Spring 2010 Archives - Augsburg Now

Out-of-the-box Auggies

�� — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:47:46 +0000

On paper, Augsburg College looks a lot like most other liberal arts colleges. We have similar courses, departments, and programs. We teach students to think critically and to lead responsibly in the world, which is what other schools also aim to do. And our students, staff, and faculty don’t look much different than those at the big school across the street or the small campuses across the river.

But in person we look and act differently. At Augsburg, we try to put our own creative spin on things and to look at issues from different perspectives.

For example, this year some of our first-year students and a group of faculty spent an entire semester working together on a big problem in our first “I-Term.” In another example, students in the Honors program create their very own courses, write and edit their own scholarly journal, and together shape their own learning environment. And, one of our alums has found a very creative way to do community service while also running a thriving business.

The stories in this issue represent just a few of the “out-of-the-box” programs, people, and partnerships that make us uniquely Augsburg.

	HONORS — The Honors program consists of a combination of classes, students, structure, and a whole lot of creativity.
	NEIGHBORHOOD — Working closely with Cedar-Riverside and Seward residents is just one of the ways we live out our vocation to serve our neighbors.
	I-TERM — 50 students, 5 professors, 1 big problem. Last fall’s I-Term students discussed three big challenges in the non-graded Fate of the Earth course.
	FINNEGANS — As a student, Jacquie Berglund ’87 dreamed of helping the working poor. Today her sense of vocation drives her to take leaps of faith that make life better for others.
	IGNITE — What’s a great way to engage alumni? Introduce them to current students who have similar majors or interests and let them swap stories. In the end, everyone benefits.

Online exclusive: More out-of-the-box partnerships

Photo by Emily Nichols

Arts and culture

In the past year, assistant art professor Susan Boecher has developed a deep partnership with Centro, a Minneapolis-based social service organization providing education, health and wellness, and arts and culture services for the metropolitan Chicano and Latino communities. Boecher became active with Centro when her fall 2009 Fine Arts Keystone class—which included students from film, theatre, music and studio arts—developed and presented “Finding Centro,” a collaborative art piece based on their service experience at Centro. The performance piece was presented last December on campus and to Centro clients and staff at Cento’s Chicago Avenue location. The performance at Centro was held in conjunction with a silent auction of student work to raise money in support of the organization. For spring 2010 semester 2010, Boecher developed a community-based photography course that required students to create a portfolio of work based on their service experiences at Centro. At the end of the term, students presented their portfolios to staff, volunteers, elders and children at Centro and also provided a CD of the portfolio materials for Centro to use in its promotional and capacity-building efforts. Boecher will continue her relationship with Centro this summer when she will teach a 5-week photography workshop for Augsburg photography students and Centro teens from the Raices program.

The Centro projects are not the first time Boecher has connected student learning with community engagement. Last summer Boecher conducted a photo workshop that partnered Augsburg students with a group of teens from the local Karen community. The 5-week class taught skills needed to expose, develop, and print black and white film, and encouraged students to spend time together outside of class. Students attended youth picnics, church services, a local concert, and a Karen wedding. An exhibition of the completed work, “With Our Eyes,” was showcased in the Oren Gateway Gallery as part of the Nobel Peace Prize forum in March.

International space physics research

In seven of the past 10 years, Russian physicist Viacheslav (Slava) Pilipenko has traveled to Augsburg College to spend a semester conducting research, teaching physics courses and collaborating with Augsburg students and faculty in the area of space physics.

Pilipenko first met Augsburg physics professor Mark Engebretsen at a space physics conference in Vancouver and, through funding from the National Science Foundation, the two began a decade of collaborative research on the aurora borealis and geomagnetic storms. Specifically, their research has focused on the effects that ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves may have in triggering radiation storms in the Earth’s magnetosphere—activity that makes the aurora visible to humans on land and can also disrupt electronic communication, interfere with navigation systems and even damage orbiting satellites.

In Moscow, Pilipenko is head of the laboratory for ULF waves at the Institute of the Physics of the Earth and also holds an appointed position at the internationally recognized Space Research Institute, giving him a valuable perspective in studying Earth’s space environment. Pilipenko will return to Augsburg for the spring semester 2011 to continue his work with Augsburg students and faculty.

Partnerships in Central America

For more than 15 years, the Center for Global Education (CGE) at Augsburg College has partnered with the Winds of Peace Foundation (WPF) in Nicaragua, supporting its efforts to raise awareness of and alleviate social, economic and civil inequalities in the country. The foundation uses a combination of lending and grant making to indigenous communities, women’s groups and the rural poor to assist them in improving their circumstances through their own efforts.

Mark Lester, co-director of CGE’s permanent site in Nicaragua and longtime resident in the country, serves as the Winds of Peace Foundation’s field director, identifying programs for WPF funding that foster sustainable self- and community development. Having permanent staff in the country helps the foundation maintain consistency and accountability in its giving and provides a resource for grant and loan recipients.

The results of the program included significant and long-term improvements in the social infrastructure of communities, with residents taking on leadership roles and new responsibilities for the common good.

