When Trude Aasbo was a teenager in her native Norway, she made the national swim team, which might explain how and why shes used to simply plunging in, with a purpose, to make her goals.

On Sunday (Dec. 10), the West Virginia University student (whose first name is pronouncedTrue-DAY) will notch another achievement: Shell receive a bachelors degree in organizational leadership during WVU s December Convocation at 1:30 p.m. in the Coliseum.

Hundreds of students among the 1,200 or so December graduates are expected to don caps and gowns for the event that will feature keynote remarks from Kanawha County Circuit Judge Irene Berger, a WVU alumna.

Aasbo will be there, too, and Sundays ceremony will mark another happy chapter in a life that began 34 years ago Norways oldest community. She hails from historic Tonsberg, a whaling town of 31,000 people just 60 miles south of the countrys bustling capital of Oslo on the southeast coast.

In a town where boats abound, it wasnt surprising that young Aasbo took to the water. She began competitive swimming as a little girl and worked her way up to the grueling 100- and 200-meter freestyle events for the national team.

My shoulders are still sore,she said with a rueful chuckle.

She also shouldered her studies, and when her parents (her mother is a secretary in a physicians office, and her father is an administrator for a transportation company), werent driving her swim meets across Norway, they were encouraging her to dive into the books.

I always liked school,Aasbo said.My parents never forced me to do anything. They always let me pursue what I wanted to pursue.

When her swimming days were done, she went to college, trained as a physical therapist and worked in that field for seven years in Germany.

She became fluent in German there and she also started studying the language of workplace dynamicshow employers and employees simply get along.

Or not get along.

I decided I wanted to pursue a career in human resources,Aasbo said.I would love to work with conflict resolution in the workplace, negotiation and mediation.

Her fiance (and former childhood swimming chum) Thomas Hansen came to the United States to pursue a doctorate in social psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.

She followed, and WVU made a big splash for her when she learned of the masters in industrial relations offering through the College of Business and Economics. Shes already been accepted into the program and will begin her studies in the spring.

Its a good fit for my career goal,she said,and WVU s a very welcoming place.

In turn, Aasbo made herself a welcome presence in the College of Business and Economics, where she earned the degree shell receive Sunday.

I was impressed with Trude from the beginning,said Neil Bucklew, who taught the student in his Management of Conflict class.Shes making a pretty dramatic

career shift. Shes got an international perspective, and I think our other students have really learned from her. Shes a citizen of the world.

Being from someplace else is an advantage, I think,she said.Theres globalization and language, and respecting other cultures and differences.

Aasbo even spends time on the other side of the desk. Shes also a teaching assistant in the Department of Foreign Languages, where she shepherds students through basic and intermediate German.

It isntsink or swim,in her classes.

I just tell them, �€~You can do this. I know you can,she said.