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New Minneapolis Restaurant Opened by Auggie Couple

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Nightingale restaurantFor Auggies Jasha Johnston ’00 and Carrie McCabe-Johnston ’02, being history and English majors turned out to be the perfect recipe for opening one of Minneapolis’ most popular new restaurants, Nightingale. Opened in October 2012, the restaurant, in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, features small plates and an extensive late-night menu.

“It’s a chef-driven restaurant focusing on high-quality, local, sustainable ingredients, trying to do interesting food, but keep the prices accessible to the community,” says Johnston, who met McCabe-Johnston during her first year at Augsburg.

“We met at Augsburg, and fell in love in Urness Tower,” said Johnston. After Augsburg, “her dad put me to work in a bar, so I bartended, using my history degree quite well behind the bar, and my sociology studies helped in that as well. My philosophy and religion minors didn’t hurt either! My liberal arts education definitely helped me throughout life.”

Nightingale is open Tuesday-Saturday from 4 pm-2am, and open for brunch on Sundays from 10 am-2pm. For more information, check out www.nightingalempls.com.

Auggies are Helping Improve the Success Rate of Small Businesses in Minnesota!

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Buffie Blesi ’Buffie Blesi ’90, MAL ’97 90, MAL ’97 is on a mission.  For the last five years she has been coaching small businesses as an AdviCoach franchises and along the way she has learned a few things about what makes them tick and what holds them back.  And through this experience, she realized that the conversations surrounding small business were not telling the real story – that the challenges these small businesses faced were bigger than taxes, access to capital and regulation.  She also realized that millions of dollars and thousands of hours of effort were being dedicated by non-profits, government organization, chambers and the like to help them be successful, but no one was working together.

Thus was born AccelerateMN, a collaboration of businesses and community leaders committed to Come Together, Work Together and Stay Together.  AccelerateMN believes that we can significantly improve our economy and get more Minnesotans hired by concentrating on education and the commitment of each business to take small steps that lead to hiring just one person.  On August 14, Augsburg will be the host the keystone event the 2nd Annual AccelerateMN Let’s Get Growing 2013 Small Business Conference.

This commitment to small business growth and support of Augsburg  includes her own organization.  More than half of Blesi’s team are  Auggies: Denielle Johnson ’11- Marketing and Administrative Support Coordinator, Ward C.Schendel ’74- Business Coach and Zebo Tursunova’13– intern working on AccelerateMN. They are a very diverse team engaging in our small business community by bringing together business partners, community leaders, and business owners by facilitating conversations, providing opportunities to share knowledge and ideas, and encourage small businesses to proviAccelerateMN logode job opportunities.

Come support your fellow Auggies at AccelerateMN as they continue the College’s missions of educating to “be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders.”

Bob Stacke ’71 Shares his Love for Music with Students and Alumni

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Bob Stacke '71 conducts jazz bandAfter graduating from Augsburg in 1971 with a degree in music education, Robert Stacke wanted to share his love for music with the next generation so he became a music teacher at Jefferson Junior High school for three years before moving on to the Minneapolis Edison High School where he taught for six years. It was that love for music that took him to Venezuela for a year to play in the Maracaibo Symphony before returning to Minnesota to play in the band at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, where he entertained the guests for 13 years. During this time he also taught at Hopkins High School and the University of St Cloud.

In 1990, he returned to Augsburg as a member of the faculty in the Music Department, and since 1998 he has served as the department chair, as well as the director of the Augsburg Concert Band, and the Augsburg Jazz, Instrumental, and Vocal Ensembles (JIVE).  Stacke and his classmates developed the Jazz Band when he was a student and he was thrilled to re-energize the group when he returned to Augsburg in a new capacity. Click here to see a video about Augsburg’s JIVE.

“I am very proud of the number of students who have a chance to be involved in Augsburg’s music program. Today, more than 400 Augsburg students participate in the music program in some way. One of the benefits of attending a liberal arts college is having the opportunity to perform even if you are not a music major. All of our students have the chance to benefit from the program,” said Stacke.

The Augsburg community has the opportunity to benefit from the program as well. Stacke’s students perform at commencement, Vespers, and tours around the Twin Cities and beyond. The Augsburg Concert Band travels internationally every four years and recently returned from a trip to Turkey (read blog from trip).

Stacke’s passion for music extends beyond the classroom as well. As a guest conductor, clinician, and percussion soloist, he has traveled extensively, performing and conducting in Ireland, Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, Jamaica, China and Europe. Since 2001, Stacke has been volunteering at a music camp in Haiti every summer, bringing the joy of music to children who otherwise would not be able to experience it.