The Center for Global Education has also extended the reach of its Central American programs through a partnership with the Ignatian Colleagues Program (ICP), a collaborative venture of 27 Jesuit colleges and university and sponsoring provinces. Through this partnership, CGE provides the international component of the program’s orientation for deans, vice presidents and other top administrators. To date, CGE has conducted three immersion programs in El Salvador for the ICP and will hold another in Nicaragua this summer.

“The Jesuit colleges and universities are striving to ensure their leadership understands social justice in a global sense,” Lestor said. “Because of our similar mission and our locations in developing areas of El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, the Center for Global Education is a good fit for them.”

CGE also has long-standing relationships with a number of individual Jesuit universities, having conducted more than a dozen immersion programs for professors and senior administration officials from Seattle University, Boston College and the University of San Francisco over the years.

Partners close to home

Augsburg has long-term partnerships with numerous organizations surrounding our campus locations–partnerships that benefit Augsburg not only by providing ways we can support our communities but also by offering excellent learning experiences for our students and giving faculty the opportunity to collaborate with practitioners in the field on current issues in their disciplines.

Three such partnerships near our main campus are the Brian Coyle Community Center, the East African Women’s Center and the Seward Montessori school.

The Brian Coyle Community Center serves the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, one of the most densely populated areas in the state. The neighborhood center provides a highly accessible entry point to the social service system as well as a gathering place for neighborhood residents.

Programs at the Coyle Center are run by Pillsbury United Communities (PUC), a nonprofit organization with centers in several Minneapolis inner city neighborhoods. Over the years, the Augsburg community has partnered with PUC to provide many projects and services at the Coyle Center, including:

Establishing a scholarship program allowing Coyle Center youth to pursue a college education at Augsburg
Placing student interns and providing considerable staff and faculty volunteer hours at the center
Supporting Campus Kitchen involvement at the center
Donating cash and in-kind items through efforts such as Augsburg’s annual “Foodless Food Drive” that helps replenish supplies in the Bryan Coyle Community Center Food Shelf

Just around the corner from the Coyle Center is the East African Women’s Center (EAWC), where Augsburg has been active for several years. The center is designed to assist Somali women and girls across generations in navigating American systems and making the transition to life in the U.S. while still preserving their traditions.

Since the center opened in 2005, Augsburg students, staff and faculty have devoted countless hours of volunteer time to the center—doing everything from painting and handyman repairs to conducting on-campus tutoring sessions for Somali high school students to working side-by-side with Somali women learning to cook and sew.

Augsburg even gave the Women’s Center a “kitchen shower,” a project initiated by Mary Laurel True, Augsburg’s director of service learning and community engagement and member of the EAWC advisory council. Through this initiative, students in a religion class taught by professor Bev Stratton sought donations from the Augsburg community and purchased items for the Women’s Center kitchen based on a wish list provided by women at the center. The donations also included cash and gift cards to Target and Ikea so that the East African women could take an active part in shopping to equip the center’s kitchen.

Across Interstate 94 from Augsburg College is the Seward Montessori school, which serves more than 800 students from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Augsburg’s 15-year partnership with Seward Montessori has resulted in several initiatives engaging Augsburg students with Seward students and teachers. Two of the key programs are Augsburg’s Bonner Leadership Program, in which students make a commitment to work in the community 8 to 10 hours per week for a minimum of two years, and the Augsburg Reads program, which is a campus work study program involving Augsburg students assisting teachers in their classrooms.

Augsburg also involved the entire 7th grade class of Seward Montessori in last summer’s Augsburg Day of Service by having the Seward students work side-by-side with Augsburg volunteers in the Augsburg community garden, the Korean Peace Garden and in clean-up efforts at the Bedlam Theatre.

In addition to the student engagement initiatives, Augsburg offers a scholarship to Seward students who attend Augsburg—$1,000 for each year the student attended Seward—encouraging area students to come to Augsburg and laying the groundwork for strong connections between the college and the neighborhood far into the future.

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Aquila Tapio ’10 MAE

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Naadamaadiwin — Helping one another

When she was growing up, Aquila Tapio said she never really knew what she wanted to do. “I just wanted to help people,” she said.

Until recently, Tapio and her husband helped Native American children as foster parents through the Indian Child Welfare Act program. And then after the birth of her second child, she decided it was time for her to return to the workforce.

“I wanted to help Native American kids and keep doing the work we were doing at home,” she says. So when Tapio discovered Augsburg’s tribal special education program, she knew she had found the right fit.

Naadamaadiwin, Ojibwe for “helping one another,” is a partnership between the University of Minnesota-Duluth Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Language Revitalization and the Augsburg College Master of Arts in Education program. Naadamaadiwin is a special education licensure program in emotional behavioral disorders and learning disabilities with a focus on the unique needs of Native American children.

For Tapio, a member of the Oglala Lakota in South Dakota, working with Native children and families through the education system is important because education is a “touchy issue” for Native Americans. “We need teachers who know where people come from and who understand the history and trauma families have experienced,” she says. “Having a Native teacher provides comfort to students and their parents.”

Tapio is completing her student teaching this term at Longfellow Humanities Magnet School in St. Paul. She says the Naadamaadiwin program has given her a new way to give Native children the consistency and support they need. “No matter how many times you have to tell them something, they will pick it up,” she says. “They are capable. They can do anything.”

Naadamaadiwin is a two-year cohort-based program with classes meeting primarily online.

