PROFILE STORIES
Karli Kopietz
The 2005 Division I Independent Defensive Player of the Year turns assistant soccer coach at her alma mater North Dakota State University.
Within one year of volunteering, the 29-year-old former Bison goalkeeper, Karli Lynn Kopietz, launched into her coaching career with ease after a few setbacks.
She grew up in a suburb 15 miles west of the Viking-city, in Champlin, Minn. and was a go-getter from early years, where those around her watched the budding champ grow.
It all began for Kopietz when she was introduced to soccer at the age of 14 and began to play competitively by 16.
Her true calling came when she volunteered at the Champlin Dayton Athletic Club as a goalkeeper, where her sister Kristin played.
Kopietz sister’s team needed a goalkeeper in order for the team to play and Kopietz volunteered, then her love for the game grew the more she played.
By age 16, she began to play for the Twin City Fire Soccer Club and her passion continued to grow throughout her high school years.
Kopietz admired her Champlin Park High School coach Denise Collins who played a major role in her choice to play collegiately.
“She was the first person to really talk to me about playing in college and helped me through that process,” Kopietz said. “She is an amazing soccer player.”
Kopietz gained an athletic scholarship and played for three years at the University of Minnesota, from 2002-05.
However, she yearned for more from soccer and transferred to NDSU in 2005; after being sought out by then NDSU head coach Pete Cuadrado and associate head coach John Ross.
In 2006, the soccer star returned to her hometown to nurse an ACL injury.
However, after taking time off the field, Kopietz returned to NDSU in 2012 and completed her degree in criminal justice and a minor in sociology.
While studying, she was introduced to the head coach Mark Cook and asked to volunteer with the team.
Immediately after Kopietz graduated from NDSU, in June 2013, Cook announced her as the new assistant coach.
“Being a former athlete, she has a lot of pride in NDSU,” Cook said. “She understands what it is to be a Bison athlete.”
It has been two years since the two met and worked together and Cook is impressed by her dedication to the team.
“She brings a lot of passion and a lot of desire,” Cook said.
Her success on the field came through a balance of athletics, academics, and personal time management.
Of her many accomplishments, Kopietz describes her greatest as having played at the Division I level at two Division I institutions — the NDSU Bison and the University of Minnesota Gophers.
She was disappointed having to take time off in her fourth year of college, however, the opportunity to graduate from NDSU and start a coaching career made the time off worth it.
“Finally coming back and getting my bachelor’s degree was huge,” Kopietz said.Despite the delay, she believes everything happens for a reason.
While at the University of Minnesota, Kopietz won the title, Big Ten Player of the Week and Defensive Most Valuable Player.
At NDSU, she was named Independent Defensive Player of the Year, Defensive MVP and was the record holder of .84 Goals Against Average.
As a soccer coach, Kopietz currently holds an E license; however, she desires to be fully certified and obtain an A license for United States soccer.
Among her many accolades are a diploma in goalkeeping and a tri-level certification from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
She takes coaching seriously and enjoys learning about her new position and motivating her athletes.
“I would call her pretty intense,” Cook said. “She has high expectations of the athletes she is working with.”
Cook describes Kopietz as intense because of her “competitive desire.”
The second assistant coach of the NDSU Bison soccer team Chris Logan applauds her excellent work ethics.
“She is energetic and a positive influence for the girls,” Logan said. “She is so positive you can never be negative around her.”
Having Kopietz as an assistant coach has its advantages.
“Obviously, she is a female. That certainly helps when working with female athletes there’s a female member on your staff,” Cook said.
Outside of her eagerness to be a better coach, Kopietz plays the role as big sister, lending a listening ear and giving advice to the athletes.
Off the field, her love for the game extends into coaching at a local club, the Tri-City Storm; and in her spare time, she continues to be surrounded by soccer.
Her favorite team is the Stoke City Soccer Club in Stoke-on-Trent, England, which Kopietz wakes up to watch live games early on Saturdays.
