Outstanding Alumni - 2009
Adele (Levchak) Munsterman
Bemidji State University Graduate 1974
Ms. Adele Munsterman earned a degree in Secondary Education in 1974, with a double major in French and Spanish. Prior to graduation, she studied at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, Mexico. She later completed her M.Ed. degree in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota. Ms. Munsterman taught both Spanish and French during her 32-year career in the Fridley Public Schools. In addition to her classroom teaching responsibilities, Ms. Munsterman served as advisor to the Fridley Future Educators, the Spanish Club, the International Club, and the Hispanic Honor Society. She served as coach of the Fridley Tigerteers dance team, and sat on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Association of Dance Lines. She has supervised fifteen student teachers and she has encouraged many of her own students to become teachers themselves. Throughout her career, Ms. Munsterman has received numerous awards and honors, including being recognized as the AATSP-MN Teacher of the Year, the Fridley Education Association Teacher of the Year, and a Delta Kappa Gamma Woman of Achievement. She was inducted into the Bemidji State University Professional Education Hall of Fame in the year 2000. Ms. Munsterman has held a number of leadership roles in her professional organizations, including the Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures, the Minnesota Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Phi Delta Kappa, the Education Minnesota Foundation Board, and both the University of Minnesota and Bemidji State Alumni Boards. Ms. Munsterman retired from the Fridley Schools in June of 2009, and has just begun a new teaching position at Blaine High School. She and her husband, Walt are active members of DFL Senate District #47 and Education Minnesota, where they are both Directors on the 44-member Governing Board that represents 70,000 teachers' union members. They make their home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.