Augsburg College alumna Beverly “Bev” Benson ’81 announced this summer that she will be running for Judge in the 4th Judicial District of Hennepin County. Supporting her in the campaign are many other Augsburg alumni, including Kristine Johnson ’81.

Official Announcement to Augsburg College

Bev Benson, Augsburg Class of 1981, has announced she is running in November, to fill an open Judicial Seat on the Hennepin County Bench.  This means that there is no incumbent.   Former Augsburg graduate Kristine Johnson, Class of 1981, is a member of her campaign staff.   She has numerous other Augsburg graduates supporting her campaign.

Ms. Benson has been a prosecutor for 28 years, 25 years in Hennepin County, and 3 years in Stearns County.  She has specialized in the prosecution of domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual assault and homicides.

She has been a presenter and trainer at the national and state levels.  She has also been a member of groups funded by the US State Department to do training for judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and police in two provinces, formerly part of the Soviet Union.

She has 15 years of experience moderating League of Women Voter candidate forums, as well as being a former president of her local Wayzata/Plymouth League of Women Voters.   Other personal volunteer service activities include presenting trainings on domestic violence at the Minnesota Indian Women’s Center and the Rape and Sexual Assault Center.  She has volunteered as a reader to second graders at the Nellie Stone Johnson Elementary School.  She volunteered her time and energy toward various projects at Oak View Elementary School and Cedar Island Elementary School in the Osseo-Maple Grove School District.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact her by way of this email address:  bevbensonforjudge@gmail.com and on Facebook at:  “Bev Benson For Hennepin County Judge”.

At a very young age, Nick Swanson ’09, ’12 MBA took a keen interest in hunting, fishing, and the outdoors in general—an interest he shared with the most influential person in his life, his grandfather, Richard Hoffmann. Even last year, the two sat in the woods together for a full day during Wisconsin deer hunting season, in hopes of harvesting a good-sized buck. They were not disappointed—plus, the “great buck event” was all captured on film!

Swanson, who spends his workweek as supervisor of business services at the Hastings (Minn.) Medical Clinic, Allina Health, has long been interested in traveling and a variety of outdoor adventures, and spends most evenings and weekends in that world. But, over the years, his difficulty in finding good, reputable resources to assist him in his planning has usually left him frustrated. Finally, he decided to create a website (www.claimyourtrophy.com) and produce/host a TV show to do just that. His hunting/fishing outfitter directory helps you find reliable guides and outfitters for that once-in-a-lifetime event—to enjoy hunting (deer, elk, moose, bear, turkey, caribou, birds, antelope, sheep) or fishing (bass, musky, northern pike, salmon, salt water, trout, walleye).

Particularly pleased about having captured “the great buck event” on film, Swanson looks forward to sharing the footage with millions this fall on his television show. Recently picked up by Fox Sports North and Fox Sports Wisconsin, “Claim Your Trophy” will run for 13 weeks, on Sundays and Thursdays at 8:00 a.m., beginning on August 24. It will also be found on YouTube (www.youtube.com/claimyourtrophy). “Having traveled across North America hunting and fishing with some close friends and capturing it all on film has been a dream come true,” says Swanson, “not to mention having our adventures shown on TV—well, that’s just icing on the cake!”

After majoring in Economics and earning an MBA at Augsburg (experiences which he says brought clarity to his vocation and helped shape him as a person), and doing additional study at University College Cork, Swanson pursued medical school, even enjoying a stint as a Mayo Clinic Scholar in 2011-12. However, with his other foot in the business world as a broker, consultant, and marketing manager, it soon became obvious that his vocation was in the business side of health care. He now says that wearing the “health care administrator hat” on weekdays overlaps nicely with his evenings and weekends, when he switches over to the “outdoors hat.”

Swanson, who lives in Prescott, Wis., also finds time to serve on Augsburg’s Alumni Board—involvement that he enjoys. “I’m not sure they’ll ever get rid of me,” he says.

The video Rachel (Selle) McLaughlin ’01 saw at age 16, featuring women who would walk for two days to reach a doctor, left quite an impression on her. Because pregnancy and its complications continue to be a leading cause of death in the developing world, she chose to focus on obstetrics in her medical education because of the great potential to help such women.

