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Campus news

Glover named president of NDSU Foundation and Alumni Association

John R. Glover was named president and CEO of the North Dakota State University Foundation and Alumni Association in early September, following a national search. He previously served 13 years in roles of progressive fundraising responsibility with the Iowa State University Foundation in Ames, most recently as assistant vice president of development. Prior to that, Glover worked at the NDSU Development Foundation and Alumni Association from 1998 through 2002, serving as a development associate of current gifts before being promoted to director of annual giving.

Throughout his career, he has supported two land-grant universities, NDSU and Iowa State. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from South Dakota State University, a land-grant university in Brookings.

“It’s an honor to return to NDSU, and I’m humbled to work in partnership with staff, volunteers, philanthropists and campus leaders to advance the mission of North Dakota’s land-grant university. Philanthropy is a life-changing activity, and we look forward to facilitating meaningful and transformative opportunities that make a difference for students, faculty and programs,” Glover said.

NDSU students learn from ESPN broadcasters

Be kind, be tenacious, be engaged and be fun to be around. It also doesn’t hurt to have a memorable name — the career advice on-air talent and producers of ESPN’s “SportsCenter on the Road” gave to communication students during the weekly sports show’s visit to NDSU.

During college football season ESPN does a live morning broadcast featuring the hometown team. In addition, the show’s anchors and producers each week schedule a session with local students to tell their personal stories and share advice about breaking into broadcast journalism.

The event continued NDSU’s long-standing tradition of bringing the top professionals in their fields to campus to teach students. From renowned composers and musicians to Nobel Prize-winning chemists and the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, NDSU has provided students access to some of the world’s great minds.

The chance to learn from ESPN broadcasters led NDSU senior and Spectrum sports editor Pace Maier to show up early and grab a front-row seat.

“I wake up every morning and watch these people on television,” Maier said. “Sitting 10 feet away from people I look up to was very special. This was a great chance to get insight from a group of broadcasters that has reached the highest level.”

The question-and-answer session featured ESPN anchors Sara Walsh and Matt Barrie, reporter Marty Smith and producers Don Skwar and Jonathan Whyley.

NDSU graduate student Stephen Daniel said the advice was more far reaching than sports journalism.

“I’ve never had a chance to do anything like this before I got to NDSU,” Daniel said. “Since I’ve been here I’ve been able to do this and to work for a marketing firm during the ESPN ‘College GameDay’ trip to Fargo last year. It’s unbelievably helpful to learn from professionals with ESPN’s credentials. But some of the biggest things I’ve learned were about how to interact with people and really listen.”

“SportsCenter on the Road” broadcast in front of a few thousand students and fans at the Fargodome from 6 to 8 a.m. on Saturday, prior to the NDSU football team’s Homecoming victory against Northern Iowa. It was the first time NDSU and Fargo hosted “SportsCenter.” ESPN “College GameDay” broadcast from downtown Fargo in 2013 and 2014.

Modern art, vintage distribution

A woman stands in front of a vintage vending machine. She’s initially uncertain about why the restored relic is in a modern shopping mall. But she deposits $5, pulls a lever and watches a small box drop to the bottom. She smiles as she unwraps the box and sees the handcrafted, one-of-a-kind piece of art she just bought in the time it takes to pick out a candy bar.

The art vending machine at West Acres in Fargo was put there by faculty from NDSU and Concordia College in Moorhead. It’s part of a national project called Art-o-mat, which aims to make quality art more accessible and affordable. It also gives students experience creating work for a general audience.

It’s a mission to educate and entertain.

These are common themes at NDSU. Students often get experience outside the classroom that helps them successfully compete with peers. And NDSU has focused on giving the community access to affordable art of many kinds for decades.

“As artists, we try to make our work accessible and to remove the intimidation factor,” said Su Legatt, NDSU visual arts assistant professor of practice. “Art is a different form of entertainment. And this is a way to showcase some of our great artists.”

The West Acres Art-o-mat holds work from seven artists, including NDSU students Emily Tucker, Mathew Bergier and Shelby Biffert. Legatt and Concordia’s Jeff Knight have used the machine as a tool to help students hone their artistic vision.

Artists submit a prototype of their project to the sponsor of the national Art-o-mat group for its approval. It’s a selective process. Only the most progressive, personal and approachable projects move forward. The national headquarters agreed to help NDSU and Concordia students by providing feedback to help them improve their pieces.

Art-o-mat has been a powerful experience for Tucker, who created transparent photos of North Dakota landscapes placed between two pieces of clear plastic. The photos project onto almost any surface when backlit.

“This helped me as an artist because it made me think about exactly how to make things easily accessible to the public and how to present my art in a way that would be appealing to the eye and enjoyable,” said Tucker, whose Art-o-mat project was recently added to a machine in Vienna, Austria. “It’s given me a lot of encouragement because I now know I can make something that people want.”

The response to the West Acres machine has been positive. The goal was to sell 10 to 15 boxes a week. The average is 23 a week. They’ve even had to twice reorder a new batch of boxes from the most popular artists.

Legatt and Knight funded the project through the West Acres Regional Showcase Program, which highlights art of all kinds to entertain visitors at the mall.

Art-o-mat started in North Carolina in 1997 as a restored vintage cigarette machine filled with the work of artist Clark Whittington. There are now more than 100 machines across the country.

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