Joshua Harris’ life and work in the last ten years of his young career have been devoted to public leadership, building connections and making a difference in his community.
As one of Joshua’s nominators, Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter says, “When I think of Joshua, it makes sense that he is an alumnus of Augsburg, as he truly lives the mission of being an informed citizen, a thoughtful steward, a critical thinker, and a responsible leader.”
Joshua is the co-founder of the Hollins Creative Placemaking, a non-profit fostering urban revitalization by including the use of art and the creative processes. He sits on the board of the Charles Village Urban Renewal Project, Pauls Place Community, Baltimore’s Promise Mentoring Task force and Baltimore’s Southwest Partnership.
Joshua ran for Mayor of Baltimore in 2016 becoming the youngest person ever to run for mayor. He ran as a Green Party Candidate and in a one party town Josh took 10% of the vote, more than any third party candidate in history. He is dedicated to creating attainable solutions for the challenges Baltimore and similar urban cities face around the nation.
Joshua is a brand and communications expert and currently is a Deputy Director of Communications for a national women’s reproductive rights organization where he monitors policy and guides communication strategy for more than a dozen state chapters and affiliates. He also sits on the board of directors for the NAACP Maryland State Conference and the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance. He has previously worked for an international non-profit that provides mentorship and scholarship opportunities to young African American boys and men and is the former director of communications for Black and Brown People Vote. Joshua has been a featured speaker on urban renewal and education disparities at the “Imagine America Conference” and the “Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference”. Joshua is has a passion and commitment to empowering people and for progressive policy solutions.
Continuing to stay active in his community, Joshua is currently running to be the delegate for District 40 in Baltimore, Maryland.
While attending Augsburg University from 2005 to 2008, Joshua played basketball, was on student government, was a residence life advisor, an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and the Co-chair of The Pan-African student Union for two years. Joshua majored in communication studies with a double emphasis in broadcast journalism and marketing, and a film studies minor.
As a communication studies major, Harris learned the theory and skills to create sound public policy, argue effectively for meaningful change, persuade diverse audiences. In true Augsburg fashion, Harris has channeled his education and professional experience to reduce inequity and fight for social justice as a responsible, informed, and active citizen leader.
On Saturday, Sept. 15, the Augsburg University Associates hosted their annual fall brunch. The Associates conducted their business meeting, heard Leif Anderson give greetings from the University, got an update on admissions from Devon Ross, and enjoyed fellowship together. They also welcomed new board members and thanked members who are ending their time on the board.
View an album of the brunch below:
Later this fall, the Associates are looking forward to welcoming new members and hosting Velkommen Jul!
Every fall, students from the Multicultural Student Services & International Student and Scholar Services organizations gather off campus for a Fall Leadership Retreat to build community, engage in important discussions, and gain leadership tools. During the retreat, students affiliated with the Augsburg Asian Student Association (AASA) have the opportunity to participate with AASA alumni in the Refugee Odyssey, an intense simulation that AASA started back in 2008.
Alumnus Cheemoua Vang ‘16 took part in the Odyssey as a student and has volunteered the last two years to help run the event. He says his first experience was indescribable, but a moment from which he bloomed and grew emotionally, mentally and spiritually. That’s why he and other AASA alumni choose to come back to volunteer.
“I call it the cycle of giving back,” he said. “Alumni volunteers who take part in the Odyssey have all participated in it before at least two to three times. This is important because those who have personally gone through the Odyssey will be able to connect with the student participants. They’ll understand the impact of it on a personal level and know the sensitivity of the event and what it takes to be involved with it.”
The sensitive nature of this event comes from students simulating the experience of immigrants running from their homes during wartime, fleeing from soldiers, to find safety. The simulation is meant to help students explore their history.
Senior Cam Thu Pham has participated in the Refugee Odyssey the past three years and says “the Refugee Odyssey is a learning experience of rediscovering one’s history or awakening an interest in learning one’s parent’s raw history and sacrifices. It is a frightening experience, and you would not know what to expect while laying in the pitch black grass and thorny bushes waiting with your adrenaline rushing as you try to get to a safe place.”
In her first two years, Cam was a runner during the simulation and last year she chose to be a soldier, whose job it is to catch the runners. These experiences have led Cam to further explore her personal family history.
