Preparing students to be fully active and engaged in the world is a key imperative in the University of Minnesota’s strategic roadmap, Elevate Extraordinary 2030.

With commencement season in full swing, faculty and staff from all five campuses share how their experience as University of Minnesota students readied them for their careers today.

Theresa Helgeson 

B.S. Horticulture, Agriculture and Natural Resources Department, ‘96
Lab Services Coordinator, Agriculture and Natural Resources Department, Crookston campus

Theresa Helgeson first visited the Crookston campus as a high school student to compete in Agriculture and Natural Resources Activities Day, where participants can enter 13 contests from soils and forestry to farm management and food science.

“That was where I found out Crookston had a horticulture program,” says Helgeson.

Her experience as a Crookston student was largely shaped by her excellent horticulture professor, especially Roger Wagner, who was the head of the horticulture program for 30 years.

“I liked how [Wagner] had high expectations, whether it was academic or the application part,” she says. “He made sure one lab activity was tied to another by using other classes like entomology, plant pathology or soil fertility and applying them to horticulture classes.”

After graduating, Helgeson worked in the horticulture industry for a few years before applying for and accepting the lab services coordinator position at Crookston in 2004, which involves coordinating crop schedules and ensuring lab supplies are ready in the greenhouses.

Above all, when she teaches students, she wants them to feel that they’re not just a number, something she appreciated when she was a student thanks to her personable professors and Crookston’s small campus community.

Shane Lueck

B.A. Professional Journalism, African American and African Studies, 13; M.A. Multicultural College Teaching and Learning, ‘15
Communications Specialist, Office of Human Resources, Twin Cities campus

Growing up in small-town Brainerd, Shane Lueck was interested in going to an urban university for his bachelor’s degree, which drew him to the Twin Cities campus.

“I wanted somewhere that would challenge my perspective, so the University offered that balance between staying close to home, but with the energy, diversity and opportunity of a bigger city,” he says. “I was in the College of Liberal Arts as a student and what I most appreciated were the interactions I had in and out of the classroom through approaching differences with curiosity.”

Those experiences help him in his career today as a communications specialist in the Office of Human Resources by addressing problems from different viewpoints.

Lueck also pursued his master’s degree after a professor — for whom he was a teaching assistant in a leadership minor class as an undergraduate — recommended he consider doing more of that work.

“The University is an environment ripe with opportunity, so I would encourage students to take advantage of being around so many people, whether a peer or a mentor, because any unexpected opportunity can shape your future,” he says.

Michael C. Rodriguez

B.A. Psychology, University of Minnesota Morris, ‘89; M.A. Public Affairs, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, ‘95
Chancellor, Morris campus

Michael C. Rodriguez is a fifth-generation Minnesotan, but the first in his family to go to college.

“I thought about coming to Morris for one year to do all of the general ed requirements and then transfer to the Twin Cities, but once I got [to Morris], I realized it was the place to be,” he says.

He enjoyed the smaller campus and having close relationships with faculty, who provide world-class teaching and research. In particular, he appreciated that the faculty treated their students like future colleagues, a practice he continued as a professor.

While at Morris, Rodriguez was involved in many extracurricular activities.

“In my junior year, I was student body president and under my leadership, the student government became a member of the Morris Chamber of Commerce,” he says. “One of the things we worked on was community engagement around special days where we did clean up in the city park and initiatives like that.”

Due to his preparation at Morris, Rogriguez was more than ready for grad school at the Humphrey School where he majored in social and education policy. After working for the Wilder Foundation for a few years, he went on to get a Ph.D. in educational psychology and subsequently got a faculty job on the Twin Cities campus in 1999.

This year, he returned to the Morris campus as chancellor, a position he’s honored to have.

Rachel Seisler

B.S. Health Science, University of Minnesota Rochester, ‘14; M.A. Business Administration and Management, Labovitz School of Business and Economics, ‘20
Assistant Director of International Admissions and Admissions Operations, Office of Admissions, Rochester campus

Rachel Seisler developed an attention to the welfare of humanity at a young age through volunteerism. What started as an interest in healthcare — that led her to receiving her bachelor’s in health science at the Rochester campus — evolved into a knack for fostering student potential that ultimately inspired her to pursue her MBA.

She decided to take advantage of the Duluth campus’s master’s in business administration and management that was offered on the Rochester campus, just one way that the University is ensuring student access to resources and opportunities regardless of home campus.

Seisler liked that she was able to participate in the in-person program from her home city; it accommodated her work schedule and she could use the Regents scholarship.

“Because the master’s through Duluth was offered in Rochester, the main population of the student body was individuals from the community,” she says. “This was highly influential to my learning experience because I could work, network and spitball in different scenarios in business. We had students from all types of industries contributing to conversations.”

When she started the master’s program while working on the Rochester campus, Seisler was heavily involved in recruiting high school students, but has since transitioned to the operations side of admissions.

“In any team, knowing how different individuals can contribute to a project to create more efficient processes is something I’ve really taken from the program,” she says. “It’s allowed us to improve our enrollment at the Rochester campus.”

Susana Pelayo-Woodward

B.A. Political Science and International Studies, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, ‘90; Master of Education, College of Education and Human Service Professions, ‘92
Director, Office of Diversity & Inclusion and Women's Resource and Action Center, Duluth campus

Susana Pelayo-Woodward didn’t have plans to go to college, but that changed when one of her teachers at Duluth East High School introduced her to the Duluth campus and helped her with her application.

After being accepted, she got involved in student government where she developed leadership skills that she credits with helping her finish her bachelor’s in political science.

After graduating, she decided to pursue a Master of Education degree at Duluth because it gave her flexibility on what she wanted to study. She also missed the strong sense of community among faculty, staff and students. With her passion for education, her thesis focused on why more Latinx and Chicanx students don’t pursue higher education.  

“My advisor worked with me individually to make sure I was successful in my master’s degree,” says Pelayo-Woodward.

In 1992, she became Duluth’s first Hispanic student services advisor coordinator before becoming the director of the Office of Diversity & Inclusion and Women's Resource and Action Center, which she thoroughly enjoys.

“I have always worked with underrepresented students so I feel my degree gave me the theory and foundation to learn about statistics, how to collect data and think more holistically about the education of a student,” says Pelayo-Woodward.

She considers it an honor to work at her alma mater and plans on staying for many years to come.

Continued excellence

As it has for the past 175 years, the University will continue to be committed to teaching excellence, preparing future generations of students to be fully active and engaged in the world.