The Augsburg Choir

On May 6, the Augsburg Choir, under the direction of Peter Hendrickson ’76, departed for a 12-day tour of the Midwest. With stops in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington state, the Choir will perform nine concerts and have opportunities to connect with potential Auggies and their families as well as alumni and friends of the College.

Teaching English as a Second Language in Thailand with Kathryn Swanson

This is the fifth year that English professor Kathy Swanson and her husband, Jack, have taken students to teach English in Thailand as part of a short-term study abroad course through the Center for Global Education. Years ago, the Swansons served in the Peace Corps in Thailand for two years and still have connections in the small town where they once taught.

Before departing, students learn about language and culture in Thailand and practice speaking some “survival Thai,” Swanson said. For the teaching week, students learn the pedagogy of teaching English as a second language—essentially what and how to teach. Some students on the program are English or education majors, but others are from other majors including business, religion, and the sciences. Students take Swanson’s class, she said, not only to learn more about teaching English to language learners but also to experience life in a country half way around the world from the U.S.

For the three weeks they are in Thailand, Swanson said the group has an intense schedule filled with a variety of experiences. They travel by plane, boat, train, taxi, subway, tuk-tuks (a small open motorized vehicle, like a rickshaw), and even have a chance to ride elephants. They also take in tourist activities such as visiting temples, rafting on the river, and visiting pottery and silk makers. Then for ten days, they teach in Prachuap Khirikhan, the town where the Swansons taught while in the Peace Corps.

Swanson said the students often comment in their travel journals that they are completely shocked by their experiences in Thailand—by the sights and sounds and by the stark contrast between the poverty and opulence that can be seen there. “The only way to understand anything about the world is to do it,” she said. “Word of mouth among students is that it’s exhausting but it’s worth it.”

Pictured above: Students on the 2008 Thailand program. See photos from the program on flickr.

Youth Movements and Social Change in Egypt with Joe Underhill and Mohamed Sallam

In this combined course in political science and history, students will explore the roots of Egypt’s largely youth-led revolution and ongoing efforts to rebuild Egypt. Students will examine the effects that the 2011 revolution has had on public discourse about environmental sustainability, police brutality, Muslim-Christian relations, and access to basic services. They will also observe the historic presidential elections taking place in late May, visit mosques and pyramids, Nubian villages, an ecotourism resort on the Red Sea, and a Bedouin camp in the desert.

Read about the group’s experiences on the authored by Joe Underhill.

International Management and Finance in Germany with Marc McIntosh

For four weeks in May and June, a group of German students and professors from Karlsruhe paired with Augsburg students and assistant business professor Marc McIntosh to study international business practices.

The group met for the first two weeks in Europe, visiting the European Parliament in Strasbourg and witnessing firsthand the financial crisis that was coming to a head in Europe at that time. They also went to the Frankfurt stock exchange and experienced the volatility in the financial market as a result of the crisis, McIntosh said.

While in the U.S., the students visited three companies with strong ties to Germany and gained insights into how to do business in overseas markets. Finally, the students participated in an intensive business simulation game with teams competing to maximize shareholder value through the launches of multiple product offerings.

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Mary Lowe, associate professor of religion, for Excellence in Teaching

Of his colleague, associate religion professor Jeremy Myers wrote, “Mary clearly deserves this award. I consistently hear students rave about her as an instructor. She has very high expectations of her students and she is exceptional at communicating these expectations, establishing a strategy for moving the students towards those expectations, and working extremely hard with her classes and individual students to help them meet those expectations. …Mary loves to teach and she works very hard to be an effective teacher.”

James Vela-McConnell, professor of sociology, for Excellence in Mentoring and Scholarship

Diane Pike, chair of the Sociology department, writes about Vela-McConnell: “For the past decade, Professor Vela-McConnell has worked closely and diligently with dozens students in URGO projects, McNair projects, social psychology independent studies, the service learning research in Soc 390, and as partners in the research in his most recent book. This particular area of strength in developing student learning through intense partnerships is exemplary both in the quantity of students served and the quality of the work produced.  As a department and an institution, we benefit significantly from the effort and skill James shares with our students.”

The CTL awardees will be recognized at the Faculty Luncheon on May 3. Congratulations!

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In 2013, the MFA will offer four genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and screenwriting. A fifth genre, playwriting, will be added in 2014.  A national book prize and concentrations in publishing, teaching and translation will also begin that year.

“An Augsburg MFA leverages our distinguished faculty and the strength of our undergraduate programs while delivering things no other program in Minnesota or the surrounding states offers, including a book prize, a screenwriting track, and low-residency programming for all four of our genres,” said Augsburg College President Paul C. Pribbenow. “The program and its format show the ability of our school to meet marketplace demand and to use technology to increase accessibility and contain costs.”

