Engagements Corinne Rethwill (49-50) to Don- ald Tiegs, Henderson, Minnesota. ’ Dagny Quanbeck, ’50, to Luther Hegland, Roseau, Minnesota. Ruth Isaacson, ’49, to Rev. An- drew Cornell, ’44, Roseau, Minne- nota. Ruth Iesness, ’52, Morris, to Ken- neth Tweed, ’51, Tolna, N. 1). Dorothy Guldseth,... Show moreEngagements Corinne Rethwill (49-50) to Don- ald Tiegs, Henderson, Minnesota. ’ Dagny Quanbeck, ’50, to Luther Hegland, Roseau, Minnesota. Ruth Isaacson, ’49, to Rev. An- drew Cornell, ’44, Roseau, Minne- nota. Ruth Iesness, ’52, Morris, to Ken- neth Tweed, ’51, Tolna, N. 1). Dorothy Guldseth, Minneapolis, to LeRoy Annenson, ’52, Wallace, 5. D. Mabel Danielson, '54, Farmington, to lShut Quanbeck, ’53, McVille, N. . Freda Binder, ’51, Devils Lake, N. D., to Howard L. Helm, Minot, N. D. LaVonne Erickson, ’53, Minneapo- lis, to Lowell T. Nerge, Madison, Minn. .lean Swanson, ’52, Bemidji to Arne Markland, ’49, Menagha, Min- nesota. Montages Adeline A05, ’48, of Sioux Falls, 5. 1)., to Frederick Martichuski. Roland Erickson, ’54, to Darlyne Broin of Kenyon, Minn. Margaret Moe (46-47), Constance, .\1inn., to Albert Sannerude (46-50), Hazel Run, Minn. Berton Hushagen, ’53, Gonvik, to lda Goebel, North Hollywood, Calif., on March 21st. At home, 1300 Kelly Drive N., Golden Valley, Minn. Jeane Tiblce, ’48, to Ruben Vane, ‘1‘). At home, Fort Yates, N. D. Marvin Winquist, ’51, to Carolyn Younger, Duluth. At home, 2100 S. 7th St., Minneapolis. Patricia Dillree to Donald Bloom, '50. At home, 2200 S. 7% St., Minne- apolis. John Lingen, ’53, to Elaine Swig- gum, Utica, Minn.. on March 16, 1951. Robert Huge, ’52, to Donna Mae Petersen, Lamberton, Minn. At home, 4408 29th Ave. 5., Minneapolis. Dagne Morgan, (33-34), to T/S Robert Kraus, Minneapolis. At home, 3221 E. 51st St., Minneapolis. Kenneth Wetter, (49-50), Minne- apnlis, to Carols Kjalin. Class of ’68 Daughter, Lee Ann Naomi, born to Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Henjum, ’49, (lrene Shelstad, 48-49). February 7, 1951. Son, David Allen, born to Mr. and Mrs. Harland Gabrielson (Borghild Rholl. 44-45), February 23, 1951. They live at Litchfield. Minn. Son, Allan Conrad, born to Rev. and Mrs. Conrad Iergenson, ’37. They are on a mission field in Central Africa. Daughter, born to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Sanders, ’48, (Lorna Wilberg. '47). April 2, 1951. Son, Greggory Dean. born to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bervig, '49, April 5, 1951. Daughter, Nancy, born to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Arnold, (45-48), April 5, 1951. Daughter, Barbara Joanne, born to Mr. and Mrs. Harold T. Lee, ’50, on February 24, 1951. In Memoriam Mrs. E. M. Hanson, wife of Rev. E. M. Hanson, ’93, Minneapolis. Mrs. A. R. Anderson, mother of Ernest Anderson, ’37, Minneapolis. Paul 0. Sotnack, ’15, Minneapolis. Rev. L. M. Halling, ’96, 1.05 An- geles, Calif. Rev. 0. Rossing, ’90, Bergen, N. D. Student Leaders Look Ahead (Continued from page 5) men who are interested in this phase of activity. Marvel Moe, Shirley Odencrans, and Russell Berg are a committee responsible for recruiting counsellors and for giving them in- structions in this work. They have planned to present their “training course” on April 24th and May lst. After counsellors are elected and in- formed of their responsibilities, they are assigned certain students who plan to enter Augsburg in the fall. This work is under the guidance of the Personnel Department who also sponsors the Student Leadership Re- treat at Camp Tipi-Waukan. On May 8th the Student Council of the past year meets with the newly-elected Stu- dent Council to discuss the experi- ences and problems which will pass from the one group to the other. They also lay plans for Freshman Days and Homecoming. Pro-Military Information Meetings - The young men enrolled at Augs- burg College who expect to enter mili- tary service sometime in the future are being given an opportunity to become oriented through a series of pre-military service information meet- ings sponsored by the Student Coun- cil under the advising of Mr. Marvin Troutwein and Mr. R. J. Hildreth of the Augsburg faculty. James Wal- ler. Chairman of the student commit- tee. reports that the interest is keen and that attendance has been good. The program consists of weekly meetings at which such topics as Wel~ fare Agencies and the problems they can solve, As ts of the Army Ca- reer, First it): Days, Deferment Policy, Veterans Administration, Rec- reational and Educational Opportu- nities, and Adjustment to Military Life are presented by authorities in each field. The discussions have been led by military personnel from the Twin City area. After presentation of the topic, the audience is permit- ted to ask questions thereby giving the boys an opportunity to clarify their thinking on many subjects. This type of orientation program is rather new for college campuses although the need was felt as soon as it became obvious that a large per- centage of college men Would have to report to service. Augsburg is one of the first colleges in this part of the country to make such information available. In addition to baseball. the Aug gies liave full schedules in Tennis. Track. and Golf. The track squad is going to sorely miss the consistent oint-getting of Gene .lesperson who lias been called up with the National Guard. Bill Kuross, defending state singles champ, will lead the netmen. while the golfers will be paced by Don Fladland and Leon Radde. A new twist to Augsburg baseball rivalry developed recently when Kelly “Smiley” Roth accepted the baseball coaching job at Macalester College. The inimitable Roth, who starred in baseball and football at Augsburg under Edor Nelson, will find himself facing his former coach on May 4 at Macalester. The “"0 teams meet only once. this season. Show less
BASEBALL PROSPECTS FOR 1951 Finding ways to stretch the base- ball season has been an ever-present problem for as long as the sport has been play ed on a college level in the frozen inidwest. Coach Edor Nelson has not been able to squeeze more than sixty minutes out of an hour drill and his... Show moreBASEBALL PROSPECTS FOR 1951 Finding ways to stretch the base- ball season has been an ever-present problem for as long as the sport has been play ed on a college level in the frozen inidwest. Coach Edor Nelson has not been able to squeeze more than sixty minutes out of an hour drill and his efiorts to alter the calen- dar have all failed. Lately. however. we have noticed changes of a quali- tative nature in his approach to the problem. Nelson, who is working his boys out in the gymnasium. begins each practice session by singing “it Might as Well Be Spring". This lends a psychological advantage to the drills which is certain to pay dividends on the diamond. Reluctant to divulge the source of his new musical ap- proach. Nelson's only comment is that he "picked the idea up while working on a progressive dairy farm." Working with a core of ten letter- men. mostly sophomores and juniors. Nelson is non-committal about pros- pects for his squad. “They have lots of hustle.” he said. “and are the kind of team you like to watch. They are kids who like to play ball and will make up in hustle what they lack in experience." The word has been get- ting around. however. that the like- able and jovial mentor has a better squad than last year’s and may even be secretly plotting an upper bracket finish. The returning lettermen include two seniors, Jerry Davis. who will be seeing a lot of action as a pitcher. and Skippy Hanson, who will also perform on the mound. Other letter- men include: Bill Onischuk. pitcher; Robert Hage. catcher: Elwood Lar- son, catcher; Harvey Peterson, third base: Mark Raabe, second base; Arlo Dahlager. first base: Jack Schwartz. center field, and Don Eckhoft, first base. Some of the outstanding new pros- pects include: Don Reimer, catcher; lirling Huglen. pitcher, and Henry Sechler. outfielder. So far this sea- son about forty men have reported for drills. The Auggies will go out of the conference for only two games this season—a home-and~home series with the University of Minnesota. One of the encounters is the season’s opener and will be played April 17 under the lights at Delta Field. The other game will be played at 8 p.m. May 14-. in Nicollet Park. Most of the other home games will be played at Nokomis Field. 50th and Cedar. No admission will be charged for the games at Nokomis. What will be the won-lost record of the squad this season is. of neces-' sity. still in the realm of the un- known. In a recent interview, how- ever. Coach Nelson said, “You must take into consideration the fact that the art of striking a three-inch spher- oid and sending it over lengthy tra- jectories is fraught with a good many uncertainties which make it difficult, if not impossible, to forecast the out- ' come of any season. I wish to deny in advance any statement you may quote me as having made." Spring Sports Schedule BASEBALL April l7—Minnesota, there. April 21—Gustavus, here. April 24—St. Thomas, here. April 28—St. Mary’s, here. May l—St. Thomas, there. May 4—Macalester, there. May S—St. Olaf, here. May 8—St. John’s, there. May Dir—Minnesota, here. May lS—Hamline, here. May 17—St. John’s, here. May 19—St. Olaf, there. May 22—Gustavus, there, 8 p.m. TENNIS April 17—Hamline, there. April 28—St. Mary’s, here. May l—St. Thomas, here. May 4—Macalester, there. May 8—St. Olaf, here. May l2—St. Olaf, there. May lS—Hamline, here. May 18 and ISL—State meet at Mac. May 22—Gustavus, there. TRACK April l4———Macalester, there. April 21—Carlton Relays. April 28—Gustavus, there. May S—Viking or St. Thomas Re- lays. May ll—St. Olaf, there. May 19—State Meet. and a large crowd is anticipated. will be charged. VARSITY-ALUMNI BASEBALL GAME SCHEDULED There will be a Varsity-Alumni baseball game held at Nicollet Park on Saturday evening, May 19, at 8 p.m. It is the first time in history of Augsburg that a game of this type has been scheduled on such a large basis. lnterest among the Alumni is running high for this event The Alumni team has been chosen from the teams of 194-6 through 1950. Claire “Doc” Strommen, one of Augsburg’s all-time greats, will coach the team. “Doc” has received nation-wide attention for his pitch- ’ ing prowess. At the present time he is engaged in assisting Edor Nelson J in the coaching duties at Augsburg, mainly working with the pitchers. The Varsity team is the 1951 edition at Augsburg. A nominal fee 1 The Bulletin of WW WWW SW 8th St. and 213! Ave. S. MINNEAPOLIS 4. MINNESOTA Show less
1 890-1 920 Rev. and Mrs. Bernhard A. Hel- Iand, ’18, (Murial Nelson, ’25) and daughter Claire Elaine, arrived home from India on March 24th. They are living at 3231 Fremont South. Rev. Helland has resigned his position as superintendent of the Santal Mission in India. Oliver T. Swanson. ’17, of... Show more1 890-1 920 Rev. and Mrs. Bernhard A. Hel- Iand, ’18, (Murial Nelson, ’25) and daughter Claire Elaine, arrived home from India on March 24th. They are living at 3231 Fremont South. Rev. Helland has resigned his position as superintendent of the Santal Mission in India. Oliver T. Swanson. ’17, of Dawson Creek. British Columbia. Canada. spent a few weeks in Minneapolis re- cently. visiting his son Ronald. ’48. and his mother and other relatives. Mr. Swenson is operating a farm implement and automobile establish- ment. 1930-39 Rev. H. 0. Egertson, ‘31. of Los Angeles. California. has been called as an evangelist for the ELC. Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Bolslad. '34-. and famin have returned from Tanganyika. East Africa. and are at present living at 1924- So. Prairie. Sioux Falls. South Dakota. Miss Constance Slennes. '39. was a visitor on the campus in March. She is a missionary to Bolivia but is home on furlough. While here. she spoke to various groups. including the Spanish classes. and also showed pictures of the work and life in Bo- livia. 1940-50 Rev. and Mrs. Paul Sonnack. ’42. (Evelyn Amundson. ’43} have moved to Chicago where Rev. Sonnack will continue his studies at the UniVersity of Chicago. They plan to return to Minneapolis in the fall. Their pres- ent address is 6731 S. Perry. Chicago 21. Illinois. Iohn Werkel. ’49. has again Won honors in the athletic field by being named the outstanding athlete of 1950 in Minneapolis. He earned the award through his feats in European skating events from 1948 to 1950. He has already been chosen on the United States 1952 Olympic team. Mr. Werket is now coaching the Bear- cat Legion Skating Club of Minne- apolis. Duane Addison. (49-50)). was elected president of the Lutheran Stu- dent Association on the University Campus for the coming year. He is a Junior in the College of Liberal Arts. AUGGIE FELLOWSHIP CIRCLE On the Campus On March 12th and 14th. Augs- burg College was host to the Minne- apolis Junior Chamber of Commerce and about 300 juniors from 10 Min- neapolis high schools. The event was a College Orientation Day sponsored by the J.C.’s for the purpose of ex- plaining to prospective college stu- dents such phases of college life as loans and scholarships. entrance re- quirements. and the military outlook. A movie on activities of a college, filmed at Princeton, was also shown. Mr. William Lee and Mr. Larry El- feldt of the Junior Chamber of Com- merce were co-chairmen of the event while the Public Relations depart- ment at Augsburg made the necessary arrangements on the campus. I I I The third annual Careers Confer- ence was held at Augsburg on April 4th with general arrangements made by student committees and the per- sonnel committee. Miss Leith Shackel, Director of Placement Services. Carleton College. and Dr. C. H. Beck- er. President of Wartburg College. gave the leading addresses. Miss Shackel spoke on “Careers Unlimit- ed" and Mr. Becker used “Serving God in Your Generation” as his theme. Following the general session in the chapel in the morning, the group devided into various interest groups such as mathematics, library science. physical education. and Christian service, each with a leader well qualified to give advice in his particular field. I I I Augsburg has again enjoyed “Sci- ence Night" sponsored by the Aristo- telian Society. This annual affair was held on March 3lst and was widely and colorfully advertised by balloons which were released from the campus during the day. To each balloon was attached a return postcard with the request that the finder return the card to the college. Cards have been re- turned from Gay's Mills. Wisconsin: Klemme, Iowa: Cresco. Iowa. and Goodhue and Waseca. Minnesota. The program consisted of a colored movie entitled “Realm of the Wild”, and open house in various science laboratories of the college. In each laboratory an experiment was being conducted. Approximately 225 peo- ple attended the program. I I I The A.W.S. (Associated Women Students) of Augsburg sponsored a spring tea on April 3rd to which the women on the faculty and staff were invited. After refreshments a very in- teresting style show was given. I l I The Mission Society centered their mission festival on April 5 to 8 around the theme, “Debtors to All”. This thought was carried out by their speakers, Rev. B. A. Helland, recently returned from India, Mrs. Kim of Korea, and Rev. C. E. Wal- stad. president of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America. The film. “I Am With You” was shown on Friday evening. I I I Spiritual Emphasis Week was held at Augsburg March 5-9 with Rev. C. E. Walstad, president of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren of Amer- ica, as guest speaker. The theme of the series of meetings was “God Has the Answer". This emphasis on the positive brought a challenge and an enrichment to the audience which packed the chapel every night—a challenge to find the answer in God through His Word, and an enrich- ment through confidence in a life for which there is an answer. I I I Friends and Alumni of Augsburg are sorry to know that Prof. Lars Lillehei, Professor of New Testament Creek, is ill from an heart ailment and has been unable to conduct his classes for several weeks. Latest re- ports are that he is better but that he will be away from the college for an indefinite period. I I I We wish to extend to Professor H. N. Hendrickson our congratula- tions on his 83rd birthday, and to wish him many more birthdays while he is still on the faculty at Augsburg. Willard C. McKinny, ’41. received the master of arts degree from the University of Minnesota at the com- mencement exercises on December 21. 1950. Show less
GOING TO JAPAN Yes. we are going to Japan! Most people congratulate us. Perhaps a few would discourage us. Undoubted- ly those who know us best question the wisdom of our going. Why are we going? Honest an- swers could vary from a materialis- tic. “Good opportunities over there.“ to a... Show moreGOING TO JAPAN Yes. we are going to Japan! Most people congratulate us. Perhaps a few would discourage us. Undoubted- ly those who know us best question the wisdom of our going. Why are we going? Honest an- swers could vary from a materialis- tic. “Good opportunities over there.“ to a spiritualized. “The Lord has led". Actually. our decision to go to Japan is the fruit of convictions concern- ing the need of the Church at home as much as in Japan. A glimpse of our congregational life and a hasty scrutiny of the life of the Church reveals a glaring con- trast. “even to one who runs while reading". What is the reason for the coldness. inertia. and lack of vitality in the Church? It is partly this: we have tended to make Christianity a religio-cultural process. It has been presented as an evolutionary process when it is a dynamic experience. The Church is where the Word of God is preached and believed. It is dy- namic—not institutional. On the for- eign mission field where the Gospel continually comes in contact with un- polished heathendom. there is less temptation to equate Christianity and culture. The Church at home needs a living fellowship with the "foreign" field to remind it of its nature. The home Church needs the mis- sion field to combat its own egoism. Personal pride. denominational big- otry. and intense nationalism are all too evident. Our opinion of an indi- vidual soars if he joins our church. becomes of our theological persua- sion. or swears allegiance to our flag. But the Church of Christ is uni- versal. God says. “Become uni- versal in your love and labor.” Mis- sions serve as a corrective to see- tional and parochial attitudes. ln going to Japan we are not ob- livious to the needs at home. By going we are allowing the Church to exer- cise the only principle by which God can bless us. Our Lord Jesus said, MR. AND MRS. BERGH "Give and it shall be given to you again”. We are still serving a Master who feeds multitudes with a few loaves and fishes. But we must oper- ate on his principle of “Give and Matthew 11:1 embodies a principle which we believe is still valid. "And it came to pass when Jesus had finished commanding his twelve disciples. he departed then to teach and preach in their cities.” it we go in obedience to the Lord Jesus He shall not fail to minister in the places we have left. The LFC-ELC cooperative venture in Japan is itself a forward step in Christian unity. Details concerning our work there have been arranged in the greatest harmony between our joint boards. We are grateful for this fellowship with them in the further- ance of the Gospel. Our field in Japan includes eight million people. These are eager. liter- ate people in the industrial area from Tokyo to Nagoya. But more important than the prin- ciples and the vast multiudes, as ex- cellent and challenging as they may be. are the individuals there who may be led into fellowship with Jesus Christ. It is for them we go! OLIVER and JUDITH BERCH. AUGSBURG GOSPEL QUARTET TO TRAVEL Plans are being made once again for the Augsburg Gospel Quartet to travel extensively throughouot the United States. As is customary. the group. under the guidance and spon- sorship of the Augsburg College Mu- sic Department. will visit many of our churches that support Augsburg and a number of other communities of the Augustzma. ELC. and UELC s) nods. For many years the gospel quar- tets have traveled and have. met with outstanding success and response from the various communities. Augs- burg may well be proud of its young AUGGIES ON MISSION FIELDS IN JAPAN That Augsburg Alumni and for- mer students are taking an interest in the new mission project in Japan is evidenced by the number who have accepted a call to serve in that field. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Bergh, whose article appears elsewhere in this issue. Mr. and Mrs. Alton P. Knulson, of the Augsburg Seminary will be leaving for Japan after grad- uation in June. Rev. and Mrs. Paul Blikstad, ’ 7, and daughter Priscilla, left from Seattle February 19th for Sakata and Akita, Japan, where they will serve under the Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America. Miss Delna Coerntzen, ’49, of Mountain Lake is also planning to leave for Japan soon under an independent mission group. Rev. and Mrs. Gor- don Tang (Clean Bolslad, ’39-41) are already active on the ELC mis- sion field near Tokyo. Their address is 21 Maruyama Cho, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. Japan. Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Swanson IRth Weltzin, ’47) are also preparing for this field of mission work. Mr. Swanson is at present studying at the Augustana Seminary in Rock Island. Miss Carola Mosby. ~51. Blue Earth. is planning to leave for Tokyo in August as a nurse on the mission field. men that spend their summers in this manner. They present a message— the message of Christ. The personnel of the group will in- clude young men who have had many years’ experience singing in quartets. Howard Pearson will sing first tenor and his brother Daniel. second ten- or. Marlo Peterson, this past year soloist with the Augsburg College Choir. will sing first bass, and Rich- ard “Pete” Peterson, second bass. The men are salaried and the offer- ings taken at the programs will go directly to the Music Department and the College. Each evening during their presentation. one of the group will give a short meditation on the Word of God. This year the itinerary of the quar- tet will bring them into many states. Starting in Minnesota they will visit Iowa. South Dakota. North Dakota, Montana, Idaho. Washington, Ore- gon, and British Columbia, Canada. Show less
AUGSBURG YOUTH CARAVAN TO TRAVEL Six college upper classmen. plus an adult adviser, will travel among the parishes of our Rockford. Marin- ette, Duluth, and Northern Wiscon- sin districts. These youth have been selected by the Youth Director on the basis of musigianship. scholarship. persona ity,... Show moreAUGSBURG YOUTH CARAVAN TO TRAVEL Six college upper classmen. plus an adult adviser, will travel among the parishes of our Rockford. Marin- ette, Duluth, and Northern Wiscon- sin districts. These youth have been selected by the Youth Director on the basis of musigianship. scholarship. persona ity, an Christian seal. Four of the group form a brass quartet which will rank as outstand- ing among non-professional groups. They are as follows: Ruth Schmidt, Elkton, South Da- kota, French horn. (Won first in the National Contest.) Dorothy Strommen, Blanchardville. Wisconsin, Baritone. (Won first in Wisconsin State Contest.) James Christo herson, Valley City, North Dakota. rumpet. ( Has trav- eled two previous years with the Youth Caravan as trumpet soloist.) Douglas Augustine, Minneapolis. Minnesota. Trombone. ( Played in Air Corps Band. Voted most valuable player in Roosevelt High Band. Min- neapolis.) in addition to the brass quartet. the group presents a mixed quartet and a vocal duo. Comprising the vo- cal duo are Charlotte Kleven. Blan- chardville, Wisconsin, pianist and so- rano soloist. and Morris Johnson. cine, Wisconsin. speaker and tenor soloist. (sang first tenor last year (Continued on page 5) To STUDY IN NORWAY Miss Elizabeth Man er, a sopho- more at Augsburg, has n accepted as one of the 250 students from the United States to study at the Univer- sity of Oslo this summer. She plans to sail on June 12th and will spend six weeks at the University studying Norwegian music, art. literature. and government. Miss Manger has rela- tives living in Oslo and will have an opportunity to visit them as well as to travel for about a month. Students are chosen on the basis of scholar- ship and recommendations as well as a statement of their reasons for wanting to stud abroad. Miss Orlette iljelle. a junior. will also spend the summer visiting rela- tives in Gudbransdalen and Eidsvold. Norway, with her parents. They will be leaving on the Stavangerfjord on June 12th and will spend about two months abroad. NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION MARTIN qunascx The National Conference on High- er Education, each year the largest gathering of educators from colleges and universities, met in Chicago. April 2-4. While many problems of higher education were discussed, the relation of education to defense held the focus of attention. In the opening lectures, the contributions of various fields of study to defense were stressed. President Truman’s an- nouncement re arding the deferment of college students. either by acci- dent or by design, was made on the opening day of the Conference. This was the cause of some optimism on the part of those studying enrolment trends. Predictions were made that the drop in college enrolments from the fall of 1950 to the fall of 1951 would not exceed 10 or 12 per cent. with considerable variation between col- leges because of ROTC programs and other factors. C o l o n e I lr- win. speaking for General Hershey. explained the new draft deferment program at the last session. Much of the conference time was spent in smaller worsho . l had the privilege of working wit a group of about thirty-five interested in the question of how to get a program of general education under way in a small college. Under the chairman- ship of Dean Baller of Carthage Col- lege, with Dr. Walker of Goucher as recorder, Miss Holmquist of Moor- head State Teachers as analyst. and Dr. Furrow of Knox as consultant. the group made considerable prog- ress in identifying problems aml also found some suggestions for their so- lution. The efficiency of the staff respon- sible for mimeographing addresses, news and announcements. and group reports was marvelous to see. Ralph McDonald. secretary of the Higher Education Division of the N. E. A.. retained his reputation for effective- ness in organizin a conference. The only slip occurre in the final lunch’ eon meeting, where Dr. Henderson of the University of Michigan and Dr. Wardell of Oklahoma did a Inas- terful job of stalling while Dr. Hen- derson’s manuscript returned from the eager mimeographers, who were going to have it ready for distribu- AUGSBURG FOUNDATION The Augsburg Foundation is grow- ing! The responses that have come into the Alumni Office from our friends have been very gratifying and encouraging. However, much work will have to be done if we are to reach our goal of “every alumnus and former student a member". That goal can and will be reached—rvwheth- or it is today. tomorrow. or next year~Show less
STUDENT RECRUITMENT EMPHASIZED Student recruitment for 1951-52 has received new impetus with the ap intment of Paul l. Roth to the Pu lic Relations De artrnent. Mr. Roth, assistant in chemistry since 1949, is traveling as Field Represen- tative for Augsburg. and in that ca- pacity is visiting... Show moreSTUDENT RECRUITMENT EMPHASIZED Student recruitment for 1951-52 has received new impetus with the ap intment of Paul l. Roth to the Pu lic Relations De artrnent. Mr. Roth, assistant in chemistry since 1949, is traveling as Field Represen- tative for Augsburg. and in that ca- pacity is visiting high schools throughout the state. The recruitment program is off to a later start than usual because of personnel changes. Constant travel is going to be necessary in order to visit as many communities as pos- sible before the end of the school year. Correspondence with prospec- tive students continues at a high vol- ume. Maintenance of enrollment is a top priority for the years ahead. Now. as never before, a field stafl' made u of all Alumni is essential. and each of us can be of help in this area by: l. Recommending Augsburg to young people contemplating higher education. 2. Sending the names and ad- dresses of prospective students to the Office of Public Relations. 3. Arranging for “College Night" in your church. Films. slides. and oth- er material can be sent to you, and an alumnus in the area or a repre- sentative from the campus can be present to answer questions. 4. Encouraging prospective stu- dents to write to us for answers to their particular questions. ‘ With the addition of Science Hall. Augsburg has splendid facilities for all students, including pre-profession- al and science majors. We are grate- ful to many Alumni who have helped us in the recruitment program and who have helped their young friends to make important decisions about their future. Let’s not slack off! Our slogan for the immediate future is: “Full swing all spring—June’s soon." Student Leaders Look Ahead in order that maximum help and idance might be given new stu- dlelnts before and during fall registra- tion. the Student Council is again sponsoring a Student Counsellors Training Course for all upper class- (Continued on page 7) CONFERENCE ATTENDED BY PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT Miss Gerda Mortenson and Mr. Berner Dahlen attended the Council of Guidance and Personnel Associa- tions at Stevens Hotel. Chicago, March 25-29. The theme for the conference was “Personnel Resources for Improving Human Relations". While technical areas for personnel service and prac- tical applications for group dynamics were given their fair share in the discussions of the topic. the signifi- cance of spiritual. ethical. and moral \alues was given a greater emphasis than has been true in previous con- ferences on personnel services. Dr. Kenneth l. Brown. Executive Director of the Danforth Foundation. was one of the speakers who brought out the thought that religion plays a vital part in counselling. He emphasized the following values as being impor- tant for all: 1. Respect for truth and a deter- mination to find it at all costs. 2. A habit of faithfulness to as- signed tasks. 3. Possession of personal integrity. 4. A sense of life as an opportunity for service. He continued to say that it is of great importance that the counsellor have “a willingness to be of maxi- mum help to students. have endless patience, unmovable calmness. un- ruffled acceptance of itnerruptions. and a habitual vision of greatness". Cod and the Bible give validity to these values. CARAVAN with the l..R.l. quartet). As preludes there will be piano duets by Char~ lotte Kleven and Dorothy Strommen. both of whom are evcellent piano players. All of the six plan on professional scrv'icc in the church. four in our church body. They have been meet- ing regularly for prayer and rehears- als this semester in preparation for the tour. Four of the six are taking the Youth Work class. This group will be traveling under the sponsorship of Augsburg College and the Luther League Federation. They will be. spending two days in each parish. utilizing the time by giv- ing services each evening. and by making contacts with the youth of the (Continued from page 3“ AUGSBURG CHORAL GROUPS ENJOY SUCCESS The Augsburg Choir and Choral Club completed their concert tours this past season with great success. Although both groups experienced extremes in weather while in various parts of the states, they also experi- enced a heart-warming response to their message in song. While in llli- nois and lows. the Choir had five days of freezing rain which made the highways almost impassable, but it was not necessary to cancel any concert. The Choral Club drove (and sang) through several blizzards in North and South Dakota. It was nec- eesary to cancel two appearances on this tour. A group of Alumni in the Chicago area entertained the Choir after their concert in Christ Lutheran Church. The persons responsible for this fine gesture were: Marie Pierce. ‘37: Bel- ma Mikkelson. ’39: Thora Anderson. '29. and lrene Helland. '28. Mr. Joe Seto (43-47) was at the concert also. The Choral Club was treated to a fine lunch after its appearance at Mayville State Teachers College. Mayvillc. S. D.. by Mr. Orrie E. Lar- son. a member of the staff at the col- lege. He is active in the English and dramatics department there. Mr. Lar- son graduated from Augsburg in 1928. The Spring Concert of the Choir “as April 14th at Central Lutheran Church. while the Choral Club will present a concert on April 29th at Oak Grove Lutheran Church. Mr. Le- l'md l3. Sateren is directing both rzroum. parish through informal get-togethers as well as a formal banquet. Youth Caravans from Augsburg have traveled for two previous years and have met such an enthusiastic response from the pastors. that thc\ haw become a most welcome group. In preparation for the tour the group has been not only arranging music. rehearsing. and praying to- gether. but they lune also been giv- ing presentations at public gather- ings. On Saturday evening. April 7th. the group presented a service of mu. sic and witness before an assembled audience of approximately 600 youth from the area around l'irskine. Min- nesota. Tile brass quartet played sev~ crul original arrangements by Doug- las Augustine. one of the group. Show less
VOLUME xur NUMBER :‘ Published by Augsbu rg College and Theological Seminary. Minneapolis. Minnesota. A Lutheran BULLETIN MARCH 1951 A Letter from President Christensen to all Alumni Dear Augsburg Alumnus: Today, as is well known to most of us, the colleges of Our country are facing grave... Show moreVOLUME xur NUMBER :‘ Published by Augsbu rg College and Theological Seminary. Minneapolis. Minnesota. A Lutheran BULLETIN MARCH 1951 A Letter from President Christensen to all Alumni Dear Augsburg Alumnus: Today, as is well known to most of us, the colleges of Our country are facing grave difficulties, caused by the international situation. Reduced enrollments plus inflation have added to previous financial stringencies to produce a real "crisis in the colleges.” As a result, all the private and church colleges are appealing to their alumni and friends to come to their help in a special way at a critical time. As these lines are being written, the government has announced a new policy which will probably permit many more young men to remain in college next year. For this we are grateful. But for the present year, the situation remains unchanged; and almost everywhere there are dangerously unbalanced budgets. One educational leader has estimated that the Lutheran colleges will be short on an average of from $20,000 to $70,000 for the year’s operations. At Augsburg we shall need approximately $20,000 to $25,000. The Augsburg Foundation is our channel for alumni giving to current expenses. It is the work- ing arm of the Alumni Association. Regular memberships cost $10 per year,- but gifts are gladly received in any amount. And every gift is a real lift in this time of need. We deeply appreciate the efforts being put forth by many Alumni in this project, which will help carry Augsburg through another difficult period. The Church does its part year by year. It is an additional inspiration now again to sense the rallying support also of the alumni group. It is planned to begin soon regular Foundation meetings far united prayer and counsel among Augsburg friends for the purpose of solving Augsburg’s problems. All who can are cordially in- vited to participate. The first session will be announced at the Twin Cities Foundation Rally to be held in April. We need one another more than ever today. There is a great work to be done for Christ in Education at Augsburg. The times challenge each of us today as perhaps never before, to both deeper understanding and deeper commitment to the service of our country and of all mankind. Let us give of our best to the cause that unites us! Yours for Augsburg, (5mm MM BERNHARD CHRISTENSEN Show less
Institutional Chaplaincy Service ALEXANDER BORREVIK, Institutional Chaplain The work of the Chaplaincy Department of the Lutheran Welfare Society of Minnesota has become well known to the Lutherans of this aiea since its activities were accelerated by the appointment of Rev. Frederick Norstad to... Show moreInstitutional Chaplaincy Service ALEXANDER BORREVIK, Institutional Chaplain The work of the Chaplaincy Department of the Lutheran Welfare Society of Minnesota has become well known to the Lutherans of this aiea since its activities were accelerated by the appointment of Rev. Frederick Norstad to the directorship of the department in 1949. In addition to training Lutheran pastors to serve as hospital chaplains in larger urban areas of Minnesota, Mr. Narstad is also giving clinical training to others who Will be serving in the state hospitals for the mentally ill. Rev. Aleyander Borrevik, an alumnus of Augsburg College and Seminary, is one of the chaplains serving through Lutheran Wel— fare Society. His work consists in serving Lutherans in the hospitals, sanitariums, and correctional institutions of the Duluth area. In the article which follows, Mr. Borrevik gives an insight into the reason for the need of such service and the type of training required. —E. T. “General cure of souls seems at times about as eHective as putting drops into a patient‘s ey es from a third-story window . . . Unless we come to the ground floor with our 'drops“ and get new life into our personal cure of souls, it is very evident that the people at large will be left with- out our ministry." So writes E. G. Culien, Bishop of Tampere. Finland. What pastor hasn't felt his inadequacy in dealing with the people who have special needs? It may be an emotionally disturbed child in the parish. Often it is the family in which there is an inadequate r'llild. or it may be a mentally ill person. In every com- munity there are multitudes of alcoholics who need the friendship and constructive help of a counsellor. Occa- sionally an unwed mother finds herself desperately in need of counselling and sympathetic understanding. Then there is the delinquent youth, probably the fruit of a broken home, who needs help. In every congregation there are a number of repressed persons who find them- selves in deep water continually because of a fundamental lack of knowing and directing their own normal drives. These and many more people with special needs must be reached by the resources of the Gospel. And what Chris- tian worker hasn't felt his helplessness in being able to properly minister to his people? it has been stated. erroneously or otherwise. that many Christian ministers have been living so exclusively in the atmosphere of the church that they have failed to acquaint themselves with the realms of darkness and the depths of human depravity. Their feet are, so to speak. not on the ground. Their understanding of people-—their deeper motivations and difficulties. their strengths and weak- nesses is inadequate. Accordingly they fail to meet the deeper needs of troubled souls. A tremendous challenge has come to the church of late. Leading doctors and psychiatrists are recognizing the tre- mendous resources of religion and are asking that clin- ically trained men of God make their contribution to the rehabilitation of people ‘in physical or mental illnesses. The term "psychosomatic medicine". used freely of late. Rev. Alexander Borrevik means that man is not just chemistry. Man’s illness is not purely maladjusted chemicals. It may be that, but it very likely hinges on nialadjusted thinking or lack of faith and peace of soul. Often guilt feelings or terrific hostility in a patient bring about physical or mental illness. The doctor or psychiatrist working together with the chaplain or pastor minister to the total personality. Jesus said again and again. “Peace be unto you". This peace which is the fruit of being in tune with God is recognized as of great value by leading scientific men today. We are try- ing to meet this great challenge by adding to our semin- aries special courses in pastoral clinical training. Augs- burg. Luther. and Northwestern Theological seminaries are conducting such courses under the able and inspiring leadership of Chaplain Frederic Norstad, Chief of Chap- laincy Services of the Lutheran Welfare Society of Min- nesota. The Minnesota Mental Health Chaplaincy train- ing is also under his able direction. May the Lord bless us as we continue to bring the love and healing of Christ to our many brethren who have special needs. (- ’o’ooooo”o'ooo'oooo~~'m~"~'-~ Annual Alumni Banquet, Thurs., May 31, Nokomis Heights Lutheran Church i l l t t \ \ \ t t l t t t c "OnooomOOONON'W'mW AUGSBURG BULLETIN Published bi-monthly and one additional issue in April by Augsburg College and Theological Seminary at Minneapolis, Minnesota, tinteer as second-class matter March 21, 1947 at the post office .1! Minneapolis, Minnesota. Vol. Xll. No. 2 MARCH. 1951 Show less
What it takes to fight a pandemic
Confronting the Minnesota paradox
Student-athletes’ off-and-on sports seasons
Augsburg’s in-house epidemiologist
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What it takes to fight a pandemic
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Augsburg’s in-house epidemiologist
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MUTUAL AID (PART 1)
From parking lots and phone calls to hospitals and research labs, Auggies
use a multifaceted approach to confront the global crisis of a lifetime
by Kate H. Elliott
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One November afternoon, Natalie Jacobson,
coordinator of Augsburg’s Campus Kitchen, opened an
email from someone she didn’t recognize. It was short
and to the point: First-year Auggie Sam Kristensen ’24
explained that he had collected 17 bags of canned and
nonperishable food items from those who dared to enter
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his Halloween yard maze through a fog-lit skeleton shack
and animatronic troll swamp. The business major said he
was glad his ghoulish creativity could feed dozens of
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Augsburg students and residents in surrounding
Minneapolis neighborhoods.
