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.
Photo-illustration by Sean McCabe for TIME. Photos courtesy of the subjects or shot for TIME.
“The Avengers: First They Marched, Now They’re Running,” reads the headline across the cover. This year, a record number of women are running for office, and among them is Leah Phifer, adjunct faculty at Augsburg University, where she teaches Politics and Policy of Immigration, Introduction to American Government and Political Methodology.
Pifer is running for the DFL nomination for the 8th district seat of the U.S. House. Leah has served Minnesotans through her work at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security and has also worked for the FBI, enforcing laws written in the name of national security.
“Of course, electing more women in Congress would not necessarily lead to an instant federal paid-family-leave plan or national child care. Female lawmakers of both parties tend to elevate issues that men ignore.” states Charlotte Altar, the author of the TIME magazine article. “Women have a long way to go to get to parity in American politics. They hold less than 20% of seats in Congress, just 25% of those in state legislatures and only six of the nation’s 50 governorships.” adds Altar.
Leah’s picture is just below the “T” in “The Avengers.” Part of the word “First” is directly over her hair. This appears in the January 29, 2018 issue of TIME.
Thousands of federal employees were furloughed across the country due to the government shutdown that began on Friday, January 19. Fortunately, things do not look so bad for the state of Minnesota.
“We have fewer things that are funded by the federal government, in fact we tend to send in more than we get back from the federal government.” Andrew Aoki, political science professor at Augsburg University explains. However, the shutdown has affected both the Mississippi National River Visitors Center and the Science Museum, as both had to close.
Update: Water service was restored to Christensen Center before 6 p.m. Saturday, January 13.
Earlier post:
A leak in the city water line that feeds Christensen Center was discovered around 10 p.m. Friday, January 12. Augsburg Facilities crew worked with the City of Minneapolis Water Department to shut the water off until the pipe can be repaired. As a result, there is no water service in Christensen. As of Saturday morning, January 13, we are still awaiting information about the timeline for repair, but there may not be water in Christensen for the weekend.
As a result, the following adjustments have been made to affected operations on January 13:
A’viands has made some menu and beverage modifications and adjusted its sanitation operations to ensure that students will continue to have quality foodservice in the Commons.
Nabo will be closed Saturday, January 13, so that A’viands can use that location for food preparation and dishwashing for the main dining facilities in Christensen Center.
More than 900 Augsburg University undergraduate students were named to the 2017 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.
Amid the opioid crisis, recovery programs on college campuses are quickly multiplying, with over 100 campuses across the country. Augsburg University is one of them.
Students like Neil King, who is addicted to painkillers, now wants to recover and keep his life on track. King heard about Augsburg University’s StepUP® program from his hospital roommate during recovery and decided to apply.
“When King first moved in to StepUP®, he was in a perpetual state of crisis. He stabilized, got used to being back in school and worked through the initial difficulties of recovery with the help of his counselor. The staff also helped him get necessities; he had shown up to school with only a duffel bag and two trash bags filled with clothes.” Explains Sanchez on the article.
King will be graduating in just a few months with a degree in clinical psychology. He thanks his recovery to the community he was able to find at StepUP®.
Emily Reinert, assistant director of Augsburg’s Strommen Center for Meaningful Work, spoke with Star Tribune’s Lee Schafer about the approach Augsburg takes when helping students find meaningful work. “Vocation” is a word that students at Augsburg hear often. Career counselors value the importance of helping students find jobs that match the student’s vocation, that is, jobs that are meaningful to the student and are bigger than just a paycheck.
Although many college seniors seem to have a clear vision of their future, others are still stuck and wonder what is next for them. “I see the need to prod them a little to get them to go talk to people about work and careers. Their first choice for information is going to be a computer or smartphone. Google is clearly useful in a career search. Finding a way into a meaningful job is a process. It’s not like there’s a quick career research boot camp, and you’re ready to go now.” Reinert explains.
Augsburg’s Strommen Center for Meaningful Work works closely with students to help them create meaningful connections with working professionals and guide them to find jobs internships in their chosen field.
