Despite soaking rains that thwarted some efforts, Augsburg’s first Campus Beautification Day was, by all accounts, a success. The soggy weather on June 11 did not prevent legions of Augsburg staff, students, and faculty from cleaning, planting, and painting on and off campus.
Projects included a team cleaning up debris along the Mississippi River and others planting a border and building a path in the community garden. There were five painting projects involving 45 faculty, staff, and students working in Marketing and Communication, Event and Conference Planning, Murphy Place, Lindell Library, and the tunnel beneath Christensen Center. Continue reading “The beauty of teamwork”
Last month, history professor Jacqui deVries and English/film professor Bob Cowgill led a group of 20 Augsburg students through Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Using literature, film, architecture, and eyewitness accounts, students explored the aftermath of World War II to understand how people made sense of their suffering and now pay homage to the past.
Six members of the Augsburg College wrestling team traveled to Central Asia for a 15-day training, mission, and service trip. Four Auggie wrestlers, two coaches and four other wrestlers were in central Asia from May 25 to June 8, training in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Dushnabe, Tajikistan. In addition to training and competing, the wrestlers did mission and service work, along with visiting historical and cultural sites in the two countries. 
Just after the May commencement ceremony, a group of students traveled to Thailand with English professor Kathy Swanson. The students were on a short-term summer study program through Augsburg Abroad.
At the June 29 commencement ceremony Augsburg College will grant honorary degrees to two individuals whose life accomplishments are reflective of this year’s commencement theme — “Global Learning.” Honorary degree candidates are selected from a field of nominees forwarded to the President and approved by the Board of Regents. June honorary degree recipients are:
In October 2007, Mexican artist and social activist Alejandro González Aranda visited Augsburg College. Aranda’s visit came at the end of an exhibition of his linocuts in the Christensen Center Art Gallery that was part of that year’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of the 
Each summer, more than two dozen actors and singers converge on the Augsburg College campus to learn a performance method created by H. Wesley Balk, one of the early leaders of the Minnesota Opera. This year, the Wesley Balk Opera/Music Theater Institute will again be at Augsburg June 22 to July 12, 2008. The performance method is taught in workshops and mini-performances throughout the 3-week institute and consists of fusing expertise in body awareness, facial and body expressivity, and vocal production. 
Augsburg’s new campus dining services provider is a Midwest-based company with “a passion to serve great food from great people.” A’viands (the name means “a delectable dish”) was selected this spring by a committee of faculty, staff, and students.
Since the semester ended and day students left campus, it’s faculty and staff who have been sitting at the desks. The month of May has evolved into a time when professors and administrators can take advantage of learning opportunities that are difficult during the school year because of class and work schedules.