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Society news and notes

16 N.D. tourism entities awarded marketing funds

BISMARCK Sixteen North Dakota tourism entities are able to expand their marketing efforts thanks to two grant programs from the North Dakota Department of Commerce, Tourism Division.

The Events Marketing Grant Program and Marketing Grant Program each provide a maximum of $5,000 in matching funds for the promotion of regional events and for specific tourism marketing plans. A total of $67,275 was awarded between the two programs.

Recipients of the Event Marketing Grant Program, which provides funds to communities and event promoters wanting to regionally promote their 2015 tourism-related event include United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck, for expanded marketing of the United Tribes International Powwow; Velva Association of Commerce for the Midsummer Nights Jam and Little Redneck Ribfest; Legendary Adventures New Discoveries, Watford City, for the Badlands Gravel Battle 100 bike race; and the Hazen Chamber of Commerce for their Oktoberfest Celebration. Other recipients were the Devils Lake Park Board, Horse Race North Dakota in Fargo and the Coteau des Prairies Lodge in Rutland.

Recipients of the Marketing Grant Program, which provides funds to develop marketing materials to promote an experience, activity or place unique to North Dakota include the Harvey Convention and Visitors Bureau for Harvey Tourism Marketing; and the Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation, Washburn, for Interpretive Programing Promotion. Other recipients were Elgin Community Betterment, Coteau des Prairies Lodge in Rutland, J. Greg Smith Inc., Dinner Ties LLC in Fargo, Pioneer Trails Regional Museum in Bowman, Prairiestylelife.com in West Fargo and Snowmobile North Dakota.

Grant recipients will receive 25 percent of the grant money upfront with the remaining 75 percent paid following the completed event or marketing project.

For more information on tourism grants, contact Dean Ihla with North Dakota Tourism at 328-3505 or dihla@nd.gov.

Hess Corporation donates computers to Tioga Elementary

Hess Corporation presented 20 laptop computers to the Tioga Elementary School for the students to use in classroom education on Oct. 23.

“This contribution will allow the Tioga students and teachers throughout the elementary school the benefit of laptop learning,” said Jill Beck, an elementary teacher in Tioga who spearheaded the grant application. “The school has some great online sites that students can utilize along with practice math facts, grammar and understand science in a fun and creative way. Some of the computers will also be given to teachers to be used for creating a more interactive learning environment.”

“We have committed to growing the educational programs in the schools in Hess’s operational areas,” said Steve McNally, Hess general manager, North Dakota. “This donation is part of our work to augment our work with the Succeed 2020 initiative which aims to ensure the successful transition from school to college and future careers for all North Dakota students.”

The Succeed 2020 initiative provides North Dakota’s eight regional education associations (REAs) responsibility for implementing this initiative, working in collaboration with a wide range of partners and receiving technical support from FHI 360, a U.S.-based nonprofit development organization that manages the Succeed 2020 program. Health and wellness are fundamental to the Hess culture and integral to its business. Hess is proud to invest in high impact programs, especially in the areas of education, health and community development.

NFP’s Red Ribbon Photo Contest taking entries until Tuesday

People can win prizes in the National Family Partnership’s Red Ribbon Photo Contest, which promotes drug awareness and prevention among youth.

Ten families across the country will be selected to win the grand prize, which is an iPad and a $1,000 donation to the K-12 school of their choosing. There will also be one prize awarded for a school decoration.

To enter, students and families should decorate their home’s front door, mailbox or fence with a double-looped red ribbon and the theme, “Love Yourself. Be Drug Free.” Schools may decorate any part of their campus.

Take a photo with your decoration and upload it to www.RedRibbon.org. Entry closes Nov. 4. Students must be 18 years or older to upload the photo and can do so from any desktop or mobile device.

Ask family and friends to vote for your entry beginning Nov. 5.

Eleven winners will be announced on Dec. 5.

To learn more about the contest rules, visit www.RedRibbon.org.

