(MINNEAPOLIS) — As Augsburg celebrates becoming “Augsburg University” on Sept. 5, it also welcomes an incoming first-year undergraduate class of more than 53 percent persons of color.

“As ‘Augsburg University,’ we embrace our leadership role as a university at the forefront of intentional diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Augsburg University President Paul C. Pribbenow.

“We are proud and grateful to welcome to our community the Class of 2021, made up of students of academic ability from an array of diverse backgrounds — including ethnicity, faith, socioeconomic status, gender identity, and more. We know that learning in a diverse community prepares young people to become engaged, thoughtful citizens, and problem solvers.”

The Augsburg University celebration at the Minneapolis campus includes food stations and opportunities for getting an Augsburg University logo T-shirt screen printed on-site, participating in a photo booth, assembling hygiene kits for the , which serves unsheltered persons who live in Minneapolis, and more. On Sept. 18, the Augsburg University teaching site in Rochester, Minn., will host a special ribbon-cutting to celebrate more than 20 years of providing graduate and undergraduate programs in that community.

PROGRAM and PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES

• 9:20 a.m.: Faculty and staff line up along 22nd Avenue South to applaud students as they process into Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center, for the Opening Convocation.
• 9:30 a.m.: Opening Convocation in Hoversten
• 10:30 a.m.: Kick-Off Celebration and Lunch in the Quadrangle
• 11:30 a.m.:  Augsburg University President Paul Pribbenow formally launches Augsburg University
• 12:30 – 1 p.m.: First-Year Students Begin Service Projects

ADDITIONAL FACTS

• Augsburg measures diversity beyond ethnicity and culture and welcomes persons in our community of diverse faiths, gender identities, socioeconomic backgrounds, learning styles, and military commitments. Nearly 10 percent of students self-identify as Muslim. More than 11 percent self-identify as LGBTQIA.
• On Sept. 5, the Class of 2021 will donate nearly $35,000 in service work at more than 20 locations in Minneapolis.

ABOUT �鶹ԭ�� UNIVERSITY

Augsburg University offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 3,600 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and the Rochester site. 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.

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(MINNEAPOLIS) — Augsburg College at 10:15 a.m., today, welcomes it’s most diverse, first-year undergraduate class — with more than 45 percent persons of color. At the same time, the College is announcing its initial equity framework to remove the social, institutional and individual barriers that contribute to inequity.

This important work garnered support from the St. Paul Foundation — a grant of $10,000 and the opportunity for additional funding as the framework takes shape.

“Working to foster diversity and inclusivity has been a cornerstone of the Augsburg promise for many years and is an important extension of our commitment to social justice and equity,” said Augsburg College President Paul Pribbenow.

“We are honored to have the support of the St. Paul Foundation which places high importance on racial equity work. We know, as a democracy college, that Minnesota is strengthened by the diversity of its people and that educating persons of diverse backgrounds who learn at the intersection of differences is what best prepares young people to become engaged citizens and educated problem solvers.”

Since 2006, Augsburg has more than tripled the percentage of persons of color in the full undergraduate student body, growing from 11 percent in 2006 to 33 percent in 2016.

Through this work, the College has earned a leading reputation for demonstrating a unique way of engaging in the work of higher education. Within the Minnesota Private College Council, the overall enrollment average among schools includes 27 percent first-generation students and 20 percent Pell-eligible students. Augsburg leads the state among private, four-year institutions with nearly 50 percent of students who are first-generation and more than 40 percent of students who are Pell-eligible.

Equity Framework 

The College’s initial equity framework includes:

• Limiting debt pathways to graduation and increasing its student-ready practices
• Setting aside dedicated housing for homeless students
• Working to increase financial literacy
• Exploring with faculty opportunities to alter admissions policies that heavily rely on standardized testing
• Supporting faculty in creating inclusive classrooms
• Increasing access to course materials
• Convening college and university leaders to make known their work on college equity and seeking to broaden the work of all institutions in our state

Class of 2020 today will donate nearly $40,000 in service work

The Class of 2020, beginning at 12:30 p.m., today, will donate nearly $40,000 in volunteer work at nearly 20 nonprofits and organizations in Minneapolis.

In the past 10 years, Auggies donated nearly $500,000 of service. City Service Day has been part of the the first-year student experience for 20 years.

The goals of engaging in our neighborhoods are to help students get to know the organizations that serve our community, to get to know one another, and to learn how to use transit. More importantly, the day is a demonstration of the College’s commitment to being a new kind of student-centered urban university that fosters learning among students who will become the type of engaged citizens who volunteer in classrooms, neighborhood organizations, houses of worship, school boards, and run for public office.

About Augsburg College: Augsburg College offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 3,600 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and the Rochester site. 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.

