HIGHER EDUCATION NOTES: Beet growers honor Brantner ...Knowlton takes MnSCU job ... Student wins scholarship ... morre.

Brantner receives sugar beet award

Jason Brantner, research fellow at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston, received the Sugarbeet Distinguished Service Award from the Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association at a recent meeting.

The award honors contributions to the success of the sugar beet industry in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Brantner has been working in the NWROC sugar beet plant project for 17 years, managing experiments, collecting data and summarizing research results. He coordinates studies with growers and scientists at NWROC, North Dakota State University, various sugar beet cooperatives and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Knowlton named to MNSCU post

Douglas Knowlton, former UND faculty member and administrator at the University of Minnesota-Crookston, has been appointed vice chancellor for academic and student affairs for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Knowlton has served since 2004 as president of Dakota State University in Madison, S.D. He previously was vice chancellor for academic affairs and a professor at UMC.

At UND, he served as chairman of special education, was a faculty member at the Conflict Resolution Center and was director of child evaluation and treatment at the then-UND Medical Center Rehabilitation Hospital.

He also served on the Minnesota State Board of Technical Colleges and the Minnesota Higher Education Board before MNSCU began operations in 1995.

Knowlton earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Denver, and a master's in psychology and doctorate in clinical psychology, both from UND.

UND student wins GIS scholarship

Margaret Teevens, a UND student from Casper, Wyo., will receive a scholarship of up to $35,000 to pursue a graduate degree in geographic information systems at Claremont Graduate University's School of Information Systems and Technology.

Teevens, one of two students to receive the scholarship and $1,000, was selected from more than 90 students worldwide who participated in the university's GIS Challenge competition.

The contest rewards students who use geographic information systems technology to address some of society's most pressing problems. Students developed GIS software applications in one of two areas: public health and humanitarian issues or transportation safety.

Teevens won the transportation safety category for her work on improving transportation safety through policy, vehicle-to-infrastructure communication.

Retirement party set for Severson

A retirement reception for Russ Severson, extension educator at the University of Minnesota-Crookston, will be held 3 to 5 p.m., Dec. 20 in the Bede Ballroom on campus.

Severson began his career in 1973 as a research scientist at the Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston. In 1986, he joined the extension service, where he served as a county educator in Polk County, eventually serving Polk and Red Lake counties.

Since 2008, he has served as extension educator for crops programs in the regional office in Crookston.

For the past 38 years, Severson has planned and participated in numerous educational programs and coordinated and conducted applied research in crops vital to the economic and environmental sustainability of the people in northwest Minnesota.

He has been active in the West Polk County Crop Improvement Association, the Soil and Water Conservation District and state and national associations of agriculture agents.

Williston State seeks four-year degree

Williston (N.D.) State College is seeking state permission to launch its first four-year degree program.

Vice President of Instruction Wanda Meyer said the bachelor of applied science degree in applied management would give people with training in a technical field such as welding or nursing the tools to become a manager in the field.

Meyer said students are ready to enroll. The program still needs the approval of the state Board of Higher Education.

Meyer said even if the four-year program is approved, Williston State will remain a two-year school. It will work with other schools to implement the four-year program.

St. John's seeks new president

For the first time, the pool of candidates to become the next president of the St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., may include someone who isn't a member of the monastery there.

The university recently hired a search firm to find the successor for the Rev. Robert Koopmann, who is retiring.

The university hopes to select the new president by March and have that person start next summer. To do that, the university has hired Academic Search Inc. to assist in the search.

Abbot John Klassen said it's an open search, but there's still a preference for Benedictine monks. He says the university bylaws won't need to change to permit someone outside the monastery to become president.