Park University offering additional eight-week fall term

Park University, which has a branch at Minot Air Force Base, will offer an additional eight-week fall term from Monday, Nov. 10, through Sunday, Jan. 11. This additional term will continue through the university’s winter break, with the exception of the week of Dec. 22-26, allowing students to complete a variety of accelerated online and face-to-face courses. The deadline to register for classes is Thursday, Nov. 6.

Twenty-one courses are being offered during this additional term, including 20 online courses and one face-to-face course. Courses in communication arts, English, liberal education, sociology, computer science, criminal justice, biology, history and business administration will be available for students.

For the full course list, visit www.park.edu/enroll. To enroll or for more information, e-mail

onlineadmissions@park.edu or call (816) 746-2520/(877) 505-1059.

Society news and notes

Minot Camera Club announces October winners

The Minot Camera Club has announced the winners of their photography contest. The judge for the October meeting was Mari Tande of Tande Photography and the subject was flowers. Competition was very tough, and Tande said she was amazed at the quality of the photos. Those getting top honors were:

“Mums the Word” by Angela Perdew of Berthold, first in color.

“Blossoming Beauty” by Kyra Hansen of Minot, first in artistic.

“Yesterday’s Flowers” by Wendy Hornberger of Berthold, first in monochrome.

Other members having photographs that placed were Christina Blair and Richard Debertin of Berthold, Steve Silseth, Johnnie Gorthy, Judy Valgren, Betty Nordstrom and Janet Wing, all of Minot.

Lisa Eriksmoen, N4C (North Central Camera Club Council) chair person handed out a merit award to Nordstrom for her photo called “Support From Daddy.”

Society news and notes

MSU Academic Hall of Fame honors Robert Hubbard

Minot State University inducted Robert Hubbard, professor of theatre and speech at Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa, into its Academic Hall of Fame. After interacting with theater students, he will be recognized at tonight’s performance of “The Miss Firecracker Contest” at 7:30 p.m. at Aleshire Theater. The MSU Faculty Senate chose Hubbard from faculty and community nominations to represent outstanding career achievements by MSU alumni.

While a Minot State student, Hubbard participated actively as an actor, experimented in direction and developed his playwriting skills; he received a bachelor’s degree in communication arts and English in 1991. He completed master’s and doctoral degrees in theatre at Bowling Green State University, Ohio.

More than 20 years later, the Minot native is still acting, directing and writing with distinction in addition to teaching. In 2005, he received an O’Neill Critics Institute Fellowship. He debuted his original, one-person show, “Dancing with Jimmy,” at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education conference in New York City in August 2003. Hubbard has since developed and performed two more full-length shows: “How Helicopters Figure in My Dreams” and “Flipping Off Our Lord.” He performed the latter in January at the American College Theatre Festival and this summer at the Kansas City Fringe Festival. For playwriting and directing, his adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel, “The Power and the Glory,” will premiere at Northwestern College in November.

Hubbard is involved in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre festival as a respondent, workshop leader, producer and coordinator of the Region V National Critics Institute Committee. He is a role model for students engaged in theatre.

In addition to his work at the university level, Hubbard and his wife, April (Blomquist) Hubbard, an MSU alumna and NC faculty member, have been drama instructors at the International Music Camp for the past eight summers. Through this experience, he has mentored hundreds of school-age children from seventh-graders to high school seniors.

To read a full account of Hubbard’s work and achievements, visit www.nwciowa.edu/

theatre/faculty/robert-hubbard.

Enbridge donates trucks to emergency responders in state

Enbridge Pipelines handed over the keys for a fleet truck to the Donnybrook Rural Fire Department on Friday, Oct. 10. Donnybrook is the 19th emergency response organization to receive an Enbridge fleet vehicle this year. Safety and preparedness is a priority at Enbridge, and as part of its community investment program, the company donates its used fleet vehicles to area emergency responders. The donated vehicles are in good condition, but no longer in use. The fire departments and ambulance services that receive the vehicles often choose to use them for transport to and from response locations and trainings, and some are rehabilitated to carry water or other equipment.

