Join NHCC faculty as they present special montly topics. Discussions will be held in the Center for Liberal Arts (CLA), room 120, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. All are free and open to the public:
January 13, 2012
Steven Matuszak, English
Visual Literature: An Introduction to Graphic Novels
Visual Literature: An Introduction to Graphic Novels offers an overview of graphic novels, tracing their history, figuring out what they are, and sorting through the variety of books available. Since it is a visual form of literature, plenty of examples from the works discussed will be shared.
Steve Matuszak holds a Masters in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, specializing in modern drama and theories of performance and the performativity of identity. In addition to teaching in the English department at NHCC, he works as a dramaturg with Frank Theatre and practices Zen Buddhism with Steve Hagen in Minneapolis. Like John Updike, he is a frustrated cartoonist.
February 3, 2012
Music Faculty
A Classical Interlude: Performances by NHCC Music Faculty Held in Fine Arts Theatre
Featuring the talents of Kristian Anderson, Judy Bender, David Mantini, Heather MacLaughlin, and Karla Miller, NHCC Music Faculty present performances on piano, voice, guitar, and trumpet.
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Kristian Anderson (b. 1974) is an accomplished concert guitarist having performed in Europe and across North America. Critics have hailed his performances, describing his talents as “showstopping” (dallasmusic.com) and encompassing “prodigious virtuosity” (Soundboard). After winning First Prize at several U.S. solo guitar competitions, he turned his attention to his doctoral studies at Florida State University and founded the acclaimed guitar ensemble Tantalus Quartet. Since he received his doctorate in 2008, Tantalus has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Guitar Foundation of America Festival, the Iserlohn Guitar Symposium, the New York Guitar Seminar, Brownsville Guitar Festival, and for many other music series and festivals around the globe. The quartet has commissioned and premiered several new works from today’s leading composers, including Grammy-nominated Apostolos Paraskevas, whose concerto “The Feast” was premiered by Tantalus with the Albany Symphony Orchestra.
Anderson has received an array of teaching assistantships and scholarships awarded by Florida State University (DM), Arizona State University (MM), and the University of North Texas (BM). His primary teachers include esteemed pedagogues Bruce Holzman, Frank Koonce, Thomas Johnson, and Alan Johnston. He has also studied under guitar luminaries Oscar Ghiglia, Leo Brouwer, Roland Dyens, Odair Assad, among many more.
An experienced educator, Anderson has taught at Florida State University and Arizona State University, and has held adjunct professorships at the University of North Texas and Thomas University. He regularly gives master classes, adjudicates competitions, and is invited to lecture at schools and festivals on the art of practicing.
As a composer, he has written and arranged several pieces for solo guitar, guitar duo, and guitar quartet. Most recently, his solo piece “Improvisation” was published in Soundboard magazine.
Anderson currently lives with his wife in Minneapolis, where, in addition to his prolific classical guitar life, he enjoys a thriving career as a theater musician, performing approximately 400 shows a year. He currently heads guitar studies at North Hennepin Community College, teaches at MacPhail Center for Music, and is on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Guitar Society.
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Judy Bender presently teaches applied voice and class voice at NHCC. She has a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from Saint Cloud State University. She has taught music in the public schools, twelve years of youth choir ministry at Zion Lutheran Church, several years as a professor of music at Anoka Ramsey Community College teaching voice, choir and related music classes until coming to NHCC.
As a professional singer she has sung with the Minnesota Chorale as well as the Minnesota Opera Company. She has performed the roles of Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Marie in The Bartered Bride, Katisha in The Mikado and Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music. She has also soloed with other professional organizations such as Thursday Musical, Anoka Opera Company, Choral groups and many a church function.
She has a private studio of voice students ranging from middle school and high school through professional singers.
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David Mantini is a member of the music faculty at North Hennepin Community College where he directs the Jazz Ensemble and teaches music theory and private instrumental lessons.
Mantini is a graduate of Luther College in Decorah, IA, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Trumpet Performance and Anthropology. He attended the University of North Texas and received a Masters of Music Education with concentrations in Jazz Studies and Music History. While in Texas, Mantini was a clinician in various schools, and performed as a guest artist with the Dallas Brass. He spent six months touring professionally with the popular Christian band, Truth. After returning to Minnesota, he taught K–8 general music and 5–12 band in various schools, and performed with several bands.
Mantini is very active in his church, serving as chairman for the Administrative Council and past chairman of both Fun and Funding and the Stewardship committees. He is also a past board member of the Twin Cities Youth Chorale.
Currently, Mantini performs with the Wolverines Classic Jazz Orchestra and the Elk River German Band and directs the Brooklyn United Methodist Big Band. In addition, he freelances across the Twin Cities and teaches instrumental lessons. He lives in Brooklyn Park with his wife and two sons.
