Perched atop Augsburg University’s newest and largest academic building—the Norman and Evangeline Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion—a greenhouse fosters a diverse collection of plants whose origins span the globe.

Sustaining such a vibrant space filled with hundreds of plant species requires attentive eyes and careful hands. Between teaching biology courses and managing the Biology Department Plant Growth Facilities (including the greenhouse), Assistant Professor Leon Van Eck discussed Augsburg’s diverse greenhouse collection, noteworthy specimens, and the challenges he and student-workers experience while cultivating so many plants. Plus, don’t miss his advice for plant care at home.

Q: What is the origin story of Augsburg’s greenhouse? How did you get involved?

A: The rooftop greenhouse was already envisioned in the early designs for the Hagfors Center. I was not involved in designing or building these facilities, as I started my position at Augsburg in January 2018, right when the Hagfors Center officially opened. The completed Plant Growth Facilities of the biology department include the 500-square-foot rooftop greenhouse, a headhouse used as general plant maintenance space, as well as two climate-controlled walk-in plant growth rooms and four reach-in plant growth chambers.

It was my vision that the greenhouse be used to support a permanent plant collection, while the growth rooms and chambers be used for labs, research experiments, and plant tissue culture requiring more precise control of growing conditions. The growth chambers also house my plant-pest interaction research program’s aphid colony, so you might say that we also manage the largest animal collection on the Augsburg campus as well!

Q: What are some of the most remarkable plants in the greenhouse? How did they come to be at Augsburg?

A: The majority of the plant collection has been acquired through purchase from specialist growers, using funds from Augsburg donors or from our annual plant sale in collaboration with the Augsburg chapter of the TriBeta Biology Honor Society. I’ve also managed to leverage my connections at botanical institutions for some important additions to the collection. For example, in 2021, the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., kindly gifted us two specimens of the titanarum (Amorphophallus titanum), also sometimes called the corpse flower. This endangered aroid from the island of Sumatra is famous for producing an enormous and strikingly foul-smelling inflorescence that has people lining up at conservatories and botanical institutions around the world during a blooming event. Our specimens are still a few years away from producing their first flowers, but they have adjusted to life in Minnesota and are growing rapidly.

We also recently acquired five rare and endangered species of Central American cycad, thanks to the kind horticulturalists at the Amazon Spheres in Seattle. A colleague who specializes in the study of African carnivorous plants sent me a very nice specimen of Roridula gorgonias, the flycatcher bush. Incidentally, I just returned from a trip to South Africa, where I was able to visit a large colony of these remarkable plants in their marshy habitat, high in the coastal mountains of the Western Cape province.

Q: What are the most challenging plants or issues to deal with when managing a greenhouse’s collection and environment?

A: Even though the greenhouse has computer-controlled climate systems, getting a diverse plant collection to thrive under a single roof remains a challenge. How do the student workers and I maintain tender ferns and arid-adapted succulents all in one place? The answer lies in micro-climates. By carefully observing seasonal variation and individual plant responses, we’ve dialed in the best positions in the greenhouse to give sun-loving species the most light, and protect denizens of the forest floor under a shady canopy of larger plants. Pest outbreaks are unfortunately also a reality when you have a greenhouse in the sky, but we’ve developed a tight rotation of various organic controls to good effect.

As for challenging plants, thus far, the majority of the 400 species grow pretty well for us. Some stapeliads from Somalia succumbed to over-enthusiastic watering early on, so now I caution student workers to keep that group of plants on the dry side. What remains a challenge is to coax some species, such as certain cacti and many of our pelargoniums, into bloom. These plants require significant drops in nighttime temperatures to stimulate flower development, but for the protection of our most tropical species, we keep greenhouse temperatures pretty toasty.

Q: How does Augsburg’s greenhouse fit into the academic and community life at the university? How do students benefit from the greenhouse?

A: The greenhouse is open to visitors on the afternoon of the first Thursday of every month. These events have been very popular with students and staff, particularly when it’s cold and dreary outside!

