(dramatic music) - Hello and welcome to Prairie Pulse.

Coming up a little bit later in the show, we'll see the final mural of Moorhead Artists Cyrus Running.

But first, joining me now, our guest, is Dr. Randi Tanglen, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forest.

Dr. Tanglen, thanks so much for joining us today.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- Well, as we get started, tell the folks a little bit about yourself and maybe your background.

- Absolutely.

Well, I was born actually in Eastern Montana in Sydney, Montana, just 10 miles from the North Dakota border.

And actually, when I was a kid in the seventies and eighties growing up in Eastern Montana, it was a big deal to go somewhere like Williston, where they had a K-Mart.

So that shows you kind of my background a little bit.

I was the oldest of four children, and my family actually eventually left the Sidney area, or the Mon Dak region as we call it, because of the oil bust in the eighties.

But that landscape of Eastern Montana, the plains and the Rolling Hills, it really became part of my origin story.

And that landscape shaped who I became as a person and eventually who I became as a scholar of American literature.

Because in my teaching and my research of American literature, what I'm really interested in is whose story is told and who story isn't told, whose story is valued and why those stories are valued.

And quite frankly, the stories of Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota and the story of rural people in general, really, quite frankly, they're seen as less than sometimes.

So that's a theme that has kind of followed me throughout my career as a literary scholar.

So eventually I graduated from high school in a small town near the Billings, Montana area, and I attended college at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana.

And then after that I had an adventure.

I taught English in the Japanese public schools through the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.

And then I returned to Montana and pursued a master's degree in literature with an emphasis in women's studies.

And I wrote a thesis about women's writers portrayal of community and isolation during the homesteading period and how women wrote about that.

And some of your viewers who are watching right now might wonder who some of those writers were.

And some of them may have heard of Willa Cather, the writer, Willa Cather.

But then there's some more obscure writers that they maybe haven't heard of, like a woman writer from Wyoming, Elinore Pruitt Stewart, and Nannie Alderson from the Mile City, Montana area.

I eventually continued my education and received a PhD from the University of Arizona where I took courses again in women's studies and wrote a dissertation on 19th century American women's literature and women's portrayal of religion in their writing.

And after that, I had a long career as a professor in Texas, in the Dallas area in a small town there.

And I was a tenured professor in English and was a director of a gender studies program there.

I returned to my home state of Montana during the pandemic and became the executive director of the State Humanities Council based in Missoula, Montana.

And at that point, I was able to revisit that theme of telling the stories of rural America and rural communities.

And in 2023, I had the opportunity to accept the position of Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs at the University of North Dakota and return to academia and to relocate to Grand Forks North Dakota.

- Well, with that said, we're gonna talk about Women's History Month is our subject today, but what does the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs do?

- You know?, it's quite interesting.

I get that question a lot.

And as Vice Provost for Faculty Affair, I work with all of UND's professors and we have about 750 full-time professors at the University of North Dakota.

And our professors have three primary responsibilities, and that is to engage in teaching and to teach courses like Freshman Composition and Introduction to Psychology, and just dozens and dozens of other interesting and fascinating courses for our students.

Our professors conduct a very groundbreaking and very important research on the cutting edge of AI and on topics such as national security.

And our professors also are very involved in service to North Dakota, and they're solving problems such as radon detection and teacher burnout.

So my role as the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs is to support faculty success and excellence through policy and resources for our professors.

Now, I loved all of the years that I spent as a professor in Texas, and I truly believe that the professors at UND are some of the best in the region and the nation, and even in the world.

In fact, our professors come from, throughout the world.

We have a global and a national faculty.

Our professors are dedicated, they're talented, and it's an honor to work with the professors at UND every day.

- Okay, well let's get to the Women's History Month, March is Women's History Month.

Tell us about maybe the origins of Women's History Month and why it was founded.

- You know, it's quite interesting.

Women's History Month started as a grassroots movement during the women's movement in the 1970s.

And this was even before women's history was part of the K-12 curriculum in education and even part of the higher education curriculum.

So this started really, it really started more as women's history weeks in more in regional areas.

And it was more, maybe as more one-off events, maybe an essay writing contest in a school or maybe a one-off type of celebration.

Then the movement started to gain more national attention through a noted women's historian named Gerda Lerner.

And she brought national attention to the issue and she started a National Women's History Week.

And eventually this became a bipartisan congressional resolution to have a National Women's History Week.

And by 1987, Congress declared Women's History Month to bring recognition to the accomplishments and success and achievements of women who helped build the nation.

