Minnetonka Alumni Writer’s Workshop

Matthew C. Andrews, Ph.D., is the Director of SoloQuest School and Learning Centers in Sonoma, California. Andrews advises executives, organizations, and individual students in design-your-own school systems, education technology, and research-based programs for success in education. He directs research on human development, evaluates school programs, designs innovative curriculum, teaches business entrepreneurship, and advises leaders to meet educational goals.

Andrews may be best known for his research on Youth Purpose and Good Work at the Stanford Center on Adolescence. He is called too many names to list, but most wanted as the Dean of the Wild West for his role as teacher, administrator, and advisor for schools that defined new standards for the 21st Century, including Bullis Charter School, East Palo Alto Academy, Yew Chung International School, and Singularity University. He is an alumni of Minnetonka High School. He earned a Ph.D. in Child Adolescent Development and Education from Stanford University and also holds degrees with teaching credentials from the University of California, UCSB, UCLA, and University of Minnesota.

Eric Dregni is a professor of English, Journalism, and Italian at Concordia University, St. Paul. He oversees the student newspaper, The Sword. He has taught Intro to Literature, College Writing, Review Writing, Column Writing, Memoir, Travel Writing, and directs internships for the English Department. Occasionally, he teaches an Italian class and leads a student trip to Italy. In the summer, he is Dean of the Italian Concordia Language Village, Lago del Bosco, in Hackensack, Minnesota. He is an alumnus of Minnetonka High School, Macalester College,and the University of Minnesota.

Dregni’s written more than 20 books including For the Love of Cod, Follies of Science: 20th Century Visions of our Fantastic Future, Weird Minnesota, Midwest Marvels, The Scooter Bible, Ads That Put America on Wheels, and Let’s Go Fishing! As a Fulbright fellow to Norway, he wrote about the “Norwegian Dream” in In Cod We Trust: Living the Norwegian Dream. Dregni worked in Italy for five years as a travel journalist for a weekly paper and compiled his essays into a book in Italian, which was later translated into English as Never Trust a Thin Cook: and Other Lessons from Italy’s Culinary Capital from the University of Minnesota Press. He wrote about running the Italian Concordia Language Village in You’re Sending Me Where? Dispatches from Summer Camp. His most recent book is Impossible Road Trip.