President Earl H. Potter III delivers his fall 2013 convocation remarks. Photo by Adam Hammer ’05
Since 1869 when Principal Ira Moore and five teachers opened St. Cloud Normal School to our first 50 students, faculty and staff have been leaving their unique footprints on the campus and its community.
Without doubt the foremost component in St. Cloud State’s ability to achieve our mission is the people whose knowledge, talent and dedication to teaching, mentoring and service make an extraordinary education possible.
Our current mission – to prepare our students for life, work and citizenship in the 21st century – continues to be carried out in classrooms, in campus life and in community involvement. It is realized in the academic and life lessons that transform students into successful alumni.
In 144 years 130,000 graduates have left St. Cloud State with memories of special teachers and mentors who breathed life and passion into their educational experience.
Monica Nayenga, office operations manager for the St. Cloud State Faculty Association, and professor Peter Nayenga have raised their family in St. Cloud and built bridges with the community. Submitted photo
One example is Peter Nayenga, who came to St. Cloud State’s history department in 1978, fresh from a year as a Fulbright scholar at the University of North Florida/Florida Junior College. His scholarly journey had been one of overcoming barriers in his native Uganda where Idi Amin’s oppressive policies threatened safety and freedom.
President Charles Graham had the foresight to bring Professor Nayenga to St. Cloud State, where he will begin this year winding down his exceptional career as a teacher, leader and innovator. He arrived on a campus with only a few persons of color and went about creating and sustaining an African Studies program, helping to launch the South Africa study-abroad partnerships and chairing the History Department during turbulent times.
Through 35 years of social evolution and change on our campus, Professor Nayenga met the challenges of teaching African history to students from very different cultural backgrounds with grace, determination and effectiveness. Like so many other exceptional faculty and staff who have left their mark on our St. Cloud State heritage, he influenced the course of countless students’ lives.
As we say goodbye each year to those who have left their unique stamp on our campus, we say hello to a new and increasingly diverse mix of faculty and staff who bring new bodies of knowledge and perspectives to share with colleagues and students.
