Welcome  to  be  on  the  Nest, the  University  of  Minnesota  Rochester's  alumni  podcast. I'm  Amber  Mulenbein  in  today's  episode. Sabrina  Flugel,  a  2017  graduate  from  Umar  and a  current  Hispanic  linguistics  Phd  student at  the  University  of  Minnesota  Twin  Cities, sits  down  with  Shanna  Altrichter, a  sociology  professor  at  Mar, to  catch  up  on  Sabrina's  path. Since  graduation,  the  two  discuss  how Sabrina  discovered  a  passion  for linguistics  at  a  science  based  UMR. And  how  lessons  she  learned  in Professor  Altrichter's  class  have stuck  with  her  throughout  her  educational  journey. Here  we  go. So  what's  new  at  UMR  since  2016? Oh,  a  lot.  Actually,  we have  new  classroom  spaces  at  Discovery  Square, and  I  think  that  there  might  be some  more  classroom  spaces  coming  down  the  road. We've  expanded  some  of our  offerings  in  terms  of  our  pathways. We've  hired  new  people. We've  continued  to  grow  our  cohorts. So  while  R  is  still  recognizable  as  what  it  was, it  is  also  changing  and becoming  something  new  every  year  in. So  that's  awesome. What  are  the  new  pathways that  you  said  are  being  offered? We've  developed  the  next  gen  med  program  and  that's  for students  who  want  to do  this  sort  of  health  science  degree, but  they  can  do  it  faster. And  it's  not  a  patient  facing  program, so  it's  for  students  who  are  interested  in  like healthcare  administration  or  other sort  of  behind  the  scenes  roles. So  that's  pretty  exciting.  Yeah.  Yeah,  So  just  new, various  things  all  the  time. Yeah.  That's  not  surprising. I  thought  it  would  grow  because  of  how great  like  the  small  community  was. But  like  that  feeling  of, you  know,  like  the  small  community. But  it  seems  like  it'll  maintain in  the  development  because  it's what  it  was  built  on.  Right,  Yeah. And  doing  new  things  is  going  to always  be  built  into  our  fabric  since  we are  supposed  to  be  an  innovative  campus  and so  we  aren't  innovating  all  the  time. Yeah,  Yeah,  I  know  you're  at  UM, MTC  now  as  part  of  your  graduate  program. How  does  that  feel?  How  does  that  compare? What  do  you  think  it's  different? It's  going  back  to  the  idea  of  like  a  sense  of  community. It's  just  so  much  bigger. So  there's  less  of  that  sense  of  like, you  know  everybody  and  you  have  that  sort  of like  support  of  your  peers,  also  being  your  friends. And  it's  not  quite  like  that  up  here. It's  more  like  competitive, less  friendly,  probably  because  it's a  Phd  experience  that  I'm  having. But  I  would  say  the  professors  and the  opportunities  are  pretty  equivalent, like  everybody  wants  to  see  you develop  yourself  as  far  as  you  can. Lifelong  developments  of  yourself as  a  scholar,  as  an  individual. And  yeah,  just  really  giving  you all  the  opportunities  that  they  know  of. Helping  you  find  opportunities they  don't  know  of,  things  like  that. So  it's  similar  and  different. I  definitely  missed  that.  Small  community  sense  though. I  can  understand  that,  um, being  in  such  a  large  institution is  really  intimidating  in a  lot  of  ways  and  is naturally  going  to  just  have  a  different  feel. Mm  hm.  And  I  think  that  there's,  I  guess  now, like  I'm  more  aware  of  like how  academia  functions  as  like  a  system and  like  the  hierarchical structures  and  things  like  that. And  I  definitely  noticed  that  even  like  what, five  years  later  now, like  the  things  that I  was  connected  with  or the  people  I  was  connected  with  in  Rochester, or  even  projects  from  certain  classes  coming  back  up into  things  like  I'm diving  deeper  into  now  with  my  research, it's  like,  oh,  it's  kind  of  like this  thing  from  Rochester  was  a  puzzle  piece. And  this  piece  was  a  puzzle  piece and  it  kind  of  all  connects  together. Which  it's  really  cool. That  is  really  cool.  