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Heather MacLaughlin is one of the Twin Cities’ leading chamber music pianists, appearing regularly with members of both the Minnesota Orchestra and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She has collaborated with, among others, Pinchas Zukerman, Cynthia Phelps (principal violist for the New York Philharmonic), and baritone David Malis. MacLaughlin has been heard on both Minnesota and National Public Radio as soloist and chamber musician. In 1998, MacLaughlin and her husband, classical guitarist Alan Johnston, represented Minnesota on the Millennium concert series at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. As a member of the Shank-MacLaughlin Duo with violinist Leslie Shank, MacLaughlin was the recipient of a 1996 grant from the General Mills, Dayton Hudson and Jerome Foundations for travel to Hungary to study and perform the Bartók Sonatas for violin and piano. In 1997, the Shank-MacLaughlin Duo was a winner of the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians. Their CD of the Bartók sonatas for violin and piano was released in 1999 on the Centaur label.
MacLaughlin completed a doctor of musical arts degree at the University of Minnesota in piano accompanying/coaching, as a student of Margo Garrett. She received bachelor and master of music degrees from Indiana University, where she studied with Enrica Cavallo-Gulli. A Suzuki piano instructor since 1985, MacLaughlin has taught at Suzuki institutes and workshops in Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota, and Lima, Peru. She has taught at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, and is currently a full time member of the music faculty at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, MN.
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Karla J. Miller is a full time Music Instructor at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota where she conducts three choral ensembles, teaches music theory, music appreciation, piano and voice. She has taught at NHCC for twenty-eight years. She also directs a performing chorus for retired senior citizens called the Northwest Singing Seniors. Karla has been involved in church music most of her life either as pianist, organist or choir director. She is currently serving Brooklyn United Methodist in Brooklyn Park as organist/accompanist.
Karla received her Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance and vocal music education from Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Her Master of Music degree is from St. Cloud State University in Choral Conducting and Choral Literature.
Professional memberships include the American Choral Directors Association, Minnesota Music Educators Association, American Guild of Organists and the Minnesota State College Faculty Association. Miller has served on the board of ACDA of Minnesota and currently serves as Repertoire and Standards Chair for Two Year Colleges. She is the President of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Two Year College Fine Arts Council and has served North Hennepin Community College as chair of the Academic Advising and Standards Committee.
In addition to her music and teaching profession, she is the proud mother of three sons and a daughter in law, Ben and Emily, Jacob and Nathan.
March 2, 2012
Jan McFall, English for Speakers of Other Languages
Birthing a Language: The Path to Multilingualism
This lecture will explore perceptions and realities surrounding language acquisition. The three main areas of discussion will be the art and science of becoming multilingual, the common misconceptions about the path to language fluency, and ways to nurture multilingualism. Hopefully, by the end of this lecture, participants will be even more passionate about language acquisition as well as having deepened their empathy for those who are currently on that journey!
Jan McFall began her higher education academic journey at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Florida where she earned an AA. She went on to earn a BA in English Education at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. After more than eight years of living abroad and earning a Brevet d’Etudes Françaises in Tours, France, she came to the Twin Cities and completed an MA in ESL from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Educational Psychology at Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Additionally, Jan holds two teaching Minnesota licenses for grades k-12. Her teaching journey has included elementary, middle school, and high school in addition to teaching for the past seven years in higher education. She has taught English and French both in the USA and abroad.
April 6, 2012
Lisa Whalen, English
The Social and Emotional Benefits of Reading Narratives
What do novels and flight simulators have in common? More than you might think. Lisa Whalen will explain how reading narratives can improve our ability to learn, sharpen our social skills, increase our emotional well-being, and even impact how we feel pain.
Lisa Whalen has an M.A. in creative and critical writing from Hamline University and a Ph.D. in postsecondary and adult education from Capella University. Her published work includes articles on teaching writing, directing writing centers, and examining correlations between empathy and reading narratives. Whalen’s creative nonfiction essays have been published in peer reviewed journals, and her short fiction has been accepted for presentation at the National Creative Writing Conference.
Prior Lectures
Variations in Sound: A Poetry Reading
Brian Baumgart, English
Brian Baumgart will read selections of his recent poetry, some published and some unpublished, and will talk a bit about what has gone into the writing of this poetry. Likely, he will also talk about why he writes poetry the way he does.
Brian Baumgart holds an MFA in Creative Writing (English) from Minnesota State University, Mankato. His graduate thesis was a collection of short stories titled A Thousand Voices.
The Problem of Evil
Bruce Lebus, Philosophy
In the Western history of philosophy and theology, one of the more pressing issues has been the problem of evil. In short, if there is a perfect God, then how does one account for so much imperfection/evil in the world? There have been many attempts to answer this conundrum but the most important is the freewill defense: imperfection comes into the world because of freedom. In this lecture, Mr. Lebus will explore if the freewill defense really works and also survey some of the other attempts to account for evil in a God-created reality. Philosophically, whether we believe in God or not, it is valuable to define and understand evil. Perhaps this very exercise can help reduce evil.