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A young woman meets her many grandmothers

�� — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:27:40 +0000

BY WENDI WHEELER ’06

Last year, Krystal Mattison ’10 studied in Korea. Many students who study abroad are profoundly affected by the experience. For Mattison, a history and American Indian studies major from St. Paul, spending the year abroad was a life-changing opportunity to bond with her new grandmothers.

Mattison is the granddaughter of a “comfort woman.” During World War II, thousands of Korean women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. Some of these women did not survive their ordeal, and many were unable to have children as a result of their treatment. Furthermore, the women were unable to talk about their experiences until many years later.

During Kyrystal Mattison’s year in Korea, she became friends with women, like her own grandmother, called “comfort women,” who were abused by the Japanese military during World War II.

Her grandmother died when Mattison was five years old, but she heard the story from her father. While in Korea, Mattison spent time at the House of Sharing, an organization in Seoul that houses and cares for the surviving comfort women. She says that after she told them about her grandmother, the women became her adopted grandmothers (halmonis), even giving her the Korean name Soo-Jeong. “They spoiled me, holding my hands and feeding me,” she says.

She learned from the women, who now think of themselves not as victims but as survivors and activists, that speaking out against violence is an important part of the healing process. “This experience brought me so much completion that I had to do something.”

That “something” was to connect with Jessica Nathanson, assistant professor of women’s studies and director of Augsburg’s Women’s Resource Center. After Mattison shared her grandmother’s story and her own experience in Korea, the center agreed to donate the proceeds from its annual benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues to the House of Sharing.

Eve Ensler’s episodic play began off-Broadway in 1996. Each year, The Vagina Monologues and other theatrical productions are presented across the country by women on college campuses on V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.

“Since the purpose of performing this show is to fight violence against women by raising awareness about the issue and funds for organizations who do this work, we feel like it was a tremendously successful event,” says Nathanson. “The performances were excellent,” she adds, “beautifully and powerfully delivered.”

This year’s production raised more than $800 through ticket sales and donations, which amounts to 940,000 Korean won.

“This is such a personal issue for me, and I think it’s amazing that the women of Augsburg took it on,” Mattison says. At the end of each Augsburg performance, Mattison gave a speech about her grandmother. “I felt like she was there with me.”

The Vagina Monologues was directed by Julia Sewell, a senior psychology major from Minneapolis. The cast included Irene Abdullah, Veronica Berg, Kia Burton, Amber Davis, Rebecca Dickinson, Sarah Gillund, Annika Gunderson, Lucreshia Grant, Elizabeth Hanson, Brandy Hyatt, Valencia McMurray, Lily Morris, Kris Ness, Magdalen Ng, Shannon O’Brien, Yasameen Sajady, Leann Vice-Reshel, Rochelle Weidner, and Courtney Wiley.

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How girlfriends do theology

�� — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:18:19 +0000

WENDI WHEELER ’06

“Doing Theology with Girlfriends,” or DTwG as it is known, is not your typical Bible study.

Sonja Hagander, associate pastor at Augsburg, started DTwG because students told her they wanted a Bible study on campus. “But you can’t always call it a ‘Bible study,’” Hagander says, “because that means it’s difficult or boring or only for people who already understand the Bible.”

So DTwG gives women at Augsburg a chance to connect, to support each other, and to relate their own life experiences to scripture. This group of girlfriends gathers once a month to share stories of their lives and to “do” theology.

The idea for DTwG came as Hagander reflected on how she loved spending time with her own girlfriends and on the importance of relating to other women. When the group gathers each month, one woman shares a story from her life. The others then share their own feelings and memories related to the story.

Hagander chooses a reading or two from the Bible, which the women use to dig deeper into their experiences. Finally, they ask how what they’ve learned might change their daily lives or the way they practice their faith.

On the last Monday in January, one student talked about what it means to “truly experience” nature as she related the story of her family’s vacation in Denali National Park. “I sat there for hours, looking out for miles, reflecting and praying and trying to figure out my place within God’s beautiful creation,” she said.

Hagander passed out copies of Psalm 23, and the girlfriends identified their own green pastures and still waters. For one, a late-night jog around the lakes in Minneapolis was a way for her to connect to nature. Another experienced the majesty of creation while watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon.

Then Hagander asked the group to examine the dark and destructive side of nature using Job’s account of a fire-breathing, stone-hearted leviathan. This led to a discussion about the massive loss of life caused by the earthquakes in Haiti. One woman marveled at the faith that kept some people alive as they waited for days to be pulled from the rubble of destroyed homes, churches, and schools.

“Today is a gift that we get to use in the best way possible,” Hagander said, asking how the women could take this discussion into their lives.

This hour wasn’t a gab session or group therapy. But it wasn’t an ordinary Bible study either. There were no right answers or theologically sound interpretations. Just coffee and tea, comfortable chairs, a pink candle, and a chance to share.

That is how girlfriends do theology.

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Auggies on the ice

�� — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:05:38 +0000

BY DON STONER

Chris Johnson ’10–A third-generation hockey star

Chris Johnson certainly has an impressive hockey pedigree.

