WCCO sought input from Jeanne Boeh, professor of economics at Augsburg University, on the U.S. economy during the current COVID-19 global pandemic. Boeh explained that we’re going through an “economic shock.” Boeh also said more people nationally are concerned about the financial implications than they are about the actual illness because of the low death rate.
Watch the full interview on the WCCO website.
Augsburg History Professor Bill Green is the winner of the 2020 Hognander Minnesota History Award for his book “The Children of Lincoln: White Paternalism and the Limits of Black Opportunity in Minnesota, 1860-1876”. The book reveals a pattern of racial paternalism in Minnesota after Emancipation.
According to the Pioneer Press, Hognander Award judges said Green’s book was chosen “based on its significance to Minnesota’s history, and its contribution to the broader panorama of race relations and the context of Reconstruction in American history.”
Green, a former Minneapolis Public Schools superintendent, is a second-time winner of this award. In 2016, he was awarded for his book “Degrees of Freedom: The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1912.
Read the full article at the Pioneer Press website.
Augsburg Psychology Professor Nancy Steblay was quoted in a Star Tribune article about a bill for stronger eyewitness ID practices in Minnesota. Steblay is a leader in the research of eyewitness identification in the United States. Star Tribune reported that in recent years, a growing body of research has driven federal law enforcement agencies to change their practices on what makes a sound eyewitness identification.
“The bill represents a consensus of what makes sound science among experts in the field, vetted by the National Academy of Sciences. The rules are also practical for law enforcement to implement” Steblay told the Star Tribune. “The combination of good science and a practice that works makes these very powerful recommendations”.
Augsburg’s Professor of Economics Jeanne Boeh talks to WCCO about the economic impact of the Coronavirus outbreak in China.
Parts of Apple’s products are made in China, where many of the employees aren’t at work because of the outbreak, and that pushes back the production schedule.
“Companies are already ramping up for next Christmas. And some of those prototypes and those kinds of things happen in China right now, and so if those don’t happen, that pushes back the schedule all the way until next Christmas,” Boeh told WCCO. “Many workers in China are going without a paycheck right now, which will affect how much money they spend.”
Augsburg University honored the calling of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 20 by hosting the 32nd annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation.
The presentation “Wh
ere Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” was presented by this year’s speaker, John S. Wright, Professor Emeritus of English and African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota. Wright helped lead the student movement that founded the University of Minnesota’s Department of African American and African Studies, which he chaired for three terms, and its Martin Luther King, Jr. Program, which he administered from 1970-1973. He also built a major in Afro-American and African Studies at Carleton College, where he taught from 1973-1983. The convocation, open to the public, included student performances.
The Star Tribune reported that the Cedar Cultural Center is partnering with Augsburg University and KFAI on January 11 to raise money for the victims of the tragic November 27 fire in one of the nearby apartment towers. Augsburg duo Tatum Mildred and Tessa Waite are part of the lineup of performers.
Augsburg’s brand new women’s wrestling team is already getting noticed.
“I feel like there’s a lot of stigma that it’s not a girls sport,” Bel Snyder ’23 told Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. “That it shouldn’t be that rough or anything. But I don’t think people understand that most of the time girls aren’t wrestling to make a statement about girls doing something. It’s not supposed to be like that. You’re wrestling because you want to be a wrestler.”
The article highlights the struggles that the team members faced growing up playing a sport that is generally associated with men. These Auggies are already breaking down barriers in the sport. Read the full article on the Mpls.St.Paul Magazine website.
Augsburg University President Paul Pribbenow was interviewed by the Star Tribune’s Evan Ramstad about how Augsburg is working to attract the diverse students who will be the workforce of the future as population growth is to slow.
“For us, it was about getting a larger share of the market from the communities where there was growth happening,” Pribbenow said.
Augsburg recently added new majors, a women’s wrestling team, and the Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion to attract students.
Read the full article in the Star Tribune.
The Real Talk with Roshini radio show featured Augsburg University student Danny Reinan and English Professor John Schmit.
Reinan is a second-year student who has identified as non-binary transgender since 12. “I use pronouns they, them, theirs,” Reinan told host Roshini Rajkumar, during the November 17 live program. “When I use those pronouns, I need to be patient with people in my life; I try to educate them and understand that this is a process that’s still ongoing.”
Reinan told the WCCO audience that it’s best practice to just ask someone what pronouns they prefer to avoid making any assumptions.
The professor said that student pronouns are now in professors’ official rosters at Augsburg. “We have to think about how people want to be referred to. It’s a simple matter of respect,” Schmit said. “We make assumptions sometimes. You can’t tell just by looking at somebody what their pronouns or gender is.”
Listen to the WCCO segment here.
The new program director of Urban Investors at Augsburg University, Mike Christenson, was previously a key member of former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak’s administration, Twin Cities Business reported.
Urban Investors, which recently moved to Augsburg, creates experiential learning opportunities for bankers and finance professionals who spend a year learning about urban issues to catalyze investment and community development that moves families out of poverty, revitalizes neighborhoods, improves schools, and builds economic opportunity. More information about the program can be found at this blog post published by Augsburg’s Sabo Center.
Christenson told Twin Cities Business that he plans to work with students interested in banking careers and connect them to bankers in Urban Investors as well as other bankers he knows. “Business is one of the top majors at Augsburg,” Christenson said in the article. “Many Twin Cities-based banks “are getting white male candidates” for open positions, and they want to diversify their workforces. It’s very exciting for me to be involved in something that develops the next generation of leadership.”
Read the full article at the Twin Cities Business website.
