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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.

Augsburg Rolls Out Fully Online RN-BSN Program

Augsburg University will offer a fully online Bachelor of Science in Nursing Completion Program starting in Fall 2024. The program provides flexible scheduling, multiple starts per year, and asynchronous courses to support registered nurses in broadening their career opportunities. Students can start in any semester and proceed at their own pace, completing the program in as little as one year. In addition, free upper-division credits are available for qualifying students who pass the NCLEX-RN exam.

While courses will be offered asynchronously online for maximum flexibility, Augsburg RN-BSN students have access to unique, hands-on learning opportunities as part of their studies. Students can complete required community health practicum hours at Augsburg’s Health Commons drop-in centers throughout the Twin Cities and participate in global immersion courses in Namibia, Guatemala, and Mexico. 

“Augsburg’s nursing programs have a long history of community-based education and teaching anti-racist nursing practice,” said Katie Martin, assistant professor of nursing and program director. “We’re thrilled to be able to offer this same focus on transcultural nursing and health equity in a more accessible format for our BSN completion students.” 

Health systems, hospitals, and public health employers increasingly prefer or require nurses to hold a bachelor’s degree in nursing. The BSN is also a foundational requirement for nurses who wish to pursue graduate nursing education to become a midwife or nurse practitioner. Augsburg’s BSN completion program offers two pathways for students to obtain a master of arts in nursing: an accelerated RN-BSN to MAN and a bridge AD-RN to MAN for nurses with non-nursing bachelor’s degrees. 

Learn more about Augsburg’s BSN Completion Program and apply today.

 

Augsburg University Invites Leaders to Develop Their Skills

Four people standing together in front of a green moss and brick wall backdrop.
Program Director Keri Clifton (second from left) smiles with participants from the first Community Practice Cohort.

The Reell Office of Seeing Things Whole (STW) at Augsburg University empowers leaders to positively impact their personal and professional communities. One avenue of empowerment is the Community Practice Cohort—an opportunity for anyone who wants to enhance their leadership skills and gain insights around real-life leadership challenges. 

“Our inaugural cohort created opportunities for participants to create action in their real-life leadership opportunities. Seeing the spark of passion emerge from each participant was a joy as they moved through the STW process with a community of supporters. These leaders will continue their impact having gained insight and knowledge that revealed their path forward. I am thrilled to continue this impactful work with the next cohort,” Program Director Keri Clifton said.

The second Community Practice Cohort is accepting eight members to embark on a 10-month collaborative journey toward effective leadership, starting September 2024. Participants will gain practical skills and knowledge on leadership topics like articulating a problem, communication, team collaboration, and decision making—as well as personalized roundtables to focus on issues and skills directly related to their organization.

“I entered into this process in the hopes of exploring new ways to approach challenges I was facing in my current role,” said Michaela Clubb, a national program director and participant in the 2023-24 Community Practice Cohort. “I was able to uncover and consider not just the challenge I presented but all of the parts connected to it. I highly recommend this program for anyone who is looking to create intention and impact through their leadership.”

Mentorship is also a crucial part of the Community Practice Cohort, for both the mentors and the participants. The communal learning process brings out the best in everyone and helps create collaborative and innovative solutions to current and future challenges. “Being a mentor in the unique Seeing Things Whole program has been my privilege,” said Michael A. Gregory, author, mediation and negotiation consultant, and professional speaker. “Unlike traditional mentoring, we engage in a two-and-a-half-hour process, listening actively to a leader’s story without offering advice. Instead, we pose open-ended questions to guide the participant in exploring their identity, purpose, and stewardship. This enlightening process benefits the participant and provides mentors with opportunities to discover new and creative approaches.”

There is still time to apply for the 2024-25 Community Practice Cohort. To learn more about this opportunity, contact Program Director Keri Clifton at cliftonk@augsburg.edu or 612-330-1525.

