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Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Fargo News Media Drops the ball on Education
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Thursday, January 10, 2008
Area Women in Business of Fargo Moorhead: Amy Ruley, Sports Business
Amy Ruley
Born: Lowell, Indiana, 1955
Education: Purdue University, 1978—B.S. Physical Education
Western Illinois University, 1979—Master’s degree in Psychology and Sociology of Sports
Business: Head coach, NDSU women’s basketball
Community Volunteering: Breast cancer awareness, speaking engagements, United Blood Services leadership council, Bison Booster events, Bison clinics, participation in benefit golf outings
On leadership, “[A leader] has to have vision, compassion, conviction strength, and understanding.”
We all know of Amy Ruley - the living icon in women’s basketball. But, what were her early years of coaching like, what is her leadership philosophy and what is a typical work day like for her?
At the time that Amy started her coaching career at NDSU, things were just opening up for women in the coaching profession. The year was 1979; Amy had just graduated with a Master’s degree and immediately started at NDSU, half-time as a phy ed teacher and half-time as the women’s basketball coach. She said that the timing was right at that point in time to pursue a job as a female coach—she started coaching just as sports were accepting the idea of and looking for women coaches.
At that time, Amy remembers that even though the doors were opening for female coaches, somewhat of a bias existed against women coaches. She said that it was a message of ‘how could you possibly know about coaching?’ and it was an obstacle that Amy worked to overcome as she gained credibility to teach and coach the game.
Once she proved herself in this area, the next challenge for Amy was to manage her time well as demands grew while she built her career and the NDSU team. At the beginning of her career at NDSU, Amy did it all as a teacher and a coach. She was a one-person team—coaching, recruiting players, serving as the program’s public information officer and more. In short, she was doing everything that she could to build NDSU’s women’s basketball into a solid and nationally known program.
The rest is history as Amy is now well known and recognized for being an outstanding basketball coach who leads winning teams year after year.
Outside of coaching women’s basketball her next love is teaching. Before Amy became a coach her favorite job was teaching swimming as a Water Safety Instructor and life guarding at county lake beaches in Wisconsin. It is easy to see Amy’s teaching passion still at work, as great coaching requires instruction, guidance, understanding and encouragement.
Besides her love of teaching, Amy really enjoys water sports – anything to do with water such as boating, fishing, wake boarding and water skiing. As a kid, Amy spent the summers at her grandparents’ cabin on a Wisconsin lake. Now, a lake cabin owner herself, her property fondly reminds her of childhood summers since her wooded acreage sits right next to the water.
A typical day for Amy changes according to the time of year. The summer months bring days filled with work on the Internet, making notes and writing memos, recruiting activities that include a lot of travel and communications with potential players, organizing and evaluation of her program, overseeing basketball camps, staying in contact with her team and preparing for the fall season.
Once school starts, she spends the mornings in her office with paperwork and visiting with her staff and athletes along with focusing on training for her players. Her door is always open and potential basketball athletes also stop in with their parents while they are visiting the NDSU campus.
October 15 is the official start date of this year’s basketball practice season when Coach Ruley, staff and team can spend 20 hours a week on the court and in strength training. As the playing season unfolds, along with coaching games, Amy monitors the athletes’ grades and everyday lives to make sure they are living up to their best abilities on and off the court.
The season includes playing two games per weekend, and Amy reviews lots of video tape to study game performance of the team and individual players, as well as their opponents. The end of the season brings the national convention, the Final Four and the start of high school recruitment efforts. Amy usually finds a little down time during the month of May to travel for enjoyment or to take vacation time.
While discussing the sport of basketball, Amy said that she is more aware of issues or changes happening rather than trends actually taking place within the sport. A change that will take effect next month is that text messaging from schools to potential recruits will no longer be allowed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It had become an issue within college recruiting efforts that texting potential team members was too intrusive into the lives of young athletes. However, emailing and writing potential athletes for recruitment possibilities will still be allowed at the high school junior year level and up.
Amy added that another important development in athletic recruiting is the use of software that captures a lot of feedback from potential athletes and provides more personalized information. Current technology also allows for sending video streams of women’s basketball games out to people so they can view games.
