Feedback on the Spring 2023 Issue

On the topic of alumni touching the world (Minnesota Alumni, Spring 2023), you might be interested in this: Dr. Norman Borlaug (B.S. ’37, M.S. ’41, Ph.D.  42) is, unquestionably, the most famous UMN alumnus. [Ed. Note: Borlaug spent his life working to alleviate hunger and rural poverty and received a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.]

I am also a UMN alumnus, as is Steve Clarke (M.S. ’75). We have been providing agricultural support, pro bono, to two nongovernmental  organizations, RHCI (the Rural Health Care Initiative) and GTGR (Growing  the Grassroots). Both hope to increase the world’s food supply by promoting modern agricultural education, as did Borlaug, and both groups work in Sierra Leone, Africa, which has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. Its population is also chronically malnourished.

RHCI was started by two UMN-associated M.D.s, Gary Johnson and Carol Nelson, and an immigrant nurse, Alice Karpeh, from Sierra Leone who was working at the UMN Boynton Health Service.

RHCI board members Marie Stodolka and Julie Hoffer are also UMN alumni, and Margaret Pilacinski is a UMD alumnus.

William Pilacinski (B.S. ’72, Ph.D. ’78)
Hackensack, Minnesota

No, Thank You!

For around 50 years now, the Minnesota Alumni magazine has provided me a porthole perspective on the world.

I thought it was simply time to say, ‘thank you!’

An anonymous lifelong member
B.M.E., ’67, M.S.M.E. ’87