I'm  glad  you  shared  that. Chancellor  Emeritus  Stephen  Lemcool  was  the inaugural  Chancellor  of the  University  of  Minnesota  Rochester, serving  from  2007  until  his  retirement  in  2017. During  his  time  at  Umar, the  inaugural  Bachelor  of  Science  and  Health  Sciences class  began  their  careers. The  Bachelor  of  Science  and  Health  Professions  Program launched  Umar's  mascot, Rocky  the  Raptor  was  created. And  the  first  class  of  Umar graduated  with  many  more  to  follow. Read  more  about  Chancellor  Meritus  Lemcool's  reflections on  those  early  years  at  Umar. In  the  latest  edition  of the  Kettle  Umar's  Alumni  Magazine at  Z  dot  menu  kettle. Speaking  of  UMR's  distinctiveness and  the  fact  that  we're  a  little  bit  different, I  guess,  can  you  share a  little  bit  about  why  you  decided  to  come  to  UMR? Yeah.  I  don't  know  if  you  toured other  schools  or  went  and  looked  at  other  places, but  I  think  we  certainly  present differently  and  are  different  than  a  lot  of  other  places. So,  what  drew  you  to  us? I  was  actually  between  UMR  and  another  university, so  I  toured  both  of  them. And  then  when  I  went  there,  that  was exactly  what  stood  out  to  me  was  like, well,  I  also  loved  to  shop, and  I  loved  that  there  was  like  a  mall  right there  below  University  Square. Right  when  I  got  there,  I  was  like, oh,  this  is  totally  for  me. I  can  go  to  class,  I  can  go  downstairs  and  get like  something  for  lunch  and  then  go  shopping. And  I  just  really  liked  the  kind of  I  liked  the  draw  of  the  city  too, that  it  was  it  felt  like a  big  city  coming  from  rural  Minnesota, but  it  was  still  a  small  city  in  the  same  way. And  then  of  course,  I  wanted  to  at  the  time, I  thought  I  was  going  to  go  to  medical  school. So  it  seemed  like  the  best  option  for  that  career  track. And  now  looking  back  at  doesn't, I  honestly  don't  think  it  matters  if  you  go  to medical  school  or  into  the  medical  field  at  all. Really  like  all  the  things  I  learned  there,  like  I  said, come  back  into  my  studies  now and  it's  very  like  intersectional  in  that  way. Well  I,  as  one  of  your  professors who  doesn't  necessarily  teach  in the  Stem  and  is  more  of  a  social  scientist  of  course, that  gratifies  me  to  learn that  these  disciplines  as well  are  helpful  to  you  in  your  future. And  can  launch  you  into  new  opportunities beyond  what  we  may  be  even expected  we'd  be  able  to  help  you  to  do  at  you. Yeah,  I  think  back  to your  class  a  lot  because  my  program, my  program  is  Hispanic  linguistics. And  I'm  specifically  in socio  linguistics  and  like  language  policy. So  like  I  wrote  a  paper  about, published  a  paper  about  like  the  language  of  like FTC  and  FDA  policies  around  like marketing  products  during  the pandemic  and  things  like  that. And  there  was  a  lot  of  things  that  came  up  about like  the  demographics  of  people and  like  how  those  social  factors influence  through language  and  language  use  and  all  of  that. And  I  keep  finding  myself  going back  to  things  we  learned  in  your  class, like,  wow,  this  is  really  with  me  forever. That's  great  actually.  What  was  that? You  did  a  lesson?  I  can't  remember  what  community  it  was. It  was  about  a  community. I  think  maybe  it  was  a  country  in  Africa. And  it  was  about  how  there's  not the  same  words  for  color.  