Alumni Donor Relations Department News

What Nielsen got out of the NWSA was far beyond the typical educational experience.

The nest was meticulously built with twigs and branches harvested from the Red River Valley Natural History Area and carried the University’s mascot, Regal the Golden Eagle, all while representing current international students with flags flown from different countries.

Alumni enjoyed a luncheon and program honoring their ‘Top Aggie’ award recipient Nyla (Finney) Driscoll Carson 1951.

The UMN Crookston officially dedicated its campus wellness center to donor and alumnus Les Nielsen and his family during a formal event April 20 at the newly named Nielsen Family Wellness Center.

Looking back at her time at UMN Crookston, Siewert, a Hotel Restaurant & Institutional Management graduate and hospitality association student member who spent time in the hotel and human resources industries before starting her own business, said she really enjoyed the ‘small town feeling’ and the people on campus.

Les Nielsen says he and his family feel blessed to be able to support students through impactful gifts.

Ulseth celebrated 28 years as an employee of the University of Minnesota Crookston, where she was the donor relations and gift management specialist for the Alumni & Donor Relations department, though she was so much more than that.

Both Ulseth and Rongen were honored posthumously.

Her dad wanted her to have “more exposure” to people compared to their ‘small town’, so off to the school in Crookston she went.

Going back to his four years at the NWSA, Wilkens lived in all four corners of the campus in residence halls and fondly remembers rooming with a group of “pranksters.”