“The email made my week,” Jacobson said. “We’ve been
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consumed with coordinated relief e orts; Sam’s email
was a great reminder that everyone and anyone can
Natalie Jacobson joins Nick Keener ’20, Campus
Kitchen student leadership team member. (Courtesy
photo)
make a di erence.”
Kristensen is one of hundreds in the Augsburg
community who have come together in both planned and unplanned ways to support those in need during
the COVID-19 pandemic, which to date has infected an estimated 28 million and killed more than 500,000
Americans. From sta and students sewing and donating face masks to medical personnel advancing
policies and caring for patients, members of the Augsburg community are making a lasting impact on the
front lines of disease prevention and support. These are a few of the many stories of Auggies combating the
virus and its e ects with compassion, faith, and ingenuity.
Serving up hope
Jacobson manages donations like Kristensen’s o ering while working with a team of students and
volunteers to facilitate integrated food access programs to address hunger on and near campus. According
to the National Association of Student A airs Administrators in Higher Education, more than 38% of
students at four-year institutions are food insecure, and 15% are homeless.
Before the pandemic, Augsburg students accessed free food at the Campus Cupboard in the basement of
Science Hall. Students could stop in ve days a week to select a bag of fresh and non-perishable items, no
questions asked. The Campus Kitchen also made outreach e orts to support community gardens and
meals, rescue unsold produce at farmers markets, and educate the public about food as wellness.
Yamile Hernandez ’22 works in the Campus Cupboard. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
When the pandemic hit, Campus Kitchen turned up the heat. The team moved its refrigerators, freezers,
and shelves of food to a large conference room in Augsburg’s Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship.
Campus Cupboard transitioned to an online order form, with student workers, like nance major Yamile
Hernandez ’22, delivering orders on campus or making contactless deliveries to students living in the Twin
Cities. The cupboard serves between 25 and 75 students each week.
“It’s rewarding to know we’re helping others, especially in such hard times, and we’re using up food that
would have gone to waste.”—Yamile Hernandez ’22
“Many people have found themselves without a job or having less work, which makes it di cult to keep up
with expenses,” said Hernandez. “Having access to healthy, free food helps alleviate a bit of that stress.”
Campus Kitchen intensi ed e orts to address health and
wellness disparities in neighborhoods surrounding
Augsburg. Because so many organizations and
community centers were already in partnership with
Augsburg, Jacobson said, they were quick to respond to
increased needs during the pandemic.
“We heard about an opportunity to apply for CARES Act
grant funding on a Tuesday, and the application was due
that Thursday. Campus Kitchen rallied together with the
Health Commons, West Bank Community Development
Corporation, and the People’s Center to pull an
application together, and we received $22,000, which we
spent in a week on nonperishable food items, personal
and household cleaning products, as well as food storage
equipment, including refrigerators and freezers. The
Campus Kitchen volunteers [L to R]: Hank Hietala,
Ellen Finn, and LaToya Taris-James (Courtesy photo)
grant will enable us to provide students and neighbors
with access to healthy foods on a regular basis and at an increased capacity.”
In March, the Sabo Center launched the Neighborhood Food Initiative in partnership with M Health
Fairview. The initiative brings together a variety of community partners to support collaborative
approaches that increase access to healthy food in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.
“Since the summer, we have distributed food weekly to the West Bank CDC and People’s Center,” Jacobson
said. “Many households in Cedar-Riverside now see this service as a key piece of meeting their basic food
needs.”
Drives of support
Augsburg parking lots have been preferred drop-o locations for food and supply drives. In June and again
in late September, Augsburg Women Engaged supported weeklong drives to support the Campus
Cupboard and ShareShop, which provides students with free or for-rent bedding, games, clothing,
kitchenware, appliances, and other home goods. The group collected 400 pounds of food and household
supplies, plus $5,405 for the Campus Kitchen.
On June 1, Steve Peacock, community relations director at the Sabo Center, and a cadre of masked
volunteers lined up in a parking lot near the edge of campus. The group collected donations from an
estimated 550 cars that drove through during a two-hour drive to collect a number of items, mostly
personal hygiene products and diapers, for the Brian Coyle Neighborhood Center nearby.
“We were absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of
support and donations,” Peacock said. “While we were
out there, collecting items, we saw athletic teams lined
up to collect supplies on the other side of the athletics
complex. It’s a testament to the innovative, communityfocused, and generous spirit of Augsburg.”
“Our mission to support students and be an anchor for
the community seems relevant and central to our lives
now more than ever.”—Steve Peacock
Augsburg has also encouraged donations to the Student
Emergency Fund, which was established last March to
support students with nancial hardships and provide
relief for basic needs, including food, rent, transportation,
and medication.
Auggies gather donations for the Twin Cities
community outside Augsburg’s Kennedy Center.
(Courtesy photo)
In the wake of George Floyd’s death in May, Holy Trinity
Lutheran Church in the Longfellow neighborhood of
Minneapolis has distributed food to hundreds of
neighbors each week. This summer, Augsburg Pastor
Justin Lind-Ayres showed up with more than 25 Auggie students, sta , and faculty, most of whom didn’t
know each other, to serve food. “This was just one microcosm of the work Auggies have and continue to do
across the Twin Cities,” Lind-Ayres said. “The student body inspires and teaches me what it means to be
‘informed citizens.’”
‘Auggies are resilient’
Lind-Ayres and the Campus Ministry team have worked to provide moments of hope and belonging
throughout the year. They shared prayers on their blog once a day from March to May and now post
prayers weekly as a way for Auggies to lift up concerns and hopes for people and situations. On Fridays, the
team has hosted 8 minutes and 46 seconds in chapel and on Zoom for “Silence, Prayer, and Pastoral
Presence” to remember George Floyd and others and to focus on the call for racial justice. The Muslim
Student Association, under the direction of Fardosa Hassan ’12, has provided opportunities for safe,
socially distanced Friday prayer.
In addition to leading reduced-capacity in-person worship in Hoversten Chapel, recorded worship, and
virtual discussions, Lind-Ayres and University Pastor Babette Chatman ’06 serve on the COVID-19
Response Team. This diverse group of sta members gathers up to ve times each week to review COVID19 cases on campus, engage in contact tracing, provide support for students in quarantine or isolation, and
gure out ways to keep the community safe.
“We spend a lot of time on the phone or texting with students o ering words of encouragement, answering
questions, and troubleshooting issues together as we manage the realities of COVID-19 on campus,” said
Lind-Ayres.
Assistant Athletic Director Melissa Lee ’04 serves on the COVID-19 Task Force. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
Melissa Lee ’04, assistant athletic director and softball head coach, serves on the COVID-19 Task Force. Lee
is one of several sta members responding to the helpline set up for Auggies to access the latest
information and resources. In the spring, she and others were answering helpline phone calls and emails in
shifts seven days a week. As tra c has decreased, phone calls go directly to voicemail. Team members
respond to messages and emails as soon as possible.
To parents, students, faculty, and sta , Lee said, “Continue to be gritty. Continue to be safe. We can and will
all get through this together. Auggies are resilient.”
Augsburg stories on COVID-19:
What it takes to ght a pandemic, part 2: Research and health care
Augsburg’s in-house epidemiologist guides Auggies through the COVID-19 pandemic
Top Image: Auggies gather and distribute food and donations through programs like Campus Kitchen and
Campus Cupboard. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
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WHAT IT TAKES TO FIGHT A PANDEMIC:
RESEARCH AND HEALTH CARE (PART 2)
From parking lots and phone calls to hospitals and research labs, Auggies
use a multifaceted approach to confront the global crisis of a lifetime
by Kate H. Elliott
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February 22, 2021
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Katie Clark ’10 MAN, ’14 DNP sees resilience every day as executive
director of Augsburg’s Health Commons, which are drop-in health
centers led by the nursing program with a model focused on caring
for those in the community who are marginalized. Guests are not
required to show identi cation, and medical professionals don’t wear
scrubs or stethoscopes in order to increase relatability and public
trust in health care workers.
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Her focus at the Augsburg Central Health Commons is with
individuals who are experiencing homelessness or who are
marginally housed in Minneapolis, and the Health Commons in the
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Cedar-Riverside neighborhood provides care for residents, many of
whom are East African immigrants. As an assistant professor of
nursing, Clark teaches primarily in the graduate nursing program
Katie Clark ’10 MAN, ’14 DNP
(Courtesy photo)
through courses that emphasize social justice, health disparities, and
civic engagement.
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The Augsburg nursing program, Clark said, is unique because faculty and students are embedded in
the community. Other schools often see that work as “extra service” and send students to nonpro ts,
but Augsburg considers place-based work as central to the educational experience.
Hospitality and healing
“We help students serve and explore the world we live in,
and we’re with them when they do it,” Clark said. “They get
uncomfortable and lean into the biases they may have and
really get involved in a community to understand the
issues from the people who experience them.”
“You can’t come up with answers if you don’t know the
problems.”—Katie Clark ’10 MAN, ’14 DNP
When COVID-19 hit, the Health Commons at Central
Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis was one of the
Augsburg’s Health Commons received
donations from the community, including
27,200 bottles of water from UP Co ee
Roasters and a grassroots fundraising
campaign organized by Bethany Johnson ’19,
’23 DNP, whose family owns the business.
Johnson (left) delivered water to the Health
Commons with husband, David Chall
(middle), and daughter, Olivia Chall, in April
2020. (Courtesy photo)
only drop-in health centers that continued to stay open. At
the height of the pandemic, Clark said staying open meant
standing outside, passing out hygiene kits, and bringing
meals and supplies to encampments of unhoused people.
“Many of our students are adult learners seeking
bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. Some of them
have dealt with furloughs or are at the bedsides of
patients, holding up the [touchscreen] tablet for family members to say goodbye, and adapting to
constant changes in health care environments. Then they have school in addition to their own
stressors at home, like juggling kids or responding to family members who say, ‘COVID isn’t real.’ These
students want to get involved and tackle the issues in their communities, and they are doing it! I get
chills talking about it.”
Ellen Kearney ’23 DNP is one of Clark’s students in the Doctor of Nursing Practice: Family Nurse
Practitioner program and also a registered nurse at a Twin Cities intensive care unit. Kearney admitted
that despite extensive safety measures, it was scary to be indoors at the Health Commons with
patients early in the pandemic. But the work—her passion—is critical, she added.
Katie Clark ’10 MAN, ’14 DNP (left) and President Paul Pribbenow at an Augsburg Bold event in the fall.
(Courtesy photo)
“Before COVID-19 we were able to serve between 50 and 100 people each Monday and Thursday,” said
Kearney. “Now we can only see 12 people each day we are open. But because our hours have not
changed, it has been nice to have a longer period alone with each guest if they chose to stay and talk.
I’ve been able to learn about one guest’s upcoming trip to her home country in Africa and her worries
about traveling, and I have been able to follow up with one older man while I do his foot care. It has
been hard to not open the doors fully, especially now that the weather is colder and knowing there are
so few public spaces open, though it is clear that we need to stay capped for everyone’s safety. While
the scale of the Commons is small, the impact is large.”
When Augsburg temporarily restricted students from working at the Commons, volunteers and
Augsburg alumni, like Emily Pierskalla ’20 DNP, stepped in to keep doors open. The most challenging
aspect of working as a registered nurse is ricocheting through stages of grief, which Pierskalla said is
emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausting. She avoids news about COVID-19 and social media
because it can trigger haunting memories.
“I have ashbacks of the faces of patients I’ve seen die while their loved ones cry watching through an
iPad or seeing my own co-workers struggling to breathe after getting sick,” said Pierskalla, who has
worked for eight years at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. “It has taken a lot of
therapy, self-care, and e ort to keep the burnout from causing me to become bitter and angry, or
worse, apathetic to the world and society.”
She has also worked as a nurse practitioner at CVS MinuteClinics, administering COVID-19 tests and
helping people understand their test results and quarantine recommendations—e orts that have
immediate practical e ects.
“When I’m at the Commons or out in the camps, I actually feel like I’m helping to create the world I
want to live in.”—Emily Pierskalla ’20 DNP
Ray Yip ’72 has extensive global health experience, including work in Qinghai, a sparsely populated Chinese
province. (Courtesy photo)
Advocates for change
Auggies are working across the globe to create policies and medical
solutions to realize that better world. Dr. Ray Yip ’72 is a global
health specialist serving as special advisor to the Gates Venture on
China Partnership Development. For the past 22 years, he has
assisted the Chinese government in improving its public health
system, with a focus on disease control and response capacity. When
COVID-19 began spreading in January, Yip was in Beijing.
“I was impressed with how aggressive the outbreak was in Wuhan,
and I predicted that China would be able to get it under control by
April. To my pleasant surprise, China achieved that seemingly
impossible task by mid-March.”
In February, he returned to his home in upstate New York, from
Ray Yip ’72 (Courtesy photo)
which he has advised several organizations about COVID-19-related
issues and provided a range of companies with updates about the
progress of vaccine development worldwide.
“This pandemic, which we knew would happen sooner or later, requires strong government
leadership as well as commitment and partnership with the private sectors for the solutions.”—Ray
Yip ’72
“More than 23 years with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told me the United States
had the know-how and capacity to contain this epidemic. After all, I was sent to China to help them to
build such capacity. My prediction was so o , I hate to admit it. We all su er dearly from the dire
consequence of horrible mismanagement, which largely has to do with leadership failure. It was
particularly painful to watch the CDC get sidelined, and public health measures became politicized.”
The heroes of the pandemic, Yip said: health care workers.
“Most people do not realize the risk and danger of those health care workers taking care of the COVID
patients, especially in the early phase when protective gear was in short supply. A disproportionate
number of them got infected and died. If I were my younger version, I would not hesitate to join them
in on the front lines. I am grateful for their service and sacri ce.”
Interview with Dr. Ray Yip '72
·
Augsburg University Alumni Association was Live Follow
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Dr. Paul Mueller ’84, regional vice president for Mayo Clinic Health
System’s Southwest Wisconsin region, oversees thousands of such
workers attending to patients in two hospitals and eight clinics. He
manages COVID-19 response through policy decisions and exploring
new treatments while treating the disease in his own patient panel.
“It is weighty from a psychological standpoint, as you try to be a
leader in such an ever-changing, high-stakes environment, knowing
the lives you impact,” said Mueller, who has served as an Augsburg
regent and as the campaign chair of Great Returns: Augsburg’s
Sesquicentennial Campaign. “But every day I walk the halls of our
hospitals and clinics and see the resilience and ingenuity of our sta
who have delivered on the promise of medicine. Nurses greet me
with a smile behind personal protective equipment. They are busy
Paul Mueller ’84 (Courtesy photo)
but feel called and up to this work. With a can-do attitude, we are
caring for patients in the darkest of times, administering novel
treatments, and preparing to safely roll out vaccines.
“We’re still in the thick of it. If you think of it like a marathon, we are at mile marker 19. But if we can
maintain resilience and hope, we will nish the race and be better for it.”—Paul Mueller ’84
“This pandemic has shown us that we all breathe the same air, and it is the one thing that is unifying
our entire planet. While the virus rages on killing people, we continue to see the brilliance of the human
spirit—beacons of hope and optimism, compassion and resilience, integrity and ingenuity.”
Caring for patients, fueling research
Brittany Kimball ’13 is a third-year resident at the
University of Minnesota in internal medicine and
pediatrics. The pandemic has taken its toll on her and
other residents, as expectations are in ux and
workloads are stressful and exhausting. Virtual visits are
di cult because of a lack of internet and personal
connectivity, Kimball said. Loneliness has infected the
hospitals. Last week, Kimball watched a nurse gently care
for a patient isolated from visitors, playing his favorite
music as he died.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly compounded
patients’ conditions. Children are missing well visits and
Brittany Kimball ’13: “Getting my rst COVID-19
vaccine at Masonic Children’s Hospital—which I
encourage everyone to do as soon as it
becomes available to them!” (Courtesy photo)
immunizations. Cancer patients require COVID-19 tests
prior to chemotherapy, sometimes missing a treatment
because they have the virus. Many of my primary care
patients with diabetes are wary of clinic visits, thus
making it harder to [measure doses of] their medications,” said Kimball, who earned a bachelor’s
degree in biology from Augsburg.
“Most troublesome, the pandemic has compounded inequities for already marginalized people. Some
of my patients don’t have internet, while others don’t have access to a regular phone. For some
patients, limited English pro ciency can make getting set up on a virtual platform more di cult.
Brittany Kimball ’13 (left) and her co-resident work at the Minneapolis Veterans A airs Health Care System.
(Courtesy photo)
“Patients dealing with addiction and trying to maintain sobriety have told me that their usual coping
mechanisms—like getting together with other people who are sober or participating in a faith
community—have become inaccessible. For patients living in poverty, balancing virtual school and
frontline jobs has been incredibly stressful and sometimes impossible. It’s often people living in
poverty that are doing frontline work that makes them more likely to be exposed to the virus, like
working in a restaurant, public transit, or in a store.”
“We need to gure out how to make telemedicine more equitable.”—Brittany Kimball ’13
Her dream has long been to be a doctor, so despite the challenges, she pushes on—driven to pursue a
fellowship in hematology-oncology. As a Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor, Kimball is particularly
interested in caring for adolescents and young adults with cancer and blood diseases. “As an 18-yearold in my rst semester at Augsburg, I was guring out dating while bald, chemo after classes, and
trying to study when my brain felt foggy and my body felt sick,” she added. “Sometimes I needed a bit
more guidance and support than a typical adult patient, but not in the same way that a much younger
child might. Teens and young adults don’t t neatly in the pediatric or adult-centered models of care,
and I hope I can make that better.”
Hamdi Adam ’18 is similarly driven to make a di erence. As a
doctoral student of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota,
Adam followed his bachelor’s in biology from Augsburg with a
master’s degree in public health at the University of Minnesota.
Adam studies cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and neurocognitive
disorders. He is focused on investigating the impact of COVID-19 on
chronic conditions, which can lead to higher risk of mortality,
especially among people with existing risk factors, like high blood
pressure and diabetes.
“At some point down the road, I’ll probably get the chance to utilize
COVID-19 data to assess the relationship between COVID status and
various chronic disease conditions in population-based research
studies and hopefully add valuable and timely information to the
Hamdi Adam ’18 (Courtesy photo)
base of existing literature,” said Adam, who—as a rst-generation
Oromo American—is interested in applying his research to address
health disparities a ecting people of color. “It feels good to know that your studies and work are for
the betterment of people. With research, sometimes you feel like your work is so detached from the
true health problems you are attempting to address, but I like to think that epidemiologic research
provides the basis for informing more direct actions, such as health policy development and e ective
community-based interventions.”
Another researcher, Will Matchett ’13, earned a
doctorate in virology and gene therapy from the Mayo
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He works as a
postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota, where
he will spend up to ve years acquiring training that will
allow him to run his own lab. Between April and August, his
research focused exclusively on developing a SARS-CoV-2
test to measure the speci c antibodies that block the virus
from entering cells. Since September, his focus has shifted
to testing a COVID-19 vaccine being developed at the
University of Minnesota.
Will Matchett ’13 used a plaque assay to
quantify the amount of SARS-CoV-2 virus in a
sample at the University of Minnesota
biosafety lab in August 2020. (Courtesy photo)
Increasing and diversifying COVID-19 testing
Does all the medical terminology sound like a foreign language?
That’s how Elaine Eschenbacher ’18 MAL described her rst few
weeks as the higher education operations lead for Minnesota’s
COVID-19 Testing Work Group. Since 2009, she has worked at
Augsburg, the last six of those years as director for the Sabo Center
for Democracy and Citizenship. But since June, the Sabo Center has
put her “on loan” to Minnesota’s State Emergency Operations Center
to work with a team of experts to launch Minnesota’s testing plan in
collaboration with colleges and universities. Subgroups are assigned
to areas such as long-term care, child care and schools, community
testing, hotspots, case investigation and contact tracing, research,
data, purchasing, and contracts.
Elaine Eschenbacher ’18 MAL
(Photo by Courtney Perry)
“My work at Augsburg prepared me for this role in a variety of ways.
The role is necessarily collaborative and involves recognizing that
di erent people have di erent roles to play and respecting those
di erent perspectives and sets of expertise.”—Elaine Eschenbacher ’18 MAL
“Civic engagement work is like that, too. I’ve also been thinking a lot about the Master of Arts in
Leadership program, which I completed in 2018. This work is like having a master class in leadership
and public health every day.”
In April, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced a “moonshot goal” of 20,000 tests per day in the state, at
a time when only about 2,000 tests were being performed daily, Eschenbacher said. The testing work
group increased capacity and made that moonshot goal by the end of June.
“Since then, we’ve been continuing to increase and diversify COVID testing, and make sure that the
people who most need it have access to it. During the week of Thanksgiving, our daily average for
testing across the state was more than 57,000,” she added. “Testing is an important tool in controlling
the spread of COVID-19, and making testing accessible regardless of income or location is an important
equity issue.”
Eschenbacher has spent her days planning and data-modeling as it relates to higher education,
consulting with speci c institutions in the wake of outbreaks, guiding higher education testing, and
organizing partnerships for case investigation and contact-tracing. She facilitates webinars and other
information pieces about saliva testing, serves as state incident commander for community testing
events, and helped coordinate mass testing of 18- to 35-year-olds prior to Thanksgiving. More recently,
she has served as incident commander for a community vaccination site.
“It feels like a cliché to say this, but it is an absolute honor to do this work. We talk a lot about vocation
at Augsburg, and I guess I would say that vocation can sneak up on you. I never would have dreamed
of doing the work I’ve done since June, but it feels like purpose.”
These are only a handful of the Auggies who are living out their passionate purpose to bring an end to
this crushing pandemic and, in the meantime, to soften the blow.
Augsburg stories on COVID-19:
What it takes to ght a pandemic, part 1: Community collaboration and mutual aid
Augsburg’s in-house epidemiologist guides Auggies through the COVID-19 pandemic
Top Image: Augsburg’s coronavirus guidelines, including face coverings and physical distancing in
classrooms and public places, helped protect Auggies from COVID-19. Professor and Chemistry
Department Chair Joan Kunz instructs in the Hagfors Center. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
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CONFRONTING THE MINNESOTA PARADOX
Signi cant racial disparities exist in a state with a liberal reputation, but
some are seeking ways to close the gaps
by Gita Sitaramiah
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February 22, 2021
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Robert Harper ’16 remembers the rst time he was called the nword.
His family had moved to Minnesota from the South Side of Chicago,
seeking a better life. Since then, he’s achieved that better life, earning
an undergraduate degree from Augsburg University and a master’s
degree from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of
Public A airs. He is now a supplier diversity director for the
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
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“I think I’ve had a unique experience escaping poverty on the South
Side of Chicago and North Minneapolis, only to be confronted with
the daily decisions made by white people that only re-create those
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circumstances of oppression,” Harper said.
Robert Harper ’16 (Courtesy photo)
While he’s now a working professional in a state that prides itself on
being “Minnesota nice,” Harper never gets too comfortable, recalling that painful moment when he
was walking to middle school and a passing driver shouted the racial epithet at him. More recently, on
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a trip to northern Minnesota, Harper was told while visiting Gull Lake, ‘You don’t belong here,’ by a
white man.
“It’s moments like that when you’re trying to do better, ‘pull yourselves up by your bootstraps,’ that
society reminds you that there’s a glass ceiling for some,” Harper said.
“Some people constantly remind you that they decide how far you go, what rooms you enter, and in
the case of George Floyd, whether or not you live.”—Robert Harper ’16
Exposing the paradox
George Floyd’s murder three miles from Augsburg University put an international spotlight on not only
the experiences of Black people at the hands of the criminal justice system but also the reality of the
disturbing “Minnesota paradox.”
That’s how University of Minnesota Professor Samuel Myers
describes how Minnesota has such a high quality of life and a history
of progressive politicians but is one of the worst places to live for
Black people.
“Measured by racial gaps in unemployment rates, wage and salary
incomes, incarceration rates, arrest rates, home ownership rates,
mortgage lending rates, test scores, reported child maltreatment
rates, school disciplinary and suspension rates, and even drowning
rates, African Americans are worse o in Minnesota than they are in
virtually every other state in the nation,” Myers said.
The numbers illustrate the bleak story:
Samuel Myers (Courtesy photo)
Only 25.3% of Black households in Minnesota own homes
versus 76.9% of white households, according to census data, a
stark divide given that home ownership is considered the leading contributor to household wealth.
The median household income for Black households in the state is the lowest of any group at
$41,570, about half of what Asian and white households earn.
In the Twin Cities, African Americans represent 9% of the overall population, but are incarcerated
at 11 times the rate of whites who represent 76% of the population, the NAACP reported last year.
Only 21.7% of Black people hold bachelor’s degrees or higher versus nearly 40% overall.
Meanwhile, between 2010 and 2018, the fastest growing racial group in Minnesota was the Black
population, which grew by 36%, adding more than 96,500 people.
Many are immigrants but face the same backdrop of a state that hasn’t historically acknowledged that
discrimination plays a role in the Black story here, Myers said.
“When it comes to race in the Twin Cities, in Minnesota, there was this instinctive belief that we already
know what the problem is, that it’s not really a problem, and since it’s not a problem, we don’t need to
nd answers,” Myers said.
The COVID-19 pandemic compounded the inequities. The unemployment rate for Black Minnesotans
in the aftermath of pandemic shutdowns rose to 15.3% last July, up 9 percentage points from a year
earlier, versus 6.3% for white workers, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic
Development reported. According to a Pew Research report published in December: “Among Black
Americans, 71% know someone who has been hospitalized or died because of COVID-19.”
Kevin Ehrman-Solberg ’15 (center right) and the Mapping Prejudice Project team found inequities in housing
documents throughout Minneapolis’ history. (Courtesy photo, 2017)
The path to today’s Minneapolis
High pro le police killings of Black men in this region—including George Floyd, Philando Castile, and
Jamar Clark—have heightened the protests and urgency for change. The viral video of Floyd’s murder
with his neck under the knee of a Minneapolis police o cer seemed to dawn a new era in the ght for
justice.
Protesters took to the streets for weeks around the globe. Gra ti images of Floyd sprang up
worldwide, even on a West Bank barrier in the Middle East. CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations in
Minnesota wrote an open letter of outrage. Athletes of all races took the knee before matches to show
their support for racial equity.
In the city of Minneapolis, at the center of the controversy, there was swift action against the o cers,
something unprecedented.
“Despite decades of police incidents that resulted in the deaths of
people of color, today’s actions by the mayor represent the rst time
in modern history that Minneapolis police o cers were red within
24 hours for unjustly murdering a citizen,” said Michael Lansing,
associate professor and chair of Augsburg’s history department, in a
May 26 series of tweets about the Minneapolis Police Department.
(Lansing’s comments on the history of uprisings and Minneapolis
police were also carried by The Washington Post and Mother Jones.)
Now, many are acknowledging the systems that are behind today’s
Minneapolis. Even the South Minneapolis street where George Floyd
was killed is in a historically Black working-class and middle-class
neighborhood created by housing segregation, Lansing said in his
tweet series.
Indeed, Mapping Prejudice Project, a team of community members,
Associate Professor Michael
Lansing (Photo by Stephen Ge re)
geographers, and historians based at the University of Minnesota,
have unearthed thousands of racial covenants in Minneapolis that reserved land for the exclusive use
of white people.
