As of fall 2025, news and media updates have been integrated with the Augsburg Now alumni publication. This site archives news stories from before September 16, 2025. Please visit augsburg.edu/now or select "Augsburg Now" from the left navigation for current news.
MinnPost recently ran an opinion piece on gun violence by Lindsay Starck, assistant professor of English and associate director of Augsburg Universityâs MFA program. In her August 13 commentary, she notes that gun sales have gone up since people have been calling to defund the police and asks readers to reconsider the best ways to protect themselves. She points to findings that people are actually less safe when they bring guns into their homes. Instead she suggests that we âsupport community-led anti-violence programs that are proven to work.â
Professor Jeff Walter, along with undergraduate student Kei Heltemes, is a member of a research team that has electrically transformed a nonmagnetic material, iron sulfide, to a magnetic one. Led by Chris Leighton, a professor at the University of Minnesota, the team discovered a way to do something that was previously considered impossible. Their discovery may help with the creation of more energy-efficient computer memory devices. Read the University of Minnesota research brief, for more details on the research.
About Augsburg Augsburg University, celebrating its 150th anniversary, offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and 11 graduate degrees to 3,400 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and nearby Rochester, Minnesota, location. Augsburg educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings. Learn more at Augsburg.edu.
Kare 11 spoke with health and economy experts about the hidden costs of fighting COVID-19 and the long-term effects that might stick around for years. A Hennepin Healthcare pediatrician expressed her concern about mental health, addiction, and child abuse. Economists such as Augsburg Professor of Economics Jeanne Boeh are concerned about the financial fallout that may linger on for years.
Boeh explained that many of the jobs that were lost may never come back and many of the businesses that closed may be gone forever.
“Gaps between lower, middle, and upper class may get even wider in the coming years,” Boeh told Kare 11. “People who can work from home, their lives may have actually gotten better. There are no transportation costs. They’re still getting paid.” But she said people who were involved in restaurants and nursing might be adversely affected.
Augsburg has frozen undergraduate tuition at the 2019-20 level for the 2020-21 academic year. At the same time, the university increased the total financial aid awarded to students in 2020-21, as we have over the last several years.Â
In addition to freezing tuition and increasing financial aid to students, Augsburg is also investing significantlyâin both time and dollarsâto ensure a strong and engaging educational experience, to enhance campus facilities, and to ensure operations maintain a safe environment in pandemic conditions. Our faculty have been working throughout the summer to redesign fall courses that feature high-impact learning experiences. As a result, the fall semester will be significantly different from what we all experienced last spring whenâwith only two weeks of planning and preparationâfaculty and students had to suddenly pivot from classroom teaching to remote learning.
In addition, we have invested in technology to support student learningâincluding expanding our loaner laptop and WiFi hotspot program as well as expanding our Zoom license to provide each student and faculty member with their own individual account. Weâve also made important enhancements to our course management system and have introduced a new application that helps students develop key skills for online learning.Â
Whether our courses are offered in the classroom, in blended/hybrid formats, or fully online, they will feature the personalized, high-quality instruction for which we are known. Our staff will support students both academically and personally. We are committed to the same high-quality instruction in courses designed and taught by accomplished faculty dedicated to student learning. Not all online instruction is the same: Ours will maintain close student/faculty interaction, include opportunities to engage with the instructor, and provide intentionally structured learning experiences that support student success.
Kathleen Clark, an assistant professor in Augsburg Universityâs Department of Nursing, was a recent guest contributor to the blogs on NurseManifest and Nursology.
Clarkâs post on NurseManifest, reflects on how Minneapolis communities came together following Floydâs killing. She calls on nurses to use their power âto support and create change in the communities where we are called to care.â In her Nursology post, she shares stories of nurses pursuing social justice as they respond to the needs of marginalized communities affected by COVID-19 and the aftermath of Floydâs death.
NurseManifest was established 20 years ago to raise awareness, inspire action, and open discussion of issues that are vital to nursing and health care around the globe. Nursology.net provides access to ânursing knowledge development in order to facilitate advancement of nursing science and humanistic initiatives.â Â
Augsburg international student Jonas Bergmann was interviewed by MSNBC to share his reaction to plans to deport international students taking an online course load in the fall. Bergmann is an international student from Denmark and is part of an Augsburg team that helps international students have a smooth transition to university life in the United States.
Bergmann, who’s majoring in clinical psychology and gender studies, wondered why now, though the administration soon after this interview dropped the deportation plan. Augsburg plans a mix of on-campus and alternative format classes.