Another added benefit of technology in the sports world is that it is now much easier to stay in touch with athletes—current and past. Amy said that in the early days of playing and coaching it was easy to lose track of athletes over time due to the limits within communications.
Amy’s plans for the future include moving through the Summit League transition, winning in that league, getting into the conference tournament and winning outright, getting into the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, continuing to make improvements in her program and winning the NCAA tournament.
Amy’s favorite saying has followed her since she was a child as an athlete with a small build. It says, “It isn’t the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
It is easy to see the fight in Amy’s actions as she has paved the way for female coaches, proved herself as a coach, overcame breast cancer, persevered to build and maintain the best women’s college basketball program possible, and as she sets new professional goals that will take her and her team to the next level in women’s collegiate basketball.
Born: Lowell, Indiana, 1955
Education: Purdue University, 1978—B.S. Physical Education
Western Illinois University, 1979—Master’s degree in Psychology and Sociology of Sports
Business: Head coach, NDSU women’s basketball
Community Volunteering: Breast cancer awareness, speaking engagements, United Blood Services leadership council, Bison Booster events, Bison clinics, participation in benefit golf outings
On leadership, “[A leader] has to have vision, compassion, conviction strength, and understanding.”
We all know of Amy Ruley - the living icon in women’s basketball. But, what were her early years of coaching like, what is her leadership philosophy and what is a typical work day like for her?
At the time that Amy started her coaching career at NDSU, things were just opening up for women in the coaching profession. The year was 1979; Amy had just graduated with a Master’s degree and immediately started at NDSU, half-time as a phy ed teacher and half-time as the women’s basketball coach. She said that the timing was right at that point in time to pursue a job as a female coach—she started coaching just as sports were accepting the idea of and looking for women coaches.
At that time, Amy remembers that even though the doors were opening for female coaches, somewhat of a bias existed against women coaches. She said that it was a message of ‘how could you possibly know about coaching?’ and it was an obstacle that Amy worked to overcome as she gained credibility to teach and coach the game.
Once she proved herself in this area, the next challenge for Amy was to manage her time well as demands grew while she built her career and the NDSU team. At the beginning of her career at NDSU, Amy did it all as a teacher and a coach. She was a one-person team—coaching, recruiting players, serving as the program’s public information officer and more. In short, she was doing everything that she could to build NDSU’s women’s basketball into a solid and nationally known program.
The rest is history as Amy is now well known and recognized for being an outstanding basketball coach who leads winning teams year after year.
Outside of coaching women’s basketball her next love is teaching. Before Amy became a coach her favorite job was teaching swimming as a Water Safety Instructor and life guarding at county lake beaches in Wisconsin. It is easy to see Amy’s teaching passion still at work, as great coaching requires instruction, guidance, understanding and encouragement.
Besides her love of teaching, Amy really enjoys water sports – anything to do with water such as boating, fishing, wake boarding and water skiing. As a kid, Amy spent the summers at her grandparents’ cabin on a Wisconsin lake. Now, a lake cabin owner herself, her property fondly reminds her of childhood summers since her wooded acreage sits right next to the water.
A typical day for Amy changes according to the time of year. The summer months bring days filled with work on the Internet, making notes and writing memos, recruiting activities that include a lot of travel and communications with potential players, organizing and evaluation of her program, overseeing basketball camps, staying in contact with her team and preparing for the fall season.
Once school starts, she spends the mornings in her office with paperwork and visiting with her staff and athletes along with focusing on training for her players. Her door is always open and potential basketball athletes also stop in with their parents while they are visiting the NDSU campus.
October 15 is the official start date of this year’s basketball practice season when Coach Ruley, staff and team can spend 20 hours a week on the court and in strength training. As the playing season unfolds, along with coaching games, Amy monitors the athletes’ grades and everyday lives to make sure they are living up to their best abilities on and off the court.
The season includes playing two games per weekend, and Amy reviews lots of video tape to study game performance of the team and individual players, as well as their opponents. The end of the season brings the national convention, the Final Four and the start of high school recruitment efforts. Amy usually finds a little down time during the month of May to travel for enjoyment or to take vacation time.