However, when Kopietz is not playing, coaching, or watching soccer, she enjoys cooking.
“I’m a pretty good cook,” Kopietz said. “And I enjoy it.”
Kopietz managed Chipotle, a Mexican restaurant in Minnesota, for a year and a half, where she developed much of her culinary skills.
Her favorite thing to cook is steak. In keeping up a family tradition, Kopietz cooking extends to community shelters once a month.
Her family and friends have always been her support for this and her other activities, including sports.
“It was fun to kind of watch and see what these different coaches could teach her and how she progressed,” Karli Kopietz mother, Connie Kopietz said.
She describes her daughter as very energetic, fun and always busy, from a very early age.
“We knew she loved sports, any kind of sports,” Connie Kopietz said. “A lot of it came very natural to her.”
The former athlete was not focused on sports only, but tapped into a few other things like basketball, ballet, jazz, tap dancing, and various community outreach events. In all her endeavors, she gave it her all.
Having many surgeries for five ACL injuries did not deter the former athlete from soaring toward her goal of coaching the Bison herd at NDSU.
Kopietz is now the fourth female assistant coach, in the male-dominated workforce, hired at NDSU in the program’s history.
She continues to devote her time to the Bison in hope of making the NDSU soccer team its best.
“At the end of the day it’s all about winning,” Kopietz said. “Hopefully we can extend that success that we are really trying to build.”
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Profile on Rennay Niva Bison
Imagine that you had the choice to decide how you would want to die. How would you choose to die?
“Death can sometimes seem comforting,” Rennay Niva Bison said, “but, if I die, it cannot be traumatic to others.”
Bison said she does not fear death, but her dying choice would be to drift off into sleep. Bison contemplated her decision based on what she thinks would be best for her family and friends to deal with.
“I would rather die… saving someone else,” she said.
Selfless, relatable, caring, a good listener, compassionate are some of Bison's attributes.
Bison is a programs coordinator in the Office of Multicultural Program at North Dakota State University.
The 40-year-old can be seen interacting with students all over campus and her spirit is of a calm-natured, even‑tempered one, which draws people to her warm personality. A self-less people-person sums her up.
Bison crosses the paths of many minority students at NDSU Office of Multicultural Programs to offer counseling to ensure they do well.
She is concerned about the dropout rate of minorities in colleges and hope that she can make an impact on students as she plays the role of mentor and big sister.
Bison said her goal is to help the underrepresented to graduate.
In her job, she provides a listening ear, advice and support to ease any discomfort students may experience while at NDSU.
“Having heart,” Bison said, is her tool.
Born in Durham, N.C. to parents Lyn and Garth Bison, Bison spent most of her life in Hawaii and moved to Los Angeles, Calif. to work and attend college.
The 5-foot 4 ½ inches tall, nicknamed Prancine, graduated with honors in Educational Studies from Browns University in 1994, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences.
She pursued a medical degree at University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.
In 2001-2003, Bison pursued her master’s degree at the University of California Los Angeles School of Public Health.
Eight top universities offered Bison a space to study medicine. Her face was filled with glee as she recalls her college experiences. She feels her proudest moment was being accepted to Ivy League universities.
She was accepted at Columbia University School of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Howard University College of Medicine.
Bison conducted research at Harvard School of Public Health in 1991-1992.
Her title, “The Site-directed Mutagenesis of Glucose Transporter Gene in Schistosoma Mansoni”. Her eyes grew big as she excitedly rolled the tongue-twisting title out her mouth.
Bison uses her medical background to understand and help others.
She said people are drawn to her to offload their problems even without her knowing who they are at times.
Bison chuckled as she said strangers sometimes release their problems on her.
However, the mood became serious when Bison was asked about her philosophy.
She said, “I’d rather die young trying to help someone, rather than do nothing and live for a long time.”
She recalls an episode that happened in 5th grade, where she could not make a difference in the life of a classmate, Cindy, who was abused.
