The Reell Office of Seeing Things Whole (STW) at Augsburg University empowers leaders to positively impact their personal and professional communities. One avenue of empowerment is the Community Practice Cohort—an opportunity for anyone who wants to enhance their leadership skills and gain insights around real-life leadership challenges. 

“Our inaugural cohort created opportunities for participants to create action in their real-life leadership opportunities. Seeing the spark of passion emerge from each participant was a joy as they moved through the STW process with a community of supporters. These leaders will continue their impact having gained insight and knowledge that revealed their path forward. I am thrilled to continue this impactful work with the next cohort,” Program Director Keri Clifton said.

The second Community Practice Cohort is accepting eight members to embark on a 10-month collaborative journey toward effective leadership, starting September 2024. Participants will gain practical skills and knowledge on leadership topics like articulating a problem, communication, team collaboration, and decision making—as well as personalized roundtables to focus on issues and skills directly related to their organization.

“I entered into this process in the hopes of exploring new ways to approach challenges I was facing in my current role,” said Michaela Clubb, a national program director and participant in the 2023-24 Community Practice Cohort. “I was able to uncover and consider not just the challenge I presented but all of the parts connected to it. I highly recommend this program for anyone who is looking to create intention and impact through their leadership.”

Mentorship is also a crucial part of the Community Practice Cohort, for both the mentors and the participants. The communal learning process brings out the best in everyone and helps create collaborative and innovative solutions to current and future challenges. “Being a mentor in the unique Seeing Things Whole program has been my privilege,” said Michael A. Gregory, author, mediation and negotiation consultant, and professional speaker. “Unlike traditional mentoring, we engage in a two-and-a-half-hour process, listening actively to a leader’s story without offering advice. Instead, we pose open-ended questions to guide the participant in exploring their identity, purpose, and stewardship. This enlightening process benefits the participant and provides mentors with opportunities to discover new and creative approaches.”

There is still time to apply for the 2024-25 Community Practice Cohort. To learn more about this opportunity, contact Program Director Keri Clifton at cliftonk@augsburg.edu or 612-330-1525.

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This year there is also non-credit seminar on Leadership and Vocation in Mexico, designed for the students and mentors who are part of the Augsburg Scholastic Connections program. All these short-term programs are designed to give students a rich and meaningful learning experience abroad in a week to 10 days.

Cindy Peterson, the director of Augsburg’s Scholastic Connections program, is leading a seminar to Mexico titled International Perspectives on Leadership and Vocation. Five Scholastic Connections students and two mentors will live and learn at the Center for Global Education site in Cuernavaca.

The Scholastic Connections program helps students develop leadership skills and encourages them to discern their vocations through work with a mentor. Peterson said the travel seminar will expand on these objectives using Sharon Daloz Parks’ Big Questions, Worthy Dreams. “Daloz Parks posits that one of the tenets of mentoring communities is exploring the ‘other,'” Peterson said. “What better way to do that than through a cultural immersion?”

Peterson said the Center for Global Education staff in both Minneapolis and Cuernavaca helped her create an experience that will introduce students to speakers relevant to their fields of study. They will meet with small business owners, members of an NGO working on community health and development in an indigenous community, and a former president of the Community Land Council. The group will also visit a traditional clinic, a metal-works crafts co-op, and a Catholic faith-based women’s organization.

While the group will spend most of its time in Cuernavaca, they will have a one-night homestay with the indigenous community of Amatlan. Peterson said she is excited about this part of the trip and is also looking forward to spending time with a curandero (a traditional indigenous healer) and to participating in a healing ceremony at a pyramid ruins outside Mexico City.

“Doing cultural immersions makes people better people,” Peterson said. She has been to Guatemala and Namibia with other Augsburg groups and said she still feels connected to the people she traveled with and the people she met while abroad. “I’ve also learned that the world is a small place and that I have way more in common with others who are different from me than there are differences.”

Though Peterson said short-term study programs can be challenging, she encourages other faculty and staff to consider putting a seminar together. “These experiences are enlightening and transformational.”

Vocation and Christian Faith

Bev Stratton, Religion

Focuses on concept of vocation and the relationship of the Church to poverty, political oppression, and social change. Examines the ways in which Christian theology has been used to justify oppression and injustice as well as to support social justice movements.

Indigenous Issues of Central America

Elise Marubbio, American Indian Studies, Women’s Studies, English

Explores the contemporary issues faced by the Mayan peoples of Guatemala, who have survived for 3,000 years despite colonial oppression, genocidal practices, and contemporary discrimination and exploitation. The class will meet and talk with Mayan people, learning about their struggle for existence and human dignity and witnessing their enduring connection to land, language, and spirituality.

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