Chris is the son of Mark Johnson, a member of the fabled “Miracle on Ice” 1980 U.S. Olympic team, a pro hockey star, and coach of the 2010 U.S. Olympic women’s silver-medal hockey squad. He’s the grandson of “Badger” Bob Johnson, one of the greatest coaches in American hockey history—who also happened to attend Augsburg for a year before transferring to the University of Wisconsin. And his siblings all played hockey on various teams.

But Chris Johnson has also made a name for himself as a leader of the Auggie men’s hockey team. A native of Verona, Wis., Johnson had a terrific career as an Auggie, scoring 41 goals with 74 assists for 115 points in his 104-game career. He had a goal or assist in 15 of Augsburg’s 27 games this season, including seven multiple-point efforts.

Johnson’s squads reached the MIAC postseason playoffs in three of his four seasons, including two with him as team captain. He earned All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors all four seasons and All-American honors last year.

Off the ice, Johnson will also be remembered as a top hockey player. He’s a member of Augsburg’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has helped lead hockey ministry and Bible-study groups of student-athletes. He’s also worked with the Herb Brooks Foundation’s “Rink Rats” program, teaching hockey skills to students from the Seward Montessori School. Johnson is a finance major with a 3.4 GPA.

“Hockey was everywhere when we were growing up, in a good way, not in a pressure way,” Johnson told columnist Rachel Blount of the Star Tribune in a January feature. “We all got to play at the same high school as my dad. He taught us that even though we might have a last name that helps, it doesn’t matter if you don’t work hard. But he also told us that at the end of the day, it’s all about having fun.”

This season was a special one for the Johnson family. Since the U.S. women’s hockey team was based at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine, Minn., prior to the Olympics, Mark—who took a leave of absence from his job as coach of the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team to lead the Olympic squad—had ample opportunities to be with his son in the Twin Cities. Mark attended several of his son’s games at Augsburg, and the two met weekly for dinner and father-son bonding.

In a “Profiles of Excellence” feature on the CollegeSportingNews.com website by Rich Mies in January, Chris Johnson said that his experience at Augsburg has been a positive one. “I’ve received a great education here,” he said, “and I cherish the relationships I’ve made here with teammates, coaches, teachers, and friends. I’ve grown up a lot while I’ve been here.”

He also said he may consider following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and coach hockey someday.

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Multiply your mind by giving it away

Paul C. Pribbenow — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:58:14 +0000

As this issue of Augsburg Now illustrates, the Augsburg community is engaged in many efforts and initiatives that are best characterized as innovative—or “out-of-the-box,” as they’re called here. In fact, I believe deeply that there is something about Augsburg and its mission that lends itself to this sort of entrepreneurial spirit, this willingness to try new ways of doing things in service to our students and neighbors. Just think of the last 30 years of new programs at Augsburg—the Weekend College; the expansion to seven graduate programs; the Augsburg campus at Bethel Lutheran Church in Rochester and at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Bloomington; the Augsburg Core Curriculum––(AugCore), with its expansive framework for educating students in the liberal arts and in the world; the CLASS office, providing support for students with learning differences; the StepUP program, meeting the needs of students recovering from addictions; and the list goes on and on. All examples of how Augsburg is on the leading edge of providing an excellent education in new and innovative ways.

I’ve recently been reading literature on helping organizations to embrace and sustain a culture of innovation—that is, to create organizational cultures that are constantly looking for new and different ways to do things, to make products, to deliver services; to save souls, educate students, heal the sick. Recently, I happened upon the writing of Mark Federman, a Canadian scholar whose writings on innovation include this provocative suggestion: “Multiply your mind by giving it away.” And Federman means exactly what he says—be generous, be charitable, give instead of always taking. Because when you are generous with your mind, with your knowledge and education, you help to create organizations and neighborhoods and agencies and churches and schools that are marked not by the scarcity of the world but by the abundance of what’s possible when generosity of mind and heart and spirit is our guiding principle.

How will you give away your mind in the communities and organizations you serve? I constantly find examples of such generosity of mind right here in the Augsburg community, and you’ll see them in the stories featured here. For example, I’m struck by the ways in which staff member Brian Noy and his many colleagues who run our Campus Kitchen program are illustrating this generosity of mind and spirit. In addition to the ongoing preparation and delivery of 2,000 meals a month they serve to our neighbors in Phillips and Cedar-Riverside, they have focused our attention on the important role that food plays in our lives—as sustenance for our bodies, as fellowship for our community, as politics and economics in our neighborhood and world. They have multiplied their minds by giving them away to all of us. And the results are staggering—a community garden on the edge of campus that brings together neighbors and students and children, a farmers market that brings organic farmers from across the region to campus, composting of leftover everything in the cafeteria, and so much more—abundance through generosity.

The gift of an education, an Augsburg education, calls all of us to this generous undertaking of

multiplying your mind and knowledge and experience by giving it away so that it serves God’s abundant intentions for God’s people and world. That is the sort of innovation that is at the heart of Augsburg’s mission and vision. I’m proud to share in this significant work.

