5 X Friday: BA Alumnus Mark Mishek

"There continues to be a large segment of the population that believes overcoming addiction is a matter of willpower," says Mark Mishek (summa cum laude BA 1974; JD with honors 1977), CEO and President of the recently merged Hazelden and Betty Ford Foundations. The former, which he's led since 2008, has of course been a pioneer for 65 years in defining addiction not as a crime or character flaw but as a disease. Changing minds is still difficult. "The thing that's helped right now in a sad sort of way," Mishek notes, "is that with the opioid crises affecting young males more than any other population, more parents are realizing that it's not a matter of willpower, it's not a matter of more education, more self-knowledge, and so on. While that stuff's important, it can't get you well in and of itself." How did Mishek come to lead the nation's largest nonprofit addiction treatment provider? Two words: liberal arts. Read more.

English in The Chronicle of Higher Ed

The Department of English's opportunities to provide hands-on work experience are noted in an article by BA alum Scott Carlson in The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Want a College Experience That Matters? Get to Work." Ellen Messer-Davidow, chair of the department, also talks about future plans to expand internships and other ways students can gain workplace experience. Carlson, who wrote articles for The Minnesota Daily as a student, notes that his work experience complemented his literature studies and vice versa--his subsequent career in journalism "wouldn't have been as rich without the literature degree."

Alum Is Minnesota Teacher of the Year

Tom Rademacher (BA 2004; CEHD M.Ed. 2007) was named Minnesota Teacher of the Year on May 4, 2014. Rademacher teaches high school English at the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resources (FAIR) School in downtown Minneapolis. The student who nominated him wrote: "[H]e teaches us that our thoughts matter, and that we are capable of anything we want to do with our lives." Rademacher wins a $6,000 prize and serves as a teacher ambassador in the state for the next year. In an interview with the Star Tribune, Rademacher said, "[T]he ideas behind the literature we read help kids figure out what you are going to do in the world and how to address things that are right and wrong."

5 X Friday: BA Alum Jerr Boschee

In the last decade, his seventh, social entrepreneurship innovator Jerr Boschee (BA English, 1966; MA, Comparative Literature, 1974) served as an adviser to England's Department of Trade and Industry Social Enterprise Unit, published his sixth book, trotted the globe giving master classes and presentations, was named three times to The NonProfit Times' "Power and Influence Top 50" list, and served as founding Chair of Encore! Service Corps International, which sends former Peace Corps Volunteers on short-term assignments in their areas of professional expertise. How did an English major arrive here? Read on . . .

BA Alum Wins Major Poetry Prize

The Academy of American Poets has announced the winners of its annual major prizes, and David Wojahn (BA 1976) has been awarded the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, which honors the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in the previous year. Of Wojahn's 2011 collection World Tree (University of Pittsburgh), judge Linda Gregerson noted: "Exquisitely cadenced, politically astute, large of heart, and keen of mind, these are poems of extraordinary moral penetration. They are also a joy to read." Wojahn will receive $25,000. The other judges were David St. John and current U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey. Wojahn is a professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and serves as a member of the program faculty of the MFA in Writing Program of Vermont College of the Fine Arts. World Tree represents his eighth collection of poetry. He studied with Michael Dennis Browne while at the University of Minnesota.

BA Alum Returns to Bestseller List

BA alumnus Sam Kean made the New York Times hardcover nonfiction bestseller list for the second time the week of August 12 with his second book The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code (Little Brown). His debut book The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements was a 2010 bestseller. Michael Schaub, on National Public Radio, raved, "Kean is one of America's smartest and most charming science writers, and his new book could be perfect for summer readers who prefer some substance with their fun." Kean was a double major in English and Physics. We interviewed him last summer.