Does  that  ring  a  bell? Yes,  focusing  specifically  on the  Himba  tribe  that  live  in  Namibia, and  the  broadly  speaking  about  categories  for  color, five  main  words  for  color. Whereas  people  with  people  who  speak  English or  other  like  Western  derived  languages have  broadly  about  11  categories  for  color. So  it  very  much  impacts  the way  you  see  and  interpret  color. Yeah,  that's  the  stuff  like, I  think  back  to  that  a  lot  because  like  I study  things  like  cultural  reference  and  how like  if  I  say  fruit  to somebody  from  like  here  in  the  United  States  or Minnesota  versus  like  a  tropical  or  like an  island,  Spanish  speaking  location. We're  going  to  have  different  things  that  come  to mind  when  we  say  fruit,  stuff  like  that. And  I'm  like,  I  need  to  send  this  to  professor  in  this. Yeah,  that's  a  really  good  point. I've  heard  about  that  and  thought  about  that  in relation  to  standardized  testing, for  example,  some  schools weren't  doing  as  well  on  standardized  testing. And  an  audit  of  the  test  questions discovered  that  the  students, we  weren't  reading  the  questions  the  same  way. One  of  the  questions  for  young  kids  was, what  color  is  a  lemon? The  correct  answer  is  supposed  to  be  yellow, but  lemons  actually  aren't  yellow  everywhere. In  some  places  they're  green  students who  are  choosing  green, because  where  they  were, lemons  were  green,  they  were  getting  that  question  wrong. That's  just  one  question  out  of  many  questions. But  the  questions  start  to  add  up. And  if  we  are  penalizing some  places  for  not  having  good  test  scores, but  the  language  we're  using  on  our  tests  is actually  culturally  bound  and not  easily  accessible  to  all  people. Then  you  start  to  create more  social  difference  and  disadvantage. Wow,  that's  fascinating  stuff  to  research. Now,  they'll  give  you  homework. Yeah,  I'll  send  you  a  paper by  Friday  at  11:59  I'm  just  kidding. Which  experiences  shaped  your  undergraduate  experience. We've  already  touched  on that,  that  there  were  some  classes, but  if  there  is  anything  else in  that  vein  you  want  to  share. Yeah.  Kind  of  like  what  I've  mentioned that  a  lot  of  the  little  like moments  that  stand  out  are  the  things  in classes  that  really  fascinated  me  at  the  time, but  that  I  didn't  like  Stop  to  pay  attention  to  like. These  are  topics  I'm  interested in  that  I  could  like  pursue  more  things  like  that. I  was  just  going  down rabbit  holes  of  researching things  that  I  was  interested  in. But  then  I  can  give  you  more  examples  of. I  think  one  of  my  first  papers  I  wrote  at  UMR  was  about, it  was  for  a  communications  class. And  it  was  about  a  Victoria's Secret  marketing  campaign  that  the  product, or  like  the  line  of  product  was  called  The  Perfect  Body. And  it  was  slapped  over  an  image  of  all  these like  stereotypically  thin  models,  right? And  there  was  this  whole  huge  campaign  about  like backlash  about  how  this  campaign was  like,  so  thoughtless. Because  why  would  you  put those  words  over  that  image  and  what it  creates  for  like  women and  beauty  standards  and  blah,  blah,  blah. So  I  analyzed  that  ad  for  that  class. And  now  looking  back  I'm  like, how  did,  how  did  I  miss  that? I  was  going  to  end  up  analyzing  marketing  for  language, Those  types  of  opportunities  where you  really  got  to  pursue  your  interests  in  class, like  making  video  projects  in public  health  or  in  Spanish  class. We  got  to  make  videos  too  about whatever  funny  thing  we wanted  to  do  out  in  the  community. Just  really  giving  us  space  to  pursue particular  interests  in  a  way that  felt  like  interesting  to  us. Also,  the  community  co  class really  stands  out  to  me  because  that was  one  of  the  first  experiences I  had  in  like  marketing  PR  stuff. Now  that's  what  I  do  in  like  all  my  work. That's  really  wonderful.  It's  nice  to  hear that  there  are  specific  instances  that  speak  to  you, especially  as  the  shout out  to  any  current  students who  might  be  listening  to  this. Sometimes  your  homework  really  is  transformation. It  really  is.  