PAUL C. PRIBBENOW, PRESIDENT

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The Lutefisk Dinner gatherings: Looking back over the years

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1984—At the Lutefisk Dinner at West Immanuel Lutheran Church, (left to right) Lori Christianson, Ruth Helland, Phil Quanbeck ’50, Jim Pederson ’56

(Left to Right) Phil Quanbeck ’50 and Paul Sonnack

(Left to Right) Jalmer Pederson (Jim and Dwight’s father), Joel Torstenson ’38, Fran Torstenson

(Left to Right) Ruth Helland, Phil Helland ’42, Bernie Benson, Tom Benson ’56

1984 — At the log cabin on the Pederson farm, (left to right) Joel Torstenson ’38, Carl Chrislock ’37, Harlan Christianson ’57, Ralph Sulerud

2001 – Elaine and Jim Pederson ’56 beside the 125-year-old pot-bellied stove from the original Pederson farmhouse

2002 — At the log house gathering before the Lutefisk Dinner, (left to right) Charles Evavold ’56, Judy (Fosse) ’61 and Neal Snider ’57, Joanne (Joski) Evavold ’62, Jim Pederson ’56

2002 — Auggies at West Immanuel Lutheran Church, (Front row, kneeling, left to right) Dwight Pederson ’60, Harlan Christianson ’57, Erwin Christenson ’58, Rod Erickson ’56, Elaine Pederson; (Middle row, left to right) Karin (Sabo) Mantor ’86, Julie Sabo ’90, Joanne (Joski) Evavold ’62, Judy (Fosse) Snider ’61, Gertrude (Kemmer) Sulerud ’58, Jan (Anderson) Rykken ’54, Valborg (Gilseth) Chrislock ’40, Mary Lou (Baker) Christenson ’61, Martin Sabo ’59; (Back row, left to right) Ralph Sulerud, Kirk Pederson ’87, Charles Evavold ’56, Neil Snider ’57, —- , Jim Pederson ’56, David Rykken ’53, Harold Reistad ’56

2003 — At the Lutefisk Dinner, West Immanuel Lutheran Church, (left to right) Rod Erickson ’56, Barbara (Olson) Dettle ’59, Grace (Kemmer) Sulerud ’58, Ralph Sulerud

(left to right) Joanne (Joski) Evavold ’62, Elaine Pederson, Jim Pederson ’56, Lori Christianson

2006 — (left to right) David and Margaret Anderson Kelliher join colleague Martin Sabo ’59 and Vern Sommerdorf at the log house gathering before dinner.

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IGNITE-ing Auggie spirit

�� — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:30:12 +0000

By Betsey Norgard

One student heard about a fire that broke out in one of the houses on campus in the 1970s. Another enjoyed hearing perspectives from a studio art major about his work at a financial organization. A third met with an alum who fondly remembers the tasty cinnamon rolls that students often got in Morton Hall in the mid-1950s.

Twenty students working in the Alumni and Constituent Relations Office recently completed the first year of Project IGNITE. They’ve been meeting with alumni to learn more about the role that the College played in the lives of the alumni and to share stories and experiences about Augsburg then and now.

Senior Brittany Goff is the intern who directs the students’ work for Project IGNITE. Once she hand-matches students and alums who share similar majors and/or interests, a letter from President Pribbenow is sent explaining the program and alerting the alum to a future call from a student. The student will invite the alum to a meeting preferably on campus or at a convenient coffee shop.

That first contact can be a little daunting for students, but knowing they share interests makes it easier. Melissa Herrick, a communication studies and art sophomore, says it tells the alum that “this is not a random call; there’s a reason I’m calling you,” which, in her case, is to share with them what art at Augsburg is like now and to hear about their experience studying art at Augsburg.

STUDENTS CONNECT WITH ALUMNI

On a cold day last fall, Herrick met with Patti Lloyd ’83, who owns a web development and interactive marketing company. While Lloyd was an international business major and not an art major, the two immediately discovered common interests in web design. Herrick was trying to plan a webpage for an arts project and was delighted to get some ideas from Lloyd.

“We had a great meeting,” says Lloyd, “and when she left, I think she felt comfortable that all the resources were there for her project.”

One of the meetings that Goff enjoyed was with a physician. In the conversation, Goff, a psychology major, learned about the physician’s medical practice that has included a psychologist and a nurse, enabling him to offer both physical and mental testing and care. “This was really a great experience for me,” Goff says, “to help me consider my future career and the option to be in a practice like that.”

Adam Spanier, sophomore class president and an Honors student, says he has met many interesting people through Project IGNITE. His favorite aspect of the program, he says, is “hearing the many different bits of advice and wisdom that alumni have to offer.”

ALUMNI ENJOY RECONNECTING

Most alumni contacted in Project IGNITE are graduates who have not been active in alumni activities or participated recently in events. Re-engaging with their alma mater through Project IGNITE has also been enjoyable for them, especially seeing the College through the eyes of current students.

Christopher Haug ’79 was one of the alumni Spanier met last fall. “What benefited me the most,” Haug says, “is that I felt I was connected again with my school. There’s nothing like a faceto- face relationship with a person who is going through the experience.”

Haug and his partner returned to campus in December for the Advent Vespers dinner and enjoyed talking with people they knew and meeting others.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES CONTINUE

Pat Grans, the Project IGNITE volunteer coordinator, follows up with the interests and/or requests that students bring back from the alumni visits. She crafts individual plans recommending events and volunteer opportunities that could include speaking in a class, inviting a student to job shadow, or helping with registration at an event. Or, Grans can seek to create a tailored opportunity based on the alum’s interests.

