The St. Paul Pioneer Press mentioned that聽Augsburg College was聽among 92 higher-education institutions nationally to be recognized for excellence in diversity by the magazine Insight Into Diversity.
Read, “” on the Pioneer Press site.
John Shockley provides commentary for MinnPost story on newsroom decision-making
John Shockley, an Augsburg College political science instructor, recently was quoted in an article from聽MinnPost’s media section regarding newsroom decision-making and editorial judgment.
Shockley described interactions with a Star Tribune newspaper editor pertaining to聽the publication’s decision not to cover聽an often talked-about story from the Twin Cities metro. Visit the MinnPost website to read, “.”
Augsburg partners in Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology
$20 million NSF grant goes to UW-Madison, Augsburg College
and collaborators
Augsburg College is joining a research group tasked with exploring the benefits and potential risks of nanotechnology.
Augsburg聽has been added as a partner to the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, a multi-institutional research center based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.聽Supported through a nearly $20 million award of National Science Foundation funding over the next five years,聽the CSN includes 15 innovative faculty members from research institutions聽across the United States.
Z. Vivian Feng, associate professor of chemistry, is leading Augsburg鈥檚 participation in the center.
Nanotechnology involves the use of materials at the smallest scale, including the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules.
Products that use nanoscale materials range from beer bottles and car wax to solar cells and electric and hybrid car batteries. If you read your books on a Kindle, a semiconducting material manufactured at the nanoscale underpins the high-resolution screen.
While there are already hundreds of products that use nanomaterials in various ways, much remains unknown about how these modern materials and the tiny particles they are composed of interact with the environment and living things.
Feng first became involved in the CSN during the final聽year of its first grant phase, which corresponded with her 2014-15 sabbatical. Her expertise in characterizations of nanomaterials and model membranes, as well as analytical method development will contribute to the understanding of various interactions at the highly complex nano-bio interfaces.
In particular, Feng will lead a聽team of undergraduate researchers in exploring the various toxicity mechanisms of nanomaterials to environmentally-beneficial bacteria to provide insight to redesign nanomaterials that are benign in the environment. Under Feng’s direction, Augsburg College students Hilena Frew ’17, Lyle Nyberg ’17, and Thu Nguyen ’16聽contributed to the CSN’s initial research phase. Frew and Nguyen will continue working as undergraduate researchers with the support of a stipend from the new NSF grant in the coming year. Find additional information about Feng’s research interests and mentorship on her .
Along with UW-Madison and Augsburg, research partners on the grant include the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois, Northwestern University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Tuskegee University, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Iowa, and Georgia Tech.
CSN funding is provided by the NSF Division of Chemistry through the Centers for Chemical Innovation Program (CHE-1240151).
MinnPost features Professor Bill Green’s latest book
Augsburg College Professor of History Bill Green spoke with MinnPost about his latest聽book, “Degrees of Freedom: The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1912.”
Green told reporter Amy Goetzman that his book聽chronicles conditions for African-Americans in Minnesota in the half-century following the Civil War and聽picks up where his聽previous book, 鈥淎 Peculiar Imbalance: The Fall and Rise of Racial Equality in Minnesota, 1837-1869,鈥澛爈eft off.
“The history [of Minnesota] is amazing, particularly when you look at who was here before statehood and how they interacted with each other,” Green said. “I found that we were lacking a good accounting of the black people who were part of that history. Most of them didn鈥檛 leave a written record, which looks like they had nothing to say, but of course they did. They were part of this experience.鈥�
to learn more.
Bill Green answers WCCO ‘Good Question’
History Professor Bill Green聽spoke with WCCO-TV about why Minnesotans are quick to defend their state’s image.
A recent Washington Post article identified Red Lake County, Minn., as the “absolute worst place to live in America,” and Minnesotans immediately sought to set the record straight. In聽the聽news station鈥檚 Good Question segment, Green聽explained that聽part of the reason why Minnesotans reacted strongly to the article is because of the major investment they make in ensuring that the state offers a favorable聽quality of life.
鈥淲e work hard to have good government, we work hard to create a society that attempts to include everyone,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e work hard to invest resources into making this place look beautiful.鈥�
奥补迟肠丑听鈥溾�� to learn more.
Augsburg alumni bring ‘Hoopla Train’ to rural Minnesota
This summer, Sod House — a theater company founded by Augsburg College Chair of Theater Arts聽Darcey Engen 鈥�88聽and her husband, Luverne Seifert 鈥�83 — brought a聽production of 鈥淗oopla Train (with Yard Master Yip and his Polkastra)鈥澛爐o 14 historic ballrooms in different Minnesota cities聽including聽Barrett, McGregor, Nisswa, and Sleepy Eye.
Engen and Seifert shared the stage with a troupe of performers to put on the production billed as 鈥淟awrence Welk meets 鈥楬ee-Haw.鈥欌�� The Sod House Theater聽project began in 2011 when Engen and Seifert collaborated to create the condensed version of Anton Chekhov鈥檚 play “The Cherry Orchard” with Twin Cities colleagues including聽Sarah Myers, associate聽professor of theater at Augsburg.
This year the “Hoopla Train” has garnered the attention of media outlets across Minnesota, including the following organizations and stories:
- BringMeTheNews — Hoopla Train: The touring theater variety show coming to a stage near you
- —聽Summer is showtime for Sod House, Minnesota’s whistle-stop theater
- —聽All aboard the ‘Hoopla Train’ bound for Faribault
- Rochester Post-Bulletin —聽‘Hoopla Train’ pulls into town
- — Professional Twin Cities Theater Troupe to perform at the American Legion in Nisswa
- Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch — ‘Hoopla Train’ show coming to Sleepy Eye next week
- —聽‘Hoopla’ brings old-fashioned fun to outstate Minnesota
Bring Me The News shares roundup of River Semester info
The online media聽resource Bring Me The News shared a compilation of information about the Augsburg College River Semester, a three-and-a-half month program in which students and faculty members will traverse the Mississippi River from St. Paul to New Orleans while studying topics in the arts, humanities, and sciences. As the story noted, “Students will sleep in campsites instead of dorm rooms and will paddle rather than walk聽to their classes this fall.”
Star Tribune previews Augsburg College River Semester
Augsburg College’s first-ever River Semester will be聽an opportunity for students to spend the聽fall and early winter months traveling from St. Paul to New Orleans in 24-foot voyageur canoes on the Mississippi River. Participants will study topics ranging from ecology to history to literature.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently discussed this experiential education opportunity in the article, ““
Pioneer Press features debut book from Howling Bird Press
Howling Bird Press, a student-run press run out of the Augsburg MFA in Creative Writing program,聽is bringing out its first book.
“At the Border of Wilshire & Nobody” was launched as part of the MFA program’s publishing concentration. The book-length poetry collection by Los Angeles-based Marci Vogel, winner of the 2015 Howling Bird Press poetry prize, was chosen from a field of more than 60 from across the nation and was shepherded into print by Howling Bird associate editors Amanda Symes ’15 MFA, Ashley Cardona ’15 MFA, and Kevin Matuseski ’16 MFA.
Visit the Pioneer Press website to read, “‘.”
President Paul Pribbenow earns fundraising professional award
Augsburg College President Paul C. Pribbenow was named the 2015 Outstanding Professional Fundraiser in聽the National Philanthropy Day Awards presented by the Minnesota chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Pribbenow will be honored at a National Philanthropy Day event held November 20.