“I finally came to the realization that my parents stories that they had always told me were not because they were bored and had nothing to talk about, but because it was all they had to talk about. It was their history and their roots. I never took the time to appreciate those stories until I sat down with my parents after [the Refugee Odyssey] and asked them to tell me those stories once again. I think these stories have led me to recognize my privilege to be where I am today from the upbringing of my parents, to not ever forget where I originally came from, and to appreciate my identity as a proud Vietnamese woman.”
For both Cam and Cheemoua, the Refugee Odyssey and AASA have helped to shape their experience at Augsburg.
“AASA is not just a platform of support, but to me it feels like a family that has lifted me up through my hard times throughout my experiences here. AASA members are empowering people who have so much influence on me as an individual,” Cam said.
Cheemoua feels a similar connection to the group.
“I first got involved with AASA during my first year of college,” Cheemoua said. “I was eating lunch all by myself and a group of AASA members invited me to eat with them. They were very welcoming and friendly. After joining them for the Fall Leadership Retreat, I found the leadership in me that Fall and I just kept growing ever since.”
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.
Providing the right support can make all the difference in a student’s education. Dixie Shafer, Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity (URGO), speaks to the many ways in which URGO helps students unlock their fullest potential.
On Sept. 29, 2018, the Young Alumni Council will host Yoga on the Lawn of the beautiful new Hagfors Center for Science, Business & Religion from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The Council is excited to bring alumna, and renowned yoga instructor Halen Bower back to campus to instruct a stimulating hour!
Bower graduated from Augsburg in 2008 with a BA studying international relations, and got a taste for travel when she studied abroad her junior year. As an athlete most of her life, (she played volleyball for Augsburg from 2004-2007) Halen initially came to yoga as a gentler way to stay in shape. In 2010, she was able to combine both her love for travel and her love of yoga when she completed her 200 hour training in Guatemala. She has been traveling with yoga ever since. Halen has taught yoga in Switzerland, Alaska, California, Minnesota, and Vermont. She is trained in Adapting Yoga for Disability, in Yin Yoga, and in Restorative Yoga. Bower has been a certified Children’s Yoga teacher since 2011, and is now in the process of completing her 95 hour certification with Radiant Child Yoga.
Bower epitomizes true kindness and a heart-centered zest for life. Her presence and classes will leave you both energized and relaxed. Her hope is to teach yoga in a playful, and approachable way to help promote healing, connection, and openness in mind, body, and spirit. She looks forward to bringing what she has learned over the years back to Augsburg to connect with her Augsburg community. Bring your mat and join her on Saturday, Sept. 29 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Please register for this event. Limited to 30 participants.
Augsburg University is a member of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities, comprising 26 institutions across the country linked to our particular brand of Lutheranism. As part of the Network, Augsburg recently adopted “Rooted and Open: The Common Calling of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities,” which provides a great overview of how our missions and identities have been shaped by the Lutheran Christian tradition. You can find a copy at https://www.elca.org/Resources/Colleges-and-Universities.
The Augsburg Podcast featuring voices of Augsburg University faculty and staff 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 to the RSS feed or on iTunes.
Episode 12: Amanda Case: Exploring the Fundamentals
Amanda Case, assistant professor of chemistry, teaches her students the fundamentals of both science and learning: how to investigate the world around them and ask the questions that lead to insight.
Marty Stortz is the Bernhard M. Christensen Professor of Religion and Vocation, a position she has held since 2010. Prior to coming to Augsburg University, she had been a professor of historical theology and ethics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary/The Graduate Union in Berkeley, California for almost thirty years. She holds a BA from Carleton College in English, an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is the author of several books, including A World According to God(2004) and Blessed to Follow (2008). Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Marty enjoys hiking, swimming, and the light in Minnesota.
All Augsburg alumni, parents, and friends are invited to register for a special lunch discussions as part of the 2018-19 Calling in the Third Age series curated by Senior Fellow for the Christensen Center for Vocation Jack Fortin.
On Wednesday, October 10 Augsburg will launch the 2018 Calling in the Third Age discussion series with a special opportunity to meet with Dr. Marty Stortz who is Augsburg’s Bernhard M. Christensen Professor of Religion and Vocation. Dr. Stortz will present and facilitate a discussion on “Breaking and Remaking”. Vocational calling in the latter stages of the life cycle all too often takes place amidst a litany of losses: loss of loved ones, loss of job or career, loss of income, loss of bodily function. But the vocational questions have not changed; they’re just inflected differently. Drawing on the wisdom of scripture and real-life illustrations, this talk explores those questions: Who am I? Who are my people? What will I do with my “one wild and precious life?”
