bing pixel

Augsburg’s Youth Theology Institute Invites Alumni and Friends to Nominate High School Students for This Summer’s Science & Theology in Action Program

Posted on

Do you know a high schooler who would enjoy exploring science and theology in action this summer?

Augsburg – Youth Theology Institute from Augsburg University on Vimeo.

Through Augsburg’s Bernhard Christensen Center for Vocation, the Youth Theology Institute (AYTI) seeks to reach out to 9th through 12th graders and invite them to campus for a summer program that has been called “a year of spiritual growth concentrated into one faith-filled week.” Aligned with Augsburg’s mission of being guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church and ability to aid with vocational discernment of young people, AYTI is a valuable and exciting experience that we are proud to host on campus.

About Science & Theology in Action

Scholars at this year’s AYTI will develop leadership skills and put creation care theology and science knowledge into action. The world and neighborhoods we live in are a series of complicated yet beautiful systems and networks. Therefore, we’ll practice thinking in systems–both ecologically and vocationally within spheres of community, home, congregation, and school. We will use faith-based environmental STEM curriculum to practice problem-finding and problem-solving and then apply STEM to greening our churches, homes, and communities. With the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood as our classroom, we will identify our strengths and explore how our gifts and talents meet the needs of the world.

The deadline for applications is April 15. Nomination a high schooler for the program or share the AYTI website with a high school student or parent you know.

Augsburg Hosts Auction of Presidential Dinnerware to Benefit the Sesquicentennial Scholarship

Posted on

Augsburg A dinnerware setEnjoy a piece of Augsburg history in your home! Institutional Advancement is hosting an auction for classic Augsburg A presidential dinnerware sets on eBay. All proceeds from this charity auction will go to the Sesquicentennial Scholarship. This scholarship will help eliminate financial barriers and launch the next generation of leaders at Augsburg.

This elegant china was once used for dinner parties and events hosted by the president at the Augsburg House – it has since been retired due to our name-change and rebranding, which changed the look of the “A” icon that appears on most of the dinnerware. Each item has been professionally packaged and can be shipped or picked up from campus once the auction ends at midnight on March 1.

Please contact Hannah Walsh if you have any questions at walsh@augsburg.edu or 612-330-1098.

Doug Green: Self-Discovery in Literature and Drama, Episode 5 of The Augsburg Podcast

Posted on

The Augsburg Podcast features voices of Augsburg University faculty and staff. We hope this is one way you can get to know the people who educate our students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. Subscribe on Itunes.

 

Doug Green
Some stories were meant to be read aloud. Doug Green, Professor of English, recalls his path to Augsburg and reflects on the capacity of the spoken word to give new life to the roles we play: both those performed in dramatic literature and those that we embody, ourselves, in our everyday lives.

 

Episode 4 of The Augsburg Podcast: Terrance Kwame-Ross: Empathy in Education

Posted on

The Augsburg Podcast features voices of Augsburg University faculty and staff. We hope this is one way you can get to know the people who educate our students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. Subscribe on Itunes.

Terrance Kwame-Ross
Terrance Kwame-Ross, Associate Professor of Education, unpacks language, power dynamics, and our sense of “Place” as major forces of influence in our worldviews — both as students and as educators.

 

Episode 3 of The Augsburg Podcast: Bob Groven: The Power of Constructive Debate

Posted on

The Augsburg Podcast features voices of Augsburg University faculty and staff. We hope this is one way you can get to know the people who educate our students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. Subscribe on Itunes.

bob groven
Associate Professor Bob Groven (Co-Chair of the Department of Communication Studies, Film and New Media, and the Director of the Minnesota Urban Debate League) breaks down the power of constructive debate as a force for positive change, understanding, and empathy in our society.

 

Episode 2 of The Augsburg Podcast: Sonja Hagander: The Future of Faith

Posted on

The Augsburg Podcast features voices of Augsburg University faculty and staff. We hope this is one way you can get to know the people who educate our students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. Subscribe on Itunes.

 

Sonja Hagander
Pastor Sonja Hagander recalls her path to the ministry, explores Augsburg’s tradition of Interfaith excellence, and considers how the practice of faith evolves in response to its circumstances.

 

Calling All Jane Austen Fans: Devoney Looser ’89 to Hold a Book Reading and Signing at Augsburg

Posted on

Devoney Looser

Update: This event has been moved to Hagfors 150.