Grans has now developed volunteer job descriptions and oversees all aspects of recruiting, training, scheduling, supervising, and recognizing volunteers.

HAS PROJECT IGNITE MADE A DIFFERENCE?

Project IGNITE means Involving Graduates Now In Thoughtful Engagement. A three-year project funded by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Project IGNITE is designed to serve as a model to help other colleges and universities engage their alumni.

What makes Project IGNITE an out-of-the-box program and readily transferable are several components that together offer lifelong alumni connections:

One-to-one interaction between students and alumni—who better to talk about the college experience and re-engage alumni than current students?
Mutually beneficial matching of student and alumni majors and interests
Individualized and ongoing follow-up from a volunteer coordinator to keep engagement and energy alive

In the project’s first six months at Augsburg, both attendance at events and volunteering have increased. Of the alumni the IGNITE students have visited during this time, 14% have now attended College events. Nearly 76% have expressed interest in volunteering; and of those, 20% have begun. More than 1,800 hours of volunteer time have been logged.

Kim Stone, director of alumni and constituent relations, is excited by the results. She attributes success to the total package Project IGNITE makes possible—engaging students in the alumni program before they graduate, encouraging ongoing attendance at alumni events, and keeping alumni connected to campus through meaningful volunteering.

For more information or to arrange to meet with an IGNITE student, contact the Office of Alumni and Constituent Relations at alumni@augsburg.edu or 612-330-1085.

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Connecting the dots for good

�� — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:28:21 +0000

Jacquie Berglund ’87, founder of Finnegan’s

By Bryan Barnes

“I read this article in Time magazine, interviewing all of these 80- and 90-year-old people,” said Jacquie Berglund ’87. “The overwhelming feedback from their question, ‘If you could change one thing, what would it be?’ was that they all wish they had taken more risks.”

That was 1983, when Berglund was in her first year at Augsburg College. Since then, she has faced many risks on her way to building one of Minnesota’s most successful social enterprises—an enterprise that uses beer sales to fund its community foundation.

One of her first risks? Backpacking through Europe during her sophomore year in the face of parental disapproval.

“My parents didn’t want me to do it,” Berglund said. “[My English professor] said, ‘Jacquie, you should absolutely do it. Let’s come up with a way for you to get credit for it here.’”

With that, Berglund ventured across the Atlantic for six weeks under the banner of an Augsburg creative-writing course. Her experience fostered a travel bug that would lead her back for a seven-year stay in France after Augsburg. “[Backpacking] helped me to think globally and really changed my perspective,” Berglund said. “That was a powerful turning point for me.”

Graduating from Augsburg in 1987 with a degree in communication studies and a minor in political science, Berglund combined an interest in nonprofits with her travel experience to pursue work in international development. By 1990, she had taken an internship in Paris at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the same group that helped administer the Marshall Plan after World War II. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Berglund found herself working with the best entrepreneurial minds at OECD to develop regional economies in former Soviet bloc countries.

“We were training government officials, and these guys were all communists—they didn’t want to learn [about how to build free markets],” Berglund said. “I felt like we went in and did all of this work and spent all of this money, and I don’t know what impact we really had. Then I thought, ‘You know, I think the real work is done at the grassroots level.’ I would see the people at the grassroots level in these countries and they were really making a difference, and I thought, ‘That’s where I have to be. I’ve got to get there.’ I just didn’t know how I was going to get there, but that’s where I wanted to go.”

While at OECD, Berglund earned her master’s degree in international relations from the American Graduate School in Paris. However, by 1997 Berglund found herself needing expensive back surgery, so she returned to the Twin Cities to work as marketing director for her old friend, Kieran Folliard, restauranteur and owner of Cara Irish Pubs LP.

One of Berglund’s duties as marketing director was to help Folliard distribute charitable gifts in the Twin Cities. They found themselves giving grants to any organization that asked. Eventually, their CFO put the brakes on their charity bonanza and told them they needed a better strategy. Berglund agreed; she recognized from her OECD days that the Cara Pubs money wasn’t making the desired impact. Berglund had also just attended a conference in Washington, D.C., on self-sustaining nonprofits.

“That’s when I thought: we sell beer all day,” Berglund said. “What if we create our own beer, and we choose to give all of the profits from this one beer to our own foundation, and then we pick one cause, and we really make a difference? It took me a little while to sell Kieran on the idea.”

With that, Berglund and Folliard set about creating Finnegan’s Irish Amber, named in reference to James Joyce’s final work. They contacted James Page Brewing Company in Minneapolis to help them create the beer, eventually selecting one recipe from more than 40 options provided by the brewmaster.

At this point, Berglund and Folliard realized that running Finnegan’s and its community foundation would consume all of Berglund’s time. That left one choice: quit Cara Pubs and focus on Finnegan’s, or let the idea die.

Berglund bought the Finnegan’s recipe for $1 from Folliard.

“That was kind of scary, leaving that job, from having a good salary to no salary,” Berglund said. “It was very scary. It was rather terrifying. I’ve had a lot of terrifying moments—I must handle stress well. I’m still walking and talking and not in a straitjacket.”

Starting in 2000, Berglund created for-profit Finnegan’s Inc., which donates all of its profits from beer sales to her nonprofit creation, which is now called Finnegan’s Community Fund. She taught herself the beer trade. James Page produced Finnegan’s on contract, but she was responsible for selling it to distributors.