Those restrictions served as powerful obstacles for people of color seeking safe and a ordable
housing. Racial covenants, dovetailed with redlining and predatory lending practices, depressed
homeownership rates for Black residents. They also limited access to community resources like schools
and parks.
While contemporary white residents of Minneapolis like to think their city never had formal
segregation, those racial covenants did the work of Jim Crow in the Twin Cities, said Kevin EhrmanSolberg ’15, a co-founder of Mapping Prejudice.
“The reputation of Minneapolis is that it’s a liberal bastion, yet there’s a racist reality that people live
in.”—Kevin Ehrman-Solberg ’15
Professor William Green (Photo by Courtney Perry)
Looking forward with a pragmatic lens
While the period following George Floyd’s murder looked like a change moment, Augsburg University’s
M. Anita Gay Hawthorne Professor of Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies William Green worries that
the momentum started to diminish as the summer progressed. “The challenge that we face is to do the
hard work to de ne what change means, and second, how to get at the root of the problems that lead
to disparities in society.”
Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce President Jonathan Weinhagen
looks ahead to the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder
and to the question of how much progress has been made in raising
awareness about and working to eliminate the disparities
experienced by people of color.
“[Closing the racial divide] is not going to be resolved in a year. It’s
going to take more time, but it’s going to have to be far more rapid
than anything we’ve done to date.”—Jonathan Weinhagen
The implications of these disparities are wide-reaching, with
government o cials and the business community concerned that a
growing population that isn’t able to fully participate in or bene t
from the economy will threaten the vitality of the state as a whole.
Jonathan Weinhagen (Courtesy
photo)
“To have a large and growing part of our economy be marginalized is a huge disadvantage to all of us
because it takes a huge part of the population out,” said Susan Brower, Minnesota’s demographer.
The NAACP’s 48-page Twin Cities Economic Inclusion Plan issued in 2019 calls for a comprehensive,
multi-pronged policy agenda anchored by ve basic principles: economic sustainability, education,
health, public safety and criminal justice, and voter rights and political representation.
The role of education
Many are looking to young people to be the lasting change.
The nonpro t Generation Next in Minneapolis has emerged to support children from “cradle to
career,” envisioning a future in which “every child has the academic, social, and emotional skills to
thrive in a globally uent world.”
Alan Page, retired Minnesota Supreme Court justice, and Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal
Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, proposed in 2020 amending Minnesota’s constitution to give every child
a civil right to a quality public education. They de ne the current approach as a system that works well
for children from well-to-do families but fails children from low-income families.
“A quality education is without question the most powerful tool we have to break the cycle of poverty
and create a society in which everyone can fully participate,” Kashkari and Page wrote in the Star
Tribune. “It doesn’t just change one child’s life. It has the potential to improve the future for
generations to come and lead to a more productive, vibrant society for all of us.”
Meanwhile, Augsburg University is positioned to be a statewide leader in the turnaround, with years of
intentional work on diversity, equity, and inclusion. “I certainly feel that higher education is the clearest
path to a middle-class life or better,” Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow said.
Augsburg University's Hagfors Center. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
Augsburg’s e orts to address disparities and work
toward equity
After the murder of George Floyd only a few miles from campus, Augsburg University introduced in
June the Justice for George Floyd Initiatives to focus on working to heal the community, creating
leadership and structures that make tangible change, and ensuring accountability for the work of
undoing racist systems.
New e orts were introduced to combat systemic racism, including a critical race and ethnicity studies
department; diversity, equity, and inclusion training; and a requirement that all faculty and sta
complete antiracism training. Augsburg also canceled classes and suspended operations June 4 and 5
so students, faculty, and sta could have an opportunity to grieve.
“We acknowledge the pain, fear, and trauma faced by the Augsburg community—especially our
students, faculty, and sta of color—remain a lived reality every day,” Pribbenow said. “This work by
Augsburg will be persistent, resolute, courageous, and integrated into everything the university does.”
This ongoing work includes several components:
Augsburg named William Green, professor of history, the inaugural holder of the M. Anita Gay
Hawthorne professorship of critical race and ethnic studies.
The university is employing new accountability for inclusive, antiracist leadership across the
institution and reviewing Augsburg’s major academic and administrative policies and practices with
a special focus on undoing bias and discrimination and enhancing student success.
Augsburg created a scholarship in memory of George Floyd and established a fund that matched
donations from students, faculty, and sta for organizations doing important work, especially for
Black-owned businesses and nonpro t organizations.
Augsburg appointed the rst Chief Diversity O cer, Joanne K. Reeck, in 2016 and became home
in 2019 to The Forum on Workplace Inclusion, the nation’s largest workplace diversity, equity, and
inclusion conference.
These moves are an important continuation of Augsburg’s e orts to build and maintain an equitable
and inclusive campus that became a strategic focus in 2006, resulting in Augsburg welcoming its most
diverse incoming rst-year class ever in 2017. Students of color are now in the majority of traditional
undergraduates, making Augsburg one of the most diverse private colleges in the Midwest.
As Augsburg is learning in its own community, Minnesota’s multifaceted disparities require a
multifaceted approach that summons individual and collective willpower to align impact with intent.
Despite Harper’s success after graduating from Augsburg, he views the disparate outcomes as a call to
action, even forming his own economic development consulting rm, R.D.T.H Consulting, focused on
social impact in addition to his day job. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Top Image: Minneapolis is a city with a liberal reputation, but racial disparities persist. (Photo by
Courtney Perry)
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STAY THE COURSE: OFF-AND-ON SPORTS
SEASONS PROVE AUGGIE STUDENTATHLETES’ RESILIENCE
After a pause on competitions due to COVID-19, Auggies are ready to get
back in the game
by Kate Norlander
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February 22, 2021
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The COVID-19 pandemic put a major pause on 2020’s athletic competitions. The Minnesota
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference postponed the fall sports season. In January the league announced
plans for a modi ed winter season for basketball, hockey, indoor track and eld, and swimming and
diving (though it’s not o cially part of the MIAC, wrestling will follow the same guidelines). Auggies
can’t wait to get back in the game.
Many student-athletes have been practicing their sports since elementary school. During the past year,
the pandemic disrupted participation in activities that have been important to their lives. But
Augsburg’s Athletics sta and student-athletes have met this challenge with a commitment to the
health and safety of the community. This willingness to put safety rst means that student-athletes
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are now able to compete.
In order for student-athletes to participate in sports this year, the NCAA created rules designed to
promote safety. Augsburg Athletics also made sure that strong safety measures were in place, which
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has helped students feel a bit more at ease during an anxious time.
Devon Hannah ’21, a guard on the men’s basketball team, said,
“We have the freedom to decide whether or not we feel comfortable
with an activity. The Athletics Department is handling this well,
keeping us safe physically and mentally, too.”
Coaches play an important role in student-athletes’ lives, which
means they are often among the rst people to learn when a
student receives a positive COVID-19 test result. This means that
they are not only helping students develop skills in their sport; they
are also watching out for the safety of their team.
Devon Hannah ’21 (Courtesy
photo)
Corrina Evans ’21, a middle blocker on the women’s volleyball team,
said, “The coaches and trainers are sharing campus resources like
the Center for Wellness and Counseling. They have check-in times
when we can talk about anything, and they will call or text us: doing
contact tracing, helping us understand how to quarantine correctly
if we have to do that, and making sure we have everything we need.”
Changes to practice and
competition
Corrina Evans ’21 (Courtesy
photo)
Even with precautionary measures in place, there are times when
teams have to pause their practice, whether a teammate tested
positive for COVID-19 or a rising number of cases in Minnesota required universities to temporarily
close workout and sports facilities, which occurred in the fall and early winter.
Read more about Auggies ghting the pandemic.
When they’re able to practice, Augsburg’s student-athletes gather in pods that have gradually
increased in size as they were safely able to do so. While the smallest pods have allowed students to
practice their sports safely and to control the spread of the virus, they’ve also presented a challenge.
“It’s di cult to get to know each other and to gel as a team,” Hannah said.
“Practices are very di erent,” said Evans. “You can’t see people’s faces because of the masks. But we’ve
been able to move up into bigger pods, which gives us a more normal team chemistry and allows us to
have a full team practice and do some scrimmaging. The challenges are more mental than physical.”
In early January, the MIAC gave teams the go-ahead to compete again, although competitions are
limited and spectators are not allowed. (Augsburg has o ered free livestream viewing for all home
events and some road events.) Students in sports that present a higher risk for COVID-19 transmission
must get tested three times each week in order to practice and compete—measures well worth it for
eager players and coaches. “It’s exciting to be able to get back to playing and feel in the groove again,”
said Colleen Enrico ’14, assistant athletic director, volleyball assistant coach, and Student-Athlete
Advisory Committee advisor.
Melissa Lee ’04 (left), assistant athletic director and softball head coach, leads softball practice in Augsburg’s
dome in February 2021. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
Prioritizing mental health
Augsburg Athletics had already begun addressing the mental health of student-athletes before the
pandemic. In the summer of 2019, all coaches and sta took an eight-hour course in mental health rst
aid, which can provide support for student-athletes and coaches until they can speak with mental
health professionals.
Mark Wick, men’s hockey assistant coach, has recently taken on new, temporary duties at Augsburg
as he sets up a mental health advocacy program for Augsburg Athletics. “We need to know how to deal
with what is happening now, but in ve to 10 years, people still will be dealing with losing jobs or loved
ones,” Wick said. “Hopefully it won’t be as bad as it is now, but how we use this time can help prepare
us for growth.”
Augsburg University
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September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and
@AugsburgU Assistant Hockey Coach @coachwick23 will
hold a golf tournament to raise awareness, as this
subject is very personal to him. “It’s OK to reach out and
ask for help,” Wick told @WCCO.
Augsburg Assistant Hockey Coach Mark Wick's Push For Suicide Awa…
September is Suicide Awareness Month. And on Tuesday, Augsburg
University assistant hockey coach Mark Wick will hold a golf …
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Fostering the Auggie Experience
Enrico reported that in past years, student-athletes met with the entire team sta on a weekly basis,
but this year they are meeting with a di erent coach each week. This allows them to be more open and
build better relationships with their coaches. As in past years, coaches touch base with students about
their lives outside of their sport so that, for instance, if they are struggling with classes, the coach can
suggest resources for help. This year coaches are also making a point of paying attention to upcoming
events so that they can suggest activities that might help student-athletes better connect with their
fellow students.
It’s been a tough year for everyone, and that has been particularly true for rst-year students who
were unable to participate in many traditional activities at the end of their senior year in high school
and now have begun their college experience under di cult conditions. For that reason, Enrico said,
coaches have made a point of connecting third- and fourth-year students with rst-year and other
new students.
Augsburg Athletics
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Check out some photos from a recent Augsburg women's
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Di erent teams have di erent approaches to these connections. In volleyball, coaches have suggested
podcasts that each student can discuss with a di erent teammate each week. “We want them to get
outside of volleyball, so the podcasts might be on topics such as banking or racial diversity,” Enrico
said.
Fostering these connections—between teammates, between each student-athlete and coach, and
between student-athletes and the wider Augsburg community—is, perhaps, one of the most
important things coaches can do for their student-athletes this year. All of them help these students
feel a sense of community. In Enrico’s words, “the Auggie experience is community.”
Top image: The COVID-19 pandemic has required temporary closures and reopenings of workout
spaces, including Augsburg’s weight room, with students’ health in mind. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
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AUGSBURG’S IN-HOUSE EPIDEMIOLOGIST
GUIDES AUGGIES THROUGH THE COVID-19
PANDEMIC
On the Spot Q&A with Associate Professor Alicia Quella
by John Weirick
February 22, 2021
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Remember those days of uncertainty in March 2020, when we had
more questions than answers, and before most of us used terms like
“coronavirus” and “social distancing”?
The United States saw an increase in COVID-19 infections, and some
states—including Minnesota—applied stay-at-home orders to mitigate
the spread. Weeks before that in ection point, Augsburg University
administrators, faculty, and sta convened a COVID-19 task force.
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Not all educational institutions have an epidemiologist on sta , but
Augsburg is fortunate. One of the task force’s principal leaders is Alicia
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Quella, associate professor and director of Augsburg’s physician
assistant program. As an educator with a PhD in epidemiology and
experience in public health settings around the world, her expertise
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has proved invaluable for the university’s grasp of the evolving global
crisis and Augsburg’s response to maintain the health and safety of
community members.
Associate Professor Alicia Quella
(Photo by Courtney Perry)
Between elding student questions about the coronavirus, volunteering at COVID-19 testing sites, and
ensuring the Augsburg community can trace contacts and reduce transmission on campus, Quella shared
some perspectives on her work and where we go from here.
Q: How have you been involved in Augsburg’s outbreak planning
and COVID-19 response?
A: I serve on the pandemic task force, a university-wide team of people that assembled after it was
apparent that COVID-19 would signi cantly a ect institutions of higher education across the United States.
We collaborate regularly with epidemiologists from the Minnesota Department of Health to implement
public health guidelines for campuses. We started to meet daily to coordinate issues involving classrooms
and labs, athletics, residence halls, dining services, facilities, and global education. We started a COVID-19
Response Team, which comprises sta and faculty across campus who implement health protocols and
support students and personnel who have illness, have COVID-19, or have been exposed to it.
R.John
@raccajohn
Neither rain nor SNOW can keep @AugsburgU's Dr. Alicia
Quella from working the walk-up/drive-up COVID-19
testing location @PeoplesCenter Cedar Riverside Clinic
1:50 AM · Oct 21, 2020
3
See the latest COVID-19 information on Twitter
Q: What were your rst thoughts when you heard about COVID19 and considered its implications for the Augsburg community?
A: When news of a novel coronavirus was circulating in China, I was immediately concerned because I had
studied the epidemiology of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-1) during my doctoral work
through the University of Iowa Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases. In 2003, SARS quickly spread to 29
countries, so I knew that this would be a major issue in the United States.
Q: At this stage in the COVID-19 pandemic, what are the most
important things for the public to understand and do?
A: To reach herd immunity [when a signi cant portion of a community is immune to a disease and thereby
makes spread unlikely] we all need to continue to ‘bubble’ and limit the number of close contacts, wear face
masks, socially distance, and get vaccinated.
I also encourage the students and my patients to be creative and nd ways to keep active and engaged—
start a new hobby, do something outdoors, and reach out to relatives and friends who may be isolated
right now.
Q: What do you see in the post-COVID-19 world?
A: Colleges and universities have seen a rapid di usion of innovation in how they are using technology to
deliver curriculum, participate in athletics, and maintain operations. This energy and innovation will have to
continue to promote widespread vaccine uptake. Vaccine hesitancy is an issue, especially in communities of
color that have been disproportionately a ected by COVID-19 because of structural racism. Augsburg will
need to make this a top priority moving forward.
Q: What’s a memorable moment of the past year that made an
impact on you?
A: As an epidemiologist and a physician assistant, I’ve had the opportunity to continue to see patients and
work with Augsburg students, sta , and faculty. I recently received the COVID-19 vaccine and have felt
humbled and honored to now be able to continue to work more safely in the community.
Top image: Associate Professor Alicia Quella’s experience as an epidemiologist has helped maintain the health and
safety of the Augsburg community. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
Read more Augsburg stories on COVID-19.
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NOTES FROM PRESIDENT PRIBBENOW:
COME AND SEE!
by Paul C. Pribbenow
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February 22, 2021
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In the Christian church, the liturgical season before Lent is called
Epiphany, a time when we re ect on the good news that God has
broken into human history and that we are called to share that good
news with all of creation. There is a wonderful invitational character to
Epiphany, in which we ask each other and our neighbors to “Come and
see” all that God is doing in our midst.
In that spirit, this issue of Augsburg Now invites all of us to come
and see what the Augsburg community is doing in its 151st academic
year, in the midst of a global pandemic, to live out our mission. In
these pandemic times, Augsburg students, faculty, and sta have
brought great imagination, resilience, and courage to our work
together. I am so proud of what they have accomplished, and I invite
you to come and see …
Come and see the gift of the surprises we found in how we teach and
learn, how we keep our community and neighborhood safe and
President Paul Pribbenow (Photo by
Courtney Perry)
healthy, how we live out our most deeply held commitments and
values, and how we are open to new and innovative ways of living and working.
Paul Pribbenow
@paulpribbenow
I’m out and about, delivering yard signs to the
@AugsburgU Class of 2024! Here’s Vanessa - a proud
new Auggie. #augsburgbold #auggiepride
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4:13 PM · Jun 30, 2020
95
5
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Come and see how we answered the call to serve our neighbors even when we must navigate the
challenges of a virus, economic disruption, and racial reckoning. Our focus on supporting local businesses,
meeting the needs of those experiencing homelessness, ensuring that all of our students have the
resources they need to be successful, and nding ways to feed the hungry—all these illustrate how our
community embraces its commitments to our neighbors.
Come and see the promise of abundance in a time and world too often characterized by scarcity. We believe
deeply in what the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone proclaimed: “We all do better when we all do better.”
Our abiding commitments to equity and inclusion—and our aspiration to be an anti-racist university—lead
us to robust engagement with each other and with the wider community so that all will do better.
Augsburg University is a distinctive community, de ning in its life and work a vision for higher education in
the 21st century. I am deeply grateful for the support of alumni and friends, whose generosity and
engagement help us live into our vision to educate Auggies as stewards of an inclusive democracy. Come
and see.
Faithfully yours,
Paul C. Pribbenow, President
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AUGSBURG BOARD OF REGENTS WELCOMES
NEW AND REELECTED MEMBERS
by John Weirick
February 22, 2021
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The Augsburg University Board of Regents meeting in October 2020 included celebration of the
election of new and continuing regents.
James Hereford and Veena Iyer were elected to their rst four-year terms.
Nick Gangestad ’86, Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, Jill Nelson Thomas, and Noya
Woodrich ’92, ’94 MSW were elected to second four-year terms.
Pam Moksnes ’79 was elected to a third four-year term.
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Finally, Bishop Laurie Skow-Anderson and Bishop Ann Svennungsen were appointed to serve
three-year terms as ex o cio members of the board.
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Nick Gangestad ’86
James Hereford
Veena Iyer
Pam Moksnes ’79
Jill Nelson Thomas
Laurie Skow-Anderson
Ann Svennungsen
Marlene Whiterabbit
Helgemo
Noya Woodrich ’92, ’94
MSW
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AUGSBURG’S RECENT AWARDS, RANKINGS,
AND RECOGNITION
by Briana Alamilla '17
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Each year, Augsburg University is recognized for its academic excellence, student-centered community, and
commitment to educating students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and
responsible leaders.
Augsburg’s recent awards and rankings include:
2020 Best Colleges by Money
Most Transformative Colleges
2020–21 Military Friendly® School by Military Friendly®
2020 Best of the Best LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges and Universities, Midwest region by Campus Pride
Top 30 in the Country
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2020 Best Colleges For Financial Aid by LendEDU
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79th in the United States
2nd in Minnesota
2020 Best Value Colleges and Universities in Minnesota by BestValueSchools.com
2021 Best Universities, Midwest region by U.S. News & World Report
3rd in Most Innovative Schools
4th in Campus Ethnic Diversity
7th in Undergraduate Teaching
14th in Best Colleges for Veterans
15th in Best Value
Accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs
Augsburg University’s Department of Business Administration was recently accredited for the
undergraduate and Master of Business Administration programs.
View more of Augsburg’s awards and rankings.
Top image: Augsburg’s Hagfors Center. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
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PLAYWRIGHTS’ CENTER PARTNERS WITH
AUGSBURG TO OFFER COURSES WITH
LEADING PLAYWRIGHTS
by John Weirick
February 22, 2021
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The Playwrights’ Center and Augsburg University announced a new partnership to o er accredited courses
taught by the nation’s leading playwrights. Through online courses, students connect with peers and faculty
members from across the United States. The courses, o ered through Augsburg’s Center for Global
Education and Experience, are guided by Augsburg’s Theater Department in conjunction with the
Playwrights’ Center.
“With these courses, students will learn with and from writers at the top of their eld, seeing what it takes to
have pieces published and performed,” said Patrick Mulvihill, Augsburg’s assistant provost for global
education and experience, in an interview with Broadway World.
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Top image: An Augsburg student tours the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. (Photo by Stephen Ge re)
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30th NSF grant, continues space weather study
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PROFESSOR EMERITUS MARK
ENGEBRETSON RECEIVES 30TH NSF GRANT,
CONTINUES SPACE WEATHER STUDY
by John Weirick
February 22, 2021
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Mark Engebretson, Augsburg University professor emeritus of
physics, received a ve-year grant totaling $805,744 from the National
Science Foundation (Award Number 2013648).
This grant supports the continued operation and data analysis of the
Magnetometer Array for Cusp and Cleft Studies, which is used to study
near-Earth space weather, such as solar winds that may disrupt
communication and navigation systems. It represents the 30th
research study on which Engebretson has served as the principal
investigator through NSF funding.
Engebretson has led several research projects—including some with
Augsburg student-researchers—studying ionospheric and space
physics in collaboration with European and NASA satellite programs.
Nearly 100 Augsburg students have gained paid research experience
working on these research projects.
Professor Emeritus Mark
Engebretson (Photo by Stephen Ge re)
Engebretson has authored or coauthored more than 300 scholarly
research articles on topics related to space weather.
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Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, Star
Tribune, and Minnesota Urban Debate League
cosponsor justice reform essay contest
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o er courses with leading playwrights
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MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES AND LYNX,
STAR TRIBUNE, AND MINNESOTA URBAN
DEBATE LEAGUE COSPONSOR JUSTICE
REFORM ESSAY CONTEST
by John Weirick
February 22, 2021
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In Fall 2020, Augsburg University’s Minnesota Urban Debate League joined the Star Tribune news company
and the Minnesota Lynx and Minnesota Timberwolves professional basketball teams in cosponsoring a
youth essay contest focused on criminal justice reform.
Minnesota students ages 10 to 18 were invited to submit a written essay, video, or audio recording that
described local or national changes that could reduce racial injustice and inequities in the criminal justice
system. MNUDL determined the top 10 entries, which were judged by a panel of coaches from the
Timberwolves and Lynx and representatives from local organizations, including MN Rise and The
Minneapolis Foundation.
Editor’s note: Winning submissions were announced February 27 in the Star Tribune.
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Augsburg awarded $10,000 Minneapolis
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AUGSBURG AWARDED $10,000
MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION GRANT
by John Weirick
February 22, 2021
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In September 2020, the Minneapolis Foundation announced that it would award more than $500,000 in
grants to 40 organizations in the Twin Cities. Following the increased public dialogue about public safety
after the killing of George Floyd, the grants aim to reduce violence, address systemic inequities, and provide
community support.
The Minneapolis Foundation’s Fund for Safe Communities awarded $10,000 to Augsburg University to
elevate the voices of middle- and high-school students through debate on the topic of criminal justice
reform. Other grant recipients are organizations working to support art projects, mediation, mental health
services, civil rights education, and community healing while addressing police violence and public safety.
Top image: Demonstrators in Summer 2020 marched with a banner that was created as a part of Augsburg’s
One Day in May art campaign. (Photo by Leon Wang)
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AUGSBURG LAUNCHES THE CENTER FOR
INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
by Kate Norlander
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This fall, Augsburg University launched the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which advances
education and support for Augsburg students and alumni in the disciplines of innovation,
entrepreneurship, and leadership.
The center’s focus is on the practice and psychology of innovation and entrepreneurship. Cory Erickson, an
instructor in Augsburg’s Master of Business Administration program, leads the center.
The center provides practical educational material for Augsburg students and alumni through a variety of
events and activities. These opportunities include:
a speaker series
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cooperative projects between student teams and local companies
support for students who are building organizations that impact social causes through innovation
and entrepreneurship
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support for student entrepreneurs
the creation of student teams drawn from the science and business departments to solve problems
for new startups
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student contests o ering awards and potential funding for new ventures
research and scholarship through a think tank
the promotion of internships for students in the for-pro t, nonpro t, and government sectors.
Top image: Instructor Cory Erickson leads the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. (Photo by Courtney
Perry)
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FACULTY MEMBERS WILLIAM GREEN AND
TIMOTHY PIPPERT ASSUME NEW
PROFESSORSHIPS
by John Weirick
February 22, 2021
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Professor of History William Green was named the inaugural M. Anita
Gay Hawthorne Professor of Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies, e ective
September 1, 2020. The position was created on the recommendation of a
working group of students, faculty, and sta who developed a vision for a
new academic department in critical race and ethnicity studies at
Augsburg University.
Related: Professor William Green comments on “Confronting the Minnesota
paradox”
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Professor of Sociology Timothy Pippert was named the inaugural holder
of the Joel Torstenson Endowed Professorship, e ective September 1,
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2020. This professorship is made possible through the generosity of Mark
Johnson ’75, who also supports the university’s Torstenson Scholars
program.
Top image: Professor Timothy Pippert teaches a sociology class in
Hagfors Center. (Photos by Courtney Perry)
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NSF GRANTS AUGSBURG $3 MILLION FOR
STEM STUDENTS
by Kate Norlander
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Augsburg University will receive $3,075,000 of a $5 million grant award from the National Science
Foundation to support the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students who are
pursuing bachelor’s degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (often referred to as
STEM).
The project will provide scholarships, internships, and research experiences for nearly 200 students over a
ve-year period beginning in the 2020–21 academic year at Augsburg, Century College, Minneapolis College,
and Normandale Community College. These institutions will work together to provide seamless pathways
for students to transfer from two-year to four-year STEM programs.
Scholarships of $7,500 to $10,000 will be awarded to students pursuing majors in biology, chemistry,
computer science, engineering, food science, mathematics, and physics. These students will be connected to
internships and research experiences through partner organizations SciTech, UpTurnships, and MnDRIVE,
as well as through Augsburg’s undergraduate research programs.
This is the third phase of a program initiated by Augsburg and funded by the NSF. Grants in the prior phases
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funded scholarships for 111 STEM students, 100% of whom graduated and went on to pursue careers or
continue their education in STEM elds.
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The project will be led by Rebekah Dupont, Augsburg’s director of STEM programs and associate professor
of mathematics, working in collaboration with principal investigators from the other participating
institutions.
Top image: Associate Professor Rebekah Dupont is director of STEM programs at Augsburg. (Courtesy
photo)
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AUGSBURG HOSTS BOLD NEW SPEAKER
SERIES
by Stephen Jendraszak
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Augsburg Bold is a series of initiatives designed to help Augsburg University students continue to
thrive during the pandemic and to enjoy the distinctive experience o ered at Augsburg.
As part of that work, during Fall 2020, the university quad was set up as a physically distanced outdoor
seminar room, enabling up to 60 attendees to take part in a series of remarkable presentations. All
presentations were also livestreamed via Zoom.
R.John
@raccajohn
Thank you, @GovTimWalz and @GwenWalz for
sharing your thoughts on servant leadership with
@AugsburgU today. #AugsburgBold
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5:15 PM · Oct 5, 2020
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Students had the opportunity to hear from several speakers:
Katie Clark ’10 MAN, ’14 DNP spoke about her work building relationships with those in our
community who are experiencing homelessness and helping to ensure that their basic needs for
food, shelter, and health care are met.
Olivia House ’20 discussed the summer of resistance by Black youth.
Jodi Harpstead, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, spoke about
what she’s learned through her work during the pandemic.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Gwen Walz discussed their experience in education and
leadership.
Watch recordings of selected speakers at augsburg.edu/bold.
‹
›
Augsburg Bold speakers included Katie Clark ’10 MAN, ’14 DNP, and Gov. Tim Walz and Gwen Walz.
Students, sta , and faculty attended the socially distanced events on Augsburg’s campus or watched
the livestream online. (Photos by Rebecca Slater)
Top image: Augsburg’s quad was decorated for the Augsburg Bold speaker series. (Photo by Courtney
Perry)
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Master of Arts in Nursing
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FORUM ON WORKPLACE INCLUSION TO
HOST FIRST VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
by Stephen Jendraszak
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The Forum on Workplace Inclusion, based at Augsburg University, will host its 33rd annual conference as a
virtual event March 8–12, 2021.
Workplaces have struggled during the past year to navigate a digital, distanced work environment brought
on by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, social protests centered around racism and the unjust
deaths of Black people at the hands of police have also brought greater attention to overwhelming
disparities in economics, education, health care, housing, and public safety.
This year, the forum asks: What will it take to start a workplace revolution that moves us from talk to
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action?
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Learn more and register to attend at forumworkplaceinclusion.org.
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AUGSBURG HOMECOMING (AT A DISTANCE)
by Briana Alamilla '17
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Homecoming 2020 celebrations looked a little di erent than previous years. Though social gatherings were
restricted, the Augsburg Student Activities Council found creative ways to celebrate with a series of events
during the week of September 21—some virtual and some physically distanced:
Cider and canvas: Spread out in the quad, students created paintings in the style of artist Bob Ross.
Create your own PopSocket: Participants made their own Augsburg-branded phone grip accessories.
Drag and lip sync battle: Students competed by submitting videos of themselves lip-syncing to a song.
Movie night: The lm “Queen & Slim” was screened in the quad.
Homecoming royalty coronation ceremony: Homecoming court members were announced and
royalty were crowned.
Top image: Students participate in an outdoor event sponsored by the Augsburg Student Activities Council.
(Photo by Courtney Perry)
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Cedar-Riverside supply drives support
neighborhood
Forum on Workplace Inclusion to host rst
virtual conference
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CEDAR-RIVERSIDE SUPPLY DRIVES SUPPORT
NEIGHBORHOOD
by Briana Alamilla '17
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February 22, 2021
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The COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the damage some businesses experienced following the murder of
George Floyd, put a strain on Augsburg’s Twin Cities community as many local stores temporarily closed
and access to public transportation was reduced. In June and August, Augsburg University organized supply
drives in partnership with the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.
Drivers in more than 550 cars participated in the supply drives, and their donations were delivered to the
Brian Coyle Center through several dozen trips.
“This is our community; this is our neighborhood,” one volunteer said. “So when our neighbors are hurting,
we step forward and do what we can to help.”
Read more about Auggies’ e orts to support the community: “What it takes to ght a pandemic.”
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Augsburg University
@AugsburgU
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Augsburg’s supply drive was a success! Thank you to all
who donated and volunteered to help out our so loved
Cedar-Riverside community. It is in times like these
where we must all come together as the thoughtful
stewards that we are. #AuggiePride
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9:51 PM · Jun 1, 2020
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Top image: Auggies collected donations for the Twin Cities community in Summer 2020. (Photo by Joe Mann)
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AUGSBURG NAMES GEORGE FLOYD
MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
by Briana Alamilla '17
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Augsburg University created the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship, which is designed to support
outstanding third- and fourth-year students who have a strong understanding of Black experiences
and U.S. history while showing leadership in advancing racial justice e orts. Each selected student
received a $5,000 scholarship.
Augsburg named the ve inaugural scholarship recipients:
Aisha Abdi ’21 is majoring in management information systems and marketing.
Quran Al-Hameed ’21 is majoring in psychology.
Mallory Ferguson ’21 is majoring in communication studies.
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Kaltun Hassan ’22 is majoring in computer science.
Nadirah McGill ’21 is majoring in music business.
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Aisha Abdi ’21, management
information systems and marketing
Quran Al-Hameed ’21, psychology
Kaltun Hassan ’22, computer science
Nadirah McGill ’21, music business
(Courtesy photo)
Mallory Ferguson ’21, communication
studies
Read more about Augsburg’s Equity and Inclusion Initiatives.
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with virtual campus tour
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PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS AND THEIR
FAMILIES ENGAGE WITH VIRTUAL CAMPUS
TOUR
Multimedia platform o ers a glimpse of Augsburg from afar
by Laura Swanson Lindahl '15 MBA
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For the past year, Augsburg University’s virtual tour has
showcased the Minneapolis campus’ facilities and resources as it
has been challenging to conduct in-person visits due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. As a multimedia interactive map with
photos and videos, the virtual tour simulates an on-the-ground
campus experience. The virtual tour o ers a look at Augsburg’s
residence halls and athletic facilities, details about academic
buildings and green spaces, and a peek inside performance
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venues and practice rooms. The virtual tour launched in March
2020 to help out-of-state and international populations visualize
the campus.
From its launch in March,
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2020, through February 1,
Check out the virtual tour at augsburg.university-tour.com.
2021, the virtual tour has
had 32,421 visitors. The top
states visitors are from are
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Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Illinois, Iowa, Texas, and
California.
