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Pioneer Press profiles Ted Bigos ’74

The St. Paul Pioneer Press recently published an article about real estate leader Ted Bigos ’74Ěýand the current climate of urban living in downtown St. Paul. Bigos owns five buildings in the area and many others across the state.

“I put a lot of my back into those buildings,” Bigos said. With the help of his father, Bigos began purchasing, renovating, and reselling apartment buildings at age 19 while he was a student at Augsburg College. Eventually, he retained some of the renewed properties and began renting them to tenants himself.

About the current state of the downtown area, which has seen many development projects in recent years, he said, “In all the years I’ve been in St. Paul, it’s never felt as good as it feels today.”

Read: on the Pioneer Press site.

Lars Christiansen adds expert opinion to MinnPost article on crosswalk laws

MinnPost recently published an article covering efforts by the City of St. Paul to more strictly enforce crosswalk laws and change a driving culture that places drivers and vehicles ahead of pedestrians. State crosswalk laws dictate that drivers should stop for pedestrians at every crosswalk, marked or unmarked, but drivers in the city rarely comply. This has led to fatalities and, more recently, sting operations designed to ticket drivers who fail to stop for pedestrians.

Lars Christiansen, associate professor of sociology and urban studies at Augsburg College, feels that the problem is larger, and less easily addressed, than simply ticketing individuals. “This isn’t about an individual flouting the law, it’s a very real feeling of pressure from motorists,” he said. “One feels the heat of the other cars around you as you’re moving, so to do something unusual [like stopping for a pedestrian] feels dangerous.”

Read on the MinnPost site.

Media Advisory: River Semester launch is Sept. 1 at St. Paul’s Harriet Island

Media invited to paddleĚýinĚýflotilla of 24-foot voyageur canoes from Harriet Island to South St. Paul

(MINNEAPOLIS) – A group of nearly 100 students, parents, high schoolĚýstudents and members of the Augsburg College community will launch the nation’s first-ever River Semester on Sept. 1 at Kelley’s LandingĚýon Harriet Island in St. Paul by paddling a flotilla of 24-foot voyageur canoes from St. Paul to South St. Paul.

Members of the media are invited to participate inĚýthe kickoff event and to paddle in one of 13 voyageur canoes with students and guests to South St. Paul.

Guests and media will be transported back to Kelley’s Landing and Augsburg College.

The 16 students in the Augsburg College River Semester will continue to travel nearly 2,000 of the 2,350-mile-long-Mississippi River from St. Paul to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The group will live and study on the river until mid-December.

Members of the media canĚýreserve paddling spots by noon, Thursday, Aug. 27, by contacting Stephanie Weiss, director of news and media services for Augsburg College at weisss@augsburg.edu.Ěý Continue reading “Media Advisory: River Semester launch is Sept. 1 at St. Paul’s Harriet Island”

Back-to-school for 16 Augsburg students means traveling the length of Mississippi River as part of nation’s first-ever River Semester

Students, from Sept. 1 to mid-December, will study, live, travel more than 1,795 miles on Mississippi from St. Paul to the Gulf of Mexico

(MINNEAPOLIS) – A class of 16 Augsburg College students led by Professor Joe Underhill will depart Sept. 1 in 24-foot voyageur canoes to spend the semester studying, researching and living on the river. The students taking part in the nation’s first-ever River Semester will travel nearly 2,000 miles of the 2,350-mile-long Mississippi River to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The group will depart from in a launch event that is open to the public.

Students participating in this hands-on, interdisciplinary program will earn as many as 16 credits studying biology, environmental studies, health and physical education, and political science. Continue reading “Back-to-school for 16 Augsburg students means traveling the length of Mississippi River as part of nation’s first-ever River Semester”

Kristin Anderson discusses new St. Paul ballpark in Star Tribune

Minneapolis Star TribuneKristin Anderson — aĚýsports architecture expert, Augsburg College archivist, and art history professor — was quoted in a Star Tribune article on the architecture of the new CHS Field set to open in the Lowertown district of downtown St. Paul this spring.ĚýCHS Field is the future home of the St. Paul Saints minor league team, and its architecture featuresĚýa sleek low-slung design comprisedĚýof black concrete and steel. The article presentedĚýa number of individuals’Ěýopinions of the design, noting that the structure is a standout amongst its adjacentĚýbuildings.

“The immediate expectation was that it had to match the things around it — ye old ballpark — and I don’t think that’s necessary … The subtlety of the exterior allows the action of the place to shine,” Anderson said.

Read, “St. Paul Saints: Not your grandfather’s ballpark” on the Star Tribune website to learn more.

Creating a bridge — Admission Possible and Augsburg College

admission_possible It should come as no surprise that a school like Augsburg College, with its commitment to opening doors to first-generation and under-served students, would attract alumni of the Admission Possible program. Over the years, Admission Possible has provided a bridge — from St. Paul to Minneapolis — for many of Augsburg’s staff members, in particular those who have joined our admissions or student service teams after completing their service at Admission Possible. Recently, the bridge traffic flowed in the other direction when Ashley Booker (pictured left), a student in the Master of Arts in Education program at Augsburg, started a new job. Continue reading “Creating a bridge — Admission Possible and Augsburg College”