The July 1 commencement honors undergraduate Weekend/Evening College students from the Minneapolis and Rochester campuses as well as graduate students in business, leadership, social work, nursing, and education. The Richard Thoni Award, recognizing a graduating student who has demonstrated a dedication to community service, will be presented. This year’s student speaker representing the Class of 2012 will be special education major Rebecca Hamlin.

The Commencement speaker is David Mathews, president and chief executive officer of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. Under former President Gerald Ford, Mathews served as secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. From 1965 to 1980, Mathews taught history at the University of Alabama, where he also served as president from 1969 to 1980, an era of significant change and innovation, which included the integration of the institution. At age 33, he was the youngest president of a major university.

Both Mathews and Martin Henker, the superintendent of the Evangelical Lutheran Church District of Leipzig, will receive honorary degrees. During the 1989 revolution in East Germany, Henker was instrumental in promoting peaceful protests, and he also counseled families of protestors who were imprisoned by the government and collected eyewitness accounts which were later used as evidence by an independent investigative commission to examine the acts of violence committed by state agencies against the demonstrators. In 2000, Henker became the senior pastor of the newly formed St. John Congregation in the Johannstadt-Striesen neighborhood of Dresden.

July 1 schedule:

8:45-9:30 a.m. Commencement Convocation in Hoversten Chapel

11 a.m. Commencement Ceremony in Si Melby Hall

12:30-2 p.m. Department and Program Receptions

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The May commencement honors the 465 day semester students and 29 physician assistant graduate students who are eligible to graduate. The Marina Christensen Justice Award, recognizing a graduating student who has demonstrated a dedication to community service and has reached out to disadvantaged communities, will be presented. This year’s student speaker representing the Class of 2012 will be Kathy DeKrey.

The Commencement speaker on Saturday is Naomi Tutu, daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. An international scholar, speaker, and human rights advocate, Ms. Tutu has served as a development consultant in West Africa and a program coordinator for programs on race and gender and gender-based violence in education at the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town. She has also taught at the Universities of Hartford and Connecticut and Brevard College. In addition, she is a consultant to the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence, founded by renowned author Riane Eisler and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams, and the Foundation for Hospices in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Both Tutu and Bishop Zephania Kameeta, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia, will receive honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees at Saturday’s Commencement ceremony. Serving as a pastor and then as deputy speaker of the National Assembly before being ordained Bishop in 2002, Kameeta has been a prominent church leader in the African struggle for independence and an advocate for women and victims of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The Commencement on July 1 honors Weekend College, Rochester, and graduate students in six programs. Master’s degree graduates include those in education, leadership, nursing, business administration (MBA) and social work.

Friday, May 4, 8 p.m., Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center

The Augsburg Choir performs their Bon Voyage concert before departing for a tour of the West Coast, May 6-17. This concert is free and open to the public

May 5 Commencement schedule:

8:45 a.m., Baccalaureate in Hoversten Chapel

11 a.m., Commencement Ceremony in Si Melby Hall

12:30 p.m., Department receptions at various locations on campus

Go to the for complete information.

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SOAR is an opportunity for students to find out what being an Auggie is all about. Through participation in community service projects, students will learn about our neighbors as well as what it’s like to live and learn in the city. It’s also a chance for students to meet classmates, talk with teachers, get an official Augsburg ID card, and take a first look at their fall course schedule.

Parents and family will have breakfast with President Pribbenow and have opportunities to talk with staff and faculty. They can learn about the Augsburg Promise and academic requirements for graduation and meet with Enrollment Services or Financial Aid counselors. Special parent and family sessions provide answers to many typical first-time questions, like “Does my child need a computer?” and “Will he come home every weekend?”

2008 session dates are:

SOAR 1: Tuesday, July 15 – Wednesday, July 16

SOAR 2: Thursday, July 17 – Friday, July 18

SOAR 3: Friday, July 18 – Saturday, July 19

Each session begins on Day One at 10 a.m. and ends on Day Two around 11 a.m. For more information, go to the .

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