If you’re a regular reader of the Augsburg Now magazine, you may recognize leading literary scholar, Austen expert, and roller derby devotee Devoney Looser ’89 from the featured article “No Plain Jane.” She is the author or editor of seven books on literature by women. Looser will be visiting Augsburg’s campus on February 5 at 7 p.m. to read from her most recent book “The Making of Jane Austen” in Hagfors 150. Books will be available for purchase at this event and Looser will stick around to visit with guests and sign their copies after the reading.

“The Making of Jane Austen” Press Release

Just how did Jane Austen become the celebrity author and the inspiration for generations of loyal fans she is today? Devoney Looser’s The Making of Jane Austen turns to the people, performances, activism, and images that fostered Austen’s early fame, laying the groundwork for the beloved author we think we know.

Here are the Austen influencers, including her first English illustrator, the eccentric Ferdinand Pickering, whose sensational gothic images may be better understood through his brushes with bullying, bigamy, and an attempted matricide. The daring director-actress Rosina Filippi shaped Austen’s reputation with her pioneering dramatizations, leading thousands of young women to ventriloquize Elizabeth Bennet’s audacious lines before drawing room audiences. Even the supposedly staid history of Austen scholarship has its bizarre stories. The author of the first Jane Austen dissertation, student George Pellew, tragically died young, but he was believed by many, including his professor-mentor, to have come back from the dead.

Looser shows how these figures and their Austen-inspired work transformed Austen’s reputation, just as she profoundly shaped theirs. Through them, Looser describes the factors and influences that radically altered Austen’s evolving image. Drawing from unexplored material, Looser examines how echoes of that work reverberate in our explanations of Austen’s literary and cultural power. Whether you’re a devoted Janeite or simply Jane-curious, The Making of Jane Austen will have you thinking about how a literary icon is made, transformed, and handed down from generation to generation.

 

 

Season 2 Premiere of The Augsburg Podcast: Paul Pribbenow: Putting Students First

Posted on

The Augsburg Podcast features voices of Augsburg University faculty and staff. We hope this is one way you can get to know the people who educate our students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. Subscribe on Itunes.

 

Paul Pribbenow
President Paul Pribbenow explores family, faith, and prioritizing the student experience of present and future Auggies.

 

Lois Hofstad Esselstrom Ph.D. ’58 Publishes “An Intimate Journey with Our Father: Walking and Talking with God”

Posted on

Book cover for An Intimate Journey with Our FatherAlumna Lois Hofstad Esselstrom, Ph.D., has recently published “An Intimate Journey with Our Father: Walking and Talking with God,” available on Amazon for purchase. Before earning her bachelor of arts from Augsburg in 1958, Lois grew up in the home of a pastor and educator and says her family walked and talked with God through Bible reading and prayer. She went on to earn both an M.A. and Ph.D. from Western Reserve University. She has been a church parish worker, a publish school teacher and a professor of English at Indiana University South Bend. She and her husband Michael Esselstrom have two children and are now retired in Florida.

About this Book (from the author)

To walk life’s road with the Almighty God, engaged in intimate conversation with Him? Can it be? As astonishing, indeed shocking, as this concept is, it is simple enough for a child to experience. I know because I was that child. When I was very small, Mother found me on a chair talking to Someone she could not see. “Who are you talking to?” she asked. “I’m talking to Jesus. You said He was here.” Ever since that day decades ago I have known that I may talk to Jesus, or more precisely, with Jesus, with God. God chooses to engage with children, men, and women in intimate dialogue. Sometimes He initiates the conversation through words of the Bible as we read or remember them. Sometimes words from morning devotional reading steady me all through the day. Our answer is amazement and gratitude. Or we speak to Him first, through conscious prayer or through longings which He hears in our hearts. He answers according to what is best for His child. Jesus was very specific about God’s intentions. He said that He and His Father would “come and make our home” with those who love Him. It occurred to me that God, Who is Love, may enjoy being welcomed to be at home in our personal lives even more than we limited mortals can rise to being glad He has come. Thus, as the almighty God lives in our lives, we, together with believers of all ages, bear witness to the reality of An Intimate Journey with Our Father: Walking and Talking with God.

Photos from Velkommen Jul

Posted on

Thank you for ringing in the holiday season with us at Velkommen Jul and Vespers. This weekend is always a great time to see friends and celebrate togetherness. And a special thank you to all the volunteers who worked these events, to the Augsburg Associates who raised more than $4,800 for student scholarships at Velkommen Jul and to Trudi Anderson ’77 who lead the pop-up flute choir.

Velkommen Jul 2018