“I didn’t even know what a keg fee was,” Berglund recalls.

Finnegan’s community focus sold the beer. Distributors, liquor stores, bars, and restaurants in the Twin Cities were sympathetic to Berglund’s cause — and it helped that the beer was popular during the burgeoning craft brew craze. Though she wasn’t turning a profit yet, Berglund was able to make a $2,000 donation in her first year of operation.

Then, James Page Brewing Company shut down in 2002.

“I was a mess—I was totally a mess,” Berglund said. “I started to panic, ‘If they go out of business, I’m going to go out of business.’”

Thinking quickly, Berglund contacted Mark Stutrud, founder of Summit Brewing Company in St. Paul.

“They really didn’t do contract brewing, but I think that [Stutrud] appreciated the community-mindedness of what I was doing,” Berglund said. “Plus, I already had a list of accounts, so I already had a proven track record that I could make this thing work.”

To this day, Finnegan’s is produced at Summit. In 2003, Finnegan’s made its first profit. By 2009, Finnegan’s was selling 4,300 barrels per year to 475 restaurants and 600 liquor stores in Minnesota and beyond, which translated into $30,000 for the Finnegan’s Community Fund. That money, in addition to direct donations, is being used to fund local grassroots community organizations that are helping the working poor.

“When I came back from France, I volunteered in St. Stephen’s shelter in Minneapolis,” Berglund said. “I got to see for myself … a lot of these guys get up to work factory jobs at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. I saw how many of these guys were working and still homeless.”

The needs of the working poor strike a personal chord for Berglund. Growing up, her father started working as a janitor before moving up the ranks, while her mother was a waitress.

“I remember as a kid not being able to participate in church activities because we didn’t have the money,” Berglund said. “I feel so fortunate to be able to have done all of the things that I do. I think that, ‘Boy, it’s nice to give back a little bit.’ We owe a bit of gratitude.”

That background helps explain Berglund’s drive to build a self-sustaining nonprofit that can help the working poor regardless of government grants or philanthropic whims. But it also comes down to faith in your vocation.

“Whenever I do speaking engagements, that’s my whole thing: It’s about following your passions, and then at some point, the dots will connect. Even though it seems so remote that they could possibly connect,” Berglund said. “When I came back and was working in the pub, I thought, ‘What am I doing here? How does this connect to this whole dream job I had of international development projects?’ I just had faith that it’s going to come—I’m going to find it. It’s kind of that whole ‘calling’ thing at Augsburg—I knew I was going to find it, it was just going to take a minute.”

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Learning to learn – without any A, B, Cs

�� — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:26:26 +0000

By Jeff Shelman

It isn’t quite a chicken or egg kind of question, but it is an academic conundrum along the same line.

Just how important are grades on a college campus when it comes to actual learning? Do grades really reflect how much a student has learned? Or do students do just enough to get the grade they want? And what happens if you take letter grades and numerical marks completely out of the equation?

That’s what 50 Augsburg first-year students, five professors, and several staff members tried to find out this past fall. The Integrated Term, Fate of the Earth 101: Consumption of Food, Fuel, and Media in Contemporary Culture, was more than just a different way to package and deliver several general education courses; it was a semester that challenged many of the standard conventions about what a college education is or should be.

There were no traditional letter grades for this learning community nor was there a static syllabus passed out on the first day. This was a term that focused on doing, on students having a say in what they would be evaluated on, and on professors writing detailed evaluations about both what students had accomplished and where they needed to continue to work. Sitting lifeless in the back row and regurgitating enough facts to pass wasn’t an option this term.

“This was much more work than grading,” English professor Robert Cowgill said. “But I thought it was a major success.”

Most of the students—many of whom were drawn to the I-Term because of the environmental focus or the alternative evaluation method—agreed. Daley Konchar Farr called the semester-long experiment empowering. Veronica Berg said she was pushed to do things she wasn’t sure were possible just one semester into her college career. Katelin Grote called the whole thing life-changing.

Some of that was because the I-Term, which showed just how parts of a liberal arts education are interconnected, was their entire load for the semester. I-Term students who successfully completed the course received credit for English 101 or 111 (writing), Religion 100 (Christian Vocation and the Search for Meaning I), History 101 (Western Civilization), Sociology 101 (Introduction to Human Society) and AugSem (first-year seminar). They also completed their Engaging Minneapolis requirement.

REASONS FOR NOT GRADING

When a group of professors returned from a conference at The Evergreen State College in Washington in 2007, the goal was to find a way for Augsburg to experiment with a learning community model of teaching as well as non-traditional evaluation methods.

Over the next two years, the professors worked with the dean’s office to make this a reality. How was this term going to be structured? Were groups such as Faculty Senate supportive? How would students receive credit? How would the narrative evaluations fit into the very traditional transcript?

Once hurdles were cleared, plans were set for a three-year pilot program of the nongraded Integrated Term. The faculty designers of the I-Term hope that the students who spend a semester focused on learning instead of simply making a grade will have higher retention and graduation rates. The longer-term outcomes of the experiment won’t be clear for several years, but this group and subsequent groups of I-Term students will be tracked by the College.

