Kathleen “Katie” Clark, who started at Augsburg University in 2009, is the Chair of the Nursing Department, the Executive Director of the Augsburg Health Commons, and an Associate Professor at Augsburg University. She also serves on the Mission and Identity Division within the Office of the President. Katie’s passion lies in engaging in the community and infusing the university’s mission into learning experiences.

Her primary teaching responsibility is in the graduate nursing program in courses that focus on issues of social justice, health inequities, and civic engagement. Katie’s scholarship emphasizes creating unique models of teaching and learning in local context. For example, Katie has created and led courses that are designed in an immersion format that allows students to gain insight first-hand from people living in the margins while learning transcultural nursing skills.  In addition, Katie has collected various oral histories of members of the community, students, and faculty at Augsburg University, sharing their stories and experiences, especially as they relate to health.

As the Executive Director, Katie is responsible for leading and providing oversight for the Augsburg Health Commons, health-focused drop-in centers that focus on radical hospitality and building trusting relationships with people in marginalized communities.  These sites allow students to gain a deeper understanding of the social determinants of health and learn firsthand of issues that create otherness in healthcare systems. The first health commons location, which was started over thirty years ago, is called the Augsburg Central Health Commons and is located in downtown Minneapolis at Central Lutheran Church.  Most of the individuals who visit this space are experiencing homelessness or are marginally housed.  The second location, the Health Commons in Cedar-Riverside, was launched in 2011 by Katie in partnership with two other local non-profits, the East Africa Health Project and M Health Fairview.  Most of those who enter this space are people who have fled the war in East Africa and are currently living in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. In 2022, the PA and Nursing Department joined to officially become part of yet another location of the Health Commons, The Health Commons at the Living Room, which is in the Harrison Neighborhood of North Minneapolis. And, in 2023, a new location was opened on the Eastside of St. Paul called The Health Commons East. These sites are used for student learning experiences based on fostering relationships built on mutual benefit, de-emphasizing the expert model, and are guided by the principle of accompaniment.  They also represent Augsburg’s commitment to being of place and their rich history of being engaged in community-academic partnerships. Under Katie’s leadership, the Health Commons locations have expanded from one main site to five, each with its own community-academic partnership. She and the Health Commons team have received various grants and awards for this work.

As a chair and the chief nursing administrator for the university, Katie has been deeply involved with revising the curriculum to meet the new AACN essentials (2021) that centers on the mission of the university and the department, which is focused on advancing health equity and inclusivity in health care and nursing education. She is currently a Fellow of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing (ELAN) and serves as a volunteer to help AACN develop the new Holistic Ecosystem of Excellence in Nursing Education Faulty Toolkit. She serves on various university committees and is the recipient of the 2021 Distinguished Contributions to Service Award. Currently, is she completing a year long fellowship with Augsburg’s Interfaith Institute to explore the intersection of religious pluralism and health.

Before coming to Augsburg, Katie previously worked for eight years as a nurse at the University of Minnesota Medical Center – East Bank in both oncology hematology and the medical ICU.  She has traveled to 20 countries and participated in many local volunteer programs, such as the Bridge for Youth and Higher Ground.

Education

• D.N.P. in Transcultural Leadership: Augsburg University (2014)
• M.A.N. with a Transcultural Nursing Emphasis: Augsburg University (2010)
• B.S.N: University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire (2002)

Areas of Teaching Responsibility

• Transcultural nursing
• Social justice praxis
• Care for marginalized populations
• Civic agency/Citizen nurse
• Community engagement/immersion experiences
• Community partnerships

selected publications

Clark, K., Rödlach, A., Simek, A., Miller, J., Ballesteros, M., Davis, R., Holmes, L., Minnich, M., & Schulz, A. (2024). Professional identity development of advanced practice nurses: Evaluating its integration in curricula and relevance for professional practice. Nursing Education in Practice, 82, 104202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2024.104202.

Clark, K., Martin, K., Nelson, A., Ullery, M. & Bester, V. (2024). The case studies of place-based education as action to address health inequities: The Health Commons. Metropolitan Universities, 35(3), 6-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18060/27699.