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Augsburg TRIO/Student Support Services earns
fth consecutive U.S. Department of Education
grant
Augsburg names George Floyd Memorial
Scholarship recipients
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AUGSBURG TRIO/STUDENT SUPPORT
SERVICES EARNS FIFTH CONSECUTIVE U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION GRANT
by Laura Swanson Lindahl '15 MBA
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The U.S. Department of Education announced that Augsburg University was awarded a federal Student
Support Services ve-year grant of nearly $300,000 annually to help more students succeed in and graduate
from college. This is the fth TRIO/SSS grant awarded to Augsburg, which has hosted the project since 2001.
Each year, Augsburg TRIO/SSS serves about 160 undergraduate students.
The TRIO/SSS program is designed for students who are the rst in their families to attend post-secondary
education, students who are low income, or students with disabilities. The grant funds an array of services
including academic skill development, academic advising, tutoring, nancial aid advice, and nancial literacy.
“Augsburg TRIO/SSS has established a reputation for helping students navigate
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higher education to achieve their academic goals,” said Aly Olson, director of
Augsburg TRIO/SSS.
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“Students know their TRIO advisor is looking out for their best interests and
helps them through the tough decisions of college life. We are thrilled to be able
to continue this important work at Augsburg.” —Aly Olson
Aly Olson (Photo by Courtney
Perry)
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The federal government contributes about 70% of the funds needed to
support Augsburg’s TRIO/SSS project. The university contributes the remaining program funds.
Top image: Brooklyn Jones ’22, clinical psychology major and sociology minor, attends a Summer Bridge
class in 2019. (Photo by Bob Stack ’71)
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Augsburg receives grants for equity in education
and remote learning
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AUGSBURG RECEIVES GRANTS FOR EQUITY
IN EDUCATION AND REMOTE LEARNING
by Laura Swanson Lindahl '15 MBA
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This fall, Augsburg University received $250,000 in grant funding from the State of Minnesota to address
equity in education and remote learning needs among students of color, Indigenous students, and those
who are disabled or low-income.
The funds came through two awards under the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief grant. One award
provided direct aid to teacher candidates who needed to pay unexpected costs posed by the pandemic
during their student teaching semester and coursework.
The second award was geared toward making hardware and software available to more students to
support them in their switch to online learning. This support included additional laptops for checkout,
noise-cancelling headphones, digital tablets for art and math courses, training resources for successful
online learning, new digital video resources in the library, and captioning of instructional videos to increase
accessibility. The GEER grant program was a redistribution of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security Act funds.
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View more grants news.
Top image: A redistribution of federal CARES Act funds provided support for Augsburg students’ online
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learning. (Photo by Courtney Perry)
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In memoriam, Winter 2020–21
Augsburg TRIO/Student Support Services earns
fth consecutive U.S. Department of Education
grant
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IN MEMORIAM, WINTER 2020–21
Remembering and honoring Auggies
by Amanda Symes '09, '15 MFA
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Below we recognize the alumni and friends whose noti cations of death were received between March 1,
2020, and January 1, 2021.
1940 | 1950 | 1960 | 1970| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 | Faculty
1940s
Fern L. (Hanson) Gudmestad ’41, Minneapolis, age 101, on June 3.
Wayne E. Peterson ’43, Palm City, Florida, age 99, on November 14.
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Thelma I. (Erickson) Mckenzie ’44, Hollandale, Wisconsin, age 96, on July 1.
Helen V. (Odden) Pederson ’45, Spooner, Wisconsin, age 96, on May 5.
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Doris K. (Larson) Walen ’45, Alamo, North Dakota, age 97, on October 3.
Martha E. Fosse Palmquist ’46, Lakeville, Minnesota, age 96, on November 22.
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Lowell O. Larson ’47, Claremont, California, age 95, on May 10.
Arnold J. Oie ’47, Glencoe, Minnesota, age 96, on August 1.
Margery A. (Manger) Torgerson ’47, Circle Pines, Minnesota, age 94, on March 30.
Esther P. (Bakken) Crosby ’48, Moorhead, Minnesota, age 95, on June 19.
John E. Hanson ’48, St. Paul, Minnesota, age 93, on October 1.
Jean A. (Tibke) Vane ’48, Visalia, California, age 93, on October 20.
John F. Anderson ’49, Minneapolis, age 96, on December 22.
June (Carlson) Gustafson ’49, Lincoln, Nebraska, age 92, on September 28.
1950s
Louis L. Ennen ’50, Dublin, Ohio, age 94, on July 7.
Lilian J. (Johnson) Ingersoll ’50, Lexington, South Carolina, age 96, on June 5.
Phillip A. Quanbeck ’50, Maple Grove, Minnesota, age 93, on December 1.
Mary L. (Johnson) Froiland ’50, Iron River, Wisconsin, age 91, on October 22.
Orville E. Meland ’51, River Falls, Wisconsin, age 93, on October 27.
Caroline J. (Borsheim) Melhus’ 51, Minneapolis, age 90, on May 31.
Arvid D. Dixen ’52, Minneapolis, age 89, on May 20.
Harold J. Hansen ’52, Normandy Park, Washington, age 90, on April 17.
Luther J. Larson ’52, Sparta, Wisconsin, age 89, on July 6.
Mildred A. Nelson ’52, Minneapolis, age 91, December 5.
Alvin H. Nygard ’52, Fargo, North Dakota, age 96, on July 31.
Yvonne M. (Bagley) Olson ’52, Burnsville, Minnesota, age 88, on March 16.
Orville L. Olson ’52, Burnsville, Minnesota, age 89, on June 6.
Ronald A. Berge ’53, West Fargo, North Dakota, age 88, on March 15.
Robert O. Bruder ’53, Minneapolis, age 91, on August 9.
Donald V. Dillon ’53, Minneapolis, age 89, on July 17.
Kent B. Quanbeck ’53, McVille, North Dakota, age 90, on April 6.
Gloria M. (Halverson) Boyum ’54, Kenyon, Minnesota, age 88, on December 19.
George W. Fisher ’54, Lexington, South Carolina, age 88, on May 11.
Wallace L. Hafstad ’54, St. Paul, Minnesota, age 88, on March 30.
Janis R. (Larson) Hanson ’54, Canby, Minnesota, age 92, on October 2.
Vivian (Waisanen) Ryden ’54, Northglenn, Colorado, age 87, on May 4.
Richard M. Hagestuen ’55, Bismarck, North Dakota, age 87, on October 28.
Robert M. Herman ’55, Minneapolis, age 86, on June 8.
Vicent Peterson ’55, Hutchinson, Minnesota, age 87, on November 11.
Richard H. Stensrud ’55, Mesa, Arizona, age 87, on August 25.
LeRoy E. Nevin ’56, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, age 86, on June 7.
R. Luther Olson ’56, Tucson, Arizona, age 84, on August 27.
Bruce W. Rorvig ’56, Kalispell, Montana, age 85, on August 18.
Duane J. Solem ’56, Edina, Minnesota, age 91, on May 2.
Elizabeth A. (Mortensen) Swanson ’56, St. Paul, Minnesota, age 86, on November 6.
Robert Jeska ’57, East Grand Forks, Minnesota, age 85, May 21.
Erwin J. Moe ’57, Plymouth, Minnesota, age 88, on April 28.
Robert C. Oslund ’57, Silver Bay, Minnesota, age 89, on December 4.
Ronald B. Welde ’57, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, age 86, on September 4.
Ardis H. (Lee) Zunich ’57, Miles City, Montana, age 82, on July 18.
Robert L. Bagley ’58, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, age 84, on November 23.
Bonnie (Sandvig) Erickson ’58, Canton, South Dakota, age 83, on May 9.
Alice M. (Lindell) Lindgren ’58, Bemidji, Minnesota, age 83, on September 11.
Marlene (Hegg) Ridens ’58, Montevideo, Minnesota, age 85, August 19.
Donald J. Hagestuen ’59, Aitkin, Minnesota, age 83, on October 29.
Arlene B. (Selander) Hill ’59, Allegan, Michigan, age 82, on September 11.
Rhoda M. (Monseth) Huglen ’59, Roseau, Minnesota, age 83, on August 19.
Heinrich Kopka ’59, Staples, Minnesota, age 85, on November 28.
Walter W. Lundeen ’59, Minneapolis, age 89, on December 20.
Richard G. Sletten ’59, North Oaks, Minnesota, age 82, on August 13.
Peggy K. (O’Neil) Swensen ’59, Fargo, North Dakota, age 82, on April 11.
Sharon K. (Grodt) West ’59, Chisago City, Minnesota, age 83, on March 16.
1960s
Gordon Grinely ’60, Eau Galle Township, Wisconsin, age 82, on June 25.
Marcia S. (Refsal) Sanders ’60, Chandler, Arizona, age 81, on October 13.
Kermit L. Valleen ’60, Cambridge, Minnesota, age 83, November 16.
Paula J. Bjorkley Carlson ’62, Madras, Oregon, age 80, on December 5.
Allan P. Tveite ’62, Lakeville, Minnesota, age 80, on November 18.
E. Nelvin Botten ’63, Stanwood, Washington, age 91, on September 16.
Bernard E. Debar ’63, Minneapolis, age 89, on May 11.
Helen A. (Anderson) Gildseth ’63, Duluth, Minnesota, age 78, on March 17.
Lois J. (Bailey) Parson ’63, Braham, Minnesota, age 80, August 19.
Clarice A. Sta
’63, Minneapolis, age 84, on April 9.
Patrick J. Sullivan ’63, Miltona, Minnesota, age 79, on June 26.
Lannette Y. (Haire) Reshetar ’64, Andover, Minnesota, age 77, on April 8.
Lesley K. (Schwarten) Schmid ’64, Blaine, Minnesota, age 78, on June 12.
Joyce M. (Nelson) Schrader ’64, Friendswood, Texas, age 77, on June 28.
Susan L. Kyllo ’65, Spring Park, Minnesota, age 78, on December 16.
Sharon (Tofte) Taeger ’65, Camrose, Canada, age 77, on April 4.
Sharon L. (Wagner) Johnson ’66, Atikokan, Canada, age 76, on November 29.
Sandra (Johnson) Kotval ’66, Spring Valley, Wisconsin, age 76, on October 15.
Irene (Seltvedt) Yost ’66, Dickinson, North Dakota, age 77, on July 21.
David E. Sylvester ’67, Cloquet, Minnesota, age 81, on October 29.
Ruthe M. (Tollefson) Enstad ’68, Prior Lake, Minnesota, age 75, on October 15.
Marvin J. Haara ’68, Hutchinson, Minnesota, age 76, on August 26.
Ellen M. (Larson) Johnston ’68, Mankato, Minnesota, age 73, on August 16.
Merrill D. Ronning ’68, St. Paul, Minnesota, age 75, on August 18.
John P. Weinard ’68, Bloomington, Minnesota, age 81, on December 12.
Douglas S. Anderson ’69, St. Paul, Minnesota, age 72, on April 10.
Mervin F. Larson ’69, Excelsior, Minnesota, age 73, on August 30.
1970s
Gloria J. (Wohlers Livingston) Hutchinson ’70, Falcon Heights, Minnesota, age 71, on July 1.
Kathy J. (Kropelin) Cracraft ’71, Minneapolis, age 70, on July 13.
Michael J. Hostetler ’71, Andover, Minnesota, age 71, on August 7.
Joann S. Bell ’72, St. Paul, Minnesota, age 70, on August 9.
Vicki C. (Linder) Lind ’72, Rosemount, Minnesota, age 70, on November 4.
Je rey P. Ross ’72, Sheburn, Minnesota, age 64, on April 26.
Jean L. (Bridges) Wachs ’73, Minneapolis, age 68, on June 4.
David W. Finson ’75, St. Paul, Minnesota, age 67, on June 17.
Douglas A. Fish ’75, Hastings, Minnesota, age 68, on November 24.
Lois B. Wattman ’76, St. Paul, Minnesota, age 66, on September 28.
Gregory J. Bannon ’77, Albertville, Minnesota, age 66, on August 15.
1980s
Sandra J. Holm-Cyr ’82, Rich eld, Minnesota, age 72, on April 15.
Arlene D. Hiles ’86, Stillwater, Minnesota, age 87, on September 11.
1990s
Richard A. Gillitzer ’91, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, age 53, on May 24.
Judith A. Francis ’92, Mound, Minnesota, age 80, on October 12.
John S. Austin ’93, Minneapolis, age 70, on December 1.
Debra J. Clark-Corley ’93, Gary, Indiana, age 65, on April 6.
Nancy C. Sallman ’93, Minneapolis, age 65, on September 14.
Violet E. (Schmitz) Rocek ’94, Minneapolis, age 85, on December 6.
Eileen J. (Bridgeman) Biernat ’98, New Brighton, Minnesota, age 74, on September 4.
2000s
Dylan E. Cook ’00, Christchurch, New Zealand, age 44, on September 7.
Kelly A. (Duncan) Norden ’00, Minneapolis, age 42, on October 3.
Philip R. Johnson ’04, Nisswa, Minnesota, age 56, on April 11.
Michael R. Kuhlmann ’04, Minneapolis, age 39, on August 11.
Christopher R. Hunnicutt ’08, Green Bay, Wisconsin, age 35, on March 27.
Barton M. Lund ’08, Stuart, Florida, age 56, on December 12.
2010s
Quinten P. Bissonette ’12, Spring Valley, Minnesota, age 43, on May 5.
Shane M. Potter ’15, Garrison, Minnesota, age 31, on December 13.
J. Parker Foley ’16, Duxbury, Massachusetts, age 27, on October 21.
Maricio M. Mata-Thelen ’17, Minneapolis, age 26, on October 31.
Kevin J. Baxter ’19, Burnsville, Minnesota, age 29, on November 2.
2020s
Abdirizak A. Abdullahi ’21, Minneapolis, age 21, on April 26.
Faculty
Augsburg University’s Center for Global Education and Experience Guatemala Site Director Fidel Xinico
Tum, San Lucas Sacatepéquez, Guatemala, age 60, on September 12.
Submit address changes and nominations for remembrances to alumniupdate@augsburg.edu.
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EDGE®
Augsburg receives grants for equity in education
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AUGSBURG RECEIVES $50,000 GRANT FOR
TRAVELERS EDGE®
by John Weirick
February 18, 2021
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The Travelers Companies, Inc. gave a $50,000 grant to Augsburg University in September 2020 to
support Travelers EDGE. The program—which stands for Empowering Dreams for Graduation and
Employment—provides scholarships, internships, job shadowing, professional development
opportunities, and career advice. More than 100 Augsburg students have participated in the program
since 2007.
“There is much more to be gained from Travelers EDGE than solely professional development,” said
Ann A. Ulring, program manager at Augsburg’s Strommen Center for Meaningful Work. “By the time
scholars graduate, they are con dent, career-focused, and empowered to share who they are and
what they have to o er.”
EDGE scholar Samantha Lopez ’22, who completed a summer internship at Travelers, said, “Travelers
has opened so many doors for me. It was amazing to learn rsthand what goes on inside a corporation
and nd out I can do the work. Travelers provided me with the support, skills, and con dence I need to
pursue a business career.”
2020–21 Recipients
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CONNECT WITH US
Aaron Davis ’24, Business Management
Yer Her ’23, Marketing
Pa Houa Lee ’23, Marketing
Hamza Jamari ’22, Marketing
Duaa Katabay ’23, Business
Management
Curtis Love ’23, Marketing
Samantha Lopez ’22, Communication
Studies
PangDao Xiong ’24, Marketing
View more grants news.
Top image: Samantha Lopez ’22 is one of several Travelers EDGE scholars at Augsburg. (Photos by
Courtney Perry)
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- on February 22, 2021
reelected members
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GIVE TO THE MAX DAY RECAP AND
SUSTAINING AUGSBURG’S FUTURE
Thank you for supporting Augsburg during Give to the Max Day!
by Amanda Symes '09, '15 MFA
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January 26, 2021
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CONNECT WITH US
This November, Augsburg had a record-breaking Give to the Max
Day in terms of donor participation and dollars raised. Here are the
highlights:
• $531,704 was raised across 41 projects, setting a new record.
• 1,898 total donors gave, the most we’ve ever seen.
• Gifts came from 41 states.
• 56% of our 41 projects (23 projects) were fully funded, and many others were very close to fully
funded.
• One couple gave to 17 projects.
This day continues to energize our students, faculty, and sta every
year, and we can’t wait to see what we can accomplish next year.
Watch this video from our students who would like to say a quick
thank you.
Make a di erence all year round
Each year, 20% of the annual gifts to the Augsburg Fund come during Give to the Max Day. But giving
to the Augsburg Fund matters all year round: We use these dollars to make a di erence for Auggies
right away through scholarships, instruction and academic support, student programs, and other
areas of the largest funding needs at Augsburg.
Gifts to the Augsburg Fund touch the life of every student, faculty member, and sta member. More
than 1,000 donors contribute to the fund each year, and you can join them.
Make a di erence today. Give to the Augsburg Fund.
Giving creates a ripple e ect for the future of
Augsburg
When a water droplet hits the surface of a pond, it causes a ripple much larger than the original drop.
This is how your gift a ects Augsburg.
Glass water droplet sculptures, created by Rhode Island artists, represent the expanding e ect that
donors provide for the Augsburg community. Learn more about these water droplets and how
endowed scholarships propel Augsburg’s work into the future.
Lisa Smith and Dave Smith
Sharon Mortrud ’64 (Courtesy
Dennis Meyer ’78 and Bev ’78
(Courtesy photo)
photo)
Meyer (Courtesy photo)
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21
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NOTES
FROM
PRESIDENT
PRIBBENOW
As we concludeour
yearlongcelebration
of Augsburg's150th
anniversary,
in the midst
of thesehistorictimes, I havebeenreflectingon someof
the mottosand slogansAugsburghasusedthroughoutits
history.Fromour foundingscripturalmotto-"And the Word
becamefleshand live... Show more
NOTES
FROM
PRESIDENT
PRIBBENOW
As we concludeour
yearlongcelebration
of Augsburg's150th
anniversary,
in the midst
of thesehistorictimes, I havebeenreflectingon someof
the mottosand slogansAugsburghasusedthroughoutits
history.Fromour foundingscripturalmotto-"And the Word
becamefleshand livedamongus" (John1: 14)-to the
familiar "Educationfor service,"to the morerecent"We
believewe arecalledto serveour neighbor,"to the iconic
phrasefirst usedas part of Augsburg's100th anniversary
and nowfeaturedon our universityseal,"Throughtruth to
freedom,"eachphrasepointsto abidingvaluesthat are at
the heartof the educationAugsburgoffersto its students.
I am particularlystruck by the claim madein that
centennialmotto,and I wonderwhat it might mean
to explorehow"Throughtruth to freedom"shapesour
teachingand learningcommunityin the midst of these
pandemictimes.
In a recentpresentation,Professorof ReligionMary
Lowe
offereda provocativechallengewhensheaskedus
what it might meanto educateour studentsfor freedom.
Whata counterculturalnotion! Educatedfor freedomfrom
ignorance,from oppression,from divisionand hatredand
violence.Educatedfor freedomto makethe worldmorefair
and just and healthy,to be goodneighbors,to take careof
creation.Educatedfor freedomfor the sakeof the world,for
the goodof others,for the promiseof wonderand creativity.
At Augsburg,the possibilityof this educationfor freedom
is groundedin claimsof truth. Aboveall, a theological
claim of the truth of the gospelof JesusChrist-stated so
powerfullyin that foundingscripturalmottofrom the first
chapterof John'sgospel-a truth that makesall things
possiblein our livesandwork in the world.At the same
time, it's the truth wefind in our commitmentto a liberal
arts education-to the belief in scientificknowledge,in
socialanalysis,in artistic expression,in culturalwisdom.
Andfinally, it's the truth we find in the livedexperiences
of
our studentsand the communitiesfrom whichthey come,
truths that residein rituals andtraditionsand practicesthat
invite us into worldsrich in knowledgeand wonder.
"Throughtruth to freedom"strikesme as a compelling
responseto this momentwhenwe find ourselvesliving
at the intersectionof three pandemics.TheCOVID-19
pandemichasdisruptedall aspectsof howwe live and
work,and it haspointedlyi11ustratedthe tensionbetween
public healthand economicwell-being.Followingin the
wakeof that pandemic,an economicpandemicthreatens
our socialfabric with massiveunemployment
and business
closuresworldwide.And, mostrecently,the racial inequities
exacerbated
by the senselessmurderof GeorgeFloydby
Minneapolispoliceofficers-along with countlessBlack,
Indigenous,and otherpeopleof colorwho'veexperienced
similar racismandviolence-havecreateda third pandemic
that threatensto tear our countryapart.Surelythis
unchartedintersectionof crisespresentsuniquechallenges
for all of us as citizens,tryingto imaginehowwe will
navigateto someas yet unknownfuture.
The questionwe will ask at Augsburg-a questionat
the heartof our academicmissionand our commitment
to socialjustice-is, "Whereis the truth in the midst of
thesepandemics?"
Whatis the truth aboutkeepingeachotherhealthy
in the face of a novelcoronavirus?
Whatis the truth in
an economythat, moreand more,deepensremarkable
inequities?Whatis the truth in centuriesof systemic
racismand oppression?
Andthe truths we will find, always
evolvingand emergingand transforming,will free us for the
workwe are calledto do as "informedcitizens,thoughtful
stewards,critical thinkers,and responsibleleaders"Augsburg'smission!
Let us go forwardtogetherinto the next 150 yearsof
Augsburg'slife recommittedto educationguidedby the
beliefthat throughtruth there is indeedfreedom.I can only
wonderwhatsucha counterculturalbeliefwill meanfor
storiesyet to be told.
Staystrong,safe,andwelI.
Faithfullyyours,
PAUL
C.PRIBBENOW,
PRESIDENT
AUGSBURG
NOW
Spring-Summer
2020
VicePresident
and
Chief
Operating
Officer
Rebecca
John'13MBA
Associate
VicePresident
and
Chief
Marketing
Officer
Stephen
Jendraszak
Director
ofMarketing
Laura
Swanson
Lindahl
'15MBA
Director
ofPublic
Relations
andInternal
Communications
GitaSitaramiah
Assistant
Director
of
Marketing,
Creative
Denielle
Stepka
'11
Marketing
Copywriter
John
Weirick
Communication
and
Social
Media
Specialist
Briana
Alamilla
'17
EDITOR'S
NOTE
Whenwe beganmakingthis magazinein early2020, the worldwas markedlydifferent
than the onewe inhabit today.AugsburgNowstaff delayedthe magazine'stimeline due
to the impactof the COVID-19 pandemicon the university'soperations.
Mostof the storiesand eventsdescribedhereinoccurredbeforeit becamenecessary
to shift to manyworkingfrom home,online gatherings,and other modifiedoperations
to slowthe spreadof the virus.
Becausewe wantedto sharetheseremarkablestoriesand Auggieaccomplishments
as soonas possible,our team decidedto releasethis issuein digital-onlyformat, a first
in the magazine'shistory.
-John Weirick,editor
Project
Manager
JuliKramer
Communications
and
Social
Media
Consultant
KateNorlander
Advancement
Communications
Specialist
KaiaChambers
Senior
Communications
Specialist
forPrincipal
Gifts
Amanda
Symes
'09,'15MFA
WebManager
JoeMann
Contributing
Writer
KateH.Elliott
Augsburg
Nowis published
by
Augsburg
University
2211Riverside
Avenue
Minneapolis,
MN55454
Opinions
expressed
inAugsburg
Now
donotnecessarily
reflect
official
university
policy.
ISSN
1058-1545
02 AROUND
THE
QUAD
AWOMEN'S
WRESTLING
10 HOWTOBUILD
PROGRAM
FROM
SCRATCH
18 MISTAKEN
IDENTITY
24 HONORING
AUGGIES
25 AUGGIES
CONNECT
28 CLASS
NOTES
32 INMEMORIAM
Onthecover:
Augsburg
commemorates
aneventin
itshistory
andreflects
onits
significance
fortoday.
See
page2 andpage8.
Allphotos
byCourtney
Perry
unless
otherwise
indicated
Send
address
corrections
to
alumniupdate@augsburg.edu.
Send
comments
to
now@augsburg.edu.
COMMENCEMENT
2020
On Friday, May 29, and Sunday, May 31, Augsburg University celebrated commencement virtually.
Taking precautions to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, Augsburg was among
numerous institutions nationally that hosted virtual celebrations to recognize graduating students. The
streamed online event opened with speeches from Provost KarenKaivolaand President PaulPribbenow.
Personalized slides for graduates included photos and messages that the students submitted.
Friends and family posted comments to the video stream as they watched the event. Students took
to social media to share their
graduation posts using the hashtag
#AuggieGrad.
Once it's again safe to host
large gatherings, Augsburg wi 11
plan an in-person ceremony
for the Class of 2020 that will
include many more familiar
commencement traditions.
ONE
DAY
INMAY
This year's commencement celebration featured a central theme, chosen in April, that connected
defining moments in Augsburg's history with its contemporary reality. Uplifting the university's
longstanding commitments to equity and inclusion, the theme "68/20: One Day in May" called
the university community to explore the actions and outcomes of events in 1968 to consider their
relevance for 2020.
Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Augsburg canceled classes on May 15,
1968, and hosted a series of workshops and lectures. Augsburg faculty and local Black community
members led conversations focused on racism, politics, power, education, and violence-significant
tensions in American life in 1968. This year, Augsburg presented honorary degrees during the virtual
commencement, recognizing two leaders of the historic One Day in May in 1968: the Hon. LaJune
ThomasLange'75 and MahmoudEl-Kati.
Augsburg owes a debt of gratitude to the leaders of One Day in May, an event that continues
to inform and inspire the university community to engage in efforts for equity and justice. Their
contributions to our society and to Augsburg resonated strongly in the virtual commencement
ceremonies, which took place just days after George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police.
Blackartists,alongwith Indigenous
andotherstudentsandcommunity
members
of color,ledanart campaign
to upliftOneDayin Mayduring
Augsburg
's sesquicentennial
celebration.
e
Hearaudiorecordings
fromtheeventin 1968,andseemoreOne
I Dayin Mayart, includinga bannerthat appeared
in TheNew
Yorker,
at augsburg.edu/now.
rt at
u s ur
Fac
ulty,
vvorkS
1
prese
nt
g.StgJl
SERIES
SPEAKERS
THE
ART
OFAUGSBURGCONVOCATION
The Augsburg University Convocation Series is an annual
As part of the university's yearlong celebration of its 150th
speaker series that includes long-standing endowed and
anniversary, KristinAnderson,
professor of art history and
special programs. Recent presenters included:
archivist, curated an exhibition of works by Augsburg art faculty
dating back to the origin of the department in the 1950s. The
exhibit included works by early department members, such as
HansBergand IvanDoseff,former longtime faculty members,
including NormHolenand PhilThompson,
and current faculty
members Stephen
Geffre,ChrisHoultberg,
DanIbarra,roberttom,
LyzWendland,and others.
1. DeAnna Cummings, chief executive officer of
Juxtaposition Arts, who shared a presentation at
the Horbal Lecture in November called "Putting
Creativity to Work 2025: Stronger Communities
Through Local Art and Design"
2. John S. Wright, professor emeritus of English
and African American and African Studies at the
University of Minnesota, who delivered "Where Do
,,1.··.f
,.
..
>
•
"
-~
We Go From Here: Chaos or Community" at the 32nd
annual Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation in January
3. Kwame Anthony Appiah, professor of philosophy and
law at New York University, who presented "Ethics,
Identity, and Cosmopolitanism"
at the Batalden
Seminar in Applied Ethics in March
Thefacultyartexhibitwasdisplayed
intheChristensen
Center
ArtGallery.
4
AUGSBURG
NOW
AROUND
THEQUAD
Hearst
Foundation
awards
Augsburg
I
Lto R:President
PaulPribbenow,
PeterHeegaard,
andMikeChristensen
$75,000
FOR
LEAD
FELLOWS
PROGRAM
URBAN
INVESTORS
FINDSNEWHOME
ATAUGSBURG
Last November,Augsburg University's Sabo Center for Democracyand
Citizenship and the Strommen Center for Meaningful Work welcomed
a new campus partner: Urban Investors. Formerly known as Urban
Adventure, this program helps bankers understand the challenges and
opportunities within cities through experiential learning opportunities.
The program also facilitates partnerships between public, private, and
LEAD Fellows, a program of Augsburg
University's Sabo Center for Democracyand
Citizenship, this winter received $75,000
from the Hearst Foundation, Inc. to support
students as they pursue in-depth, long-term,
community-based work at paid internships.
The program name stands for Leaders for
Equity, Action,
and Democracy.
nonprofit groups and promotes investment and community development
Students spend
that move families out of poverty, revitalize neighborhoods, improve
two to four
years engaged
schools, and build economic opportunity.
in public work
projects that
address social
/i: THE AUGSBURG
~iPODCAST:SEASON3
issues such
Augsburg
's LEAD
Fellows
program
is affiliatedwiththe
far-reaching
Bonner
Program
that aimsto transform
students,
communities,
andcampuses
throughservice.
as education,
homelessness,
racial justice,
and poverty
while also
The first two seasonsof the
participating in a peer learning cohort.
The LEAD Fellows program is unique in
Augsburg Podcastfeatured
that it offers students a pathway to generate
faculty and staff sharing stories
income while also making a difference and
growing as leaders. The program is cohort-
of their work with students. The
third season, launched in March,
based with a strong support framework that
takes a new approach and invites
helps students to develop connections with
students and a recent graduate
peers and mentors, build their sense of
MIDCO
to discuss their experiences
with internships and the ways
belonging, and hone their leadership skills.
The Hearst Foundation award will fund
in which Augsburg has helped
the pay students receive for their internships
support their personal and
educational goals.
and will enhance cohort activities, including
semiannual retreats and biweekly gatherings.
Listentothenewseason
at
•
I augsburg.edu/podcast
or
inyourpodcast
app.
Barclay
Bates'18
SPRING
SUMMfR
?020
5
AROUND
THEQUAD
HONORING
RetiringFaculty
Several faculty members are entering
retirement following years of dedicated
service to Augsburg University. Augsburg is
grateful for their commitment to advancing
the university's mission and supporting
TheDoctor
ofPsychology
inClinical
Psychology
degree
launches
to meetgrowing
demand
This past November, the university introduced its second doctoral
program: a Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology. Augsburg's first,
the Doctor of Nursing Practice, began in 2010.
Augsburg worked with former Minnesota School of Professional
Psychology faculty and staff to provide continuity for students who were
student learning within and beyond the
classroom.
JOHN
CERRITO
AssistantProfessor
, Department
of Business-joined
Augsburgin 1983
MARGARET
FINDERS
Professor
, Department
of Education-joinedAugsburg
previously enrol led in the program housed at Argosy University. After
in 2014
the closure of Argosy in March 2019, Augsburg
earned accreditation to become Minnesota's only
MARK
FUEHRER
university offering an in-person PsyD program in
A
9'
clinical psychology.
Augsburg
is now
accepting
applications.
augsbu
rg.edu/psyd
Professor
, Department
of Philosophy-joined
Augsburgin 1971
Employment of Iicensed psychologists and
related occupations is projected to grow 13. 7% from 2016 to 2026 in
DAWN
KADERABEK
'18 DNP
the United States.
"We are pleased to offer this PsyD program as a way to meet the
in 2015
growing demand for mental health services statewide," said Monica
VIRGINIA
MCCARTHY
Devers,Augsburg University dean of professional studies.
Associate
Professor
, Department
of Nursing-joined
Augsburgin 2011
Instructor
, Department
of Nursing-joinedAugsburg
NANCY
RODENBORG
Augsburg
winsCampus
Compact
ImpactAward
Professor
, Department
of SocialWork-joined
Augsburgin 2000
Campus Compact, a network of universities across the United States
MICHAEL
SCHOCK
that are committed to public engagement in higher education, honored
Associate
Professor
, Department
of SocialWork-
Augsburg University as an inaugural
joinedAugsburgin 1993
recipient of the Richard Guarasci
Award for Institutional Transformation.
NANCY
STEBLAY
Augsburg was selected for its work
Professor
, Department
of Psychology-joined
Augsburg
in developing partnerships with
the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood
on page18.)
in 1988(Readaboutherresearch
MARTHA
STORTZ
and advancing environmental
BernhardM. Christensen
Professor
of Vocation
and
Religion-joinedAugsburgin 2010
sustainability, interfaith leadership,
and equity and racial justice .
