Activities with Norway

							Activities with Norway
   The University of Minnesota has a firm and longstanding commitment to international research, teaching, and service.
It has enjoyed a long relationship with the Kingdom of Norway and offers undergraduate and graduate instruction in
Norwegian language, culture, and society. These are highlights of Norway-related activities at the University of Minnesota.


Institutional Exchanges and Programs
    •    Norwegian University of Science and Technology: NTNU was an early partner with the University of Minnesota through
         a system wide exchange of students, the International Reciprocal Student Exchange Program (IRSEP), for more than
         twenty years. The current student program has evolved to the graduate level where it is funded by the Fulbright
         program. The Institute of Technology has engaged in an exchange of faculty and students with NTNU also.
    •    Nord-Trøndelag University College and the Department of Forest Resources
    •    Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Department of Electrical Engineering
    •    Norwegian University of Science and Technology Medical School and the U of M Medical School
    •    Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University-wide agreement
    •    Sør-Trøndelag University College and the Institute of Technology
    •    University of Bergen and the Department of Psychology
    •    University of Bergen and the School of Dentistry
    •    University of Bergen, University-wide agreement
    •    University of Oslo and the U of M Medical School
    •    University of Oslo and the Institute of Technology
    •    University of Oslo, University-wide agreement
    •    Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the College of Biological Sciences


Curriculum
  The University of Minnesota offers an undergraduate major in Scandinavian Studies and a minor in Norwegian. Graduate
programs include an M.A. degree in Scandinavian Studies and a joint-track Ph.D. in German and Scandinavian Studies
with an emphasis in either area. Academic programs and faculty in Norwegian are part of the Department of German,
Scandinavian, and Dutch, which was among the earliest foreign language and literature faculties established at the University.
The University has one tenured associate professor in Scandinavian, Monika Zagar, with a strong focus on Norway and two
language lecturers in Norwegian.


Centers and Resources
  In fall 2005, the University of Minnesota received a gift of $750,000 from the government of Norway to endow a faculty
position in the fields of renewable energy and microbial genomics. The Norwegian Centennial Interdisciplinary Chair builds
on collaborative research between the University of Minnesota and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and supports
the work that the University has already begun through a Presidential Initiative on the Environment and Renewable Energy
(PIERE).
Centers and Resources, cont.
  The European Studies Consortium (ESC), established in 2000 in the College of Liberal Arts, supports activities in all
disciplines that develop expertise and scholarship on European culture, economics, and society. ESC supports projects,
speakers, and courses that anticipate future political and cultural developments in Europe, with special consideration to
projects that involve young scholars and future teachers through travel related to research and language study. The European
Studies Consortium has been a recipient of funding as a National Resource Center in Western European Studies by the U.S.
Department of Education under Title VI of the Higher Education Act.

   The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota, designated as one of
seven National Language Resource Centers in the United States, houses a project for less commonly taught languages (LCTL).
The LCTL project keeps a database of course offerings, including Norwegian, at about 2,000 institutions in North America,
sponsors seven listservs for LCTL teachers, and disseminates teaching resources and information online. Louis Janus, who
also teaches Norwegian at the University, coordinates the LCTL program. He is currently the president of Nortana, the
Norwegian Teachers of North America Association.

   The Office of International Programs (OIP) promotes and coordinates University of Minnesota international activities.
It supports international research and exchanges of the faculty, coordinates opportunities abroad for students, provides
government documentation and advising for foreign nationals at the University through its International Student and Scholar
Services (ISSS), and facilitates interaction between U.S. and foreign nationals.

   With more than 225,000 printed publications relating to Scandinavia, the Scandinavian-studies collections at the
University of Minnesota Libraries are one of the largest, and probably best known, in North America. They constitute a unique
library resource for scholars, students, researchers, and interested laypersons. Scandinavian Studies focuses on the five
Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—as well as outlying areas like the Færoe Islands and
Greenland. The collections are strongest in art, folklore, history, language, literature, and the social sciences.

    •    Special Collections include an extensive and growing collection of Bygdebøker—Norwegian community and village
         histories that contain extensive personal-name registers. The Government Documents unit holds a significant
         collection of publications from the Scandinavian parliaments. The James Ford Bell collection of rare materials
         documents the expansion of Europe from 1400 to 1800 and includes Scandinavia.