Clark, K., Nelson, A.K., Martin, K., Ullery, M. & Eschenbacher, E. (2024). Catalyst for Change: Evaluating the Effects of the Citizen Nurse Education. Journal of Nursing Education, 63(9), 626–629.

Abdirahman, M. & Clark, K. (2024). Augsburg’s Health Commons: Caring for Our Neighbors in a World of Extremes. In P. Pribbenow & G. Bouzard (eds), Through Truth to Freedom Reconciling a University’s Past, Present, and Future (pp. 113-127). Myers Education Press.

Clark, K. (2024). Caring as the Accompagnateur: The Augsburg Health Commons. In M.R. Rosales, L.P. Johnson & A. Rödlach (Eds.), Research as Accompaniment: Solidarity and Community Partnerships for Transformative Action (pp. 60-71). Routledge.

Bouzard, G., Clark, K., Pippert, T., & Pribbenow, P. (2024, June 24). Augsburg University. In I. Harkavy & R.A. Hodges (Eds.), Restoring the Public Purpose of America’s Urban Universities [White Pages](pp. 3-8). Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania.

Clark, K., Rödlach, A., Ballesteros, M., Davis, R., Holmes, L., Miller, J., Minnich, M. & Schultz, A.(2024). The role of Doctor of Nursing Practice programs’ mission, vision, and values statements in the development of students’ professional identity: A qualitative study. Nursing Education Today, 134, 106096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2024.106096.

Clark, K. & Rödlach, A. (2023). Compassion in pre-health and health professional education: Inspiration and sustenance for action. In M. Dosel & M. M. Maike, M. & M. Steffens (Eds.), Compassion as the key to sustainable education for sustainable development?!: Mission and further development of a theological principle (pp. 152-175). Kohlammer.

Bouzard, G., Clark, K., Pippert, T., & Pribbenow, P. (2023). Radical Roots: How One Professor Transformed a University. Myers Education Press. ISBN-13: ‎978-1975506209Clark, K.M. (2022). 

Evaluating student learning: Community-based Nursing Education as Action to Address Inequities.  Journal of Nursing Education, 61(9), 525-527. doi:10.3928/01484834-20220705-07Clark, K. (2021).

Clark, K. (2021).Treating an Ailing Society: Citizen Nursing in an Era of Crisis.  Higher Education Exchange.  The Kettering Foundation.

Clark, K. (2020, July 7).  Struggling to find air: Emancipatory nursing response to Covid-19. Nursology.  https://nursology.net/2020/07/07/struggling-to-find-air-emancipatory-nursing-response-to-covid-19/

Clark, K. (2020, June 24). The aftermath of George Floyd’s death: How 8 minutes + 46 seconds affected the health of a community. NurseManifest. https://nursemanifest.com/2020/06/24/the-aftermath-of-george-floyds-death-how-8-minutes-46-seconds-affected-the-health-of-a-community/

Enestvedt, R.C., Clark, K.M., Freborg, K., Miller, J.P., Leuning, C.J., Schuhmacher, D., McHale, K., Baumgartner, K., & Loushin, S. (2018). Caring in the margins: A scholarship of accompaniment for advanced transcultural nursing practice.  Advances in Nursing Science, 41(3),230-242. doi: 10.1097/ANS.0000000000000201.

Clark, K., Miller, J., Leuning, J. & Baumgartner, K. (2017). The Citizen Nurse: An Educational Innovation for Change.  Journal of Nursing Education, 54(4): 247-250.

selected presentations

Clark, K., (on behalf of fellow authors Martin, K., Nelson, A., Ullery, M. & Bester, V.) Young, K., & Raisch, M. (2024, Nov 21). MUJ Dialogue Series: Exploring Campus-Community Relationships [Webinar]. Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities. https://vimeo.com/1032366744?mc_cid=4b7e48a802&mc_eid=9a834d82e7

Clark, K. (2024, Sept 10). Roots of Change: How Radical Ideas Created the Augsburg Health Commons. St. Paul Branch of American Association of University Women. St. Paul, Minnesota.