Augsburg University Recognized for Supporting Transfer Students

Circular emblem with "Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society," "Transfer Honor Roll," and "2024" text. Features a Phi Theta Kappa key.For a third consecutive year, Augsburg University is one of 228 colleges and universities nationwide that have been named to the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society 2024 Transfer Honor Roll. Based on key metrics related to the support and success of transfer students, the Transfer Honor Roll recognizes excellence in the development and support of dynamic and innovative pathways for community college transfer students. Some of the metrics taken into consideration are cost and financial aid, campus life, admissions practices, and bachelor’s degree completion rates.

“The goal of most students attending community college is a bachelor’s degree, but few do because of financial barriers and the complexities of the transfer process,” said Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner, President and CEO of Phi Theta Kappa. “We are proud to recognize the exceptional colleges and universities that go above and beyond to create accessible pathways to bachelor’s degree completion for community college transfer students.”

Learn more about Augsburg’s transfer admissions.

Paul Pribbenow Joins College Presidents for Civic Preparedness

Paul Pribbenow wears a gray jacket, a gray and maroon bow tie, a white collared shirt, and black-rimmed glasses.

Recognizing this urgent moment for American higher education and our democracy, Augsburg University President Paul C. Pribbenow is joining 70 other college presidents of diverse institutions from across the country to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens and to uphold free expression on campus. 

Through College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, a unique consortium designed by the presidents and convened by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, participating presidents are dedicated to preparing the next generation of well-informed, productively engaged, and committed citizens; defending free expression, civil discourse, and critical inquiry as essential civic norms; and increasing thoughtful engagement and better understanding by students for the effective functioning of our democracy. The consortium, first announced with 15 members in August 2023, has grown significantly, demonstrating momentum for this movement. 

Participating presidents will take campus-specific and collective action, reflecting three shared Civic Commitments: 

  • Educating for democracy is central to our mission. 
  • We will prepare our students for a vibrant, diverse, and contentious society. 
  • We will protect and defend free inquiry.

Taken together, these fresh commitments embrace both free speech and diversity, two values often pitted against each other, by instead emphasizing meaningful engagement and inquiry with different voices and viewpoints. The commitments stress diversity as a strength of both American democracy and campus life and affirm the truth-seeking role of higher education through curiosity and inquiry. They also enable campus leaders to take substantive action to promote democratic engagement among students, with public accountability for progress through publication of an annual impact report.

“At Augsburg University, we honor our commitments to a vibrant civic life, to the liberal arts, and to the diverse students we serve, by setting a table where all voices are heard, all life experiences are valued, and all of our fellow travelers are engaged in support of a vibrant democracy,” said Pribbenow.

In addition to championing these commitments on our own campuses, the presidents will undertake together and through the Institute a set of collective actions:

  • Meet regularly and confidentially for peer learning and the exchange of information, ideas, practices, and tools, including on such topics as the 2024 elections and student activism;
  • Help faculty engage effectively with free expression and civil discourse in the classroom by participating in the Faculty Institute on Dialogue Across Difference; and
  • Create and seize opportunities for shared advocacy and public outreach on civic preparedness in higher education.

“Higher education has a responsibility to provide students with critical civic skills and knowledge to participate effectively in our constitutional democracy,” said Rajiv Vinnakota, President of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, a nonprofit that cultivates talent, ideas, and networks that develop young people as effective, lifelong citizens. “College campuses are among the most diverse spaces in our country, and college is an important time for students to develop the habits, practices, and norms to live in a multicultural and interconnected democracy. Doing so can create a ripple effect, making young people more optimistic and increasingly committed about their future and our nation.”

Learn more about Augsburg’s commitment to civic preparedness.

Congratulations to Auggies Named to the 2024 Spring Semester Dean’s List

Augsburg University SealMore than 840 Augsburg University undergraduate students were named to the 2024 Spring 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.

View the 2024 Spring Semester Dean’s List.

Students who wish to notify their hometown newspapers of their achievement can do so at their discretion using a news announcement template.

Augsburg’s Dahn Gim Receives McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship

Black, white, and red wordmark reading "McKnight Artist & Culture Bearer Fellowships"Dahn Gim, an assistant professor of art and design at Augsburg University, has been named one of six 2024 McKnight Visual Artist Fellows. Funded by the McKnight Foundation and administered by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the fellowship provides $25,000 in unrestricted support and a variety of professional development opportunities for outstanding mid-career artists in Minnesota. 