While discussing the sport of basketball, Amy said that she is more aware of issues or changes happening rather than trends actually taking place within the sport. A change that will take effect next month is that text messaging from schools to potential recruits will no longer be allowed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It had become an issue within college recruiting efforts that texting potential team members was too intrusive into the lives of young athletes. However, emailing and writing potential athletes for recruitment possibilities will still be allowed at the high school junior year level and up.
Amy added that another important development in athletic recruiting is the use of software that captures a lot of feedback from potential athletes and provides more personalized information. Current technology also allows for sending video streams of women’s basketball games out to people so they can view games.
Another added benefit of technology in the sports world is that it is now much easier to stay in touch with athletes—current and past. Amy said that in the early days of playing and coaching it was easy to lose track of athletes over time due to the limits within communications.
Amy’s plans for the future include moving through the Summit League transition, winning in that league, getting into the conference tournament and winning outright, getting into the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, continuing to make improvements in her program and winning the NCAA tournament.
Amy’s favorite saying has followed her since she was a child as an athlete with a small build. It says, “It isn’t the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
It is easy to see the fight in Amy’s actions as she has paved the way for female coaches, proved herself as a coach, overcame breast cancer, persevered to build and maintain the best women’s college basketball program possible, and as she sets new professional goals that will take her and her team to the next level in women’s collegiate basketball.
Area Women in Business of Fargo Moorhead: Jill St John, Media
Born: Sioux Falls, SD, 1966
Education: High school graduate
Business: Professional Voice Services
Community volunteering: Started Cares for Kids radio-a-thon in 1999 to benefit MeritCare Foundation, children’s school, Nativity Catholic Church
On leadership, “A leader is someone who adapts creatively to all individuals they are leading toward success rather than making people conform to their ‘one and only way,’”
Jill’s first job was in radio as a 16 year old and just a few years later she took an on-air position at Lite Rock in Fargo after graduating from high school. She lived and worked in Fargo from 1984 to 1991 and then returned in 1999. In between, she moved as needed when her husband attended graduate school and then for other opportunities. Jill and her family lived in Milwaukee, WI, Minneapolis and St. Cloud, MN, before returning to Fargo. In Milwaukee, Jill was on an oldies morning radio show, on mornings at KDWB in Minneapolis/St.Paul and also was a copywriter for the station. Jill and her husband decided to return to this area to raise their children; Hannah who is ten and Adam who is eight.
By 2001, and in commercial radio for 21 years, Jill felt changes coming with the advent of corporate radio ownership and decided to go on her own with a new business. That year she started Professional Voice Services and, by 2002, was very busy with clients who needed voice work. She is currently the voice of Northern Home Furniture, Park Company Realty, Hector International Airport and Sunmart commercials, is the voice on Lexli Skin Care products infomercials (which air around the world), Microsoft software tutorials, and documentary narrations such as “House of Babies” which is airing on the Discovery Health channel across the world.
Talents that serve Jill well in her profession include the knack for sight reading that she says comes from her years of reading news right off the news wire live on-air. This skill enables Jill to cut voice-overs (the voice in commercials) the first time though for a 30 or 60 second commercial without making a mistake. She can also read long copy (such as a script) for hours without taking a break, not making a mistake and yet can speak more than 190 words per minute.
Most people do not know that Jill is from a radio family – her brother is WDAY’s Scott Hennen and she has a sister who is also in radio. People may also not know that Jill almost pursued a different career when her high school art teacher encouraged her to apply for a scholarship to attend the Boston Institute of Art. Instead she applied and was hired at “Lite 105” (which became Lite Rock 105) right after high school graduation. With Jill’s interest in the arts, it is not surprising to learn that Jill dabbles in photography and enjoys painting when she has the time.
A typical day for Jill includes being on call to clients who need short advertising copy scripts quickly read and taped, working for contract clients, and then reading for 15 minutes up to five hours straight in a studio for a project. It is unusual, but at times Jill has read for eight hours continually on a project. She drives from studio to studio in Fargo-Moorhead during the day depending on which client she is working for while making sure she has time to devote to her children and their activities.
