David Beaulieu, Professor, CEHSP

Professor David Beaulieu has worked in the Department of Education for a decade, serving as the Ruth A. Myers Center for Indigenous Education Endowed Chair. An enrolled member of the White Earth Band of Chippewa, Beaulieu’s career in American Indian education spans more than four decades. He’s also a professor emeritus of education policy studies at Arizona State University. In 2019, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) awarded Beaulieu a Lifetime Achievement Award for his “lifetime of work, service, and dedication for Native education.” Along with this recognition, the NIEA launched the Dr. David Beaulieu Legacy Scholarship, designated for Native college students in the final two years of undergraduate degrees in education, policy, political science, or public administration. As director of Indian education with the Minnesota Department of Education in the 1980s, Beaulieu worked closely with Ruth Myers, the “grandmother of Indian education in Minnesota,” to implement important changes to American Indian education policy. He also served as Minnesota’s Commissioner of Human Rights under Governor Arne Carlson in the 1990s. 

Kent Brorson, Associate Professor, CEHSP

Associate Professor Kent Brorson will retire in May after 24 years as a faculty member in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. At UMD, he primarily taught courses related to language development and disorders and a variety of other courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition to teaching courses, Brorson was responsible for the clinical instruction of students in clinical practicum experiences. He also served as an academic advisor for countless graduate student’s research projects, many of which were presented at national conventions. 

Steve Castleberry, Marketing, LSBE

Dr. Castleberry joined the Labovitz School of Business and Economics faculty in 1992 as a  Professor of Marketing and Business Ethics. Castleberry has published 56 refereed journal articles in national and international publications including and co-authored a best-selling textbook (in English, Spanish and Chinese editions) entitled Selling: Building Partnerships, now in its tenth edition. Castelberry’s honors include the University of Minnesota Horace T. Morse Distinguished Teaching Award, UMD Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, Hormel Meritorious Teaching Award, Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year Award, Ideal Industries Excellence in Teaching Award, Merrell Dow Outstanding Teacher of the Year, NCR Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Undergraduate Program, UMD Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award and the LSBE Faculty Service Award. Since Fall of 2012 he’s also served as the Faculty Athletic Representative for Bulldog Athletics. Prior to his arrival at UMD, he held positions at Northern Illinois University (UARCO Professor of Sales and Marketing endowed chair) and the University of Georgia.

Mark Harvey, Theatre, CAHSS

Mark Harvey came to UMD in 1983 immediately following graduation from Indiana University with a Masters in Fine Art degree in Theatrical Lighting Design. He served as the staff technical coordinator for the Marshall Performing Arts Center for two years before joining the Department of Theatre faculty. Tenured in 1991, Mark has designed lighting or sound for over 200 theatre, opera, and dance productions and supervised another 200 student designs over a 38-year period. Before becoming Department Head in 2011, Mark served as Managing Director for UMD’s Minnesota Repertory Theatre in 1987 and 1988, and Director of the Study in England Programme from 1992-93. He’s held guest design residencies at the University of South Carolina and the University of Northern Iowa, among others, and served as a lighting consultant regularly for the past 35 years. Mark looks forward to continuing his research in the history of dance lighting.

Fay Maas, Psychology, CEHSP

Fay Maas has always been interested in development and research, although not always human development. Before earning a Ph.D., she held positions as a grower in large greenhouses and garden centers. While an undergraduate in psychology, Maas began working in an elementary school as a teacher aide, which piqued her interest in the discipline of psychology. She became intensely interested in school-aged children’s cognitive and language development—an interest that inspired her to continue as a graduate student in developmental psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Maas joined the UMD Department of Psychology in 2002 after completing a Ph.D. in lifespan developmental psychology, with an emphasis on cognitive and language development, at UW–Madison. She previously held part-time faculty positions at UW–Madison and UW–La Crosse. Though she found it difficult to pinpoint one key career accomplishment, Maas says “attaining my promotion to associate professor with indefinite tenure remains one of my proudest accomplishments.” Mass has served on the faculty, as head of the Department of Psychology, and as CEHSP’s associate dean.

Nancy Peterson, Instructor, CAHSS

Nancy Peterson has been employed at UMD since 1977, working at various civil service and P&A positions prior to earning her Master of Education degree. She began her teaching career in 1985, teaching Logic and Critical Thinking courses. She then moved into the Writing Studies Department where she has taught courses in Word Processing, College Writing, upper-level courses in Business and Science and the FMIS Business Communication course. Nancy has co-written texts for ELWS (what was then known as the Composition Department and later, Writing Studies) as well as authored a software user manual for a local computer business.

Carolyn Sigler, ELWS, CAHSS

Carolyn Sigler earned her B.A. in Film Studies from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and a Ph.D. in English from Florida State University in 1992.  She joined UMD's Department of English in 2001, where she taught graduate and undergraduate classes in Children's and nineteenth-century literatures and served for three years as department head. While at UMD, her research focused on intersections of Victorian and children's literatures, literature and the environment, and Adaptation Studies.

Robert Sterner, LLO, SCSE

Robert W. Sterner has spent his career teaching and researching lakes. Bob has published more than 125 papers and books that have been cited more than 20,000 times. He is one of the main founders of the field of Ecological Stoichiometry, which seeks to understand how elemental balances affect organisms and ecosystems. He is a Fellow of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Minnesota, a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute on Ecosystems and Limnology and is President of the Northeastern Association of Marine and Great Lakes Laboratories. Bob has done research on the Great Lakes since 1996 and in 2014, he moved to UMD where he became the Director of the Large Lakes Observatory, the only institution in the world dedicated to the scientific study of all the large lakes on Earth. Bob’s recent work there includes lead authorship of a paper on the Grand Challenges for Research in the Laurentian Great Lakes, the first paper examining cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Superior, and a review on the Biogeochemistry of the Laurentian Great Lakes.

Kay Wohlhuter, Education, CEHSP

Kay Wohlhuter says her dream to be a mathematics teacher began in second grade and was realized in the fall of 1982 when she started as a junior and senior high school mathematics teacher in Lyle, MN. Working with future teachers was not part of her initial career plan but opportunities and support from mentors facilitated Wohlhuter’s journey to graduate school and on to higher education. After teaching at Western Illinois University for 3 years, she returned to Minnesota in the fall of 1998 for the Department of Education’s mathematics education position at UMD. She embraced her role as advisor and appreciated receiving the Dr. William C. Gemeinhardt Award for Outstanding Advisement in 2001. Mathematics education professional organizations played an invaluable role in Wohlhuter’s development as a mathematics educator. She presented at conferences, served on committees, and engaged in mathematics education leadership opportunities, including the Minnesota Council of Teachers of Mathematics board, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics board, and the Research Council on Mathematics Learning board—both as a member and as president. She mainly worked in the secondary Teaching Mathematics program but also taught classes in the Early Childhood and Integrated Elementary and Special Education programs.

Additional Retirees

Nigel Wattrus, Earth & Env. Science/LLO, SCSE