While the word “experiment” is often tossed around rather loosely on college campuses, the I-Term is certainly unique. Sociology professor Lars Christiansen, an I-Term faculty member who has studied alternative evaluation methods, said that about 15 colleges and universities across the country have experimented with non-graded courses. Some are completely nongraded while others are partially graded or have reverted back to traditional grading. Alverno College in Milwaukee is one of the only schools in the Midwest that is grade free.

No grades, however, doesn’t equal no evaluation. In almost every case, I-Term students had a greater grasp of where they stood. They worked very closely with the two English professors on their writing, and received regular written feedback from the other faculty members.

“It was kind of like tough love,” Maryam Ayir said. “You knew exactly what you had to work on.”

Konchar Farr signed up for the ITerm both because of the subject matter, and also because of lack of traditional grades.

“Grades are false motivation,” she said. “In high school, I didn’t get anything out of getting As if I didn’t learn. [Here], I really appreciated that things were so discussion-based and how involved the professors were. They were so dedicated to our work.”

For Christiansen, the best thing from the semester is that Augsburg now has the framework in place to continue experimenting with alternative evaluation methods. There is now the ability for the narrative evaluations to accompany a student’s transcript. And there is also at least some appetite from students to not have a semester of work boiled down to simply a number.

“The majority of students said it was a good experience to not have grades and they liked the ongoing evaluation,” he said. “It shows me that if you provide it, people will try it, and many will like it. Why don’t we make it an option generally? It’s not dissimilar to our transportation system. Until the last few years, many didn’t believe they had options other than driving. The I-Term is akin to the Hiawatha (light rail) Line: Once a viable alternative is provided, people may see it as useful and desirable.”

LEARNING BY DOING

Unchained from the burden of grades, students could concentrate on really learning and figuring out what truly motivates them. And without traditional exercises like exams, students in Fate of the Earth 101 demonstrated their advancement through semester- long projects that incorporated something under the broad umbrella of food, fuel, or media.

One group of students met with staff members from Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office about how the bodies of women are portrayed in advertisements. Pushing Best Buy to be more environmentally friendly in its stores was what another group sought. Others looked into the feasibility of Augsburg capturing solar energy and purchasing more locally grown food.

“Those are the kinds of things we were hoping would happen,” Christiansen said. “We were hoping through the experiences of the I-Term that [students] were here to learn and that they were here to understand themselves as possible change agents—and that collaboration is an essential component.”

And while most courses end as soon as that final exam is completed, a number of the I-Term students are continuing with the ongoing work of their projects. For example, Berg was part of a group that created the website www.mnhomelessyouth.org. Those students met both with representatives from Minneapolis Public Schools and a group working on homeless issues, before and during the spring semester.

“It didn’t just end at the end of the course,” history professor Phil Adamo said. “They continue to be engaged.”

Because of what they were asked to do, many of the I-Term students accomplished more than they thought possible just months removed from high school graduation.

“We were learning at a different level, we were getting to project ourselves at a bigger level,” Berg said. “To sit at the table as a contributor with some of these agencies was something I didn’t think I’d be able to do for many years.”

That theme was a common one. “One thing we repeatedly heard was the notion that they were empowered with what they were able to accomplish by the end of their first semester in college,” religion professor Lori Brandt Hale said. “They were surprised and excited about how they will be able to leverage that moving forward.”

CHANGING TEACHING METHODS

Like the other I-Term professors, Colin Irvine is back teaching more traditional courses this semester. An English faculty member, Irvine has a collection of writing and literature classes this spring.

But Irvine acknowledges that he is teaching differently this semester. And the I-Term had much to do with that.

“It made me complicate my classes,” he said. “I’m not content with the way I was teaching before. I’m not content with the assignments I was giving. I’m making them more fun, more relevant, and harder to assess. I can’t allow myself to teach the way I’ve always taught.”

Irvine talked about a conversation with a biology major who is taking his environmental literature course this season. The student said he’s been doing the reading, working hard, and attending writing lab sessions.

“But he said, ‘I don’t know how I’m doing,’” Irvine said. “I told him, ‘Are you kidding me? That’s exactly what I want you to do, you’re figuring it out, you’re doing great.’”

Because just like the I-Term students who have adjusted to courses with traditional grading, almost everyone involved in the experiment has a better idea of what motivates them and just how important learning is.

I-TERM CREATORS/DESIGNERS

Phil Adamo, History, Medieval Studies

Lars Christiansen, Sociology, Metro-Urban Studies

Robert Cowgill, English, Film Studies

Stacy Cutinella, Lindell Library

Lori Brandt Hale, Religion

Colin Irvine, English, Environmental Studies

Nathan Lind, Information Technology

Alyson Olson, TRIO Student Services

Beverly Stratton, Religion

PROJECTS THE STUDENTS WORKED ON

Addressing women’s body representations in advertising by creating a legislative bill requiring advertisers to indicate the presence of airbrushing and similar touch-ups
Website that centralizes resources for homeless youth in the Twin Cities
Energy-producing exercise bicycles at Augsburg’s Kennedy Center
Reducing water waste at Augsburg
Increasing local food sourcing at Augsburg, particularly meat and cheese
Assisting in developing curbside composting in Minneapolis
Reducing paper waste at Augsburg bookstore
Improving environmental practices at Best Buy
Composting at Maple Grove High School

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