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Twin Cities media cover retirement of news anchor Diana Pierce ’16 MAL

Augsburg Professor Phil Adamo on set with Diana Pierce at KARE 11.
Augsburg College History Professor Phil Adamo appears on set with Diana Pierce at KARE 11.

Longtime KARE 11 news anchor Diana Pierce ’16 MAL recently announced her retirement from broadcasting in the Twin Cities market after more than 30 years on air. In a story on the KARE 11 website, Pierce said, “The timing is excellent,” for the change because she will graduate from Augsburg College’s Master of Arts in Leadership program this spring and will pursue new opportunities with her master’s degree. To learn more about Pierce’s award-winning journalism career, read the following stories:

Gabby Giffords, Mark Kelly, and Minnesota leaders announce “Minnesota Coalition for Common Sense” at Augsburg-hosted press conference

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 President Paul Pribbenow welcomed the event’s guests to campus and offered opening remarks at the press conference.

Media coverage of the event includes:

Media reacts to “Un-Minnesotan” newspaper ad

UnMinnesotan AdAugsburg College President Paul Pribbenow was one of the high-profile Minnesotans recently included on a full-page ad in the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper that denounced anti-Muslim bigotry as “un-Minnesotan.”

Others who added their support to the campaign include Gov. Mark Dayton, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, and the CEOs of prominent Minnesota businesses such as Best Buy, General Mills, and Cargill.

The ad was a joint effort between Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and John Taft, CEO of RBC Wealth Management. It states that although Minnesotans, “may be a soft-spoken bunch, we know better than to be silent or still in the face of bigotry shown to Muslims. Our fellow Minnesotans.”

Several media outlets have reported on the ad, including:

Bring Me The News shares roundup of River Semester info

bringmeThe online media resource Bring Me The News shared a compilation of information about the Augsburg College River Semester, a three-and-a-half month program in which students and faculty members will traverse the Mississippi River from St. Paul to New Orleans while studying topics in the arts, humanities, and sciences. As the story noted, “Students will sleep in campsites instead of dorm rooms and will paddle rather than walk to their classes this fall.”

Kuoth Wiel ’13 gains wealth of media coverage

GoodLie
Courtesy image

Augsburg College alumna Kuoth Wiel ’13, a star in the feature film “The Good Lie,” has garnered a plethora of media coverage. The film, which was released in Minnesota Oct. 17, has been well received and is generating Oscar buzz.  Augsburg has received several media mentions thanks to Wiel since she was a student at the College when she auditioned for the role.

The film brings to life a fictional yet strikingly accurate story of the ‘Lost Boys’ of Sudan. Born in a refugee camp in Ethiopia to Sudanese parents herself, it’s no surprise Wiel found it important to help tell this story. Being a part of the film “…validated all the struggles we had went through,” Wiel said in an MPR news interview.

Wiel has been traveling around the U.S. promoting the film since its September debut at the Toronto Film Festival. The film, along with Wiel and her cast mates, have been featured and covered by media outlets ranging from Minneapolis’ Star Tribune to Rolling Stone magazine.

Below is a list of some of the local and national media coverage on Wiel: