Dean Gulden ’63: From Augsburg professor to prize-winning dogsled musher
by Jessica Brown and Lynn Mena

Imagine beginning your day with the sun on your face and the wind rushing against you, traveling at high speeds through the woods, stopping for breakfast only after you've reached the top of a hill so high you can see Lake Superior and its stunning vistas. This is a solitary adventure—well, almost—just you, nature, and a pack of canine companions leading the way.

For Dean Gulden, a prizewinning dogsled musher, this has become a way of life. In 1985, he and a friend started a summer mountain program for area youth in Grand Marais, Minn., taking a busload of kids to Wyoming to experience the thrill of mountain climbing. In continuing the program into the winter, he was introduced to the sport of dogsled racing. Having a great love of the outdoors, the sport quickly grew on Gulden, who now owns 17 Alaskan Huskies and participates in up to six races per year.

Sometimes, Gulden's competition includes his wife, Jean. "[In 2001], we were competing and I was having a good run," recalls Gulden. "I was out first and Jean was five or six teams behind me. I was cruising along this river and looking at the blue sky, when all of a sudden I heard, 'trail!' which race etiquette dictates you must relinquish the trail and let the competitor by. Well, I look around and here it's Jean passing me!

"It"s a tough sport, there's both competition and camaraderie ... mushers are fiercly competitive, but if you need help, they¹re there for you."

One of the most enjoyable aspects for Gulden is the ability to share his dogs with others. "I go to high schools and senior centers so they can see the dogs and pet them and learn about them," says Gulden. "It's a vehicle I can use to share myself and what I've done ... I've been very blessed and I like to share that blessing with other people."

Training the dogs is both challenging and fulfilling. "Finding what the strength of each dog is and helping them to maximize that potential is a lot like teaching," says Gulden, a longtime teacher. "I'm not comparing students to dogs—though most people who know dogs would not be offended."

Both an Augsburg alumnus and a former Augsburg math department chair and professor, Gulden left the College in 1975 for Grand Marais, where he taught at Cook County High School. Prior to Cook County and Augsburg, Gulden served in the Air Force and also worked in the space industry. He and his wife now split their time between Grand Marais and Fairbanks, Alaska, where he teaches in the summer months.

—Jessica Brown is a communication specialist in the Office of Public Relations and Communication.