Tidbits - December 2023

The College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) at the University of Minnesota is pleased to announce Holly Menninger as the new executive director of the Bell Museum, effective Jan. 3, 2024. Menninger had been serving as the Bell Museum’s interim executive director since April 2023. Established by the Minnesota legislature in 1872 and held in trust by the University of Minnesota, the Bell Museum is the state’s official natural history museum and planetarium. As the new executive director of the Bell, Menninger will continue to oversee the curation of a scientific research collection containing more than 1.2 million specimens, and the expansion of institutional efforts to engage diverse communities statewide. Previously, Menninger was the Bell’s director of public engagement and science learning for five years.

 

After a four-month nationwide search, the Hamline University Board of Trustees has selected Dr. Kathleen M. Murray to be the 21st president of Hamline University. Dr. Murray will assume her role of Acting/Interim President on Jan. 1, 2024. Dr. Murray will succeed Dr. Fayneese Miller who is retiring after leading the University for the past eight years. 

Dr. Murray brings 40 years of academic and higher education leadership experience to her role at Hamline – as the first female president at Whitman College, provost and dean of the faculty at Macalester College, as provost at Birmingham-Southern College, and abprofessor of piano, dean of the conservatory, and dean of the faculty at Lawrence University. Dr. Murray will be the third consecutive female president of Hamline. Dr. Murray retired in 2022 after seven years as president of Whitman College. Prior to Whitman, Dr. Murray served as provost, dean of the faculty, and professor of music at Macalester College for seven years.

Miller will begin a sabbatical on Jan. 1, 2024, before retiring on June 30, 2024.

 

St. Paul-based Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union announces a three-year sponsorship of the Philanthropy Center in Junior Achievement North’s JA BizTown center (BizTown), an experiential learning lab that hosts around 20,000 Minnesota students each year and is designed to teach children ages 7- 14 about financial literacy and career exploration in a fun and engaging way. This center is a new part of Affinity Plus’s ongoing partnership with Junior Achievement North (1745 University Ave. W).

 

The Creative Change Coalition, which launched in October, will serve as a national hub for connection, collaboration, and resources for place-based, people-powered organizations. Springboard for the Arts encourages organizations that hold these values to join the Coalition, which features ongoing webinars, events, and opportunities for connection at springboardforthearts.org/ccc-join-us/.