Commencement 2012 will mark the end of distinguished college teaching careers for three longtime Mayville State University full-time faculty members, and an 11-year part-time faculty member as well. Dr. Nannette Bagstad, Darryl Gulbranson, Terry Kemmer, and Pete Young will join the academic procession as current faculty members for the last time at the university’s 120^th commencement exercises Saturday, May 12.

“We have been truly blessed to have had these outstanding faculty members at Mayville State University,” said MSU President Dr. Gary Hagen. “Countless numbers of students have benefited from the influence of these individuals, and in turn, the students have gone on to make a difference in the world. In addition, the impact they have made on Mayville State as an institution is huge. Their actions have helped to shape the Mayville State we all know today.”

Dr. Nannette Bagstad delighted with Mayville State’s reputation for training teachers

Dr. Nannette Bagstad joined the faculty at Mayville State University in August of 1989. She currently holds the title Professor of Education and is chair of the Division of Education and Psychology. She is also director of graduate studies. From 1995-2010, Dr. Bagstad served as Mayville State’s National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) coordinator.

In a career that has spanned 43 years (including graduate school at the University of North Dakota), Nannette has had only five jobs. She spent five years at Willow City (N.D.) High School, three years at Binford (N.D.) High School, two years with Griggs-Steele-Traill (N.D.) Educational Services, six years at Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn., and finally, 23 years at Mayville State University.

In addition to her teaching duties at Mayville, Bagstad has been a member of the North Dakota Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, serving as secretary/treasurer of the organization for two years. She has had the responsibility of organizing and overseeing the distance elementary education program offered by Mayville State University on campuses at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake, N.D., Williston (N.D.) State College, and North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D. since 2005.

Named the 1993-1994 MSU Teacher of the Year, Bagstad has worked on numerous campus committees as well. Her work on the contractors committee for the education/psychology building marks a career highlight for her. The recently completed Division of Education and Psychology building is now occupied and located in the place she had envisioned for years.

Nannette’s association with Mayville State began long before she became a faculty member. She came to Mayville State as a freshman in the 1960s, when registering for classes meant meeting with your faculty adviser in the campus library, securing a signed form, and standing in a long line, often to get to the front of the line and find out your chosen classes were filled. Times have changed. Now students can go to their notebook computers and register after meeting with their advisers … one-stop shopping!

As a college student, Bagstad lived across the street from West Hall with her mom, who reminded her often what a privilege it was to be in college. Nannette was a first generation student, the first in her family to graduate from high school and the second to graduate from Mayville State.

Dr. Bagstad cites the age of technology as a highlight in the changes she’s experienced during her career. She never thought it would happen when a friend told her several years ago that some day she’d teach her classes over the computer. “But here we are,” she said, “offering distance classes to students nationally and internationally.”

In reflecting on her time at Mayville State, Nannette says she is proud of the reputation that Mayville State has maintained. “When I meet with transfers or prospective students, I usually ask, ‘Why are you considering Mayville State?’ The answer invariably is because of its reputation for training teachers.”

She is happy to have been affiliated with an institution where everyone works together to accomplish what sometimes seems impossible. “No matter what challenge is placed in our path, we are resilient. Who would have thought that we could lift ourselves out of nearly one million dollars in deficits, rebound, renovate the library, science building, and Agassiz Hall … and build an addition that would become a new home for the Division of Education and Psychology?”

Nannette says she is ready for retirement and will seek sufficient sleep, read books, and focus on genealogy and new hobbies. She promises to return to the campus occasionally as she is leaving her Kuerig to her dear friends, so she’ll have to stop by for a cup of coffee.

Darryl Gulbranson grew up knowing Mayville State

Darryl Gulbranson, affectionately known as “Gub,” is an associate professor of mathematics. He began his employment as a full time Mayville State faculty member in the fall of 1989. He had previously been a faculty member at Mayville State in 1966-67 as a replacement for the about-to-be Dr. Merwin Lyng, who was completing his doctoral program at Ohio State at the time.

In additional to fulfilling his teaching duties, Gub has advised students, served on committees, and also served as a vice president of the faculty senate for a brief period. He volunteered as a golf coach, before he’d even played the game. “Naturally,” he says, “our ‘successes’ were minimal.”

Gub grew up knowing Mayville State. “While growing up in ‘Mayberry,’ Mayville State was my primary mode for entertainment. I attended virtually all of the games, concerts, plays, (and even a few beer busts), without ever paying for any of them. Later, I was indeed fortunate to become a student at Mayville State, where I received a quality education taught by several excellent inspirational teachers, and was able to participate in several sports under a couple of legendary coaches.”

Darryl is a three-time inductee into the Mayville State Athletic Hall of Fame. He was honored as an individual in 1997, and he was a member of teams that have been inducted as well, specifically, the 1958 baseball team that competed in a national tournament and the 1961 undefeated football team. He has three times been selected “Teacher of the Year” by the MSU Student Senate. Gub received the MSU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011.

