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KSTP airs story on Bill McKee and Augsburg Women’s Basketball team

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ABC 5 Eyewitness News - logoMinneapolis-St. Paul ABC affiliate KSTP recently aired a story on its Eyewitness News program about the ways in which Augsburg College’s Women’s Basketball team is mourning and honoring beloved coach Bill McKee, who passed away in August. The segment shares that the team has been remembering Coach McKee with patches on their jerseys, bracelets, and moments of silence before each game.

The segment features statements from Ted Riverso, the team’s new head coach and friend of McKee, and Allison McKee ’16, who is one of the team’s captains and the late coach’s daughter.

“It’s important to me because I want to keep him as much a part of this season as I can,” she said. “He was the most important person in my life.”

David Eitrheim ’79 remembered in Eau Claire Leader-Telegram story

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leader telegram - logoThe life and accomplishments of physician, long-distance runner, and Augsburg College alumnus David Eitrheim ’79, who passed away on January 1, were the subject of a recent article published by the Leader-Telegram newspaper in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. After receiving a degree from Augsburg in biology and chemistry, Eitrheim attended the University of Minnesota Medical school.

A gifted athlete, the article states that Eitrheim had run over 40,000 miles since 1980 and competed in over 100 long-distance races, including 91 marathons and 14 100-mile ultra-marathons. To honor Eitrheim, two groups of friends and loved ones split a pair of his running shoes and delivered them, by walking and running, to the cemetery where he was to be buried.

Read Life story: Physician leaves big running shoes to fill on the Leader-Telegram site.

Diana Pierce ’15 MAL to keynote Mentor Morning event

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Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 10.21.35 AMAugsburg College alumna and KARE 11 news anchor Diana Pierce ’15 MAL will deliver a keynote address at Mentor Morning, an event to introduce young women to some of central Minnesota’s most powerful women leaders. Mentor Morning includes general networking opportunities and Pierce’s speech, which will focus on the importance of finding and working with mentors.

Pierce recently completed her master’s degree in leadership at Augsburg and believes mentoring is key to help develop upcoming leaders, according to a recent St. Cloud Times story on Mentor Morning.

“You’re always going to be in a position of leadership or being lead,” Pierce said in the article. “So the more tools you have in your tool kit the better off you are.”

Read: Helping connect women with mentors on the St. Cloud Times website.

David Lapakko appears on AM 950 radio

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David Lapakko, associate professor of communication studies, was interviewed on AM 950 radio on January 9. He discussed his competitive success at the Great American Think-Off, an annual exhibition of civil disagreement and argumentation.

Lapakko was crowned “America’s Greatest Thinker” at the 23rd Great American Think-Off held in New York Mills, Minnesota, in June 2015. The debate question was, “Does Technology Free Us or Trap Us?” and Lapakko argued for the liberating qualities of technology as he took home the prize.

Star Tribune features Frank Hornstein in commentary on
political rhetoric

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Minneapolis Star Tribune - logoThe Star Tribune recently published an editorial column that featured an interview with Minneapolis DFL Rep. Frank Hornstein, a senior fellow in Augsburg College’s Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship. The column discusses the widespread use of Hitler and Nazi references in U.S. political rhetoric. The topic has both personal and professional significance for Hornstein; his grandparents were killed by the Nazis and he intends to author a book about the Holocaust’s impact on modern political discourse.

In regard to frequent comparisons between political opponents and Hitler, the article quotes Hornstein as saying, ““If everyone is Hitler, who is Hitler really? When you go right to a Hitler analogy, you’ve already lost the argument. You’ve cheapened the debate.”

Read: Forget Nazi comparisons — find other ways to reject hateful speech on the Star Tribune site.

Minnesota Women’s Press profiles Tina Tavera

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Minnesota Womens Press - logoThe Minnesota Women’s Press recently featured a profile of Maria Cristina “Tina” Tavera, director of the McNair Scholars Program at Augsburg College, and her daughter Paloma Giossi. Tavera is an artist and activist whose work often focuses on the relationships between womanhood and culture. “My artistic mission is to create pieces that inspire conversations about topics, about how gender and cultural issues are viewed. I want to create access to arts for women,” Tavera said in the article.

