2022 Spring Retirement Celebration

This spring marks the retirement of several of our colleagues at Metropolitan State University, including those granted emeriti status. Join President Ginny Arthur and the Metropolitan State community in thanking them for their years of service.

• Marcia Anderson, director, Student-directed Learning Office (2021 Emerita)
• Diane DeRosier, creative services supervisor, Marketing and Communications (Emerita)
• Rosa Fagundes, professor and department chair, School of Urban Education (Emerita)
• Phyllis Webster, academic advisor, College of Management (Emerita)

Additional retirees being acknowledged this spring but not attending:

• Susan Honsvall, administrative support specialist, College of Liberal Arts (Emerita)
• Vickie Jauert, administrative support specialist, College of Nursing and Health Sciences
• Lois Larson, director, Financial Aid (Emerita)
• Kathleen Laughlin, professor, College of Liberal Arts (Emerita)
• Susan Amundson Misterek, associate professor, DBA program director, College of Management (Emerita)

Marcia Anderson
Marcia Anderson has, over the course of 47 years as student, faculty, advisor, and director, made as indelible an impression on Metro State University as any individual. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she has been a tireless champion of the institution from the day she arrived to complete her individualized BA degree in 1974 (graduate, 1977).

As mentioned in her emerita nomination, Anderson has been “Metro’s go-to expert on self-directed learning (SDL) in various capacities: Academic Publications Editor and Acting Director of Publications and News Services; Academic Affairs Staff Associate; Admissions Counselor; Academic Advisor; Student-Directed Learning Advisor and Coordinator; and Community Faculty member. She has led the SDL Advisory Committee and retires as inaugural director of the new Student-Directed Learning Office.” In each of these roles, Anderson’s dedication to student success has been the driving force, guiding her advising for student-directed learning and assessment formats, and for students to pursue their individualized learning goals.

In particular, Anderson’s advocacy for Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) policies and procedures has been impactful at both our university and beyond. Her service on MnSCU/Minnesota State system-wide task forces helped guide the creation and implementation of MnSCU’s CPL policies then expanded these concepts through her leadership on the Charting the Future system CPL task force and revised policies and procedures, culminating in the creation of the Credit for Prior Learning Assessment Network, a Minnesota State center of excellence hosted by Metropolitan State for which she served as interim director at launch in 2018–19.

This work has not gone unnoticed. Anderson has garnered both Metro State awards and recognitions from the wider world of higher education. Her work on developing Perspectives 301: Educational Philosophy and Planning, the required course for achieving an Individualized BA, was recognized with the Outstanding Teaching Award in 1988. The Outstanding Employee Award for Innovation followed in 1990, and the Carol C. Ryan Outstanding Advisor Award in 2010. Her accolades also include the 2021 statewide Excellence in Service Award for Administrative and Service Faculty from the Minnesota State Board of Trustees, and most recently the national 2021 Morris T. Keeton Award for service in adult and experiential learning, presented at the annual conference of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning on Nov. 18, 2021.

Retirement is unlikely to slow Anderson down too much, and she plans to continue her dedicated service to Metropolitan State students as a community faculty instructor—after a short, but well-earned, break.

Diane DeRosier
Diane started her career with an on-the-job-training diploma in graphic communications from Dakota County Technical College and a job with Bob Lurtsema at the “Viking Report,” Minneapolis. After a season with the paper, a short time at Ideal Printers, Saint Paul, and an even shorter time at Graph-Tronics, Minneapolis, she went to San Francisco to work in national and international advertising for over 11 years.

DeRosier came back to Minnesota in 1994 to teach typesetting and graphic design at Saint Paul College for another 11 years. During that time, she pursued her individualized studies degree, focusing on media studies, with a minor in studio arts. She received her BA in December of 2005, went to work for Metro State’s Publications Department in May 2006, and received her master’s degree in technical communication in May 2009.

During her time at Metro State, DeRosier was a graphic specialist, graphic designer, art director, interim marketing and communications director (two or three times), website team lead, marketing team lead, and creative services supervisor.

Outside of Metro State, DeRosier owns and runs a custom metal and wood design company, Unruly Acres. She will be focusing her efforts on the company, her 2-acre garden, and her health and well-being.

Rosa Fagundes
Rosa Fagundes’s twenty years of service to Metro State’s School of Urban Education (formerly the Urban Teacher Program) has been marked by exemplary dedication to the success of students, and the subsequent positive impact those students can have on the urban schools they teach in.

Fagundes earned a BA in letters from the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and an MA in English (teaching English to speakers of other languages) and PhD in education from Iowa State University. Her research interests include English as a Second Language, teaching strategies and assessment, and social justice. Fagundes has presented at national and international conferences, and spent a year in Dhaka, Bangladesh as a Fulbright Scholar.

