Augsburg College will host “Funding Minnesota’s Future: State Government and its Partnership with School Districts and Communities,” the 10th Sabo Symposium, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., March 13, in Hoversten Chapel.

The event will feature Myron Frans, the Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue.

“Frans will be speaking on the real implications Minnesota schools and communities will see relative to Governor Dayton’s proposed budget,” said Garry Hesser, professor and Sabo chair for citizenship and learning.

A bipartisan conversation will follow the presentation by Frans, and two respondents will discuss their perspectives. Alexandria Mayor Sara Carlson will address the state-city relationship.

The second respondent, Peggy Ingison, will talk about the state-school district relationship. Ingison is the former chief financial officer of Minneapolis Public Schools, and she “can respond informatively as to what action is needed by schools depending on the size and type of state budget put forward,” according to Hesser.

The conversation between Frans, Carlson, and Ingison will be moderated by Tom Berg, author of Minnesota’s Miracle: Learning from the Government that Worked, and Martin Olav Sabo ’59, Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District representative in the U.S. House for 28 years and Sabo Center for Citizenship and Learning namesake.

Sabo Center for Citizenship and Learning

The is an important contributor to Augsburg’s mission to educate informed citizens. The Sabo Center was established in 2009 and since has connected the College to the greater community. The Sabo Center is a hub for public outreach with , the Center for Democracy and Citizenship, Bonner Leaders Program, Minnesota Campus Compact, , and other initiatives that stimulate and reinforce the role of higher education in promoting active citizenship.

“We want Augsburg students to engage in public policy issues and consider how elected officials and public servants play a critical role in that process,” Hesser said. “Our three panelists at the Sabo Symposium are exemplary people who have devoted much of their professional careers to public service.”

The Sabo Symposium is co-sponsored by: the Sabo Center for Citizenship and Learning, Environmental Studies Department, Economics Department, Political Science Department, Social Work Department, Sociology Department, Business Department, Metro-Urban Studies Department, and the Master of Arts in Leadership Program.

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His first lecture will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 19 in Hoversten Chapel and repeated at noon on Saturday, October 20 in the Chapel.

Emmons’ presentation is titled “The Science of Hope: Blending New Neuroscience and Ancient Wisdom to Sustain a Healthy Mind, Mood, and Heart.” His lecture will outline approaches to cultivating inner calm and joy in a chaotic, contemporary society where stress-related disorders are prevalent.

Emmons is a consultant to Twin Cities-area college counseling centers and organizations as well as a popular workshop presenter. He is a past recipient of a Bush Medical Fellowship, which funded a sabbatical to study natural and mindfulness therapies in the practice of psychiatry.

He has created adult education programs through the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing, including “A Year of Living Mindfully” and “The Inner Life of Healers: Programs of Renewal for Health Professionals.” Emmons developed the “Resilience Training Program” for the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing. This unique program integrates nutrition, exercise, and the psychology of mindfulness to improve outcomes in the treatment of depression.

Emmons is the author of three books:

— The Chemistry of Joy: A Three Step Program for Overcoming Depression Through Western Science and Eastern Wisdom,

— The Chemistry of Calm: A Powerful, Drug-Free Plan to Quiet Your Fears and Overcome Your Anxiety, and

— The Chemistry of Joy Workbook.

He also has authored “Insights on the Inner Life of Healers,” an essay in Living the Questions: Essays Inspired by the Work and Life of Parker J. Palmer.

The CCHP convocation is free and open to the public.

2012-13 Convocation Series

Augsburg’s 2012-13 Convocation Series of speakers explores the impact that an individual can have in a global population of 6.7 billion people. Presentations touch on topics in the arts, humanities, and sciences.

Each session offers an opportunity to hear from leaders in their areas of expertise. Dan Phillips, designer, builder, and founder of The Phoenix Commotion, will discuss “Recycled Housing: Adventures in Human Sensibilities” during the to be held Wednesday, November 7.

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Interested in pilgrimage? Interested in meeting some modern pilgrims? Then the upcoming “Here I Walk” presentations are for you.

Andrew and Sarah Wilson will present “Here I Walk: With Luther from Erfurt to Rome” at the Augsburg College Founders Day Reformation Lectures, November 10 and 11 in the Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center.

The Wilsons’ route to Augsburg College has been anything but easy or ordinary. On the morning of August 22, 2010, the couple left the Augustinian priory in Erfurt, Germany, taking the first steps of a thousand-mile pilgrimage to Rome. The Wilsons followed roughly the same path that a 27-year old friar named Martin Luther trod 500 years earlier.

The purpose of Luther’s 1510 trek was to represent his Augustinian brothers at a meeting in Rome. The purpose of the Wilsons’ follow-up trek was to bring attention to modern-day Christian dialog and to help heal divides between Christian churches.

To get to Rome from Erfurt, the couple completed a carefully planned hike that took them through Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and, finally, Italy. They arrived at Vatican City on Saturday, October 30, and spent “Reformation Day” (October 31) visiting holy sites including St. Peter’s tomb.

