Macalester gets a new High Winds Fund Director – Tom Welna ’86

Tom Welna ’86, former deputy mayor and chief of staff for St. Paul mayor Jim Scheibel, began his new job as director of Macalester’s High Winds Fund on Wednesday, Dec. 4. He takes over for Donna Kelly, who left the position last summer after nine years. The director’s duties entail working with members of the surrounding community and the city to maintain the quality of life and urban environment of the Macalester/Groveland community.

“Over the years, I have established and cultivated both personal and working relationships with many residents and community leaders in the neighborhoods around Macalester and I look forward to working with them again,” Welna said. “Macalester has worked hard to develop a sense of mutual cooperation with its neighbors and I hope to continue that tradition.”

Welna worked for Scheibel from 1990 to 1994. He has also been the CEO and president of the River Valley Preservation Company and executive director of the St. Paul Neighborhood Energy Consortium.

“I think that his creative energy and experience with many aspects of community and neighborhood life will make him an excellent successor to Donna Kelly,” said David Wheaton, Vice President for Administration and Finance.

Help pick Macalester’s new president

In case you did not read the e-mail, there will be several fora next Monday and Tuesday for members of the campus community to get involved in the selection process for President McPherson’s successor. There will be a forum for each of the different groups on campus. On Monday, there will be three, each in Weyerhaeuser Chapel: the staff forum will be from noon to 1 p.m., the faculty forum will be from 4:40 to 5:40 p.m. and the student forum will be from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. There will be an open forum on Tuesday, Dec. 10 from noon to 1 p.m. in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall in the Campus Center.

Briefs compiled by News Editor Danielle Langone

WMCN experiences technical difficulties

Monday afternoon saw the first time in years when WMCN, Macalester’s student-run radio station, ceased to be on the air. Due to a technical difficulty the main mixing board in the radio station shorted out, causing WMCN to be forced off the air. According to WMCN general manager Pat McGrath ’03 an engineer has been down to the studio a couple of times but has been unable to fix the problem. WMCN recently received a $1,200 additional funds allocation from MCSG in order to fix the mixing board. McGrath warns there is a chance the station may be down for the rest of the semester, but they are in the process of doing periodic on-air trouble shooting in the hopes that WMCN will be up and running before the end of the semester. The technical difficulties will not keep WMCN from broadcasting next semester though. Contact Pat McGrath at pmcgrath@macalester.edu with any questions.

(Bryanna Longley-Postema)