgettable relationships with two members of my community.”

The photography class is part of the academic civic engagement program at St. Olaf, which prompts students to apply what they learn in the classroom to community-based experiences.

As part of this year's academic theme, Innovation in the Liberal Arts, St. Olaf College invited students to submit their creative solutions to campus problems. The winner of this competition will be announced at the Innovation Theme Year celebration this Thursday.

"Our mission for the theme year is to elevate creativity and innovation in both our pedagogy and our curriculum," says St. Olaf Entrepreneur in Residence Sian Muir, who is a member of the theme year committee. "We believe that the liberal arts is uniquely predisposed to fostering this type of culture as, by definition, we are innately interdisciplinary."

Ole Ventures, the social and sustainable entrepreneurship club led by Audrey Phillips '13 and Melody Rosen '13, collaborated with the theme year faculty committee in planning and sponsoring the student innovation challenge.

The competition focused on an interdisciplinary approach to innovation by requiring that students work with others from different academic backgrounds. For example, one team consisting of a biology major, an English major, and a philosophy major made plans for an online platform to improve communication between students and campus decision makers.

Several other entries also called for new online platforms to improve areas of campus and community life. One team proposed that St. Olaf create a website for used textbook purchases, so that students find it easier and more efficient to sell their old books to their peers. Another proposal called for an interactive web page to highlight events in the greater Northfield community.

The remaining entries reflect the range of ideas possible when students work in an interdisciplinary setting. These proposals include a St. Olaf thrift shop, ways to reduce student stress on campus, and adding a public health concentration to the campus curriculum.

"We are excited by the variety of proposals that we received as it further validates the fact that our students, when giving a problem solving challenge, can collaborate to find superior solutions," Muir says.

In recent days, St. Olaf College Professor of Philosophy Gordon Marino has covered two of his greatest passions — boxing and philosophy — for media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and CNN International.

Marino began his media blitz with a piece in the global edition of the New York Times honoring the 200th anniversary of the birth of Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

"Throughout the ups and downs of the scholarly market, the intellectual world has remained bullish on Kierkegaard, in part because the Dane, unlike other members of the Socrates guild, always addressed what human beings are really up against in themselves," writes Marino, who also serves as the curator of the Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf. The library will celebrate two centuries of Kierkegaard with a conference this summer.

In a piece published in the Wall Street Journal, Marino turned his attention to assessing the boxing career of "the planet's premier pugilist," Floyd Mayweather, who faced off against Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero over the weekend.

"Simply put, the question facing the 36-year-old Mayweather is this: What is his signature fight? Has it even happened yet? And will he be remembered most for never getting in the ring with Pacquiao, the one fighter who might have been his equal?" Marino writes.