Now, March was chosen as Women's History Month, and we're in the month of March now, of course, to align with International Women's Day, which is celebrated on March 8th of every year.

And this state has been observed globally since the early 1900s.

There are several federal organizations that jointly sponsor Women's History Month events such as the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Smithsonian Institution, just to name a few.

And there are other organizations such as the National Women's History Alliance, the Girl Scouts and the Daughters of the American Revolution as well, who support Women's History Month.

You'll also notice that there are just widespread events for National Women's History Month and schools and libraries and at colleges and universities and communities throughout the nation.

- Well, this year's theme I understand is, Moving Forward Together: Women Educating and Inspiring Generations.

Can maybe you talk about that theme and the importance of it?

- Oh, absolutely.

Because I just love this theme so much.

Now, this year's theme of Women Educating and Inspiring Generations Moving Forward Together, was selected by the National Women's History Alliance.

And this theme makes me think of intergenerational connections among women.

And when I think of this theme, I think personally of my mother, who has been a source of inspiration of strength for me and my sisters and my brother, and now her granddaughter and her grandsons.

My mom grew up in Eastern Montana and didn't have the opportunity to complete her college degree.

That was pretty common for the women in her generation.

But she encouraged and supported all of her children to pursue higher education and advanced degrees even beyond that.

And I definitely wouldn't have pursued my PhD.

I definitely wouldn't have finished it without her support and her encouragement.

My mother had an incredibly successful career and was promoted several times as a public servant.

She's retired now and she definitely provided me with a strong example of a professional woman who cared deeply about her family.

In my own life, then, I have this network of support of women, sisters and cousins and aunts.

What one scholar named Carroll Smith-Rosenberg would call the Female World of Love and Ritual, a network oof how women have historically created meaning in their lives through networks of support and influence.

I also have a network of professional mentors through academia and at UND who've supported me, women who've supported me as a woman leader.

Although also over the years I've been able to support other women and I think especially of my students.

And we have one of these students here today, an intern in my office, a psychology major at UND, Nichole Dumlao from Valley City.

And I can tell you that over the years, I'm the one who's supposed to be mentoring students, but I learn so much from them just how to be a curious, kind and gracious and better person.

So that female world of love and ritual and that theme of inspiring and educating generation, that really speaks to me during Women's History Month.

And I really hope it speaks to your viewers as well.

- Yeah, so how will do you personally commemorate and honor this month?

I mean, are there certain activities you either attended or will attend at UND or Grand Forks or across the state?

- Yeah, absolutely.

In Grand Forks, actually, there are several opportunities to celebrate and acknowledge women's history month.

One is the Rise and Reclaim art exhibit that's on display in Downtown Grand Forks through March 30th.

And I would encourage anyone who happens to be in Grand Forks or who lives in Grand Forks and hasn't had the opportunity to visit this, to visit this collaboration between the Equal Rights Association, Art for Vets, and the Grand Forks Women's Fund.

Local women artists have created paintings and sculptures.

There's even a crochet performance art piece around the theme of Rise and Reclaim.

Now at the North Dakota Museum of Art, we have a display through March 30th of critically claim, critically acclaimed artists, contemporary artists from Ukraine who are displaying art on the theme of women at war.

And this is a variety of artistic media by women who are giving their perspectives on war, both as participants and as witnesses to war.

And this is very unique because typically and traditionally, art about war is produced from the male perspective, so to have this perspective of female artists is so powerful.

And this is at the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks through March 30th.

And then another artistic opportunity through the arts is at the Empire Art Center in Grand Forks, where a play called "Becky Nurse of Salem," will be performed by a local cast at the end of the march, at the end of March, March 26th through 30th.

This is a play that is a modern day response to the Salem Witch Trials and a response to Arthur Miller as well.

And as you can imagine, this is quite a dark comedy and that is at the end of this month.

- Okay.

Well, you mentioned International Women's Day on March the eighth, and of course, I guess International Women's Day had a theme for all women and girls, rights, equality, empowerment.

Can you talk a little bit about that and how it maybe ties in with the other theme there?

You got two different themes here.

- Yeah, yeah.

That's just because there's different organizations who are so involved in in International Women's Day and then of course National Women's History Month.

international Women's Day is aligned more with the United Nations and has been recognized by the United Nations since 1975, although International Women's Day has been acknowledged throughout the world since the early 1900s aligned more with the suffrage movement.

So that's where it's roots really began, as an effort to promote women's rights, especially women's suffrage and the right to vote.

