The Athenaeum hosts events that explore and enhance the intellectual life of the University and the region through lectures,
readings, performances, discussions, and other events.
By bringing together scholars, performers, students, and community members for intellectual discussion and the sharing of cultural
experiences, the Athenaeum reflects the importance the University places on the humanities, the arts, and the sciences.
All Athenaeum events begin at 1:00 PM and are held on the south end of the Library's second floor, unless otherwise noted.
03 February 2010
From Basic Skills to Writing in the Disciplines: Case Studies of Student Writers
Ethan Krase - Associate Professor, English Department
J Paul Johnson - Professor, English Department
Faculty, administration, and students generally agree that it is important for students to gain the ability to write
effectively as part of their undergraduate education. However, while many of us can cite anecdotal evidence of the ways some students
go about becoming better writers, it is often difficult to gain a comprehensive picture of the role WSU writing curricula play in
students’ writing development.
This study employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative research to examine the ways that graduating seniors have transitioned
from basic-skills to discipline-specific writing projects at WSU. Using results of the 2005-2006 University Studies Basic Skills: College
Reading and Writing Assessment project as baseline data, in the spring of 2009 the presenters conducted case studies of twelve graduating
seniors who had participated in the 2005-2006 study. The study charts those students’ writing instruction and experience as they completed
their major course of study. Specific areas of inquiry include comparisons of students’ writing coursework, type and amount of feedback on
writing, practices and attitudes towards writing, and assessment measures.
View a PDF of slides from the presentastion
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10 February 2010
On the Road to Carbon Neutrality: WSU Addresses Climate Change
Jim Armstrong - Professor, English Department
Joan Francioni - Professor, Computer Science Department
Jeanne Franz - Professor, Chemistry Department
Marilyn Klinkner - Grants and Sponsored Projects and Sustainability Assistant
Kurt Lohide - Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services
Jay McHenry - Campus Planner
Gretchen Michlitsch - Assistant Professor, English Department
Andrea Mikkelsen - Director of Public Information
In May 2007, Winona State University's (WSU) president, Dr. Judith Ramaley, joined other college campus leaders by signing the
American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. This formal document provides a framework for sustainability and climate change
action. The Winona State Climate Commitment Committee has a number of subcommittees working on everything from recycling to
curriculum and from transportation to food concerns. Come to find out what they’ve been doing.
For more information about the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, please visit:
http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/
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17 February 2010
WSU's New Approach to Web Communications
Cristeen Custer - Assistant VP Martketing & Communications
Robin Honken - Director of Development and Web Support Services
Custer and Honken will discuss the complex process involved in redesigning the WSU website.
This process included a needs analysis, intensive research and testing, a design and development process which
resulted in the launch of a new WSU website.
Custer and Honken believe that this major undertaking has presented a new collaborative model for the University,
which involved a realignment of resources and responsibilities. This collaborative model will continue now to further
develop and maintain our new site.
The University has reconfigured its approach to web communications, and in the future will be moving towards Web 2.0
technologies, as well as embrace social networking as a method of communication and marketing.
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24 February 2010
Micro Fiction Gets Big: Why “1,000 words or less” is all the rage
Nicholas Ozment - Instructor, English Department
Nicholas Ozment will give a brief history/overview of micro fiction and define the
various types —“flash,” “sudden,” “hint” etc. His presentation will conclude with possible explanations
for why the form has become so popular in the last decade. The “performance” part of the presentation will
be the actual reading of examples (for instance, Hemingway’s story that was six words long).
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03 March 2010
Russell T. Davies’s Doctor Who: Myth for the Twenty-first Century
Gabe Dybing - Instructor, English Department
Through his reinvention of the popular science fiction serial for the BBC, Doctor Who, writer and producer
Russell T. Davies has proposed one of the new “myths” for the twenty-first century. This “grand narrative,” based on reason
and focused on the now-fractured British Empire, assimilates and paradoxically validates belief systems that are more mythic
or intuitive in nature. While working in many genres at once, Doctor Who repackages and re-presents content from spiritualist
perspectives with “rational” explanations for those invested in dominant worldviews.
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17 March 2010
The Papers of John Kennedy Toole
Vernon Leighton - Professor, Academic Librarian
In the Summer of 2009, Vernon Leighton visited Tulane University and studied the papers of John Kennedy Toole,
the author of A Confederacy of Dunces. While he is working on an academic paper on this topic, Professor Leighton would like
to present some of the findings. The papers, about which no scholar has published a description, prove incorrect at least two
claims made in the scholarly literature on Toole.
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24 March 2010
Isn’t it Romantic: An Introduction to Piano Music of the 19th Century
Deanne Mohr - Associate Professor, Music Department
A lecture performance presenting an introduction to music of the Romantic period, highlighting piano works of Chopin
in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth.
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31 March 2010
Seeing in Pictures
James A. Bowey - Assistant Professor, Mass Communication Department
Professor Bowey will explore the fascinating ways that photography and the visual arts affect
the way we see and think. Drawing on his experience as a photojournalist, editor and teacher, Professor Bowey
will explain the compelling power of images and image-making to give meaning to our lives and the world around us.
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07 April 2010
Engaging Students to be Public Servants: Working as Election Judges during the 2008 Election
Ruth Charles - Professor, Social Work Department
Ruth Charles and students who participated will discuss what it was like to be an election judge and what we learned about our
country and democracy through the process.
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14 April 2010
Beyond the Confines of This World: A Brief Journey to Antarctica
Drake Hokanson - Professor, Mass Communication Department
and
Carol Kratz - Physician Assistant in Family Medicine at Gundersen Lutheran
in La Crosse, WI
Join travelers and authors Drake Hokanson and Carol Kratz on an eco-tour to the tip of the seventh continent-visit
penguin colonies for sure, but also volcanoes, a Brazilian research base, an abandoned whaling station, and
witness some really bad weather. What don't the nature documentaries show you? How is tourism affecting this place? What¹s it actually like to be
there? How can you go?
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The Athenaeum is located on the second floor of the Darrell W. Krueger Library, on the south side, overlooking the bluffs.
Directions to the Darrell W. Krueger Library
Tom Bremer
Gretchen Cohenour
Peter Henderson
Colette Hyman
Joe Jackson
Cindy Killion
Kendall Larson
Vernon Leighton
Cathie Logan
Deanne Mohr
Joe Mount
Greg Neidhart
Allison Quam
Spring 2009
Fall 2009
Spring 2008
Fall 2008
Spring 2007
Fall 2007
Spring 2006
Fall 2006
Spring 2005
Fall 2005