Clark, K. (2024, Feb 7). Radical Hospitality: Accompanying our Neighbors. Centered Life Series at Augsburg University. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Clark, K, & Miller, J. (2023, Oct 19). Bridging Worldviews through Nursing Education: The Influence of the 5 Aims in Caring for Marginalized Populations.The Society for the Advancement of Modeling and Role-Modeling 18th Biannual Conference: Bridging Worldviews: Inclusion, Partnership, and Collective (virtual).

Clark, K. & Bester, V. (2023, Oct 17).The Augsburg Health Commons: Community-based Education as Action to Address Health Inequities. The 28th annual Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities conference. Washington, D.C.

Schuhmacher, D., Clark, K. & Miller, J. (2023). An integral DEIJ outcome-based DNP education. AACN 2023 Doctoral Education Conference. Coronado, CA.

Holmes, L., Davis, R., Miller, J., Minnich, M., Clark, K., & Rödlach, A. (2023). Mission statement influence on DNP education. AACN 2023 Doctoral Education Conference. Coronado, CA.

Clark, K. & Abdirahman, M. (2022, Feb 23). Accompanying Our Neighbors: We Believe We are Called! Centered Life Series at Augsburg University. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Clark, K., Schuhmacher, D., & Miller, J. (2022). Racism as a Public Health Crisis: An Innovation in Higher Education. AACN 2022 Doctoral Education Conference (virtual). Nursing Science and Practice: Creating Equity through Doctoral Education.  Virtual on-demand format.

Clark, K. (2021, June 1).Teaching Accompaniment: Learning in the Margins. Annual IAHC Conference: Exploring inclusive and Diverse Caring in Healthcare and Beyond. Virtual on-demand format.

Clark, K. (2021, March 17).  Teaching Accompaniment: Learning in the Margins.  Nursing Diversity 2021; Global Virtual Summit on Nursing Education.

Clark, K. (2020, September 25). Being Bold: Caring while in Solidarity. Augsburg Bold Series Speakers.  https://vimeo.com/464317420.

Clark, K. & Freborg, K. (2019). Radical Hospitality – A Concept Introduction to Uncover Common Ground in Caring Moments. 40th Annual IAHC Conference Caring and Interprofessional Practice: Re-imagining the Patient Care Experience. Greenville, South Carolina. 

Clark, K. & Munoz, J. (2018). Connecting Across Difference: Engaged Scholarship in Higher Education. 2018 Engagement Scholarship Consortium Conference: Transforming Higher Education through Engaged Scholarship. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Clark, K. (2018, May 31).  Facilitating health and healing: Applying caring concepts in practice at a nurse-led drop-in center. Presented at the 39^th annual International Association for Human Caring Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Augsburg University Podcast [producer]. (2018, May).  Katie Clark: A passion for progress.

Compact Nation Podcast (producer). (2018, May).  Radical hospitality. https://compact.org/podcast/season2-episode16/

Biederman, J. (Producer).  (2017, August 10).  Belonging [Audio podcast].  http://www.changemakerpodcast.com/episode-2-belonging/

Clark, K., Green, A., & Abdulaya, Y. (2016). Unlocking the Power of Community through Partnerships. 2016 Nonprofit Leadership Conference. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Minnesota Public Radio Interview with Dan Olson “For nurses serving homeless, hospitality comes first.” (2015)

Clark, K. (2014). Developing a Health Commons: A Drop-in Focused on Health and Healing Through the Development of Relationships Based on Transcultural Practices. 40th Annual Conference of The Transcultural Nursing Society 2014. Charleston, South Carolina.

Clark, K. Noor, S., & Kimball, B. (2014). From Research to Action: Creating a Drop-in Health Center that Addresses the Needs of Somali Refugees in Minnesota. 4th Annual North American Refugee Health Conference 2014. Rochester, New York.

Clark, K., & Noor, S. (2012). Health Commons: Partners Improving Health Outcomes for East African Community.  Community Health Conference 2012.  Brainerd, Minnesota.

Clark, K., Baumgartner, K., & Miller, J. (2011). The Development of the Health Commons Model. 2nd Annual International Public Health Nursing Conference 2011.  Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Current Certifications

Public Health Nurse (PHN)

Certified Foot Care Specialist (CFCS)