As curator of the permanent plant collection, it is important to me to be thoughtful about which species are acquired for the collection. The permanent plant collection is used extensively in teaching in the biology department, and to best support this we cultivate species from a wide array of taxonomic groups, from liverworts, clubmosses, and horsetails to conifers and diverse flowering plants. We also have plants that are useful in teaching students about evolutionary biology, such as a passionflower vine that has evolved yellow leaf spots that mimic the eggs of swallowtail butterflies. Since the caterpillars of these butterflies are aggressive and cannibalistic, the butterflies avoid plants with eggs already present when depositing their own, in the hope of giving their offspring the best chance of survival. This egg mimic thus cleverly avoids becoming a meal for hungry insects! Plants that help to tell impactful stories about ecology, adaptation, and diversity are useful tools in the classroom.

It is also important to me that the diversity of our collection reflects something of the diversity of the Augsburg community, so plants native to the Horn of Africa form an important focus. In the case of Somali wild cotton (Gossypium somalense), there is crossover with another focus of the collection, which is the wild or under-domesticated relatives of familiar crop species. Wild barley from Turkmenistan and wild tomatoes from Peru are examples of what we have in the greenhouse. These can often be the source of genes conferring useful traits like disease or drought tolerance, important tools for sustainable agriculture in the face of climate change. Students in our BIO 151 Introductory Biology labs isolate and sequence the DNA of some of our plants, while students in BIO 475 Neurobiology get to extract alkaloids from some of our most toxic nightshade relatives to test their effect on heart muscle cells!

The greenhouse isn’t used exclusively by the biology majors, of course. Art students use the plants for an exercise in understanding negative space, and history students have dropped by for a lesson on the domestication of crops.

Q: For anyone who adopted a plant during the pandemic or just wants to care well for their plants at home, what advice do you offer?

A: Black thumbs don’t exist; even professional growers have killed plants under their care. It’s part of how we learn to grow these amazing organisms. If your plant isn’t doing well, change one parameter at a time, and observe your plant for a few weeks before changing something again. Most plants decline because of overwatering or insufficient light. If you’re unsure about watering, err on the side of watering less. If you’re unsure about light, err on the side of brighter light. And keep your houseplants away from cold draughts and drying furnace vents.

See Augsburg’s greenhouse:

• Visitors are welcome during the afternoon of the first Thursday each month.
• Follow on Instagram.

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Top image: Augsburg’s greenhouse provides a warm, vibrant environment for Auggies to enjoy all year round. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

For 152 years, Augsburg has both changed and remained the same. Though the Augsburg community looks much different outwardly—campus layout and buildings, student body demographics and style of clothing, technology and teaching methods—the Auggie spirit continues to inspire faculty and staff to cultivate a vibrant learning environment in which students can engage in meaningful hands-on experiences.

Enjoy these glimpses into the Augsburg of the past and the university of today.

Curated with Digital Archives and Research Services Librarian

An image of Augsburg’s campus and the Minneapolis skyline in 1967, stitched together from three frames of an aerial camera shot in a promotional film. (Archive photo)

Part of Augsburg’s campus—including Old Main, two residence halls, and the Norman and Evangeline Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion—in 2018. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

Auggies shoot hoops in Old Main gymnasium, circa 1945. (Archive photo)

Augsburg women’s basketball plays against the College of Saint Benedict in Si Melby Hall, 2018. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

The Augsburg community poses in front of Old Main in 1931. (Archive photo)

The Class of 2023 gathers in front of Old Main in 2019. This fall, group photos are planned for the Class of 2024 and the Class of 2025. (Photo by Tom Roster)

The camera club in 1957 included [L to R] Jerry Matison ’59, Stan Quanbeck ’59, and James Nichols ’58. (Archive photo)

An Auggie wears virtual reality goggles in a new media class in 2019. (Courtesy photo)

Georg Sverdrup and Sven Oftedal, who each served as Augsburg’s president, speak at a gathering of students in the first Old Main building (which was demolished to build Science Hall and Sverdrup Hall), 1897. (Archive photo)

A procession in a chapel service January 24, 2020. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