This fall, Stacke will be developing and directing the Augsburg Alumni Jazz Band. “It is exciting to bring our alumni Jazzers together again, many whom have gone on to graduate school and continue to play at a very high level,” said Stacke. He hopes that the band can play for the Augsburg community and alumni events such as Homecoming. If you are interested in playing in the Alumni Jazz Band and want further information, contact Bob at stacke@augsburg.edu.

Greater Minnesota Meets Darcey Engen ’88

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Darcey Engen ’88

This summer, three Minnesota towns will host “The Visit,” a unique theater production that will immerse each of the historic communities in the question, How far will a town go to save itself? Darcey Engen ’88, chair of the Theater Department at Augsburg, and husband Luverne Seifert ’83, professional actor/director and head of the B.A. Theatre Performance program at the U of M, provided the impetus for creating this adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s original play—an adaptation done by Engen’s colleague, Sarah Myers. After exploring venues in several towns, Engen and Siefert finally decided on East Grand Forks, Albert Lea, and Blue Earth as the sites to feature. The plays will involve community actors from each town in the actual event, as they perform at the historic site, watch scenes unfold, and experience the mounting tension at close range. Check online at www.brownpapertickets.com or Sod House Theater (Facebook) for specific performance times.

In connection with this summer’s unusual productions, Engen and Seifert have formed Sod House Theater, a site-specific Twin Cities-based theater company that travels through Greater Minnesota with a team of professional artists to work with communities to produce classic and relevant works of theater.

While work on “The Visit” was progressing, Engen received a call notifying her that Augsburg’s Theater Department had been singled out by “Backstage” magazine (a premier entertainment publication for theater professionals) as one of the Top 5 U.S. institutions for theater majors who wish to continue their studies professionally. The magazine recommended an Augsburg education for “enterprising, driven students looking to climb the [professional] ladder in double time.” Engen was delighted at the news and attributes the distinction to not only class content, but bringing in professionals as guest artists, commitment to producing a variety of voices and kinds of theater, and providing frequent opportunities backstage and onstage.

In addition to theater, Engen enjoys antiques, gardening, and finding and painting interesting pieces of furniture. She and Seifert live in Northeast Minneapolis with their two teenage sons, Severin and Simon, who love their parents’ actor friends and enjoy working as stage hands, having been in theaters during rehearsals ever since they were in car seats.

Trevor Kvarnlov ’08 Receives the 2013 ACHA Women’s Division 1 Coach-of-the-Year Award

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Trevor Kvarnlov ’08 received the 2013 American Collegiate Hockey Association [ACHA] Women’s Division 1 Coach-of-the-Year Award, presented by Harrow Sports, as selected by the Head Coaches of ACHA Women’s Division 1.

Kvarnlov was presented his ACHA Women’s Division 1 Coach-of-the-Year Award at the American Hockey Coaches Association Coach-of-the-Year Celebration on Friday, May 3, 2013, at The Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club in Naples, FL.

Kvarnlov is in his sixth season with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers ACHA program, and third season as Head Coach. As Head Coach, the Gophers are 48-18-3 with a Runner-up finish in 2012 and their first ACHA National Championship in 2013.

(pictured below (left to right) with his assistant coach Nicholas Hiipakka, longtime women’s hockey coach Jill Pohtilla, and current Augsburg women’s hockey coach Michelle McAteer)
Trevor Kvarnlov ’08, assistant coach Nicholas Hiipakka, women's hockey coach Jill Pohtilla, and Augsburg women’s hockey coach Michelle McAteer

Dave Stevens ’90, an ESPN staffer and motivational speaker, was featured in the Patch article

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Dave Stevens ’90

Dave Stevens of East Haven, Connecticut, is an amazing athlete. As a high schooler in Arizona he set three state records: most takedowns in wrestling, most career baseball walks and most walks in a season. As a college athlete at Augsburg College, in Minnesota, he competed in varsity football, baseball and wrestling. Continue the story here….

Augsburg student lands 'lost girl' role in Reese Witherspoon movie

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Kuoth Wiel had a very busy spring.

While most of her fellow Minnesotans were busy grousing about the weather, Wiel, 24, spent April and May: finishing up a degree in social psychology at Augsburg College, preparing to move, launching a new career and — oh, yeah — filming a key role in a Reese Witherspoon movie that is already being touted as a contender for next year’s Academy Awards.  Read more here.

Marilyn Pearson Florian ’76 receives MIAC honor

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Augsburg College Assistant Athletic Director Marilyn Pearson Florian ’76 recently received the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s highest honor, being named as a recipient of the conference’s Distinguished Service Award for her years of service to her alma mater and to the MIAC.  Read more here.