Dahn Gim is an artist, curator, and educator who was born in Busan, South Korea and raised in Canada. Her work reflects the dual perspectives of being both an insider and outsider, shaped by the nomadic ebb and flow of perpetual immigrant status. She explores the complexities of hybrid identity, grappling with the friction and fragmentation of assimilation and dislocation. Her artistic practice is deeply informed by self-inquiry during times of dispersion, uncertainty, and rootlessness. 

Professor Gim channels these experiences through various mediums, including video, sculpture, participatory drawings, durational performance, and installation. After completing her MFA in media arts at UCLA in 2015, Gim has exhibited her work at notable venues and art festivals around the world. 

Learn more about her work at dahngim.com.

Terrance Kwame-Ross Appointed Augsburg University’s Sabo Professor

Terrance Kwame-Ross smiles at the camera in Lindell Library at Augsburg University. He is a Black man wearing a gray turtleneck and black-framed glasses.Terrance Kwame-Ross has been named the Martin Olav Sabo Endowed Chair in Public Service and Citizenship at Augsburg University, effective June 1, 2024.

“The Sabo professorship recognizes a distinguished academic and citizen whose work at Augsburg University exemplifies the university’s commitment to education for democracy,” said President Paul Pribbenow. “I can think of no member of the Augsburg community who embodies this commitment more deeply and holistically than Terrance Kwame-Ross.”

Kwame-Ross is an associate professor of education whose scholarship, service, and teaching practice focus on how individuals and human groups grow, develop, and change over time. At Augsburg, he teaches critical histories and philosophies of education, school and society, decolonizing social studies methods, experiential learning, and learning and development courses.

“Professor Kwame-Ross’ impressive record of public scholarship, community leadership, and exceptional teaching embodies Martin Sabo’s commitment to education as the path to an inclusive democracy. This appointment affirms his leadership role in advancing this work at Augsburg with and for our students,” said Paula O’Loughlin, provost and senior vice president for academic and student affairs.

With over 30 years of experience in schools, community, and treatment settings, Kwame-Ross brings an interrogative, interdisciplinary, integrative, and intersectional pedagogical approach to teaching and learning across school, society, family, and church for “whole-beingness.” He holds an M.Ed.in youth development leadership and a Ph.D. in work, community, and family education, both from the University of Minnesota.

Generous alumni and friends of Augsburg established the endowed chair in 2007 to honor the civic legacy of Congressman Martin Olav Sabo ’59. With this appointment, Kwame-Ross succeeds Garry Hesser, Augsburg’s first Sabo professor.

Michael Wentzel Appointed Augsburg University’s Lindstrom Professor of Chemistry

Michael Wentzel is wearing a white lab coat and green t-shirt and working on a chemistry experiment in a lab.Michael Wentzel has been named the inaugural Terry ’73 and Janet Lindstrom Endowed Professor of Chemistry at Augsburg University, effective June 1, 2024. 

“We are so fortunate to have Michael Wentzel on our faculty,” said Paula O’Loughlin, provost and senior vice president for academic and student affairs. “He is an extraordinary teacher and an outstanding scientist. Even more significant is his generosity as a colleague and mentor. By engaging undergraduate students as partners in his own impressive research program, he helps students unlock possibilities they never imagined before, both for themselves and for a more sustainable future.” 

Wentzel is an organic chemist whose research focuses on the growing field of green chemistry, a systems-based approach that incorporates sustainability considerations into the the design, development, and implementation of chemical products and processes. As one of the first green chemists to be named a fellow by the Science Communication Network in 2018–19, he also works to help students and other researchers communicate their methods and findings to the public more effectively. 

Wentzel received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Minnesota in 2011. He joined Augsburg’s chemistry department in 2013, where he currently oversees STEM summer research and serves as department chair. He also serves as interim director of Augsburg’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Graduate Opportunity.   