“I will never forget that Cindy asked if she could come live with me,” Bison said, who became somber as she jogs down memory lane. “I remember the fear in her eyes.”
Bison, being the unselfish person she is, said she regrets not be able to do something. Cindy and her parents were called into the principal’s office because of some scars on Cindy’s body.
However, the principal interrogated Cindy in front of her parents. Cindy denied being abused and said that she got the scars when she fell down.”
Bison has not seen Cindy from that day and wonders what became of her. She regrets not being able to help at that time and that it stayed with her.
“It formed me as a human being,” Bison said.
Her focus is always about helping others and wants to be remembered as “someone who tried her best to bring out the best in kids.”
She wants to be “someone who helps others see the best in themselves.” Bison explained that there were times in her life that she felt like a failure.
However, she wants to be remembered as having a sense of humor.
Her warm personality and laughter rub off on others around her. Her pleasant countenance is what brings people into her circle.
“If I didn’t have my sense of humor, I’d be at the bottom of a river,” Bison said as she chuckled.
Off the job, her lifelong passion to look out for others is not paused. Bison dedicates her time off the job to family.
“I think family is one of the most important relationships you have in life,” Bison said.
She lives with her parents in Fargo, N.D. and tries to nurture the family relationship, which she says is very close.
Bison is the second of four children. She has two sisters, Gina, who is two years older than she is, Lyn, who is eight years her junior and a younger brother, Garth, who is two years younger than Lyn.
Though Bison has no children, she hopes to adopt a child someday.
Outside of family, Bison spends her time keeping abreast with the news.
She likes reading the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Forum. She also likes to listen to National Public Radio.
Bison said she considers herself a “politics and news junkie” and likes finding out about events happening worldwide, because she feels scared not knowing what is going on around her.
Bison spent many years earning a college degree in medicine and public health. She worked with cadavers, seen and dealt with blood, but reveals that she has the weirdest pet peeve.
Her pet peeve is people not controlling their bodily functions. Having bodily functions is a part of life, but things like people burping and farting publicly annoys her.
Though she considers herself an introvert, Bison said she can be a “forced extrovert” when necessary.
Another one of her pet peeves is people not allowing her to “turn off”. She like socializing but craves her space to unwind and feels if she was placed on an island, alone, she could exist just fine.
As she enjoys the simple life, she continues to make huge differences in students’ lives.
Bison believes that education is the tool that will help the minorities excel.
For this reason, she has worked in inner cities to try to understand their difficulties to be able to help them succeed.
Although her profession and education seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum, her character along with her personal experiences help her in major ways to understand and help others.
Her positive outlook and words of encouragement may be the key elements that one may need to start the day off on a positive note.
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Stephanie Osterthun
“Your major helps you get your first job, but from thereon out, the next and next and next job that you get is based on your experience.” --Stephanie Osterthun
Having more than 20 years of experience working in higher education settings, Stephanie Osterthun comes to the Department of Animal Science and School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences as pre-vet academic advisor.
Osterthun has served in the capacity of recruiting, advising, admissions, and the Federal TRiO Program.
Osterthun works in alignment with Dr. Lisa Karr, undergraduate teaching coordinator, and Dr. Dennis Brink, coordinator of undergraduate teaching and advisement professor, as a network of advisors to undergraduate students who are interested in veterinary medicine.
In addition to Osterthun’s responsibility to advise and retain students in the pre-vet program, she meets with students to review their academic background, credits, areas of interests in working with particular species of animals, recommends classes to incoming students, identifies leadership development opportunities, and explores with them the appropriate undergraduate majors.
Osterthun also co-teaches a 100-level class, Success in Veterinary Science, which pre-vet students take to help them develop successful skills during their college years.
Osterthun graduated with a Bachelor’s of General Studies in Criminal Justice from Wichita State University and a Master’s in Student Counseling and Personnel Services from Kansas State University.
