Student group hopes to connect West Bank campus and Cedar-Riverside businesses

The West Bank campus graduate school student group Cedar-Humphrey Action for Neighborhood Collaborative Engagement (CHANCE) is interviewing Cedar-Riverside restaurant owners in order to promote and increase catering available to the West Bank campus.

Humphrey student Sarah Martyn Crowell said CHANCE was started in the fall of 2006 by a group of students, faculty, and staff “who were concerned about the growing divide between the university’s West Bank campus and the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.”

CHANCE hopes to sponsor a tasting event so the campus groups can sample food from West Bank restaurants. Other CHANCE neighborhood activities have included advocating for a Cedar Avenue stop on the proposed Central Corridor light rail transit line and offering a discount card for more than 20 businesses, in cooperation with the Cedar-Riverside Business Association and Augsburg College. CHANCE also encourages volunteering, tutoring and mentoring at neighborhood organizations.

CHANCE reflects the students’ interests in civic engagement and their degree programs. CHANCE was initiated by students in the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs to strengthen bonds between the institute, the West Bank campus and the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. The Walter Mondale Law School and the Carlson School of Management also participate.

To contact CHANCE, and to be added to the e-list, send an email to chance@umn.edu or mart1575@umn.edu. The phone is 612-624-8300. Community members are welcome to visit the program developer and to attend meetings. For further information, see www.hhh.umn.edu/projects/chance.

East River Road courtyard art features Iron Range rocks, polished steel

The public has a new outdoor art destination overlooking the Mississippi River on the East Bank campus. The “Garden of Mirrors” features mirror-polished stainless steel plates imbedded in large boulders, placed in the courtyard of the newly renovated Education Sciences Building, 56 E. River Rd. The building originally housed the Mines Experiment Station where experimenters found a way to take iron ore out of taconite rock.

After a $21.7 million renovation and expansion, the 1924 brick mineral science building was reopened in October as the Education Sciences Building, a conversion that was dubbed “Mines to Minds,” according to university officials.
The artwork incorporates boulders from the Iron Range region of Northern Minnesota. It is the work of artist Andrea Stanislav, an assistant professor of sculpture in the university’s art department. “The viewers see these ancient rocks, opened like geodes, and see themselves included in the sculpture, the building and the landscape,” said Stanislav.

The building’s courtyard also features the new River Road Café, open 7 a.m.–4 p.m., Monday–Friday, serving Dunn Bros. coffee. The café faces the river, the art display, and the Dinkytown Bikeway Connection bridge and walkway.

IAS offers free presentations

The Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) offers lectures and programs, free and open to the public. Information is also available at www.ias.umn.edu or 612-626-5054. Lectures are at the Nolte Center, 315 Pillsbury Dr. SE, unless otherwise noted.

“Slow Art” — A presentation by John Kelly and Arden Reed
Monday, Dec. 3, 4:00 p.m.

Center for Medieval Studies Workshop, led by Cristelle Baskins of Tufts University
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 12:30 p.m.

“Poetry from the Engine Room” — A Reading by Renee Gladman and Carla Harryman
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 4:15 p.m.

Nicholas Maw’s “Sonata” — Performance by Jorja Fleezanis
Thursday, Dec. 6, 4:00 p.m.

“Mapping the Determinants of Health and Behavior: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Dietary Behavior” — a presentation by Robert Hornick
Thursday, Dec. 6, 4:15 p.m.
130 Murphy Hall, 206 SE Church Street

“Vulnerable Arguments: Secret Histories and the Recovery of Women’s History” — A workshop with Judy Dorn
Thursday, Dec. 6, 5–6:30 p.m.

“Envisioning Real Utopias” — A talk with Erik Olin Wright
Friday, Dec. 7, 4:00 p.m.

“Sue E. Generous: toward a theory of nontransexuality” — A talk with David Valentine
Friday, Dec. 14, 1:00 p.m.

500-Year-Old map on display

“The Map that Named America: 1507–2007,” map and exhibit continue through Dec. 31 at the James Ford Bell Library, Wilson Library, west bank campus. Hours are 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Monday through Wednesday and Friday, and 8:30 a.m.–8 p.m. Thursday.

U of M info

University of Minnesota information, directories, maps, parking, news and events can be found at www1.umn.edu/twincities. University information by phone is at 612-625-5000.

last revised: December 17, 2007

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