Notes from President Pribbenow: Eyes on a longer horizon

Each year, in my opening convocation address to our new students, I point out that, though much has changed in Augsburg’s 150-plus-year history, there are values that have not changed. Those values are about meeting students where they are in their lives, offering them a world-class education, embracing them, supporting them, and challenging them, so that they might go out into the world to live our mission as informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders.

As I write this, a new administration in Washington, D.C., is promoting a vision of higher education that threatens to undermine those abiding values. Claims that colleges and universities are elitist, woke, unaccountable, and irresponsible are grounding shifts in federal policy that have created chaos and confusion across the higher education landscape.

Here on campus, in our neighborhood, and wherever Auggies live and work, I see just the opposite of these claims. I see students who view education as a gift that carries with it a responsibility to give back. I see faculty and staff committed to our vision that students receive a three-dimensional education—an education that equips them to make a living, make a life, and build community. I see alumni and neighbors who care about each other and the world, and who are working each and every day to support a just and inclusive democracy.

In the midst of these difficult times for higher education, the Augsburg community is focused on a longer horizon—past, present, and future—a horizon that calls us time and again to believe that education is at the heart of a thriving society and to commit ourselves to the mission-based work that must never change.

The articles in this issue of the Augsburg Now surely offer many examples of that work on campus and in the world. As you learn about the work of these featured Auggies, may you be inspired to recommit yourself to Augsburg’s abiding mission. The horizon is long and as Dr. King reminded us, the arc of the universe bends toward justice for all. Thanks for all you do to make it so!

Faithfully yours,

Paul C. Pribbenow, PhD

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Top image: Students studying on campus (Photo by Courtney Perry)