The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently published an article about the life and career of Phil Adamo, professor of history at Augsburg College and 2015 .

The article focuses on Adamo’s engaging approach to teaching history and his personal history with academia. As a young man, he decided to forgo a college education in favor of a career as a clown with the Ringling Bros. Circus. Eventually, the constant demands of performance wore him down. “I was exhausted by performing so much, and I started to think that I wasn’t funny,” he said. “That’s a bad thing for a clown.”

Returning from the circus, he enrolled as a medieval studies major at Ohio State University, where a senior project involving a summer in a monastery led to an award-winning dissertation and propelled him toward a career in academia.

The article also depicts Adamo as an ardent supporter of having a liberal arts education, which he says “gives the benefit of having a better life, a more interesting life, a better understanding of who you are as a human.”

Read Augsburg professor left circus to bring history to life on the Star Tribune site.

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Read: on the Pioneer Press site.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.)— Augsburg College’s Phillip C. Adamo, associate professor of history and director of the College Honors Program, was named the 2015 Minnesota Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Adamo, who was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States, was recognized November 19 in a proclamation by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges who declared it “Dr. Phillip C. Adamo Day in the City of Minneapolis.”

“Phil expands the imaginative possibilities for students through the design of innovative and powerful learning experiences that foster critical thinking, advanced cognitive abilities, and habits of deep reflection,” said Karen Kaivola, Augsburg College Provost and Chief Academic Officer.

“He has answered his call to inspire, mentor, and educate students, providing serious challenges for the most advanced learners while guiding all students with compassion. Phil exemplifies and embodies Augsburg College’s mission to be a new kind of student-centered urban university, small to our students and big for the world.”

A national and statewide recipient of numerous awards and honors — in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and history — Adamo joined Augsburg’s History Department in 2001. Since that time, he has been awarded Augsburg’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Learning, the Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship award, and the CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Medieval Academy of America. While in graduate school at The Ohio State University, Adamo received the Graduate Associate Teaching Award, the Provost’s Teaching Fellowship, and the Clio Award for Outstanding Teaching in History.

Adamo is the second Augsburg College faculty member to be honored by Carnegie/CASE. In 2004, Professor Emeritus Garry Hesser earned the prestigious award.

CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been partners in offering the U.S. Professors of the Year awards program since 1981. This year, a state Professor of the Year was recognized in 35 states. Adamo was among those, and was selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.

About Augsburg College: Augsburg College offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 3,600 students of diverse backgrounds at its campuses located in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and in Rochester. Augsburg College educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community committed to intentional diversity in its life and work. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

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Phil Adamo, an associate professor of Medieval History at Augsburg College, is available to address by phone and/or on camera the:

• Origins of Halloween as a pagan harvest festival
• Historic reasons people wore Halloween costumes and had bonfires
• Myth-busting whether Halloween was/is Satanic, a belief held by some Christian groups at various times throughout history

Elections: Andy Aoki, professor of political science

Andy Aoki regularly provides commentary to members of print and broadcast media on issues related to elections. Aoki is available this election week to offer comment on stories that include perspective on minority politics including:

• Asian-American politics
• Inter-racial coalitions
• Multiculturalism

Learn more about Aoki at http://www.augsburg.edu/faculty/aoki/

Interviews

To arrange interviews with Adamo or Aoki, please contact Stephanie Weiss, director of news and media services, at 612.330.1476 or by email at weisss@augsburg.edu.

About Augsburg College

Augsburg College is set in a vibrant neighborhood at the heart of the Twin Cities, and offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 4,000 students of diverse backgrounds. Augsburg College educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community committed to intentional diversity in its life and work. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

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What happens when you combine 50 first-year students, five professors, a gigantic problem, and no traditional grades? In the case of Augsburg’s Integrated Term, you get a pretty interesting story.

Here’s a quick primer on the iTerm.

For the students in the iTerm and the five faculty members teaching it—Phil Adamo, Lars Christiansen, Robert Cowgill, Lori Brandt Hale and Colin Irvine—this is their entire load of courses for the semester. The focus of the iTerm is on the Fate of the Earth: Food, Fuel and Consumption.