Calling in the Third Age — a series of (bring your own) lunch discussions
Topic: Breaking and Remaking with Dr. Marty Stortz
Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Location: Luther Seminary at 2481 Como Ave, St. Paul, MN 55108
Room: Olson Campus Center Dining Room C
The cost for this event is $15 and space is limited. Please register online here by October 10, 2018.
Augsburg’s Calling in the Third Age Series for 2018-19 will feature a number of popular speakers and discussion leaders.
October, 17, 2018 Rev. Dr. Jack Fortin
Title: Living on the Brink: “The Courage to Be Fully Alive in the Third Chapter of life”
We will be discovering together how to live in the tension between “Gravity and Grace”. Facing the limitations of “Gravity” on the one hand, which is pulling our physical bodies down, while receiving the gift of “Grace”, which is lifting our spirits up, setting us free to live with a renewed sense of calling and purpose.
October 24, 2018 Dr. Paul Pribbenow
Title: Vocation 2.0
Come and explore how our Lutheran colleges and universities have made the theological concept of vocation – one of the central gifts of our Lutheran Christian tradition – the center of their academic missions. We will discuss how our Lutheran understanding of vocation offers a powerful counter-message to the cultural expectation that we are always called to upwardly mobile, individual trajectories in our lives. Of relevance to those of us in the “third age,” our discussion will focus both on how Vocation 2.0 is important to our vocational journeys and how we can help support future generations of faithful folks called to service in the world.
February 13, 20, 27 Rev. Dr. Mark Hanson
Title: “A Personal Third-Chapter Challenge: “Discovering call amidst memory loss in the context of cultural and religious diversity for the sake of the neighbor “
Session One (Feb. 13, 2019) – “God’s call to serve when memory fades and love endures: personal reflections” It has been 8 years since the diagnosis of memory loss became a reality in our lives. How does this reality shape our discerning God’s call?
Session Two (Feb. 20, 2019)- “Our shared baptismal calling in a polarized culture.” How shall we live as a community in Christ shaped by memory, witnessing to signs of God’s promised future and immersed in this present rapidly changing and often deeply conflicted context?
Session Three (Feb. 27, 2019) – “God’s call to be neighbor: our shared vocation in a world of religious pluralism.” Drawing upon Lutheran theological themes, leadership experiences and the dynamic community of Augsburg University, we will explore how will live as people of Christian faith in contexts of religious diversity including with those who self define in other than religious categories.
Date TBD Rev. Dr. Rollie Martinson
Title: Elders Rising: The Promise And Peril of Elderhood: “Vital and Resilient Aging: Living Well and Making a Difference”
An “age wave” of enormous proportions and life-changing-impact is washing over us. Understanding this “age wave” provides older adults and those closest to them more options for greater vitality and resiliency. Participants will come to better understand aging and develop their own “pathway” of quality life during their senior years. Congregational and community leaders will discover how their organizations can become centers of expansive elder wellness and empowerment.
Jack Fortin serves as Senior Fellow for Christensen Center for Vocation at Augsburg University and curates the Calling in the Third Age Series as a way of connecting alumni and others interested in vocational calling in later stages of life.
The Calling in the Third Age Series is curated by Jack Fortin who serves as Senior Fellow for Christensen Center for Vocation, a position he has held since 2008. Before coming to Augsburg, Jack was interim senior pastor at Colonial Church of Edina and held senior management positions with Lifelong Learning at Luther Seminary, Young Life, and World Vision. Author of The Centered Life, Jack’s academic interest has been unpacking Luther’s understanding of vocation as the primary means used by God for us to serve the neighbor, exploring how our vocation gets expressed through a lifespan of callings due to ordinary challenges within the scope of our daily lives. Jack serves on several non-profit boards and has written a book, The Centered Life. Jack has a BA from Rockford College majoring in sociology, an M. Div from Luther Seminary, and an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from New York Theological Seminary. He is ordained and rostered in the Minneapolis synod-ELCA.