Or  you'll find  yourself  like  trying  to  find  a  paper  you wrote  in  sociology  or  epidemiology, like  five  years  later. Well,  you're  definitely,  I  think, far  afield  of  what  we  usually  expect  our  graduates  to  do, since  we  are  preparing  our  graduates to  go  into  health  care  most  of  the  time. And  you  are  certainly doing  really  interesting  and  amazing  things, but  not  really  centered  on  health  care. So  how  did  you  land  on  your  current  career  pathway? Actually,  during  my  Capstone, I  went  to  Spain  for  my  Capstone  project  and  planned  to come  back  and  then  go  to  medical  school or  start  like  the  application  process  when  I  came  back. But  then  when  I  was  in  Spain, I  found  myself,  at  that  point, I  already  knew  I  liked  Spanish,  I  liked  studying  it. I  was  at  that  point  pursuing  a  second  degree  in  Spanish. U,  when  I  was  in  Spain, I  just  found  myself  fascinated  with  the  way  people  spoke, the  way,  like  I  said,  things  wrong. As  a  person  who  learned  Spanish  as  a  second  language, just  again,  like  those  socio linguistic  things  that  I  was  like, okay,  I  need  to  learn  more  about  language. So,  I  came  back,  finished  my  undergraduate, and  then  decided  I  will  go on  to  higher  education  in  Merck, to  graduate  school,  but  not  for  medicine, for  a  different  kind  of  science. The  University  of  Minnesota,  Rochester, has  been  recognized  with the  2024  Carnegie  Elective Classification  for  Community  Engagement, a  designation  that  confirms  and endorses  our  institutional  commitment to  community  engagement. Key  factors  for  this  designation  include UMR's  health  centered  partnerships and  community  integrated  campus  environment, along  with  an  intentionally  designed  curriculum  that ensures  every  graduate  has engaged  in  community  based  learning. I  think  the  further  I  got  into  my  graduate  program, I  realized  it  wasn't  just  about  the  Spanish  language. But  again,  going  back  to  that  idea  of the  intersectionality  between  my  studies  at UMR  and  in  my  graduate  program. I  found  myself,  I  guess, pursuing  those  things  that  I  mentioned I  was  interested  in  in  class. Now,  just  at  a  deeper  level, I  had  that  foundation  to  build  upon. Again,  going  back  to  public  health, we  briefly  learned  about  water  safety  and  I did  a  project  about  water  safety  in  Hawaii, like  the  impact  on  the  community. And  then  I  ended  last  summer  working  on a  research  assistant  project where  I  was  working  in  the  driftless  area with  a  project  that  was  all  about like  maintaining  and  restoring the  natural  features  of the  Driftless  area  in  terms  of  water and  rocks  and  all  that  stuff. That  I  didn't  I  didn't  even  make  that  connection to  how  important  that  would  be  in  my  career  at  the  time. But  then  later  I'm  going  back  to  that  stuff  again. Yeah.  I  know  you're  still involved  with  the  Drift  List  Project, so  I'd  invite  you  to  say  a  little  bit  more  about  that, like  share  what  it  is  that  you're  doing and  how  people  can  get  involved  if  they  want  to. Yeah.  So  it's  called the  Drift  Less  Area  Karst  Trail and  it's  a  project  developed  by the  Minnesota  Department  Department  of  Natural  Resources and  the  National  Park  Service, and  the  National  Science  Foundation  is  involved. Essentially,  it  was  the  International  Year  of  Caves and  Karst  in  2021, so  they  got  funding  from the  National  Biological  Society  to  develop  this. They  call  it  a  trail,  but  it's  more  like a  driving  tour  that hits  in  the  drift  less  area  for  those  listening. That's  the  part  where  Minnesota, Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Illinois  meet. And  it's  the  part  where  the  glaciers missed  when  they  melted. So  essentially  that's  why  it's  called  drift  less. It  didn't  have  the  drifts  with  the  glaciers and  they  got  this  funding to  develop  a  driving  tour  that connects  all  of  these  stops  that  have  features, cars,  features,  so  certain  types  of  rocks, caves,  things  like  that. I  