Bruce Lebus earned his Masters degree in philosophy from the University of Minnesota. In addition to teaching at North Hennepin Community College, he has taught at Corcordia College in Moorhead Minnesota. His areas of specialty are philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and ethics. He also has published many poems and considers himself well-informed about Lake Superior agates.
Perspectives on American Culture
Karen Johnson, Geography & Julien Phillips, Speech/Theater, Film, & Television
How do we think about ourselves as Americans? Why do we have so much difficulty identifying ourselves as a culture? Julien Phillips and Karen Johnson will explore this thing we call “culture” and what it means to be American through the perspective of Geography and Intercultural Communications.
Karen Johnson holds a Masters Degree in Geography from St. Cloud State University. Her specialties include environmental issues, resources development, indigenous peoples and South America. Ms. Johnson is also the Director of a non-profit that preserves cultural and natural resources in the Napo River Basin of Peru: Heart of the Earth Sanctuary.
Julien Phillips earned a Masters degree in Speech and Theatre from the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana and a Ph.D. in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota. Her areas of specialty include public speaking practices, intercultural communication, theater history, directing, and design.
Who Was William Shakespeare? Controversies and Discoveries in Shakespeare Biography
Nancy Shih-Knodel, English
After nearly four hundred years, the plays of William Shakespeare are still performed around the world, and his poetry is still read and studied. But the man remains a mystery. Recent historical scholarship, uncovering unexplored archival evidence, has shed new light on the man, in relation to the turbulent political and religious controversies of his time, as well as to his literary works. This lecture will reveal some of these new discoveries, and explain some more of what we have come to know about this enigmatic genius of English drama.
Nancy Shih-Knodel has a Ph.D in English literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in British Literature of the 16th century. Her dissertation topic was on Book V of Spenser's Faerie Queene.
An Introduction to and Exploration of the Japanese Martial Art – Aikido
Mark Larson, Interdisciplinary Studies
Join in an introduction to and exploration of the Japanese Martial Art – Aikido. Discover how Aikido’s unique history, philosophy, and technique can be integrated into education and everyday living with the purpose of strengthening mind and body, appreciating nature, respecting others, building positive relations, and contributing to society.
Presented by NHCC ESOL Instructor Mark Larson, MA, Sensei, 5th Dan of Minnesota Aiki Shuren Dojo (www.aikido-shuren-dojo.com). Larson Sensei has trained, performed, demonstrated, and taught Aikido worldwide for the past twenty years. For ten of those years, he lived and studied intensively at the art's birthplace, Iwama, Ibaraki, Japan, where he continues to visit annually. He currently teaches Aikido in the community and one course at NHCC through Interdisciplinary Studies titled: INTD 1210 The History, Philosophy, and Practice of Traditional Aikido.
Travel Light: Poems from a Trip to France
Kate Green, English
Kate Green will read from her manuscript Travel Light: Poems from a Trip to France. She wrote over one hundred poems on this trip in three weeks and promises not to read all of them. She will also discuss her creative process.
Kate Green has published four novels, eight children’s books, and several books of poetry. She has been awarded the Bush Foundation Fellowship for Writing and a McKnight Foundation poetry grant. She is currently at work on a children’s book, illustrated by her son, an NHCC Graphic Arts graduate and writing poems for a new collection (in between grading papers). This is her eleventh year teaching in the English Department at North Hennepin.
Psychotherapy 101: Finding Congruence
Debra Matchinsky, Psychology
This lecture explains Carl Rogers's Self Theory and the therapy he developed based on his theory called Person Centered Therapy. Through completing a personality assessment and examining what Rogers would say about your self concept, you will learn about yourself while learning about the therapy. The result will be an understanding of a practical technique that you can use to improve the mental health of your loved ones.
Debra Matchinsky (NHCC graduate) holds a M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Emporia State University, a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri - Kansas City and is a licensed psychologist. Her areas of specialty are psychotherapy, neuropsychology, assessment, research and the teaching of psychology. Dr. Matchinsky volunteers regularly as a therapist at the Walk-In Counseling Center in south Minneapolis.
Living a Purposeful Life in the Performing Arts
Mike Ricci, Theater, Film, and Television
This discussion will focus on pursuit of a dream, the obstacles encountered, and the manner in which they are overcome. Specific details about a life in the performing arts, and the difficulties that resulted, will be shared, as well as how to create opportunities where none exist. In addition, the relative meaning of success, the inevitability of personal growth, and the importance of community engagement will also be highlighted.
Mike Ricci, currently Director of Theater at North Hennepin Community College, received his MFA in Directing from Florida State University, and has directed over one hundred plays in his career, including over a dozen world premieres. He has taught and directed in a wide variety of colleges, university, professional and community theaters around the country for the past twenty years. His teaching work includes posts at Penn State University, Florida State University, University of Louisville, Winthrop University, Hibbing Community College and others. He has also served as Artistic Director of three theatre companies, written several plays that have been produced, and started a children’s theatre company.
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