Toff, the famous “campus cat” who graced Carleton with his presence before passing away this past Sunday, is the subject of a short feature in the March 9 edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and ran in many publications nationwide. “He was quite a character. He was very self-possessed. He knew exactly what he wanted,” Roger Paas, the William H. Laird Professor of German and the Liberal Arts, chair of German and Russian, and more importantly, Toff’s owner, along with Wadsworth A. Williams Professor of Economics Martha Paas, told the paper. Roger and Martha Paas also granted an interview to KARE-11 TV, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, and the story also interviewed Kelsey Parsons ’13 (Golden Valley, Minn.) and ran on the 6 o’clock newscast on March 10. You can also visit Toff’s Facebook page. Toff died of cancer on Sunday, March 6, just a little less than a month shy of his 15th birthday.

Minnesota Public Radio higher education reporter Alec Friedrich noted how Carleton librarians use trading cards to break through the awkwardness that often stop students from utilizing their expertise in his blog, On Campus, on March 1. Matt Bailey, media librarian and reference and instruction librarian for arts, told Friedrich “They [cards] offer us a way to be accessible and approachable to students. The library can be an intimidating place … We want something that’s not threatening, that makes us approachable so that students can ask questions.”

Carleton’s second wind turbine, which was made possible through a generous gift from Rich ’76 and Laurie ’76 Kracum, is the subject of a feature in the Feb. 16 edition of the Star Tribune. “I said, ‘How about we build a wind farm?’ We laughed,” Laurie Kracum said in the article . “It was partly in jest, and partly serious about doing something environmental.” For more on Carleton’s second wind turbine project, you can visit the Carleton Facilities website.

The Carleton College “Thrillin for a Chillin” Polar Plunge squad raised more $1,700 for Northfield Area Special Olympics. The team, comprised of eight Carleton students and two Carleton staff members, participated in the state-wide event by plunging into the frigid waters in Rochester, Minn.

President Steven G. Poskanzer made his intramural broomball debut on Thursday night, and local blog Northfield Patch was there to cover the momentous occasion with a video interview with Poskanzer and some game highlights.

Carleton’s newly-constructed Cassat and Memorial Halls are part of a feature on college and university sustainable building practices in the January/February 2011 edition of Architecture Minnesota magazine. The article, not available online, highlights how Carleton achieved LEED Gold building standards on its $25 million project. The residence halls are the first newly-constructed college or university residence halls in the state of Minnesota to achieve the LEED Gold standard.

Carleton, for the fourth consecutive year, has scored an A- on the College Sustainability Report Card 2011. Carleton is one of only 53 schools nationwide to earn a grade of A- or better. Three Minnesota institutions received at least an A- or better, led by the University of Minnesota’s grade of A, one of only eight awarded nationally. Macalester College also received a grade of A-. The College received an A rating in the categories of climate change and energy, food and recycling, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement. Carleton graded a B in green building and administration. In the leadership categories, Carleton was an Overall College Sustainability Leader, Campus Sustainability Leader, and Endowment Sustainability Leader.

Carleton’s $40 million renovation of the former Northfield Middle/High School into its Arts Union facility, along with two other large-scale Northfield construction projects, was mentioned in the Dec. 21 edition of the Star Tribune. The three projects–Carleton’s Arts Union, St. Olaf College’s $22 million renovation of the newly-named Thomson Hall, and the Mayo Clinic’s $10 million oncology clinic–have boosted the construction businesses in the area. Northfield Mayor Mary Rossing said the college building renovations are significant “economically and historically in our town.” St. Olaf, with 805 employees, and Carleton, with 650, are the city’s second- and third-largest employers after Malt-O-Meal, she noted.

The start of the 2010-11 academic year began with the traditional opening convocation in Skinner Memorial Chapel on Monday, Sept. 13. Jimmy Kolker ’70 was the headline speaker and the event also marked new Carleton President Steven G. Poskanzer’s first full-campus event.

This past Friday, Carleton staged its annual Empty Bowls fundraiser for the Northfield Area Food Shelf. The event featured homemade soup served in handmade bowls created by Carleton ceramics students, with participants donating a suggested $10 for the bowl (to keep) and filled with soup made by residents of various interest houses on campus. Student photojournalists Nate Ryan ’10 and Khant Khant Kyaw ’11 captured the event.