Congratulations to Metro State University's Spring Emeriti honorees. The following individuals have demonstrated continued dedication to Metro State and a willingness to go above and beyond. They leave powerful legacies of service and selflessness, and we ask you to join us in thanking them for their contributions to the university and in wishing them each a joyful, fulfilling retirement.
David Bahn—Professor Emeritus
For more than twenty years at Metro State, David Bahn has been an outstanding colleague and dedicated teacher for the Management Information Services (MIS) Department. His tireless work to create and maintain internal ‘master’ courses for onboarding resident and community faculty in the department have been a groundbreaking service, while his work in curricular and program design continues to set a fine example for new faculty to follow.
Dr. Bahn’s contributions to scholarship are equally admirable, with significant publications in the areas of information technology and competitive advantage with a focus on “Clicks and Mortar” and “Designer-user communication and business process re-engineering and business process improvement.
In addition to his contributions to curriculum and scholarship, Dr. Bahn has served the university as member and chair of many committees and task forces, served as a founding member of the iTEACH conference committee, predecessor to the MN E-Learning summit, and worked with the Minnesota State Academic Software Committee for several years, particularly during the difficult early years of D2L adoption.
Dr. Bahn has also been active as a Bible and Talmud instructor in the Twin Cities Jewish community for 25 years, spending a decade working in various capacities on behalf of the Association of Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools accreditation commission.
Nadine Haley—Professor Emerita
As an anchor of the School of Urban Education since its inception, Dr. Nadine Haley has parlayed a deep passion for empowering student success and mentorship of newer faculty into a tireless well of energy, keeping the School of Urban Education on track and ensuring accreditation standards are met. Her work in curriculum development, instruction, and developing the Write to Teach program has been critical in making the School of Urban Education what it is today, culminating in her 2014 Excellence in Teaching Award.
Outside the classroom, Dr. Haley’s focus on social justice and equity has led her to work on some of the university’s most impactful projects, such as the Real Talk: Systemic Racism series and the Women of Color in Leadership speaker series. In addition to her work as a department chair, as an Inter-Faculty Organization leader, and frequent search committee member, she is also active with the American Educational Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, National Association for Multicultural Education, Pi Lamda Theta International Honor Society, and the Minnesota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Beverly Hill—Professor Emerita
Beverly Hill’s 35 years of service at Metro State as an educator, advisor, and colleague demonstrate the best of the university’s cross-disciplinary approach to education. Over her many years at Metro State, Dr. Hill has continually exemplified the value of a broad, inter-disciplinary perspective and a willingness to engage students in the material in creative and even playful ways. Her work in the advisory and steering committees of both the Liberal Arts major and the Master of Liberal Studies programs wedded those perspectives neatly, providing ample opportunity for course creation, embrace of instruction modalities, and the demonstration of both practical consideration and personal enrichment as valid reasons to engage in higher education.
Dr. Hill’s scholarly works are too great in number to list out individually, but her diligent scholarship has been instrumental in the humanities, linguistics, English-as-a-Second Language, and cultural studies at Metro State. Beyind the classroom, Dr. Hill has been committed to working with students in an advisory capacity, helping them navigate individual barriers and cultural obstacles to improve educational outcomes. In 2010, her work as an advisor was recognized with the Carol C. Ryan Excellence in Advising Award.
As a colleague, Dr. Hill dedicated a great deal of energy to working in various roles in the Inter-Faculty Organization (IFO), as a council representative, college convener, IFO vice president, and member and chair of the state IFO Feminist Issues Committee, as well as serving eight years as a statewide IFO representative on the Minnesota State Colleges and Univerisites Academic and Student Affairs Policy Council.
David O'Hara—Professor Emeritus
Over the course of thirty years at Metro State’s College of Management, David O’Hara has been a leader, an example for incoming and junior faculty, a dedicated teacher, and the best possible colleague. His mentorship of fellow faculty members has been singled out by colleagues as exceptional, with several crediting his guidance with empowering their successes at Metro State. That attention to support also extended to students, and Professor O’Hara’s chairing of the search that hired Paul Hesterman as director of advising in the College of Management is noted as critical in the creation of an advising team that continues to serve as a model for the rest of the university.
As an instructor, Professor O’Hara served for many years as the sole resident faculty member in economics and continued as curriculum coordinator for the department following the hiring of an additional resident faculty economist. Working inter-departmentally, he also served on a team conducting an annual survey on confidence in local government, often discussing the results of this survey on WCCO.
In the words of colleague Dr. Jenny Dosch, “Over his many years of service to the university and the college of Management, David has provided unwavering focus on student success and faculty support while serving the university’s mission and vision. David will be missed by students, faculty, and especially his colleagues in College of Management who work with him most closely.”
In retirement, Professor O’Hara plans to attend even more Gopher men’s and women’s hockey games, go to even more shows at First Avenue and the Turf Club, and escape Minnesota for a few weeks every winter.
