Every year, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) awards individuals who have made a difference in their state’s social work field. NASW-MN recently named Kao Nou Moua the 2025 Tony Bibus Social Work Faculty of the Year for her leadership and commitment to student success.��

Moua serves as assistant professor of social work as well as the Master of Social Work program director at Augsburg University. “Kao Nou is truly a superstar of our department in every way, and I’m thrilled that she’s receiving this recognition from NASW,” says Erin Sugrue, associate professor and chair of Augsburg’s social work department. The award is named after the late Professor Emeritus Anthony Bibus III, who spent over 20 years at Augsburg in addition to serving on the NASW national board.��

“I’m grateful to be recognized by my social work peers to receive an award named in honor of Tony Bibus, who passed away last year,” says Moua. “Most importantly, it’s a privilege to be nominated by our wonderful students at Augsburg, who allow me to live out my calling as an educator and advocate.”

Learn more about Augsburg’s social work programs and Kao Nou Moua’s work.

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Amid an urgent need for more support personnel in K-12 schools, Augsburg University is piloting a new program to train the next generation of school social workers and school-based therapists.

“Lots of social work students want to work in education,” says Associate Professor Erin Sugrue, who chairs Augsburg’s social work department. But the requirement to complete at least one year-long internship in a school setting creates a structural hurdle for students who can’t afford to spend a year or more in an unpaid position. As a result, many internship placements in public schools go unfilled each year.��

Augsburg’s new program, developed by Sugrue and led by Assistant Professor Christopher Thyberg, aims to support a cohort of students through the critical internship year and ultimately into careers in education. In its first year, 28 undergraduate and master’s social work students are interning as school social workers and school-based mental health providers. Participants receive a monthly living stipend and reimbursement for transportation and licensure expenses thanks to .��

In addition to financial support, the students gather multiple times a semester to build community and explore key issue areas in education. These sessions have tapped into the expertise of faculty colleagues in Augsburg’s education department, delving into topics like multilingual learners with Assistant Professor Yacoub Aljaffery and special education with Assistant Professor Sergio Madrid-Aranda during the fall semester. Sugrue hopes that this collaboration will lead to more formal partnerships between the education and social work programs in the future, including co-listed classes.��

Augsburg participants in the initial cohort are completing internships in K–12 school districts throughout the metro area, including Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Robbinsdale, Rosemount–Apple Valley–Eagan, Champlin, Brooklyn Park, Anoka–Hennepin, Spring Lake Park, Hopkins, Columbia Heights, and charter schools. After graduation, they will be prepared to pursue careers as either school social workers or school-based mental health providers. Both play a key role in supporting students in K-12 settings.

“School social workers serve as the link between family, home, and school,” said Sugrue, who spent more than a decade as a school social worker herself. “They are concerned with students’ overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being.” Typically employees of the school district, school social workers triage many different issues that may arise in a day, including attendance, conflict resolution, and substance use.��

School-based mental health providers focus more specifically on students’ mental health concerns. While they deliver counseling and other therapeutic services on-site at school, they are often employed by an outside agency and can bill insurance.��

To date, Augsburg has received $411,000 to develop the new cohort model from the state , administered by the Minnesota Department of Education. The grant program aims to support students in completing accredited programs and becoming licensed school psychologists, school nurses, school counselors, and school social workers, and to increase the number of student support personnel providers who identify as people of color or Indigenous. A separate $125,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development supports students in the program with a specific interest in becoming school-based mental health providers.��

Learn more about Augsburg’s Master of Social Work and Bachelor of Social Work programs.

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Many Augsburg faculty are also dedicated public scholars, whose work reaches beyond the academy to shape conversations in the public square. Two recent faculty books hold broad appeal for children and parents.��  

Matt Maruggi, associate professor of religion and previous co-director of Augsburg’s Interfaith Scholars program, is the co-author of “.” The book aims to make the world’s major faiths accessible to kids ages 8–12, sharing the complexities of different religious traditions in language young people can understand. Maruggi calls it a “gorgeous, content-heavy picture book,” with sections on Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as Native American traditions, Sikhism, Taosim, shamanism, secular humanism, interfaith families, and interfaith cooperation.��

Maruggi and his co-authors Sonja Hagander and Megan Borgert-Spaniol interviewed children from different traditions about the most meaningful aspects of their faith traditions. The book highlights their perspectives as well as famous individuals (like Dorothy Day and Muhammad Ali) and organizations (like Sewa International and Bread for the World) whose religious convictions are visible in public life.��

Christina Erickson, professor of social work and environmental studies, is the author of “,” a deep dive into the long-accepted practice of hitting children for learning and obedience. “Spanked” explores the historical roots, cultural supports, and social dynamics of spanking—a practice that is illegal in 62 countries, but still widely accepted here in the U.S.��Erickson, who also chairs Augsburg’s social work department, comes to this topic as a social worker, a researcher, and a parent herself. In the book, she traces more than a century of research into spanking outcomes to critically assess the common narrative: “I was spanked, and I turned out fine.” 

Erickson was featured by columnist Laura Yuen in a recent The book gives parents, health care providers, educators, social workers, faith leaders, and anyone interested in power and family dynamics a platform to respectfully discuss what spanking communicates to children.

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Hensley, who also serves as field director for Augsburg’s bachelor of social work program, spent many years as a provider of services to adults with serious and persistent mental illness in a residential setting.

“Peer supporters, who use their own experiences with addiction or mental health to help guide others, are an example of person-centered care … [They] fill gaps in traditional mental health services by providing essential knowledge about the recovery process, such as how to cope with symptoms, develop healthy relationships, and balance employment,” she writes.

“Social workers like myself need to understand that our role is not to “fix what is wrong.” People do their own healing, and our job is to offer tools and resources.”

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In the article, Hensley states that the Habitat model, in which participants help construct their new homes, provides a sense of pride and cooperation that has ripple effects throughout the families’ lives. “Most individuals want to be engaged in a constructive activity,” she said. “This is something people feel they’re a part of and can be proud of.” She goes on to note that by “Enabling them to move into a place where they have stability and safety, they can blossom.”

Read: on the Star Tribune site.

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Learn more about Dawson’s experiences as an Augsburg student by reading “,” an article from the fall 2013 Augsburg Now alumni magazine.

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Augsburg alumna Lani Hollenbeck ’79 ’11 MAN, a graduate of the College’s undergraduate social work and graduate nursing programs, spoke with Mpls. St. Paul Magazine about her role caring for infants at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. In the story, Hollenbeck describes the model she developed to promote positive relationships between caregivers and families in hospitals and her off-duty work through missions to Mexico and Guatemala. She is pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at Augsburg with an emphasis in Transcultural Nursing Leadership.��

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Each year, Augsburg College honors the legacy of an individual who helped shape the College’s mission by hosting the Torstenson Lecture in Sociology, and—for the first time—the 2013 presentation will highlight the important work of a current Augsburg faculty member.

The Torstenson Lecture is an opportunity for a sociologist from the Twin Cities area to share with the Augsburg community the contemporary scholarship, research, and thinking on a sociological topic.

This year’s speaker, Garry Hesser, is the first Augsburg professor selected to be the Torstenson lecturer, and Hesser will present “Place Matters…So?” at 5 p.m., April 2 in Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center.

A college in the city

Hesser’s lecture will focus on concepts with a clear connection to the legacy of the event’s namesake. The annual lecture acknowledges the contributions Augsburg professor emeritus Joel S. Torstenson ’38 made to the College by founding the Sociology Department in the late 1940s; laying the foundation for the Metro-Urban Studies and Social Work programs as well as the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs; expanding experiential education; and uplifting Augsburg’s identity as “a college in the city,” according to Nancy Fischer, associate professor of sociology and presentation coordinator.

Augsburg College educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders, and—as acknowledged in the institutional mission—the College is shaped by its urban and global settings.

“Joel Torstenson shaped that part of the College mission, and Garry became the bearer of that torch when Joel retired,” Fischer said.

In 2012, the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) presented President Paul C. Pribbenow with the William M. Burke Presidential Award for Excellence in Experiential Education. Pribbenow, in an acceptance speech delivered on his behalf, said the award was possible because of the work of Hesser and others who have dedicated themselves to the experiential learning that is at the heart of the identity and character of the College.

