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Throwback Thursday

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A Periodic Tale of Departmental Lore (Part 2)

Written by David Lapakko

Surprise, surprise–not that long ago, communication technology was quite different in our聽department and on this campus. In the 鈥�80s and 鈥�90s, we had this amazing piece of machinery聽called a VHS player. With it, we could see instructional videos in class and record student聽presentations–how cool was that? But, this equipment had to be housed somewhere. 171 Foss, which is now a suite for the offices of our department faculty, was Augsburg鈥檚聽A/V headquarters for many years. If you wanted to show a video in class, you needed to聽reserve a cart–a tall, gangly thing that had a large TV monitor on the top shelf and a VHS player聽on the shelf underneath. These top-heavy metal behemoths were on wheels, and there were聽perhaps a dozen of them.

Throughout the day, you鈥檇 see A/V student workers pushing these聽carts all over campus to classrooms where they had been reserved. It didn鈥檛 matter if there was聽a blizzard or a thunderstorm; someone had to push them through the snow, across the streets,聽and over the curbs. And, you counted yourself as fortunate to get one, because sometimes聽they were all in use in particular time slots. Back then, if you wanted to record student presentations, you could go to the library and check out a camera. But there were not things聽like mp4s, or online links, so if students wanted to see what they had done, they needed to get聽the VHS tape and find a place to play it.

In the meantime, technology was revolutionizing faculty offices. Throughout most of the 20th聽century, students would have to be very lucky to contact their professors. They could try them聽during their posted office hours, or they could phone them, but if the person wasn鈥檛 in, they聽were pretty much sunk. But then, along came voicemail! Now we could leave recorded聽messages for faculty and staff, 24/7. Especially in the early 鈥�90s, voicemail was all the rage; my聽goodness, you could program the phone to include all the phone extensions in your聽department, and send them all a group voicemail message. Now, of course, we would send such a note via email, but that wasn鈥檛 an option back then. Still, we felt quite privileged to have聽such state of the art equipment–including overhead projectors in every classroom!

Next time: When 鈥渨orking adults鈥� roamed around campus by the hundreds–the glorious era
of Weekend College.

 

Throwback Thursday

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A聽Periodic聽Tale of Departmental Lore (Part 1)

Written by David Lapakko

If you were an Augsburg student prior to 1988, Lindell Library and Oren Gateway Center didn鈥檛 exist–in fact, in their place was the college鈥檚 main parking lot. What would become Foss Center was simply a bare plot of land. Occupying the edge of the main parking lot on 22nd聽and Riverside was a rickety old building that housed North Country Coop, a predecessor to places like Whole Foods and The Wedge. It鈥檚 where Auggies and residents of Cedar-Riverside got their bagels and granola.聽聽

Your classes were likely to be in the Science Building or Old Main. You would not be majoring in Communication Studies, but rather, Speech Communication. And you would be in a joint department–the Department of Speech, Communication, and Theatre–with, as often as not, a chair who was a theatre professor. Some theatre professors even taught COM 111 on a fairly regular basis.

In the mid-鈥�80s, you wouldn鈥檛 be taking Intercultural Communication, Introduction to Communication Studies, Research Methods, Nonverbal Communication, or Family Communication because none of these courses existed. And there was no forensics program either.

When Foss was opened in the fall of 鈥�88, it was designed with the idea that all the communication faculty could easily fit into the corridor that houses 178-180 Foss, which has three offices (currently occupied by Professors Groven, Chamberlain, and Lapakko). Who in their right mind could imagine a communication department with more than three full-time faculty? Now, of course, we have six, if you include film and new media studies.聽聽

In short, the 鈥�80s were in many ways a simpler time, and our footprint on campus was more modest.

Next time:聽 When the VHS era was in full swing and voicemail arrived!

 

Reflections from a Speech Tournament

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Written by John Dewitt | Photos by Marceleen Mosher

“The level of professionalism– far too much.” – Latrice Royal

So, you want to enter a speech competition? Great! Competitive speech is a great way to improve聽your speaking skills (other than coming in to meet me at our Speaking Lab in Foss 171C). It offers a healthy competition for those who are looking聽to push their speaking skills to the next level. I would like to inform you about how these tournaments play out.

In high school, I participated in competitive聽forensics. Common categories include but are not limited to prose, duo, poetry, persuasive, informational, after dinner, and drama. I participated in prose and duo.聽However, be fair warned about the professional,聽competitive culture within speech tournaments. We’re not in high school anymore. The competition is high and the competitors have been training with a coach for months (Don’t worry! We have coaches at Augsburg too! You can speak with either Bob Groven or David Lapakko for more details!). If you think you can go into the tournament聽by yourself with no help from a coach, I salute you.

Every speech is 10 minutes long. So, it is best that you drill (aka practice) your speech as many times as you can with a timer. They will dock points if you are not fully memorized. In the real world, when you are publicly speaking, the audience wants you to do well. No one goes into a speech waiting for you to fail. However, in this competition, everyone is waiting for you to slip-up. Well, it is a competition after all. They want that trophy! The culture is to be professional. In high school, this was a looser聽term. Now, in college, on our way to adulting, professionalism is the game.聽 It is deemed as unprofessional to even talk to each other at these events. Unless it is a compliment聽loud enough for your judge to hear. Everyone is hyper-focused on themselves and doing well in their own speeches.

That said, competitive speech is a fun experience when you play the game for what it is. This is a competition!聽 I loved speech in high school because it got me out of my comfort zone. Participating in Speech in college will not only heighten聽your public speaking skills but, at Augsburg, it will heighten your will power聽to trust yourself and build professional skills. You’ve got this!!

David Lapakko & The Great American Think-Off

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Written by Preston Peterson

David Lapakko holds medals from Great American Think Off
David Lapakko wins Great American Think Off

The is a debate competition that happens every year in New York Mills, Minnesota. Communication Studies Associate Professor David Lapakko is a multi-year competitor and winner of this competition. Check out a recent conversation in the聽 for Lapakko鈥檚 thoughts on debate in society today and The Great American Think-Off.