Andris Straumanis, a longtime journalism professor and adviser at UW-River Falls, died Monday, Sept. 11, at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was 66.
A native of Long Island, New York, Straumanis was born March 8, 1957, to Alfreds and Biruta Straumanis. He was a first-generation Latvian-American, his parents having relocated to New York in 1956 after immigrating to the United States the previous year.
Straumanis earned a bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University, a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and a graduate certificate from George Mason University. In addition to his work toward a doctorate in mass communication at the University of Minnesota, he worked with the Latvian Baptists in America, early Latvian press in America and Latvian anarchists.
Before joining academia in the 90s, he worked as a photographer, writer and editor at the Minnesota Real Estate Journal, the Elk River (Minn.) Star News, the Monticello (Minn.) Times, and the (Elburn, Ill.) Chronicle West. He was a faculty advisor to The Student Voice, a student-run news organization at the UW-River Falls, where he taught classes in print and online journalism.
“He taught a generation of journalism students at UW-River Falls from 2005 to 2023. His impact was vast,” wrote former student Melissa Thorud, who is now community news editor at the Hudson Star-Observer. “The Student Voice campus newspaper thrived because of his guidance and expertise and he gave them the tools to do so.”
In the last decade, Straumanis split his time between the U.S. and Latvia, where he taught courses at Riga Stradins University and Turība University.
A private memorial service was held Sept. 17 at the O’Connell Family Funeral Home in River Falls.
