Like many colleges, Augsburg University has seen a rise in demand for mental health services in recent years. But despite the growing need, students who are BIPOC, low-income, or first-generation often experience unique barriers to seeking help with mental health or substance use issues. 

“Two of the gifts of our community—our diverse student body and our location in the heart of Minneapolis—mean that a ‘one-size fits all’ approach to mental health doesn’t work here at Augsburg,” said Michael Grewe, dean of students. “Many of our students come from immigrant communities that have experienced multiple forms of oppression and trauma, and our campus sits just a few miles from where George Floyd was murdered in 2020. This translates to a significant need not only for trauma-informed mental health services but also for a trauma-informed campus community.”

Augsburg recently received a grant of nearly $300,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to improve students’ ability to access culturally relevant mental health and substance use prevention and intervention services. The grant will support the Auggie Well-Being project, an initiative to promote help-seeking and reduce stigma among underrepresented and under-resourced students.  

Systemic barriers to seeking help can stem from cultural stigma, fear of discrimination, past experiences of discrimination or criminalization, lack of comfort with Western mental health care systems, or lack of awareness about mental health challenges that could benefit from counseling or other interventions. The Auggie Well-being project calls for outreach, training, and community programming to address these barriers. Over the three years of the grant, Augsburg will: 

• Educate students about mental health concepts and services through campus-wide and targeted promotion initiatives in multiple languages, including Spanish, Hmong, and Somali.
• Implement required training for faculty, staff, and student leaders on evidence-based strategies to identify and respond to mental health or substance use-related issues.
• Promote help-seeking behavior and reduce stigma through programming on culturally relevant mental health and wellness frameworks and resources. 

“Our goal is ultimately to normalize and make it easier to ask for help, especially for our students with complex challenges,” said Grewe. 

Augsburg is one of 30 institutions nationally to receive a grant in 2024 through SAMHSA’s GLS Campus Suicide Prevention Grant Program. The program aims to support a comprehensive public health and evidence-based approach that enhances behavioral health services for all college students, including those at risk for suicide, depression, serious mental illness/serious emotional disturbances, and/or substance use disorders that can lead to school failure; prevents and reduces suicide and mental and substance use disorders; promotes help-seeking behavior and reduces stigma; and improves the identification and treatment of at-risk college students so they can successfully complete their studies. SAMHSA, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leads public health efforts to advance behavioral health.

The post Federal Grant Expands Mental Health Supports at Augsburg appeared first on News and Media.

Augsburg University’s

“We are excited for this opportunity to share Augsburg’s interfaith learnings with other campus communities,” says Najeeba Syeed, El-Hibri Endowed Chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg. “These students will become interfaith leaders who are equipped to facilitate dialogue and build bridges within their communities and throughout their professional lives.”  

The project aims to build capacity on college campuses for Muslim students to lead interfaith engagement among their peers. Located in the culturally diverse Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, Augsburg is uniquely equipped to carry out this work, with 66% of undergraduate students identifying as Black, Indigenous, or as People of Color, and over 12% as Muslim. Interfaith engagement is a core aspect of Augsburg’s academic mission and strategic plan. The university launched the Interfaith Institute in 2018 and appointed Najeeba Syeed as the inaugural El-Hibri Endowed Chair and executive director in 2022. 

The $189,630 grant will be distributed between August 2024 and July 2026. Interfaith Leadership and Religious Literacy program area supports organizations that invest in courageous multi-faith conversations and collaborations.

The post Augsburg’s Interfaith Institute receives grant to develop Muslim interfaith leadership cohort appeared first on News and Media.

This question has been at the heart of Professor John Zobitz’s career as a mathematician and data scientist. Now he’s working to help other faculty bring a social justice lens to mathematics and statistics education.

With a $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Zobitz and colleagues from Concordia College–Moorhead, Winona State University, and Anoka-Ramsey Community College will convene an inaugural three-day conference for math instructors this summer.

The Mathematics and Data for Social Justice Summer Seminar aims to help faculty at two- and four-year colleges teach math in context, using examples such as credit risk modeling or differential impacts from climate change to illustrate core concepts.

From a teaching standpoint, this means seeking out appropriate data sets, exploring local issues, and developing greater capacity to manage classroom conversations about social justice. Seminar facilitators include Gizen Karaali and Lily Khadjavi, editors of “Mathematics for Social Justice: Resources for the College Classroom,” to which Zobitz was a contributing author.

After this summer’s gathering, the organizers aim to develop a community of practice that will provide ongoing collaboration and peer support as faculty work to make their teaching more culturally relevant and responsive. They will also share lessons and curricular resources with other institutions through the Mathematical Association of America’s regional conference.

“Our goal is to enact change in the classroom by starting at the instructor level,” said Zobitz. “But we also hope that this seminar will serve as a model for professional development aimed at advancing equity in STEM fields.”

