From the Alumni Board president's desk...

As one year ends and another begins, we often find ourselves thinking of family and friends. Cards are exchanged with details of our families; holiday parties renew old friendships. We discuss the good old days ...

Once a year, I get together with a group of lifelong friends from Augsburg. The group consists of students who lived in the Delta and Omega houses in the ’70s. After more than 30 years, we still laugh at the antics of our fellow students during our formative years. Great fun is had by all!

As we move into the new year, the Augsburg Alumni Board would like you to remember Augsburg in your heart and prayers. We want to keep in touch, so please let us know where you are and what you are doing.If the new year will bring a new location, please e-mail us at alumni@augsburg.edu, or go online at www.augsburg.edu/alumni/update.html to change your address. We'd love to hear what you are up to, and we'll keep you informed of the amazing changes at Augsburg and the upcoming events sponsored by the Events Committee of the Alumni Board.

Please send us your e-mail address if you'd like to be included in a monthly e-mail from the alumni office with updates and events for the next month. We'd love to see you at an upcoming Auggie Hour gathering, which are held at various restaurants around the Twin Cities. Each event combines a faculty member or alum who presents a short talk on an interesting topic. These are informal, fun discussions, and you might learn something new, too! (We promise there will not be a test after the discussion.)

The Alumni Board and our new alumni/parent relations team on campus invite your ideas and feedback regarding alumni activities, so please let us know what we can do for you. I am proud to be a member of the Augsburg family, and I hope the new year brings many blessings to each of you and your families.

—Andrew Morrison ’73
President, Alumni Board

ALUMNI PROFILE:

Nila Neumiller ’84:
'Small beginnings' lead
to big successes

Augsburg alumni win Minnesota and national legislative seats

by Lynn Mena

In November, Augsburg alumni Martin Olav Sabo ’59 and Rod Skoe ’77 won seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate.

Sabo, a Democrat, kept his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (Fifth District) with 67 percent of the vote; he has held the seat since 1979. As ranking minority member of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, his commitment to easing congestion in the Twin Cities can be seen in work securing $60 million for lightrail transit and $7 million for the Northstar commuter line.

Other issues high on Sabo's list of priorities are those that impact children—particularly early childhood learning. He also sees affordable housing, health care, and recent corporate corruption scandals as "big issues we have to sort through." In addition, Sabo is committed to protecting citizens' rights in the fight against terrorism.

Sabo's daughter, Augsburg alumna Julie Sabo ’88, ran for lieutenant governor with Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Roger Moe (DFL)—ultimately losing in a close race to Republican Tim Pawlenty. Julie held the incumbent DFL seat in the Minnesota Senate (District 62), but she did not run for re-election due to her campaign with Moe.

Fellow alum Rod Skoe, also a Democrat, won a seat in the Minnesota Senate (District 2). He is a two-term Minnesota House member (District 2B), and stepped up to the Minnesota Senate with this election.

As a state representative, Skoe's committee assignments included work on education policy, K-12 finance, agriculture policy, and environmental policy. He remains committed to these issues as he moves to the Minnesota Senate, and states that his priority issues are tied to improving Minnesota¹s communities.

Skoe is a former Clearwater County commissioner, Clearbrook/Gonvick School Board director, and an Agassiz Ambassador for Clearwater County.