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River Semester media attention grows as class travels down-river

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Screen Shot 2015-09-02 at 2.35.52 PM[Updated November 13] — The Augsburg College River Semester, created and led by Joe Underhill, associate professor of political science, departed from St. Paul’s Harriet Island on September 1. As part of the kickoff, the River Semester class was joined by a group of nearly 100 students, parents, high school students and members of the Augsburg College community who paddled in a flotilla of 24-foot voyageur canoes from St. Paul to South St. Paul. Students participating in the semester-long program will earn as many as 16 credits in the arts, humanities, and sciences as they travel nearly 2,000 miles of the 2,350-mile Mississippi River.

The River Semester kickoff garnered a range of attention. Gov. Mark Dayton proclaimed September 1 “Augsburg College River Semester Day” and many media outlets covered the launch of the class.

Since the students and faculty departed on their voyage, print and broadcast media have been sharing the story of this hands-on, interdisciplinary program. In fact, multiple stories have been picked up by the Associated Press and shared through the AP’s member media throughout the nation.

A snapshot of the ongoing media coverage is below. As additional coverage occurs, it will be added to this post.

November 9

  • Shorewood native spending college semester paddling Mississippi River, Shorewood (Wisconsin) Now

October 16

  • The Mississippi River is their classroom, The Hawk Eye, Burlington (Iowa)

October 15

  • College student trekking down the Mississippi, White Bear (Minnesota) Press

October 8

September 29

Continue reading “River Semester media attention grows as class travels down-river” →

Dave Conrad writes on leadership and respect

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PostBulletinIn his latest column for the Rochester Post-Bulletin, Dave Conrad, associate professor of business, counsels a reader who feels overwhelmed with conflicting advice by summarizing great leadership into one directive: treat employees with respect.

Conrad argues that, “Showing respect enhances a leader’s influence and performance,” but warns against insincerity. “I think employees are sensitive to phony displays of praise and recognition from their managers and perceive these acts as a form of manipulation,” he writes.

Read: Dave Conrad: Good leaders show employees respect on the Post-Bulletin site.

Michael Lansing book signing announced

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Pioneer Public Television and the Chippewa County Historical Society have announced that they will co-sponsor a reading, book signing, and discussion with Michael J. Lansing, associate professor of history at Augsburg College. Lansing will read from his new book “Insurgent Democracy: The Nonpartisan League in North American Politics.”

According to the announcement, Lansing’s book gives a historical account of the Nonpartisan League, a political movement active from 1915 to 1920 as a means of limiting corporate influence in politics in favor of an empowered citizenship. Lansing argues that the League’s success and collapse offer valuable lessons that are applicable to popular movements in modern politics.

The event will take place on November 19 at the Montevideo Chippewa County Public Library.

MinnPost interviews Lars Christiansen on city planning

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MinnPostMinnPost recently included an interview with Lars Christiansen, associate professor of sociology at Augsburg College, in an article examining the importance of civic engagement in city planning. The article cites ongoing controversies such as the proposed soccer stadium in St. Paul as indicative of a problematic lack of both transparency and residential participation in public processes. Earlier this year, Christiansen published an article in the Journal of Education Planning and Research detailing his study of the St. Paul Friendly Streets Initiative and its public process for a bike lane project.

Moving beyond public processes that merely pay lip service to community inclusion takes time, according to Christiansen. The MinnPost article quotes him as saying, “The community organizing approach to public engagement [that I prefer] takes a lot longer. Like any other community organizing, it involves trust building, relationship building, and lengthy listening. It’s really aiming for co-creation.”

In the article, Christiansen stresses that one important aspect of processes that successfully engage the public in city planning projects is timing. The earlier that planners can involve the public and establish communication with them about a project, the more likely it is that their involvement and communication will see a project through to completion. “The holy grail is the notion of inclusion. How do you do it for the whole duration of the project?” Christiansen says in the article.

Read: While we’re talking parking meters and a stadium, what is ‘public process’ anyway? on the MinnPost site.

Augsburg College global education program touted for excellence in serving students of diverse backgrounds

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An article published by the Association of American Colleges & Universities commented on the successes Augsburg College’s Center for Global Education and Experience has had in serving students of diverse backgrounds as they travel to locations around the globe. The article, titled “Global Learning: Key to Making Excellence Inclusive,” described why global experiences are recognized as an essential dimension of a liberal education and how a variety of institutions support increased student participation.

In particular, the article noted that Augsburg maintains permanent centers for global learning in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Namibia. The centers have deep-rooted connections to local communities, and staff members understand the diverse needs of the Augsburg students.