“Michael Wentzel’s approach to teaching and scholarship is exactly the kind of leadership Terry and Janet Lindstrom desired to support with their transformative investment in our new School of Natural Sciences,” said Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow. “Whether in the lab, in the classroom, or on the chemistry club intramural basketball team, he is steadfast in his commitment to hands-on learning and in saying ‘yes’ to helping our students reach their goals.”

The Terry ’73 and Janet Lindstrom Endowed Professorship of Chemistry was established in 2024. Terry Lindstrom, a current member of Augsburg’s Board of Regents and a retired distinguished research fellow at Eli Lilly and Company, holds numerous patents supporting life-changing drugs, including Evista and Cymbalta. Together, the Lindstroms have provided generous philanthropic support to Augsburg students for more than 40 years.

Augsburg Nursing Faculty Focus on Infant Health Through MDH Grant

A woman holds a baby at Health Commons. Both are wearing winter hats and jackets.
Health Commons visitors

Augsburg University Assistant Professor of Nursing Katie Martin is the recipient of a $160,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Health to support infant health in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Martin is a certified midwife who has been providing care to expecting mothers in the area for over 20 years. Since beginning her academic tenure at Augsburg in 2021, she has become a coordinator at the Health Commons and the director of the BSN-completion program in addition to her teaching responsibilities.

“I have been honored to work at the Health Commons in Cedar Riverside over this past year and am so excited that this generous grant allows us to be able to expand the work we do,” Martin says. “We’ll restart programs that were happening pre-pandemic centered on maternal and infant health through community-led programming and community-based research.”

The funds from this grant will support new projects at the Health Commons in Cedar-Riverside, a health-focused drop-in center that is offered through a decade-long partnership between Augsburg, M Health Fairview, and the East Africa Health Project. Aligned with the grant program’s goal to reduce infant mortality in Minnesota, Martin and the Health Commons team are focused on three objectives: 

  1. Infants in the Cedar-Riverside community are born at term and at a healthy weight.
  2. Infants in the Cedar-Riverside community survive and thrive in their first year of life.
  3. East African Immigrants trust and feel safe with their health care providers in the Minneapolis metropolitan area.

This grant-funded work will be led by an Infant Health Advisory Committee organized by Martin. Much of the activities of the grant include offering infant health educational courses, distributing safe cribs, increasing safe sleep messaging and prenatal care, and hosting monthly birth celebrations at the Health Commons in Cedar-Riverside. Additionally, graduate students will be able to complete a paid internship through this grant and assist in a research project. This grant will also support ongoing programming and health services currently offered at the Health Commons, such as blood pressure checks and movement and mindfulness classes.

“This grant was extremely competitive and is a tribute to Dr. Martin’s expertise in infant health, health equity, and her relationships in Cedar-Riverside,” said Associate Professor Katie Clark, chair of Augsburg’s department of nursing and executive director of the Health Commons.  “Congratulations, Dr. Martin!”

Learn more about Augsburg’s Health Commons locations, range of services, and operating hours.

Announcing the Lindstrom Endowed Professorship of Chemistry at Augsburg University

Augsburg University is pleased to announce the establishment of the Terry ’73 and Janet Lindstrom Endowed Professorship of Chemistry.

Terry and Janet Lindstrom have generously supported Augsburg for over 40 years. Their philanthropic support includes the Augsburg Fund, summer research opportunities, the Student Emergency Fund, and the Hagfors Center. After a distinguished career in drug discovery and development at Eli Lilly and Company, Terry retired in 2010. He joined Augsburg’s Board of Regents in 2018, where he chairs the enrollment management committee.

Endowed professorships like the Lindstrom Endowed Professor of Chemistry play a vital role in supporting faculty, promoting academic excellence, and ensuring the long-term success of students. “This transformative gift affirms Augsburg’s longstanding commitment to excellence in the natural sciences,” said President Paul Pribbenow. “In a time when scientific knowledge has itself become contested, we are incredibly grateful to the Lindstroms for this investment to strengthen the critical leadership of our faculty.”

Learn more about the Lindstroms and the Lindstrom Endowed Professorship.