Following the mid-December announcement that McNally Smith College of Music would be closing this December, Augsburg University teams have swung into action to support McNally Smith students seeking to transfer in order to complete their degrees.
Recognizing the urgency many McNally Smith students, including international students, are facing, Augsburg will enroll transfer students as quickly as this spring semester, which begins January 8.
“We will do our very best to assist students through this process as quickly as possible,” said Augsburg University Registrar Crystal Comer.
Augsburg and McNally Smith have an existing articulation agreement — a formal agreement that establishes transfer policies for specific courses or programs. Augsburg also is committed to carefully reviewing students’ courses that are not included in the articulation agreement for possible credit transfers.
Augsburg staff will be on site at McNally Smith this week to help student understand their options. McNally Smith students also are encouraged to schedule an appointment with a transfer counselor at Augsburg via the web site: www.augsburg.edu/transfer.
According to Augsburg Interim Vice President of Enrollment Management Nate Gorr, many McNally Smith students have already scheduled appointments. Students also can call or email questions to the Augsburg transfer team at transfer@augsburg.edu or 612-330-1001.
“People from across Augsburg — including faculty, academic advisors, admissions and housing staff, the registrar’s team, and student affairs — immediately began working to see how we could help McNally Smith transfer students when the announcement was made last week,” said Augsburg University President Paul Pribbenow. “Our hope is that our efforts and those of our sister schools will support all of McNally Smith’s remaining students in accomplishing their educational goals.”
Koryne Horbal takes the oath as U.S. representative to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, 1977. Gloria Steinem holds the Bible.
This past May, Minnesotans mourned the passing of Koryne Horbal. In her lifetime, Horbal launched the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus and the DFL Feminist Caucus, served as a U.S. representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and was appointed the DFL party chair at the age of 31. A vocal and unapologetic activist, Horbal was a champion for women, as well as the LGBTQ+ community. Neither the loss of her husband in 2015 nor the three strokes she subsequently suffered stopped her from working on the 2016 presidential campaign for Hillary Clinton. Horbal did not have the money to attend college in the 1950s, but Augsburg University granted her an honorary degree in 2008 due to her work as a consultant with Augsburg’s Women’s Resources Center. Koryne Horbal lives on through her children, grandchildren, and the feminist spark that she ignited in people around the world.
Mike Sime, Augsburg StepUP® program advisory board chair, talked with Paul Douglas on WCCO Radio Friday about the program’s foundation, success, and work to support other institutions in establishing recovery programs. Douglas called StepUP® a revolutionary program, as it currently is the largest residential collegian recovery program in the U.S. The program is dedicated to students in recovery from drug of alcohol abuse and provides a sober living environment and counseling.
“I look at it as a parent. If you have a student who is newly in recovery, has been sober and now you think about sending them off to college, that would be my worst nightmare, so to have a safe and supportive environment that they can come to that is clean and sober with other students, it really makes sense and creates an unique environment,” expressed Mike about the importance of having such program.
The program began after a student in recovery shared his need for a sober environment, explained Mike. The student expressed that his experience would have been easier if he had a community who was also in recovery with him. Augsburg made the commitment to develop StepUP® and through it, the program has helped over 750 students in 20 years.
Listen to the full story beginning at 16:40 on the Paul and Jordana Show website.
Star Tribune’s Richard Chin refers to Brian Krohn ‘08 as a “Minnesota Genius” in his article. Among Krohn’s creations are surgery tools,wizard staffs, a cycling workout app, and more recently, Soundly, a cell phone application designed to help people who snore by getting them to play a voice-activated game to strengthen their upper airway muscles.
While at Augsburg, Krohn switched majors from film to chemistry, that’s when his interest in becoming a scientist began. His undergraduate research led him to “Good Morning America” where he talked about a process to produce environmentally-friendly fuel, which was later commercialized in the development of a $9 million pilot plant.
“A lot of times I get a little bug about something, I kind of just do things and see where they go,” says Krohn about his ventures.