Augsburg religion professor, Hans Wiersma, walked with the Wilsons during the first week of their journey. “It really is remarkable what Sarah and Andrew have done,” Wiersma said. “You have to be very committed, very organized, very fit, and a little crazy to do something like this.”

So why do something like this? “We noticed that it had been 500 years since Luther took his one and only trip to Rome,” said Andrew Wilson, “and thought it would be great to commemorate it by retracing Luther’s own steps. But what’s the right way to do that in an ecumenical age?”

Sarah Wilson had an answer. “Incredible progress has been made on the scholarly level between divided churches,” she explained. “But this progress has hardly made its way to the people in the pews at all. It’s as if fifty years of dialogue never happened.”

The couple wondered how they could let people know about these amazing developments and get them even to care. This walk was a way to do that.

As they began to plan their pilgrimage, Andrew Wilson realized the possibility of leveraging social media to spread the word on a grassroots level. “People are busy and won’t take time to read stiff academic studies or listen to impenetrable church statements. But they’ll read a hiking blog. They’ll ‘like’ things on Facebook. They’ll follow Tweets.” So the Wilsons used these media to share the news about their trip and to educate about the inter-Christian dialogue.

Check out the Wilsons’ website for day-by-day accounts, a photo-stream, daily scripture readings, and maps that trace the path of their trek in great detail. Read “A Statistical Review of Here I Walk” on the pilgrimage blog

Sarah Wilson holds a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary in Systematic Theology and is an ordained Lutheran pastor. She is a member of the research faculty at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France. Andrew Wilson, also a pastor, holds a doctorate in Church History from Princeton Theological Seminary and is a Fellow at the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue in Geneva, Switzerland. The Wilsons live in Strasbourg with their five-year old son, Zeke.

Story by Hans Wiersma.

The 2010 Founders Day Reformation Lectures

“Here I Walk: With Luther from Erfurt to Rome” at Augsburg College, Hoversten Chapel

November 10, 7 p.m. “Pomegranates, Passes, and Popes: A Kinetic Perspective on Luther’s Trip to Rome” (with slide show) by Andrew Wilson

November 11, 10 a.m. “What Has Erfurt to Do with Rome? Ecumenism as Pilgrimage” by Sarah Wilson (followed by a slideshow during the 11:20 chapel service)

Lectures are open to the public; admission is free. Find more information on the Founders Day website. www.augsburg.edu/foundersday.

If you would like to make a reservation for the welcome reception on Wednesday evening, November 10, or the luncheon on Thursday, November 11, please contact Hans Wiersma (612-330-1205 or wiersma@augsburg.edu).

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A native Mississippian from rural Lincoln County, Watkins was born the twelfth child to sharecroppers from the country. After completing high school at the Lincoln County Training School, he attended Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Miss. with a double major in political science and history.

Watkins was the first Mississippi student to become involved in the 1961 Mississippi Voting Rights Project of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He has remained in Mississippi, working in the community to empower people through education, culture, economics, and the political process. In 1967, he helped Robert Clark become the first Black elected to the Mississippi State Legislature since reconstruction. From 1968 through 1972, Hollis served as director of social services for the statewide Headstart Program. In this role, he established co-ops and buying clubs throughout Mississippi.

Watkins’ spirit to “do for self” and the community led him to formally establish Southern Echo, Inc. in 1989. Southern Echo is a nonprofit leadership development, education, and training organization that provides training and technical assistance to individuals, groups, and organizations in Mississippi and throughout the South. The work is done in seven broad areas: the environment, education, community organizing, economic development, legal, agriculture, and the political process. Through Southern Echo, Watkins doubled the size of the Mississippi’s Black Legislative Caucus from 21 to 42 legislative seats in a single election. He has prevented several unwanted and undeserving landfills from being established as well as preventing the establishment of huge hog farms (factories) in the state.

In 1990, Watkins received the SCLC’s President Award for outstanding humanitarian and civil rights activism. In 1993, Hollis received the prestigious Bannerman Award for his activism, the Meritorious Leadership Award form Tougaloo College, and the Harriet Tubman award from the Magnolia Bar Foundation for community leadership in civil rights. In 2000, Jackson City Councilman, Kenneth Stokes, awarded him the Minister Louis Farrakhan Award for outstanding and dedicated service, and in 2002 the Southern Organizing Committee for the Economic and Social Justice awarded him the Trailblazer Award.

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On Thursday, the grim news was delivered: Minnesota is facing a budget deficit of $5.2 billion over the next 30 months because of falling tax revenue from struggling businesses and workers.

That, in turn, leads to another question: how exactly is the state going to deal with it?

The Augsburg College community will be given some insight into this topic on Monday afternoon. That’s because the Sabo Center for Citizenship and Learning will host a pair of key Minnesota Legislative leaders for what is expected to be an interesting forum.

Minnesota Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kellier and Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller will preview the upcoming session of the Minnesota State Legislature in an event moderated by former U.S. Representative Martin Olav Sabo. The event will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Hoversten Chapel.

As soon as Thursday’s budget projection was announced, the political maneuvering began.

Because Minnesota has a Republican Governor in Tim Pawlenty at the same time that both the House and Senate are controlled by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, reaching a balanced budget agreement may be challenging.