    •    Rare Books and Special Collections includes the Tell G. Dahllöf Collection of Swedish-Americana, the Isak Dinesen
         Collection, and the Alrik and Clyonne Gustafson Collection (Pär Lagerkvist and August Strindberg). The collection
         also includes significant holdings of rare books and source documents in Norwegian history, travel accounts,
         Norwegian-American immigrant history, Norwegian literature and folklore, as well as a comprehensive collection of
         Norwegian translations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

    •    The Children’s Literature Research Collection includes Norwegian language children’s books, translations of Norwegian
         children’s books into English, books with Norwegian settings, and Norwegian American authors’ books and
         manuscripts art. Norwegian Princess Martha Louise and illustrator Svein Nyhus offered public presentations in the
         Twin Cities in April 2006 about their new book “Why Kings and Queens Don’t Wear Crowns.”

    •    University Archives hold the papers of Theodore Blegen, a long-time and prominent member of the history
         department. His research focused on the Norwegian immigrant experience and the making of Minnesota.
Faculty and Staff Activity
   University of Minnesota faculty and staff pursue varied activities abroad, collaborating with international colleagues,
strengthening exchanges, internationalizing the curriculum, and attending conferences.

College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences:
•   Mike Reese (Morris Research and Outreach Center) is working with Norsk Hydro, which converts wind energy to
    hydrogen for use as electricity.
•   Shri Ramaswamy (Department of Bio-Based Products) works with NTNU–PFI Research Center on pulp and paper research.
•   Howard Hoganson (North Central Research and Outreach Center) works with Dr. Birger Solberg at the Norwegian
    Research Council in the areas of forestry in Norway and genomics and renewal energy. Hoganson also has met with
    Rector Knut Hove of the Agricultural University of Norway to discuss a potential student exchange program.
•   Brian Steffenson (Department of Plant Pathology) works with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences on the Fusarium
    Head Blight Research Program.
•   Greg Cuomo (Morris Research and Outreach Center) works with Dag Overbro, who attended the WCROC Energy
    Program in Minnesota in February 2006.
•   Michael Kilgore (Department of Forest Resources) has lectured at the University of Life Sciences in Ås, conducts research
    on comparative forest management policies/practices in the U.S. and Norway with the Department of Forest & Natural
    Resource Policy within Norway’s Ministry of Agriculture, and is working with the Forest Owners’ Federation on forest
    certification systems.
•   Alan Ek (Department of Forest Resources) has been involved in the exchange program with Nord-Trøndelag College and
    has had a long-standing informal relationship with Dr. Birger Solberg at the Norwegian Research Council regarding bio-
    energy resources. Ek has visited Norway several times as a recipient of the Nordic Countries Fulbright.

College of Biological Sciences:
•   Allen Hooper (Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics) has written a manuscript with Kristoffer
    Andersson, a former post-doc at the University of Minnesota and now a professor at the University of Oslo.
•   Jim Cotner (Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior) has been collaborating with two microbiologists at the University of
    Bergen—Mikal Heldal and Frede Thingstad. Cotner was in Bergen in 2005 working on methods for quantifying the
    elemental composition of individual bacteria in lakes and plans to continue to work with Heldal in the future. Cotner
    calls the lab at Bergen one of the best in the world.
•   George Weiblen (Department of Plant Biology) collaborates with the curator of the Norwegian Arboretum, Dr. Kees Berg, on
    the systematics and taxonomy of the mulberry family (Moraceae) including tropical figs (Ficus). Dr. Berg visited Minnesota
    in April to meet with graduate students and to examine some of the new fig species that Weiblen discovered in New Guinea.
•   Mike Flickinger (Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics and the BioTechnology Institute) has
    two joint grants funded by the Research Council of Norway in collaboration with SINTEF and the National University of
    Science and Technology to collaborate on metabolic engineering of Bacillus methanolicus for the production of lysine from
    methanol for feed and aquaculture.
•   Craig Packer (Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior) is currently working to forge a relationship with The Norwegian Agency
    for Development Cooperation (Norad) through Savannas Forever.
•   David Bernlohr (Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics) has an ongoing interaction with
    colleagues in Akvaforsk and NIFE, which are associated with the University of Life Sciences in Ås and with the University
    of Bergen. This relationship began with graduate student exchanges and led to Bernlohr’s involvement as a formal
    consultant on a major Norwegian research grant (establishing knowledge within functional genomic and biochemistry
    for optimal use of future fish feed lipid resources), funded by the Norwegian Research Council in 2004.
Faculty and Staff Activity, cont.
•   Dave Zarkower (Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development) is starting a collaborative project with a lab at
    the University of Oslo to look at gene expression in testicular cancer.
•   Gary Nelsestuen (Center for Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics) has a collaboration to study proteomics of pre-eclamsia
    with an investigative team at the University of Bergen. His primary contacts are Drs. Holm Holmsen, Ph.D., and Eirik
    Softeland, M.D., who was a guest at the University of Minnesota in May and June 2005. Nelsestuen was an invited
    lecturer at the University of Bergen in Nov. 2005. In addition, he collaborates with Dr. Bjarne Osterud, University of
    Tromsø, for proteomic study of persons with hyperactive platelets.