Exciting trends are currently taking place in the voice profession and Jill said that they are closely related to changes in technology. She said that audio books are becoming popular again with people listening to material on MP3 players and I Pods and creates a market for books to be read out loud and recorded. Tutorials for software are also creating a large need for professional voices to narrate instructions. Jill adds that the industry is at a very exciting point because of broadband capabilities to move voice through the internet.
All change is opportunity to her and Jill has chosen to look at professional obstacles in this way. While adapting to industry changes, Jill strives to keep learning by reading many professional magazines, including Business Week, continuing to network with friends in the industry and working to keep up with what technology can offer to the delivery of voice.
Jill’s inspiration comes from several women; Maryann Philips of Video Arts Studio in Fargo and her ability to be successful even as the production industry drastically changed, her late Grandmother Bertha who raised fifteen children (without modern conveniences) and Jill’s mother Jeanette who became an independent career sales woman at a time when it was very difficult for a woman to get established in a career. Jill stresses that her mother continually inspires her because her mother gets more successful in business every year.
Jill’s favorite quote is one that describes to her the responsibility of being on-air in radio: A broadcast channel news director said to a producer, it must be nice to be the smartest person in the room … to always know what’s best for people,” To which the producer replied, “No – it’s awful.” Jill underscores the meaning of this exchange by saying that being on-air in radio is sometimes a burden and sometimes good.
So, the next time you are listening to your radio, watching TV or following a Microsoft software tutorial, it is very likely that you are listening to the distinctive and successful voice of Jill St. John.
Area Women in Business of Fargo Moorhead: Marcia Kyser-Cleary, RDA
Author: Lauren Falkner
Born: Fargo, ND.
Education: Wahpeton State School of Science, 1970
Business: Registered Dental Assistant, Hetland Dental
Community volunteering: Patron of the arts
On leadership, “Leaders are doers and they have to gain respect before they can lead.”
Caring about others is evident in Marcia’s professional and personal lives. As a Registered Dental Assistant (RDA) Marcia works closely with Dr. Dennis Hetland during operative dental procedures by assisting Dr. Hetland and reassuring patients. Marcia loves her profession and cares about and wants to inspire people to become and stay aware of their dental health.
Much is now known about the effects of dental health on people’s general health. Not only does good dental care contribute to general health it does a lot for people’s appearance and quality of life. Sedation dentistry is a large part of the Hetland practice and can help nervous patients get through procedures to repair years of damage or address immediate concerns. Marcia said that teeth whitening, and veneers can also help people feel better about their smiles and functional dentistry such as correcting bites can relieve joint pain in the face.
After returning to Fargo from a two year stint in Germany as a military wife and graduating from the Registered Dental Assistant program, Marcia first worked in dentistry until the mid 1970’s. At that time, her hair stylist encouraged her to go to cosmetology school and become a hair stylist. Through hair styling and services, Marcia continued to work hands-on with people to care and feel good about their looks. Marcia is quick to point out that the dental and the hair stylizing professions overlap because facial structure is an important consideration in each profession.
Always looking for a new opportunity, Marcia also became a real-estate agent in the late 1970’s… again, Marcia was working on behalf of people to meet their housing needs.
Eventually Marcia’s caring demeanor was needed within her family when a relative suffered through severe medical problems. Marcia spent six months taking care of her sister-in-law and most of the time lived in Rochester MN with her while she was being treated at the Mayo Clinic.
Returning to Fargo in 1987, Marcia went back in to dentistry with Dr. Mary Walker and then joined Dennis Hetland’s practice in 1998.
Marcia’s favorite saying is, “Cowboy up” meaning “pull it together” or “buck up” to a challenge and Marcia has done that - persevering and coming out on the other side of tough times.
Adversity has hit hard along the way. Marcia’s mother and several sisters died at young ages, she went through a devastating divorce after many years of marriage and regrets never having children of her own. However, with wonderful support from friends and family and her professional family, she worked literally and figuratively through the challenges.