Students who complete the term will receive credit for either English 101 or English 111 (writing), Religion 100 (Christian Vocation and the Search for Meaning I), History 101 (Western Civilization), Sociology 121 (Intro to Human Society) and AugSem. They will also complete their Engaging Minneapolis requirement.

What the students won’t receive, however, is a traditional letter grade for the term. Instead, they will receive written evaluations from each of the faculty members teaching the class.

One of the goals is to get students out of the routine of simply working for a grade. Many students learn how to get a good grade rather than learning how to learn. The hope is that this term changes some of that.

“The hope is that students will develop a different attitude toward learning, and even some ability to evaluate their own work,” Adamo said. “Hopefully they get to a point where they say, ‘Wow, I get it.’ And then going into the second semester, they don’t retract back like a big rubber band. When you say no grades, students’ eyes light up. But no grades does not mean no evaluation.”

Because of the unique nature of the program, a reporter from the Minneapolis Star Tribune visited the Augsburg campus and the class several times this month. On Saturday, the story, entitled, “Learning for the sake of learning,” was published.

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There have been some unique and fun additions to the camp’s program this year, explains Phil Adamo, associate professor of History and director of Medieval Studies at Augsburg College. Recently acquired wax replicas of medieval seals were studied by the group. A King Arthur film festival was a big hit. Even a moonlit trip to the new labyrinth on campus, created by Augsburg students this summer, was a wonderful capstone experience for the campers.

As in past years, students worked on a presentation that included music and theater elements that they presented at the opening day of the Renaissance Festival near the end of camp. This year the group performed a medieval tune with original lyrics and instrumentation provided by several of the campers. An original play focusing on King Arthur brought the production to its finale.

Professor Merilee Klemp of the Augsburg Music Department taught music and Augsburg theater alum Sarah Teich ’08 taught theater. In addition, Augsburg Medieval Studies majors Bethany Locke and Aidan Nancarrow were camp counselors.

“I loved dance class, but this year I also really enjoyed costuming and the movies. I bought Mists of Avalon. Frankly, I loved the whole camp,” said Kayla Fratt, Ashland, Wis., on Medieval Minnesota’s Facebook page.

Medieval Minnesota is part of Augsburg’s nationally recognized Medieval Studies program. For more information go to .

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From ancient to medieval to modern times, labyrinths have captivated the human imagination. Now, thanks to professor Phil Adamo and the students in his “History of Labyrinths” summer course, Auggies and passers-by can experience the same angst, or perhaps peace and tranquility, as Plato and his students may have in wandering a path or constructing an argument.

Adamo’s class toured labyrinths in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, including one at the Wisdom Ways Resource Center for Spirituality at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. In addition to exploring the history and studying the vocabulary of the structures, students discovered that the best way to learn about something is to do it. Throughout the six-week course, they sketched a design, plotted it on the ground, laid sod and a pebble path, placed pavers, and planted a border. Their final project was to design and place a public history sign at the entrance.

Delaney Ryden, senior medieval studies major, said she was surprised to learn of the religious aspect of labyrinths. Her most significant lesson, however, was that such a project involves a great deal of manual labor. “I learned that when you are going to build a labyrinth, ideally you have slaves. Lots of them,” she said.

Prior to taking the summer course, English major Suzanne Stenson O’Brien said she thought labyrinths had a more intrinsic spiritual nature. Now she says she notices the form in many places. “The concept is everywhere,” she said, “all over popular culture, in film, in literature. The idea is very symbolic.”

Augsburg’s labyrinth is located on the west side of campus adjacent to the community garden. Students designed and constructed the labyrinth not only as the final project of their class but also as a gift to the college and the neighborhood. Delaney Ryden, Suzanne Stenson O’Brien, Matt Raatz, Ruth Senum, and Kenra Fleming designed and constructed the labyrinth, and funds were provided by the Augsburg Goliard Society.

In ancient times, the labyrinth was a puzzle, having no obvious path and including many dead ends. This multicursal maze was used to confuse and trap the wanderer or malevolent spirits. In medieval times, labyrinths were used to symbolize a path to God. The modern labyrinth features a unicursal design — one circuitous path leading to the center and back to the beginning.

Today they are often used for meditation or prayer and are believed to promote healing. Every year, thousands visit the famous Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in France and others at churches and parks throughout the world.

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