6
AUGSBURG
NOW
•
Watchthevideousedto introduce
Augsburg
at
theawardceremony
at augsburg.edu/now.
MARK
TRANVIK
Professor
, Department
of Religion-joinedAugsburg
in 1995
At a specialchapelservice
duringtheJanuary2020
AugsburgUniversity
Board
of Regentsmeeting,Bishop
AnnSvennungsen
of the
Minneapolis
AreaSynodof the
Evangelical
LutheranChurch
in Americaofficiallyinstalled
BabetteChatman
'06, left,
as
andJustinLind-Ayres
Augsburg's
universitypastors.
Augsburg
community
launches
on-campus
lending
shop
to reduce
wasteandpromote
reuse
Augsburg's Environmental Stewardship
Committee and Campus Cupboard food
pantry collaborated in Fall 2019 to pilot a
President
PaulPribbenow
shares
Augsburg's
storyat ~ the
~r~~~::~i•i:~:::~~:
~~~:i~~~®
the
O
new resource: the Share Shop, which offers
a wide variety of items for free, short-
Augsburg story during a session
called, "Hospitality is Not
term checkout. The Share Shop currently
Enough: An Institutional Journey From Diversity to Inclusion and
Equity" at The Forum on Workplace Inclusion conference.
features board games, small appliances,
office supplies, sewing kits, sports
equipment, tools, and much more.
Augsburg, home of The Forum on Workplace Inclusion since
last summer, is "proud to partner with the forum to help expand
The Share Shop follows the same hours
of operation as Augsburg's Campus
diversity, equity, and inclusion skills, so our students can fully
participate and succeed in the workforce," Pribbenow said.
Cupboard and is located in the lowest
level of Science Hal I, adjacent to the
university's longstanding "free table,"
where Auggies place items they no longer
need and wish to offer to new owners.
For Fall 2020, the Campus Cupboard will
relocate to the Sabo Center for Democracy
and Citizenship in the lower level of
Anderson Residence Hall to accommodate
new operations during the COVID-19
pandemic. The Share Shop will remain
in Science Hall, and the two student-run
The 32nd annual, three-day conference attracted more than
1,500 people from around the world and across sectors.
TheStarTribunerecentlypublishedan
article featuringSteveHumerickhouse
,
executivedirectorof the forum, in which
he explainedthe importanceof creating
safe placesfor diffic uIt conversations
.
A
VI
Visit augsburg.edu/now
to
readthe article: "Howthe
TwinCities becameoneof the
largesthubsfor workplacediversityand
inclusion."
initiatives wi 11 continue to work together.
•
Visit augsburg.edu/green/shareshop
and
inside.augsburg.edu/foodshelf
to learnmore.
SPRINGSUMMrn
20?0
7
ONTHESPOT
How One Day in May in 1968 forced Augsburg to reevaluate
its posture and practices regarding racism and education
HanaDinkuserved as director of Augsburg University's Pan-Afri kan Center
from March 2019 to July 2020. Her most recent project at Augsburg, "One
Day in May," was featured on WCCO-TV this spring, prior to Augsburg's
virtual commencement
(see page 2). Between her work leading programs and
supporting students, she out Ii ned the importance of Augsburg's history and
present moment.
Q.
Whywas OneDayin May sucha pivotalmoment
• for the Augsburg
community
in 1968?
the story and understood the significance of One
Day in May, it took on a life of its own. Directors
A.
of International Student Services, LGBTQIA+
mission and values. In the wake of Dr. Martin
and the administration to build and promote a
Luther King Jr.'s assassination, higher education
sesquicentennial campaign about One Day in May.
One Day in May forced Augsburg to recognize
• all the ways it had failed to live up to its
Student Services, and Multicultural
Student
Services worked with faculty member LeonWang
institutions across the country saw a wave of
protests and a demand for structural change. One
Day in May was Augsburg's response to the moment.
The community speakers, Augsburg students, staff,
and faculty who participated shed light on systemic
white supremacy in the Augsburg community and
the nation. This public acknowledgment created a
What is onecomponent
of OneDayin Maythat
; is especiallyrelevantfor ourcurrentsocialand
politicalenvironment?
Q
A.
All aspects are relevant, but if I had to identify
• one particular component, it would be the
level of transparency and accountability that helped
demand to decolonize the curriculum at Augsburg.
move Augsburg in the right direction.
The Eurocentric core of the education system is
Q.
the clearest example of how our institutions are
Howdidthe reintroduction
of OneDayin May
• ariseand becomethe themeof this year's
commencement
ceremony?
A
When I started my job at Augsburg, one of my
; mentors, community elder MahmoudEl-Kati,
embedded in white supremacist ideology. This is
why we gathered this year to begin the creation of a
Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies department.
Q.
Whatdo youhopeis accomplished
throughthe
• reintroduction
of OneDayin May?
told me the real history of Black folks at Augsburg.
Elder Mahmoud was one of the community speakers
at One Day in May and spent years working closely
with the Pan-Afrikan Center. Very few people on
A
My goal for this campaign was to help Black
; students understand and appreciate the battles
fought by those who came before them. I want Black
campus knew about One Day in May and the
students and other marginalized students to know
contributions of Black students, staff, and faculty.
that we are a part of Augsburg history; we are not
After learning that Augsburg's sesquicentennial
guests at this institution. When the whole Augsburg
book, "Hold Fast to What is Good," didn't mention
community understands this, we will see the kind
it, I worked with other Augsburg leaders to make
of institutional changes that marginalized students,
One Day in May the theme for the university's
staff, and faculty have demanded for years.
2020 M LK Day celebration. As more people heard
AROUND
THEQUAD
newest
trip:
RickStevespartners
withAugsburg'sParticipateinCGEE's
Centerfor GlobalEducation
andExperience
Hunger
andHopeinGuatemala
non-essential
travelresumes,
travelers
Planaheadfortravelto Guatemala When
will getan insideglimpseof Guatemala
and
When well-known travel author, activist, and media personality Rick Steves went
to Central America to film segments for his new public television special, "Hunger
and Hope: Lessons from Ethiopia and Guatemala," he called on Augsburg staff
to provide expert guidance and introductions to community leaders and regional
organizations committed to ending hunger and extreme poverty. That's because
Augsburg's Center for Global Education and Experience has a vast network in
Guatemala and has offered educational programming in the country since 1985.
visit manyof the sameplacesdepictedon
"RickStevesHungerandHope:Lessons
from
EthiopiaandGuatemala."
Fromthe charmingcolonialcityof Antigua,
to LakeAtitlanandits surrounding
volcanoes,
to the colorfultapestryof Mayanhistory,there
is an abundance
of thingsto do,see,andlearn.
One of the key people Steves spoke with during the production of his television
special was FidelXinico,director of Augsburg's CGEE Guatemala programming.
Xinico set up Steves' trip logistics from Guatemala and served as a cultural guide
and language translator. He is a trilingual Guatemalan citizen of the Kaqchikel
Maya ethnic group. SusanPeacock,a CGEE program coordinator based out of
Registration
openfor:
Tripl: April 11-18,2021
Trip2: June13-20,2021
Trip3: August8-15, 2021
Minneapolis, connected Steves and Xinico and helped shape the direction of the
television show. Augsburg is now planning a travel program for the general public
that will take participants to inspiring destinations in Guatemala.
Augsburgsenior
scholar published in
A
V
1
Visitgo.augsburg.edu/hope
to learnmoreandregister.
HarryBoyte,senior scholar of public work philosophy at Augsburg's Sabo
Center for Democracy and Citizenship, co-wrote an article that was
published in Time magazine. Boyte's piece offered an analysis of the 2020
United States presidential race and suggested that a compelling campaign
TIME
MAGAZINE
would appeal to Americans as engaged citizens rather than disgruntled
consumers: "Emphasize a citizenship
A
W
Finda link to the article
at augsburg.edu/now.
message for government to be a
partner, not a savior."
SPRING-SUMMER
2020
9
A WOMEN'S
WRESTLING
PROGRAM
FROM
SCRATCH
BYKATE
H.ELLIOTT
Augsburg
Athletics
continues
trailblazing
trendwithMinnesota's
onlycollegiate
women's
wrestling
team
"I already feel bad for my future children," joked Bel
Snyder'23. "They are going to have to hear the story of
Minnesota's only collegiate women's wrestling team over
and over again."
Snyder is one of 10 women wrestlers who made
history at Augsburg during the 2019-20
year-a
academic
quarter century after the university founded
the NCAA's first women's hockey team in the Midwest,
followed by Minnesota's first varsity women's lacrosse
team in 2014 . That pioneering spirit drew Snyder to
Augsburg, which received a Breaking Barriers Award in
February at Minnesota's National Girls and Women in
Sports Day event at the Minnesota History Center.
"I have never felt such close bonds or such support,"
added Snyder, who's an elementary education transfer
student. "I am going to bleed maroon and gray for the
rest of my Iife."
SPRING-SUMMER
2020 11
GREEN
BUT
GREAT
It's a youngteamwith sevenfirst-yearand three
transferstudentswho had neverwrestledfor an alIwomanteam until now.Therosterincludessomeof the
nation'stop competitors,includingEmilyShilson
'23,
who'sconsideredthe top womanrecruit in the country
by somewrestIing newsoutlets.The 19-year-oldfinance
studentqualifiedto wrestlefor a spot in the 2020
TokyoOlympicGames(whichhavebeenrescheduledfor
2021 becauseof the COVID-19 pandemic).
Howdid a buddingteamrecruitsuchchampions?
MeetWomen'sWrestlingHeadCoachMaxMejia,a
formerHarvardwrestlerwhobecamea women'sand
skills coachfor Arizona'sSunkistKidsWrestlingClub,
whichproduced55 Olympicmedalistsin both men'sand
women'swrestling.
"In wrestling,youcancontrolyourdestinymorethan
othersports.It's not aboutheightor speed.Champions
havementaltoughness,diIigencefor detaiI, anda
hungerto win," he said. "My goalis to producethe best
womenleadersin the world.Whentheygraduate,I want
themto understandhowthesetraits convertto success
in the realworld.And I wantthe employersto gobble
them up becausethey recognizewhatcomesfrom that
levelof leadership,dedication,andgrit," he said.
Mejiafocuseson process,knowingresultswill follow.
Heseeksto understandeachathletes'hopesand
motivationsso he can helpthem playto their strengths
for bothathleticsand careersuccess.
Mejiaempowers
eachwrestlerto set herowngoals:"I
knowI havethe disciplineto do anythingI put my mind
to, and I'll havea greatmindsetwhiledoingit," said
kinesiology
majorSavannah
Vold'22.
"He doesn'tseeus as weare but as we couldbe,"
saidVayle-rae
Baker'23, whoranksat the top of her
weightclass."Thenhe pushesus throughself-doubtor
whateveris holdingus back.I take morerisks,and I'm
seeingthe rewards."
Thosestrengthsareshowing.Withan overallrecordof
4-2, AuggieWomen's
Wrestlingrankedamongthe top
10 programs
in the NCAAasthe teamheadedintothe
inauguralCliff KeenNationalCollegiate
Women's
Wrestling
Championships
in earlyMarch.Augsburg
finishedin ninth
placeasa team,whileShiIsonclaimedthe nationaltitle to
closeout herinauguralcollegiateseason.
"My
goalistoproduce
t ebest
women
leaders
inthewofd."
12
AUGSBURG
NOW
NCAA
NAMES
WOMEN'S
WRESTLING
AN'EMERGING'
SPORT
In January,NCAADivision11 and
Division111 votedto addwomen's
wrestlingto its list of Emerging
Sports
for Women;in June,DivisionI voted
in agreement.
Thenextmilestone
for the wrestlingcommunitywill be
to reachat least40 NCAA-affiliated
varsitywomen'swrestIingteams, which
is requiredto achieveofficial NCAA
Championship
status.At present
, about
35 NCAAschoolssupportwomen's
wrestlingteams.
Augsburg
AthleticDirectorJeff
Swenson
'79 is optimistic."Wehaveno
doubtwomen
's wrestlingwill buildon
our reputationas a 'wrestlingschool,'
with our men'steamhavingsecuredits
13th nationaltitle in 2019.
"In 1995, Augsburgmadehistory
with the region'sfirst women'sice
hockeyteam,and nowyou're uniqueif
youdon't offerwomen'shockey.Then
in 2014, Augsburg
startedthe NCAA's
first varsitywomen'slacrosseteamin
Minnesota,
and now,herewearewith
women'swrestling,"hesaid."Augsburg
continuesto be a pioneerfor women's
athletics,andwe'reinvestedin the
successof women'swrestling."
Men'sWrestlingCo-Head
CoachJim
Moulsoff
is thriIledthat Augsburgis
creatingopportunities
for womento
wrestleat the collegiatelevel.Girls'
wrestlingis the fastestgrowinghigh
schoolsport,accordingto the U.S.
WrestlingFoundation,
yet Minnesota
andWisconsin
areamongthe 30 states
that haven'tmadegirls' wrestlingan
officialsport."
"Forthe past18 years,I havehelped
out at juniorfreestylesummertrainings,
and it's beenamazingto seethe growth
of women'swrestlingfromnogirls in
attendance
to hundredseachyear,"said
Moulsoff,the 2015 and2019 National
Wrestling
Coaches
Association
Division111
NationalCoachof the Year.
TEAM
OF'FIRSTS'
MENTORS
YOUNG
GIRLS
Members
of the women'swrestling
teamalsoaredrivento sharetheir
knowledge
andpavethe wayfor the
nextgenerationof womenwrestlers.
Everyoneof the student-athletes
has
liveda first-the first girl on a high
school'swrestlingteam,the first match
a competitorforfeitedbecausehe
"didn't wantto wrestlea girl," the first
time shesawwomen'swrestlingat the
Olympics(in 2004). Theyembracethe
strengthgainedfromthosemoments,
but it is ti mefor morewomento have
opportunities
to wrestle.
Nineyearsago,MinnesotaUSA
WrestIing beganhostingopengymsat
AugsburgeverySunday,andfourgirls
attendedthe first session.Earlierthis
year,about60 girls showedup every
week,evenwith weekendtournaments
pullingsomeaway.Bakersaidsheand
herteammates
consistentlyvolunteered
to coachand mentorthe girls,who
rangedfrom6 to 18 yearsold.
"I startedwrestlingwhenI was9,
and I wasthe onlygirl on that team
andthe onlygirl on my middleand
highschoolteams,"Bakersaid. "I
SPRING
SUMVER
7020 13
look forward to coaching and connecting with the girls each
week. My teammates and I want to show them they can do
this, and show them there will be teams for them when they
go to college."
ChadShilson'93, women's wrestling director and coach
for Minnesota USA Wrestling, said lifelong friendships seem
to emerge at every practice, as girls experience wrestling
with those who are similar in strength, weight, flexibility,
size, and goals. "They get to be the iron that sharpens other
iron," he said.
The result: some of the top women wrestlers in the country,
if not the world, have come out of the open gyms-"hungry
for the sport and everything it has to offer," added Shi Ison,
the father of top-ranked Augsburg wrestler, Emily Shi Ison.
Coach Mejia hopes to collaborate with USA Wrestling and
other organizations to offer even more camps and open gyms
(when it's safe and appropriate for public health regarding
the coronavirus) for the estimated 300 girls who are wrestling
at some level in the state. When they graduate from high
school, Mejia said, "I want them to have no doubt that
Augsburg is the place to be."
~i
ti,\
'WEKEEP
PLAYING.
WEPERSIST'
Word has gotten out. Alumni and friends of the university
AR "'1S
fjJ DEFENSE
SOAP
Augsburgplacedseventhin the NCAA
women'sdivisionat the Multi-Division
NationalDualMe
are tweeting their praises and sharing news coverage of the
historic team. Children's book author and public speaker,
ShellyBoyum-Breen
'97, said the university's investment in
women's wrestling is also an investment in girls and women
in general.
"I was fortunate to be at Augsburg when women's hockey
started, and I saw lives
changing before my eyes. I
know firsthand the impact that
continues to make on those
women's lives," said BoyumBreen, who taught physical
education and coached
women's basketball at Augsburg. "When we invest in women
and our diverse communities, we invest in what's possible.
We have to show it in action through media coverage. Kids
need to hear these stories-boys
and girls.
"Look at the decision-makers, the percentages of coaches,
the funding gaps, and the near media blackout of women's
professional and collegiate sports. And yet, we keep playing.
And people keep watching. Because of the support that
exists, we persist," said Boyum-Breen,
also established grants to pay sports
"When
weinvestin females who
fees and equipment costs that functioned
andourdiverse
communities,as barriers to participation for some
Minnesota girls.
weinvestin what's
possible." Augsburg women's hockey coaches
14
AUGSBURG
NOW
know better than most the kind of
investment and persistent leadership required to create and
sustain a vibrant women's athletics program.
"To be a leader-it's
scary," said founding Women's
2020
USMARINE
CORPS/NWCA
MUL Tl DIVISION
IATIONAL DUAL MEET
7'ff PLlfC=.
WOMENNCAA
et in Louisville,Kentucky,in January.
Hockey Head Coach Jill Pohtilla. "I've seen Augsburg, time and
time again, make bold moves based on what makes sense and
what is right," said Pohtilla, who was inducted into the Women's
Hockey Association of Minnesota Hall of Fame in 2006.
The women's wrestling program has made an immediate
impact in the Athletics Department and has increased
expectations for success, said Michelle McAteer,Augsburg's
women's hockey head coach.
"Coach Mejia was able to bring in a large and talented class
for the inaugural season, and it's clear how skilled, determined,
and committed these women are," she said. "They are
representing Augsburg and our Athletics Department with great
pride, and growing the profile of their sport at the same time.
"They are making history, living history," McAteer added. "It's
a special team doing very special
things." ■
Seepage16 for a brief historyof
women'sathleticsat Augsburg.
ABRIEF
HISTORY
OF
WOMEN'S
ATHL
16
AUGSBURG
NOW
TICS
ATAIJGSBIJRG
SPRINGSUMMER
2020 17
REAL PEOPLE IN
REAL CASES
computers with a software program
Eyewitness identification of criminal
perpetrators is a staple form of evidence
San Diego; and Tucson, Arizona.
in courts of law.
developed specifically for the field
"Think of eyewitness memory like
audio transcripts to examine the
855 I ineups in four cities: Austin, Texas;
association between witness comments
Charlotte-Mecklenburg,
and lineup selection, finding that an
North Carolina;
cities provided lineup photos and
eyewitness identification decisions,
instant identification
by an eyewitness
was less likely to produce an error than
when the witness was deliberative.
NatalieJohnson
'18, who's pursuing a
residue, or other physical evidence,"
investigator reports, and audiotapes of
master's degree in counseling psychology
Steblay said. "You don't want to
the verbal exchange between the I ineup
at the University of St. Thomas in St.
contaminate it."
administrator and eyewitness during
Paul, Minnesota, was one of the students
each lineup procedure. A startling
who listened to police audiotapes and
the top national experts in eyewitness
discovery emerged from a pattern of
coded them based on whether the
identification.
cases when lineup administrators, who
decision-making process was immediate
social psychologist who has conducted
were also the case detectives, knew who
or deliberative.
research on eyewitness memory, pol ice
the suspects were and behaved in a
procedures, and eyewitness evidence
leading fashion with the eyewitnesses.
Steblay, along with Wells, is among
As an experimental
for 30 years, she is often cal led upon
by defense attorneys to testify when
they believe a suspect is being wrongly
accused based on faulty identification.
Her abi I ity to speak with authority
on the subject has been reinforced
She and other students were startled
to realize that the police push for a
conviction could, in some cases, influence
LEARNING E'ROM
LINEUPS
Augsburg student researchers
by her research findings. Assisted by
collected data and assessed 190
Augsburg student researchers, Steblay
real lineups for fairness or bias. "It's
and Wells led studies that, for the first
powerfu I to bring students into research
how criminal cases are pursued.
"Doing the work on police lineups
made me realize how flawed our
system can be," she said. "It made me
realize our criminal justice has a long
way to go."
SeanAdams'17, who is currently a
legal assistant, said he was shocked by
time, sought to understand and predict
by saying, 'Here's the problem of
how poorly some of the lineups were
eyewitness identification errors using
wrongfu I convictions, and let's figure out
constructed.
actual I ineups.
how to solve them,"' Steblay said.
Before these studies, scientific
Psychology majors made up the
The tests were designed to include
fake witnesses, and these mock
psychology's understanding of
research team at Augsburg, adding
witnesses in Augsburg's laboratory
eyewitness identification accuracy was
laboratory skills to what they learned in
studies represented the worst possible
based almost exclusively on controlled
the classroom. Steblay and 27 student
scenario: a witness with no memory of
the offender. Mock witnesses shou Id
laboratory
researchers
studies that
conducted
not be able to pick the pol ice suspect
the first and
from a lineup at a rate higher than
second studies
chance. "The worst lineup I saw had
across multiple
such a leading description that the
simulate
eyewitness
experiences.
Steblay and
Wells were
awarded a
"It's powerful to bring students
into research by saying, 'Here's
the problem of wrongful
convictions, and let's figure out
how to solve them."'
National Science
20
The Augsburg students coded 102
experiment. Data was collected from
The field data collected in these
trace evidence, such as blood, gunshot
existed unti I th is study.
semesters.
[laboratory] witnesses picked the pol ice
Verbal
suspect 80% of the time," Adams said.
exchanges
"That shou Id have statistically
less than 20% of the time."
been
Lineups
Foundation grant to pursue a four-phase
between pol ice
lineup administrators and eyewitnesses
should be constructed so that the
study from 2014 to 2018. The research
to crimes were audio-recorded. There
suspect and the fillers (innocent people
followed up on their prior work, in which
police lineups were presented to real
had never been an analysis of recorded
added to the lineup) match the suspect
verbal comments from actual witnesses
description.
eyewitnesses by detectives using laptop
because such recordings had never
AUGSBURG
NOW
RELEVANT
RESEARCH
Along with stunning insights into eyewitness
identification,
these studies brought to light
more questions worth exploring. The research
resulted in 12 conference poster presentations
involving 23 students, and it fostered two
student honors projects and spinoff projects
that are ongoing.
"It was time-consuming,
important.
but it was
I think the student researchers
had a sense of the importance,"
Steblay said.
"It was really fun to work with them. Their
work enabled me to complete the project."
Augsburg student researchers saw the
subject material's importance for effective law
enforcement practices as well as its resonance
with people beyond their research group.
When AustinConery'17 began researching
how to predict eyewitness identification errors,
he discovered that his Augsburg University
research project was a hot topic with friends
and family.
"Every party or every family event, someone
would ask what was going on at school, and
I could talk about the research for hours
because it was so relevant," Conery said.
Besides a view into a major criminal justice
system issue, students said the research
opportunity gave them practical experience.
Conery said the research gave him the
confidence to read, understand, and apply
studies in his current job as a site director at a
children's mental health provider, PrairieCare.
"It was a great way to implement the
things I was learning in class," he said. "It
gave me the place to think critically
in a
control led environment."
As Adams considers his future work, he's
looking back to his time at Augsburg. "I've
been thinking of what I enjoyed in college,
and a lot of it was the work I did with Nancy,"
he said.
TURNING RESEARCHrlNDINGS
INTO PRACTICALPOLICIES
Steblay'sinfluencemaynot makeher a householdname,but her researchfindings
are beingput to practicaluse in a varietyof ways.
Minnesotajudgesviewa webinarmoduleshecreated,"EyewitnessScience:
Protectionand Evaluationof EyewitnessIdentificationEvidence,"as part of their
judicial e-learning program.Steblayalso pubIisheda chapterin the 2019 book,
"PsychologicalScienceand the Law."
Thefindingsof the researchby Steblay,Wells,and Augsburgstudent
researchers
are leadingto majorreformsnationally.The best practices
includecritical stipulations:that lineupsmust be double-blind,meaning
the administratingofficerdoesn'tknowwhothe suspectis, and that the
non-suspectfillers in the lineup must resemblethe suspectand match
the descriptionof the offenderthat wasprovidedby the eyewitness.
"Thereare hundredsof thousandsof policeofficerswho are using
theseeyewitnessidentificationprotocolsthat we didn't use20 years
ago,and they don't knowNancySteblay'sname,"said William Brooks,
a policechief in Norwood,Massachusetts.
Brookstravelsthe countrytraining policeon what he regardsas
groundbreaking
science-backed
best practicesfor lineups."I don't
think there'sbeenas wide of an impact in otherareasof investigation
as in howwe dealwith eyewitnessmemory,"he said.
In mid-May,MinnesotaGov.Tim Walzsignedbipartisanlegislation
that requiresuniformscience-backed
eyewitnessidentificationpractices
for all law enforcement,which goesinto effect in early2021.
Sti11, the eyewitnessidentificationbest practicesface resistance."Some
of it is individualpolicejurisdictionsjust not wantingto be told howto do
things," Steblaysaid in an interviewwith YahooNews."Sometimespolice
or prosecutorssaythey don't want rulesto be so rigid, becausethen if we just
violateoneof the rules,then that ruins our prosecutionor we can't catch the bad
guysor whatever.Sothey feel like it's underminingtheir ability to do the goodjob
that they shoulddo.
"I don't seeit that way," Steblaysaid. "I just think theseare not difficult
changes."Steblayviewsthe recommendedlineup reformsas a meansto strengthen
eyewitnessevidenceand reducethe likelihoodof a mistakenidentification.
The InnocenceProject,a nonprofitfoundedin 1992 to exoneratethe wrongly
convictedthroughDNAtesting, hasworkedto passlawsthroughoutthe countrythat
embracethe scientificallysupportedbest practicesadvancedby Steblayand Wells.
"Whenwe beganour work,a handfulof stateshadembracedbest practices.
Todaymorethan half of the statesin the countryhaveadoptedkeyeyewitness
identificationreforms,"said RebeccaBrown,the nonprofit's policydirector.
Steblayhopesmorepolice departmentswi11 enactthesereforms."Wehave
at leastpart of the answerto howpolicecan reducemistakenidentificationand
wrongfulconvictions."■
22
AUGSBURG
NOW
States where c:ore eyewitness reforms have been
implemented through legislation, c:ourt action, or
substantial voluntary c:omplianc:e:
California,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Georgia,
Louisiana,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Montana,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New
Hampshire,
NewJersey,
NewMexico,
North
Carolina,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
Rhode
Island,
Texas,
Utah,Vermont,
West
Virginia
andWisconsin
viaInnocence
Project
SPRING-SUMMER
2020 23
The Gage tam i ly is part of a legacy
Skip and Barbara have supported many campus projects
that has supported valuable
throughout the years, including Anderson Plaza, the Gage Center
student services that are crucial to
for Student Success, the Gage Family Art Gallery, the James G.
Augsburg University's
identity and
community.
Lindell Library, and the Scandinavian Center, which cultivated
knowledge and interest in Scandinavian culture on campus for
Edwin"Skip"Gagepassed away
Wednesday, February 26, 2020. Skip and his wife, Barbara
CarlsonGage,have been integral to the Augsburg community
Piper LaBelle Award for their consistent support of young people
for many years. Al I four of their children attended Augsburg,
In his professional life, Skip built what came to be known as
15 years. In 2016, the Gage family was honored with the Toby
in recovery.
including alumni GeoffGage'89 and Rick Gage'96. Barbara
the Carlson Marketing Group. He served as chair and then chair
served on the Board of Regents, including four years as
emeritus of the lnnerCity Tennis Foundation and worked with
chair of the board and as co-chair of Augsburg's Access to
Barbara in many community efforts with the Banyan Community,
Excellence campaign.
Northside Achievement Zone, and Urban Ventures.
Skip and Barbara initiated the Center for Learning and
Skip's vision aligned with Augsburg's institutional
calling and
Accessible Student Services and contributed substantial time
reinforced the university's commitments to global perspectives,
and gifts to the StepUP ® Program. Skip believed the values
living faith, active citizenship, and meaningful work. Skip and
taught as part of the fabric of Augsburg's community have been
Barbara's gifts and leadership over the years have sustained
as important as the educational experience and the culture of
Augsburg's commitment to serve its students and neighbors.
family and service that is imparted to all of Augsburg's students.
Through the Gage family's leadership, CLASS was established.
"The Gage family has and continues to have a significant
impact on the Augsburg community," said DonnaMclean, former
In 1989, Skip and Barbara commissioned the first study that
Augsburg director of leadership gifts. "Thanks to the generosity
evaluated learning disability programs at the college level. They
of the Gage family, the lives of so many students have been
partnered with Augsburg faculty to build a learning disability
meaningfully enhanced through CLASS and other campus
endowment program, and Skip led the drive to raise $500,000
programs that provide impactful learning experiences." ■
in addition to $500,000
24
AUGSBURG
NOW
his family pledged.
THE
STAGE
Sesquicentennial
project
shares
story
through
song
The Augsburg University Department of Music had a unique opportunity to produce
Other
sesquicentennial
projects
and perform "Tienda," a new chamber opera by Augsburg Assistant Professor of Music
To commemorate Augsburg's 150th
ReinaldoMoyaand opera lyricist Caitlin Vincent, which premiered February 21 and 22.
anniversary, the university invited faculty
This production, presented as a part of Augsburg's sesquicentennial celebration, was
performed in Foss Center's Hoversten Chapel and included a cast of student singers,
and staff to apply for funding to support
unique projects that aligned with their
the Augsburg Choir, and the Augsburg Orchestra. The opera tells the story of Luis
interests and expertise while uplifting
Garzon, a Mexican musician who immigrated to Minneapolis in 1886 and opened a
Augsburg's mission, academic excellence,
small Mexican grocery store, or tienda, in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the 1920s. Garz6n's
and traditions. These projects showcased
store served as a community hub for new arrivals from Mexico, many of whom had
the university's history, its distinction in
fled the Mexican Revolution and found work toiling on the sugar beet farms of rural
the arts, and its high-quality scholarship.
Minnesota. "Tienda" explored the immigrant experience: what must be left behind-
Learn more about sesquicentennial
and what cannot be forgotten-on
.
projects at augsburg.edu/150
the journey to a new home.
STUDENT
EMERGENCY
FUND
A Student Emergency Fund was established in March to support Augsburg students
with financial relief as we al I grapple with the challenges of COVID-19. In these
disruptive times, many students are experiencing the loss of income and jobs
as segments of the economy shut down, struggles to provide for their families,
obstacles in returning home to out-of-state residences, and uncertainty about their
ability to finance their Augsburg education.
With this fund, students are able to request emergency funding for basic needs,
including food, rent, transportation,
funding for academic materials-such
Giveto the StudentEmergency
Fundat
augsburg.edu/giving
.
and wireless internet-to
and medication. They may also request
as books, supplies, laptop computer rentals,
ensure their education is not impacted by a lack of
attainable resources.
SPRINGSUMMfR
2020 25
AUGGIES
CONNECT
AUGGIES
IN
NATION'S
CAPITAL
BEGIN
SERIES
OFALUMNI
GATHERINGS
Last October, a group of Augsburg alumni gathered in Arlington, Virginia, for a
dinner and reception hosted by JeffPeterson'63. At the end of the gathering,
JessicaSpanswick'10 suggested the group should spend more time together.
AUGGIES
whatprogram
doyouwanttolift
upforGiveto theMaxDay2020?
Spanswick coordinated the group's next gathering for a social hour and trivia
in Washington, D.C., the following month. That's how the informal OMV-area (the
district,
Maryland, and Virginia) Augsburg alumni group was born. With help from
Augsburg's Institutional
Advancement team, they were able to invite even more
Auggies in the area to attend social hours, networking events, and dinners.
In February, Augsburg staff met with
Give to the Max Day 2019 was a huge
success for programs across campus!
$421,000 RAISED
1,656 DONORS
the group to discuss how to increase
alumni involvement across the country
Auggie passion is the fuel that drives
and support the university through Give
strong donations on Give to the Max
to the Max Day 2020.
Day, and that's why it's Augsburg's
Want to plan an alumni gathering in your
biggest fundraising
area when pandemic health precautions
allow? Email alumni@augsburg.edu
to
receive help reaching out to fellow Auggies.
day of the year.
It's exciting and inspiring to hear your
personal stories about Augsburg and
Auggiesmeetin the Washington,D.C.,area.
why you're passionate about supporting
a particular
project.
What do you want to I ift up at
Augsburg? Send in a 45- to 90-second
video of yourself sharing what you were
most passionate about at Augsburg,
and you might be featured in the next
Give to the Max Day campaign.
