This section of the News and Media Services department site tracks stories in print and broadcast media that feature Auggie faculty, students, and staff. The area also is home to material developed for University-related programs, events, and more.
More than 1,000 Augsburg University undergraduate students were named to the 2021 Fall Semester Dean’s List. The Augsburg University Dean’s List recognizes those full-time students who have achieved a grade point average of 3.50 or higher and those part-time students who have achieved a grade point average of 3.75 or higher in a given term.
Augsburg University has received a renewal grant of $1.25 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. to further develop the work of the Christensen Center for Vocation and its Riverside Innovation Hub initiative. The Riverside Innovation Hub helps congregations build new connections with young adults at the intersections of their faith and their public lives and works with congregations towards becoming public churches.
This work is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Young Adult Initiative, which aims to help congregations develop and strengthen ministries that build relationships with young adults, nurture their religious lives, and foster their engagement with religious communities.
“Augsburg’s Christensen Center for Vocation is eager to deepen its capacity to accompany congregations and young adults discerning their call, in relationship with their neighborhoods. We are grateful for the Lilly Endowment’s continued support of these efforts as Augsburg lives into a new imagination of congregational relations for the 21st century,” said Paul Pribbenow, Augsburg University president.
In 2017, Augsburg received $1.5 million from Lilly Endowment’s Young Adult Initiative to enable the creation of the Riverside Innovation Hub. The Riverside Innovation Hub has partnered with 25 congregations along two overlapping pathways. Sixteen congregations were accepted into a 3 ½-year partnership with RIH, which included working with an innovation coach toward experiments that were supported by grant funding. Another nine congregations have participated in learning events, taking key insights and questions from the larger experiment into their own contexts. They have been learning at the periphery from the main cohort of congregations and contributing their voices and experiences to the shared learning of this project. Thanks to a Thriving Congregations grant from the Lilly Endowment, RIH launched a second learning community of local congregations focused on the call to be public churches in the summer of 2021.
In phase two of Lilly’s Young Adult Initiative, Augsburg will work with young adult leaders to write a manifesto to the church, articulating their hopes and dreams for the church; create a national network of ministry leaders and congregations who are interested in the idea of public churches; and design training modules for this work.
About Lilly Endowment Inc. Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly & Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment exists to support the causes of religion, education and community development. The Endowment funds significant programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. However, it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. The principal aim of the Endowment’s grantmaking in religion is to deepen and enrich the lives of Christians in the United States, primarily by seeking out and supporting efforts that enhance the vitality of congregations and strengthen their pastoral and lay leadership.
About Augsburg
Augsburg University offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and 11 graduate degrees to approximately 3,200 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and nearby Rochester, Minnesota, location. Augsburg educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings. Learn more at Augsburg.edu.
The Minnesota Vikings recently awarded first-year Augsburg University student Salaam Day ’25 a $5,000 2021 “Be the Change” Scholarship. He was congratulated in person by Vikings linebackers Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr. An article on the Minnesota Vikings website, “Barr & Kendricks Meet 2021 ‘Be the Change’ Scholarship Recipient,” discusses Day’s scholarship essay and work for social justice.
Five Augsburg students were selected to receive the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship in the last round of applications to receive up to $5,000 toward a study abroad program. This highly competitive program enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, providing them with skills critical to our national security and economic prosperity. Since 2008, 77 Augsburg students have received Gilman scholarships, totaling $305,000.
Winners include:
Huda Ali is a biopsychology major who plans to study on the Writing la Dolce Vita: Food, Art, and Culture in Italy short-term program in Spring break 2022.
Asha Abdirazak is a computer science major who plans to study at Augsburg’s exchange partner at iCLA Yamanashi Gakuin University in Kofu, Japan, in Fall 2022.
Salma Abikar is a biopsychology major who plans to study at Augsburg’s exchange partner Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea, this Spring 2022.
Ingri Ramirez Martin is a sociology major who plans to study at Augsburg’s exchange partner at iCLA Yamanashi Gakuin University in Kofu, Japan, in Fall 2022.
Sharmarke Omar is a finance and management double major who plans to study at Augsburg’s exchange partner at the American College of Greece in Fall 2022.
Fourth-year Augsburg student Rueben Kitto Stately was one of three people interviewed for the MPR News show “In Focus: Sustainability in Indian Country.” Among other things, he spoke about the importance of language in maintaining a way of life, focusing his comments on his experience as someone who has been studying the Dakhóta language. “How far are you from colonial thought when you aren’t thinking in English anymore?” he asked.
