As of fall 2025, news and media updates have been integrated with the Augsburg Now alumni publication. This site archives news stories from before September 16, 2025. Please visit augsburg.edu/now or select "Augsburg Now" from the left navigation for current news.
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community to be honored for donation
Augsburg College will host a traditional powwow March 29 in the Si Melby Hall Gymnasium. The event, hosted by the Augsburg Indigenous Student Association and American Indian Student Services, includes two Grand Entries and an Honoring Ceremony to recognize graduating American Indian students.
The Scripps Regional Spelling Bee organized and hosted by Augsburg College on March 15 was the focus of a WCCO news story. Mark Kivimaki, of Valley View Middle School in Edina, was the winner of the bee and will be sent by the College to Washington, D.C., to take part in the national competition. Watch “5 students set to represent Minnesota in national spelling be” and learn what word Kivimaki spelled to win the regional competition.
Mark Kivimaki, 12, of Valley View Middle School in Edina, was named champion of the 7-County Metro Area Regional Spelling Bee held March 15 at Hoversten Chapel at Augsburg College. He correctly spelled “thorium” and “serenity” to win the spelling bee. He is the son of Mary and Bruce Kivimaki.
Production is first-ever collaboration between Augsburg, University of Minnesota
A ground-breaking production of Henrik Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt” will take theater goers on a fantastic voyage that includes oversized birds and trolls, original music and simultaneous scenes, all while attendees and performers travel a quarter-mile portion of the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
The play, a 1.5-hour production condensed from Robert Bly’s 3-hour script of 2008, represents a first-time collaboration between theater departments at Augsburg and the University of Minnesota. It’s also probably a first for site-specific theater of this scale for theatergoers in the Twin Cities. “Peer Gynt” will be performed seven times from April 10-13. Continue reading “Site-Specific Staging of ‘Peer Gynt’ Breaks Rules, Boundaries”→
Yemissrach “Yemi” Melka ’15, a chemistry and international relations student, recently spoke with Beckie Supiano of The Chronicle of Higher Educationabout Melka’s participation in the Model United Nations. Melka, a Peace Scholar, is interested in exploring how scientists can use their expertise to promote international peacemaking. Listen to “A Science Student Talks Her Way onto the Model UN Team.”
A KWAR radiointerview about The Great Lakes Book Project mentioned D. E. (Doug) Green, who published seven poems in the anthology. Green is a poet and Augsburg College professor of English. Visit the KWAR website to learn more.
Paul Walsh of the Star Tribune writes about the upcoming Regional Spelling Bee to be at Augsburg College on March 15. This is the second year that Augsburg will host 50 middle- and junior-high school students who will compete for a chance to go to Washington, D.C., for the national event. Read “Minnesota’s field of 5 for National Spelling Bee nearly complete.”
The 26th Annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum held March 1 and March 7-9 garnered a wide range of media attention throughout the conference. Here are highlights of stories that appeared in traditional and social media about the Forum and its programming. Continue reading “Peace Prize Forum garners range of media attention”→
Fifty middle- and junior-high school students from throughout the seven-county Metro area will compete at Augsburg College in the 2014 regional spelling bee on March 15 at Hoversten Chapel at Augsburg College. The winner of the regional spelling bee Continue reading “Advisory: Regional spelling bee March 15 at Augsburg College”→
The founder of Eurasia Group, a global political risk assessment company, spoke with MPR about the unfolding situation in Ukraine prior to his presentation at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum. Ian Bremmer described on “The Daily Circuit” the upheaval in Ukraine as “the most seismic geopolitical events since 9/11.”
The 26th Annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum held March 1 and March 7-9 garnered a wide range of media attention throughout the conference. Here are highlights of stories that appeared in traditional and social media about the Forum and its programming. 
