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Diversity out our front and back doors by Garry Hesser Those of us who attend Augsburg as students or work here have the unique and remarkable pleasure, day-in and day-out, of living in vibrant and vital neighborhoods that reveal just how much of an asset a multicultural community can be. Cedar Riverside and Seward give diversity a meaning and reality that is rare to find anywhere in the U.S., maybe even in the world. What a gift and bonus it is! Often,
I get to take visiting candidates for faculty positions on a walking or driving
tour of this area I like to call "my home town." When I do so, I like
to let the neighborhood do its own talking and enticing. Just off the campus
along Riverside Avenue, for example, we have a virtual United Nations of restaurants
revealing the rich tapestry of our "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood." From
the Addis Ababa Ethiopian restaurant to Livingston's Organic, to the Lucky Dragon
Vietnamese and Chinese, dozens of ethnic culinary opportunities await those
who delight in exploring the foods of the world. Over in the Seward neighborhood across I-94 that abuts Augsburg campus's south side, an equally diverse group of eating establishments abound, ranging from the Blue Nile to Moon II, one of our newer coffee houses. Recently at Moon II I savored a conversation with one of my former students who, after living and teaching in the Ukraine, is now a homeowner in the neighborhood. It was this same student who, nearly two decades ago, helped me write a grant proposal that ultimately led to the survival of the Seward Redesign Community Development Corporation. Redesign has since played a vital role in the revival of the central city neighborhoods surrounding our campus, including the design of the new light rail station that will be built on the edge of the campus. Today, thanks to the vision of active neighborhood organizations, augmented by both Augsburg and Trinity Lutheran Congregation volunteers, these communities are thriving. Augsburg's connection to and involvement in its neighborhood continues to provide an extraordinary opportunity both for its students and for those of us fortunate to live and raise our families in this remarkable and unexcelled rainbow of humanity. Garry Hesser is professor of sociology and metro-urban studies. The above is excerpted from an article written for The Lutheran magazine.
Examples of courses that include service-learning An overview of community service-learning at Augsburg Augsburg's Center for Service, Work, and Learning Back to Augsburg Now Online home page
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