The article also examines how Tavera’s own cultural heritage has impacted her work; she has dual-citizenship with the U.S. and Mexico. “Art has the capacity to teach non-Latinos about our Latino culture,” Tavera said. “To create a sense of community for Latinos, and to create places for conversation.”

Tavera’s work will be featured in “Reconfiguring Casta,” an exhibit in Augsburg College’s Christensen Center art gallery from February 29 to March 31. A reception will be held at the gallery on March 2 from 4 to 7 p.m. Additionally, Tavera has curated a collection titled, “Sus Voces: Female Printmakers from Mexico” that will be displayed at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking from February 5 to March 27 with a reception on March 4 from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Read: Visualizing women’s stories on the Minnesota Women’s Press site for further exhibition and event details.

Star Tribune explores forgiveness with Dean Seal

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Minneapolis Star Tribune - logoThe Minneapolis Star Tribune recently published an article covering “Exploring Forgiveness,” a 26-minute program produced for Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) by Dean Seal, instructor of religion at Augsburg College and pastor at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, Minn. The article reflects on the many sources of conflict and injustice that sprang up in the past year and states that Seal’s focus on the power of forgiveness is a “welcome reminder that we can look forward to 2016, where, perhaps, we’ll find our better selves.”

The program aired twice on TPT and features an interview with Augsburg College alumna Amineh Safi ’14 who provides insights into the Islamic view of forgiveness.

Read: A Minnesotan’s ode to forgiveness at the end of a difficult year on the Star Tribune site. Watch: “Exploring Forgiveness” on the TPT site.

Hall of Fame inductee Bob Lockwood’s famous friends

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Bob Lockwood ’56 was a star athlete during his time at Augsburg College; he lettered 11 times and was inducted into the Augsburg Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994, but his history with athletic greatness did not end with the conclusion of his career as a player. A recent article by Arizona newspaper Your West Valley tells of the many friendships and interactions Lockwood has had with famous professional athletes.

In the article, Lockwood, a former coach in the Golden Valley and Hopkins school districts, tells of meeting legendary baseball player Rod Carew through one of his players. “My player used to cut Rod Carew’s grass when Rod lived in Golden Valley,” he said. “So I went over to the house and introduced myself. Pretty soon, Rod would come out to our practices and give the kids tips.”

The article also includes the stories of Lockwood’s run-ins with Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway and baseball great Sammy Sosa.

Star Tribune interviews Katie Lindenfelser ’02 about children’s hospice home project

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Minneapolis Star Tribune - logoThe Star Tribune recently published an article about Crescent Cove, a St. Louis Park nonprofit founded by Katie Lindenfelser ’02 that next year seeks to begin construction on a hospice home, a care facility that specializes in lessening the suffering of dying patients. The article details the many challenges faced by the families of terminally ill children and the lack of resources available to them.

Currently, there are only two facilities in the U.S. that specialize in end-of-life care for children. In the article, Lindenfelser attributes this to the discomfort people feel toward the idea of terminally ill children. “In our culture there’s a lot more satisfaction in funding research for a cure,” she says.

In addition to caring for the patients, facilities such as the one Crescent Cove intends to build offer much-needed respite for the parents and families of the children. Caring for these children is often a taxing, 24/7 job that can take precedence over the parenting role. The article quotes one parent of an ill child as saying, “In those precious last moments, I’d like to stop being the lead nurse, doctor, therapist and just go back to being Mom.”

Read: St. Louis Park nonprofit wants to give terminally ill kids a hospice home on the Star Tribune site.

Huffington Post publishes Harry Boyte column on The Fight for America’s Soul

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Huffington-Post - logoThe Huffington Post recently published an article by Harry Boyte, senior fellow in the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship, in which Boyte argues that the current political climate in the U.S. has undervalued the community-building and participatory aspects of democracy. The essay centers around conflicting accounts of the “American Dream;” one version focusing on American superiority and the other on the value of “cooperative endeavor” and social justice.

Seeing democracy as more than just a way of electing leaders, Boyte examines the Civilian Conservation Corps as a model for infusing Americans’ work lives with a purpose greater than materialism. He states that, “as work has come to be seen only as a means to the good life and not of value in itself, the public dimensions of work and recognition of the importance of workers have sharply declined.”

Read: The Fight for America’s Soul on the Huffington Post site.