Award-winning author, columnist, and professor聽Samuel Freedman featured five Augsburg College community members in a commentary for The New York Times’ On Religion section.聽The piece, “,” highlighted the work of Muslim Student Program Associate and Chaplain Fardosa Hassan ’12.聽

As Freedman reported, Hassan is among dozens of chaplains on college and university campuses across the U.S. to “play a vital dual role: helping Muslim students feel welcome, and introducing Islam to non-Muslims.”

This work, according to Hassan, has the potential to assist students during their college days and positively influence聽individuals’聽lives long after聽graduation.

鈥淢y role is to help students negotiate this multifaith, diverse environment,鈥� Hassan explained to Freedman. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to give them a tool for when they go out of this institution, so they know how to be respectful of others. A lot of times, people are afraid even to ask the questions of people who are different. So I say, begin with friendship. Start by saying hello.鈥�

In his聽column, Freedman acknowledges that interfaith conversations are meaningful and necessary not only on Augsburg’s campus but also just beyond its borders in Minneapolis.

Augsburg “is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in聽America and has traditionally attracted the vast majority of its students from white Protestant denominations,” he writes. “Yet its campus directly abuts the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood that is the epicenter of Minnesota鈥檚 population of 31,500 Somali Muslims. Perhaps nowhere else in the United States does a hockey rink sit so close to a halal meat market.”

While Augsburg has been a collaborative neighborhood partner for many years, President Paul Pribbenow has deepened that commitment in an effort to help the College fulfill its calling to foster conversations between聽the diverse residents of聽its vibrant community.

The story touches on interactions between Hassan and Augsburg College students whom聽Hassan has helped reflect on their spirituality聽to consider how it shapes their interpretations of the world. In this role, Hassan partners with聽College Pastor and Director of Ministries聽Sonja Hagander聽in individually supporting students as they navigate highs and lows, challenges and opportunities, faith and even their final exams.

Person-to-person efforts, according to Hassan, are at the heart聽of her聽work.

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Herb Chilstrom ’54

Chilstrom, who was the聽first Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, captured the heart of a Green Valley News editor –聽Dan Sheare – after he聽reviewed聽the book for the news site. The book, Sheare said, “…relates stories that provide plenty of evidence that dogs can be great teachers 鈥� if you鈥檙e paying attention.”

Read on the Green Valley news site.

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He didn’t take Advanced Placement high school classes in science. He didn’t arrive on campus with tons of calculus experience. Nor did he arrive on campus and immediately begin taking physics courses.

“I took a grand total of one science class in high school,” Johnson said.

But because of an interest in how things work, Johnson was drawn to the problem-solving part of physics. The move has turned out well.

Recently Johnson was named one of four Rossing Physics Scholars by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, becoming one of only four students at an ELCA college or university to receive a $10,000 scholarship. Johnson, who will be a junior this fall, is the only student from a Minnesota ELCA school to be named a Rossing Scholar or a honorable mention scholar.

This summer, Johnson has worked in the biophysics lab in the basement of Science Hall. He has worked to determine a bending modulus for lipid worm-like micelles. Last summer, Johnson worked with professors Ben Stottrup and Dave Hanson in examining the effects that atmospheric pollutants have on cloud formation.

In addition to the scholarship, the award indicates just how far Johnson has come since high school. Johnson grew up in St. Croix Falls before entering substance abuse treatment in high school. Upon completing treatment, Johnson moved to Vadnais Heights and attended the Arona Academy campus of Sobriety High in Coon Rapids. At Augsburg, Johnson is in the StepUP program, a program that is much of the reason why he chose the College.

“When I was looking at colleges, every time I went to Augsburg, I felt excited about it,” Johnson said. “I would say, ‘I can see myself here.’ Other college settings felt daunting.”

In his personal letter for the scholarship, Johnson talked about how he was behind other students because of Sobriety High’s mission.

“I attended a high school with a primary focus on helping teens with a history of substance abuse build an emotional and spiritual foundation,” he wrote. “This came at the cost of some opportunities for more advanced studies.”

Johnson has since worked to catch up, especially in the area of mathematics. In addition to his research, he took a multivariable calculus course at the University of Minnesota.

While his path to becoming a physics major has been non-traditional, Johnson is excited by how science impacts our day-to-day life.

“Physics is super relevant in my personal life,” he said. “I’m big into motorcycles, I have a street bike and a dirt bike, and being able to approach that through physics is really cool. I appreciate it.”

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