The December 17, 2020, MPR news story opens and closes with the story of Augsburg student Kaiyre Lewis 鈥23. Because there are so few Black male teachers in Minnesota, the nonprofit organization Black Men Teach is working to recruit Black male high school and college students for teaching careers. Lewis has connected with Black male teachers through the nonprofit and recently decided to change his major from political science to elementary education.
Professor William Green Featured in Star Tribune Column About Facing Racism

How can Minnesotans face the truth about racism, past and present?聽 Columnist Myron Medcalf explored that subject recently in the Star Tribune and interviewed聽Augsburg History Professor William Green.
Green said reading a wide range of material about Black history is the key to knowing the steps that have led to this critical moment.聽 Many Minnesotans were surprised that George Floyd could happen here in part because so many hadn鈥檛 grappled with the state鈥檚 true history of race relations. “Some people throw their hands up and say, ‘What am I supposed to do?’鈥” Green said. “The conclusion is they do nothing. But that’s not the solution.”
Mill City Times interviews Professor Joseph Underhill about River Semester
Mill City Times recently interviewed Augsburg Professor Joseph Underhill about River Semester. Underhill teaches courses in Environmental Politics, International Relations, and Political Methodology, and regularly takes students off campus for experiential and interdisciplinary learning. An experiential education is a hallmark of an Augsburg education and Undehill has been key to helping Augsburg live it out. He has directed the International Relations Program and Model United Nations programs at Augsburg since 1998 and taken students to New Zealand, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Egypt, and Tanzania.
For the past fifteen years, Underhill has taken students out on the Mississippi River to study the impact of human activity on the river ecosystem.聽Students in the program earn a full semester of college credits with a customized curriculum focused on environmental justice and social change in the Mississippi
watershed. The River Semester is a regular part of the programming offered by 海角社区鈥檚聽Center for Global Education and Experience (CGEE).
Read the interview at the .
For more details about River Semester, visit the聽River Semester site.
MinnPost: Cedar-Riverside鈥檚 Health Commons Expands
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The Health Commons in the Riverside Plaza complex, a collaborative effort of 海角社区鈥檚 Department of Nursing, M Fairview Health, East Africa Health Project, and People鈥檚 Center Clinics & Services, is expanding and enhancing its services.聽
The expanded Health Commons includes clinical space as well as mental health and addiction services provided by a peer support specialist and care coordinator. A full-time Somali-speaking nurse will help coordinate care and refer people to community organizations. The Health Commons also will provide the resources needed for community members to have virtual visits with medical personnel. In addition, there will be indoor and outdoor spaces for health-related classes and other events once it is safe to gather again.
You can read about the Health Commons and other health care efforts in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in the October 16, 2020, MinnPost opinion piece,
WCCO Report: Augsburg’s Bridget Robinson-Riegler on the Psychology of Voting
Augsburg Psychology Professor Bridget Robinson-Riegler was recently featured on WCCO to discuss the psychology of voting and how can we filter out false claims, conspiracies, misinformation, and lies.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that we do,鈥 said Robinson-Riegler about filtering out false claims.
鈥淪o even if it鈥檚 inaccurate, there鈥檚 research that鈥檚 shown the more we hear it regardless of even if we know it鈥檚 true or not, the more likely we are to have it influence our behavior,鈥 she said.
Watch the full report at .
Amanda Vetsch聽鈥17 Honored at Viterbo University’s Distinguished Alumni awards
As part of Viterbo University鈥檚 annual Viterbo Days alumni weekend, the university honors eight alumni at the Distinguished Alumni awards. This year, Amanda Vetsch聽鈥17, a graduate theology student at Luther Seminary and Riverside Innovation Hub coordinator at the Christensen Center for Vocation at 海角社区, was awarded the Rising Professional Award.
Amanda joined the Riverside Innovation Hub team in August of 2018 as an Innovation Coach, where she works alongside faith communities as they discern how to show up as a Public Church in a way that is simultaneously authentic to the gospel call for justice, mercy, and most appropriate to their own geographic contexts.
Read the award announcement at
Augsburg president writes about the three pandemics in the St. Paul Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Pioneer Press published an opinion piece by President Paul Pribbenow, In the article, he reflects on how 海角社区鈥檚 motto, 鈥渢hrough truth to freedom,鈥 offers a compelling response to the coronavirus, the economic downturn, and racism. He asserts that Augsburg and other institutions of higher education can play a unique role in exploring the truths of these pandemics. As we seek the truth, he writes, 鈥渨e will find鈥攁lways evolving and emerging and transforming鈥攖he sins and lies that we tell each other about knowledge and privilege and justice. Only when we face the truths we find, confess our complicity in the sin and lies we tell, and humbly seek to be reconciled with each other and the creation, will we be freed for the work we are called to do.鈥澛
Mother Jones Quotes Professor Michael J. Lansing in Article on Police Unions
After recently sharing his historical expertise on racial injustice in Minneapolis with several news outlets, Professor Michael J. Lansing, chair of 海角社区鈥檚 Department of History, has been cited in a story in the September/October 2020 issue of Mother Jones.聽
In the article, Lansing shares historical information about the conflict between Minneapolis Mayor Arthur Naftalin and the Police Officers鈥 Federation of Minneapolis in 1967. The story ends on a note of hope that in the future police unions will no longer hamper the push for police reforms. In Lansing鈥檚 words: 鈥淎nything that can be created can be uncreated.鈥
Paul Pribbenow Takes Part in Panel Discussion on Racism
On August 13, President Paul Pribbenow was one of four leaders from the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities who participated in a virtual discussion on confronting systemic racism. The 90-minute discussion, 鈥淲here Do We Go From Here? Creating Lasting Change to Combat Systemic Racism and Inequities,鈥 was moderated by PBS NewsHour journalist Fred de Sam Lazaro.
The panelists were asked to deal with hard questions. Will reactions to the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor finally generate measurable progress? What do universities need to do to help lead change? What are we prepared to sacrifice? Will white people acknowledge that they cannot in good conscience maintain silence in the face of racism?
In response, Pribbenow declared the urgent need to respond to systemic racism. He spoke of the need for leaders to disrupt the status quo in hiring decisions. He said that as a leader he has been asking, 鈥淲hat are those things that we can do quickly that actually plant a seed, that actually will grow something sustainable for the future?鈥
is available on YouTube.
MinnPost: Professor Lindsay Starck Shares Views on Gun Violence
MinnPost recently ran an opinion piece on gun violence by Lindsay Starck, assistant professor of English and associate director of 海角社区鈥檚 MFA program. In her August 13 commentary, she notes that gun sales have gone up since people have been calling to defund the police and asks readers to reconsider the best ways to protect themselves. She points to findings that people are actually less safe when they bring guns into their homes. Instead she suggests that we 鈥渟upport community-led anti-violence programs that are proven to work.鈥