Now, as a medical doctor at Kibuye Hope Hospital in Burundi, McLaughlin has abundant opportunities to provide medical care to many, while also serving as professor and clinical faculty at nearby Hope Africa University, a Christian university that is growing explosively. With only 300 doctors in a country of 10 million, the needs are great. Though Burundi is quite fertile, it is still one of the 10 poorest countries in the world and is not big enough to support 10 million people and their farms. Most Burundians are subsistence farmers, earning less than $1/day on average, and the unemployment rate is about 40%.

What led McLaughlin to this East African country? During her residency in Ann Arbor, Michigan, McLaughlin and her husband Eric had ended up in the same congregation as two other medical couples, the Cropseys and Faders—and they became close friends. All six felt called to medical missionary work, and in 2009, they traveled to Africa for a two-year fellowship at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya. They all sought a place to invest themselves long-term, a place that truly needed them and their medical education, and where there was African leadership and vision. They found it all in Burundi.

Their team (“the McCropders,” an amalgamation of their names), consists of doctors in six different specialties. They started work at Kibuye Hope Hospital in January 2014, in a facility that had no running water, empty shelves in the pharmacy, and only a few nurses. Little at a time, progress is being made, and thanks to an organization called Friends of Hope Africa University, they now have running water. However, the rusted-out pipes in the hospital need to be fixed, and essential medications are scarce. Most days, McLaughlin and her two OB nurses perform 3–5 deliveries, and care for an average of 30–40 inpatients—plus newborns. The hospital usually runs at 100% capacity (80–90 beds), with some patients sleeping on the floor or sharing mattresses. They lack medications, staff, and tests, and many days their X-ray machine is broken. But McLaughlin is excited about their 30-year plan, which calls for an eventual expansion to 300 beds. She knows, however, that they must manage the growth responsibly, confident that the necessary infrastructure is in place.

During her student years at Augsburg, McLaughlin took several mission trips to Mexico, her first few of many such trips. Having been very active in Augsburg’s campus ministry, she was especially pleased to return to campus in 2012 to speak at a Vocational chapel (“All Shook Up:  The Call to Change”), and to meet with students and staff. Just as she has been blessed, over the years, with many mentors, she now feels honored to advise and mentor students who are interested in medical or mission work.

Supported entirely by individuals and churches, McLaughlin and her team are seeking people with whom to partner in their hospital development and building projects. Several websites provide more information about the McCropders’ work—blog and articles (www.mccropders.com), an article on Hunger Culture (http://mccropders.blogspot.gr/2014/02/hunger-culture.html), an article on Poverty (http://mccropders.blogspot.gr/2014/01/first-impressions-poverty.html), and Rachel’s award-winning story about Burundi (http://thewell.intervarsity.org/in-focus/living-out-gods-pursuing-love-burundi).

So what drew the McLaughlins to Burundi? Friends have suggested “an amazing life experience,” or “an adventure,” or being “world travelers,” or doing “meaningful work.” But Rachel and her husband Eric agree, nothing captures the heart of it for them quite like this:  When we were far away, alienated and suffering, God pursued us with His love. And there is nothing other than this which will sustain our motivations. Laboring for the medically underserved people is a picture of the pursuing love of God for the world.

In June, the Sun Current profiled Auggie alumna Amineh Safi ’10 for her research on how Muslims are protrayed in the media. Amineh started her research while attending Augsburg under the guidance of Sociology Professor Diane Pike.

In April of 2014, while playing professional football for the Frankfurt Universe of the German Football League, Augsburg College alumnus Tyler Phillips ’12 was profiled by Timothy Miscovich.

The article focused on Phillips’ recent start-up, TOTALLY COMMITTED, “an inspirational/motivational company that encourages everyone to follow their dreams.” Phillips states in the article that “Football is a huge part of my life, but I have always had the mind of an entrepreneur.  I excelled in all of my business courses in college because it is a true interest of mine.  I credit my well-rounded education to my advanced knowledge of business concepts.” and provides a bit of advice for current Auggies: “My advice to any student would be to study something you’re interested in!”