College of Human Ecology:
•   Jean Quam (School of Social Work) was at the University of Trondheim on a Fulbright in 1987. From that visit, two
    faculty—Professor Hans Gøran Eriksson, Sør-Trøndelag College, and Professor Mari-Anne Zahl, Norwegian University of
    Science and Technology—have done sabbaticals at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Eriksson also earned his doctorate
    from the University of Minnesota on one of his trips. Faculty members have also come for shorter visits from Oslo and
    from Stavanger. In 2001, Quam took a group of 17 graduate students to Norway and visited social work programs and
    agencies in Oslo, Trondheim, Stavanger, and Bergen.

College of Liberal Arts:
•   Robert Kvavik (Department of Political Science and Associate Vice President) works closely with the Universities of Oslo
    and Bergen on information technology and higher education. He has written extensively on Norwegian politics and, over
    almost 40 years at the University of Minnesota, taught hundreds of students about the culture and politics of Norway.
    He is a member of the Norwegian Forum to promote cooperation between Norway and the United States. He is fluent in
    Norwegian and a sometime resident of Flekkefjord in Southern Norway. Kvavik has taught at the University of Oslo.
•   Gloria Leon (Psychology) has worked with the University of Bergen on research related to health in the polar areas.
•   Bruce Overmier (Psychology) has conducted joint research and published papers with faculty from the Institute of Biological
    and Medical Psychology at the University of Bergen on the psychosomatic basis of gastric ulcers using an animal model.
•   Monika Zagar (Department of German, Scandinavian, and Dutch) has collaborated with professors Henning Wærp
    and Nils Magne Knutsen at the University of Tromsø; Prof. Sarah Paulsen at Science and Technology University in
    Trondheim; and Prof. Ingeborg Kongslien at the University of Oslo. She has served at Ph.D. examinations (Tromsø
    University and Trondheim University) and on tenure and promotion committees (University of Oslo). She has attended
    conferences and workshops on Knut Hamsun in Norway and collaborated on a project with Prof. Nils Roll-Hansen from
    the philosophy department at Oslo University. Zagar spent spring 2005 in Oslo conducting research at the Resistance
    Museum for her book on Knut Hamsun.

Institute of Technology:
•   Ned Mohan and colleagues in the Institute of Technology are collaborating with faculty at the Norwegian University of
    Science and Technology, specifically Tore Undeland and Terje Gjengedal.

University Libraries:
•   Karen Nelson Hoyle, curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collection, holds a master’s degree in Scandinavian
    Studies and visited the Norwegian Children’s Book Institute in Oslo after participating in the International Research
    Society in Children’s Literature Conference in Kristiansand in 2003.
•   Charles Spetland, University Libraries Collection Development Officer, spent the 1994-95 academic year on leave in
    Norway, working on a special project in the Norwegian American Collection at the National Library of Norway in Oslo,
    and visiting a variety of libraries around the country investigating Norwegian library use of the then fledgling internet.
University of Minnesota Students in Norway
  The University’s Learning Abroad Center currently offers the following opportunities for students to study in Norway:

    •    From Cod to Crude: International Business in Norway global seminar (May 2006)
    •    Business Exchange in Norway between the Norwegian School of Management, Oslo, and the Carlson School of
         Management
    •    Engineering & Sciences Exchange in Norway between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the
         Institute of Technology
    •    Environment & Natural Resources Exchange in Norway between Nord-Trøndelag University College and the College of
         Natural Resources
    •    Natural History of Norway seminar (May 2006) at Nord-Trøndelag University College, organized by the College of
         Natural Resources
    •    Norway: Scandinavian Urban Studies Term, offered at the University of Oslo in cosponsorship with the Higher
         Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA)
    •    Fortress Europe: Immigration & Globalization in the New Europe, offered at the University of Oslo in cosponsorship
         with the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA)

  The Institute of Technology will offer a global seminar in Norway, Iceland, and Denmark in May 2006: Energy Production
Methods: Wind, Hydro, Salt-Power, Coal, and Wave-Power Energy. Assistant Professor Paul Imbertson (electrical and computer
engineering) will lead a seminar that will study existing and planned energy production methods and energy usage in
Scandinavia.

   The Torske Klubben Fellowship for Minnesota residents supports outstanding graduate students currently enrolled in any
field in the University of Minnesota Graduate School to study in Norway. The stipend is $12,000 for the academic year, plus
full tuition.


Norwegian Nationals at the University of Minnesota
  Eighteen Norwegian students are currently studying at the University of Minnesota—three undergraduate, nine graduate,
and six non-degree students.

  Torske Klubben Fellowships are available to Norwegian citizens for graduate study in the University of Minnesota Graduate
School. The Fellowship is worth $12,000 for the academic year and is supplemented by a full non-resident tuition
scholarship.

  Den Norske Klubben is a registered student organization that provides an opportunity for students to celebrate Norwegian
and Norwegian-American culture and to provide a forum for students to practice Norwegian regardless of ability.


Alumni
  University of Minnesota alumni ties and activities in Norway are numerous and diverse, including Norwegian nationals who have
maintained strong interest and activities with Minnesota, as well as Minnesota-born alumni, some of Norwegian ancestry, who pursue
business and cultural relationships in Norway.

  Benson Whitney, a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, is the U.S. Ambassador to Norway.

  Jostein Mykletun, who earned a master’s (1972) and Ph.D. (1975) in political science/international relations from the
University of Minnesota, was named a recipient of the University’s Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals in
2006. He is deputy director general of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He played an integral role in structuring
and obtaining funding for “The Norwegian Centennial Interdisciplinary Chair” at the University of Minnesota.
Alumni, cont.
  Claus Solberg was a distinguished Fogarty International Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Minnesota School
of Public Health and Medical School from 1969 to 1970. He has subsequently been a mentor for University of Minnesota
medical students who take a clinical elective at Bergen University in Norway. He was named a recipient of the University’s
Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals in 2003.

  Haakon Fossen (Ph.D. ’92) is professor of geology at the University of Bergen.

 One of the first graduates of the University of Minnesota’s program in genetic counseling, Trine Levin Bodd, is working at the
Norwegian Radiumhospital providing genetic counseling services to patients and families at high risk for cancer.


Community Resources
  Eighteen men from Trondheim, Selbu, Oslo, Bergen, and Valdres founded the Sons of Norway, a fraternal benefit society
for Norwegians and persons of Norwegian descent, in Minneapolis in 1895. Today, it is the largest Norwegian-American
organization in the world with more than 400 lodges and 61,000 members throughout the United States, Canada, and
Norway. The organization provides Norwegian arts and language programs, Viking magazine, scholarships, summer
programs, and sports events from its headquarters in Minneapolis.

  The Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Minneapolis was established in 1948, but Norway has had consular representation
in the Twin Cities since 1906. The Consulate General offers services for the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana,
Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The current Consul General, Head of Mission, in Minneapolis is Rolf
W. Hansen. The Consulate has been very supportive of University of Minnesota activities relating to Norway and Scandinavia.
In the Ibsen year 2006, it has helped bring Professor Toril Moi of Duke University to the Department of German,
Scandinavian, and Dutch.




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