In retirement, Fagundes plans to spend more time with her three grown sons and their families, all living in Minnesota, as well as travelling, trying new foods, and meeting people from various cultures. Rosa’s two decades with Metro gave her strong professional and personal growth in many aspects, and she has always appreciated the constant support of colleagues, interaction with students, and the university’s work in the community.

Susan Honsvall
Susan Honsvall joined Metro State University in 2012 as an administrative support specialist in the College of Arts and Sciences. During her time at the university, she also worked as support staff in the College of Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, and retired as the Library office coordinator in November of 2021. Prior to coming to Metro State Honsvall worked in the Admissions Office at Saint Paul College and in Student Accounts at St. Catherine University.

Honsvall has been committed to contributing to a rich learning environment and positive student experience. She is grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful students, staff, and faculty at Metro State University. She lives in Stillwater, Minn. with her husband, Jim.

Vickie Jauert
Vickie Jauert came to Metro State after 7 years with the State Bar of Texas-Board of Legal Specialization and 24 years with Hamline University's School of Law. Her 8 years at Metro State were spent as one of the main points of contact for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

Jauert earned a BA in history from University of Minnesota Morris, and a masters in public administration from Hamline University. She looks forward to spending time with my husband, family and especially our identical twin granddaughters, McKenna and Katherine.

Lois Larson
Lois Larson began what would be a 40-year financial aid career working at Lutheran Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing. She followed this by serving at Hamline University, Augsburg College, and then transitioning to the Minnesota State system schools, beginning as director of Financial Aid at Century College, before taking the same position at Metro State University.

Larson received her BA in business administration and an MA in leadership from Augsburg University. She earned her doctorate in educational policy and administration from the University of Minnesota.

Originally from the Iron Range, Larson and her husband plan to spend time at their family cabin in Britt, Minn., gardening, fishing, and, of course, cabin maintenance. They hope to travel as they are able but will be happy learning to sleep until 8 a.m. and feeling free to go outside anytime they wish on a beautiful day.

Kathleen A. Laughlin
Kathleen A. Laughlin began her career at Metro State University as assistant professor of women’s history and women’s studies and coordinator of women’s studies in 1993 after receiving a PhD in history from Ohio State University. She retires as professor of history.

Dr. Laughlin is co-editor with Jacqueline Castledine, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, of the anthology “Breaking the Wave: Women, Their Organizations, and Feminism, 1945-1985,” for the New Directions in American History Series, Routledge Press, 2011. Dr. Laughlin’s book “Women’s Work and Public Policy: A History of the Women’s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, 1945-1970,” Northeastern University Press, was published in 2000. She is the author of numerous articles and essays on the history of women's political engagement in the U.S.

Dr. Laughlin’s publications and conference presentations have made important contributions to a revisionist history of the significance of women’s public activism in post-World War II America. Her research on the political activities of women’s organizations during and after World War II debunks the popular myth that women’s rights activism occurred in a wave of mass-based activism in the 1960s after a long period of quiescence.

In addition to her work at Metro State, Dr. Laughlin had been a visiting scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center, Mount Holyoke College, Northampton, Massachusetts; and the Institute for Research on Women, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. She held appointments as adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota in the graduate program at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies.

Phyllis Webster

While the majority of Phyllis Webster’s time at Metro State was spent as an academic advisor in the College of Management, a role which was performed to enduring acclaim, the list of her roles also includes special programs assistant to the vice provost: online programs and developing online resources related to advising; adjunct faculty since 1999 teaching primarily management principles and practices, organizational behavior at the undergraduate and graduate level, and more recently introduction to business.

Webster’s early awards include the 2003 Excellence in Advising Award, 2004 Outstanding Employee Award for Extraordinary Service, and a $5,000 Special Initiative Award for Online Orientation Project Lead. Her decorated career continued with the 2006-07 Center for Transforming Student Services WOW Award, 2007 Outstanding Advising Technology Award at the national level (National Academic Advising Association), 2011 Minnesota Online: Recognition and Appreciation of Dedicated Service, and the 2012 Minnesota State Colleges and University Certificate of Appreciation.

Webster’s time at Metro continued to be recognized in recent years, with a 2016 MSUAASF Excellence in Service Award nominee, 2012 and 2017 Excellence in Advising Award nominee, 2019 MSUAASF Excellence in Service Award at Metropolitan State (nomination forwarded to the system level), and the 2020 Donna Blacker Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Advising.

In Webster’s retirement years, she plans to continue her studies, learning about the environment and pursuing her passions of implementing permaculture principles and a exercising her interest in herbalism.

Note: A date for the fall retirement program and reception will be scheduled later in the year to honor those retiring after August of 2022.