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.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently reported on the growing number of Muslim college students and the ways that schools, including those with Christian affiliations, are adapting to the increasing religious diversity of their student bodies. One way that colleges are improving the experiences of their Muslim students is by hiring advisers like Fardosa Hassan ’12, Muslim student program associate at Augsburg College.
The article reports that since she accepted the position last summer, Hassan has organized weekly prayer meetings for Augsburg’s Muslim students, recruited the help of a therapist and imam to undercut the idea that seeking treatment for depression is un-Islamic, and has taken Religion 100 students to visit local mosques. “Islam has called me to serve my community,” Hassan said, and her work has not gone unnoticed.
When asked about Hassan, first-year student Mohamud Mohamed ’19 said that “Fardosa is our guide. She is our connection to the outside world.”
College pastor Sonja Hagander said that given the growing number of Muslim students, “it was really key to have a Muslim student adviser.”
The article notes that nationwide more than 50 colleges, including Ivy League schools such as Yale and Princeton, have hired advisers for their Muslim students.
On February 25, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and retired astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, co-founders of Americans for Responsible Solutions, joined Minnesota leaders at Augsburg College to announce a new bipartisan organization, the “Minnesota Coalition for Common Sense.” The coalition’s members – which include leaders from across sectors and parties – will urge their elected officials to advance policies that help keep guns out of the wrong hands.
Giffords was wounded severely during a 2011 shooting that resulted in six deaths. She and husband, Kelly, have announced similar coalitions in New Hampshire and Oregon during the past several months.
Augsburg College PresidentPaul Pribbenow welcomed the event’s guests to campus and offered opening remarks at the press conference.
The Augsburg College women’s and men’s hockey teams are enjoying strong seasons, and several news organizations have covered their accomplishments.
National hockey newspaper Let’s Play Hockey recently published an article by Don Stoner, Augsburg’s sports information director, on the teams’ successes. Stoner reports that despite a slow start, the men’s team went on to win their first regular-season Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title since the 1997 – 98 season. He also notes that the women’s team has been playing a winning season, attributed in part to goalie Erika Allen ’16.
U.S. College Hockey Online (USCHO) also covered Augsburg’s teams in two recent articles. The first article focuses on men’s goalie Jordyn Kaufer ’18. Declaring that Kaufer is “clearly one of the best goaltenders in college hockey,” the article shares an unexpected detail of the sophomore’s career — he was cut from his high school’s hockey team as a junior.
“I played junior gold hockey my final two years of high school,” Kaufer said. “It gives guys a chance who don’t make their high school team to still play the game.”
USCHO also published an article about the Augsburg women’s team and the significance of their strong showing this season. Augsburg’s program was the first women’s hockey program in the Midwest, and the College recently marked the program’s 20th anniversary.
“Celebrating 20 years of Augsburg women’s hockey was incredibly special,” said coach Michelle McAteer.
Augsburg’s hockey teams will compete in the MIAC Semifinals on Saturday, February 27. Visit the Augsburg Athletics website to view the upcoming events calendar.
Jeanne Boeh, professor of economics at Augsburg College, was one of several experts quoted in a recent Star Tribune article on the current state of Minnesota’s economy. She attributes Minnesota’s steady economy to its diversity, which makes it less dependent on agriculture than neighboring states.
“Because we’re a diversified economy, we will keep trudging along at a lukewarm pace and eventually the labor shortages will happen and employers will raise wage rates more in order to get good workers,” Boeh said. “I think we are OK.”
KARE 11 news recently aired a segment covering “Makers: Small to Big,” a series of workshops sponsored by the Augsburg College physics department. The workshops are open to the public but are designed to help educators incorporate hands-on physics and computer programming projects into their classroom activities.
The segment featured a coding workshop led by Nora Helf, a Master of Arts in Education student, who saw teachers using software to coordinate blinking LED lights. Helf was assisted by 10-year-old programmer Jack Tavakley who demonstrated some of the projects he has made.
The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder recently published an article covering LeVar Burton’s Scholarship Weekend presentation. Burton, known for his roles in “Roots,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and as the host of “Reading Rainbow,” spoke about the importance of literacy and called for education that incorporates reading and art into technical fields.