Pawlenty has continued to be opposed to raising taxes to balance the budget. A number of ideas are likely to be considered including the potential privatizing the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and completely starting the budget process from scratch.

Those topics and others are expected to be considered in the 90-minute event that will also include a question and answer session for people in attendance.

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Winona LaDuke works on issues of sustainable development, renewable energy, food systems, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. She is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation-based nonprofit organizations in the country. In this project, she also continues national and international work to protect Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering. The author of five books, including Recovering the Sacred, All our Relations, and a novel, Last Standing Woman, she is widely recognized for her work on environmental and human rights issues.

There will be a student discussion and Q&A with Ms. LaDuke from 2:10-3 p.m. in the Marshall Room, Christensen Center.

Convocation Class Schedule:

1st Period 8:00-9:20

2nd Period 9:30-10:50

Convocation 11:00-12:00

3rd Period 12:10-1:20

Remaining classes follow regular schedule

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Before her arrival at St. Bonaventure in January 2001, Dr. Foerst worked as research scientist at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was also affiliated with the Center for the Studies of Values in Public Life of Harvard Divinity School.

At the AI-Lab, Dr. Foerst served as the theological advisor for the Cog and Kismet Projects, two attempts to develop embodied, autonomous and social robots in analogy to human infants that might learn and develop more mature intelligences. She also initiated and directs “God and Computers,” a dialogue project initially between Harvard Divinity School, the Boston Theological Institute and MIT, and now to be continued at St. Bonaventure. In this function, Dr. Foerst has organized several public lecture series and public conferences on artificial intelligence, computer science, and concepts on personhood and dignity. She is a consultant with several projects that are exploring the connection of new media and religion, especially with Christian churches. Dr. Foerst has also presented various keynote addresses on the interaction between religion and science.

After Vocatio Chapel, Dr. Foerst will participate in a luncheon discussion in the Riverside Room of the Christensen Center at noon. To RSVP for the lunch, or for more questions about the Vocatio Chapel series, please contact Ross Murray at or 612-330-1151.

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Convocation Series “Many Voices Bold Vision.” His first presentation, “Worry,” will be held Friday, Feb. 15 at 3:30 p.m. “CrazyBusy,” the second of Hallowell’s presentations, will be held Saturday, Feb. 16 at Noon. Both events will be held in Hoversten Chapel in the Foss Center.

Edward (Ned) Hallowell, a child and adult psychiatrist and graduate of Harvard College and Tulane Medical School, is the founder of The Hallowell Center in Sudbury, Mass. He was a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty from 1983 until he retired from academics in 2004 to devote his full professional attention to his clinical practice, lectures, and the writing of books. He has authored 14 books on various psychological topics, including attention deficit disorder, the power of the human connection, the childhood roots of happiness in life, methods of forgiving others, dealing with worry, and managing excessive business.

Dr. Hallowell’s most recent book, “CrazyBusy: Overbooked, Overstretched,and about to Snap,” was published in the spring of 2006. In it he explores how the pace of modern life has induced brain overload to the point where our entire society is suffering from culturally induced ADD. “CrazyBusy” then provides a step-by-step approach to unsnarling busy lives and moving to a calmer, more fulfilling life that is focused on our own priorities. In his medical practice, Dr. Hallowell helps adults, as well as children, learn how to lead healthy, happy lives.

The Convocation is free and open to the public. The 2007-2008 Augsburg

Convocation Series is the eighth annual series incorporating long-standing endowed and special programs of Augsburg College. For more information

about the Augsburg Convocation series, visit:

Questions? Contact Nancy Guilbeault, x1169, or Dianne Detloff, x1707, at the Center for Counseling and Health Promotion.

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Mardi Gras Madrigals are a full medieval feast prepared according to medieval recipes (eaten without utensils, of course) to celebrate the midwinter carnival before Lent begins. At Augsburg, it features jugglers, storytellers, and period music performed by madrigal choirs from Mahtomedi and Saint Paul Central High Schools, and Augsburg’s own Cedar Sixteen men’s choir and Riverside Singers women’s choir.

The feast takes place on Tuesday, Feb. 5, from 6:30 – 9 p.m. in Hoversten Chapel. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through the . Augsburg students can attend free of charge, but space is limited and reservations are required. E-mail adamo@augsburg.edu to make your reservation.

Visit the for more information about this evening of good food and family fun. All are welcome!

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Padgett is vitally interested in the dialogue between theology and science, as well as such varying topics as Christian spirituality, systematic theology, and Christian ethics and the relationship between religion and science. He is currently editor of the online Journal for Christian Theological Research, and he is general editor of the book series, Sacra Doctrina.

Lunch with Dr. Padgett will follow the chapel service at 11 a.m. To RSVP for the lunch, or for more questions about the Vocatio Chapel series, contact Ross Murray at murray@augsburg.edu or x1151.

The Vocatio Chapel series is part of Exploring Our Gifts, funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment. It is a collegewide program dedicated to making the Christian concept of vocation a vital part of Augsburg’s classrooms and co-curricular activities.

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