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Students, Staff, Faculty, & Alumni Help Dedicate New Campus Veterans’ Lounge

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Student, Staff, Faculty, Alums Help Dedicate New Veterans' Lounge
John Pacheco, Director, U.S. Bank Foundation; Deborah Burke, Senior Vice President of Government and Community Relations, U.S. Bank; Rebekah Fawcett, Vice President of Employee Communications, U.S. Bank; Jennie Carlson, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, U.S. Bank; Paul Pribbenow, President, Augsburg College; Lori York, Associate Registrar, Augsburg College; Ann Garvey, Vice President of Student Affairs, Augsburg College.

Augsburg College and U.S. Bank celebrated the opening of a new campus Veterans’ Lounge with a dedication ceremony on November 10. The newly renovated Veterans’ Lounge, located in Room 110 of Oren Gateway Center, honors the contributions that student veterans have made to their country. The lounge will host meetings with veteran support staff and features a veteran recognition wall, a computer workstation, a study area, and other resources and materials.

Student, Staff, Faculty, Alumni Gather to Dedicate Vets' Lounge
U.S. Bank’s Paul Peel and Jennie Carlson appear with Augsburg President Paul C. Pribbenow, Augsburg’s VA Certifying Officials Shannon Kasperson and Lori York, and student vets from Augsburg College

Speaking on behalf of Augsburg were Student Veteran Representative Eric Olson (Army), Keenan O’Neill (Marine Corps), and Josh Pauer (Army). Several other student, staff, and faculty veterans were also on hand for the ceremony. Representing U.S. Bank was Paul Peel, an Army veteran and a 2012 graduate of Augsburg’s Master’s in Business Administration program. Peel now works in U.S. Bank’s Corporate Trust division.

Continue reading “Students, Staff, Faculty, & Alumni Help Dedicate New Campus Veterans’ Lounge” →

Student & Alumni Networking Event

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strommen

 Student & Alumni Networking Event

A reception for Augsburg students to connect

with Auggie alumni representing many careers.

Connect with fellow Auggies, support student success, and build your Auggie network!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015 • 5:30−8 p.m.

Remarks by President Paul Pribbenow

Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center (map)
Augsburg College
Minneapolis

Learn more about the Strommen Center’s Alumni Resources

and Augsburg Builds Connections mentorship program

auggie RSVP bar Registration is required.

Students register here

Students with questions, contact Sandy Tilton at the Strommen Center for Meaningful Work:

 612-330-1472 ~ tilton@augsburg.edu.

Alumni with questions, contact Becky Waggoner: 612-330-1085 ~ waggoner@augsburg.edu.

alumni bar

David “DJ” Hamm ’08
Augsburg College

Sally Daniels Herron ’79
Augsburg College

Sara Schlipp-Riedel ’06
Augsburg College

MNUDL Needs YOU as a Volunteer Middle School Debate Judge

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Urban Debate League
Minnesota Urban Debate League, a nonprofit affiliated with Augsburg’s Sabo Center, is looking for volunteers to serve as Middle School Debate Judges for their upcoming December Tournament. No experience in debate is needed! We provide all the training needed to be a great judge. This is a great experience to directly serve Twin Cities youth and support their educational development.

 

We have over 500 Middle School students from the Twin Cities involved in our program. Judges serve as active listeners and educators for the student. As a judge you will listen to debates, determine a winner, and most importantly give student feedback on their speeches, helping them to grow in confidence.

Continue reading “MNUDL Needs YOU as a Volunteer Middle School Debate Judge” →

Volunteer for Velkommen Jul

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Velkommen Jul volunteersThe Augsburg Associates are looking forward to hosting Velkommen Jul on Friday, December 5th on the Augsburg campus. It’s a busy day for us, preparing and serving our guests. If you are available to volunteer this year, please contact Lennore Bevis ’66 at 612-789-9458. Buttering lefse and breads, setting up the boutique and bake sale, pouring coffee and greeting guests are some of the areas where your help is needed. Thank you for considering this opportunity to not only be of service to the Associates, but to the entire Augsburg community!

Campus Kitchen Reaps New Grants

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Augsburg College Campus Kitchen was founded in 2002, and is now the most comprehensive Campus Kitchen organization in the United States, and is one of only two colleges in Minnesota offering the program.  Augsburg Campus Kitchen provides 18,000 meals annually to the surrounding neighborhoods, mostly derived from overages in Augsburg’s student food service—food that would otherwise go to waste.Campus Kitchen collage

Campus Kitchen provides free meals and healthy food through three different activities: meals created from the overages of the on-campus dining facility and served at neighborhood non-profits, produce gathered as donations from local farmers at area farmers markets and brought to local food shelves, and an on-campus food shelf that students in need can access from a student-run food shelf.

Foundation support:  

The success and growth of Campus Kitchen is strongly supported by local corporations, who value the opportunity for their employees to engage more deeply with their communities, and live their values as corporations. Ameriprise Financial awarded Augsburg College Campus Kitchen a $5,000 grant in September 2014. Ameriprise understands that small nonprofits require consistent streams of general operating support, and has supported Augsburg College Campus Kitchen since 2009.

Land O’Lakes also awarded Campus Kitchen a $10,000 grant in October 2014. Land O’Lakes supports programs that alleviate food insecurity, and this is the first grant award from Land O’Lakes for Campus Kitchen. Thank you!

