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Augsburg Experience - What You Need To Know

The Augsburg Experience enables students to link the liberal arts, classroom knowledge and skills with the larger world and gain first hand, community-based experience beyond the campus. This signature element is part of Augsburg's general education requirements and underscores the college's commitment to support student engagement in the community and the world as part of their overall Augsburg education, as expressed in the Augsburg 2004 Vision document.

The Augsburg Experience can be completed through at least one of five learning options typically done in the Junior and Senior years. Ideally students will have multiple experiences across the variety of opportunities throughout their years at Augsburg. Each will strengthen their skills and reinforce their knowledge and understanding, equipping them for professional lives and service following graduation.

• The Augsburg Experience may be done as part of the major or outside the major.
• The opportunities may be scheduled during the academic year or summers.
• Augsburg Experiences may be for credit or not for credit.

Augsburg Experience options:

1. Internships, Cooperative Education (work-based experience related to your major), practicum, field work, clinical, student teaching, including domestic semester programs such as HECUA's MUST, City Arts, et al
2. Extensive Service-Learning or Community-Based Learning Projects that may or may not be course related or embedded (Note: service-learning in a LAF course is not considered an Augsburg Experience)
3. Study Abroad programs at worldwide program and partner university locations, ranging in length from one week to an academic year.
4. Faculty-student research with a community/professional application component
5. Approved special/individualized off-campus immersion experiences (domestic or international)

Ideas and suggestions from the Physics department...

1. Faculty-student research projects.

   Several Augsburg Physics faculty are involved in research during summers and/or the academic year, and often involve students as paid undergraduate researchers. An extended period of student research in one of these programs may qualify as an Augsburg Experience. Qualifying research projects must involve significant original student work and significant interaction with a faculty advisor. Students must also present the results of their research off-campus at least once. Faculty sponsorship is required throughout the process; one of the faculty sponsor's roles is to verify that requirements for an Augsburg experience have been met. The faculty sponsor will guide the student to appropriate venues for presentation, such as national meetings of the American Physical Society, the American Geophysical Union, or the Materials Research Society; the Argonne Symposium for Undergraduates; the National Conference for Undergraduate Research; and the Spring Meeting of the Minnesota Area Association of Physics Teachers.

2. Off-campus research projects and internships.

   Many high-tech firms, government laboratories, and universities offer summer research and/or internship programs, usually with pay. The National Science Foundation supports a large number of such summer opportunities through its REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) program. In order for such off-campus research to qualify for an Augsburg Experience, the student must first seek approval of a faculty member to serve as an on-campus sponsor. After completing the summer's research work, students must submit a written report including a general summary of the disciplinary background, research methods, and findings, and present it to the faculty sponsor for evaluation. Students completing off-campus research projects are also encouraged to present the results of their work to the Physics Department as part of an SPS (Society of Physics Students) event, as well as at one or more off-campus Physics meetings.

   The following web links will be helpful in identifying some of the many off-campus summer research opportunities:

   1. The National Science Foundation's directory of all REU program sites: http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/reu/start.htm
   2. The University of Pennsylvania's listing of a large number of summer programs, including sites supported by the Department of Energy: http://www.physics.upenn.edu/undergraduate/natlab.html
      (Please note that many of the links at the top of this page don't work. The long listing of entries at the bottom should be of more use.)
   3. The ComPADRE (Communities for Physics and Astronomy Digital Resources in Education) web site, recently announced and recommended by the national office of SPS: http://www.compadre.org/student
      

      There is no comparable web site for local industries. If you are interested in these, which are often internships, contact Augsburg’s Center for Service, Work, and Learning (CSWL).

3. Student Teaching.

   Students who are seeking teaching licensure will receive Augsburg Experience credit for student teaching.

Contact the following people or offices to help you plan your Augsburg Experiences:

Department Faculty liaison: Mark Engebretson  engebret@augsburg.edu; x1067, Science 17C

Your Academic Advisor

The Center for Service, Work and Learning - x1148

Augsburg Abroad - x1159