The post NSF Grant Supports Mathematics and Data for Social Justice Summer Seminar appeared first on News and Media.

For 30 years, the Augsburg Health Commons have advanced a model of nursing practice rooted in accompaniment, social justice, and transcultural nursing practice. In early January, the program received a $50,000 Health Equity Innovation Fund grant from AARP and the Center to Champion Nursing in America, a joint initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to deepen and expand this work.

“We are moved beyond words to be selected for this opportunity,” said Katie Clark, associate professor of nursing and executive director of the Health Commons. “These funds will not only help relieve some of the suffering people are forced to endure in the immediate term, but will also help cultivate ideas and solutions for the long term in caring for people who experience marginalization.” 

The first Augsburg Health Commons drop-in center opened at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis in 1992. Most people seeking care at the Central location live without a permanent residence or are marginally housed. In 2011, a second location in Cedar-Riverside opened in response to a need for accessible, no-cost health care services identified by members of the East African immigrant community located near Augsburg’s campus. Both locations center community voices and are led and organized by nursing faculty members, nursing and physician assistant volunteers, students, and community members.

The people who come to the Health Commons are from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Everyone is welcome, and all services are provided free of charge. Health concerns might include nutrition, medication, stress management, respiratory conditions, injuries, skin problems, and chronic disease such as diabetes and hypertension. Frequently, people experiencing these problems come to Health Commons locations for their easy access, supportive environment, and assistance with connecting to other health care resources.

Going forward, the Health Equity Innovation Fund grant project will focus on three interconnected goals.

• Continuing and expanding care for marginalized communities.
• Deepening the focus on health equity, systemic racism, and structural inequities in nursing education. 
• Disseminating knowledge to influence the nursing profession towards greater inclusiveness.

The Health Commons will continue providing opportunities for the most marginalized communities of Minneapolis to live healthier lives as they are cared for in local context. In addition to existing sites at Central Lutheran Church and Cedar Riverside and work with local encampments, the grant will allow staff and volunteers to explore new partnerships at other locations, including in North Minneapolis in collaboration with Augsburg’s physician assistant program. 

By providing paid research and practice internships for graduate nursing students, the grant will also support the educational mission of the Health Commons. Students in Augsburg’s BSN, Master’s, and DNP programs will continue to learn to decode systems of oppression that are embedded within systems and social norms, and to promote health equity by connecting with others through shared humanity. The project will fund dissemination of research by Augsburg faculty and students through conferences and publishing. In so doing, it aims to create pathways for developing inclusiveness within the nursing profession, both in practice and in the academy. 

“Our Augsburg nursing faculty are excited to be able to dig deeper into naming systemic and structural racism in partnership with people with lived experience in an effort to begin creating needed change in healthcare and the discipline of nursing,” said Clark.

Augsburg Health Commons is one of 16 organizations nationally to receive a Health Equity Innovations Fund award for 2022. The awards through the AARP Center for Health Equity through Nursing^SM and the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, are for projects offering promising solutions aimed at eliminating structural inequities, particularly structural racism, within the nursing profession, health systems, or community, and for projects that help improve access to care and services for those most disproportionately impacted by health disparities. Projects also support the advancement of one or more of the recommendations in the National Academy of Medicine report, “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity.”

or visit the Augsburg Health Commons website.

The post Augsburg Health Commons Receives $50,000 Award to Advance Health Equity Through Nursing appeared first on News and Media.

Read: Program Gives More Than $2M in Grants to Improve Minn. Ice Arenas on the KSTP site.

The post KSTP reports on $400,000 grant for Augsburg Ice Arena appeared first on News and Media.

The post Augsburg to participate in Cedar-Riverside Explorer grant appeared first on News and Media.

The grant will be used to launch a two-year project titled MIDNIMO: MUSIC FOR UNITY, CAMPUS, AND COMMUNITY.  Through Midnimo, the Somali word for “unity,” Augsburg students, Cedar Riverside residents, and the general public will engage in a series of educational and experiential events focused on Somali music.

“This is a particularly exciting opportunity for The Cedar. It speaks to our core mission to further intercultural appreciation and acknowledges our location in the middle of the largest Somali diaspora in the United States,” said Adrienne Dorn, The Cedar’s Director of Development and Midnimo Project Director.  “We are excited to bring artists to Minnesota as a launching point to celebrate and learn about Somali culture and the Islamic religion.”

Midnimo will bring Somali musicians from around the world to Minnesota for week-long residencies that include public performances and lectures in the classroom and community and that draw upon their culture, religion, and personal experiences. Midnimo will allow The Cedar, Augsburg, and community partners to facilitate and inspire dialogue, interaction, and understanding through artistic and academic interventions.

