Turner visits Havre

Havre Daily News/Zach White

Lead resercher Jon Soriano, front, explains the benefits of biodiesel to Ted Turner, center, who toured the Montana State University-Northern Bio-Energy Center after he gave the commencement talk at Northern's graduation ceremony.

After receiving an honorary doctorate and offering some insight and advice to the rest of this year's degree recipients Saturday, CNN founder Ted Turner and his companions were given a tour of Montana State University-Northern's biodiesel production and testing facilities.

Turner, along with Philip Evans, his chief communications officer, and Salley Ranney, an environmental adviser, were led through the Applied Technology Center and had the processes explained to them by Dean of the College of Technical Sciences Greg Kegel and Jon Soriano, Northern's lead biodiesel research scientist.

After seeing how Northern researchers are able to produce the biodiesel and then test it for quality and emissions, Turner said he was impressed.

"I think the work here at the biodiesel research center is really terrific," Turner said. "I don't really understand it all, but it looks very interesting and intriguing.

"I hope they make some of the progress that they hope to make."

MSU-N Foundation Director Shauna Albrecht was Turner's guide throughout the day. According to her, Turner enjoyed his first visit to Havre and admired what he saw.

"He was very impressed with the university," Albrecht said. "With the facilities in general, the biodiesel research and with the community as a whole.

"The last conversation we had was to keep in touch, so we'll definitely be doing that."

Such maintained communication between Northern and the Turner Foundation is an exciting prospect for Kegel, who feels that the two institutions have similar goals.

"If there's anything that we could do that would work with what their goals are, and work in some collaboration that would just be fantastic," Kegel said. "We'd love to do that, partner in some way with what their efforts are. That's the direction we'd like to go in, if they'd be interested in doing that."

Northern Chancellor Frank Trocki said that he felt a similar affinity for the university from Turner.

"The thing that made me really smile was when Mr. Turner, at the end of the day, reminded me more than once, including when he was getting into his car to go, he said 'Frank, don't forget. I am an alumnus of Northern now,'" Trocki said.

"That felt pretty good," Trocki said.