By Jenny Pinther ’15 with Wendi Wheeler ’06

The spring 2012 Sabo Center Symposium featured two Minnesota task force members in a discussion about how to spend $100 million on racial integration programs in the metro area public schools. Peter A. Swenson and Scott Thomas were the co-chairs of the task force who spoke at Augsburg’s Sabo Symposium.

Their discussion was moderated by educational leaders Bill Green, Augsburg professor of history who also served on the task force, and Nan Skelton, director emerita of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship.

The panel discussed the trails of serving on a task force with very divided viewpoints. Swanson and Thomas said that while the task force worked together as a team, the sides were not without disagreement. Thomas, a man who identifies as mied race, explained that he is a “product of integration.” His belief was that the $100 million should contribute to transportation in the form of voluntary bussing between school districts to encourage integration.

Swanson, however, had other concerns. “Are we using the money that is making the problem [of segregation] worse?” he said. “If people should want to be involved with people like them, how much should the government be involved with that?”

Martin Sabo ’38 thanked the panelists and commended the co-chairs for their patience with opposing points of view: “The difference is that this task force started with a question, not an answer. Too many people believe they have all the answers,” he said.

The Sabo Symposium is co-sponsored by: the Sabo Center for Citizenship and Learning, Communication Studies, Education, Honors program, Political Science, Bonner Leaders, and the Minnesota Urban Debate League.

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The class focused on energy and featured a final project in which teams of students wrote real grant proposals for campus-greening initiatives. One student group—made up of Angela Bonfiglio, Alexander Ebert, Emily Nichols, Edmond Smith, and Tsering Dechen—proposed an “Augsburg Pedal Power Program.” Here’s how they described their project in their application to the Nash Foundation:

“The funding for the Auggie Pedal Power Program will purchase two energy bicycle converters and power packs for the student lounge. This system connected to regular outdoor bikes will power the television in the lounge by human generated power. The grant also includes money to help educate the student body through posters, information, and events for the program. The bikes will be donated through a local bike shop… This program we hope to initiate will not directly create a large dent in usage and consumption but it will raise awareness of these everyday actions… The energy converter machine will require that the students use their own energy to charge their electronics. The Christensen Center Lounge room is a place where many of the current students gather. It provides entertainment equipment for these students. Setting this program in such an area provides opportunities to create an energy consciousness.”

Lansing and Underhill will be talking to the students about how to use these monies and move forward with a modified version of the program they had in mind since the amount they received was much smaller than what they requested in the proposal.

Lansing gives credit to some Augsburg staff members for their support of the students’ grant writing project. Carol Forbes, Laura Roller, and Tom Ruffaner provided crucial advice and aid over the course of the semester. “:The three of them deserve many thanks for helping to make this happen,” Lansing says.

Congratulations Angela, Alexander, Emily, Edmond, and Tsering!

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The $40 million initiative was formally announced Thursday at a press conference at the Science Museum of Minnesota. The Bush Foundation says that through improving how teachers are taught and trained—especially at a time in which a large number of current K-12 teachers are nearing retirement—the achievement gap between white students and students of color will close.

Augsburg’s work will be part of the Twin Cities Teaching Collaborative, a group that also includes Bethel University, Concordia University-St. Paul, Hamline University, St. Catherine University and the University of St. Thomas. These six Twin Cities private schools currently prepare nearly 20 percent of all new teachers in Minnesota.

Other institutions working with the Bush Foundation include Minnesota State Mankato, the University of Minnesota, Minnesota State Moorhead, North Dakota State, St. Cloud State, the University of South Dakota, Valley City State and Winona State.

For students at Augsburg and the other Twin Cities private schools in the program, education students will spend more time in K-12 classrooms, will have a professional mentor and will receive more support once they become teachers.

“The way we will prepare our students will make it possible for them to be change agents when they get into the P-12 system,” said Barbara Farley, Augsburg’s Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College. “It will build on what we do already.”

The six Twin Cities private schools will share information and resources while also engaging school district administrators and teachers.

“These universities and colleges participated in a rigorous planning process during which they completed detailed proposals for redesigning their teacher-preparation programs,” said Susan Heegaard, vice president and educational achievement team leader for the Bush Foundation. “In each case, the universities are taking a bold, courageous stance in guaranteeing the effectiveness of the teachers they train.”

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