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Pastor Sonja Hagander Appointed Lead Pastor and Director of Augsburg College Campus Ministry

I am pleased to announce that Pastor Sonja Hagander has been appointed as the Lead Pastor Sonja HaganderPastor and Director of Campus Ministry, effective June 1, 2013. Pastor Hagander, who first joined the Augsburg community in 1998, assumes the duties previously held by Pastor Dave Wold, who retired at the end of May after 30 years as Augsburg’s campus pastor.

Pastor Sonja received her B.A. from Concordia College, her M.Div. from Luther Seminary, and an M.Sc. in Comparative Literature from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.  She has served as Pastor-Theologian at the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton University, a competitive program focused on the ordained ministry as a theological vocation and the church as a theological community.  She also has served as Chaplain and emcee to the ELCA Youth Ministry Extravaganza Conference which  hosts more than 1,000 pastors and youth leaders.

At Augsburg, Pastor Sonja created and sustained the Urban Plunge and has been especially active on and off campus leading a variety of interfaith initiatives, including the Interfaith Scholars and the Interfaith Bridge Building events, bringing youth on campus and into the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood around faith and service.

Pastor Sonja is in the process of forming the campus ministry staff for 2013-14.  An associate pastor will be appointed later this summer.

I look forward to working closely with Pastor Sonja and other campus leaders during the coming year as we explore the vision and direction of our campus ministry programs for the years ahead.  We believe that Augsburg is uniquely positioned to model what campus ministry looks like in the 21st century – centered in our Lutheran faith and firmly committed to serving our diverse students, campus community, and neighbors.

Paul C. Pribbenow
President