0
Sendin a video,volunteer,or hel~ lead
a projectin Novemberby contacting
ChrisBogen'09,campaigncoordinator,at
bogen@augsburg.edu
by September1, 2020.
Lto R: ChrisBogen'09, RobynHiestand
'98, KariArfstrom
'89,Jonathan
Chrastek
'10,Jessica
Spanswick
'10,KatiePendo'10, KaiaChambers
26
AUGSBURG
NOW
AUGGIES
CONNEC
LIFELONGAUGGIE
FRIENDSHIPS
Connections
that flourishedat
Augsburgspanacrossyearsand miles
[L to R]: DerekFrancis'08, BryanLudwig
'08, Greg
Hildebrandt
'08,andSamaSandy'08 broughttheir families
togetherfor an eveningof fun earlierthis year.Thegroup
members
tout themselvesas the "1107Family,"namedfor the
numberof the roomtheysharedin Mortensen
Residence
Hall.
TheFacebook
postfromtheir meetupshowshowa friendship
betweenfourAuggiesbecamea close-knitgroupof 17.
A groupof Auggieswhocelebratelife milestones
togethergatheredfor the
70th birthdayof SueGibbons
Casey'71 [front,center].She'ssurrounded
by[clockwise]Pam(Hermstad)
Santerre(attendedAugsburg1968-69),
Ginny(Dahlen)Baali'72, Kris(Parbst)Rohde'72, KathyQuick'72, Nancy
'72.
(Olson)Hrdlicka'72,and Linda(Engstrom)
Akenson
TheseAugsburgalumniand "5th FloorGirls"of UrnessTowerinitially reunitedafter
their graduationat mini-reunionsand holidays.In recentyears,theytooktrips to
destinationslike Boston;MyrtleBeach,SouthCarolina;andStillwater,Minnesota.
Picturedare[front, L to R]:Stacy(Waterman)
Newton'01, SaraThedinga
'01,
Merry-Ellen
(Krcil)Bryers'01, andAnn(Peterson)
Fisher'01. [Back,L to R]:Amy
Carlson'01, LauraWaldon'01, Emily(Brinkman)
Waldon'01,JaimeKingsley
Loso'01,and EricaHuls'01. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
SPRING-SUMMER
2020 27
ALUMNI
CLASS
NOTES
The MinnesotaIntercollegiate
AthleticConferencefeatured
EdorNelson'38 in the LegendaryLeaders
seriesreleasedon its websiteand social
media. Nelson, who passedawayin 2014,
wasan instructorfor the healthand physical
educationdepartmentfor 32 years, coached
Augsburg'sbaseballteam from 1946 to 1979,
and led the programto sevenMIACtitles. He
alsowasAugsburgfootball'sheadcoach, and
he helpedstartthe men'swrestlingprogram
and relaunchmen's hockey.
1938
LelandFairbanks
'53, MD, was
selectedas the Commissioned
OfficersAssociationRetireeof the Yearby
the United StatesPublic HealthService.
The award, which recognizesexcellence
in serviceand volunteeractivities, was
presentedduring a virtual meetingin June.
Fairbanks'career has includedwork focused
on family health, holisticcare, smoke-free
communities, and training other health
professiona
Is.
1953
of Fame in 1988 and created an athletic
lettering programfor female student-athletes
in 1989.
&
Augsburg
AthleticDirector
JeffSwenson
'79
,;;, shares
hisoptimism
aboutAugsburg's
new
women's
wrestling
program.
Seestoryonpage10.
& ChadShilson
'93comments
onAugsburg's
,;;, women's
wrestling
program,
inwhichhis
Emily
ShiIson'23,competes.
Seestoryon
daughter,
page10.
& ShellyBoyum-Breen
'97connects
thelaunch
,;;, ofAugsburg's
women's
wrestling
withtheneed
totell moresportsstories
thatinclude
females
and
diverse
communities.
Seestoryonpage10.
CanisiusCollegein Buffalo, New
York, hired MartinHlinka'99
as an assistantcoachfor its men's hockey
program. After his work as an assistant
coach with the SalzburgRed Bulls junior
program, Hlinka servedas a lead on-ice skills
instructorwith SynergyHockeyin St. Louis.
The MinnesotaIntercollegiate
Hlinka scored 125 points in 85 gamesfrom
Athletic Conferencefeatured
MarilynPearsonFlorian'76 in the Legendary 1995 to 1999 while on Augsburg'shockey
team, and he also playedfootball, earning
Leadersseries. PearsonFloriancoached
All-Americanstatusas a kicker. Hlinka
women's basketballand volleyballat
playedprofessionalhockeyfor 15 years in
Augsburgand also was the women'sathletic
director. During her tenure, Augsburgadded the American HockeyLeague, United Hockey
League, and Germany.
four MIACwomen'ssports, including cross
country, golf, ice hockey, and swimming
and diving. She also initiated the induction
NickRathmann
'03 completed
of women into Augsburg'sAthletic Hall
his final term on the Augsburg
1999
1976
2003
Alumni Boardof Directors. He has been on
the boardfor the past sevenyears, serving
in executiveleadershiprolesfor four years,
including a two-yearterm as board president.
Rathmannnow continuesvolunteeringhis
time by servingon the A-Club board.
JasonEdwards
'04 has been
teaching sixth grade science
and readingat DiscoveryMiddleSchoolin
Fargo, North Dakota, for 11 years. He also
coachesgirls crosscountryand track and
field at FargoDaviesHigh School.The USA
Trackand FieldAssociationchose him as
the Coachof the Yearfor Girls CrossCountry,
and he is the North Dakotarepresentative
for the "40 under 40" coachingawardfrom
Coachand Athletic Directormagazine. While
at Augsburg, he competedin crosscountry
and track and field, earningschool recordsin
the indoor600 meterdash and indoor4x400
meter relayteam.
2004
Andr~a(Ladda)Brown'05
receivedan awardfor
her accomplishmentswith the City of
Minneapolis'PoliceConductOversight
Commissionregardingthe body-worncamera
policy, which led to the discoveryof ketamine
abuse by paramedicsand policeofficers.
Her work also led to the creationof the MPD
dashboard, where race disparitiesstatistics
and officer misconducthave been made
public and searchable, and the co-responder
model-mental health professionals
accompanyingpolice officersrespondingto
2005
AUGGIE
SNAPSHOTS
28
AUGSBURG
NOW
ALUMNI
CLASS
NOTES
calls-which startedas a pilot programin
Minneapolisand is now used in NewYork,
Texas, and Utah. [Editor'snote:Theseevents
occurred prior to the murder of GeorgeFloyd
by Minneapolispolice.]
Artist AlisonPrice'08 was
featured in the Minnesota
Women'sPressregardingher new series
of art, "WitnessingWaves." Price, a child
of two immigrantparents, talked about
a stump alongthe MississippiRiverand
howthe river'swatersaided migrationto
the region.This pieceof nature influenced
Price'scollection, which startedduring her
time at Augsburg. "The seriesis imbuedwith
symbolism. DNAstrandsweavealongthe
riverbanksand through the rootsand ground,
reminding us of our interconnectedness
with all, reinforcingthe ideathat we are
fundamentallytied to each other and the
planet," Pricesaid.
2008
TannerWiseman
'15 and friends
from Lakeville, Minnesota, filmed
the series"DestinationFear," which aired on
the TravelChannellast fall. The showfollows
the group'scross-countryroad trip where
they stayedovernightin 10 haunted places.
The group beganmakingvideostogetherfor
YouTubein middle schooland high school,
and this show indulgestheir passionfor
exploringabandonedplaces.
2015
~
Legalassistant
SeanAdams
'17researched
~ eyewitness
identification
procedures
withan
Augsburg
facultymember.
Seestoryonpage18.
McCleave
, who outlinedthe organization's
effortsto highlightthe historyof Native
boardingschoolsand the impact they had on
Nativecommunities.
~
Austin
Conery
'17researched
thereliability
~ ofeyewitness
testimonies
andnowuseshis
experience
to understand
andapplystudiesin hisrole
at a mentalhealthprovider.
Seestoryonpage18.
2018
ChungEangLip'18 wrote
about his career path in the
public healthfield for ColumbiaUniversity's
MailmanSchoolof Public Healthstudent
voiceswebpage.He focused on the
importanceof kindnessand storytellingon
his journeyto becominga public health
professiona
I.
DianaPierce'16 MALnarratedand produced
a documentary, "CountryMusic: Made in
Minnesota," which aired on PioneerPBS
last September. The half-hourdocumentary
toucheson storiesabout artistsfrom the
Minnesotacommunitiesof Alexandriaand
Dovray; as well as the WE Festin Detroit
Lakes, Minnesota, and the FlameBar in
Minneapolis.The programfeaturesinterviews
with artistsfrom DetroitLakes, Minneapolis,
and Pipestone, Minnesota, plus otherfigures
who contributedto the developmentand
popularityof country music in the state.
~
Natalie
Johnson
'18contributed
to National
~ Science
Foundation-funded
research
that
evaluated
thereliability
of eyewitness
identification.
Seestoryonpage18.
GRADUATE
PROGRAMS
Christine
DiindiisiMcCleave
'13 MALis the
executivedirector of the NationalNative
American BoardingSchool HealingCoalition,
formed in 2012 , which seeksjustice and
healingfor NativeAmericanchildren and
their descendants. The organizationrecently
receiveda $10 million grant from the
KendedaFundthat will support a new 10year plan focused on education, advocacy,
and healing.MPR NewsinterviewedDiindiisi
~ SUBMIT
A
~ CLASS
NOTE
Tellusaboutthenewsinyourlifeyournewjob,move,
marriage,
and
milestones.
Visitaugsburg.edu/now
to submityourannouncements.
&
W
EricArlein'12 and Theresa(Bulger)
Arlien'14 welcomeda daughter,
Cora, last July.
Jenessa
(Payano)
Stark'07 graduated
from YaleUniversitywith her Masterof
•
Sciencein Nursingwith specialtiesas a
certified nurse midwifeand women'shealth
nurse practitioner. Tofulfill the health
professionalshortagearea serviceobligation
of her NationalHealthServiceCorps
scholarship, she is movingto NavajoNation
to work as a full-scope midwifeat a tribally
run Indian HealthServicehospitalin
Arizona.She will be accompaniedby her
husbandand children, includinga son,
Zaiel, whom the family welcomedin January.
Kristin(Daniels)
Overton
'09 and
husband, Jesse, welcomedthe birth of
•
twin boys, Mattisand Henry, lastSeptember.
Reginaldo
Haslett-Marroquin
'03
•
delivereda convocationaddressat
CarletonCollegein Northfield, Minnesota,
last October. He is a founding memberof the
NationalFairTradeFederation, startedthe
fair-tradePeaceCoffeeCompany, and is
presidentand CEOof Regenerative
AgricultureAlliance, a Minnesota-based
nonprofitorganizationthat worksto develop
regenerativefood supply chains and to
advocateagainstextractiveagriculture.
Haslett-Marroquinis alsothe author of "In
the Shadowof GreenMan," in which he tells
storiesfrom his upbringingin Guatemala
and shareshis visionfor regenerative
farming practices.
A
SylviaBull'10 (pictured on the right)
•
was ordainedas an Evangelical
LutheranChurch in America pastor in 2017
and has servedas associatepastor of Faith
LutheranChurch in Bismarck, North
Dakota, for three years.
SPRING
SUMMER
2020 29
ALUMNI
CLASS
NOTES
Augsburg University Men's Wrestling hosted an
alumni night in February, celebrating the national
championship anniversariesof the teams from 1970,
1980, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2010 before a wrestling
match against Concordia College-Moorhead . Photo
by Caleb Williams.
ChrisStedman'08 wrote
a new book that will be
published in October.
The book, "IRL: Finding
Realness, Meaning, and
Belongingin Our Digital
Lives," explores being
human in our increasingly
digital world and is
availablefor pre-order.
AugsburgUniversityMen's
Basketballhostedan alumni
reunion in Januarythat included
a pick-up game, lunch, watching
the men'steam take on Concordia
College-Moorhead, and a
social hour. Auggiesfrom several
generationsjoined in the festivities.
Auggiealumni leadthe men's
basketballprogramsat both
Augsburgand Concordia. Assistant
CoachCharlieScott'07, '15 MAL
and the Auggiesdefeatedthe
Cobbers, who were led by Head
CoachGrantHemmingsen
'07.
Adrienne
KucklerEldridge
'02
joined the staff of Augsburg's
ChristensenCenterfor Vocation.
She coordinatesthe theologyand
public leadershipundergraduate
program, is the program director
for the AugsburgYouth Theology
Institute, and is the director of the
Public Church Scholars program,
an accelerateddegree pathway
that allows students to complete
a Bachelor of Arts degree in
theologyand public leadership
and a Master of Divinity in
five years.The program is a
partnership betweenAugsburg
and LutheranSchool of Theology
at Chicagofor students who are
called to ministry and public
leadershipas an ordained pastor.
AUGGIE
SNAPSHOTS
JoeSeehusen
'00 married
Kathryn Tighe on a ranch
in Grand Lake, Colorado,
in September. The couple
resides in the Denverarea,
where they work in real
estate. Seehusenencourages
his Auggie friends to reach
out the next time they're in
Colorado.
30
AUGSBURG
NOW
ToriBahr'09, a medical doctor at
the complex care clinic of Gillette
Children's Hospital in St. Paul,
Minnesota, was presentedwith
Augsburg University's2019 First
DecadeAlumni Award in January.
Bahr previouslyworked at the
Universityof MinnesotaMedical
Center's InternaI Medicine-Pediatrics
Program, where she becamechief
resident. Bahr's new position at
Gillette Children's Hospital includes
treating patientswith medically
complex diseases, using advanced
technology, and championing
transition care.
BrentStolle'03 and Bethany
(Schneck)Stolle'05 welcomed
their second son, Isaac, in
February 2019. Isaacjoined his
three-year-old brother, Weston.
Bethany is the design research
lead for Blackboard, an education
technology company. Brent
works for Nvidia as a software
engineering manager. The family
lives in Kirkland, Washington.
DerrinLamker'97 was named Augsburg Universit
Footballhead coach in December. Lamker played
baseball, basketball, and football as an Auggie
student-athlete. During his football career, he wa<
the MinnesotaIntercollegiateAthletic Conference
MVPand led the Auggiesto a MIACtitle in 1997,
the same year he received KodakAll-American
Honors. Lamkerwas named the Northwest
Suburban ConferenceCoach of the Year in 2007,
2013, and 2014 during his tenure as head coach
of OsseoHigh School, where he coached for 11
years and won a class 6A state championship.
Beforetaking the head coach position at
Augsburg, Lamkeralso servedas offensive
coordinatorand head coach at Edina High
School. Augsburg University Footballhosted an
alumni gathering in Januaryto hear from Lamker
and to meet the incoming coaching staff, which
includes GregClough'86, defensivecoordinator,
and JackOsberg'62, volunteer coach. Alumni
who graduated between 1971 and 2019 attended
y
I
The City Pagespublication
featured the work of Jose
LuisVillasenor'99 and the
nonprofit organizationhe
founded, Tamalesy Bicicletas,
which existsto empower
youth, develop healthy Latinx
and immigrant communities,
promote sustainable
transportation, increase
accessto healthyfoods, and
improvethe environment.
The organization'scommunity
garden in south Minneapolis
providesspace to teach urban
farming and lay the groundwork
for sustainablelocal food.
/
In September, City Pages
featured DuaSaleh'18
for their work in poetry,
rapping, and singing.
Saleh released"N0r" in
2019, and "ROSETTA"
in 2020, EPsproduced
by Psymun, the St. Paul,
Minnesota, producer
whose connectionswith
mainstreamhip-hop
provide broader exposure
for Twin Cities performers.
As the recipient of the
Cedar Commissions
emerging musicians
program, Saleh performed
"Strings and Heart Beats,"
a project described as "an
immersiveAfrodiasporic
experience."
AlissaNollan'09 marriedJames Nystromin
St. Anthony, Minnesota, lastJuly.The wedding
party includedJennifer
Nollan'89, Whitney
(Holman)
Mead'10, and KatiePendo'10.
MarkMuhich'89 was
hired as managing
attorneyto supervise
public defender services
in Minnesota'sCarlton
and St. Louis counties.
Muhich is a Hibbing,
Minnesota, nativewho
has been a part-time
public defender at the
St. LouisCounty
Courthousein Virginia,
Minnesota. Muhich
previouslytaught politicaI
science and criminal
justice at Mesabi Range
Collegeand taught in the
law enforcement program
at VermilionCommunity
College.
MikePolis'10 welcomed
a second child, Sophia
June, in January.His
first child, LydiaMae,
lovesbeing an older
sibling. Polis is in his
secondyear of real
estateand is excitedfor
anotheryear of selling
and buying homes.
KelseyCrockett'06 and
wife, Stacey, welcomed
a child, MasonAvery
Crockett, into their family in
January. Kelseycontinued
his software management
work when the family moved
from Nashvilleto Dallasfor
Staceyto begin a doctoral
programat the Universityof
Texas-Southwestern.
In December, Michelle
Basham
'00 was elected
as the new presidentand
CEOof YWCAMinneapolis.
Bashampreviouslywas the
executivedirector at The
Bridgefor Youth, servedas
CEOof YWCADelaware, and
held leadershippositionsat
CommonBondCommunities,
FamilyWise
, and the
MinnesotaDepartmentof
Human Services.She also
co-foundedthe Nonprofit
EmergingLeadersAcademy.
P.C. Hillstrom'07, director of
educationaI equity at OsseoArea
Schools, received two statewide
honors this year: the Outstanding
Administrator of the Year award
from the Minnesota Indian
Education Association and the
Ron McKinley "All My Relations"
award from the Minnesota
Education Equity Partnership.
Hillstrom has worked for Osseo
Area Schools since 2015.
BrothersDaveKerkvliet'95 and TimKerkvliet
'01
were featured on the EducationMinnesotawebsite
when they introducedfour band studentsof Sebeka,
Minnesota-where Daveteaches-to the rock band
311 at a performanceat The Armory in Minneapolis.
Davehastaught band for 24 yearsand is a lifelong
musicianand fan of rock bands. He connected
those passionsand organizedthis meetingbetween
his studentsand lead singerand guitarist Nick
Hexumand drummer ChadSextonprior to 31 l's
performance.
SPRING
SUMMER
2020 31
ClarenceT. Hoversten
'41 ,
HerbertW. Chilstrom
'54, Green
Valley, Arizona, age 88, on
January 19.
M. KennethGjerde'61 ,
MarilynJ. Gisselquist
'73,
Fairfield, Montana, age 83,
on December 22.
Minneapolis, age 90, on
February 21.
DonaldJ. Dill '54, Eau Claire,
Wisconsin, age 86, on
December 15.
Ruth(Stenson)Kalpin'61,
Falls, South Dakota, age 95, on
January 27.
Alexandria, Minnesota, age 80,
on November 10.
Zee AnneA. (Zimmerman)
Reishus'73, Wood Lake,
DorothyC. (Quanbeck)
Johnson
'48,
BeverlyM. (Jorgensen)
Olander'55,
DonaldN. Myhres'61, Lee,
North Branch, Minnesota, age 92,
on February 18.
Rochester, Minnesota, age 86, on
November 18.
Illinois, age 95, on November 13.
HenryW. Roufs'49, San Diego,
WandaE. (Warnes)Olson'56,
RobertJ. llstrup'62, Minneapolis,
age 82, on September 25.
age 97, on October 10.
Lewiston, Minnesota, age 84, on
November 14.
EllenA. (Paulson)Keiter'64,
Minnesota, age 91, on January 29.
GlennC. Thorpe'56, Mendota
Charleston, Illinois, age 77, on
December 10.
RusselM. Smith'50,
Heights, Minnesota, age 85, on
February 8.
JeanneS. (Wanner)Morreim'66,
Lakeville, Minnesota, age 91,
on November 21.
RobertG.Jamieson
'57, Edina,
Cloquet, Minnesota, age 76, on
January 26.
Hendricks, Minnesota, age 101,
on November 6.
EileenM. Quanbeck
'46, Sioux
KermitF.Hoversten
'50, Austin,
PhyllisG. (Knudson)
Seim'58,
MarjorieK. (Danielson)
Johnson
'53,
Stillwater, Minnesota, age 83, on
January 24.
St. Paul, Minnesota, age 88, on
December 4.
JosephP. Nystuen'59, Cold
WilmerJ. Oudal'53, Eagle River,
Spring, Minnesota, age 82, on
November 10.
Alaska, age 88, on February 2.
MargaretA. (Lundahl)Ruesch'59,
32
AUGSBURG
NOW
WalterJ. Bradley'78, Davenport,
KatharineE. Skibbe'79,
Minneapolis, age 62, on
October 7.
IreneW. (Waslien)Stemmer'88,
Wayzata, Minnesota, age 93, on
November 8.
JaniceK. (Thompson)
Crockett'68,
age 91, on December 29.
Rochester, Minnesota, age 88,
on December 17.
DianeL.Loeffler'75, Minneapolis,
age 66, on November 16.
Iowa, age 63, on February 9.
Minnesota, age 86, on January 16.
Raymond
P.Strot'51, Minneapolis,
LeroyM. Petterson'53,
Minnesota, age 68, on
January 24.
Worthington, Minnesota, age 83,
on December 30.
Shakopee, Minnesota, age 73, on
January 15.
BruceA. Vassar'93, Edina,
age 57, on December 6.
ThomasL. Docken'69, Stacy,
LouJean
J. (Gulbransen)
Reid'94,
Minnesota, age 73, on
December 9.
Austin, Minnesota, age 73, on
January 20.
VirginiaK. (Golberg)Baynes'70,
Lee(Gilbert)Schotzko'04, Afton,
Portland, Oregon, age 71, on
September 14.
Minnesota, age 49, on October 1.
BenjaminM. Blair'14, Decorah,
Iowa, age 31, on January 26.
The "In memoriam" listings in this publication
include notifications received before March 1.
AuGSBURG
UNIVERSITY
®
DIGITAL-ONL
ISSUE
2211 Riverside Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Pieces
ofhistory
After the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and protests calling for justice in Minneapolis and around the nation,
MollyMontana'23 went to Lake Street to capture the work of local artists that emerged on walls and plywood boards covering the
windows of numerous businesses. "I wanted to tell the story of the pain and rage that people of color have felt," she said about
the images she captured for a photography class project. "I wanted to capture something meaningful, and these displays were
just that. They are a piece of history."
augsburg.edu/now
Show less
BEFORE TODAY
BEYOND TOMORROW
FALL–WINTER 2019 | VOL. 82, NO. 1
AUGSBURG NOW
Vice President and
Chief Operating Officer
Rebecca John ’13 MBA
rjohn@augsburg.edu
Associate Vice President and
Chief Marketing Officer
Stephen Jendraszak
jendra@augsburg.edu
NOTES FROM PRESIDENT PRIBBENOW
On s... Show more
BEFORE TODAY
BEYOND TOMORROW
FALL–WINTER 2019 | VOL. 82, NO. 1
AUGSBURG NOW
Vice President and
Chief Operating Officer
Rebecca John ’13 MBA
rjohn@augsburg.edu
Associate Vice President and
Chief Marketing Officer
Stephen Jendraszak
jendra@augsburg.edu
NOTES FROM PRESIDENT PRIBBENOW
On seeing and being seen
We see you!
This summer, Assistant Professor Joaquin
Muñoz from our education department
greeted our incoming students with a
powerful message. He said that every one
of them deserved an adult who loved them
unconditionally. He then looked out at our
remarkable students and told them that he
loved them. He said, “I see you,” and “I will
do all I can to ensure that you are successful
at Augsburg and beyond.”
Joaquin was speaking to students of color
and indigenous students in particular, but
this is our promise to all our students: “We
see you” is at the center of Augsburg’s
commitment to meet students where they are
and walk alongside them as they pursue their
educational goals. What does it mean to say
that “we see you”? It means that your life
experience, your vocational journey, your path
to Augsburg is important to us and will be
taken seriously as we work together to ensure
your success.
It seems especially fitting as we launch our
150th anniversary—our sesquicentennial—
that we renew our promise to meet our
students where they are, to see them in all of
their astonishing and diverse life experiences,
and to accompany them as they pursue an
Augsburg education.
Our promise to see our students is evident
in all of our celebrations of our 150th
anniversary. For example, the remarkable
“Each, Together” art project—part of an
international initiative known as “Inside
Out”—is featured in this issue of Augsburg
Now (see page 16). More than 1,200
photographs are displayed on buildings
across campus: images of current students,
faculty, staff, and alumni alongside those of
historic figures like Bernhard Christensen ’22,
Augsburg’s fifth president, who looks at me
each day as I pull into my campus parking
spot! Every time I look at those photographs, I
think about how they reflect our commitment
to seeing each other, to recognizing that our
various journeys to Augsburg and beyond
are part of a remarkable narrative that has
unfolded over the past 150 years.
Since our founding in 1869 and through
the decades that followed, our institution has
grown and changed, yet our commitment to
our foundational promise has remained the
same. We see you, we love you, and together
we will fulfill our abiding promise that
Augsburg is “small to our students and
big for the world.”
Faithfully yours,
PAUL C. PRIBBENOW, PRESIDENT
Director of Marketing
Laura Swanson Lindahl ’15 MBA
swansonl@augsburg.edu
Director of Public Relations
and Internal Communications
Gita Sitaramiah
sitarami@augsburg.edu
Assistant Director of
Marketing Creative
Denielle Stepka ’11
stepkad@augsburg.edu
Senior Creative Associate, Design
Elizabeth Kästner
kaestner@augsburg.edu
Marketing Copywriter
John Weirick
weirick@augsburg.edu
Communication and
Social Media Specialist
Briana Alamilla ’17
alamilla@augsburg.edu
Advancement Communications
Specialist
Kaia Chambers
chamberk2@augsburg.edu
Web Manager
Joe Mann
mannj@augsburg.edu
Contributors
Kate H. Elliott
Jen Nagorski ’08
Lisa Renze-Rhodes
Augsburg Now is published by
Augsburg University
2211 Riverside Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Opinions expressed in Augsburg Now
do not necessarily reflect official
university policy.
ISSN 1058-1545
AUGSBURG NOW
Fall–Winter 2019
During Augsburg’s annual community
engagement and service event—now
known as City Engagement Day—first-year
students volunteer at Twin Cities-based
organizations at the start of the academic
year. On September 3, more than 650
students in Augsburg T-shirts worked
alongside faculty and staff. Some sites
included community gardens and a river
cleanup with the National Park Service.
The Class of 2023 is Augsburg’s largest ever.
See the back cover.
02 Around the quad
16 Face value
08
Annual report to donors
22
10
A September to remember
26 Auggies connect
12
Building on an early lead
15
Honoring Auggies
Balancing the books
28 Class notes
32 In memoriam
On the cover: Portraits of community
members—past and present—create a
tapestry of faces that celebrate, recognize,
and honor the individuals who have
contributed to Augsburg University during
the past 150 years. Read more on page 16.
All photos by Courtney Perry unless
otherwise indicated
Send address corrections to
alumniupdate@augsburg.edu.
Send comments to
now@augsburg.edu.
PHOTO BY REBECCA SLATER
AUGSBURG’S LARGEST CLASS KICKS OFF
ACADEMIC YEAR WITH VOLUNTEERING
PHOTOS BY SHAWN NIELSEN
AROUND
THE
QUAD
Augsburg launches
TRANSIT PASS FOR UNDERGRADUATES
Augsburg University now offers the Auggie Pass, a universal transit
pass that gives undergraduate students unlimited rides on buses
and light rail in a first-of-its-kind partnership between Metro Transit
and a Twin Cities university.
Augsburg’s student government approved increasing the green
fee by $5 to $20 per semester to pay for the Auggie Pass in order
to reduce students’ out-of-pocket costs while improving their
chances of accepting jobs and internships that involve a commute.
Day Student Government is officially responsible for overseeing the
green fee that supports sustainability efforts.
The Auggie Pass is valid throughout the school year and is paid
for from both the student green fee and university operating funds.
All traditional undergraduate students who pay the semester green
fee are eligible for the pass at no additional cost.
“As someone who uses the bus every day, it’s great not to have
that financial burden,” said Skye Ryge ’20, who advocated for the
pass. “It’s really economically advantageous to students who pay
for school, like me, to not have to choose between textbooks and
bus fare.”
2
AUGSBURG NOW
President Paul Pribbenow named
FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR
Augsburg University President Paul
Pribbenow was named an Outstanding
Fundraising Professional for his effective,
creative, and inspiring leadership.
The highest honor bestowed upon one of
its members, the award was presented by
the Association of Fundraising Professionals
at the International Fundraising Conference
in San Antonio this spring. “The impact
of Paul Pribbenow on the organizations
he has served is only exceeded by the
impact he has had on the entire fundraising
profession,” said AFP President and
CEO Mike Geiger. “It is fair to say that
fundraising—and how we look at ethics
and philanthropy—would look differently
without the contributions of Paul. His work
will serve as one of the cornerstones of the
profession for years to come.”
QUIZ:
OLDER OR
YOUNGER
THAN AUGSBURG?
VARSITY WOMEN’S WRESTLING TEAM
Augsburg announced earlier this year the addition of a varsity women’s
wrestling team.
This new team continues the pioneering tradition in women’s athletics
at Augsburg, which now has the only varsity women’s wrestling team in
Minnesota. In 1995, Augsburg became the first college in the Midwest
to sponsor a varsity women’s ice hockey team. Then, in 2014, Augsburg
became the first collegiate institution in Minnesota to sponsor a varsity
women’s lacrosse team.
The women’s wrestling team is competing this academic year under
head coach Max Mejia, who most recently served as women’s and
developmental coach at the Sunkist Kids Regional Training Center in
Tempe, Arizona.
Mejia, a 2015 graduate of Harvard University, has helped coach a
World Team Trials champion and another finalist; two senior national
team members; a U.S. Open champion, finalist, and placewinner; and
four Arizona high school state champions.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
The first recorded baseball
game occurs.
Abolitionists Frederick Douglass
and Harriet Tubman are born.
Leaders sign Norway’s constitution.
Abraham Lincoln serves as
president of the United States.
Victor Hugo publishes the novel
“Les Misérables.”
Pharmacist John Pemberton invents
Coca-Cola.
The first automobile with an
internal combustion engine is
invented.
Answers: 1. Older; 1846. 2. Older; 1818 and 1822.
3. Older; 1814. 4. Older; 1861–65. 5. Older; 1862.
6. Younger; 1886. 7. Older; 1807.
MINNESOTA’S ONLY
In honor of Augsburg’s founding in 1869,
the university is celebrating the past and
the present with sesquicentennial events
all year long. Think you know history?
Test your knowledge: Identify whether
each of the events below is older or
younger than Augsburg.
German scholars and artists join
RIVER SEMESTER
PHOTO BY STEPHEN GEFFRE
Augsburg University’s third River Semester launched in August as part of
a prestigious German initiative to explore the Mississippi River.
“Mississippi. An Anthropocene River” is a German research project
involving many communities and initiatives along the river with a focus
on climate change. Joining Augsburg students are German travelers,
including artists, authors, journalists, and scholars from the Max Planck
Institute and the Goethe Institute.
This year’s River Semester voyagers departed from Lake Itasca in
northern Minnesota and, for 100 days, are paddling portions of the
Mississippi River to reach New Orleans. The students will earn 16 to
19 credits.
FALL–WINTER 2019
3
AROUND THE QUAD
NEW AUGSBURG
BOARD OF REGENTS MEMBERS
At its annual September meeting, the Augsburg Corporation
elected four new members to the Board of Regents and
re-elected three members.
Elected to their first term on the Augsburg Board of Regents:
•
Sylvia Bartley, senior global
director, Medtronic Foundation
•
Ellen Ewald, co-owner and
executive advisor at Tysvar LLC
and mobileAxept in Minneapolis
•
John O’Brien, president and chief
executive officer of Educause;
former president of North
Hennepin Community College in
Minneapolis
•
John Schwartz ’67, retired hospital
administrator at Advocate Trinity
Hospital in Chicago and former
general manager of SmithKline
Beecham Clinical Laboratories,
Schaumburg, Illinois
Sylvia Bartley
Upgraded training room
boosts athletes’ efficiency
Augsburg’s athletic training room has moved to a larger,
substantially upgraded space in Si Melby Hall.