The Augsburg MFA includes three 10-day summer residencies, complemented by online coursework as well as individualized mentorship semesters. During the residency, students will participate in daily workshops, readings, and mini-courses focused on literary craft, career skills in teaching, editing, publishing, book arts, advertising, translation, adaptation, and new media. Learn more on the website.

Clark is a writer of fiction, creative nonfiction, and screenplays. Stories from Vladimir’s Mustache were published in such literary journals as Witness, Ninth Letter, and Cincinnati Review. His creative nonfiction has been recognized as notable in Best of the Web 2009 and Best American Essays 2009 and 2010. Professionally represented as a screenwriter while living in Los Angeles, Clark has optioned two scripts and seen his screenwriting honored by the Monterey County Film Commission and Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope film studios. Clark worked as a print and radio journalist before returning to academia.

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The five-day institute involved eight faculty from UIC in China and eight faculty from seven Minnesota private colleges, including Augsburg. The Institute is under the direction of Diane Pike, Professor of Sociology at Augsburg, assisted by Theresa Kwong, Senior Teaching and Learning Officer at The Centre for Holistic Teaching and Learning at HKBU.

“We have learned about the rewards and challenges of teaching that we have in common,” Pike said. “It has also been wonderful to learn about the cultural differences and to benefit from thinking about things in new ways. The colleagues from UIC and from the set of Minnesota private colleges have collaborated to advance their understanding of teaching and learning in a liberal-arts setting. It has been an invigorating week and we look forward our visit to China in November to continue our learning.”

The Institute focuses on  practices and student learning in both China and the United States. The meeting at Augsburg will be followed by a conference in Zhuhai, China on November 14-17, 2011.

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For Excellence in Teaching—Timothy Pippert [left], associate professor of sociology (who will deliver the address at opening convocation in September 2011)

For Excellence in Mentoring and Advising—Cass Dalglish [middle left], professor of English, and Cheryl Leuning [right], professor of nursing

For Excellence in Scholarship—Nancy Steblay [middle right], professor of psychology

Garry Hesser, profesor of sociology, nominated his colleague, Tim Pippert, for the Excellence in Teaching award. In part, Garry wrote, “In addition to his consistent excellence in teaching a wide range of courses…my additional reason for nominating [Tim] is his continual effort to bring his students into ‘high impact’ experiences, most notably this past semester when he created a special topics course on social inequality, creating ways that our students can explore both ‘ends’ and the continuum of wealth and privilege/poverty in our community… This course was simply illustrative of the consistent and exceptional quality of teaching that Tim brings to his work that merits this recognition.”

Student Kaaren Warnes notes, “Tim’s passion for the subject, as well as its implications for the world outside of the classroom, ignited our passions for the subject as well. Tim’s teaching methods, his passion, his accessibility, and his concern for his students make him a deserving recipient for the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching award. I am truly honored to have had Tim Pippert as a teacher, mentor, and adviser.”

In speaking of Cass Dalglish, recipient of an Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring, colleague Doug Green states, “Cass has been a model and a mentor to creative writers through the example of her own life as an active writer and artist….Over the past 10 years, I’ve been witness to Cass’s one-on-one mentoring and advising of novice journalists and creative writers. She has helped many seniors and graduates apply to and enter MFA programs.” Doug adds, “I can’t imagine our department and programs without Cass’s thoughtful presence and fierce advocacy on behalf of our literary artists and journalists…. And regardless of whom she is working with and mentoring, Cass evinces an infectious love of literature and the craft of the writer.”

An Augsburg alum, Andrea Sanow was mentored by Cass in the writing of a novel. Andrea notes, “Cass was my cheerleader, my coach, my therapist, my friend, my dictionary, my enemy and most importantly, my antagonist.”

Of Cheryl Leuning, recipient of an Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring, DNP student Deb Schumacher states, “Cheryl is an exceptional woman and leader. She is uniquely able to be gentle and caring, yet with her astute analytical perspective she is simultaneously able to be clear in her vision of excellence for herself and those around her. She is also extremely fair, open-minded, and inclusive…pursing diversity of ideas and perspectives. Cheryl opens up students’ worlds and encourages us all to be our best, to bring out our greatness to share with the world – either in our own backyard (locally) or in the grandness of the world (globally).”

