Notes from President Pribbenow: Come and see!

In the Christian church, the liturgical season before Lent is called Epiphany, a time when we reflect on the good news that God has broken into human history and that we are called to share that good news with all of creation. There is a wonderful invitational character to Epiphany, in which we ask each other and our neighbors to “Come and see” all that God is doing in our midst.

In that spirit, this issue of Augsburg Now invites all of us to come and see what the Augsburg community is doing in its 151st academic year, in the midst of a global pandemic, to live out our mission. In these pandemic times, Augsburg students, faculty, and staff have brought great imagination, resilience, and courage to our work together. I am so proud of what they have accomplished, and I invite you to come and see …

Come and see the gift of the surprises we found in how we teach and learn, how we keep our community and neighborhood safe and healthy, how we live out our most deeply held commitments and values, and how we are open to new and innovative ways of living and working.

I’m out and about, delivering yard signs to the @AugsburgU Class of 2024! Here’s Vanessa – a proud new Auggie. #augsburgbold #auggiepride pic.twitter.com/qut2oOH2ee

— Paul Pribbenow (@paulpribbenow) June 30, 2020

Come and see how we answered the call to serve our neighbors even when we must navigate the challenges of a virus, economic disruption, and racial reckoning. Our focus on supporting local businesses, meeting the needs of those experiencing homelessness, ensuring that all of our students have the resources they need to be successful, and finding ways to feed the hungry—all these illustrate how our community embraces its commitments to our neighbors.

Come and see the promise of abundance in a time and world too often characterized by scarcity. We believe deeply in what the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone proclaimed: “We all do better when we all do better.” Our abiding commitments to equity and inclusion—and our aspiration to be an anti-racist university—lead us to robust engagement with each other and with the wider community so that all will do better.

Augsburg University is a distinctive community, defining in its life and work a vision for higher education in the 21st century. I am deeply grateful for the support of alumni and friends, whose generosity and engagement help us live into our vision to educate Auggies as stewards of an inclusive democracy. Come and see.

Faithfully yours,

Paul C. Pribbenow, President