MADE POSSIBLE BY THE MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION | SPRING 2015 How Fouzia Saeed changed Pakistan GLOBAL ALUMNI TAKE ACTION ALSO Thriving in Sioux Falls / The Great Bird Shower / The Brothers Grimmer Sco beat the odds as a pancreatic cancer survivor—umnhealth.org/Sco WE PAY JUST AS MUCH ATTENTION University of Minnesota Health gives you access to expert clinicians and the TO THE BREAKTHROUGHS THAT latest discoveries in academic medicine. CHANGE PATIENTS’ LIVES AS THE From the world’s first successful open- heart surgery to the development of stem ONES THAT CHANGE THE WORLD cell therapies for cancer, we specialize in translating innovative research into life-changing patient care. We offer you more healthcare specialties than anywhere else in the Twin Cities, through our hospitals and clinics and at Heart Care and Cancer Care clinics at a variety of Fairview locations. We shape the way the world practices medicine. Discover what extraordinary healthcare can make possible for you. Hear from our patients and learn more. Visit umnhealth.org University of Minnesota Health represents a collaboration between University of Minnesota Physicians and University of Minnesota Medical Center. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Volume 114 • Number 3 / Spring 2015 page 34 4 Editor’s Note Features 6 Letters 8 About Campus The hand painting’s on the wall, watt goes around comes around, and bragging 12 Alumni Stories Bobby Bell proves it’s never too late, Cheryl Strayed is Wild, and more. 16 Gophers Forever page 24 We welcome our new life members. Plus, the Alumni 18 No Boundaries Association’s forecast. How Fouzia Saeed changed Pakistan and other alumni who are 38 Gopher Sports making a difference from Guatemala to Uganda. On balance, Ellis Mannon BY GREG BREINING, ERIN HINRICHS, LYNETTE LAMB, MELEAH page 14 is elite. MAYNARD, AND CYNTHIA SCOTT 40 Off the Shelf 30 The Great Bird Shower of 1904 The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers It was up to the University of Minnesota to find out why Grimm by Jack Zipes more than 750,000 birds fell from the sky one night in southwestern Minnesota. 46 Gopher Connections BY TIM BRADY Make the most of your member benefits: the University of Minnesota Opera Theater 34 Thriving in Sioux Falls and Friends of the Libraries University of Minnesota alumni are contributing mightily to Sioux Falls, a city on the rise. 48 Campus Seen BY RICK MOORE Our photo finish ON THE COVER: Fouzia Saeed, photographed by Matthew Rakola PHOTOS THIS PAGE (clockwise from top): Belinda Shi, Harper McConnell, Jason Dailey MinnesotaAlumni.org BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Jim du Bois, ’87 Chair-elect Alison Page, ’96 Vice Chair Dan McDonald, ’82, ’85 Secretary/Treasurer Sandra Ulsaker Weise, ’81 Past Chair Susan Adams Loyd, ’81 President and CEO Lisa Lewis Judy Beniak, ’82, ’10 Wendy Williams Blackshaw, ’82 Natasha Freimark, ’95 Gayle Hallin, ’70, ’77 Randy Handel Linda Hofflander, ’83 Douglas Huebsch, ’85 Janice Linster, ’83 Laura Moret, ’76, ’81 Alex Oftelie, ’03, ’06 Amy Phenix, ’08 Roshini Rajkumar, ’97 Clinton Schaff, ’00 Kathy Schmidlkofer, ’97 Alfonso Sintjago, ’14, ’15 Joelle Stangler, ’16 Dave Walstad, ’88, ’91 Jean Wyman UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA GOVERNANCE President Eric Kaler, ’82 Board of Regents Richard Beeson, ’76, chair Dean Johnson, vice chair Clyde Allen Laura Brod, ’93 Linda Cohen, ’85, ’86 Tom Devine ’79 John Frobenius, ’69 Peggy Lucas, ’64, ’76 David McMillan, ’83, ’87 Abdul Omari, ’08, ’10 Patricia Simmons The University of Minnesota Alumni Association is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employ ment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, national origin, handicap, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation. Biwabik, Minnesota # 1 & # 4 Public Courses in Minnesota CAVU, Legend Hole 17 Golf Digest 2014 TROON Spring Golf Deal! REWARDS Play the Legend or Quarry Opening Day thru May 28, 2015 $ $ Monday52 - Thursday 62Friday - Sunday Details at GiantsRidge.com 866-409-6650 Editor’s Note MINNESOTA PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SINCE 1901 President and CEO Lisa Lewis No foreigners among us Vice President of Communication Daniel Gore he word “foreigner,” with its vaguely pejorative connotations, kept Editor Cynthia Scott coming to mind during production of this issue on alumni making a difference globally. I grew up at a time and in a place where “foreign- Managing Editor T Meleah Maynard er” was part of our lexicon. It didn’t just describe someone who came from a different country; it described someone who was fundamentally different Copy Editor Susan Maas from “us” and was part of an amorphous conglomeration called “them”— and therefore a bit suspect. Suspicion was heightened if the foreigner did Contributing Writers Greg Breining, Jennifer Benson, not speak English and/or was nonwhite or non-Christian. The rules about Pat Borzi, Tim Brady, Nicole Etter, interacting with foreigners, though largely