This year's theme, as you mentioned, is for all women and girls, rights, qualities, and empowerment.

And this is because, and this is just what we find and what the UN General Assembly recognizes is that securing peace and all types of social progress and humans' rights requires women's active participation in society and to acknowledge women's contribution and their equality and their empowerment contributes to the strengthening of international peace and international security overall.

- Well, there's been a lot of conversation and maybe some controversy recently over diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI initiatives.

In your work with students, faculty, and the public, how do you navigate these conversations?

- Yeah, you know, I guess I would say that in my work with professors at different institutions and in my conversations with professors and colleagues throughout academia, I have found that professors tend to really focus on the practical everyday benefits that we see when all students have the opportunity to thrive on campus and in classrooms.

And in my work with students over the years, I've just observed that learning environments are more dynamic and they're more effective when we can include a variety of perspectives and experiences for students.

Now you mentioned the controversies around DEI, and I'm not necessarily going to address that in this interview, but what I will say is that in today's society, we really seem to be talking past each other when it comes to issues of DEI, instead of really talking to each other.

And there was a book that I read several years ago that really sort of changed my thinking about this.

And this book was called "Strangers in Their Own Land" by the sociologist Arlie Hochschild.

And in that book she talks about the Empathy Wall and by the Empathy Wall, Dr. Hochschild means that fear that we have when we refuse to take the perspective of those who disagree with us.

And that fear comes from believing that taking another's perspective will water down or weaken our analysis of important situations or important and controversial topics.

And as an academic, I am definitely guilty of this.

I want to remain objective.

I don't want emotions to change my mind.

I want to have a very intellectual objective analysis of a situation.

But Dr. Hochschild says is that when we actually scale that Empathy Wall, that when we can relate to those who disagree with us, that is actually when the most meaningful and important analysis can take place.

And so I think that this approach of climbing the Empathy Wall really aligns beautifully with this year's Women's History Month theme of moving forward together.

- Okay.

Well, I understand as a scholar you've written the series "Yellowstone," set in your home state of Montana.

What are your thoughts of sort of strong female characters and the role women play in American society today?

- Well, I don't know how many of your viewers are familiar with the series "Yellowstone," but I'll just give kind of an overview.

And because "Yellowstone" is set in my home state of Montana, I've always been fascinated by the series and have been a huge fan.

The series tells the story of a wealthy ranch family who's been in Montana since 1883, so over a hundred years.

And it tells the story of the patriarch of that family who was played by Kevin Costner.

Now the series ended last November, and it was known for its stunning mountain landscapes, its violent cowboy fights and the antics of a character named Beth Dutton, who is the daughter of the family and is really the defender of the family honor.

And so there is some controversy, especially online, is Beth Dutton a a strong female character or is she something else?

So on the surface, Beth has a job in the financial sector and she swears and she drinks like a man and she shows men absolutely no mercy.

And it's kind of hilarious and I have to say kind of empowering to watch it as a woman, but she's also complicated at times and she's very self-destructive and has very contradictory motivations.

And just this week I actually had conversations with two different women, one who told me that she can't stand Beth Dutton and quit watching the show because of it.

And another woman who told me that she loves "Yellowstone" because of Beth Dutton.

So I would just say that at the end of the day, the series is a soap opera and that everyone is kind of rotten and probably not exactly admirable.

So I don't know what "Yellowstone" can tell us about women in American society today.

- What is your message to young women in college or young women entering the workplace today?

- I have a very specific message for young women entering the workplace today.

If there is an opportunity or a job or a promotion that you want to apply for, just go for it, even if you don't perfectly check all of the boxes.

I have been amazed in my work as a professional woman and in my work with students, how many qualified women do not apply for jobs that they are perfectly qualified for and would be great at just because there's one word or one phrase or one box that they don't check, because they think it doesn't apply for them.

And there have been studies that have shown that women are less likely than men to apply for jobs when they think they don't, when they think that they aren't 100 fully qualified for every component of the job.

But men are likely to apply for the jobs when they meet about 60% of the qualifications.

So go for it women.

You are way more qualified than you think.

- Well, unfortunately we are out of time.

If people want more information, where can they go?

- If people want more information about Women's History Month events in Grand Forks, please go to UND.edu.

- Thanks so much for joining us today.

- Wonderful, thank you.

- Stay tuned for more.

(soft music) Former students and friends of Cyrus M. Running came together to restore his final large mural and preserve his legacy.