Alumni often reminisce about their student jobs, co-workers, and bosses. Augsburg parents are interested in what their students are experiencing. Because you are interested, we want to share how on-campus work at Augsburg has evolved, and, how it hasn’t really changed at all.
On-campus jobs play a meaningful role in preparing students for future positions; not only do they help financially, but they help students network and learn valuable skills they can take with them into their jobs outside of Augsburg.
As we enter the new school year, The Augsburg Alumni Instagram will be taken over by students…in a good way! See for yourself by following Augsburg Alumni on Instagram.
Check out our Augsburg Alumni Instagram posts from:
Having served a commission in the Naval Reserve since 2009, Mike Matson is now called to active duty as a Chaplain to Marine Special Operations Training Command at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Anyone who’s met Mike Matson ’06 will notice his qualities of curiosity, calm, and spiritual presence. Mike’s history with Augsburg began as a student and athlete. He then served for over five years as a chaplain to student athletes and as a coach. For the past year and a half, he’s served as Assistant Director of Leadership Gifts in the Advancement office.
Now he is taking on a new role: having served a commission in the Naval Reserve since 2009, he’s been called to active duty as a Chaplain to Marine Special Operations Training Command at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Mike, his wife Helen, and their five children (June age 8, Francesca and Theodore age 6, Charlie age 4, and Josephine 4 weeks) will move on August 26 and serve there for one year. He’s happy his whole family will move with him as these are high priority orders and the reserves requested his immediate departure to service.
“Since we just had our fifth child, Helen and I are especially glad we can all relocate together. Helen’s been a medical receptionist for two surgeons. This call will allow her to stay home with our kids full time while I serve our Special Forces.”
When asked where the idea for this combined service came from, Mike commented, “I believe every corner of the world needs an Auggie in it. I was shaped by my Augsburg education to go out and do more in the world. Staying in the reserves was one way to do that. I was able to contribute to the mission of Augsburg and use the values and skills Augsburg shaped in me to serve the community.”
Mike’s been serving as chaplain to the 1st Precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department which is the downtown area. Sometimes it’s been hard to shift between his roles of staff, father, husband, and chaplain.
“I’ve learned through my roles there are all kinds of people in the world. And I’ve faced the polarization we are experiencing head on. I’ve learned to appreciate how gently we have to hold the space and come to each moment with sincere appreciation. I practice seeing the holy in all of it. It is always there.”
The Matson family at the headwaters to the Mississippi.
He goes on, “I approach it all with curiosity. If I can’t believe the holy is there in each person and experience, then what’s the point. Jesus always showed us his curiosity. Without our curiosity I don’t think we can make any progress. My approach is to figure out how to connect with people. I am motivated by it.”
In his time serving in Advancement he’s learned some things, too.
“One big thing I’ve learned is, what a gift it is to be a student! It’s not something to take for granted. So many students receive some form of scholarships. Usually those scholarships don’t come from someone with lots of income and assets. It comes because of a belief the donor has in the value of an Augsburg education. It comes from generosity and belief in the importance of investing in students. There’s a community behind every student. I never want to take that for granted.”
As he turns his attention to the year of service unfolding before him, he will be carrying some of these lessons with him.
“I am called to the gray areas of life. And to do so vulnerably. I go with an openness to enter into those spaces. That is where the transformative can emerge.”
He’s especially energized by the call to the Special Forces.
“So much of the military focus now is on specialized teams and special forces. The training of these elite forces is crucial. As we can imagine, it’s a grueling experience to go through this training. It peels back the layers of a person’s character and reveals our make-up. It’s a key time in a service member’s life. The military is doing all it can to offer support to the trainees.”
On this high priority mission Mike will be participating in some of their training and in the same spaces with the Marines and special forces.
Mike Matson ’06 has served Augsburg University as chaplain to student athletes, as a coach, and in alumni development.
He smiles, “I’m going to get my jump wings! Yes, that means he will learn to parachute!
As he travels with Helen and his children, he feels the strength of her support and her willingness to put the family through such a big experience.
“She has given me courage to be even more curious. And to mess up, too. We don’t always get things right. She’s helped me show eagerness to go out and seize the day. The greatest gift in all this is to say yes to life.”
Mike and his family will return to Augsburg in a year. “I feel very supported by this Augsburg community!”
