Five Augsburg students are helping turn a house into “home” for women and children at a shelter in Eagan, Minn. Through the month of March, the students are collecting clothing, bedding, personal care items, and toys and games for residents of Lewis House.

For their “Engaging Minneapolis” project in small group communication, the students chose to learn about resources available to abused women in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro. They found Lewis House, a shelter run by the Community Action Council of Scott and Dakota counties, and went there to meet Doreen Ulrich, the program director.

“It wasn’t what I expected,” said Ahle Neunsinger ’09 [second from left]. “I thought it would just be a big room with beds, but it was a comfortable house with private rooms.”

Lewis House serves women and children who feel threatened or unsafe because of a partner’s behavior. The shelter provides a safe, confidential environment for families to find services and long-term housing solutions.

Many women arrive at Lewis House, sometimes by police escort or when fleeing a violent situation, with little to no personal items. After they toured the house and met some of the residents, the students decided to collect donations. “Lewis House needs to feel like home,” said Amanda Symes ’09 [far right], “to show the residents that there is a place they can be safe.”

Both Neunsinger and Symes said they learned more about the issue of abused women through their small group project, but they also learned about the importance of volunteering. “It’s not that difficult to help,” said Symes. After graduation, Neunsinger plans to give more of her time to Lewis House. “They always need volunteers.”

Lewis House needs:

• bath towels, wash cloths
• twin sheets, comforters, and pillowcases
• diapers
• infant formula – all varieties
• baby bottles/nipples
• craft supplies (markers, crayons, construction paper, special kits)
• school supplies (notebooks, folders, back packs)
• educational toys, puzzles, videos and learning games
• toothbrushes/toothpaste/floss
• old cell phones with chargers
• women and youth clothing (any age, gently used or new)

The students will be collecting donations at a table in Christensen Center (watch A-mail for details). Donations can also be dropped off in the Enrollment Center. Contact Ashle Neunsing, neunsing@augsburg.edu for more information.

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Most of these workshops are planned by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), whose mission is to “engage and sustain faculty and staff…and encourage professional, scholarly, and teaching development at every stage of an Augsburg career.”

Some workshops focus on specific areas of the Core Curriculum and target faculty and staff who are involved in them. Kristen Chamberlain, finishing her first year as assistant professor in Communication Studies, spent a day exploring experiential education and the Engaging Minneapolis requirement of the Augsburg Seminar.

“The workshop on Engaging Minneapolis was enormously helpful,” Chamberlain said. “I had never ventured very far into the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, and it was really eye-opening to hear about the history of the area as well as what the neighborhood currently offers. It was an excellent opportunity to start thinking about how we can get our students involved in the diverse life that surrounds our campus.”

Other workshops are presented by various departments and programs, some in partnership with CTL. For two days, 20 faculty and staff members participated in “Leading Lives That Matter: Thinking about the ‘Big Picture’ in Your Life, Work, and Teaching,” a seminar funded through Augsburg’s Lilly Grant. Participants reflected on vocation — how faculty can infuse discernment of vocation in their teaching, and how staff can talk about and model vocation with students.

“The seminar was a wonderful opportunity to step out of normal routines and reflect on deeper issues that affect our work at the College,” commented Kathy Fagen, MBA coordinator. “Through readings and discussions…we considered how our values and beliefs are shaped and how they, in turn, shape us and the work we do.”

Also on the May calendar was a series of “Hot Topics,” sponsored by Faculty Senate, that focused conversation and questions around areas of interest to faculty and staff — enrollment and retention, Augsburg for Adults, healthcare benefits, etc.

For a comprehensive calendar of professional development events, go to the Center for Teaching and Learning at 

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