On Campus Blog

What Rosenstone's chancellor medallion is like

Here's a little info on that medallion that Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system chancellor Steven Rosenstone received at his inauguration last week.

The medallion was created in a months-long process by Minnesota State College–Southeast Technical jewelry instructor Todd Hawkinson and six of his students.

(Hawkinson also produced this year's medallions for MnSCU's Excellence in Teaching awards.)

From the Red Wing Republican Eagle:

“There are 10 distinct steps,” Hawkinson said.

The first was to simply make a drawing of the piece, followed by a model, in which most of the medallion’s detailing was refined. The face of the medallion shows the MnSCU seal with the word chancellor and 1995 – the year the MnSCU system was created – printed on it.

The medallion’s chain contains 31 links, each representing one of the 31 colleges in the MnSCU system.

“Each of the parts (of the medallion) are symbolic,” Hawkinson said.

The model was approved by MnSCU officials, who gave the jewelry making class the go ahead to begin production on the medallion’s mold, which was then used to cast the finished piece.

Each of Hawkinson’s six students made about half a dozen of the links.

The finished medallion, which is between 4 and 5 inches in diameter, is made of bronze and plated with 24 karat gold.

Read the full story here.

(And I'm trying to hunt down a photo.)

Click here for a photo.