In this new space, sports medicine support staff from on
and off campus—including team physicians, chiropractors,
physical therapists, and dietitians—can work collaboratively
with athletic trainers to better serve Augsburg’s more than
500 student-athletes from 22 varsity sports. Philanthropic
gifts paid for the upgrades, with student-athletes gaining the
benefit of more efficient scheduling.
“The ability to serve multiple teams at the same time in
the larger space, with state-of-the-art equipment, will be the
biggest advantage and benefit for the student-athlete,” said
Missy Strauch, Augsburg’s head athletic trainer.
Ellen Ewald
Augsburg hosts inaugural
HUMAN RIGHTS FORUM
Elected to a third term:
•
Karen Durant ’81, retired vice
president and controller of
Tennant Company, Golden Valley,
Minnesota
•
Matt Entenza, attorney in private
practice in St. Paul, Minnesota,
and former Minnesota state
representative
•
Jeff Nodland ’77, retired president
and chief executive officer of KIK Custom Products
John O’Brien
The Human Rights Forum at Augsburg University welcomed
about 800 students, thought leaders, global changemakers,
and activists this fall. In partnership with the Human Rights
Foundation, which also produces the Oslo Freedom Forum,
the two-day event at Augsburg brought together participants
from a variety of institutions and locations around the world.
The first day explored human rights issues in authoritarian
regimes, and the second day focused on racial justice,
indigenous rights, and environmental sustainability.
John Schwartz ’67
See the full list of Board of Regents members
at augsburg.edu/about/leadership.
4
AUGSBURG NOW
2019 Media Sponsor
Learn more at augsburg.edu/humanrightsforum.
OREN GATEWAY CENTER
lobby renovation provides
aesthetic convenience
The Oren Gateway Center lobby and adjoining Nabo cafe were redesigned and
renovated during the summer, creating more inviting campus meeting spaces.
The Nabo security gate was relocated to allow access to the bookstore and seating
area beyond the cafe’s hours of operation. Key pieces of kitchen equipment also
were upgraded. This project was funded by A’viands, Augsburg’s food service
provider, as part of its most recent dining contract with the university.
Augsburg names inaugural
Augsburg welcomes
Sundquist Endowed
Professor of
Business Administration
This fall, Augsburg named Business Department Chair Jeanne Boeh the
Sundquist Endowed Professor of Business Administration.
The Sundquist professorship supports business administration,
Augsburg’s largest academic department with the most undergraduate
students on campus. Boeh, a professor of economics, has been teaching
at Augsburg since 1990 and often appears in media interviews and on
business panels using her talent for bringing complex business concepts
to life.
“Jeanne Boeh will lead Augsburg’s efforts to attract top business
faculty, thanks to this generous endowment,” said Augsburg
University President Paul Pribbenow. “She is known as a faculty
leader on campus and for her strong commitment to students as they
prepare for careers in business.”
This endowed professorship is named for alumnus Dean Sundquist ’81,
an Augsburg Board of Regents member and chairman and CEO of
Anoka, Minnesota-based Mate Precision Tooling. Sundquist and his
wife, Amy, have made several major investments in Augsburg.
The Forum on Workplace Inclusion has a new
home at Augsburg University. Previously based
at the University of St. Thomas, the forum is the
nation’s largest workplace diversity, equity, and
inclusion conference designed for national and
global audiences.
The forum has served as a convening hub for
those seeking to grow professional leadership and
effective skills in the field of diversity, equity, and
inclusion by engaging people, advancing ideas,
and igniting change.
“The Forum on Workplace Inclusion is excited to
begin a new chapter at Augsburg University,” said
Steve Humerickhouse, executive director of The
Forum. “We look forward to the amazing things we
can create with our new Auggie family.”
FALL–WINTER 2019
5
ARCHIVE PHOTO
From disease to remedy: How
nostalgia offers a psychological boost
A special vacation with family members you miss. That unforgettable meal at your
favorite restaurant with your favorite person. The album you used to listen to nonstop
during the ups and downs of high school. You’re happy you have those pleasant
memories, but you’re also sad they’re over. You are experiencing nostalgia.
Throwback TV shows, retro fashion, and reboots of toys, trinkets, and stories from decades ago have people wondering
if American culture is at its peak in terms of nostalgia—and how long it can last. Bridget Robinson-Riegler is a professor
of psychology at Augsburg University. Taking a moment between writing a cognitive psychology textbook, research, and
teaching and learning with her students, she explores what psychology can tell us about nostalgia’s appeal.
Q:
A:
What is nostalgia? How does it
relate to memory?
Nostalgia is a sentimental longing
for one’s past. The emotion is deeply
social and bittersweet but predominantly
positive. Nostalgic memories are
recollections of atypical life events (e.g.,
vacations) that involve close relationships
(e.g., family, friends) or events from
childhood. We view these experiences with
rose-colored glasses so negative aspects
are often not remembered. We miss those
experiences and yearn to relive them.
Q:
A:
Where did the idea of
nostalgia originate?
The word “nostalgia” is a compound
of two Greek words that essentially
mean a sad mood originating from a
desire to return to one’s native land. The
word was coined in the 17th century
by a medical student who was helping
Swiss mercenaries working in France.
He observed symptoms of sadness,
loss of appetite, insomnia, cardiac
6
AUGSBURG NOW
palpitation—things we would diagnose
as post-traumatic stress disorder today.
Much of the early interest in nostalgia
focused on how to stop these thoughts
because it was considered a disease
and the resulting symptoms prevented
individuals from performing at their
military best.
Q:
A:
How does nostalgia affect people
psychologically?
Nostalgic remembering is
most likely to occur in times of
loneliness, negative moods, or feelings of
meaninglessness. It is basically a coping
mechanism to deal with distress. Rather
than being the problem (the disease, as
it was conceptualized when the term was
first coined), it is the way we cope (more
like the remedy or cure). Even if we may
feel bad and disconnected in our current
life, we can “relive” a time when we felt
good and were not lonely. Reconstructing
memories and projecting ourselves into
the future are interdependent cognitive
processes that share a system in the brain.
So, when we think about a time when
we were socially connected and at our
“personal best,” these feelings stretch out
into our future, and we become hopeful
and consequently feel better.
Q:
A:
How is nostalgia active in
society today?
Given the state of the world—
climate change, ups and downs in
the economy, racist acts, problematic
government leadership—it is not surprising
that nostalgic thinking is common.
This type of societal distress can lead
to personal nostalgia and to collective
nostalgia in which people long for a time
when they viewed the world as a better
place, even if it wasn’t. So there is a
resurgence of old TV shows, vinyl records,
throwback uniforms for athletic teams,
retro clothes, and other products. We
seek comfort with familiar products from
childhood or from a time when the world
was viewed as “better” or “easier.”
Visit augsburg.edu/now to read more
about nostalgia.
COURTESY PHOTOS
2019–20 CONVOCATION SERIES
Augsburg University’s annual convocation series provides
dedicated time during the academic year to hear from
outstanding leaders and visionaries.
In October, this year’s series kicked off with the Bernhard
Munib Younan
M. Christensen Symposium featuring Munib Younan,
retired bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan
and the Holy Land and former president of the Lutheran
World Federation, and Hamdy El-Sawaf, founder and
psychotherapist at the Family Counseling Center and imam
of Masjid Al-Iman in
Hamdy El-Sawaf Minneapolis. Through
their presentations, each shared personal
experiences and religious perspectives
Join us January 20, 2020
on hope, reconciliation, and resiliency
for the Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation.
All convocation events are free and open to
in the midst of suffering and struggles
the public. Visit augsburg.edu/convo.
that often are intensified by religious
convictions and differences.
SAVE THE DATE:
PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT STUDIES PROGRAM
moves to new Minneapolis location
The physician assistant studies graduate program moved into a renovated, leased
space in the Riverside Park Plaza building.
The building’s location, at 701 25th Avenue South in Minneapolis, puts it
among the medical facilities of the University of Minnesota Medical Center
and the Masonic Children’s Hospital and just a short walk from the Augsburg
University campus. The program’s move in August came after four years at
Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The new space, which features an increased footprint for classroom and clinical
lab instruction, supports potential future departmental growth and allows the
program faculty, students, and staff to engage with Minneapolis campus activities.
“The curriculum was redesigned to be more case-based and hands-on, and this
new space will allow for a more creative and innovative learning environment,”
said Alicia Quella, the physician assistant studies program director and
department chair.
AROUND THE QUAD
AWARDS AND HONORS
Best Regional Universities by
U.S. News & World Report:
U.S. News & World Report again
named Augsburg one of the Best
Regional Universities in the Midwest in
2019. This year, Augsburg is No. 13,
which makes it the top Minnesota school
on the list. Augsburg is also ranked ninth
for undergraduate teaching, eighth in its
support for veterans, top in the state and
sixth overall for innovation, and fourth
in promoting social mobility. Rankings
are based on average first-year retention
rates, graduation rates, class sizes,
student-to-faculty ratios, and
other information.
Best in the Midwest by The Princeton
Review: The Princeton Review
again named Augsburg one of the Best
in the Midwest for academic excellence
this year.
25 LGBTQ Friendly Colleges: College
Consensus, a new college review
aggregator, recognized Augsburg in its
survey of 25 LGBTQ Friendly Colleges of
2019. College Consensus works to bring
attention to schools that other ranking
publishers overlook.
Top Schools for Indigenous Americans:
In 2019, the American Indian
Science and Engineering Society’s Winds
of Change magazine selected Augsburg
as one of the Top 200 Schools for
Indigenous American and Alaska Native
students pursuing degrees in science,
technology, engineering, and math.
Top Military Friendly School:
Augsburg was again named a
Military Friendly® School, a list compiled
through extensive research and a free,
data-driven survey of more than 10,000
Veterans Administration-approved
schools nationwide.
FALL–WINTER 2019
7
2018–19 AUGSBURG UNIVERSITY
ANNUAL REPORT
TO DONORS
You are a part of a large
community of Augsburg donors.
We are so grateful for the
generosity of this community of
people who support our mission.
AUGSBURG BY THE NUMBERS
ACADEMICS
STUDENTS
16.2 average class size
13:1 student-to-faculty ratio
50+ undergraduate majors
10 graduate degrees
2,005
traditional undergraduate students
76%
of traditional undergraduate
first-year students live on campus
Data from 2018–19 academic year
27%
of Augsburg undergraduates
are first-generation college students
47%
of traditional undergraduates
are students of color
38
U.S. states represented by the
undergraduate student body
44
countries represented by the
undergraduate student body
97%
of traditional undergraduates
receive some form of financial aid
AUGSBURG DONORS ENSURE OPPORTUNITIES
Parents:
Hazen and Kathy Graves
• Hazen: Retired partner at Faegre Baker Daniels
law firm
• Kathy: Principal for communications and
planning firm Parenteau Graves
• Priority: Support higher education institutions
that serve students with physical disabilities
When Hazen and Kathy Graves toured Augsburg with
their son, Sam Graves ’16, they found that it offered
the unique assistance Sam needed as a young man
with cerebral palsy who uses a power wheelchair. “As
we learned more about the support Augsburg offers
to students with various kinds of challenges, we
came to understand that Augsburg had been doing
this for a long time,” said Hazen.
Sam graduated with a degree in psychology.
The idea of supporting Augsburg financially
occurred to both Hazen and Kathy independently,
and they decided to donate $50,000 to endow a
scholarship. “Access to higher education is a big
issue,” Hazen said, “and we’re just doing our
little part.”
Find more donor stories at
augsburg.edu/giving.
AVERAGE GIFT SIZE
$2,565
NUMBER OF DONORS LAST YEAR
9,966
Alumni:
Brian Anderson ’82 and
Leeann Rock ’81
• Brian: PhD in physics at the University of
Minnesota, taught at Augsburg, joined Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
• Leeann: MD from the University of Minnesota,
pathologist at Frederick Memorial Hospital
• Priority: Expand students’ academic
opportunities and multidisciplinary efforts
Husband and wife Brian Anderson ’82 and
Leeann Rock ’81 are donating $50,000 to endow
the Raymond E. and Margaret J. Anderson
Scholarship in honor of Brian’s parents’ legacy, as
well as in honor of Brian’s brother, Augsburg Physics
Professor Emeritus Stuart Anderson ’78.
Brian’s father, the late Raymond E. Anderson,
joined Augsburg in 1949 as a speech and
communications professor. Brian’s mother, the late
Margaret J. Anderson, came to Augsburg in 1967
and became library director.
Endowing a scholarship is “a formal way of
maintaining our relationship with Augsburg while
ensuring more opportunities for students in the
future,” Brian said.
• Retired clinical psychologist who studied at
the State University of New York—Buffalo and
Michigan State University
• Priority: Equitable representation of women in
education and leadership, including in faculty
roles, administration, and political offices
Linda Giacomo was the first in her family to attend
college. She empathizes with immigrant struggles,
recalling impoverished grandparents who left
southern Italy to become naturalized U.S. citizens and
parents who could not afford their children’s college
tuition despite holding four jobs combined.
“Education is transformative in a way that gives
you so much power and choice. People should not
be denied that opportunity because they have no
money,” she said.
Noting that women earn 26% less than men but
carry two-thirds of the nation’s college debt, Giacomo
designated a $30,000 outright gift to the Augsburg
Women Engaged Scholarship as well as a generous
estate gift.
“To not be generous, to not share what you have
with those in need, is heartbreaking,” she said. “In
making these gifts to Augsburg, my heart is full.”
ENDOWMENT MARKET VALUE
$48.1
May 31, 2019—$49,644,712
$40.5
$38.3
$32.4
$31.5
$28.2
$49.6
$43.9
$39.4
$34.6
$33.3
$29.8
$24.5
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
REVENUE BY SOURCE
EXPENSES BY SOURCE
39% Salaries and benefits
34% Financial aid
19% Operating expenses
3% Utilities and insurance
2% Debt services
2% Student compensation
1% Capital improvement
Friend:
Linda Giacomo
WHERE GIFTS ARE FROM
72.57% Individuals
14.70% Corporations
12.73% Foundations
79% Tuition
8% Room and board
6% Gifts and private
grants
3% Government grants
2% Endowment income
2% Other
GALA AT A GLANCE
• 1,000 Auggies attended the gala.
• Thanks to our generous guests, we raised a total of
$1.4 million in support of Augsburg’s mission.
• Paul Mueller ’84 and Nancy (Mackey) Mueller ’85
issued a challenge and pledged to match every gift
at the $1,000 level dollar for dollar up to $100,000.
1
A SEPTEMBER
TO REMEMBER
2
SESQUICENTENNIAL GALA
It wouldn’t be right to mark 150 years of Augsburg with a
small affair—so we threw a huge, once-in-a-lifetime party.
On Friday, September 27, Auggies of all kinds dressed up
and headed to Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel—The Depot in
downtown Minneapolis for the Sesquicentennial Gala, a night of
dinner, dancing, revisiting the university’s history, and rallying
support to propel Augsburg into the next 150 years.
10
AUGSBURG NOW
3
1) Gala attendees pose for a photo.
2) Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a guest speaker for the evening,
takes a selfie with Augsburg Day Student Government leaders
Arianna Antone-Ramirez ’20 and Lucia Davila ’20.
3) Provost Karen Kaivola and students dance to live music.
PHOTO BY LAUREN FALK
HOMECOMING 2019
Auggies continued the celebration Saturday, September 28,
with a full day of Homecoming festivities, including Taste
of Augsburg, a chapel service, the football game, and the
Augsburg Music Department Collage Concert. The classes
of 1969, 1979, and 2009 celebrated milestone reunions.
Donte Collins ’18 embraces
English Professor Doug Green.
“Auggie, you are called into the world.
Into your wonder. Your why. To wrestle
with reason. To spot the problem. And propose new
parts. To walk toward your fears. To find the heart.
We are Called. We are Auggies.”
—from “We Are Auggies,” a spoken-word piece
written and performed by Donte Collins ’18
PHOTO BY BOB STACKE '71
Campaign Chair Paul Mueller ’84 joins
President Paul Pribbenow on stage.
“Augsburg is astonishing. Which is really to say that
the people of Augsburg are astonishing—Brilliant.
Committed. Resilient. You might try to hide it or
downplay it, but it is undeniably, unequivocally,
tangibly bursting forth from everything you do. It has
been nearly 15 years since I first stepped on campus.
And, today, the world is noticing Augsburg, what it is,
and does, and stands for. Not just in the Twin Cities,
but nationally and internationally.”
—from President Paul Pribbenow’s gala remarks
FALL–WINTER 2019
11
BUILDING ON
AN EARLY LEAD
BY KATE H. ELLIOTT
Athletics secures NCAA grant to fund first-of-its-kind position supporting culture of inclusion
Hop, step, and jump. Hop, step, and jump.
Training for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, Chris Dixon
could think of little else than the triple jump cadence.
Hop, step, and jump. Hop, step, and jump.
Then at practice, hop, step, and crack—followed by intense
pain, doctors, and confirmation that his Olympic dreams
shattered along with his ankle.
Dixon spent the next few years figuring out who he was off
the field—the place where athletic ability and subsequent
praise had become closely linked to his sense of identity. It was
a journey as difficult—if not more so—than his climb to peak
performance. During that dark, confusing time, he promised
himself: If I’m ever in a position to help others transition to life
after sports, I will.
Since July, Dixon has served as Augsburg University’s director
of athletic diversity and inclusion and assistant coach for the
men’s and women’s track and field teams. He is eager to return to
the field as a coach, and he has a game plan to use the new role
to promote a culture of inclusion. This job is personal, Dixon said.
“I was one of only a few African American kids in elementary
school. People would ask to touch my hair, and I felt different
until fifth grade, when I performed in front of my peers and
teachers at a district track meet,” he said. “For the first time, I
felt accepted and embraced, and from then on, my identity was
as an athlete. I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but it was difficult
to adjust once I left the arena.”
Dixon never had an African American teacher or coach other
than a friend’s dad who, after selling insurance all day,
volunteered for Dixon’s high school track and field team.
“I had amazing coaches and teachers, but I never saw
myself in those roles,” he said. These and other life
experiences inform his outlook on this new role
and emphasize the importance of his presence at
Augsburg, where he also teaches Introduction
to Kinesiology.
“I am meeting student-athletes and talking
with them about the challenges they face. I
am working to be a presence on campus—
to break down stereotypes for some and
to be a role model for others,” he said.
“Alongside student-athletes and our athletics
administration, I want to create or enhance
academic resources, life-skills development,
and networking opportunities.”
Personal connections and consistent,
centralized support are critical to the
success of underrepresented studentathletes, Dixon said. “Augsburg is already
ahead of the game. The student body is
diverse, and there are many resources across
campus that support inclusion. I plan to work
with and build on what’s already there.”
A plan—starting with breakfast
Student-athletes attend a networking event hosted by Chris Dixon.
12
AUGSBURG NOW
As the sun rose on the second Thursday in October,
Dixon greeted several tables of student-athletes seated
in The Commons in Christensen Center. The young men
of color connected with each other over breakfast before
hearing advice from Jareck Horton, district sales manager
at PDC IDenticard, and Augsburg Football Assistant Coach
Keanon Cooper. Dixon plans to invite successful men of color
from a range of professions to these monthly networking
socials, and he will hold similar events with other groups.
Alicia Schuelke ’20 MAE, graduate assistant coach for track
and field, said she and other students are thrilled with Dixon’s
enthusiasm and vision for the role.
“In a world where, many times, the odds are stacked
against us, leaders of color provide hope and strength,”
said Schuelke, a student in the Master of Arts in Education
program. “I came to Augsburg for the MAE program, but I was
pleasantly surprised to find how diverse the campus is, and it
is my absolute favorite part of my learning experience.
“If we can move the needle toward a more diverse group of
leaders that better represent our country’s demographics, then
students of color will begin to understand that the
sky’s the limit in terms of their own hopes,
dreams, and aspirations.”
athletics
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INCLUSION
and netwo
RSITY AND
—CHRIS
ECTOR
DIXON, DIR
E
IC DIV
OF ATHLET
FALL–WINTER 2019
13
AUGGIES
Position the result of
NCAA diversity grant
Dixon’s position is largely made
possible through a two-year NCAA
Ethnic Minorities and Women’s
Internship Grant, which provides
financial assistance to member
institutions who create full-time,
entry-level administrative positions
for people who identify as an ethnic
minority and/or a woman, according
to federal guidelines. The grant also
supports professional development and
formalized mentoring.
Augsburg was one of only 20
institutions and conference offices
selected to receive the grant this cycle,
and it is the third award for Augsburg
in the past decade. The university first
secured the Ethnic Minorities and
Women’s Internship Grant during the
2012 to 2014 cycle to fund Jennifer
Jacobs’ role as assistant director
of NCAA compliance and assistant
volleyball coach. In 2014, Augsburg
received the NCAA’s Strategic Alliance
Matching Grant, which funds fulltime, mid- to senior-level athletics
administration positions during a fiveyear commitment. Jacobs’ role then
evolved into assistant athletic director
of external relations and diversity and
inclusion, in addition to her role as
assistant volleyball coach. She is
now head volleyball coach at
Augustana University.
Augsburg’s Associate Athletic
Director Kelly Anderson Diercks said
the department is driven to advance
diversity and inclusion. “Embracing
and connecting students of all
backgrounds and experiences is the
right thing to do, but it is also smart,”
she said. “More diverse teams are
often stronger teams. They produce
student-athletes who are better
prepared to excel in play and in life.”
Anderson Diercks is a product of
the NCAA’s diversity grants, first as an
intern for the Minnesota Intercollegiate
14
AUGSBURG NOW
Athletic Conference and then as an
assistant director. The experience,
Anderson Diercks said, transformed
how she operates as a leader in a maledominated profession. More than a
decade has passed, but she remains in
contact with the mentor assigned to her
during the internship.
“These are critical opportunities for
women and minorities to enter into
leadership positions with tremendous
personal and professional resources
designed to equip them with the tools
and outlook to navigate difficult roles,”
said Anderson Diercks, who formerly
served as chair of the NCAA Ethnic
Minority and Women’s Internship
selection committee. “We are
particularly excited about Coach Dixon’s
position because, to our knowledge, it is
the only role of its kind.”
Augsburg is ‘ahead of the game’
Ali Spungen, associate director of
Division III for the NCAA, said that
about 130 positions have been
awarded through diversity grants during
the past five years—that’s more than
$36 million in funds for positions and
professional development. Augsburg,
Spungen said, stands out as a leader in
the division, which is well positioned to
meet the needs of diverse populations.
“Division III allows student-athletes
to play the sports they love within
departments also focused on their
academics and social engagement,”
said Spungen, also a past grant
recipient. “These positions empower
leaders like Coach Dixon to thrive,
which inspires and encourages
students. Augsburg clearly cares for
its student-athletes and is willing to
dedicate time and resources to ensure
they are successful and well-rounded.”
Dixon is ready and grateful to come
full-circle—to be the coach and teacher
he never had and to prepare others for
the transitions he never saw coming.
ARCHIVE PHOTOS
IN MEMORIAM
Merton Strommen ’42 and
Gladys Strommen ’46
Merton Strommen ’42 and Gladys Strommen ’46 were a part of a
family legacy at Augsburg that has spanned generations. The
Strommens have widely shared their gifts and talents with the
university, and their impact on the Augsburg community will be
felt for many years to come.
Mert Strommen died September 2. Youth ministry was the core
of his life’s work—as campus pastor at Augsburg and founder of
Search Institute, which has an international impact on youth work
through research. Mert and his wife, Irene (Huglen) ’44, started the
Youth and Family Institute at Augsburg and also created the David
Strommen Endowed Fund for youth ministry. Mert also served on
Augsburg’s Board of Regents, founded and directed the Augsburg
Centennial Singers, and was awarded Fellow status by the
American Psychological Association for his pioneering research in
psychology and religion.
Gladys Boxrud Strommen passed away May 26. Gladys and
husband, Clair ’46, who passed away in 2001, have served and
supported Augsburg in many significant ways over their lives
and created a lasting legacy through their work and dedication.
Gladys was a supportive partner to Clair in developing his career
in business and leadership with Strommen & Associates and
Lutheran Brotherhood, now known as Thrivent Financial. Gladys
served on the Board of Regents, co-founded the Augsburg
Associates, and hosted many alumni gatherings in her homes in
Minnesota and Florida.
Through a generous gift, the family established the Clair
and Gladys Strommen Center for Meaningful Work in 2014 in
recognition of their personal commitment to create meaning and
purpose in work and life.
“Clair and Gladys Strommen are forever woven into the
fabric of Augsburg through their commitment to lives filled with
purpose and meaning,” said Lee George, executive director of the
Strommen Center. “Through the Strommen Center for Meaningful
Work, Clair and Gladys’ legacy is realized in students who commit
themselves to exploring their values, passions, and skills and
understanding how they can be put to use in the world.”
The Strommens also commissioned a sculpture in front of
Christensen Center and have two endowed funds: a scholarship
fund and a program fund for the Strommen Center.
As President Paul Pribbenow said in his campus announcement
of Gladys’ passing, “Her loss is a big one, but her legacy will
continue to be felt by generations of Auggies to come.”
FALL–WINTER 2019
15
Face Value
BY LISA RENZE-RHODES
Dakota and Ojibwe.
Norwegian and Irish.
Art installations celebrate
individuals, expound on
Augsburg’s history, and
expand the boundaries
of community.
Somali and Ethiopian.
On and around the land that today houses Augsburg University’s
Minneapolis campus, they celebrated births and mourned deaths.
They spoke languages of love and laughter, stress and sorrow. They
built families, businesses, and dreams.
They were here and many are gone, at once everywhere and
nowhere because in the blistering pace and abundant distractions
of the human ecosystem we all inhabit, it’s natural that we forget
who came before us.
But what if—even for a moment—we turned our attention to
who we were and who we are right now? To who worships next to
us, or walks by us in the grocery, or shares an apartment wall?
“On This Spot” and “Each, Together”
bring into focus the history of the campus
and the surrounding neighborhood, and
the people who are the Augsburg of
yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
What would we discover if we intentionally took notice of who
we are and where we’ve come from?
This idea is at the core of new art and historical exhibits that
cover collectively four city blocks on 12 of Augsburg’s building
facades and 37 window panes around campus. As part of
Augsburg’s sesquicentennial celebration, artists and designers at
the university wanted to give the community a chance to reflect on
their history and their people. So the works, dubbed respectively
“On This Spot” and “Each, Together,” bring into focus the history
of the campus and the surrounding neighborhood, and the people
who are the Augsburg of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
FALL–WINTER 2019
17
‘Humans at the center’
Photographers capture portraits at Augsburg events to use in
“Each, Together.”
“Each, Together,” the larger of the two projects, is a Group Action of
the international “Inside Out: The People’s Art Project” initiative that
launched in 2011 after a French street artist, known only as JR, won
that year’s TED Prize. First awarded in 2005, the TED (Technology,
Entertainment, and Design) Prize has become synonymous with
visionary thinking meant to spark change throughout the world.
Winners of the award—including educators, artists, chefs, journalists,
and even former President Bill Clinton—have used the $1 million
prize to fuel specific community projects, like healthy food initiatives
and educational innovations. The winning projects all have one
thing in common: They are designed to make people engage in
their communities.
In the case of artist JR’s project, his vision was to create works
that “shine a light on the unsung and give everyone the dignity they
deserve.” And he hoped that beyond his capacity as one artist, people
around the world would join in the celebration of others.
To date, more than 260,000 people in 129 countries have
participated in different versions of the project featuring faces
displayed on billboards, buildings, sidewalks, and in digital
collections. Augsburg is one of the latest communities to answer the call.
“We saw that invitation, that there was a related, common ethos to
what we have here at Augsburg, and that the project was similar to
public works we’ve done here,” said Christopher Houltberg, Augsburg
associate professor of art and design. “It’s really about putting
humans at the center.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
Spotlight
My former college roommate had
eagle eyes today and found me!
Responses edited for length and clarity.
—ERICA HULS ’01
Hey, look who I found! #AugsburgFamous
—SETH RUETER
Look ma I made it!!!!! @AugsburgU
wahooo!!!! #sesquicentennial
—APRIL JOHNSON ’18
18
AUGSBURG NOW
So a team that included a curator, nine photographers,
and three designers—Houltberg, Maggie Royce ’15, and
Indra Ramassamy ’18—worked for several months between
Fall 2018 and Summer 2019. The photographers attended
between 15 and 20 campus events, all working to capture as
many faces as possible to best tell the Augsburg story.
“The way we went about it was really organic,” Houltberg
said. “We started going to events around campus in Fall 2018
and then in the springtime, trying to get to as many different
ones as possible. There’s a really big holiday event called Advent
Vespers, and a lot of alumni come to that.”
All told, the group took more than 900 photos and gathered
about 300 additional images of historic Auggies.
“It’s very democratic; everyone is given the same amount of
space,” Houltberg said. “From our president, Paul Pribbenow, to
people who work on our janitorial staff, to our students, to our
former mayor, R.T. Rybak.
“As we were defining the parameters [of the ‘Each, Together’
project] it was a fun surprise for us to see who self-identified as
part of Augsburg.”
Bigger dose of Augsburg
R.T. Rybak, current president of the Minneapolis Foundation,
was the mayor of Minneapolis from 2002 to 2014. He said it
would be impossible to think of the growth and development of
the city without considering the role Augsburg has played in
that history.
“I’ve conservatively said 1,000 times in public speeches
that the neighborhood where Augsburg is, is our Ellis Island.
One wave after the other washes in and the next wave builds on
top, and it’s something that no one wave could have created in
isolation,” Rybak said.
That’s most certainly the story of the Cedar-Riverside
neighborhood that surrounds Augsburg and the story of
Minneapolis as a whole.
“... I often think we just need a bigger dose
of Augsburg. We need to realize that offering
that ladder of opportunity to someone else
makes all of us able to climb higher. We are
better together.”
—R.T. Rybak, former Minneapolis mayor
“Augsburg is a shining example of the very best parts of
Minneapolis’ history. The university represents opening doors to
people with strange names like Johnson or Anderson or Rybak,
and keeping those doors open for people with names that come
from Africa, Asia, and places across the globe.
“When I get down about what’s fracturing our deeply divided
country and world today, I often think we just need a bigger
dose of Augsburg. We need to realize that offering that ladder
of opportunity to someone else makes all of us able to climb
higher. We are better together.”
Houltberg said the “together” ideal is at the heart of the exhibit.
“As individuals we are showing up, and collectively we can do
something greater than what we can do on our own,” he said. “I
loved seeing the portraits blocked together, seeing people stop and
take selfies. There are people who say, ‘I recognize who that is!’”
Forward facing, historic reflections
Kristin Anderson, a co-creator of these projects as well as a
professor of art history and Augsburg archivist, said she’s only
heard good things about the exhibit.
“I have seen emails and tweets—sometimes emotional—with
people responding to the wall as a whole, as well as to their
individual images,” Anderson said.
The community is responding to the historical revisit that
“On This Spot” installations provide, too, she said.
That exhibit features enormous panels that share Augsburg
moments that photographers captured decades ago. The campus
life of yesteryear includes images of young bobby soxer women
from the 1940s in saddle shoes and flowing skirts in contrast
with men wearing formal suits while tramping across a snowcovered campus.
I’m so proud to be part of the @insideoutproject at
@augsburguniversity in honor of the Sesquicentennial!
—NIK LINDE ’15
FALL–WINTER 2019
19
“It has been a fun way to bring some old photographs to life
and to show how the campus is layered on the site. Those ‘lost’
buildings displayed on the walls of the current buildings help
to connect us to our past, reminding us of the imagination and
commitment of our predecessors,” Anderson said.
The two exhibits are being admired by community members
who see the campus regularly and by those who keep up with
Augsburg from a distance.
Killa (Martinez Aleman) Marti ’08 came to Augsburg from her
home in Honduras. Marti said she brought her own values with
her when she enrolled, “but Augsburg put them to work. The
Auggie community showed me that I wasn’t crazy to want a
career with meaning.”
“Those ‘lost’ buildings displayed on the walls
of the current buildings help to connect us to
our past, reminding us of the imagination and
commitment of our predecessors.”
—Kristin Anderson, university archivist
For Marti, “Each, Together” perfectly sums up her experience
at Augsburg.
“My career is an intersection of what I love to do with the
opportunity to serve,” said Marti, an attorney in Atlanta. “To
think critically, to be socially and community-minded—all of the
things I exercise in my life were supported and further developed
at Augsburg.”
