Bing tracking
  1. Home
  2. Tag: awards

Augsburg University Named Among Nation’s Most LGBTQ-Friendly

Posted on

White Auggie eagle on rainbow backgroundAugsburg University has been named one of the top 30 colleges and universities for LGBTQ+ students, according to Campus Pride, the leading national organization dedicated to building future LGBTQ and ally leaders and creating safer communities at colleges and universities. Augsburg is the only institution from Minnesota to receive Campus Pride’s Best of the Best recognition in 2023.

“Earning a spot on Campus Pride’s Best of the Best list recognizes an institution’s efforts to create a safe and welcoming campus for their LGBTQ+ students, staff and faculty,” said Campus Pride Founder, CEO and Executive Director Shane Mendez Windmeyer. “In the current climate, in which LGBTQ+ identities have become political talking points and laws are being weaponized against LGBTQ+ people, the commitment to creating campuses that welcome and protect LGBTQ+ students can not be taken for granted. The colleges and universities that made our list this year deserve this recognition for the efforts they have made and continue to make.”

Augsburg’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) Student Services office works to improve the campus environment for all students, staff, faculty, and visitors by developing and supporting inclusive understandings of gender and sexuality. Activities include:

  • Advising, advocacy, mentorship, and support for LGBTQIA+ -identified students;
  • Development of student knowledge and leadership skills;
  • Promoting awareness and visibility for the LGBTQIA+ community on campus;
  • Providing networking and social opportunities for the LGBTQIA+ and allied campus community;
  • Training students, staff, and faculty about gender and sexual equity to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment;
  • Advocating for change in policies, practices, and procedures across the campus to be more equitable to LGBTQIA individuals.

Two LGBTQIA+ student organizations, Queer Pride Alliance and Queer Indigenous People of Color, host a number of events for the Augsburg community throughout the year. At the annual Lavender Celebration, graduating LGBTQIA+ and ally students are honored with a rainbow cord to wear at commencement, and the community recognizes outstanding individuals for their work and contributions for queer and trans students at Augsburg.

Campus Pride’s 2023 Best of the Best LGBTQ-friendly list includes 30 four-year public and private colleges and universities from around the country. Each institution achieved 5 out of 5 stars and the highest percentage scores on the Campus Pride Index (CPI), the premier national benchmarking tool measuring LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs, and practices on college and university campuses. The Campus Pride Index rates colleges and universities based on self-reporting of LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs and practices, such as non-discrimination statements inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, gender affirming health care, LGBTQ+ peer mentorship programs, campus safety training on sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBTQ-specific major and course offerings, and the presence of LGBTQ & ally student and faculty organizations. The full Campus Pride 2023 Best of the Best list is available online at CampusPride.org/BestoftheBest.

Learn more about programming and support resources available through Augsburg’s LGBTQIA+ Student Services.

Assistant Professor Shayna Sheinfeld Wins Outstanding Book Award

Posted on

Image of book cover that shows a painting of a woman with dark eyes and heavy eyebrows. White text on a red background reads, "Jewish and Christian Women in the Ancient Mediterranean," Sara Parks, Shayna Sheinfeld, and Meredith J.C. Warren Shayna Sheinfeld, assistant professor of religion and philosophy, received the 2023 Frank W. Beare Award from the Canadian Society for Biblical Studies for her book, “Jewish and Christian Women in the Ancient Mediterranean.” 

Co-authored with Sara Parks and Meredith J. C. Warren, “Jewish and Christian Women in the Ancient Mediterranean” is the first undergraduate textbook dedicated to introducing women’s religious roles in Judaism and Christianity in a way that is accessible to students from all disciplines. In addition to contextualizing overviews, it includes explorations of specific topics in women’s religion, including leadership, domestic ritual, women as readers and writers of scripture, and women as innovators in their traditions. 

The Frank W. Beare award recognizes an outstanding book in the areas of Christian origins, post-biblical Judaism, and/or Graeco-Roman religions.

