Michael Parks chosen Safety Director of the Year

MSUM security director Michael Parks was named Safety Director of the Year at a ceremony Tuesday evening in Long Beach, Calif. The top educational campus award is presented annually at the Campus Safety Conference for public safety and security administrators in hospitals, K-12 schools and universities. Parks was nominated for his leadership during the Flood of 2009. He served as the incident commander for the campus and he played a key role in the flood fight in the community. Under Parks’ leadership, MSUM was mobilized as a volunteer center and provided emergency call center facilities and staffing during the historic flood.

Physics grad to speak on geothermal and other renewable energy resources

Heather Sanden, a 2008 MSUM physics graduate, will speak about the complex relationship between energy use and its impact on the environment in a talk titled “Energy and Physics around the World: Geothermal and other renewable energy resources from Iceland to Moorhead” Tuesday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Science Lab Building 118. The talk is free and open to the public. Click headline for more information.

Kenyon Williams presents session at N.D. music conference

Kenyon Williams, Associate Professor of Music, was recently invited to present a rare two-hour session at the North Dakota Music Educators’ Association (NDMEA) Spring Conference in Bismarck, N.D. His two-hour, hands-on session discussed the basics of teaching world music using simple percussion instruments and resources available to the public school educator.

Upcoming Diversity Week events

The MSUM Student Senate has numerous events planned for the 2010 Diversity Week, including keynote speaker TJ Leyden, who will talk on “Turning from Hate” Wednesday, April 14 at 7 p.m. in the CMU Ballroom. After 15 years as a neo-Nazi white supremacist activist and recruiter, Tom “TJ” Leyden experienced a profound change of heart, turned away from hate and began teaching tolerance. A hard-hitting story of confronting racism, anti-Semitism and hate crimes.”— CampusSpeak. Click headline for all campus events.

Gerontology Colloquium April 7

The 10th annual Gerontology Colloquium is Wednesday, April 7 from 4:30-6:10 p.m. in MacLean 164. This event coincides with Careers in Aging Week, an annual nationwide event intended to bring greater awareness and visibility to the wide-ranging career opportunities in aging and aging research. Click headline for details.