Augsburg women’s track and field student-athletes prepare for a race in 1985. (Archive photo)

Augsburg women’s track and field student-athlete hits the track 2021. (Photo by Don Stoner)

Students work in a television studio, possibly in the basement of Memorial Hall, in 1976. (Archive photo)

Students at a video shoot in Foss Center in 2019. (Courtesy photo)

Students attend a Pan-Afrikan Student Union cookout in Murphy Square in 1998. (Archive photo)

Students attend a Multicultural Student Services event in the park to welcome students back to campus in 2019. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

In early 2021, stocks of the companies AMC, BlackBerry, and GameStop made headlines—but not just for performing well. In a matter of days, some of these stock values increased by up to 30 times their previous price before a smartphone app called Robinhood restricted trading, angering some investors and propelling the situation into greater media attention. What happened, and what could that mean for people interested or invested in the stock market?

Augsburg University’s Associate Professor of Business Marc McIntosh brings his financial expertise to help us understand some of these rapid changes and see the big picture of today’s stock market.

Q: What are “meme stocks,” and why have they become notable lately?

A: A meme stock is any stock that’s seen its price skyrocket due to excessive trading volume from retail investors, mostly fueled by people on social media (primarily Reddit, TikTok, and Twitter). There are a lot of reasons why meme stocks have been so popular. It’s partly pandemic-related, since some people had more time to gamble and speculate and may have extra money on hand due to government stimulus payments. Also, social media forums have made it a lot easier to follow trends. In the case of GameStop, the price had a tremendous run almost solely due to Reddit posts.

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Q: What can we learn from what happened with AMC, BlackBerry, and GameStop stocks? What does that tell us about the stock market and how people are interacting with it?

A: It’s important to distinguish between gambling and investing. The vast majority of people buying these stocks are gambling that their price will go up based on rumors and social media posts, which can be very dangerous. It’s really the equivalent of going to the racetrack and betting on horses or going to Las Vegas to play the slot machines. Investors, however, do much more research based on the fundamental financials of the company and assess the potential of the company based on either their analysis or input from a trusted, professional financial advisor. In other words, it’s OK to invest in a meme stock, but make sure you’ve done your due diligence on the company’s growth prospects. For example, does GameStop really have cutting edge technology, or is its business model antiquated?

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Q: Are tools like the investing app Robinhood (which offers no-fee stock trading) just a trend or an indication of a new direction for the world of investing?

A: Robinhood is here to stay. The good news is that the app is extremely user-friendly, and the average investor can now make money in the stock market in ways that, until recently, were only available to institutions like pension funds and mutual funds. There has been a democratization in stock market investing. The bad news is that there are now lots of ways to lose money in the stock market if you or your financial advisor don’t have finance. Finally, the ugly part is that not only are gains magnified in a short period of time but losses are as well. If used wisely, Robinhood can be a tremendous way to build wealth through stock market investing.

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Q: What are reliable principles or tactics for people just beginning to get involved in the stock market?

A: Many famous investors such as Warren Buffett and John Bogle have argued convincingly that it’s very difficult to pick stocks that will outperform the overall market. In fact, there are several academic studies that prove that it’s almost impossible for the average mutual fund manager to “beat” the overall market. So, the sensible strategy is to put long-term savings into a broad-based market index fund. Many retirement plans have fund options indexed to the S&P 500 or the total stock market.

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Q: What should Augsburg Now readers keep in mind about the stock market today and in the near future?

A: First: On average, investing in the S&P has delivered returns higher than 10% since 1929. This dwarfs the returns you get by putting money in a savings account or investing in high-quality bonds. For the long haul, it’s important to have this return to retire comfortably. Second: The time people spend in retirement is getting longer as life spans have expanded due to health care improvements, so people need a huge nest egg to live comfortably—possibly into their 90s. Third: Due to the magic of compounding and starting earlier in one’s life, achieving this nest egg can be relatively simple. If average 25-year-olds invest $2,000 in the stock market a year (such as in an index fund that achieves 10% average returns), they could have more than $1 million when they retire at age 65. Wow!