For years, Taunya Tinsley ’90 had used basic counseling skills in the field of higher education (admissions, career, academic, administrative, and athletic counseling), but it wasn’t till she lost her brother Ethan suddenly and traumatically that the “light came on.” She was struck by the new awareness that God was calling her to the field of professional counseling as part of her ministry, both inside and outside the four walls of her church.

Now, as professional counselor and owner of Transitions Counseling Services and Life Skills Program, in Pittsburgh, Penn., she derives deep satisfaction from enabling clients to recognize and/or develop their skills and strategies to successfully manage life transitions, and to become increasingly aware that their expertise in doing so in one area of life may well be transportable to another arena as well. Tinsley specializes in organizational development, multicultural training, spiritual and Christian counseling, sports counseling, and development through sports, and she is committed to the psychosocial development of the whole person.

One client describes a time when she was “fragile, scared…no, petrified” during the bleakest time in her life, then sought counseling help from Tinsley. Now, she sees each new day as a testimonial that counseling is a vital tool. Without Tinsley’s counseling, she says, she “would be dead—period.” Another client feels that Tinsley’s counseling helped her look deep inside herself and recognize issues she had suppressed, and then provided strategies to face them, “returning me back to myself.” Tinsley’s help gave her more confidence to handle what life sends her way.

In addition to workshops, presentations, and clinical counseling work with individuals and groups, Tinsley is a professor at California University, in California, Penn., where she is also program coordinator for Graduate Certification in Sports Counseling. She says there are numerous benefits to being both a counselor educator and a clinician, as each experience informs the other.

As an Augsburg student, Tinsley found a mentor and spiritual mother in M. Anita Gay Hawthorne, former director of Pan-Afrikan Student Services at Augsburg. Her guidance and encouragement were steadfast, even after Tinsley’s graduation, and Tinsley recalls accompanying the Iowa Swim Team to Minnesota (as their athletic academic advisor) in November 1997, primarily to seek Hawthorne’s advice on a job opening at the University of Pittsburgh. With strong encouragement from her mentor, Tinsley accepted the offer in December 1997—an excellent decision she sees as pivotal in her career. A month after their visit, Hawthorne passed away, and Tinsley was especially grateful she had made the trip.

In the early ‘90s, Tinsley was on staff at Augsburg, as women’s athletic recruiter and volleyball coach in ‘92, and as an admissions counselor and coordinator of multicultural recruitment for two years before that, where she worked with then-admissions director Sally Daniels Herron ’79, currently director of family and constituent relations. “I love her tremendously…and would not be where I am in my career had it not been for Sally in my life.” They worked together to support the integration of diverse cultures in the admissions process, a clear step in the pathway to her current work.

Currently, Tinsley is enrolled at United Theological Seminary in the Doctor of Ministry program, with a focus in sports chaplaincy. Find out more about her counseling business at www.transitionsaalp.com.

When Kasey Yoder ’06 took an interest in hockey at a young age, nobody was very surprised—certainly not his step-father, who has been a high-school hockey coach for nearly 20 years. And certainly not his neighbors in Duluth (Minn.), located in the heart of “hockey country”—where high-school hockey is as good as it gets. He played hockey in high school and early in college, then transferred to Augsburg, where he explored and found the marketing program he wanted. While at Augsburg, he also started coaching youth hockey, and that’s when it started—his passion for coaching.

One of the most exciting challenges in coaching high school hockey, says Yoder, is keeping the kids focused and “buying in,” especially with everything else they have going on in their lives. He works to help them find balance, while still being committed to success at the arena. He is getting to know the families in the Orono (Minn.) community while developing relationships to further improve Orono hockey.

Taking his Orono High School team to the state hockey tournaments a few weeks ago was surely a highlight in his career, especially given the fact that 2013-14 is his first year at the school. The frosting on the cake—being selected Section 2A Coach of the Year.