unspoken, were clear: Be polite Erin Hinrichs, Mary Hoff, Marla Holt, but be watchful and keep your distance. Shannon Juen, Lynette Lamb, Rick Moore, Moving to Minneapolis in the late 1970s was a rude awakening. I discov- Laura Silver, Chris Smith, Claire Sykes ered how fearful I was around those I perceived as different from me, and Art Director how ill equipped that mindset had left me to navigate the big, new, multihued Kristi Anderson, Two Spruce Design world of the city. I was lucky to encounter situations and people who helped Media Partners me grow beyond the crippling parochialism I had inherited. Being a graduate Access Minnesota and Gopher Sports Update student at the University of Minnesota was one Advertising Rates and Information Ketti Histon such opportunity to grow. 612-280-5144, [email protected] The word foreigner is not used much these days, but the tendency to regard difference as a Minnesota (ISSN 0164-9450) is published four times a year (Fall, Winter, Spring, and threat is alive and well—alarmingly so. Thus I Summer) by the University of Minnesota found it poignant to comb through the list in this Alumni Association for its members. issue that begins on page 18 and ends on page 22. Copyright ©2015 by the University of Minnesota Alumni Association It is rare that something in the magazine thor- McNamara Alumni Center oughly captivates my attention all throughout the 200 Oak Street SE, Suite 200 weeks-long process of writing, editing, rewriting, Minneapolis, MN 55455-2040 612-624-2323, 800-862-5867 editing, and editing again, but such was the case fax 612-626-8167 with that list. It’s a roster of the 167 countries outside of the United States www.MinnesotaAlumni.org where University of Minnesota alumni live. Reading it is an education and a To update your address, call 612-624-2323 or meditation: Christmas Island—where is that? Tonga—how does life differ in e-mail [email protected] that Pacific nation from the life in Minnesota those two alumni led when they Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, Minnesota, were students? Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Ukraine—what and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to: is happening to the 56 alumni who live in those war zones? Have they and McNamara Alumni Center their families survived? Are they living in displacement camps? Have their 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 200 Minneapolis, MN 55455-2040 lives and careers been upended or have they avoided the turmoil? Twenty-six alumni live in Tunisia, and one of them is the new prime minister of that frag- ile and hopeful democracy (see story on page 24). Suddenly, I’m interested in following that country’s progress. At the Alumni Association we talk about being a global community. It’s not mere marketing jargon. Our connections to each other through the University we share are an invitation to continue to grow and to expand our worldview in much the same way we did as students. In connect- ing with the global community of alumni, we’re likely to discover that there are no foreigners among us. Q Cynthia Scott (M.A. ’89) is the editor of Minnesota. 2300 Brown Avenue She can be reached at [email protected]. SHER STONEMAN Waseca, Minnesota 56093 4 Spring 2015 MINNESOTA Midwest's #1 Volkswagen Dealer 13 Years Running! Westside Volkswagen Das Auto. Westside of Highway 100, l/2 Mile South of 394 in St. Louis Pork 952.377.4100 I WestsideVW.com Letters SPRING 2014 IO I ASSOCIATIONASSOCIATION MINNESOTAMINN ALUMN YOF THE UNIVERSITY OF R FO MEMBERS OF EXCLUSIVELY FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION I was heartbroken to read of Shelly’s death. SUMMER 2014 I was so hoping she would beat the can- EXCLUSIVELY FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION cer—and, needless to say, 49 is entirely CAN WHATWHAT CAN too young. I respected what she did with MADE POSSIBLE BY THE MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION | FALL 2014 and enjoyed seeing her at our The nenewe NorthropWE DO ABOUT Minnesota es U takes’S YOU center stageIMI (HERE’S YOUR BACKSTAGECLIMATECL PASS) Big Ten and national editors’ conferences. HACELEBRATE CHCCHANGE?100 YEARS YEARS We’d call each other or email from time to GOLDYGGOLDY STYLEST YL E PLENTY. time, to talk shop or to commiserate about HOMECOMINGHOMECOMINMEMECMECCOMINC | WINTERMININ 2015G2014G 20140140 4 MADE POSSIBLE BY THE MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION some job-related frustration that no longer SevenSSeSevevev University researchers niuuumm,, roossceniceneni lollccoc matters in the scheme of things. She was ddpr pprospropr balbabalcob stotottoredoredooreredreed prprop ppeerr balcobalcbalco hee restorestresrer eeww uppeuupupper balcobalcbaopp TheThT restoredanandandnddnew newnewnne proscenium, oorrthroptht eieililiiling,ilingngng, a izeeddN NorNorthNorthropNorthroNNoNorNort cecceiling, evitaandvitavitaitt aalizalizealinewli upper balcony a hee hha innnt thet revitalizedrer Northrop sshshashare their action agendas Gophers Working M.A.G.I.C.