Interested in learning how to get involved?  Check out the Augsburg College Campus Kitchen’s website and Facebook page.  Don’t forget to support Campus Kitchen on Give to the Max Day!  Give or schedule your gift here.
Continue reading “Campus Kitchen Reaps New Grants” →

StepUP Gala is a Success

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StepUP galaThe annual StepUP®  Gala was held Oct. 24 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. More than 350 attendees, including 100 StepUP alumni and current students, participated in the evening that included keynote speaker, author, and StepUP parent Sarah Nielsen; emcee, comedian Bill Arnold; and alumni speaker, Samuel O. Spafford ’09. A live auction featured a private party with dinner prepared by celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern, tropical getaways, a golf package and more.

Generous attendees brought in $290,000 in donations for the occasion, which is the primary fundraiser for  all StepUP activities. This year, StepUP serves more students than ever before as it helps students navigate their way toward a bachelor’s degree while maintaining a 93% sobriety rate. Continue reading “StepUP Gala is a Success” →

Auggie Social Worker Driven to Support

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SaraKaiserMany single moms work hard to juggle child care with maintaining a home and working a regular job (or jobs), only to find they have no safety net when something goes wrong. What happens if she gets sick? If her son has trouble in school? If she loses her job? Who can she count on to back her up?

Sara Kaiser ’08, a social worker for Rice County (Minn.), has seen first-hand the need for daily support for single moms. She knows there are many resources available to help them and their children, and she is passionate about helping them make those connections, and in creating extra support. In recent years, a variety of her experiences—working for the police department, staffer at a mental health practice, social worker at an apartment complex, and volunteer at a women’s center—have given her a solid background for her current social work. In addition to helping countless families, she has convinced the mayor of Northfield to designate a month for “Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness,” and she has worked in collaboration to create a young moms’ support group, which features guest speakers, simple conversations, and activities like cooking and scrapbooking, and negotiated with local churches to offer childcare and free dinners for the Friday evening gatherings. She has discovered, particularly in her internship at the Northfield Women’s Center and her work at the Crisis Pregnancy Center, that she has found her life’s calling, and she is pursuing a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Southern California. Continue reading “Auggie Social Worker Driven to Support” →

PHD Teams Play World’s Longest Baseball Game

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RainyIt was 6 a.m. on August 3, and the Red and Blue teams were finishing their second overnight shift at the Park High School JV Baseball Field in Cottage Grove as they attempted to beat the record for the world’s longest baseball game. Having played in two hours of torrential rain the day before, they were exhausted, though playing in shifts helped. The music behind the backstop kept them alert, but some worried they might not stay awake to beat the old record of 62 hours, 32 minutes, 59 seconds. Full count, the pay-off pitch, and the batter flailed uncontrollably for strike three. Then, blaring through the loudspeakers came the sounds of M.C. Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This,” producing a great moment of levity and a welcome energy boost. They persevered and completed the game after 63+ hours, setting the new record for the Guinness Book of World Records. They tallied 575 runs, 293 innings, and more than 12,000 pitches!

WLBG teamBryan Ludwig ’08, who organized the event, is a head coach and general counsel for the PHD Baseball Club, LLC, which was created in 2009 by another Auggie, Brian Bambenek ‘07, and two of his friends. The idea behind PHD (pitching, hitting, defense) is for the coaches to share the love of baseball and return immense value to participating athletes in a manner that is unmatched in Minnesota, training these young men and giving them the tools they need to succeed on and off the field.

The “longest game” was intentionally tied to charity to provide a way to live out PHD’s mission, and to encourage the athletes to give back. Their first attempt in 2013 to break the record fell short, but they raised thousands of dollars for the Masonic Cancer Center at the U of M. The group used this year’s event to support the ALS Association Continue reading “PHD Teams Play World’s Longest Baseball Game” →

Volunteers Needed for Vespers

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vespers servicePlan to be a part of Advent Vespers this year? If you’re able to lend a hand to this signature Augsburg College event, we’d love to welcome you as a volunteer at any one of five services. We could use many volunteers to usher and work the will-call table.

Vespers services will be held:

Friday, December 5: 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Saturday, December 6: 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Volunteers should plan to arrive at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis (333 S. 12th St.) 60-90 minutes prior to each service. The service lasts approximately 90 minutes.

If you are able to volunteer at Vespers this year, please contact Jenna Leahy at leahy@augsburg.edu.

Calling All Norwegian Sweaters!!

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Choir of SweatersWe like to think of Velkommen Jul at Augsburg College as the largest gathering of Norwegian sweaters in Minnesota. This traditional festival to usher in the Christmas season brings campus together around a lovely, historic tradition that features Scandinavian yuletide music, tasty treats including krumkake and lefse, Norwegian bunads, a bake sale of holiday goodies, and a visit from St. Nicholas during chapel. Donations are accepted and welcomed in support of student scholarships.

We love gathering together each year for this event that welcomes students from all backgrounds and faiths into long-cherished Augsburg traditions. But as we all know, these beautiful, long-wearing sweaters are not inexpensive.

Here is where you can help! Please consider donating any older or unworn Norwegian sweaters for our students to wear for this wonderful event and throughout the Christmas season. Sweaters must be clean and in reasonably good condition.  No matter who you are or your background, let’s share the wealth of Norwegian sweaters that is so proudly displayed here in Minnesota winters.

Please make your sweater donations by Wednesday, November 26 at noon. Please call 612-330-1085 with any questions. Sweater donations may be mailed or delivered to the Alumni and Advancement office at:

Oren Gateway Center
Suite 300
Augsburg College
2211 Riverside Avenue
Minneapolis MN 55454