“For example, Augsburg has arranged culturally appropriate homestay placements for single parents who needed assistance with childcare, safe home environments for LGBTQ students, sober homestays for students in recovery (in addition to connecting students in Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous programs with sponsors), and access to mosques for Muslim students. This commitment to creating environments for student success is a hallmark of Augsburg’s study abroad programs,” the article said.

Visit the AAC&U website to read the story in its entirety.

MinnPost examines Urban Scrubs Camp

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MinnPostMinnPost recently published a detailed look at the 2015 Urban Scrubs Camp, a hands-on learning experience for high school students interested in medical careers that was held at Augsburg College and Saint Paul College in July. The event was supported by the Central Corridor Anchor Partnership, an organization that connects colleges and hospitals located in the Central Corridor area between Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The article states that 76 students from a wide range of backgrounds attended the event at Augsburg where they learned about emergency services, toxicology, behavioral therapy, and other medical disciplines.

The event is designed to give high school students first-hand understanding of college life and medical careers. MinnPost quotes Augsburg College President Paul Pribbenow as saying,  “We want to give them a glimpse of what these careers look like, and something of a college experience that makes the possibility seem more real to them.”

In particular, Augsburg and its partners at the University of Minnesota Medical Center – Fairview focus on the many Somali students who live nearby with help from community organizations such as the the African Development Center and the West Bank Community Coalition.

Read “How innovative programs are opening pathways to good health-care jobs for inner-city youth” on the MinnPost website.

Pioneer Press notes Augsburg’s diversity award

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logo-smallThe St. Paul Pioneer Press mentioned that Augsburg College was among 92 higher-education institutions nationally to be recognized for excellence in diversity by the magazine Insight Into Diversity.

Read, “Education notes: News from schools near you” on the Pioneer Press site.

John Shockley provides commentary for MinnPost story on newsroom decision-making

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MinnPostJohn Shockley, an Augsburg College political science instructor, recently was quoted in an article from MinnPost’s media section regarding newsroom decision-making and editorial judgment.

Shockley described interactions with a Star Tribune newspaper editor pertaining to the publication’s decision not to cover an often talked-about story from the Twin Cities metro. Visit the MinnPost website to read, “Why the Strib originally passed on the ‘making out’ story.”

Augsburg partners in Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology

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$20 million NSF grant goes to UW-Madison, Augsburg College
and collaborators

Z. Vivian Feng, associate professor of chemistry, will use her expertise as an analytical and material chemist in the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology.

Augsburg College is joining a research group tasked with exploring the benefits and potential risks of nanotechnology.

Augsburg has been added as a partner to the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, a multi-institutional research center based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Supported through a nearly $20 million award of National Science Foundation funding over the next five years, the CSN includes 15 innovative faculty members from research institutions across the United States.

Z. Vivian Feng, associate professor of chemistry, is leading Augsburg’s participation in the center.

Nanotechnology involves the use of materials at the smallest scale, including the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules.

Products that use nanoscale materials range from beer bottles and car wax to solar cells and electric and hybrid car batteries. If you read your books on a Kindle, a semiconducting material manufactured at the nanoscale underpins the high-resolution screen.

While there are already hundreds of products that use nanomaterials in various ways, much remains unknown about how these modern materials and the tiny particles they are composed of interact with the environment and living things.

Feng first became involved in the CSN during the final year of its first grant phase, which corresponded with her 2014-15 sabbatical. Her expertise in characterizations of nanomaterials and model membranes, as well as analytical method development will contribute to the understanding of various interactions at the highly complex nano-bio interfaces.

In particular, Feng will lead a team of undergraduate researchers in exploring the various toxicity mechanisms of nanomaterials to environmentally-beneficial bacteria to provide insight to redesign nanomaterials that are benign in the environment. Under Feng’s direction, Augsburg College students Hilena Frew ’17, Lyle Nyberg ’17, and Thu Nguyen ’16 contributed to the CSN’s initial research phase. Frew and Nguyen will continue working as undergraduate researchers with the support of a stipend from the new NSF grant in the coming year. Find additional information about Feng’s research interests and mentorship on her research site.

Along with UW-Madison and Augsburg, research partners on the grant include the University of Minnesota, the University of Illinois, Northwestern University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Tuskegee University, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Iowa, and Georgia Tech.

CSN funding is provided by the NSF Division of Chemistry through the Centers for Chemical Innovation Program (CHE-1240151).