For the second year in a row, St. Thomas received an overall C+ on the college sustainability report card. Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota, Carleton College and Macalester College each received an ‘A-‘.
Football makes playoffs, faces Monmouth (Ill.)
The Tommies are in.
ESPN News announced at 2:13 p.m. that the St. Thomas football team will face Monmouth College in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. The game will be played at noon Nov. 21, at Monmouth, Ill.
The back room at Davanni’s on Cleveland Avenue was packed with more than 100 players and fans and a roar of shouts rocked the restaurant when St. Thomas’ name appeared on the screen.
Football throttles Eagles 63-14, awaits likely NCAA at-large bid
With an NCAA playoff appearance on the line, St. Thomas (9-1) had its way with Northwestern College in every aspect of the game on the way to a 63-14 rout Saturday afternoon in O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
On senior day, it was junior running back Ben Wartman who led the Tommie offense that racked up 477 total yards.
H1N1 infection a factor in grad student death
A University of St. Thomas graduate student who had been hospitalized for more than a week with pneumonia and a possible H1N1 infection died Friday morning.
Jill Belde, a student in the St. Thomas and St. Catherine University Master of Social Work program, was admitted to United Hospital in St. Paul on Nov. 3, according to her Caring Bridge Web site.
IRT pondering switching e-mail to Gmail
Despite the national trend, St. Thomas has no plans to outsource its e-mail, but is taking a look at the possibility.
Solar panels to top Brady Hall Dec. 19
Twenty solar panels will be installed on the edge of the Brady Hall roof while students are away for winter break.
A student group has been working for months to get the panels installed on the roof of a St. Thomas building. Contractors from Innovative Power Systems, who will install the panels, made the final decision to put the panels on Brady Hall.
Structural problems create ‘bulge’ in Brady Hall
Opus Construction will analyze Brady Hall and decide how to fix a structural “bulge” in the building’s exterior.
An orange fence now surrounds part of the building and metal beams were added to the east wall Wednesday afternoon for reinforcement.
Big Five: SAC provides link between students, alumni
While Student Alumni Council’s name suggests it may not apply to current students, one of SAC’s main goals is to link students with alumni through alumni-student mentoring programs.
“I think the trickiest part about that is that people hear [the name] and they think, ‘Oh I’m not alumni yet. This doesn’t pertain to me. It doesn’t really matter,’” said senior Sara Hamrick, Student Alumni Council president.
Registration and its potential headaches coming soon
Registration runs through Dec. 4, and time slots are assigned based mainly on the number of credits a student holds, but there are other factors that also apply.
Football beats Bethel, secures second place in MIAC
Sophomore quarterback Dakota Tracy threw for three touchdowns to help St. Thomas (8-1, 7-1 MIAC) top Bethel 19-10 Saturday afternoon in Arden Hills.
Writing program boosts interest in potentially tedious material
Students in Sherry Jordon’s theology class write out instant message conversations between themselves and famous Protestant reformers, create dialogues for a mock debate on Oprah and pretend to be bloggers in 16th-century Geneva.
“These kinds of writing assignments engage the students and make historical figures come alive,” Jordon said.
Classes move back into renovated Sitzmann Hall
Sitzmann Hall opened its doors Oct. 29 to the public for the first time since the $4.2 million summer-long renovation began last spring. Don Briel, director of Catholic Studies, said some Catholic Studies classes may be moving back into Sitzmann Hall as early as Nov. 6.
“Well the only delay right now is the technology with the smart room, the seminar room and the classroom,” he said. “And there has to be an adjustment in the location of the camera in the classroom.”
Ech Channa becomes first Muslim to receive Opus Prize
Aïcha Ech Channa, founder and president of a Casablanca, Morocco, organization that provides services for unmarried women with children, won the $1 million 2009 Opus Prize. St. Thomas and the Opus Prize Foundation of Minnetonka presented the award Wednesday night in Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall. The other two finalists – Sister Valeriana García-Martín of Bogotá, Colombia, and the Rev. Hans Stapel of Guaratinguetá, Brazil – each received $100,000 awards.
Student who collapsed in Scooter’s back on his feet
After going into cardiac arrest during a dance performance Oct. 16 in Scooter’s, freshman Gauthier Biyanga Mubwa has resumed attending St. Thomas.
Since his Oct. 23 release from Regions Hospital, Mubwa has returned to the hospital for checkups and will attend biweekly heart rehabilitation therapy sessions.
“I was really surprised [to collapse],” Mubwa said. “It’s never happened to anyone in my family.”
Voter turnout far below last year’s numbers
Last year on Election Day, a line wrapped around outside of McNeely Hall as voters waited for their turn. This year, election judges sat and waited for voters to file in.
At McNeely Hall, where 4th ward, 6th precinct St. Paul elections were held, 219 people voted. Of the voters, 18 people were new registered voters. Eighty-five to 90 percent of new registered voters were students, said registration judge Richard Simmer.
But in last year’s election, 2,101 people voted at McNeely Hall and 845 people were registered on Election Day.