believe  there's  70  stops and  if  you  go  to  the  website  drift  less  area, cars  trail  or  search  that  on Google,  you'll  find  their  website, you  can  explore  all  the  stops, they're  on  social  media. And  it's  really  a  project  about appreciating  the  diversity  of  the  drift  less  region, not  only  in  terms  of  the  geological  features, but  also  the  diverse  stories  of  history  that  took place  in  the  drift less  area  that  people  don't  really  talk  about. So  I  think  that  that's  a  perfect  example  that  project, it  just  exemplifies  how  you  start  with  kind  of a  glimpse  of  a  topic  or  a  career  interest  at  UMR, and  then  you  can  take  it  and  go  as far  with  it  as  you  want  after  you  graduate. Excellent.  Do  you  have  any  advice  for current  students  or  advice  for  your  younger  self? I  think  advice  for  my  younger  self  would  be, everything  is  like  it's  going  to  go  into  place, just  like  a  puzzle  in  a  way that  you  don't  even  understand  right  now. I  think  for  current  students  that's  the  same  thing. Like  some  stuff,  maybe  assignments  or different  projects  you're  working  on  while you're  in  undergrad  might  not feel  useful  to  you  at  the  time, but  to  reiterate,  you're going  to  find  yourself  going  back to  that  stuff  and  also  yeah, so  pay  attention  to  one, what  interests  you  during  your  experience  at  UMR. And  number  two,  give attention  to  the  things  that  might  not interest  you  because  maybe  later they'll  be  useful  or  interesting  to  you. That's  great  advice.  I  feel like  if  I  were  to  talk  to  my  younger  self, I  would  probably  say  the  same  thing  and  encourage  that younger  self  to  pay  more  attention to  biology  and  chemistry. Because  she  was  going  to  end  up  at  a  school  with an  awful  lot  of  students  who  loved  biology  and  chemistry. Yeah,  biology  and  chemistry  were  not  my  favorite  courses. But  that's  I  learned  at UMR  what  I  was  really  good at  and  what  maybe  I  wasn't  so  good. So  what's  next  for  you? Right  now,  I'm  working,  as I  finish  up  with  that  trail  project, I'm  starting  a  new  project called  the  Buy  Poc  Food  Ways  Alliance. It's  a  nonprofit  organization  based  in  the  Twin  Cities. And  it's  all  about  learning  how  to tell  cultural  stories  and preserve  them  in  like  mainstream  media. So  that  will  be,  they're creating  a  position  as  like  a  media  director. So  I'll  be  doing  that  more full  time  once  I  finish  my  Phd. For  now,  it's  finishing  my  Phd, my  dissertation,  and  just  getting  out  of  grad  school. It's  a  very  worthy  goal  indeed. Yeah,  yeah,  I  like  it  here, but  I'm  ready  to  be full  time  with  my  career  and  I'm  really passionate  about  like  getting  these  projects that  are  community  based,  like  up  and  running. But  just  like  why  I  said, Co  lab  was  so  useful  for  me  at UMR  because  that  was  the  first  taste  I had  with  launching  a  community  based  project. And  now  I'm  doing  that  all  the  time. Once  I'm  done  with  my  Phd, I'll  be  full  time  in  that  kind  of  space. That  is  wonderful.  I'm  so  glad  to hear  about  all  the  exciting  things  that  you're  doing. It's  again,  gratifying  to  know  that  you  can  connect some  of  the  things  that  you're  doing  to your  experiences  at  UMR. And  it's  wonderful  to  see  you  thriving  and  doing  so well  in  these  new  spaces  and  taking  on  the  world. Thank  you  and  thank  you  for  being such  a  formative  person  in  my  career  development. You  were  always  so  supportive  and encouraging  and  now  I  get to  be  here  talking  with  you  years  later. Y  thank  you  for listening  to  Beyond  the  Nest  to  Umar's  alumni  podcast. Beyond  the  Nest  is  produced  by UMR  Marketing  and  Communications  in collaboration  with  UMR  Alumni  Relations and  edited  by  Dante  Fumo. We'll  be  back  soon  with  more  from our  Raptor  alumni  until  next  time.