Ambitious Beginnings: The Early Life and Political Career of William Langer

This essay examines William Langer\u27 s early life and political career until his abortive attempt to become governor of North Dakota in 1920. It argues that William Langer was a man driven by a need for status. It was this quest for status that drove him to politics and explains his rapid rise through the ranks. It also explains the large degree of publicity and controversy that permeated his early career. He was a man who wanted to stand out, he wanted recognition by his peers, and he wanted public office. Publicity and controversy served those ends. Moreover, I feel that in order to understand the post- 1920 Langer, it is necessary to understand the early Langer who laid the foundation for a forty-five year career in North Dakota politics. In order to undertake this study, it was necessary to consult a vast array of sources. William Langer\u27 s personal papers have provided the bulk of the material cited. Regional newspapers have also contributed much to the work at hand. The Fargo Forum, the Grand Forks Herald, and the Bismarck Tribune are only a few. A multitude of secondary sources have also added their voice. Most were works that dealt with North Dakota politics, such as Robert Morlan\u27s preeminent work on the Nonpartisan League, Political Prairie Fire and Edward C. Blackorby\u27 s, Prairie Rebel: The Public Life of William Lemke. Also invaluable to this study were the many unpublished master theses that covered the period in question

Analyzing the Gender Gap on an Entrance Exam for Mathematically Talented Students

We investigate the qualifying entrance exam for the University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP), a five-year accelerated program covering high school- and undergraduate-level mathematics. The exam is used to assess the computational, numerical reasoning, and geometric skills of hundreds of fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-grade students annually. It has accurately identified qualified students in past years, but female participants consistently have had lower overall scores. Based on our belief that they are equally well qualified, in 2011 we began an extensive investigation into the structure and content of the exam to determine the possible sources for these differences. After gathering and analyzing data, we made relatively modest changes in 2012 which essentially eliminated the gender bias on one version of the entrance exam, increasing the percentage of females who qualified. The other unmodified versions in 2012 exhibited the typical gender difference from previous years. We continue to analyze the possible reasons for the gender differences while monitoring the overall student performance upon entering the Program

Web Tools in Education

Student assignment: Create a 22 x 34 inch digital poster using Microsoft Publisher that highlighted at least one web 2.0 tool they learned about in class. Students also included useful offices and resources available to them as new students on campus

Historical perspectives on a program for mathematically talented students

The University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP) is a highly accelerated program for students who are extremely talented in mathematics. This paper describes our experiences running UMTYMP since its inception thirty years ago, the challenges in implementing such a program, and how changes in the student body have necessitated changes in the program over three decades

An integrated building system.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1968. M.Arch.Bibliography: leaf [28].M.Arch