Cheryl’s colleague, Sue Nash agrees, “Cheryl helps students understand the unique role that the Augsburg graduate can play in offering care to diverse populations. I think Cheryl’s greatest contribution to Augsburg has been the design and implementation of our unique Masters of Nursing and now the doctoral program that truly embodies the core Augsburg values of critical thinking, justice, and community involvement in a diverse global society. In this way, she has advised and mentored us all.”

Nominated by colleagues David Matz and Bridget Robinson-Riegler, Nancy Steblay is the recipient of the Award for Excellence in Scholarship. Of Nancy’s work, David and Bridget write, “Nancy possesses an impressive publication record by any standard. Since arriving at Augsburg, she has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles – most as lead author…. In recognition of her scholarship record, Nancy has been invited to serve on journal editorial boards and is sought after as an expert in her field.” Further, they note, “Nancy has been a tireless promoter of scholarship among students and faculty at Augsburg.”

Former student Robert Tix agrees, “Dr. Steblay created so many different opportunities for me at Augsburg. She gave me an outlet for my scientific curiosity, whether that was helping with her research or conducting my own. She gave me an opportunity for critical thought and actual application on a continual, everyday basis. More important…was the opportunity she gave me to understand my own immense potential.”

This year’s recipients will be recognized at Honors Convocation on April 15 and at the Faculty Recognition Luncheon on May 5. We also will celebrate the accomplishments of both the recipients of Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Learning and Staff Recognition Awards at Community Time on April 26 at 3:45 p.m. in the East Commons.

Please join us in congratulating the recipients of this year’s Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Learning awards!

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In a more positive light, only 3 days in and I’ve already learned so much and feel more and more honored each day that I hear about all the things I get to do and all the people I am majorly going to impact. The Fulbright program in Indonesia is the third largest one out of all 130 countries where this program takes place. As a group, roughly, we will teach English to 12,000 students.

In addition to teaching, we have the opportunity to create and star in radio and television programs that teach English; we met with the media man from the US Embassy. There is also going to be a competition between all 32 schools that all the ETA’s will teach at; a words competition where we will decide the theme and they can write a song, poem, essay, dance according to that theme. I will travel with my winning student back to the city of Jakarta where all the finalists will compete, and the winner receives a full scholarship to an American University-truly a dream for these kids.

We’ve also been appointed to recruit people/teachers/students to apply for various scholarships. Scholarships for the working class to go to community college, for Indonesian English teachers to go to an American university and take English classes, for high school students to go to an American university, and the list goes on. We have to judge based on one’s skills if I think they are qualified and have a chance at whichever scholarship. I loved being the peer advisor in the study abroad office at Augsburg, and now I feel like my roll in international education was just upped tenfold. Everyone here dreams of going to the States, and most Indonesians don’t have any idea about these opportunities. And now I can potentially change their lives.

Jakarta as a city is crowded, polluted, intense, and the people are so amazingly nice and so fun to interact with. Traffic is crazy, there are no lanes or crosswalks, thank gosh there are at least stop and go lights. They have over 130 malls here in Indonesia where you can buy almost anything. And they are so crazy annoying; filled with weird smells and up and down escalators that are not anywhere near each other, at different random spots on the floor. Myself and one other ETA got lost for an hour in a mall yesterday; nice bonding experience.

The food is so good and cheap; yesterday my dinner cost $1.50. Everywhere we go there is fresh guava and pineapple juice my favorite! Cabs are also like a few dollars for really long distances, so that’s nice too. Basically everything is so cheap and according to Indonesian economics “I” am a millionaire; I always wanted to be a millionaire, just never thought it would happen.

I’ve been learning about where my school is. I’ll be living in an ORANGUTAN NATIONAL PARK, yup that’s right be jealous. This is also the reason for such tight security measures.

Well that’s all for now. All the ETA’s are going out to dinner tonight as a group to bond our today’s experience and support each other. We are going to a restaurant where we are gonna eat goat lungs, chicken necks, cow intestines, and we’ll see what else. I’ll let all ya’ll know how it tastes!

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Sarah is originally from Fremont, Neb. and has a BA in English from Midland Lutheran College. She is married (her husband is also a student at Luther) and has two young children. Sarah wanted to complete her internship in the Twin Cities to stay with her family. Though she likes working at Augsburg, she said it’s not what she expected. “Working at a college is relational ministry,” she said. “Augsburg is a congregation but in a different setting.”

Joe grew up in Papua, New Guinea and moved with his family to northwestern Minnesota at the age of 10. He received his BA in English and American studies from St. Olaf College. He has enjoyed working with the campus ministry office and with student leaders at Augsburg. “A big advantage to working on a college campus,” he said, “is there are so many educated people around. There is always someone to talk to about issues or your interests.” Joe has also appreciated hearing a variety of speakers in Augsburg’s daily chapel services, everyone from President Pribbenow to the students. “It’s a gift to be a part of that,” he said.

