Alumni Class Notes, Winter 2022-23

1960s

1962

On November 23, 2022, WCCO-TV ran a story on Augsburg football coach Jack Osberg ’62, “Augsburg football legend Jack Osberg opens up about life with wife’s Alzheimer’s disease.” Osberg was featured in the Winter 2021–22 issue of Augsburg Now.

1980s

1984

Paul Mueller ’84, regional vice president for Mayo Clinic Health System in Southwest Wisconsin, Augsburg regent emeritus, and current chair of Augsburg’s Great Returns campaign, participated as a panelist in a virtual community forum, “A Tale of Two Viruses,” hosted by Mayo Clinic in September 2022. The discussion focused on the contrast between monkeypox and COVID-19.

1989

“Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës,” by Devoney Looser ’89, was published in October 2022. The book was on Apple’s list of the “Most Anticipated Fall Books” in nonfiction, and it received a starred review from Kirkus. Looser was featured in the Fall 2018 issue of Augsburg Now.

1990s

1991

Carla Steen ’91 was resident dramaturg for Guthrie Theater’s world premiere of “Sally & Tom.”

1999

Real estate developer Devean George ’99 plans to build a modular-housing plant in Minneapolis’ North Loop. The plant, which will manufacture modular units for multifamily housing, will create hundreds of jobs from 2023 to 2025 paying $30 or more per hour.

Cheri Johnson ’99 is author of “Annika Rose,” a novel manuscript that won the 2021–22 Women’s Prose Prize from Red Hen Press in Pasadena, California. In 2022, she also published “The Girl in Duluth,” a literary mystery, under the pen name Sigrid Brown. Publishers Weekly selected the book for review, calling it an “affecting debut.”

2000s

2000

Ross Murray ’00, ’09 MBA, vice president of GLAAD Media Institute, led a training tour in Australia. Offerings included a master class on LGBTQ advocacy and support for leaders looking to make their organizations more LGBTQ-welcoming and inclusive. Murray also met with the Australian Film Television and Radio School to speak with faculty about teaching students the impact of LGBTQ inclusivity in media representation.

2004

Mary Taris ’04, founder and CEO of Strive Publishing and Strive Bookstore, was one of the business owners featured in a KARE 11 story about a 2022 holiday pop-up market in downtown Minneapolis.

2005

Eddie Frizell ’05 MAL was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2022 as the U.S. marshal for Minnesota. The first Black U.S. marshal in Minnesota history, he leads the U.S. Marshals Service for the state.

2006

Wendi Wheeler ’06, ’13 MAL, spoke with a reporter about how a man holding a “You Are Loved” sign in Moorhead, Minnesota, gave her hope when she was contemplating suicide. The story, “A college student holding a sign on a Moorhead street corner saved her life,” appeared in several Minnesota newspapers.

2009

Marette Hahn ’09, director of academic and career excellence at Grand Canyon University, was nominated for the Athena Valley of the Sun Founder’s Award.

Rachel Studier ’09, ’12 MBA, chief operations officer of Mayo Employees Federal Credit Union, was named a Top Woman in Finance by Finance & Commerce, which covers business news in Minnesota.

2010s

2013

For the past three years, Kacie Butcher ’13 has been director of the Public History Project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a multiyear effort to uncover and give voice to histories of discrimination and resistance at the university. The project has resulted in a physical exhibition, a digital exhibition website, curricular materials, an event and lecture series, and a final report. The project is the first of its kind in the nation in regards to scope and its focus on public engagement.

2014 and 2019

Sisters Faiso Abdulle ’14, ’20 DNP and Ikraan Abdulle ’19 DNP are two of four nurses who founded OurPlace Residential Services. The business provides integrated support services to clients, including medical care, stable housing, and the supportive administrative and coaching services needed to stabilize disabled and homeless patients. The nurses and their business were featured in the August 28, 2022, Star Tribune story, “Four first-generation Somali American nurses started business to care for patients in need.”

2015

Alisha Esselstein ’15 joined The Manely Firm, P.C., as an associate attorney.

2018

Chung Lip ’18 recently published “Hers,” a memoir which reflects on his childhood experience growing up in Cambodia. Lip wrote the memoir to share his personal experiences growing up as an orphan, to inspire others, and to promote resiliency among young people around the world.

2020s

2022

Tucker Robinson ’22 is program coordinator for Change the Outcome. Robinson’s story is part of a September 23, 2022, story in the Star Tribune, “After the loss of her son to the opioid epidemic, a Minnesota mother seeks to change the outcome for others.”