Now in her 25th year, the advising journey began, in 1993, at Cowley College, Arkansas City, Kan. At Cowley College she served as admissions representative with responsibility for both advising and recruiting. Osterthun grew to love advising and so she left Cowley College to pursue a two-year graduate degree at Kansas State University, in 1995. This helped catapult her into an advising career.
While she studied her advising role continued. Osterthun was given a graduate assistantship to advise graduate students on academic policies and cultural and social programming. Upon receiving her master’s, Osterthun went back to Cowley College as director of admissions from 1998 to 2000.
She became director of on-site advising at Butler Community College, in Andover, Kan., in 2000, and was director of Upward Bound at Northwest Missouri State University, in Maryville, Mo, in 2006.
At Northwest Missouri State University, she directed the Federal TRiO Program that encouraged high school students with learning or physical disabilities, who were low-income or first-generation to pursue college degrees.
In 2008, Osterthun was introduced to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as assistant director for Graduate Distance Education Programs where she worked with faculty and academic departments to develop online courses and programs. Her love for advising took her to another part of UNL, in 2011, as on-campus MBA program coordinator.
She advised MBA students, participated in recruiting events, coordinated MBA fellowships and internships, and served as sponsor for the MBA Student Association. Osterthun spent one year as advisor in the psychology department in 2014, then accepted a position as academic advisor at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, Neb., in 2015, before returning to UNL as pre-vet advisor in May.
Outside of work, Osterthun, who grew up on a small farm, in Arkansas City, Kan., enjoys spending time with her family.
She is stepmother to three children, Mike, Matt, and Erin and has two grandchildren, Ryker, 4, and Ryden, 1. When Osterthun is not visiting her grandchildren in Missouri, she and her husband, Stu, garden. Outside of these things, Osterthun likes to attend concerts and football games.
One day, she hopes to travel to the Vatican.
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OBITUARY
Ursula M. Burns
Ursula Bruns, 41, from Norwalk, Conn., chair and chief executive officer of Xerox Corp., died on Saturday at the Norwalk Public Hospital.
According to the hospital, Bruns died at 3 p.m. of cervical cancer.
The service is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., July 17, 2000, St. Andrew Parish Church with reverend Lenox Jackson officiating. Burial will be immediately after the service at (Samson Cemetery, 340 W Fair St., Norwalk, Conn.
Visitation will be from 3 to 4 p.m., July 16, 2000, Samson Funeral Home)
Ursula M. Bruns was born on Sep. 20, 1958, in Manhattan, N.Y., to Olga Bruns.
Bruns earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of NYU and Master of Science degree from Columbia University.
Towards the end of college, Bruns worked at Xerox as a mechanical engineering summer intern in 1980.
She led the company’s color business and office networking printing business from 1992 until she became senior vice president of Corporate Strategic Service in 2000.
Bruns lived by what her mother always told her, “Where you are is not who you are.”
Bruns redefined Xerox when she became CEO in 2009 and chair by 2010 and led the company to becoming the world’s leading enterprise for business process and document management.
The math whiz, as she is remembered, helped Xerox make its largest acquisition in the company’s history, through the $6.4 billion purchase of Affiliated Computer Services, which thrust the company further into the business services market.
She became the first African-American woman CEO to head a Fortune 500 company and first to succeed another woman as head.
Forbes, in 2009, rated Bruns as the 14th most powerful woman in the world and was ranked 27th on FORTUNE magazine’s ninth annual list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.
In March 2010, President Barak Obama appointed Bruns as vice chair of the President’s Export Council.
She also made her unforgettable marks outside of Xerox and became the founding board director of Change the Equation to help improve the U.S. education in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Bruns served on many professional and community boards including the American Express Corp., the U.S. Olympic Committee, MIT, National Academy foundation, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology among many other non-profit and educational organizations.
Bruns is survived by her husband, Lloyd Bruns; daughter, Melissa; stepson, Malcolm; and mother, Olga.
Donations in Bruns’ memory can be made to the Xerox Corp. 45 Glover Ave., Norwalk, C.T. 06856.
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