Gulbranson summed up his Mayville State experience by saying, “Mayville State has been good to me for a long, long time. It’s been a privilege and an honor for me to return ‘home’ to MSU and close the final chapter of my professional career where it actually began. It’s all been a joy!”

Terry Kemmer proud to be a Mayville State Comet

Terry Kemmer will retire as a professor of business, after having moved through the faculty ranks beginning as an assistant professor at Mayville State in September of 1981. In addition to being a classroom teacher, Kemmer has supervised student teachers and interns and been an academic adviser. He has served as chair of the Division of Business and Computer Information Systems, in addition to being an off-site course instructor and an online course developer and instructor.

Beyond the classroom, Kemmer has served as adviser to a number of campus organizations, including Student Senate, Phi Beta Lambda, the collegiate business club, and BAC (Business Administration Club). He was the first-ever faculty president for Faculty Association, serving three two-year terms. He has served on a number of campus faculty association and administrative committees, including NCA and NCATE accreditation committees.

Terry was a member of the Total Quality Management (TQM) steering committee and served as a seminar leader and trainer on this topic. Kemmer was a lead for Mayville State’s Success II curriculum streamlining process, as well as the writing across the curriculum program. He organized and developed the highly successful Mayville State University and Lake Region State College business administration remote program partnership and chaired the task force for the development of Mayville State’s IT certificate.

For the benefit of Mayville State students, Kemmer organized and developed campus-wide job search training seminars. He took on consulting work for local and state organizations, as well as for private corporations, utilizing teams of students to get the job done while giving them invaluable experience.

Terry Kemmer has been named Mayville State University Teacher of the Year three times, and has been nominated for the award every year since it was established in the 1988-1989 school year. He was a recipient of the Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award and was a nominee for the Mountain Plains Business Education Association Outstanding University Professor Award. In addition, Kemmer has been the NDPEA Chapter 46 Employee of the Year and Phi Beta Lambda Advisor of the Year.

Kemmer cites his involvement in the Mountain Plains Business Education Association and the North Dakota Business and Office Education Association, regional and state professional organizations, respectively, as a career highlight. He served in leadership roles for both groups.

Terry says that because of the Bush Foundation Instructional Improvement grants, his own professional growth and development was greatly enhanced. Through his successful classroom teaching, “Kemmer classes” have become legendary, and many students claim to have been “Kemmerized.” The success of his graduates from the business and computer information systems programs is a source of great pride, and he enjoys maintaining relationships with his former students.

During his 31-year career at Mayville State, Terry Kemmer has experienced the management style of six different university presidents and interim presidents, and three institutional name changes – Mayville State College, State University of North Dakota-Mayville, and Mayville State University. Early in his career, students were taught keyboarding on manual typewriters, then electric typewriters, self-correcting electronic typewriters, and finally desktop computers. When he began teaching, classroom instruction was complemented with overhead projectors. PowerPoint slides came later. Now smart boards are the norm. He used to have to tell students to remove their baseball caps when they came to class, now they come to class wearing ear buds. Students used to be equipped with books and paper. Now they have computers, cell phones, and iPads. Handouts were once made on fluid duplicators. Then there were photocopiers that punch, staple, and collate. Now electronic handouts are made available via various learning management systems. Through all of these changes, Mr. Kemmer says, “The ‘basic kid’ has not changed, but his or her environment certainly has.”

As he prepares to celebrate his last commencement as a current faculty member, Kemmer reflects by saying, “I am proud to be a Valley City State University Viking, but I am even prouder to be a Mayville State Comet. It feels great to have impacted Mayville State University, the Division of Business and CIS, and the thousands of students who have entered my classroom. I have left my mark, and I am proud to have had my teaching experience enhanced because of the innovative thinking at Mayville State University.”

Pete Young uses his life experience in teaching college students

Pete Young began his role as a part-time lecturer teaching social science classes in the Division of Liberal Arts in the fall semester of 2001. Teaching at Mayville State was a retirement job for Young, who had already finished a career as a pastor. He served the United Church of Christ in Mayville for many years.

In 2005, Young was able to attend an international conference on problem based learning in Finland with his Mayville State colleagues. He says he enjoyed the experience very much and considers it to be a highlight of his teaching stint at Mayville State.

Always members of the Mayville State family

While Bagstad, Gulbranson, Kemmer, and Young are leaving the ranks as current faculty, they will always be a part of the Mayville State family. Bagstad, Gulbranson, and Kemmer have been bestowed the distinction of emeritus faculty. They were awarded certificates acknowledging this distinction at MSU’s annual employee recognition banquet held Thursday evening, May 3, 2012.

The public will have an opportunity to thank this year’s faculty retirees at an open house reception planned for Friday, June 22, 2012. The Alumni Association will be hosting the event as part of their annual Alumni Day activities. The reception will be held from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Mayville Golf Course. Everyone is welcome to attend. Polar Communications is sponsoring the open house, together with the Mayville State alumni of Pembina County/Hoople. This year marks the 20^th anniversary of the Pembina County/Hoople alumni group.