Four new regents are welcomed to the board

The Augsburg Board of Regents welcomed four new members at its January meeting. Kinney Johnson ’65 and Sandra Vargas were elected to six-year terms; and Bishops Robert Berg and Craig Johnson joined the board as ex officio members, representing two of Augsburg's four ELCA synods for rotating three-year terms.

Kinney Johnson ’65
Kinney Johnson became a founding member of Sequel Partners in 1995, a venture firm in Boulder, Colo., specializing in the IT, telecom, and health care sectors. He has been involved in 45 start-up ventures and currently manages over $400 million in three funds. Johnson received his bachelor's degree from Augsburg in 1965 with majors in mathematics and business administration. He received a master's degree in mathematical computer science from the University of Iowa. He currently serves on several health care and technology boards.

Sandra Vargas
Sandra Vargas has been the county administrator for Hennepin County since 1999. She has 18 years of management experience in city and state agencies, including the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Vargas holds a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She chairs the Chicano/Latino Advisory Committee at the University of Minnesota and serves on the Minneapolis United Way and Minneapolis Foundation boards.

The Rev. Robert Berg
Bishop Robert Berg, a native of Eau Claire, Wis., was elected bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Northwest Synod of Wisconsin in 1995. Prior to that he had served two parishes in North Dakota and several parishes in Wisconsin. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and from Luther Seminary.

The Rev. Craig Johnson
Bishop Craig Johnson was elected bishop of the ELCA's Minneapolis Area Synod in June 2001. Previously, he had been associate vice president for church relations at Gustavus Adolphus College and served parishes in Shreveport, La.; and Minneapolis and Bloomington, Minn. He is author of The Mighty Acts of God—a Survey of the Bible.

Graduate nursing program receives accreditation

Augsburg's Master of Arts in Nursing program, begun in 1999, has received full accreditation from the Collegiate Council on Nursing Education (CCNE).

The program, with classes offered in both Rochester and Minneapolis, prepares nurses for transformational leadership and transcultural practice across care settings, with particular emphasis on addressing health disparities. Graduates of the program are eligible to apply for certification through the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the Transcultural Nursing Society.

With the increasing diversity of Minnesota's population, this program trains nurses to be responsive to a wide range of health needs that exist in the local and global communities. The curricular focus on health disparities addresses the difficulty some population groups have in gaining access to health care because of poverty, age, race, religion, and/or national origin. Augsburg currently has the only degree program of this kind in the country.

In September, Scholastic Connections celebrated its first anniversary and awarded five new scholarships to Augsburg students of color, connecting them with Augsburg alumni in mentoring relationships.

A year ago, the program was launched to amplify the College's commitment to the dream of a post-secondary education for students from diverse backgrounds. It responded to a lawsuit posed by Elroy Stock ’48, a major donor of the College who was discovered to be the sender of a hate-mail campaign over many years. He sued when Augsburg refused to name a building after him, but was unable to return his gifts due to federal and state guidelines. The lawsuit was dismissed.

The first Corporate Connections gift to the College was made by the law firm of Lockridge Grindal Nauen & Holstein P.L.L.P. This support will provide a scholarship for students whose family circumstances might have hindered opportunities for a college education.

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