“These departments are made up largely of volunteers. Having the proper equipment nearby can have a big impact on response times,” said Art Haskins, Enbridge Emergency Response Coordinator. “Not only will the fire department benefit from this donation, but so will Enbridge and the communities where we operate.”

Organizations who received an Enbridge truck this year include:

Emerado Police Department

Ward County Emergency Management

Tioga Rural Fire Department

Rugby Fire Department

Michigan/Whitman Rural Fire Protection District

Wildrose Fire Department

Grenora Fire Protection District

Leeds Fire Department

Burlington Rural Fire Department

Ray Community Ambulance District

Devils Lake Rural Fire Department

Thompson Fire Department

Gonvick Fire and Rescue

Glenburn Rural Fire Protection District

Upham Rural Fire Protection District

Erskine Rural Fire Department

Minot Fire Department

Des Lacs Fire Protection District

Donnybrook Rural Fire Department

Enbridge offers a free online training program to emergency responders in each county where its pipelines are operated at mypipeline

training.com. The online training was developed in coordination with the National Association of State Fire Marshals and includes information specific to Enbridge pipelines.

Society news and notes

Authors to present at Main Street Books

Wendelin Van Draanen and Mark Huntley Parsons will give a presentation at 5 p.m. Monday in the Main Street Bookstore in Minot.

The couple is on a “He Said, She Said” book tour of book stores across the United States.

Van Draanen is the author of more than 30 books, including the Sammy Keyes mystery series featuring a “modern-day Nancy Drew.” Parsons is a non-fiction writer and author of “Road Rash,” a band-on-the-road young adult adventure.

The couple, who live in California, will discuss books, writing and how they survive sharing an office, according to a press release. They will also discuss how they juggled full-time jobs and raising children as they worked toward having their books published.

Van Draanen is a former classroom teacher and Parsons was an instructor at a Fortune 500 company.

DC-Bottineau named military friendly

Dakota College at Bottineau has been designated a 2015 Military Friendly School by Victory Media.

The designation is awarded to the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools in the country that are doing the most embrace military students and to dedicate resources to ensure their success in the classroom and after graduation, according to a press release.

Gerszewski to be honored at UND

GRAND FORKS – Four accomplished students of former University of North Dakota professor Alvin Austin will receive awards honoring his legacy at a program and reception during UND’s homecoming today, including a Minot man.

The University of North Dakota Center for Community Engagement announced that the 2014 Alvin E. Austin Legacy Award recipients are Fabrice Moussus, Carol (Christianson) Oukrop, Lynn Melby and Minot’s Matt Gerszewski. The awards are presented each year to former students or colleagues of the late professor in recognition of their professional accomplishments for community benefit.

This is the fifth year that Austin Legacy Awards have been given to honor Austin’s memory. The awards will be presented during a reception for family and friends of Austin to be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the J. Lloyd Stone Alumni Center (Oxford House), 3233 University Ave.

Austin, who retired in 1980 and died in 1999, taught journalism at UND for 34 years and served as a chair of the department for more than 20 of those years. Austin was also a night editor and columnist for the Grand Forks Herald and an active public servant. He received many honors and awards, including UND’s most prestigious for alumni, the Sioux Award. He also was named a national Distinguished Teacher of Journalism by Sigma Delta Chi.

Gerszewski graduated from Oslo, Minn., High School in 1972 and began newspaper work writing sports stories for the Warren, Minn., Sheaf. After attending UND, he worked as a sports reporter for the Jamestown Sun and then began as a sports reporter for The Minot Daily News in 1980, serving as city editor of that newspaper from 1991 until 2000. Under Gerszewski’s leadership, The Minot Daily News won many statewide awards in the annual North Dakota Newspaper Association Contest, including general excellence and a first-place award for news editing in 1994. Gerzewski was a place winner two years in a row by NDNA for best editorial writing and was named State Sportswriter of the Year twice.

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