Student History Research Symposium is April 18 at SMU

WINONA, Minn. — Seniors from five area universities will present the results of their historical research at the Student History Research Symposium on Saturday, April 18, at Saint Mary’s University. The event — free and open to the public — is sponsored by the history departments of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Saint Mary’s University, Viterbo University of La Crosse, and Winona State University.

In addition to the student presenters, Dr. Kendall Staggs, lecturer in history at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, will speak on “The Politics of Foreign Oil Dependency: A Historical Perspective.”

Saint Mary’s University and Winona State University have co-sponsored a student research symposium for nine years, with UW-La Crosse, Viterbo University, and UW-Eau Claire joining in the past two years. Each school asks senior history majors — and at Winona State, law and society majors — to write a senior thesis based on their original research of a historical question of their own choosing. In this way, the students actually do the work of historians, and in the process, deepen their research, writing and speaking skills.

All symposium sessions will be held on the third and fourth floors of Saint Mary’s Hall. The symposium opens at 9 a.m. in Salvi Lecture Hall (Room 332) with a short welcoming ceremony and coffee. Students will present their research in concurrent panels of three students each. The first panel session starts at 9:15 a.m., the second at 10:45 a.m. Dr. Staggs’s talk will start around noon and will be accompanied by a complimentary lunch.

For further information, contact Dr. Tycho de Boer, Department of History, Saint Mary’s University, at (507) 457-6995 or tdeboer@smumn.edu.

Saint Mary’s biology students awarded research scholarships

Saint Mary’s University biology students, from left, Maria Borgerson, Nicole Haese, Ben Linder, Melanie Tyler and Lori Brunner, received Beta Beta Beta research scholarships.

WINONA, Minn. — Six Saint Mary’s University biology students were recently awarded the National Biology Honor society Beta Beta Beta Research Foundation research scholarships. To receive consideration for the scholarships, the students submitted a proposal for their senior research project outlining the objectives of the research and a budget. The students and their research advisors are Maria Borgerson (Dr. Debra Martin); Nicole Haese (Dr. Jeanne Minnerath); Ben Linder (Dr. Martin); Melanie Tyler (Dr. Martin); and Lori Brunner (Dr. Richard Kowles). Dr. Martin is the Beta Beta Beta faculty advisor.

Winonans Gaut and Neff honored for courthouse controversy chronology

WINONA, Minn. — Winona authors Dr. Greg Gaut and Marsha Neff received the David Stanley Gebhard Award from the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians at their annual meeting and banquet on March 26 at the Minnesota Humanities Center in St. Paul.

The Gebhard Awards are given biannually to the best book and article on the subject of Minnesota's built environment. The major criterion is how well the work strikes a balance between scholarship and accessibility. Gaut and Neff’s prize-winning article, titled “‘Save the Lady’ – The Struggle for the Winona County Courthouse,” appeared in Minnesota History, Vol. 59, No. 7 (Winter 2005-2006). The Gebhard Award for best book went to Jeffrey A. Hess and Paul Clifford Larson for “St. Paul’s Architecture: A History” (University of Minnesota Press, 2006).

In their article, Gaut and Neff provide an extensive history of the Winona County Courthouse and examine why the courthouse has been at the center of one of the state’s longest battles regarding the historic preservation of a public building. The couple detail the reasons why some Winonans in the ’50s and ’60s fought to restore the courthouse, while others thought its Victorian architecture made the town look “old fashioned.” The article also recounts a second controversy over whether or not to repair the building in 2000 after a fourth-floor ceiling collapsed, breaking water pipes and flooding the building.

Gaut serves as an associate professor in the Saint Mary’s University Department of History, and Neff is the grants development coordinator for Mercy Medical Center, North Iowa.

To order the complete article, go to www.mnhs.org/market/mhspress/MinnesotaHistory/backissues.html.

For more information on the David Stanley Gebhard Award, visit www.mnsah.org/gebhard.php.