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Twin Cities media report on lawmakers’ Cuba trip organized by Augsburg College center

A bipartisan group of five state legislators, staff, and some family members traveled to Cuba as part of new interest in strengthening ties between the two countries and preparing for potential trade opportunities. Augsburg College’s Center for Global Education and Experience helped to organize the trip, which was mentioned in Twin Cities-based print and broadcast media.

KSTP aired a story covering the trip, which will be unofficial and self-funded by the participants. According to the television news organization, the trip will focus on increasing the lawmakers’ understanding of Cuba and its economic climate.

The Star Tribune also published trip information prior to the departure of participants.

Read: Five Minnesota legislators, staff head to Cuba on the newspaper website.

River Semester media attention grows as class travels down-river

Screen Shot 2015-09-02 at 2.35.52 PM[Updated November 13] — The Augsburg College River Semester, created and led by Joe Underhill, associate professor of political science, departed from St. Paul’s Harriet Island on September 1. As part of the kickoff, the River Semester class was joined by a group of nearly 100 students, parents, high school students and members of the Augsburg College community who paddled in a flotilla of 24-foot voyageur canoes from St. Paul to South St. Paul. Students participating in the semester-long program will earn as many as 16 credits in the arts, humanities, and sciences as they travel nearly 2,000 miles of the 2,350-mile Mississippi River.

The River Semester kickoff garnered a range of attention. Gov. Mark Dayton proclaimed September 1 “Augsburg College River Semester Day” and many media outlets covered the launch of the class.

Since the students and faculty departed on their voyage, print and broadcast media have been sharing the story of this hands-on, interdisciplinary program. In fact, multiple stories have been picked up by the Associated Press and shared through the AP’s member media throughout the nation.

A snapshot of the ongoing media coverage is below. As additional coverage occurs, it will be added to this post.

November 9

October 16

  • The Mississippi River is their classroom, The Hawk Eye, Burlington (Iowa)

October 15

  • College student trekking down the Mississippi, White Bear (Minnesota) Press

October 8

September 29

Continue reading “River Semester media attention grows as class travels down-river”

Star Tribune features skating coach Andy Ness ’01

Minneapolis Star TribuneThe Star Tribune recently published an article highlighting ice skating coach Diane Ness and her son, former Augsburg hockey player Andy Ness ’01, for their involvement with the Minnesota Wild. The article states that Diane and her company ProEdge Power were recently hired by the Wild as consultants, though some of the players have been training privately with the Nesses for years. The article quotes the Wild’s Chris Porter as saying, “They’re both incredible.”

The article states that Andy grew up surrounded by skating and hockey. “My babysitter growing up was the rink,” he said in the article. That background has paid off. Porter is quoted saying that Diane often tells the players to “‘Watch Andy,’ because he’s such a phenomenal skater.” Now, Andy spends the NHL season working with injured Wild players until they regain enough strength to practice and play with the team.

Read “Skating coaches Diane, Andy Ness push Wild, NHL stars to improve” on the Star Tribune website.

Star Tribune tells story of Hagfors Center through leadership of Regent Emeritus Mike Good ’71

MikeGood-StarTribuneThe Star Tribune’s Neal St. Anthony on Sunday, September 27, wrote a profile about Augsburg College Regent Emeritus Mike Good ’71 and his exemplary leadership as chair of the College’s successful capital campaign for the Norman and Evangeline Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion.

St. Anthony reported that Good retired early in 2012 to “take on for Augsburg’s Board of Regents what Good considers a challenged that transcended his athletic and business career.” Under Good’s leadership, the capital campaign met its goal by exceeding $50 million.

Read “St. Anthony: Retired CEO Mike Good was the All American behind Augsburg’s business building.”

Augsburg alumni bring ‘Hoopla Train’ to rural Minnesota

sodhouseThis summer, Sod House — a theater company founded by Augsburg College Chair of Theater Arts Darcey Engen ’88 and her husband, Luverne Seifert ’83 — brought a production of “Hoopla Train (with Yard Master Yip and his Polkastra)” to 14 historic ballrooms in different Minnesota cities including Barrett, McGregor, Nisswa, and Sleepy Eye.

Engen and Seifert shared the stage with a troupe of performers to put on the production billed as “Lawrence Welk meets ‘Hee-Haw.’” The Sod House Theater project began in 2011 when Engen and Seifert collaborated to create the condensed version of Anton Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” with Twin Cities colleagues including Sarah Myers, associate 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
  • Star Tribune — Summer is showtime for Sod House, Minnesota’s whistle-stop theater
  • Faribault Daily News — All aboard the ‘Hoopla Train’ bound for Faribault
  • Rochester Post-Bulletin — ‘Hoopla Train’ pulls into town
  • Pine and Lakes Echo Journal — 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
  • St. Cloud Times — ‘Hoopla’ brings old-fashioned fun to outstate Minnesota

Bring Me The News shares roundup of River Semester info

bringmeThe online media 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 to their classes this fall.”

Star Tribune previews Augsburg College River Semester

Minneapolis Star TribuneAugsburg College’s first-ever River Semester will be an opportunity for students to spend the 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, “Augsburg preparing to launch ‘River Semester’ on the Mississippi.

Matthew Beckman contributes to Star Tribune commentary

Minneapolis Star TribuneMatthew Beckman, assistant professor of biology, joined his research collaborators Grant Two Bulls and Amy Myrbo in writing a commentary for the Star Tribune that voiced support for renaming Minneapolis’ Lake Calhoun. As the commentary noted, recent events have initiated a debate regarding whether the lake should return to its original name in the Dakota language: Mde Maka Ska.

Beckman, Two Bulls, and Myrbo conducted research during summer 2014 that involved taking a core sample of lake sediment and studying its pollen content as a way to examine the ecological record of an early-19th-century Dakota agricultural village on its shore. This geological study of the lake showed a long history of Native American natural resource stewardship that extended centuries before the arrival of surveyors backed by John C. Calhoun, the lake’s namesake.

Visit the Star Tribune website to read, “Mde Maka Ska: A Minnesota name for a Minnesota lake.”

Muna Mohamed ’16 and Jennifer Weber ’11 support girls in sports, appear in Star Tribune

Minneapolis Star TribuneAuggies Muna Mohamed ’16 and Jennifer Weber ’11 each play an important role in supporting Minneapolis girls’ efforts to stay fit and active. The two women coach basketball teams that play as part of the Girls Initiative in Recreation and Leisurely Sports program at the Brian Coyle Community Center in Augsburg College’s Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

The Star Tribune recently featured the work of Mohamed and Weber in a story on how the GIRLS program worked with community members and University of Minnesota employees to design and sew culturally sensitive activewear for Muslim girls to use during their practices and games.

Read “New uniforms score points for modesty for Muslim girls” on the Star Tribune website.

Tommy Redae ’09 MBA shines in Star Tribune article

Minneapolis Star TribuneAugsburg College alumnus Tommy Redae ’09 MBA was featured in a recent Star Tribune story on Wells Fargo’s successful practices in the area of diversity in hiring. Redae described how mentors and networking meetings with business leaders have influenced his career positively.

Visit the Star Tribune website to read, “Wells Fargo clicks when it comes to diversity in hiring.”