“Midnimo will build on the important work we’ve already been doing over the past four years to engage the local Somali community,” said Fadumo Ibrahim, Development Assistant and Somali Community Liaison at The Cedar. Past and current Cedar projects that engage Somali communities have been made possible through generous support from the Minnesota State Arts Board’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Arts Access Grant Program.

“At the heart of Augsburg’s mission are our commitments to educating informed global citizens and to embracing learning about and serving our neighbors,” said Augsburg College President Paul C. Pribbenow. “The opportunity to partner with The Cedar and our Somali neighbors offers our students an inspiring manner in which to engage in our world, to ponder that which we share, and to develop the intercultural understanding we all need in the 21st century.”

About APAP: The Association of Performing Arts Presenters, based in Washington, DC, is the national service and advocacy organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it. Our 1,500 members, from all 50 states and 34 countries, represent leading performing arts centers, municipal and university performance facilities, nonprofit performing arts centers, culturally specific organizations, foreign governments, as well as artist agencies, managers, touring companies, and national consulting practices that serve the field, and a growing roster of self-presenting artists. As a leader in the field, APAP works to effect change through advocacy, professional development, resource sharing and civic engagement. APAP is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization governed by a volunteer board of directors and led by President & CEO Mario Garcia Durham. In addition to presenting the annual APAP|NYC conference – the world’s leading forum and marketplace for the performing arts (January 9-13, 2015) – APAP continues to be the industry’s leading resource, knowledge and networking destination for the advancement of performing arts presenting.

About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation: The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and  child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.

About the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art: The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art is an operating foundation funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The mission of DDFIA is to improve the quality of people’s lives through the study, understanding and appreciation of Islamic arts and cultures. Based in New York, the Building Bridges Program is a national grant making program of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

The post The Cedar, Augsburg receive one of six national grants appeared first on News and Media.

The AugSTEM scholarships will be funded by a nearly $600,000 grant recently received from the National Science Foundation. The grant means that as many as 30 students in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, and physics will receive important financial support as they pursue their academic careers.

“In today’s world, many students balance educational goals, the demands of family responsibilities, and the pressure to support themselves financially,” said Amy Gort, Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Arts and Sciences. “These AugSTEM scholarships will help students maintain focus on their studies and have more time to explore career paths.”

Development of the grant proposal and the AugSTEM program was possible through a collaboration among faculty and staff.

“Science faculty recognized the high talent of our STEM students, and the tensions they balance between school and the rest of their lives,” said Benjamin Stottrup, Associate Professor of Physics. “We worked as a team to seek NSF funding. Our goal is to continue providing a rigorous academic experience that develops critical thinkers while providing additional programmatic support for these scientists as they transition to the workplace.”

About 50 percent of the scholarship recipients will be transfer students, and will further strengthen Augsburg’s partnerships with community colleges.

“We know from investigating the degree process of transfer students at Augsburg that we receive a significant number of transfer students in STEM,” said Rebekah Dupont, coordinator of the College’s Lois Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP). “Through the AugSTEM program, we hope to collaborate with STEM faculty at community colleges to support more seamless transitions for these students and to connect them more quickly with our continuing students.”

Next steps for the AugSTEM program include recruiting students to apply for the scholarships and making final programming decisions for fall. AugSTEM programming will include workshops and seminars, focus on professional development, and support Augsburg students in their transition to the scientific workplace.

The AugSTEM collaboration was led by Stottrup and Dupont, and the joint effort among faculty and staff will continue through the life of the grant.

To learn more about the grant, visit the .

Augsburg College currently has more than $3 million of active NSF funding. The largest individual active award, for more than $1 million, is for the ongoing work of Physics Professor Mark Engebretson for studies of magnetospheric physics.

Partial support for the AugSTEM program is provided by the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program under Award Number DUE-1154096.

The post Augsburg receives $600,000 grant for STEM scholarships appeared first on News and Media.

Legislators need to hear from you about the importance the State Grant program to your education. Without those funds, what would you do? Tell them!

Augsburg College Day at the Capitol

Wednesday, March 14, 9:15 a.m.- 2:15 p.m.

9:15 a.m. Boarding bus in front of Music building

10 a.m. Meeting with Minnesota Private College Council representatives with training on what to say to each Representative and Senator during this session. Learn more about the Minnesota State Grant program.

11:30 a.m. Meeting with State Representative or State Senator from student’s home district.

12:15 p.m. Lunch break. Augsburg pays for lunch.

1 p.m. Meetings with State Representative or Senator and Governor or Governor’s staff.

1:30 p.m. Augsburg students gather at the meeting room along with Concordia College, Gustavus Adolphus College to discuss what worked during the day and future challenges. Legislative leaders from both political parties attend

2 p.m. Bus back to campus

The post Minnesota students — We need you at the Capitol! appeared first on News and Media.

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!

The post Students receive grant for campus greening project appeared first on News and Media.