The International Special Events Society has elected Jodi Collen as its new international president for the 2015-16 year.
Collen, director of Event & Conference Planning at Augsburg, is a previous president of the International Special Events Society’s Minneapolis-St. Paul chapter and has been a member of the International Board of Governors for the past five years. She was inaugurated at the association’s Annual General Meeting, which took place in New Orleans.
Collen’s achievement was recognized by the following organizations:
- Incentive Travel & Corporate Meetings
- Exhibition World
- Conference News
- BizBash
- Event Planner Spain
History Professor Bill Green spoke with WCCO-TV about why Minnesotans are quick to defend their state’s image.
This summer, Sod House — a theater company founded by Augsburg College Chair of Theater Arts Darcey Engen ’88 and her husband, Luverne Seifert ’83 — brought a production of “Hoopla Train (with Yard Master Yip and his Polkastra)” to 14 historic ballrooms in different Minnesota cities including Barrett, McGregor, Nisswa, and Sleepy Eye.
Harry Boyte, senior scholar in public work philosophy for Augsburg’s Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship, described the importance of citizen professionals in a recent article for the Huffington Post. Boyte explained that places like Augsburg College are ripe with students preparing to become “citizen nurses” and “citizen teachers” who will serve as change agents in their future careers.
The online media resource Bring Me The News shared a compilation of information about the Augsburg College River Semester, a three-and-a-half month program in which students and faculty members will traverse the Mississippi River from St. Paul to New Orleans while studying topics in the arts, humanities, and sciences. As the story noted, “Students will sleep in campsites instead of dorm rooms and will paddle rather than walk to their classes this fall.”
Augsburg College’s first-ever River Semester will be an opportunity for students to spend the fall and early winter months traveling from St. Paul to New Orleans in 24-foot voyageur canoes on the Mississippi River. Participants will study topics ranging from ecology to history to literature.
Howling Bird Press, a student-run press run out of the Augsburg MFA in Creative Writing program, is bringing out its first book.
Kristin Anderson, Augsburg College archivist and professor of art history, was mentioned in a St. Paul Pioneer Press article about an upcoming walking tour in the capital city’s historic Irvine Park neighborhood. Anderson will share history, stories, and insights during the walking tour. 
Augsburg College’s new River Semester program was featured on Minnesota Public Radio’s On Campus blog. Sixteen Augsburg students, two faculty members, and two river commercial expedition personnel will travel from St. Paul to New Orleans during the fall semester, oftentimes camping on the banks of the Mississippi River and engaging with people who live and work along its path. Students will carry out river-related projects and study subject areas in the arts and sciences.