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When

• 12:30 p.m.: Students depart Augsburg College campus to travel by light rail, bus, and foot to site locations
• 1:15 p.m.: Students arrive at sites
• 1:30-3:30 p.m.: Students perform volunteer work at sites ranging from making honey, urban farming, and lake clean up to helping teachers prepare their classrooms, conduct recreational activities with youths, and clean and/or move offices and facilities.

Photo Opportunities

Several locations this year are new and offer rich photo opportunities, including:

• The Beez Kneez, 2204 Minnehaha Ave.: Honey making, clean up (Augsburg College President Paul Pribbenow working at this site)
• Stones Throw Urban Farm, 2820 15th Ave. S.: Farming projects
• Powderhorn Park (2 groups), 3400 15th Ave. S.: Lake and park clean up
• Matthew’s Center (2 groups), 2318 29th Ave. S.: Youth recreation activities

(Full list available upon request)

Facts

• According to Independent Sector, the value of an average hour of volunteer work in Minnesota in 2013 was $24.31. (independentsector.org)
• City Service Day is in its 17th year and is an annual kick-off of the academic year designed to connect incoming students with one another and within their areas of study, familiarize students with the Cedar-Riverside and neighboring communities, and ask students to live out the College mission.

Augsburg College is set in a vibrant neighborhood at the heart of the Twin Cities, and offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 4,000 students of diverse backgrounds. Augsburg College educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community that is committed to intentional diversity in its life and work. 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.

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City Service Day has become an Augsburg tradition that not only helps students learn about the community but also introduces them to organizations where they can continue to serve and learn throughout their education.

The Star Tribune’s Jenna Ross followed AugSem X to Matthews Community Center and talked with Auggies including our own President Pribbenow. Read the front-page story: Starting out and giving back.

More than 400 students and student leaders, faculty, and President’s Cabinet members volunteered at 23 schools and community organizations. They contributed more than 1,500 service hours by cleaning, painting, gardening, and more at the following sites:

Simpson Shelter

In the Heart of the Beast Theatre

Korean Peace Garden

Brian Coyle Community Center

Dowling Environmental School

Holy Rosary Church

Matthew’s Park and Recreation Center

Seward Montessori School

People’s Center

Trinity Congregation

Bedlam Theatre

Cedar Cultural Center

Waite House

Rose Ensemble

MN Center for Media Arts

MN Indian Women’s Resource Center

Seward Community Support Program

Bethany Lutheran Church

Midtown Greenway Coalition

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Editor’s Note: On Tuesday afternoon, the Cedar-Riverside and Seward neighborhood will be filled with first-year Auggies, faculty members, staff members, and members of President Pribbenow’s Cabinet. Why is service important?

In his latest blog post, President Pribbenow addresses that question. A copy of the blog post is below. Find “Paul’s Blog” on the Augsburg College President’s .

Education and service

On Tuesday, the Augsburg community will honor its historic commitment to “Education for Service” as we participate in our long-standing “City Service Day.” On that day, more than 500 Auggies—students, faculty and staff—will fan out across the Twin Cities to be of service to our neighbors. It is a wonderful spectacle as we don our colorful t-shirts and work with our hands—painting, tending gardens, packing school supplies, doing whatever is asked of us at one of 25 sites where our volunteer efforts will illustrate our deep belief that education and service are inextricably bound together.

But this is more than a show of voluntarism (as impressive as it is!), this is a powerful way in which we begin to model for our students what it means that learning and service go together, a relationship that is central to their Augsburg education and experience.

So what is it that we believe “City Service Day” teaches us?

First, it is the important value of mutuality. If service is simply our meeting the needs of others, then we have missed a critical point. When we engage in service, we are entering into a relationship that is premised on shared needs and aspirations. Tending the garden of the Korean elders who live in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is not simply about getting rid of weeds, it is about our shared commitments to adequate and nutritious food. It is about the herbs grown there to help heal. It is about the peace and calm that we find in a garden in the midst of a busy city.

Second, it is the importance of engaging those who are different than we are and learning from them. In the city, we encounter strangers from all walks of life and backgrounds. As we meet and work with them in these service projects, we are introduced to their cultures, experiences and values. We learn about what it means to live in a homeless shelter or what it is like to be an immigrant in a new land. We learn how important it is to be open to learning from the many and diverse experiences we share with our neighbors who are negotiating their lives with us in the city.

Finally, it is the value of self-reflection. Our service projects include time during and after the experience for all of us to consider how I felt, how my values were affirmed or challenged, what I learned about myself as I engaged in serving my neighbor. Here is the heart of a liberal arts education—the life well-examined. Here is where education and service are bound up together, offering us the tools we need to live as informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers and responsible leaders.

All of these important lessons—and a lot of fun as well!

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