Houltberg said it’s difficult not to consider the greater impact
that art, especially a work like “Each, Together,” has.
“Having a group of artists, designers, and photographers come
together to make something this beautiful and to see it up and
fully functioning is pretty great,” he said.
“It has created a tangible thread between all of us, which
transcends 150 years and all our history,” said Ramassamy, who
worked with the team to design “Each, Together.”
“We live in a visual world yet we can be unaware of each
other,” she said. “This project is making us aware of one
another, making us pay attention, making us curious about the
person in the portrait above or to the left or right of us.”
“I love watching people who are walking down the streets
looking at the portraits,” Houltberg said. “There’s an element of
surprise to it that’s really fantastic. Sometimes the tendency is
to put people in big groups. But if you look at these portraits, look
at the eyes, and look at the humans who are represented here, you
see just how wide a spectrum of humans we are. Anytime we can
show the humans and not the institution, we win.”
“On This Spot” installations show how Augsburg’s landscape, architecture, and people have changed in the past 150 years.
20
AUGSBURG NOW
BY THE NUMBERS
Each, Together
A crew works to install a portion of the 1,246 portraits
that make up “Each, Together.”
302
HISTORICAL
143
STAFF
1,246
PORTRAITS
517
STUDENTS
103
ALUMNI
92
FACULTY
29
COMMUNITY
MEMBERS
installations
37
photographers
60
INCOMING
FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS
3,475 1
2
building facade
SQUARE FEET curator
window
panes
9
3
10
building facades
3
designers
12,710
SQUARE FEET
1
curator
BY THE NUMBERS
On This Spot
designers
Members of the university’s faculty and staff launched a
number of special projects, including “Each, Together”
and “On This Spot,” to commemorate Augsburg’s
anniversary year.
See other sesquicentennial projects at augsburg.edu/150.
Catch a glimpse of the Augsburg of yesteryear, thanks to “On This Spot”
displays on window panes around campus.
FALL–WINTER 2019
21
Mary Taris ’04 is a graduate of Augsburg’s Adult
Undergraduate program, which was ranked ninth in
Best Colleges’ 50 Top Colleges for Older Students.
g
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Bala
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LIOTT
BY KATE H. EL
Augsburg alumna starts a publishing
company, creates the diverse book list
she wished she had
Y
oung Mary Taris ’04 was so
thankful to be a girl. The Minneapolis
Public Housing Authority required children of
different genders to have separate bedrooms, so
while her brothers had to share a room, Taris had
her own. Through reading, her bedroom walls grew
into a mythical grove where she’d encounter a
prince or sit for tea with Frog and Toad.
“I escaped into books. Or maybe,” she said, “I
disappeared in them.” Books gave her the life she
longed for, but those beloved tales were someone
else’s story. She was 20 before she read a book with
black characters.
Now 55, the retired teacher is driven to change
that narrative. Last August, at the historic James
J. Hill Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, Taris stood in
front of family and friends to voice her dream, Strive
Publishing, into existence. The startup—based out
of her Twin Cities home—supports emerging authors
of picture books and young adult novels that are
culturally relevant, contemporary, and relatable to
kids of all shades, abilities, and experiences.
“Everyone has a story, and those stories build
bridges to connect us all,” said Taris, a graduate of
Augsburg University’s Adult Undergraduate program,
a flexible degree program that pairs on-campus
FALL–WINTER 2019
23
classes with online coursework
in a dozen undergraduate
majors. “Too often, authors
conform to narrow industry
standards driven by profit, but I
refuse.” At Strive, Taris and her
team work to create pathways
for writers and artists from all
backgrounds to write about
their own experiences and a
wider array of identities.
Publishing stories that
represent and connect
Strive Publishing has released
three titles by local African
American authors, and several
more books are in the works
with upcoming launch dates.
Taris’ efforts have been featured
nationally and celebrated
locally, with invitations to
conduct workshops at schools,
partner with established
publishing companies, and
co-sponsor the inaugural African
American Voices in Children’s
Literature Contest in partnership
with Free Spirit Publishing.
“Strive is more than a
company; it’s a mindset,” she
said. “I was a runaway teen
mom who finished high school
while striving to raise a son
and work for a better life.”
That determination led her to
enroll in Augsburg’s elementary
education program. Juggling
work and family, it took Taris
eight years to graduate,
but she walked across the
commencement stage and into
the classroom where she taught
a range of grades and subjects
(mostly English) for 15 years.
“I became the first person in
my family to earn a college
degree,” she said. “It had been
my dream since childhood.”
Augsburg left a mark on
Taris, as classes exposed her
to inequities in education and
literature. Taris reframed those
inequities as opportunities.
Now, years later, Barbara West,
director of student teacher
placement at Augsburg,
recalled Taris’ embrace of
story-filled, relevant learning.
While student-teaching, Taris
invited a Japanese friend to talk
with students who were reading
a novel about a Japanese girl
during World War II. On her
lunch hour, Taris met with
eighth-graders to advise on a
student-produced newsletter.
She sought to incorporate
diverse voices and stories into
the curriculum.
“Augsburg taught me to
consider the whole child and
to understand the classroom as
a life-giving space where you
can listen and let people tell
their stories,” she said. “As
a teacher, I struggled to find
diverse texts.”
Taris also struggled when
administrators brought speakers
and books that reinforced
cultural stereotypes and
limited experiences rather than
providing real cultural and
ethnic diversity. “I wish they
would have, instead, given kids
diverse books or brought in
local authors who looked like
the students.”
Celebrating voices that
defy stereotypes
Taris launched Strive in 2016
while teaching full time, but
three years later, she took early
retirement to dedicate herself
fully to the publishing company.
Taris remains an educator,
though, as a mentor to young
authors and as an advocate
for change. She challenges
communities, schools, and
publishing houses to invite new
titles that can find their way
onto more readers’ nightstands.
Ricardo Peters is among
Strive’s “founding authors,” as
Taris calls them, and he
says he is indebted to “Miss
Mary” for her guidance and
encouragement. Peters’ book—
the first in a fantasy series—
sold out within months. The
35-year-old stands out, Taris
said, because he is a black man
who loves and lives the arts like
few others.
“Plenty of black men are
deeply connected to their
artistic side, but society doesn’t
celebrate that expression,” Taris
added. “Our sons are not all
basketball and hip hop. Ricardo
defies that stereotype, and his
work will lead others to do the
same.”
Peters had been dreaming up
stories since he filled stapledtogether notebook paper
with “Transformers” stickers.
Publishing a book remained
his dream, but it wouldn’t have
happened without Taris.
“I had been working on
this series for nine years and
likely would have sat on it
forever,” said Peters, who
works as a reading instructor
at Kumon Math and Reading
Center of Maple Grove. “But
Mary presented me with this
opportunity, she believed in me,
and I am eternally grateful.”
Strive Publishing’s Book List
“Under a Cloven Sky” and
“A Wild Nature Embraced”
by Ricardo Peters
Books one and two in the
young adult fantasy series,
“The Scorched Heavens,” in
which the fate of two nations
rests on the city’s young
princess and her protector.
“Red’s Adventures: The Egg
Pie” by Donna Gingery
The hilarious first book in
a picture book series for
children, this story follows
the precocious Red, who
grows up in Alabama under
the watchful eye of her
grandmother.
“Story to Story: A Strive Short
“Isaiah’s Sunglasses”
Story Series,” Volume 1
by Linda Miller
This collaborative book
A short, rhythmic story for
project aims to celebrate and
children about family, hope,
empower emerging authors
acceptance, and learning
about different types of people. and illustrators.
“Who Can I Be?” by
Arielle Grant
Created by Strive’s founding
illustrator, this is a story of
a girl who sees her potential
through the example of women
in her community.
Representation in
literature on the rise
but has ‘a long way to go’
Mary Taris ’04 with two of her children, Jermaine Taris and LaToya Taris-James, who both work with
Strive Publishing.
Making stories more accessible
runs in the family
This sentiment is shared among the
authors who work with Taris. Her
children are equally inspired by her,
so much so that they joined the Strive
team. Her oldest son, Jermaine Taris,
is a book illustrator. Her 16-year-old
daughter, Grace Taris-Allen, serves
as “quality control,” happily reading
manuscripts; and her eldest daughter,
LaToya Taris-James, assists with
marketing and social media.
“My mom makes things happen,”
said Taris-James, a student leadership
program coordinator for Augsburg’s
Sabo Center for Democracy and
Citizenship. “She is resourceful and
passionate, with a unique way of
connecting with and inspiring others.
“When I was 12, she introduced
me to ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua
Achebe. It was the first piece of African
literature I had read on my own, and
it shaped my view of black people
across the African diaspora and helped
connect me with my heritage.”
Through Strive, her mother is
making those connections on a broader
scale, said Taris-James, who hasn’t
fallen far from the tree. Along with a
friend, Taris-James created a social
impact initiative known as Rooftop
(or RFTP) that uses storytelling to
engage communities in dialogue
around difficult, often polarizing,
issues. Mother and daughter are both
driven to make stories of all kinds more
accessible and communal.
“I felt called to create Strive, and to
be honest, it’s been difficult to wear so
many hats and break through,” Taris
said. “Where I have come to see the
greatest need is for a safe space for
all people to tell their stories, whether
they get published or not. I’m working
with PopUp Think Tank to gather ideas
for how Strive can make the greatest
impact, and it’s feeling more like a
social enterprise than trying to operate
as a traditional publishing house.
Whatever Strive looks like in a year—
or five years—I know it will be moving
the dial.”
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center
researched and compiled statistics about the
number of children’s books and young adult
literature published by and about people of color,
American Indians, and those of First Nations.
“Every year, we see amazing books by and
about people of color and first/native nations.
There just aren’t enough of them,” CCBC Director
Kathleen Horning reflected in the ongoing study’s
abstract. “The more books there are, especially
books created by authors and illustrators of color,
the more opportunities librarians, teachers,
parents, and other adults have of finding
outstanding books for young readers and listeners
that reflect dimensions of their lives and give a
broader understanding of who we are as a nation.”
1985
2,500
Children’s books published in the United States
0.72%
Children’s books written or illustrated
by black people
2018
3,312
Children’s books published in the United States
17.8%
By or about Asian Pacific people
17.5%
By or about black people
12.8%
By or about Latinx people
1.6%
By or about American Indians/First Nations
FALL–WINTER 2019
25
AUGGIES CONNECT
ARCHIVE PHOTO
Create inclusive and engaging
experiences for fellow Auggies
The Alumni Board is
the governing body of
the Augsburg Alumni
Association. The board
exists to guide the Office
of Alumni and Constituent
Relations in serving the
valued alumni, parents, and
friends who make up the Auggie community.
All alumni are welcome and encouraged to join the
Alumni Board. See the job description and apply at
augsburg.edu/alumni under “Leadership Boards,” or
contact Katie (Koch) Code ’01 at codek@augsburg.edu.
New video available: MARTIN SABO ’59
Video of an interview with late Congressman Martin Sabo,
whose rise to politics was supported by Augsburg University
students, will be available later this year at the Sabo Center
for Democracy and Citizenship website, augsburg.edu/sabo,
thanks to an Augsburg Sesquicentennial Project award that
paid for an updated video description and closed captioning.
One year after graduating from Augsburg, Sabo —then 22—
was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives.
During his tenure, he became the first member of the
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party to serve as Speaker
of the House, and he went on to the U.S. House of
Representatives, retiring in 2007. Sabo died in 2016.
COURTESY PHOTO
COURTESY PHOTO
Serve on Augsburg’s Alumni Board
Augsburg’s first
ALL-SCHOOL REUNION
Mark your calendar for the All-School Reunion
during Homecoming: September 26, 2020.
More than 150 enthusiastic Sesquicentennial Stewards have
committed to help plan Augsburg’s inaugural All-School
Reunion. Volunteers are the heart of this sesquicentennial
year of events, and this work is not only more fun but is
strengthened by their participation and input. Volunteers
assist with the All-School Reunion’s schedule, entertainment,
venues, and marketing.
Visit augsburg.edu/150.
26
AUGSBURG NOW
YOU CHIMED IN:
SESQUICENTENNIAL
FAVORITE
FACULTY
IN FOCUS
HERITAGE TRIPS
Augsburg Now staff asked the
university’s Facebook followers for
their most memorable professors.
Here are a few of their responses,
edited for length and clarity.
NORWAY ARTS AND CULTURE
May 8–18, 2020
$4,800
“Mary Lowe—I had a lot of memorable professors, most of them
dear to me, but she and I worked so closely together in my last years of
my degree that I cannot think of Augsburg without thinking of her. She
is a wonderful, insightful, funny mentor who held me accountable and
helped me reach heights I wouldn’t have dreamed of initially.”
—TIMOTHY PAUL BISHOP JR. ’18
GERMANY
July 15–26, 2020
$5,300
“Merilee Klemp ’75—So many lessons learned from her, both
music and life. It’s impossible to forget those in your life who have taught,
pushed, encouraged, and mentored as well as she does. She’s an incredible
human being with such a kind, wonderful soul. Thank you for everything!”
—JENNIFER SCHMITT ’04
Hosted by Religion Department
faculty Lori Brandt Hale and
Hans Wiersma
Oberammergau, Germany
COURTESY PHOTOS
“Oh, do I have to choose? Matthew Maruggi in the Religion
Department—he completely changed how I looked at religion, opened my
mind to new perspectives, and taught me the meaning of ‘vocation.’”
—GINA MARIE GAINOUS ’15
CAMPUS TOUR
Hosted by Theater Professor
Darcey Engen ’88 and
Luverne Seifert ’85
National Theater, Norway
“Kristin Anderson—I wouldn’t be where I am in my career without
her! She taught me how to think critically about the built environment, ask
the hard questions, and think about all of my research from the standpoint of
race, class, and gender. She’s one of the smartest women I’ve ever known.”
—KACIE LUCCHINI BUTCHER ’13
Take a limited-edition
In honor of Augsburg’s 150th
anniversary, three trips hosted
by expert faculty guides will
celebrate the university’s
heritage in Germany and Norway.
NIDAROS PILGRIMAGE
August 4–13, 2020
$3,300
Hosted by Vice President for Mission
and Identity Sonja Hagander
Nidaros Cathedral, Norway
Learn more at augsburg.edu/alumni/travel or contact
Katie (Koch) Code ’01 at codek@augsburg.edu.
Two walking tours are available on campus this year: “Augsburg Nooks and
Crannies” and “Augsburg Campus: Past and Present.” Led by Kristin Anderson,
university archivist, each tour lasts one hour and is limited to 20 people. The tours
move through indoor and outdoor spaces to learn about the evolution of the campus
from 1872 to the present. The Nooks and Crannies tour includes a visit to the old
chapel and gymnasium in Old Main, the Old Main attic, an Art Deco filling station,
and other little-known spots of interest.
Augsburg Campus: Past and Present
Augsburg Nooks and Crannies
•
•
•
•
•
•
Wednesday, April 8
Wednesday, April 22
Tuesday, May 5
Wednesday, April 15
Wednesday, April 29
Wednesday, May 6
Save your spot on a tour.
RSVP required: eventrsvp@augsburg.edu or 612-330-1104.
FALL–WINTER 2019
27
ALUMNI CLASS NOTES
1961
Jim Holden ’61 wrote a new
book called “Heron Thieves,
a Bat Out of Hell, and Other Flyfishing
Stories, Essays, and Poems.” Holden
has been a fly fisherman for more than
40 years, and the book highlights his
experiences on trout streams.
1965
Dwight Olson ’65 presented
President Paul Pribbenow a
copy of his book “Northern Lights: The
Beauty of the Forgotten Scandinavian
Enamel Artisans” for Augsburg’s
library in celebration of the university’s
sesquicentennial.
1969
Cheri (Kraskin) Best ’69,
Pam (Fredrickson) Gunderson ’69,
Sue Kelly ’69, Linda (Stewart) Miller ’69,
Margi Ness ’69, and Anna (Stivland)
Olsen ’69 celebrated the 50th anniversary of
their graduation from Augsburg with a trip to
Boulder, Colorado, in May.
1973
David Colacci ’73 and partner
Susan Ericksen, both classically
trained theater professionals, were featured
in a Star Tribune news story that detailed
their success as audiobook narrators. The
couple records their audiobook narrations in
their St. Louis Park, Minnesota, home. They
have each narrated more than 500 titles.
1978
This year,
Augsburg’s
Excellence In
Coaching Award
recognized Ken
Novak Jr. ’78.
Novak led high
school boys basketball teams at Blaine and
Hopkins to 17 state tournaments, the most
of any boys basketball coach in Minnesota
history. After winning three consecutive state
titles and seven in a 10-year span (2002–
11), Novak was named ESPN RISE National
Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the
Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association
Hall of Fame in 2013, and in 2019 he was
inducted into the second class of the
Minnesota High School Basketball Hall
of Fame.
28
AUGSBURG NOW
1987
Andrew Altenburg ’87 joined
KPMG in a senior associate
role in May 2019. He previously worked
as an events manager for The Bank of
Tokyo for three years. As a freelance event
planner, his clients included MNG, Louis
Vuitton, Colgate-Palmolive, and The Carlyle
Group. From 2005 to 2015, he produced
and emceed 470 bingo events, which
raised $250,000 for dozens of LGBTQIA+
organizations. He also is a wedding
officiant and cartoonist, posting his work
at jumpingforjoy.net. He lives with his
partner, Matthew, and their parrot, Lulu,
on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in New
York City.
Minasie
Theophilos ’87
received the
Distinguished
Athletic Service
Award in honor of
his decades-long
support of
Augsburg’s
student-athletes and coaches. A custodian
in Augsburg’s athletic facilities, Theophilos
has grown close to many people in Auggie
athletics including the men’s hockey team.
He came to Augsburg as a student in 1983
from Ethiopia and had not been able to
return to his home for more than 30 years.
In 2017, after the death of his mother, the
men’s hockey team raised more than
$7,500 to fund a trip for Theophilos to see
his family, who now live in Norway.
1993
Tanya Schwartz ’93 was named
the seventh police chief of
Burnsville and is the first woman to hold
the post. Schwartz has been with the police
department for 23 years, beginning as a
patrol sergeant and then serving as detective
sergeant and captain.
1994
Lori Higgins ’94, ’12 MAL
became president of Augsburg’s
Alumni Board. She currently serves on
several boards including the Minnesota
Amateur Sports Commission. She joined the
Alumni Board in 2016 because of her deep
connection to the university and support of
its mission.
1999
The first NCAA
Division III player
to be selected in
the first round of
the NBA Draft,
Devean George ’99
was inducted into
the Augsburg Athletic Hall of Fame. George
led the Auggies to two Minnesota
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
championships and berths in the NCAA
Division III national playoffs, earning
conference MVP honors both times. He
finished his college career with 2,258
career points and 868 career rebounds,
both second in school history, and a 23.5
points-per-game average, the best in school
history. George has played with three NBA
teams and works to develop affordable
housing in North Minneapolis.
Augsburg Athletic
Hall of Fame
inductee Scott
Hvistendahl ’99
was Augsburg
baseball’s starting
centerfielder as
well an AllAmerican wide
receiver on the football team. He was the
first player to break the NCAA career
receiving yardage record held by NFL
legend Jerry Rice, finishing his career with
285 receptions for 4,696 yards. He now
stands 14th in NCAA all-divisions history in
career receiving yardage. Hvistendahl was
named Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference Player of the Year, twice earned
CoSIDA Academic All-America honors,
and won the Gagliardi Trophy for his
performance in academics, athletics,
and community service.
Qiuxia (Xia) Welch ’99 and Kevin Welch,
co-founders and owners of Boom Island
Brewing, hosted Augsburg’s first “beer
choir” in the spring. The couple started
their company in 2011 focusing on
Belgian-style beers, and they recently
relocated the business to a new space in
Minnetonka, Minnesota.
2002
Crescent Cove, a hospice
home for children founded
by Katie Lindenfelser ’02, was featured
in a New York Times story. Lindenfelser,
the executive director and an Augsburgtrained music therapist, opened the
St. Louis Park, Minnesota, care facility
in 2018. Crescent Cove offers respite
and hospice care to children and is the
only facility of its kind in the Midwest.
2003
Kristen Opalinski ’03
began a new professional
chapter as the manager for Ecumenical
and Inter-Religious Relations for
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America. This role includes managing
communications, providing staffing for
EIR committees and events, extending
hospitality to ecumenical and interreligious partners at the Lutheran
Center in Chicago, and serving as the
ELCA representative at various EIR
meetings held both domestically and
internationally. This is a new position
designed to meet the needs of the everchanging ecumenical and inter-religious
landscape and the expansion of the
church’s ecumenical and inter-religious
commitments. Opalinski also serves as a
writer for Living Lutheran Magazine.
2004
Max Langaard ’04 was
featured on “Good
Morning America,” where he shared
his journey as a teacher and also
his time as a mentor and coach at a
nonprofit called Playworks in Oakland,
California. Playworks helps schools and
youth organizations create a place on
the playground for every child to feel
included, be active, and build valuable
social and emotional skills. Langaard
also received NBA Finals tickets from
the television show.
Adam Langer ’12 and wife, Alyssa,
welcomed their first child, Addison, in
November 2018.
Dual sport
athlete Kristen
Lideen ’04 was
inducted into
the Augsburg
Athletic Hall of
Fame. As
softball
shortstop,
Lideen was the lone Auggie to hit better
than .400 in their career (.444). Her 38
career doubles remain a school record,
while her 18 doubles and 89 total bases
in 2003 are both single-season school
records. In soccer, Lideen played as a
sweeper for an Auggie defense that
recorded a 1.04 goals-against-average in
her four seasons. Lideen earned
All-MIAC Honorable Mention honors
three times as a soccer athlete and
earned All-MIAC first-team honors four
times as a softball player.
2008
Greg May ’08 was hired
by the University of
Minnesota’s hockey program as the
new director of hockey operations.
May spent the previous three years as
the hockey head coach and associate
athletic director at the Blake School
in Minneapolis. While playing hockey
during his time at Augsburg, he was a
MIAC All-Conference honoree.
AUGGIE
SNAPSHOTS
Christina Olstad ’00, ’05 MSW began her new
role as dean of students at the University of
Wisconsin—Madison in July. Olstad previously
was the interim assistant vice president for
student affairs, housing, and residence life at
Towson University in Maryland. She has worked
in higher education administration for nearly
two decades, beginning with her time
at Augsburg.
2009
Caitlin (Hozeny) Lienard
’09, ’16 MSW passed her
Licensed Independent Clinical Social
Worker exam in April.
The late Donny Wichmann ’89—a three-time
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
champion, a national tournament All-American,
and a longtime assistant coach who was a part
of 10 NCAA Division III national championship
teams with the Auggies—was inducted into the
National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III
Hall of Fame in August.
Augsburg Men’s Wrestling Co-Head
Coach Tony Valek ’12, ’14 MAL and wife,
Kassi (Goranowski) Valek, welcomed a
son, Hudson Ricke, in June.
Denielle (Johnson) Stepka ’11 and Timothy
Stepka welcomed a daughter, Halle Jo Jean,
on September 30.
FALL–WINTER 2019
29
ALUMNI CLASS NOTES
Bobby Rose ’16 married fiancée, Amber, in Cottage
Grove, Minnesota, in May.
Mara (Breczinski) Barrozo ’14 and
Enrico Barrozo ’14 welcomed a
daughter, Ryna, in June.
Carlson Inc. announced the
appointment of Richard “Rick”
Gage ’96 as its non-executive
chair of the board in August.
Gage is the founder and
former CEO of YourMLSSearch.
com, a director of the World
Childhood Foundation, and
is on the board of the Carlson
Family Foundation, where
he has served for more than
20 years.
Tyler Heaps ’13, manager of
analytics and research for U.S.
Soccer, was on the staff of the
USA national women’s soccer
team that celebrated a World
Cup Championship victory in
July. Heaps, who helped play a
part in the team’s seven-game
win series to clinch the title,
said it was “one of the most
challenging and rewarding
experiences” of his life. Heaps’
work in data analysis and use
of video coverage enhances
skills on the field and helps
athletes better prepare for their
competition.
Read more of this story at
augsburg.edu/alumni/blog.
AUGGIE SNAPSHOTS
Hayley (Thomas) Ball ’12 and Emerson
Ball ’14, ’19 MSW welcomed a
daughter, Zara, on March 13.
Jessica Barker ’97, Amy (Bowar) Mellinger ’97, Tara
(Cesaretti) McLeod ’97, Christa Winkelman ’97, and
Jane (Ruth) Zirbes ’97 gathered for their annual girls’
trip in Las Vegas. Since their days at Augsburg, they’ve
planned yearly trips and remained close friends.
30
AUGSBURG NOW
Two rural Osakis, Minnesota, churches—with roots dating
back to the early days in the state’s history—are thriving
with the help of their new intentional interim pastor John
Douglas Hopper ’68. Hopper, who lives in Delano, Minnesota,
and spends weekends at Salem and Sauk Valley Lutheran
churches. He began a one-year pastorate on October 21, 2018.
Stephanie Putzier ’16 MBA serves
Minnesota Women of Today at
the state level as the internal vice
president, a position in which she
oversees the organization’s internal
programming. Putzier received the
Programing Award of Excellence for
her commitment and efforts. She
has been an active member of the
organization since 2002.
Ross Murray ’00, ’09 MBA
received the Living Loehe
Award at Wartburg Seminary’s
commencement in May. The
award was given in recognition
of the 50th anniversary of the
Stonewall uprising, the 10th
anniversary of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America’s
steps toward inclusion for
LGBTQIA+-identified people, and
his calling as a deacon to engage
in LGBTQIA+ advocacy in the
church and the world. Murray is
the senior director of education
and training at GLAAD Media
Institute and is the founding
director of The Naming Project.
Read more of this story at
augsburg.edu/alumni/blog.
K. Marshall Williams Sr. ’78 received the Herschel
H. Hobbs Award for Distinguished Denominational
Service from Oklahoma Baptist University. Williams,
who has served as pastor of Nazarene Baptist Church in
Philadelphia for more than 35 years, accepted the award
on June 10 during the Southern Baptist Convention’s
annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama.
SUBMIT A CLASS NOTE
Tell us about the news in your life—your new job, move,
marriage, and milestones. Visit augsburg.edu/now to
submit your announcements.
Kristy Millering ’06 became
the new director of finance at
Winona Area Public Schools.
Millering began this role after
eight years in finance at Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota,
most recently as a senior internal
auditor. She also worked as an
accountant for McNeilus Truck
and Manufacturing and owned
her own dance studio.
Jason Oare ’05 and wife, Erin,
welcomed a daughter, Remedy
Faith, in April.
Amber (Stransky) Caswell ’07 and husband,
Tavid, welcomed a daughter, Olivia Sandra
Donna, in June.
Mary Christine Kane ’94
released her first book
of poems, “between
the stars where you
are lost.” Kane also
works in marketing and
volunteers for the arts and
animal rescue initiatives. Her poetry and nonfiction
works have appeared in journals and anthologies
including Bluestem; The Buffalo Anthology, Right
Here, Right Now; Ponder Review; and Sleet.
FALL–WINTER 2019
31
IN MEMORIAM
Gladys I. (Boxrud)
Strommen ’46, Edina,
Minnesota, age 93,
on May 27.
Gladys H. I. (Vigen)
Hallstrom ’56, Thief River
Falls, Minnesota, age
87, on March 27.
Omar N. Gjerness ’47,
Fergus Falls, Minnesota,
age 97, on July 19.
Sylva M. (Dahl) Kubicek ’56,
Lake Crystal, Minnesota,
age 83, on March 18.
Prudence V. (Hokanson)
Nystuen ’47, Lakeville,
Minnesota, age 93,
on July 3.
Mary J. (Christiansen)
Meyer ’56, Miami,
age 84, on April 7.
Barbara (Ekse) Carlson ’48,
Minneapolis, age 92,
on April 1.
Catherine A. (Mork)
Kordahl ’48, Fertile,
Minnesota, age 96,
on June 28.
Lorraine W. (Weltzin)
Peterson ’49, Hastings,
Minnesota, age 94,
on May 28.
Sheldon L. Torgerson ’49,
Minneapolis, age 92,
on May 26.
Gordon N. Berntson ’50,
Fargo, North Dakota,
age 93, on April 25.
Wayne H. Wickoren ’50,
Fargo, North Dakota,
age 92, on July 7.
Elizabeth A. Becken ’51,
Shoreview, Minnesota,
age 90, on June 3.
Harriet M. (Haller)
Brown ’52, Hastings,
Minnesota, age 89,
on May 11.
Evonne L. (Emerson)
Johnson ’52, Faribault,
Minnesota, age 88,
on March 9.
Duane L. Addison ’53,
Minneapolis, age 88,
on April 18.
Robert L. Lindquist ’53,
Worthington, Minnesota,
age 87, on April 28.
Arthur V. Rimmereid ’53,
St. Paul, Minnesota,
age 87, on June 24.
Jeannine L. (Torstenson)
Blanchard ’54, Fresno,
California, age 86,
on March 6.
Oliver K. Vick ’54,
Lancaster, Wisconsin,
age 88, on March 22.
32
AUGSBURG NOW
Marvin L. Dooley ’59,
Eagle Grove, Iowa,
age 95, on July 20.
Edean A. Berglund ’73,
Lacey, Washington,
age 67, on April 11.
Nancy J. (Thompson)
Peterson ’75, Minneapolis,
age 65, on May 27.
Bonnie M. Goetzke ’76,
Memphis, Tennessee,
age 65, on April 19.
Pamela S. Slette ’76,
Albert Lea, Minnesota,
age 65, on June 21.
James A. Hanson ’59,
Dodge Center, Minnesota,
age 88, on July 6.
Marcia G. (Thompson)
Turcotte ’78, Chanhassen,
Minnesota, age 97, on
July 19.
Donald E. Jorenby ’59,
Woodbury, Minnesota,
age 81, on March 19.
Michael J. Riley ’84,
Brainerd, Minnesota,
age 58, on July 25.
Bonnie J. (Martinson)
Storley ’59, Minneapolis,
age 81, on March 31.
Donald D. Wichmann ’89,
Minneapolis, age 53, on
July 16.
Arden S. Flaten ’60,
Hastings, Minnesota,
age 82, on May 4.
Thad D. Firchau ’92,
Mankato, Minnesota,
age 48, on March 23.
Marlin B. Aadland ’62,
Delta, British Columbia,
age 82, on May 30.
Marna R. Brown ’93,
Fergus Falls, Minnesota,
age 49, on March 28.
Jerome C. Barney ’62,
Fergus Falls, Minnesota,
age 81, on July 9.
Theresa D. (Holt)
Wimann ’94, Baraboo,
Wisconsin, age 60,
on May 7.
LeRoy E. Lee ’63, Solon
Springs, Wisconsin,
age 79, on March 25.
Gerald A. Carlson ’64,
Pine, Arizona, age 78,
on June 19.
Lennore A. (Bylund)
Bevis ’66, Minneapolis,
age 75, on July 28.
Verland E. Kruse ’66,
Stillwater, Minnesota,
age 83, on March 23.
Richard E. Andersen ’68,
Phoenix, age 73, on
June 2.
Russell K. Jones ’69,
Mercer, Maine, age 71,
on May 9.
Raymond J. Wesley ’69,
Maple Grove, Minnesota,
age 77, on July 27.
Daniel L. Knak ’72,
Hastings, Minnesota,
age 69, on July 19.
Mary S. (Wozniak)
Sergeant ’99, Kansas
City, Kansas, age 61,
on May 25.
Mauris N. De Silva ’00,
Jackson, New Jersey,
age 46, on July 31.
Robin A. Olsen ’01,
St. Paul, Minnesota,
age 48, on April 28.
Amanda J. Kelley ’09,
Ave Maria, Florida,
age 38, on May 25.
Patrick J. Inman ’11,
Rochester, Minnesota,
age 41, on July 9.
Matthew C. Blackburn ’15,
Plymouth, Minnesota,
age 36, on August 19.
The “In memoriam” listings
in this publication include
notifications received
before September 1.
ARCHIVE PHOTOS
Augsburg community – 1931
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PHOTO BY TOM ROSTER
2211 Riverside Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Twin Cities, MN
Permit No. 2031
Augsburg enrolls historic first-year class
A record-setting 636 undergraduate first-year students started at Augsburg University this fall. The Class of 2023 marks the
third year in a row in which a majority are students of color. All told, the university now has 2,159 students in the traditional
undergraduate program, which is also a record for Augsburg.
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