MPR news host Angela Davis interviewed Terrance Kwame-Ross, associate professor of education, and Margaret Finders, retired professor of education, as part of an episode on bias, “The end of bias: Is it possible?” They discussed their work together, examples of bias, and their belief in the hard work of unlearning bias.
Augsburg University was recognized today by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs for having produced the most Gilman recipients over the past 20 years in the “small institutions” category. Sixty Augsburg students have used Gilman awards toward a study abroad experience since 2001; this number does not include scholarship winners who did not end up studying abroad for different reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Gilman Scholarships are a priority for Augsburg University because they help us fulfill our mission to be ‘small to our students, big for the world,’” said Andrea Dvorak, associate director of off-campus study at Augsburg’s Center for Global Education and Experience. “Our work helping individual students prepare their essays is intimate and personal—we get to learn from our students’ stories and gain a deeper understanding of their lives. The result is twofold: our staff expand our ability to work with more and more diverse students, and our students bring their lived experience into the wider world. We know this has a lasting impact on their own lives, their study abroad host communities, their academic field and future professions, and even their home communities here in Minneapolis.”
Established in 2001, the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program has made study abroad more accessible and inclusive by providing scholarships to outstanding U.S. undergraduate students who, due to financial constraints, might not otherwise participate. Since the program’s inception, more than 34,000 Gilman Scholars have studied or interned in more than 155 countries.
To learn more about Gilman Scholarships, visit gilmanscholarship.org. The Gilman competition is administered at Augsburg through the Center for Global Education & Experience.
About Augsburg
Augsburg University offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and 11 graduate degrees to 3,400 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and nearby Rochester, Minnesota, location. Augsburg educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings. Learn more at Augsburg.edu.
The Forum on Workplace Inclusion, a program of Augsburg University, is launching a new learning opportunity: Professional Development Labs. Each PDL is a half-day mini conference that focuses on a specific industry or topic, and participants will come away with a goal-oriented action plan.
The first PDL, “Engaging Religious Diversity in the Workplace: Building Your Interfaith Strategy and Skillset,” will be 12-4 p.m. Central on Monday, November 8. This online PDL, created in conjunction with Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), will help participants learn why engaging religious diversity matters in the workplace, identify concrete skills to engage religious diversity and enhance workplace culture, and create a customized action plan for how to engage religious diversity productively in the workplace. Participants can choose from three action planning breakout sessions: Simple First Steps to Engaging Religious Diversity in Your Workplace; What Happens When Conflict Arises?: Addressing Challenging Religious Diversity Scenarios at Work; or Formalizing Interfaith Engagement: Creating an Interfaith Employee Resource Group in Your Workplace. The presenters will include Eboo Patel (IFYC), Farah Siddiqui (Salesforce), and Megan Hughes Johnson (IFYC). More information and a registration link are available on this PDL’s webpage.
Two additional PDLs on topics yet to be determined will be scheduled for 2021-22.
The La Crosse Tribune ran a story about Augsburg’s River Semester, “Augsburg students stop in La Crosse during ‘Semester on the River,’” on September 26. The story, which includes photos of the catamarans the students are using to travel down the Mississippi, gives readers a snapshot of the experience. Professor Joe Underhill and student Zoe Barany ’23 spoke with the reporter about the experience. “What I learn I will carry with me for the rest of my life,” Barany said.
Augsburg University has received recognition for its undergraduate teaching in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 Best Colleges rankings. The publisher placed Augsburg fourth for its commitment to teaching undergraduates among Midwest regional universities. It also ranked #24 among best regional universities in the Midwest and #38 among best colleges for veterans.
More than 1,000 Augsburg University undergraduate students were named to the 2021 Fall Semester Dean’s List. The Augsburg University Dean’s List recognizes those full-time students who have achieved a grade point average of 3.50 or higher and those part-time students who have achieved a grade point average of 3.75 or higher in a given term.
Fourth-year Augsburg student Rueben Kitto Stately was one of three people interviewed for the MPR News show “
The Forum on Workplace Inclusion, a program of Augsburg University, is launching a new learning opportunity: Professional Development Labs. Each PDL is a half-day mini conference that focuses on a specific industry or topic, and participants will come away with a goal-oriented action plan.