Director's Winter Update

Congratulations on your success thus far this quarter and I hope that you’re excited for warmer weather and the Spring Quarter, which is right around the corner!

I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight a few important points and set some expectations for the rest of 2008!

Student Portal
Many of you are taking advantage of the Student Portal (located at https://my.msbcollege.edu/) for Spring Registration and I encourage all of you to become active users of this useful tool. The Student Portal can be a convenient resource that you can use on a regular basis to check your schedule, future classes, student account balance, and many other key pieces of information. If you have any problems accessing the Student Portal, please contact our Helpdesk at 1-877-862-0662.

Summer Quarter 2008
The Summer Quarter begins on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008, rather than Monday, July 14th, as it is incorrectly outlined in many of your 2007-2008 Student Handbooks . If there are additional questions regarding this topic, please contact our Education Department at 1-877-609-8889.

Dean of Faculty Announcement
Brian James, current Online Dean of Faculty, has accepted a new role supporting both residential and online course delivery as the Director of Instructional Technology for Globe University/Minnesota School of Business. Although we’re disappointed to see Brian leave, we’re grateful for all of his efforts and excited for him to share his talents with a larger group of students. If you’ve not done so already, please check out the latest Faculty Spotlight on the main page of the Online Outlook. We’re very excited to profile Kelly Schmidt, one of our outstanding faculty members, and I’m very pleased to announce that Kelly has accepted the role of Online Dean of Faculty effective in the Spring quarter!

Once again, good luck with the rest of the Winter Quarter and please feel free to contact me at 1-877-609-8889 or via e-mail at stesdall@msbcollege.edu if you have questions or concerns regarding any of the items outlined above.

Seth Tesdall
Director of Online Education

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New Faces - New Voice

Recently, you may have noticed the absence of some familiar voices when contacting the Online Financial Aid / Student Accounts office.

Since September 2007, our office experienced a significant transition as several former FA/SA staff accepted new roles with MSB and in turn, new personnel filled those vacancies. In addition to these personnel changes, we’ve upgraded many of our procedures and processes to better serve our dynamic online community. Therefore, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce our new staff so that we can begin building long lasting relationships with all of you.

· Sharon Rorem, Financial Aid Administrator, works with new student financial aid appointments and keeps your many FA documents in order. Though she is new to Online Financial Aid, Sharon has worked for MSB at the Richfield campus for the past six years(srorem@msbcollege.edu).

· Toua Yang, Financial Aid Administrator, also works with our new students and manages the awarding process. Toua is a graduate of St. Olaf College and has a background in real estate (tyang@msbcollege.edu).

· Latrice Brown, Financial Aid Administrator, primarily works with many of you, our current students, and she is a graduate of the University of North Florida. Latrice brings nine years of higher education experience to MSB Online, with seven of those years working in student financial aid (lbrown@msbcollege.edu).

· Bonnie Riley, Student Accounts Representative, facilitates all student accounts functions, including payments and refunds for online students. Bonnie is starting her third year working at MSB, and prior to working with Online, she worked with the MSB - Richfield Campus (briley@msbcollege.edu).

· I am a graduate of Macalester College and Concordia University - St. Paul. I bring to MSB Online nearly 14 years experience in higher education and student financial aid. I have numerous interests, but my professional background includes establishing new initiatives, teaching, and youth development (mlee@msbcollege.edu).

These are exciting times for MSB Online as we experience continued growth. With that growth, our office will soon incorporate improved technology and automation to keep up with demand and to ensure we maintain a premium quality of student service.

We’re excited to become more familiar with our new roles and with each of you, and as always, we welcome your input. Please feel free to contact us via phone at 1-877-609-8889 or via any of the email addresses included above if you need additional assistance. Cheers!

Mario R. Lee
Director of Financial Aid

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E-Books - Quick and Easy!

The library has over 5,700 e-books available for you to read and use for research!

Here’s how you use them:



1. Search the Online Catalog (set your “library to search” to MSB e-books).

2. Click on the title and then click on the Electronic Resource link.

3. Log in with the same info you use to login to your MSB email.

Features of E-books:
· High Quality Information
· Searchable
· Available 24/7
· No late fees – you don’t have to check it out!
· Free! (free for you: the library buys them)

For more about e-books see this guide or ask the librarian!

Elaine Settergren
Online Librarian

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Need A Tutor?

Have you ever thought you needed some extra help with an online course? Did you know that there are some amazing tutoring resources available to you?

Not only do we have our 24/7 online tutoring service via Smarthinking, but we also have dedicated tutors that will work one on one with you to help you be successful. The following article showcases one of our outstanding student tutors, Ruth Otteman, and she, like many others, is pursuing her education with MSB Online, yet eager to assist other students in the process!

Why You Enjoy Tutoring
Through tutoring, my goal is to offer students a complimentary learning approach to what the instructors are already contributing. Working together with your instructors, I am able to individualize a tutoring program that is based on your specific needs, to help you get the most from your academic experience. Simply put, I love to help people, and care!

What Courses you Tutor
I have tutored many different courses, and the reality is that if I am able to make a difference for someone, I will always do whatever I can to help. My true strengths lie in Psychology and Writing courses.

Personal Background
I live in the Eastern part of Colorado. My husband and I have two children, our oldest is 30 and the youngest is nearly 17, both are boys. In addition to our children, we have several pets. Sadie, a German Shepherd mix that we rescued from a shelter, Nixie, a miniature pincher, and a cat named Panther that was also a rescue. Our oldest son’s dog is also living with us, his name is Kudda, and he is a red Doberman Pincher.

Presently I am pursuing my Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, and upon completion of the Bachelors program, I plan to continue on to get my Masters Degree. Some of my future goals include, writing professional self-help books, publishing my children’s books, and teaching on the college level for MSB.

Professional Background
I am a dedicated leader and creative problem solver with a broad knowledge of business disciplines. Communication and negotiation are my strengths. I have a wealth of experience managing multiple projects and resolving complex business issues.

For the past 20 years I have worked in the field of Information Technology. During that time I have worked in a variety of positions including, but not limited to: account management, training, sales, and consulting. I even operated and owned my own business from 2001-2006.

Personal Interests and Hobbies
I am a huge Colorado Avalanche Hockey, NHRA, and NASCAR Fan. My other interests include spending quality time with my family, camping, fishing, boating, riding my 4-wheeler, frequenting local race tracks, crocheting, playing the piano, writing children’s books and music.

John Birkland
Associate Dean of Students

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