When he isn’t coaching, Yoder is tending to his 2^nd Life Sticks hockey stick repair company in St. Paul. His experience as a coach, not to mention the rising cost of hockey sticks (now $250 per stick), convinced him that the repair technology he learned while a junior hockey coach on a tight budget was something that needed to be done on a larger scale. His entrepreneurial spirit kicked in, and the company has been operating for a year and a half. Yoder also runs Orono’s 18-day summer hockey camp for kids aged 12-18, careful to follow his own advice to students and carve out some valuable cabin time as well.

As a 15-year-old, and with only self-training, Dr. Merton Strommen ’42 was already directing the Lutheran church choir in Lamberton, Minn., where his father was serving as pastor. Before long, he also organized a 10-member male chorus, which, only a year later, would “serenade” the Augsburg College Choir with Negro Spirituals at a pre-concert luncheon. The Choir’s visit to the church—an exciting event for such a small community—fanned the flames of Strommen’s desire to pursue a career in music and one day direct a college choir. He eventually followed this dream at both Augsburg and the University of Minnesota.

Then life took a turn. He was personally confronted one day by a Presence he could only interpret as the Holy Spirit, and the “conversation” led to a change in life purpose. Further, he was unexpectedly rejected by the army for military service due to previous injuries. These factors, among others, pressed him to re-evaluate his life plan. He surprised even himself by enrolling at Augsburg Seminary, then an institution of the Lutheran Free Church (a predecessor body of the ELCA), where some of his closest friends were attending.

A year-and-a-half into his seminary training, he was summoned to the office of the church president, Dr. T. O. Burntvedt, and was urged to accept an appointment to serve as pastor of a congregation in Mora, Minn., starting on Christmas morning. Only part-way through seminary, and in the midst of preparing three choirs in a large congregation for Christmastime, he was stunned by this request. But it was obvious that “yes” was the answer Burntvedt required.

Strommen accepted the appointment, combining his work in Mora (on weekends) with completion of his seminary studies (during the week). In Mora, he was awed by his youth’s response to the ministry of his congregation, and his experience there created a passion for developing youth ministry, both in his congregation and beyond. His five years in Mora were transformative, both for him and for the confirmands, many of whom became leaders in their own right.

Youth ministry, a new idea then, would become the core of Strommen’s life’s work in ministry and research—as campus pastor at Augsburg, national youth director, and founder of the Youth and Family Institute at Augsburg. He also founded the renowned Search Institute, which, on the heels of the “turbulent 60s,” surveyed 4,745 randomly selected U.S. Lutherans (aged 15–65) on their beliefs, values, and lifestyles. The resulting report, A Study of Generations, yielded a remarkable set of data—scientifically collected, nicely collated (thanks to the advent of computers), and clearly interpreted. The comprehensive study was highly applauded by clergy and hailed by Time magazine in a full-page article as “an assured classic.”

Having led numerous efforts over the decades to help youth into “a conscious awareness of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord,” Strommen has written extensively about youth ministry. This spring, he released his 17th book, The Amazing Hand of God: My Story of a Lifetime in Youth Ministry. The book provides a detailed look at how youth ministry can work well, as well as a rich description of his own journey in ministry and his professional research of attitudes regarding youth and faith issues. The book also includes several appendices with useful data on pastoral effectiveness and healthy youth ministries. The book is available through Lutheran University Press (www.lutheranUpress.org) and for Kindle at Amazon (www.amazon.com).

Strommen recalls his family’s praying for Augsburg regularly when he was a child, and his family tree is filled with Auggies—father, brothers, wife, children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. He has seen Augsburg evolve over the years from many vantage points—as college student, seminary student, teacher, campus pastor, founder and director of the Centennial Singers, Regent, and Regent Emeritus—and he applauds what he sees and is “very delighted.”

Now 95, Strommen lives with his wife of nearly 70 years, Irene (Huglen ’44), in a Minneapolis apartment, adorned with Scandinavian artifacts, family pictures, plenty of easy chairs, and a grand piano. Every week, the Strommens welcome about thirty neighbors into their living room for a musicale and stories about the composer. Though his ministry may have precluded his formally pursuing a musical career, he has found a variety of ways to share his love of music.