Summer 2003
CLA News
CLA teams up with K-12 to mentor youth
In cooperation with the Institute of Technology and the College of Biological Sciences, CLA has for the last three years partnered with the Minneapolis Public Schools in an effort to increase high school graduation and college matriculation rates in urban schools. TEAM-UP, or Targeted Early Awareness for Minnesota Undergraduate Programs, is designed to introduce students in their formative fifth-grade year to the challenge and excitement of higher education.
Beginning in 2000 with Jordan Park Elementary, the program has worked with the entire fifth grade population of North Star Community School for the last two years.
This year, 120 North Star fifth graders made two visits to the University of Minnesota to participate in “mini-classes” led by University faculty, tour a residence hall, and experience student life. Groups of three to five students were matched with undergraduate team leaders, who became their mentors and guides throughout the visit days.
“The relationships that developed between fifth graders and their team leaders were spectacular,” says program co-coordinator and CLA senior Josh LaBau. “Several kids remarked to me, ‘Not only am I going to college, I’m going to this college!’ This is an important program that we hope to expand, introducing even more youth to college and hopefully keeping them on track for success.”
Gopher Grads: Four years in four days
Through a partnership called Gopher Grads, CLA helps bring high-schoolers to the U from the metro area to taste slices of student life. The program, in its second year, brought some 120 students from 40 high schools to sample four years of college in four days. The students studied Chinese and beginning acting, and took classes in conflict resolution, the physics and biology of color, the rhetoric of social movements, wars and the economy, and places of memory in the world’s cities.
“We’ve created a kind of living snapshot of the University experience, with the goal of helping high school students from many different backgrounds picture themselves going to college at the U—including some for whom college may once have seemed out of reach,” says Steven Rosenstone, CLA dean, who taught one of the classes, “Conflict and Cooperation: A Political Strategy for Life.”
“As an investment in local youth, this program helps us be a good neighbor and partner to the schools that educate these kids at a critical time in their lives, when they are making decisions about their futures. We think it’s a win-win for all concerned—the University, the schools, and, most importantly, the students.”
English major turns detective
During a class research project, Abigail Davis (M.A. ’92, English, Ph.D. candidate) became intrigued by the story of a Pequot Indian woman who was executed for the murder of her “bastard child.” Davis (and Karla Palmer, the fictional sleuth she created) went on what she calls a “ghost hunt,” following a trail of documents and apparent cover-ups back to the Pequot War of the early 17th century, and then forward to the 1738 gallows, where the (probably innocent) woman was “Hanged up by the Neck between the Heavens & the Earth until She be Dead, Dead, Dead.”
The result is a novel based on the 1737 trial, Hanging Katherine Garret (Heritage Books, 2003).
“After four years of digging, I decided to write a novel about the case, sticking to the historical record as much as possible,” says Davis. “I could not solve the puzzle as a literary historian—I finally hit a dead end—but I could give the story an ending as a fiction writer, and give a silenced woman a voice.
“[English professor] Edward Griffin, who is now my Ph.D. adviser, provided endless support, suggestions, and advice (both academic and editorial) for this project. I never could have done it without his guidance.”
Jaar students showcase hope
In May, Alfredo Jaar, world-renowned artist and Winton Chair in the Liberal Arts, along with his 25 students, showcased projects developed in his yearlong course at the University, “Project One: Culture in the Age of Globalization.”
The exhibits and performances, billed as “16 Spaces of Hope,” drew curious and admiring crowds at sites across the campus as well as at sites throughout Minneapolis. The students brought to their work perspectives from many disciplines, including art, architecture, history, geography, political science, education, and business.
The students’ projects—which included film, broadcasts, mixed media installations, photography, digital audio, public performance and earthenware—addressed a broad range of questions related to the Twin Cities community. Many focused on immigration issues affecting the East African and Latino communities in the Twin Cities.