Carol Reid—Professor Emerita
In her 16 years of service at Metro State, Carol Reid has been a key faculty member in the Department of Nursing, particularly in her work leading and refining the university’s use of healthcare simulation technology and National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) preparation. Dr. Reid exemplified the kind of continuous improvement the university emphasizes for its students, obtaining Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator and Certified Nurse Educator credentials, as well as maintaining her own Registered Nurse licensure and completing her PhD. As a valued educator, advisor, peer reviewer, study author, and presenter at national conferences, she demonstrated excellence at every level of academic nursing. She was also active in the community, particularly in university initiatives such as winter gift giving and scholarships and helped found Metro State’s Omega Sigma chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International nursing honor society.
In her retirement, Dr. Reid plans to spend a lot of time with family, including her 10-month-old grandson and 98-year-old mom. Eventually, she will do some traveling, but for now she is sticking close to home.
Susan Rydell—Professor Emerita
Susan Rydell is a foundational figure at Metro State University, spanning the time from the university’s beginnings as Minnesota Metropolitan State College to the present. Her 53-year career as an instructor began with guiding students in the development of degree plans at a time when the university offered no formal courses. Dr. Rydell’s time as an instructor for what is now the Individualized Studies BA has been a constant through those years, while also taking on administrative roles as needed, including founding dean of the Minneapolis campus in 1974, coordinating faculty development as associate dean of learning resources in the 1970s and 1980s, and interim dean of what was at the time called First College (now College of Individualized Studies).
In 1993, Dr. Rydell became the founding chair of the Psychology Department, housed in what was then called the College of Professional Studies (CSPS), overseeing the creation of one of the university’s leading programs. She was named interim dean of CSPS in 1995, leading it through its formative years.
Dr. Rydell’s work as a fundraiser and advocate has been equally prolific and impactful, including procuring funding for the university’s Psychology Lab, as well as securing grants from the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, the Bush Foundation, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, and the Minnesota Departments of Human Services and Education. Her work funded theory seminars for such programs as the Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children Director’s credential, the Early Childhood Studies BAS, and the Early Childhood Experiential Learning Assessment program. Dr. Rydell was also instrumental in securing funding to create the Minnesota Center for Professional Development in 2007.
Outside of Metro State, Dr. Rydell has been an active member of the Minnesota Psychological Association (MPA) for many years, serving as president, as editor of The Minnesota Psychologist for 30 years, chairing the MPA’s education and training committee, and countless other roles. Her long association with the MPA has been instrumental in the organization’s more than 25-year partnership with Metro State on continuing education programming.
In the words of her nomination letter, ‘we will ask you to consider Dr. Rydell’s account of the start of Metro State. “In December, 1971 at Metro State, there were only a handful of faculty and staff, a few desks, a typewriter, and no money. Admission requirements and forms, degree requirements, and a curriculum were among the things that needed to be developed for the admission of the first 50 students in February, 1972.” Among the things Dr. Rydell worked on in those first few years were developing and coordinating several areas including: the first catalog; class schedule; community faculty orientation, training and development programs; first community faculty handbook; classroom facility identification; room scheduling; audio-visual services, assessment of experiential learning criteria and options, etc. To say that Dr. Rydell has done it all at Metro State is not embellishment.’
Lupe Sanchez—Staff Emerita
For more than three decades, Guadalupe “Lupe” Sánchez has held important administrative roles in the Minnesota State System, including several years in Metro State’s then-Equal Opportunity and Diversity Office, and since 2016 as the School of Urban Education (UED) Office Manager. In her most recent role, she is noted to have played a critical part in helping UED, the four deans to have served in that time, dozens of resident and community faculty, and staff meet the needs of students.
In addition to the already demanding work of managing the UED office, Sánchez has deftly handled campus moves, multiple deans, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the uprising in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Through it all, she remained a stabilizing presence of commitment and professionalism.
Particularly, Sánchez has been singled out as playing a key role in meeting UED student, staff, and faculty needs as UED transitioned to the Minneapolis College campus from Midway, and then to a different Minneapolis College location. In the words of her colleagues, “She has been an excellent ambassador and liaison with Minneapolis College facilities, scheduling and public safety personnel, with Metro State Facilities and Scheduling Office and with other key units such as Financial Management, Admissions, Records/Registration and the Bookstore and external school district partners.”
Lastly, Sánchez has been a crucial manager of the UED budget for eight years, consistently keeping expenses under budget and performing the crucial role of creating/inputting complex contracts and monitoring execution of agreements in contracts and invoices in a timely manner with UED’s many school partners and vendors that need to be uploaded in an online system of Marketplace for e-signatures.
In retirement, Sánchez sees future, continued hope, good health, inspiration/motivation, new energy, volunteering, and serving communities. But, most important, family—her children—David, Toni, Niki, Brenda, and her grandchildren whom she plans to focus on and give more of me to.
“While God's grace is a free gift, it does not have an expiration date and we don't have to return it. We can run to the well of grace continuously for ourselves and extend that same grace to others in love.”
Most of all, she thanks you, her friends—her Metro State family, and special thanks to her colleagues in the School of Urban Education for supporting her, for trusting her to serve you, and for being the closest family of friends at the university.