On March 12, 45 of the Twin Cities’ most promising high school urban leaders received the Act Six scholarship, an initiative of Urban Ventures. Act Six is Minneapolis-St. Paul’s only full-tuition, full-need urban leadership award. Augsburg University is proud to be one of the six partner colleges, all of which are located in the Metro area.
City Pages shared a delightful 1965 promo video for Minneapolis. It was unearthed by Augsburg Digital Archivist Stewart Van Cleve. “The Minneapolis promotional film was a complete surprise,” says Van Cleve, adding that it was discovered inside a canister mislabeled “Skip Day 1947.”
Although the origins of the video are unknown, the soundtrack was written by Dick Wilson and Ray Charles, the duo behind Minnesota Twins fight song “We’re Gonna Win Twins.”
Assistant Professor of Music Composition Reinaldo Moya was a recipient of an award in music announced by The American Academy of Arts and Letters. Moya was awarded one of two $15,000 Charles Ives Fellowships.
Candidates for music awards are nominated by the 250 members of the Academy. The awards will be presented at the Academy’s annual Ceremonial in May.
The Star Tribune reports that Minnesota’s first First Lady in years is aiming to be unlike any other in state history, including her new role as an independent contractor at Augsburg University.
According to the Star Tribune: Gwen Walz is the first First Lady with an office in the Capitol. From there, she’s begun to craft an ambitious policy portfolio that includes education and corrections, though she’s quick to point out that housing and health and other issues are all interrelated.
At Augsburg, she’s serving in two roles: as Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Partnerships and as a Fellow in the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship.
The announcement by Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow said that Walz is a long-time friend of the university. “We specifically focused on issues of diversity and equity in the Rochester area,” Pribbenow noted. “We also joined with Mrs. Walz in promoting a program to offer college courses in Minnesota prisons.”
WCCO featured an Augsburg faculty member in a story about the up side of the recent extreme cold.
Emily Schilling, who teaches biology at Augsburg University, says the hard freeze is good for our great bodies of water.
“It means the spring thaw will likely come later because we have more ice, it takes longer to melt, and that’s really good for our cold water fish species,” she told WCCO. “They like the water to stay cold.”
Important conversations are taking place in higher education nationwide about how learning is affected when racial 
slurs are spoken in the classroom. This recent Inside Higher Ed article references a variety of opinions on the topic—including perspectives from Augsburg faculty and students.
While the article’s lead paragraph focuses on a specific classroom incident, the inclusivity review currently in progress at Augsburg is based on a broader scope of reported concerns, not on the single event named in the story. Because of Augsburg’s commitment to respecting confidentiality of student and personnel information, the university does not intend to publicly share factual details about the full scope of the concerns reported and under review. See the university’s public statement for further information.
“This is a complex issue, and I’m proud to say that Augsburg’s student newspaper, the Echo, has done an excellent job covering the topic with nuance and accuracy,” said Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow. “Our student journalists have provided a platform for a range of voices reflecting an array of views and perspectives related to the campus conversation.”
Last year, Augsburg’s faculty affirmed its commitment to academic freedom in the context of equity and inclusion; this affirmation is now part of the university’s Student-Faculty Bias/Discrimination policy.
Augsburg was named a 2019 Military Friendly® School.
Military Friendly Schools gain that recognition by having gone above and beyond to provide transitioning veterans the best possible experience in higher education.
Military Friendly is owned and operated by VIQTORY, a veteran-owned business. The list is compiled through a combination of research and a free, data-driven survey of more than 10,000 VA-approved schools nationwide.
College Consensus, a unique new college review aggregator, has recognized Augsburg University in its survey of the 25 LGBTQ Friendly Colleges of 2019. Intentional gender neutral language, explicit non-discrimination policies, and gender neutral dorms and restrooms were some of the factors taken into account.
Augsburg wrestlers will celebrate 70 years of wrestling history at Thursday night’s “Battle of the Burgs,” an annual battle between Augsburg University and Wartburg College.
Augsburg Wrestling Coach Jim Moulsoff spoke with KSTP about the tradition. “It’s a great rivalry. It’s been Augsburg or Wartburg that’s won the last 26 national titles in Division III wrestling. It’s always an honor to compete against those guys,” he said. “It’s real. It’s a real rivalry.”
The reporter also spoke with Augsburg star wrestlers Lucas Jeske and Ryan Epps, who won individual national titles last year.
“It’s really inspiring and just being able to be a part of that is really big. I just want keep adding to [the wall of trophies] and making the past generations of wrestlers proud,” Epps told KSTP about what it is like to be part of this annual tradition.
The “Battle of the Burgs” will take place at Augsburg University on Thursday, January 31st at 7:30 p.m. at Si Melby Hall.
Augsburg University recently became one of 1,000 accredited four-year colleges and universities that have adopted the test-optional admissions policy, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. International applicants should still be aware that the policy doesn’t always apply to students who attended high school outside of the U.S. At Augsburg, international applicants must submit minimum scores for one standardized test in order to meet the English proficiency requirement for admission. “The only difference is related to English proficiency,” said Devon Ross, Augsburg Director of Undergraduate Admissions, in the article.