“Education is the key to freedom,” said Burton. “No one can oppress you and no one can impose their point of view on you. I believe that literacy is the birthright of every single one of us on this planet, no exceptions.”
The Spokesman-Recorder article also notes that Burton cited his mother Erma Jean Christen, a dedicated reader, and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry as inspirations. Burton stressed the importance of diverse representation in media, saying that Star Trek’s inclusion of Lt. Uhura, one of the first prominent African-descended characters in television, helped him see himself as part of the future.
Lillie News recently reported that Koua Yang ’99, a human geography and Asian American studies teacher at Harding Senior High School in St. Paul, is one of 114 candidates for Education Minnesota’s 2016 Teacher of the Year Award. The award is one of the most prestigious given to educators in Minnesota and will be awarded May 15.
“I am very, very much humbled by the candidacy,” said Yang. “There are so many great teachers.”
The full list of nominees was published by the Star Tribune. Fellow Auggies Julie Swanson ’85 and Aaron Olson ’11 also have been nominated for the award.
Read Two East Side teachers are candidates for Teacher of the Year on the Lillie News site.
KARE 11 news staff recently interviewed former NBA player Devean George ’99 about The Commons at Penn Avenue, a mixed-use building development in north Minneapolis that George has been working on for four years. The building includes upscale low-income housing and will be the site of a co-op grocery store that will open this summer.
George compared the complexity of completing the project with the effort required to join the NBA.
“This has been really difficult. It was a little bit like pre-draft for me,” George said. “Coming from a small school I had to prove myself and play well all the time. It was similar to that.”
Nobel Peace Prize Forum executive director an expert on mediation and conflict-related sexual violence
Gina Torry, executive director of the Augsburg-hosted Nobel Peace Prize Forum, is the author of the United Nation’s “Guidance for Mediators: Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ceasefire and Peace Agreements,” which has been used to end conflict-related sexual violence against women and children.
She is available to address with media:
Why an end to sexual violence as a weapon is critical to ceasefire in Syria
Methods and tactics of conflict
Conflict-related sexual violence waged against civilians
How to identify when sexual violence is conflict related
Examples where ceasefire has included agreement to end use of sexual violence in conflict zones
“If left unaddressed, sexual violence can be used as a means to continue acts of war outside the purview of agreements and monitoring teams, which can trigger cycles of vengeance and vigilantism, and risk undermining confidence in agreements and possibly the mediation process itself,” Torry said.
Torry has worked closely with the UN, its member states, regional organizations, women’s civil society groups, and networks worldwide. She most recently served as executive director of the Peace Research Endowment, the North American presence of the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Prior to that, Torry worked for several years with the UN Department of Political Affairs Policy and Mediation Division.
To arrange an interview, contact Stephanie Weiss, news and media services director, at 612.330.1476 or by email at weisss@augsburg.edu.
Pioneer Public Television (PPT) recently included an interview with Michael Lansing, associate professor of history at Augsburg College and author of Insurgent Democracy: The Nonpartisan League in North American Politics, in an episode of Compass, a program that focuses on public policy and other issue of importance to PPT’s community.
Lansing’s book details the history of the Nonpartisan League, a political movement active in North Dakota, neighboring states, and some Canadian provinces in the early 1900s. The interview is available online on the PPT website.
Additionally, Lansing wrote an article for MinnPost that examines the trend of comparing the current sociopolitical climate with the “Gilded Age” of the late 19th century. He argues that the results of recent presidential primaries in New Hampshire, which overwhelmingly rejected candidates viewed as having ties to the political establishment, reflect an important change in voter attitudes.
“American voters now believe they are living in a second Gilded Age,” he writes. “This shift has the potential to transform our nation’s politics.” He adds that regardless of the final outcomes of the nomination processes, this change is a noteworthy signifier of Americans’ rejection of the status quo.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently reported on the growing number of Muslim college students and the ways that schools, including those with Christian affiliations, are adapting to the increasing religious diversity of their student bodies. One way that colleges are improving the experiences of their Muslim students is by hiring advisers like Fardosa Hassan ’12, Muslim student program associate at Augsburg College.