Joe is also working with athletic teams at Augsburg and has enjoyed attending sporting events and getting involved in the athletes’ lives. Sarah said she has been impressed with student involvement in ministry events. “Most events are student led and planned,” she said. “I think it says a lot about them that they are invested and take it upon themselves to get involved.”

Both Sarah and Joe were involved in helping the Augsburg community mourn the death of Ahmednur Ali, the student who was shot and killed Sept. 22 outside the Brian Coyle Center. They observed how Augsburg handled the situation and were able to hear from the outside community as well. Sarah said it was an opportunity for her to learn how to help people as a pastor. Joe said he appreciated the interfaith conversation and the challenge of incorporating different faith traditions into a unifying service in light of a difficult situation.

Sarah and Joe are eager to learn as much as they can about Augsburg and to truly be a part of campus life. “We appreciate when people introduce themselves to us,” Joe said. “It gives us a chance to get to know them.”

Meet Sarah and Joe during daily chapel: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:20 a.m. or Tuesday and Thursday at 11:20 a.m. Augsburg’s daily chapel service is open to all.

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Dixie Shafer, Director of the , guided the students through the grueling application process and encouraged Stoffers and Olsen to strive toward serving their community and world.”It was a long application process that involved writing a personal statement, writing a statement of proposed study, getting letters of recommendation, being evaluated by language evaluators, and an interview,” said Stoffers.

An excerpt from Stoffers’ statement of proposed study reads: “During my school-aged years, my adoptive parents attempted to familiarize me with my native Korean culture by enrolling me in Korean culture camps, celebrating Korean holiday traditions, and encouraging me to write letters to my birth family. These attempts were often met with resistance, because I did not want to be recognized as Korean, or even Korean-American, but strictly as American. My attitude changed from that of resistance to that of curiosity. I am now eager to engage with my birth place.”

Olsen’s love of teaching and passion for Spanish-speaking countries drew her to apply for the scholarship located in Venezuela. “I received an English teaching assistantship to Venezuela. I had to apply specifically to that country. There were two of these grants available in Venezuela, so I was one of two to receive it,” said Olsen.

Stoffers checked her mailbox on a daily basis in hopes of finding the envelope from Fulbright. “Ashley called me the minute she found out she had received it, wondering if I had heard any news yet,” recalled Olsen.

“I checked my campus box, and it had a thick letter from Fulbright. I felt a mixture of excitement and relief upon learning that I had receive the fellowship — excitement to go to Venezuela and to have been chosen, and relief that 8 months of waiting were finally over.”

Both women will be gone for a year. They hope to gain more knowledge of the world around them, as well as give back to the communities in which they will be teaching. Stoffers and Olsen received immense support from their families and communities and are thrilled to have won such a prestigious scholarship.

Article by Kristin Daniels

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She adds: “Teachers are at their best in their classrooms facilitating learning, and when teachers open their doors to one another and make their classrooms a public place, we are able lead and teach at the same time. Both the teacher observing and the teacher being observed can grow in their practices if they engage in reflective conversation after this shared experience.”

Teachers in Jacki Brickman’s school meet regularly in study groups to share their practices and strategies in order to help each other grow.”

The Augsburg Education Department prepares its students to have the “right and responsibility to exercise leadership,” according to Vicki Olson, associate professor of education. This has never been as evident as when it was announced last October Brickman was one of two teachers in the Minneapolis/St. Paul School Districts awarded the Milken National Educator Award.

The Milken Family Foundation has been recognizing teachers and principals around the country for 20 years for their effectiveness in the classroom, accomplishments outside the classroom, leadership and the ability to inspire students, teachers and the community.

Brickman, a 10-year teacher was surprised by the announcement during an assembly at Hall International Elementary School in Minneapolis where she is now a mentor. Brickman and the other recipient, Martha James from Crossroads Elementary School, will each receive a $25,000 award.

“The Education Department is very proud of Jacki and the contributions she makes every day as a Minneapolis public school teacher,” Olson said. “She lives out her vocation as a teacher leader with generosity of spirit, good humor, and passion for teaching and learning.”

Brickman, who also is an adjunct instructor in Augsburg’s Weekend College program, is the second graduate of Augsburg to receive this prestigious award. Margaret Knutson, ’91, fifth grade teacher at Orono Intermediate School received the award in 2004.

Education is the second largest major at Augsburg with approximately 500 students in the undergraduate and graduate programs.

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