Reinaldo Moya Receives McKnight Composer Fellowship

Posted on

Reinaldo Moya leans against a wall wearing a dark coat and blue collared shirt. Snow and trees are in the background.Reinaldo Moya, associate professor of composition, has been named one of four 2022 McKnight Composer Fellows. Funded by the McKnight Foundation, the fellowship provides $25,000 in unrestricted support for outstanding mid-career artists living in Minnesota. He plans to use the award to record an album of his compositions, and to pursue additional training and equipment to widen his musical horizons. 

A graduate of Venezuela’s El Sistema music education system, Professor Moya is the recipient of the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Van Lier Fellowship, and the Aaron Copland Award, as well as a previous McKnight Composer Fellowship. He was the winner of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Composer Award, leading to the commissioning of his Piano Concerto for Joyce Yang and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. Professor Moya’s works have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera, the San Diego Symphony, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and the New Jersey Symphony. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School with masters and doctoral degrees. 

Learn more about his works at reinaldomoya.com. Congratulations, Professor Moya!

Alyssa Parkhurst ’23 Named 2022 Udall Scholar

Posted on

Alyssa ParkhurstAlyssa Parkhurst, a senior majoring in environmental studies and American Indian studies, has been named a 2022 Udall Scholar. Only 55 students across the United States are selected each year, and Parkhurst is only the second Auggie ever to have received this scholarship.

As a Udall Tribal Public Policy Scholar, Parkhurst will receive $7,000 and spend five days in Tucson, Arizona, at Scholar Orientation, where she will extend her professional network, meet other scholars and alumni, and learn new skills.

The Udall Foundation awards scholarships to college sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service, and commitment to issues related to Native American nations or to the environment.

Parkhurst is an Act Six Scholar, summer intern and farmer at Dream of Wild Health, environmental stewardship coordinator at Augsburg, oshkaabewis (ceremonial helper) to her Elder, Noodinesiikwe, and an old-style jingle dress dancer and educator. Congratulations, Alyssa!

Learn more about the 2022 Udall Scholars.

National Football Foundation’s Minnesota chapter honors Missy Strauch

Posted on

National Football Foundation - logoThe Minnesota chapter of the National Football Foundation recently announced that it will award Missy Strauch, head athletic trainer at Augsburg College, with the Fred Zamberletti Award. The award, named after the famed Minnesota Vikings athletic trainer, will be given in recognition of Strauch’s decades of service across all levels of Minnesota athletics.

Strauch will receive the award at the NFF’s annual Minnesota Football Honors event on April 17.

Read the announcement on the NFF Minnesota site.

 

Pioneer Press notes Augsburg’s diversity award

Posted on

logo-smallThe St. Paul Pioneer Press mentioned that Augsburg College was among 92 higher-education institutions nationally to be recognized for excellence in diversity by the magazine Insight Into Diversity.

Read, “Education notes: News from schools near you” on the Pioneer Press site.

Augsburg earns Carnegie Foundation’s Community Engagement Classification

Posted on

Carnegie_CEC_digital_seal (1)Augsburg College has received its second Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Institutions are recognized based on evidence of their collaboration with the larger community, which:

  • enriches scholarship, research, and creative activity;
  • enhances curriculum, teaching, and learning;
  • prepares educated, engaged citizens;
  • strengthens democratic values and civic responsibility;
  • addresses critical societal issues; and
  • contributes to the public good.

The Carnegie Foundation’s Classification for Community Engagement is an elective classification. Institutions participate voluntarily by submitting required material as part of an extensive application process. Those materials include but are not limited to a description of the nature and extent of the university’s engagement with the community — local or beyond — plus institutional commitment, its impact on students, staff, and faculty, and an assessment of initiatives geared toward community engagement.

About 8 percent of U.S. degree-granting institutions have earned the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification to date, and Augsburg was one of only eight Minnesota colleges or universities recognized in 2015. Augsburg previously received the Community Engagement Classification in 2008.

The New England Resource Center for Higher Education serves as Carnegie’s administrative partner, and additional information regarding the classification process is available on the NERCHE website.