As Minnesota gains its first Somali public school principals, an Augsburg University program is actively helping to increase East African educators here.
Located in Minneapolisâ largely Somali CedarâRiverside neighborhood, Augsburg’s East African Student to Teacher (EAST) program is committed to recruiting, retaining, and licensing highly qualified East African students who wish to become K-12 teachers. EAST covers tuition costs towards initial licensure.
âIn a relatively short time, weâve been able to multiply the number of educators of East African descent in the state of Minnesota from a handful to a bit of a larger handful,â EAST Program Director Audrey Lensmire told the Sahan Journal. Lensmire is an associate professor in the education department.
In light of recent inquiries Augsburg has received as well as forthcoming changes to U.S. Department of Education requirements for the ways colleges and universities investigate and address accusations of sexual misconduct, Augsburg is reiterating its current process for reporting and investigating such conduct.
Augsburg University takes allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously. The following information is not all encompassing; itâs intended to be a brief introduction and/or reminder about Augsburgâs policies and procedures for responding to reports of misconduct and violence. Additional information can be found on the
How to file a report
Anyone who experiences or is aware of an incident of sexual misconduct is strongly encouraged to share the information with the university and to seek support.
If you or someone you know would like to report sexual misconduct, you may do so by filling out this . The form goes immediately to Katie Bishop, chief student success officer and Title IX coordinator, and Sarah Griesse, dean of students.
What happens when a report is filed
When a report is filed, Augsburg initiates a process to gather information about the incident, including meeting with students. When appropriate, a disciplinary meeting is held. As needed, Augsburg may put in place interim measures to promote safety and access to the school for the parties named in the report until the investigation has been resolved. In many cases, those who submit a report as a third party about conduct in which they were not personally involved will not learn the specifics of how the report was investigated or the outcome because of legal protections for the privacy of students involved.
Immediate support
If you are in need of immediate support, Augsburg partners with the University of Minnesotaâs Aurora Center to provide confidential sexual assault, stalking, and relationship violence support to the Augsburg community (students, staff, faculty, and concerned others).
Phone support: call 612-626-9111 (24/7) to talk to a trained advocate.
are available from Aurora Centerâs professional staff during their business hours.
On your request, Augsburgâs Department of Public Safety can support you in getting connected to the Aurora Center (24/7, call 612-330-1717).
Additional support is available through other providers:
24/7 support through the , a member of the TransYouth Support Network, at 612-871-5111.
an organization focused on connecting and supporting East Afrikan women.
Michael J. Lansing, associate professor and chair of Augsburg Universityâs Department of History, has been featured in news sources from around the United States since , offering a historical perspective on racial injustices in Minneapolis, went viral.
Among the places where he has shared his expertise to explain the history leading up to the killing of George Floyd are The Washington Post, where his perspective piece, was published on May 30; MinnPost, for which he co wrote the June 1 piece, ; the Minnesota Reformer, where he was featured in the article published on June 1; and U.S. News & World Report, which quoted him in a June 4 story âThe âMinnesota paradoxâ: A state grapples with stark racial disparities.â
Lansing and Augsburg also were given a brief nod in the editorâs note by Scott Carlson for a recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. In the note, Carlson writes, âI am heartened by seeing my old friend Michael J. Lansing, a history professor at Augsburg University, take to Twitter and to local and national newspapers to bring context to the legacy of race and policing in the Twin Cities. We need colleges that support work like this.â
Following the death of George Floyd, KARE 11 reporter for those who were shocked that such a thing could happen in Minnesota, noting that on June 15, 1920, a mob in Duluth lynched three young black circus workers. One of Huppertâs sources was Bill Green, professor of history at Augsburg University.
Speaking about a graphic photo of the lynching, Green encouraged Minnesotans to look at the picture. He commented on how the smiles on the faces of the white men who participated in the lynching impacted him. âItâs almost like they were sportsmen whoâd gone off and fished; this is their catch,â he said. He believes that the current moment âis an opportunity for us to prove ourselves.â
Green is author of two books on race and civil rights in Minnesota, âA Peculiar Imbalance: The Fall and Rise of Racial Equality in Early Minnesotaâ and âDegrees of Freedom: The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1912.âÂ
MinnPost recently ran an opinion piece on gun violence by Lindsay Starck, assistant professor of English and associate director of Augsburg Universityâs MFA program. In her August 13 commentary, she notes that gun sales have gone up since people have been calling to defund the police and asks readers to reconsider the best ways to protect themselves. She points to findings that people are actually less safe when they bring guns into their homes. Instead she suggests that we âsupport community-led anti-violence programs that are proven to work.â