Marcia is now remarried to a wonderful guy and her nieces and nephews are like her own children. Her nieces and nephews fill the void of not having her own children but learning the hard way, she encourages young professionals to fit in having children of their own.
When asked what her favorite job has been along the way – caring again comes out loud and clear. Marcia loves to garden and take care of growing plants. Somewhat limited with her current home garden because of a small yard and not the best growing conditions, Marcia is looking forward to gardening this coming spring at a sister’s new home in the country.
For more information go to www.fargodentalcare.com or call 701.298.9400.
Area Women in Business of Fargo Moorhead: Deb Andvik, PA-C
Author: Lauren Falkner
Born: Crookston, MN, 1954
Education: Associate Degree in Nursing from St. Luke’s School of Nursing, University of North Dakota – Physician’s Assistant certification
Business: Certified Physician’s Assistant, Plains Medical Clinic, Heartland Healthcare Network
Community Volunteering: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Moorhead, Birthright of Fargo-Moorhead, Inc, Moorhead Spud Booster, school room mother and chaperone
On success, “Contentment and happiness no matter what you are doing. Raising a good family, being happy with your job, lifestyle, who you are and how you treat others.”
A nurse in MeritCare’s labor and delivery unit for 22 years, Deb Andvik returned to school at UND and became a Certified Physician’s Assistant (PA-C) in 1998. After graduating, Deb joined the family practice department at MeritCare’s Southpoint location and worked at the facility for a little over five years. For the last three and a half years, she has been with the Plains Medical Clinic in Fargo.
Within the physician-PA relationship, Deb is certified and licensed to make independent medical decisions and provides a broad range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. A typical week for Deb includes spending three mornings at Prairie at St. John’s in Fargo seeing patients, administering physicals and monitoring and treating physical problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Back at the Plains Medical Clinic, Deb sees people of all ages at the family practice (or primary care) clinic and orders tests and writes prescriptions. A large part of her practice also includes women’s health care. The rest of her work week involves making and returning phone calls and taking care of the paper work needed for patients’ records and insurance requirements.
At Plains Medical Clinic, Deb is in practice with Dr. Shock and Dr. Harris. Dr. Shock was Deb’s principle teacher during her physician’s assistant training at UND and he provided her with professional guidance and supervision that still inspires her in her profession. Deb said that she admires Dr. Shock’s good and common sense approach to medicine and is happy to be a part of his practice.
Deb also enjoys being a part of the smaller staff and practice at Plains Medical Clinic. It reminds her of a hometown-type clinic – a smaller building and parking lot, a smaller staff who know their patients names and being able to (often times) see people the same day that they call in for an appointment. Deb said that practicing medicine is different today because patients are much more aware and better informed about prevention, diagnosis and treatments of diseases and conditions and demand more from their healthcare provider. She said that people are internet savvy which can be a blessing and a curse as they search on the internet to self diagnose and come in for appointments asking for a certain medication. Deb said that one of the best things about current medicine is that people are healthier longer and that now preventive care continues the entire lifetime of a person.
Deb’s professional goals are to continue at Plains Medical Clinic until she retires and to continue taking classes to stay current in her medical knowledge. She especially likes attending conferences which deal with medical updates and cutting edge research. Deb also reads professional magazines. Deb must also keep up with ongoing continuing education and testing to keep up her professional certification.
Even though Deb loves her profession, her most favorite job has been motherhood. She is the mother of four children who are now 22 to 31 years of age and is also a new grandmother of one. Deb said even during the busiest and most intense times of her professional career she was always focused on being a mom first and foremost.
As Deb pursued her career she strived to keep her professional and home lives balanced and found truth in what Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis once said,” If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do well matters very much.”
Deb worked part time hours when her children were young and when she went back to school and was juggling home and kids, she said that it was doable with the support of her husband. Deb said that it can be challenging returning fulltime to the work force or continuing your education but it is possible to do it after raising your family and to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds.
For more information about Plains Medical Clinic go to www.plainsmedical.comor call 701.499.4800.
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