Remember those days of uncertainty in March 2020, when we had more questions than answers, and before most of us used terms like “coronavirus” and “social distancing”?

The United States saw an increase in COVID-19 infections, and some states—including Minnesota—applied stay-at-home orders to mitigate the spread. Weeks before that inflection point, Augsburg University administrators, faculty, and staff convened a COVID-19 task force.

Not all educational institutions have an epidemiologist on staff, but Augsburg is fortunate. One of the task force’s principal leaders is Alicia Quella, associate professor and director of Augsburg’s physician assistant program. As an educator with a PhD in epidemiology and experience in public health settings around the world, her expertise has proved invaluable for the university’s grasp of the evolving global crisis and Augsburg’s response to maintain the health and safety of community members.

Between fielding student questions about the coronavirus, volunteering at COVID-19 testing sites, and ensuring the Augsburg community can trace contacts and reduce transmission on campus, Quella shared some perspectives on her work and where we go from here.

Q: How have you been involved in Augsburg’s outbreak planning and COVID-19 response?

A: I serve on the pandemic task force, a university-wide team of people that assembled after it was apparent that COVID-19 would significantly affect institutions of higher education across the United States. We collaborate regularly with epidemiologists from the Minnesota Department of Health to implement public health guidelines for campuses. We started to meet daily to coordinate issues involving classrooms and labs, athletics, residence halls, dining services, facilities, and global education. We started a COVID-19 Response Team, which comprises staff and faculty across campus who implement health protocols and support students and personnel who have illness, have COVID-19, or have been exposed to it.

Neither rain nor SNOW can keep ‘s Dr. Alicia Quella from working the walk-up/drive-up COVID-19 testing location Cedar Riverside Clinic

— R.John (@raccajohn)

Q: What were your first thoughts when you heard about COVID-19 and considered its implications for the Augsburg community?

A: When news of a novel coronavirus was circulating in China, I was immediately concerned because I had studied the epidemiology of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-1) during my doctoral work through the University of Iowa Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases. In 2003, SARS quickly spread to 29 countries, so I knew that this would be a major issue in the United States.

Q: At this stage in the COVID-19 pandemic, what are the most important things for the public to understand and do?

A: To reach herd immunity [when a significant portion of a community is immune to a disease and thereby makes spread unlikely] we all need to continue to ‘bubble’ and limit the number of close contacts, wear face masks, socially distance, and get vaccinated.

I also encourage the students and my patients to be creative and find ways to keep active and engaged—start a new hobby, do something outdoors, and reach out to relatives and friends who may be isolated right now.

Q: What do you see in the post-COVID-19 world?

A: Colleges and universities have seen a rapid diffusion of innovation in how they are using technology to deliver curriculum, participate in athletics, and maintain operations. This energy and innovation will have to continue to promote widespread vaccine uptake. Vaccine hesitancy is an issue, especially in communities of color that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 because of structural racism. Augsburg will need to make this a top priority moving forward.

Q: What’s a memorable moment of the past year that made an impact on you?

A: As an epidemiologist and a physician assistant, I’ve had the opportunity to continue to see patients and work with Augsburg students, staff, and faculty. I recently received the COVID-19 vaccine and have felt humbled and honored to now be able to continue to work more safely in the community.

Top image: Associate Professor Alicia Quella’s experience as an epidemiologist has helped maintain the health and safety of the Augsburg community. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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Read more Augsburg stories on COVID-19.

The Augsburg University Board of Regents meeting in October 2020 included celebration of the election of new and continuing regents.

• James Hereford and Veena Iyer were elected to their first four-year terms.
• Nick Gangestad ’86, Marlene Whiterabbit Helgemo, Jill Nelson Thomas, and Noya Woodrich ’92, ’94 MSW were elected to second four-year terms.
• Pam Moksnes ’79 was elected to a third four-year term.

Finally, Bishop Laurie Skow-Anderson and Bishop Ann Svennungsen were appointed to serve three-year terms as ex officio members of the board.