{"id":51489,"date":"2017-04-30T02:23:13","date_gmt":"2017-04-30T02:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/?p=51489"},"modified":"2018-09-14T19:51:59","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T19:51:59","slug":"a-university-embracing-bothand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/2017\/04\/30\/a-university-embracing-bothand\/","title":{"rendered":"A University Embracing \u201cBoth\/And\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
Proud members of the Class of 2017!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am writing these notes on Commencement weekend when we have just sent the final graduates of Augsburg College<\/em> into the world, full of promise and aspiration \u2013 as has been the case for almost 150 years.\u00a0 As you will read in this issue of Augsburg Now, the change of our name to Augsburg University<\/em> will become official in September and we will welcome the first class on Labor Day weekend.\u00a0 We are busy preparing for this exciting new era for Augsburg!<\/p>\n

For some, the name change may reflect a break with Augsburg\u2019s past.\u00a0 For others, perhaps this is a welcome acceptance of the need to embrace the future.\u00a0 For the Augsburg community, however, the change is a remarkable opportunity to re-present Augsburg to the world \u2013 to tell a story that is about an abiding mission and identity shaped by faith, academic and civic values, and at the same time to point to innovative and urgently needed responses to our dynamic environment.\u00a0 In other words, this change is about the pivot from \u201ceither\/or\u201d to \u201cboth\/and.\u201d\u00a0 This is about embracing the best of past, present and future.\u00a0 This is about Augsburg University.<\/p>\n

The almost 1000 new Auggies who commenced into the world this spring reflect in their achievements and aspirations the foundation for embracing this change.<\/p>\n

Across both undergraduate and graduate programs, the class of 2017 achieved academic excellence of the highest order, excellence that defines a university.\u00a0 National and international honors for scholarship and service; exemplary undergraduate research that equips students for graduate work and professional opportunities; innovative community-building that strengthens democratic engagement; and a commitment to equity in education that promises to change the world.<\/p>\n

At the same time, our newest graduates reflect the diversity that we expect in a university \u2013 diversity of ethnicity, thinking, life experience, identity and ability \u2013 diversity not for its own sake but for the promise of a more robust, healthy and just world.\u00a0 As I watched our diverse graduates cross the stage, I could not help but be filled with hope in our future leaders who already have learned to navigate difference in ways that unite rather than divide.<\/p>\n

In a final way, these newest Augsburg graduates offer a perhaps counter-cultural lesson about what makes for a great university.\u00a0 Though some imagine a university as big and bureaucratic and faceless, Augsburg has a vision to be a new kind of student-centered, urban university \u2013 small to our students and big for the world.\u00a0 The sense of community was palpable in our commencement ceremonies as graduates cheered each other and celebrated the relationships they have forged at Augsburg, life-long relationships that engendered achievement and success.\u00a0 And propelled by those relationships, our graduates will indeed be \u201cbig for the world,\u201d as they live Augsburg\u2019s mission as \u201cinformed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers and responsible leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to the power of \u201cboth\/and\u201d and the promise of Augsburg University!\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am writing these notes on Commencement weekend when we have just sent the final graduates of Augsburg College into the world, full of promise and aspiration \u2013 as has been the case for almost 150 years.\u00a0 As you will read in this issue of Augsburg Now, the change of our name to Augsburg University …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51489"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51537,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51489\/revisions\/51537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}