Hesser is regarded as one of the pre-eminent experts on experiential education and urban education, according to Lars Christiansen, chair of sociology. In his lecture, Hesser said he will illustrate how “cities can be both the ‘best’ and the ‘worst’ places to live and grow, depending upon your resources and where you live in the city.” He will then discuss examples of what citizens and policy-makers are doing and might do to address some of the disparities and inequities in “our own tale of two cities.”

About the presenter

Hesser is the Martin Olav Sabo Professor of Citizenship and Learning and professor of sociology and metro-urban studies. He chaired the Augsburg Natural and Social Sciences Division from 1996 to 2006 and chaired the Augsburg Metro-Urban Studies program for more than 30 years.

Hesser will retire at the conclusion of the 2012-13 academic year, and the Torstenson event will include a celebration of Hesser’s career immediately following the lecture (schedule below).

Hesser is the author of Experiential Education as a Liberating Art; “Principles of Good Practice in Service-Learning”; “Examining Communities and Urban Change”; “Benefits and Educational Outcomes of Internships”; and more than 30 other publications that include research in the area of housing, community building, planning, and neighborhood revitalization. He received his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame after earning a bachelor’s degree from Phillips University and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

2013 Torstenson Lecture event schedule

Tuesday, April 2

Hoversten Chapel, Foss Center

5 p.m. – Lecture by Garry Hesser

6 p.m. – Remarks by Hesser’s colleagues

6:30 p.m. – Reception

Event hashtags

Share your event experience using social media. The hashtag for the lecture is #Torstenson.

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Augsburg President Paul C. Pribbenow invited Aasen to visit the College to further her understanding of U.S. higher education and to explore topics central to her vocation. During the trip, Aasen—who chairs a parliamentary committee on research and education—will meet U.S. scholars who collaborate with Norwegian researchers and will discuss educational issues with faculty members in the College’s Education and Social Work departments.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to welcome Marianne Aasen to campus,” Pribbenow said. “I am excited to see how the visit strengthens the relationship between Aasen and Augsburg, and between her nation and ours.”

Nobel Peace Prize Forum

As the first seminary founded by Norwegian Lutherans in America, Augsburg is rooted in its heritage and regularly hosts events and dignitaries with Norwegian ties. One notable connection between Augsburg and Norway is the College’s role as an official host of the (NPPF), an annual event through which students and other citizens engage in peacemaking efforts around the world.

The NPPF is the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s only affiliated program outside of Norway, and Aasen’s visit to Augsburg will occur less than one week after the Institute in Oslo awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union.

Student involvement

Dozens of Augsburg students will have the opportunity to visit with Aasen, whose schedule includes meeting students with ties to Norway and attending an environmental politics class instructed by Joe Underhill, associate professor and chair of Political Science.

Students from Norway studying at Augsburg will discuss their international educational experience with Aasen at a lunch hosted by Gary Gandrud, Norwegian Honorary Consul General, and Christina Carleton, Norwegian Honorary Vice Consul. They will be joined by staff from the College’s Languages and Cross-cultural Studies department and Office of International Programs.

Aasen also will meet NPPF student interns and the College’s Peace Scholars, students who were selected to participate in a summer 2012 learning seminar in Norway. The Peace Scholars program deepened their understanding of issues related to peace, justice, democracy, and human rights.

“When President Pribbenow and I met with Mrs. Aasen at the Norwegian parliament in June, she expressed a keen interest in the Nobel Peace Prize Forum,” said Maureen Reed, executive director of the NPPF. “Because the Nobel Peace Prize is so strongly associated with Norway, she immediately understood how the Forum’s visibility and prestige could be useful in helping forge education, research, and business relationships. Her meetings with students, faculty, and government officials exemplify this.”

Beyond campus

Aasen will round out her visit to the Twin Cities by touring the Minnesota State Capitol and meeting Lieutenant Govenor Yvonne Prettner Solon, by visiting researchers at the University of Minnesota, and by meeting with Larry Pogemiller, director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.

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