In collaboration with the Rourke Art Museum in Moorhead, the restoration efforts also highlight the reach Running had through his work at Concordia College.

(soft guitar music) - Cy was really a force to be acknowledged and revered in the Fargo Moorhead area.

Students who took art at Concordia during the Running period, went there because of him and his design ability.

- His Wikipedia article says that he was a regionalist painter and that's a little too confining for Running.

He grew up in this big part of the United States, we used to call the Great American desert, born in Veblen South Dakota where his father was a Lutheran pastor.

They moved to two parishes in Montana, Big Sandy and Haver and then to Idaho, before they circled back to Minnesota to Zumbrota, where he graduated from high school.

And he went to Northfield, to St. Olaf College.

Came to Concordia in 1940 to really start the art department.

- Cy Running was my teacher at Concordia College from 65 to 69, and I took design from him.

I took painting from him.

He was a mentor to me and fellow students.

He was a wonderful guy.

He was known for his design work, his ability to break up space and organize space and everything was very figurative.

- He has a fine hand and a very firm hand when it comes to making things.

Good at drawing, good at making.

- He was inspired by his experience of living in San Miguel de Allende Mexico in 1955 and 1956.

- [Mark] I always thought when Cy painted, he always painted with a little bit of Mexico in his heart.

- The last huge mural that he did was this one for the Ylvisaker Library at Concordia.

It's 54 feet long and eight and a half feet high.

He designed it and completed the painting, in I think, under four months, which is pretty amazing.

- It was painted from the spring of 1966 and it finished up in the fall.

That summer of 66, he was really busy painting this thing.

He was commissioned by the family of Gordon Montonach.

Gordon was his neighbor who died at a young age, in his forties, I believe.

And they had planned for this mural, but it took 10 years before the funding came forward.

I'm a graduate of Concordia, and while there I enjoyed this mural very much sitting in the reading room of the library.

I remember when it first appeared with that lighted exit sign and the fire alarm with the kid pulling it, I was just really delighted.

It's dreamlike and it's merging all kinds of periods of time, slightly illustrational.

It's there to make the students comfortable with the idea of being in a library.

It exhibits lifelong learning.

- Running, put little jokes in like graffiti on a wall that says toads make warts.

And he has little things like that that are hidden inside.

- You see a kid walking along nonchalant with a baseball bat and a couple of guys fixing a broken church window, and you just get the feeling that kid with a bat is probably running or is one of his friends.

And in the final panel, you notice a very nice tribute from Cy to his friend and neighbor Gordon blithe's spirit, he calls him.

- My friend Mark Strand and I used to go look at it and we saw probably around what, 20, 25 years ago that it was starting to deteriorate from water, humidity, temperature changes.

And so we kept saying that at some point something needed to be done about it and wouldn't it be fitting if one of his ex students actually restore it and fix it.

And that didn't happen until a couple years ago where we actually got it going through the The Rourke Art Gallery Museum under Jonathan Rudder.

It took about a year and a half to fully restore all of the 13 panels.

It was a full-time job.

The damage was really extensive on the left side of the mural, the first three panels.

A lot of the canvas was just wasted away, rotted away, just deteriorated and fell apart.

It was like putting together potato chips.

After getting those pressed down in place, I had to put filler in between the potato chip pieces and then that was sanded down.

Then it was retouching with paint.

- I like his color palette.

Like when you drive out here in the country and you see this yellow green everywhere in the landscape.

You contrast that with the yellow orange and there's the running palette.

- [Mark] There's a lot of greens and yellows in his palette.

You won't find any blue.

Just trying to figure out what he did so I could match it.

It was an interesting process in itself.

For those who remember it being in the library at Concordia, if they saw how it had deteriorated and then it was removed and people would ask what happened to it.

- One of the aides to one of the Concordia presidents said to me that mural was not beloved.

Well, we loved it and we decided to fix it.

- For me personally, it was a matter of respecting Cy and his work and his legacy.

And I've sort of been pushing for this for 20 some years.

It's a great story.

And if you look at murals from the past, that's what they are about.

Murals are about telling stories and history.

I'm now part of this mural.

It's great that one of his students was able to work on it and restore it.

And just seeing what a legacy has developed around this man and realizing what a big deal he was and how talented he was.

And he was a great teacher.

- His biggest legacy is a lot of very talented, strong artists.

They believe in what they're doing.

They're living well.

That's the greatest legacy.

(soft music) - Well, that's all we have on Prairie Post this week.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(soft music) - [Narrator] Funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, and by the members of Prairie Public.