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In the media: Paul Pribbenow on returning to classes during ICE operation

Augsburg University — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 20:00:42 +0000

With the start of the spring semester, Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow has been quoted and interviewed by local and national media outlets about how the ongoing ICE operation in Minneapolis has affected local colleges and universities.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: (January 21, 2026)
The Chronicle of Higher Education: (January 26, 2026)
The Chronicle of Higher Education: (January 28, 2026)
The Minnesota Star Tribune: (February 5, 2026)

In addition, Pribbenow contributed an op-ed to The Hechinger Report, which covers innovation and inequality in education: (January 30, 2026). The piece was subsequently republished by .

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‘Defense Against the Dark Arts’ class highlighted in Star Tribune

Augsburg University — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 20:48:17 +0000

Professor Bob Groven’s “Defense Against the Dark Arts” class was featured in The Minnesota Star Tribune’s December 7 roundup college classes that aim to help students recognize and protect themselves from disinformation and misinformation. The communication studies class focuses on “the ways in which people can be lied to, manipulated or hurt by using the tools of persuasion,” including how propaganda, social media and AI can deceive, said Groven, who also serves as Augsburg’s assistant dean of faculty development and as faculty director of the Minnesota Urban Debate League.

Read the full article via the Star Tribune:

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Remembering John N. Schwartz ’67 (1945–2024)

farrisr — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:59:20 +0000

John Schwartz ’67

John Schwartz ’67 believed in the power of a liberal arts education to guide students to a successful career and a meaningful life. After all, his own life was, in many ways, a case study.

Raised in Lester Prairie, Minnesota, Schwartz graduated from Augsburg in 1967 and earned a master’s in hospital administration from the University of Minnesota. Over the course of four decades in health care, he held leadership positions in Milwaukee, Oregon, and Montana, concluding his career as president of Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago. His significant professional success was balanced by a lifelong engagement with the arts and an especially deep love of classical choral music. After touring Europe with the Augsburg choir in 1965, he continued to sing in ensembles throughout his life, including the Sullivan Chamber Ensemble of Milwaukee and the Apollo Chorus of Chicago.

Schwartz’s extraordinary generosity to Augsburg took many forms, from regularly hosting business students in Chicago to providing wise leadership counsel as a member of the Board of Regents. Schwartz and his husband created the John N. Schwartz and James A. Mosley Scholarship and two endowed professorships: the Leland B. Sateren ’35 Professorship and Chair of Music and the John N. Schwartz Professorship of Choral Leadership and Conducting. Most significantly, his visionary estate gift established Augsburg’s first named school, the John N. Schwartz ’67 School of the Arts.

“John told me that if just one student would go forward from Augsburg transformed, as he had been, by excellence in choral artistry, then his bequest would have been worth every dollar.”—Kristina Boerger, John N. Schwartz Professorship of Choral Leadership and Conducting

A business administration major with a grand passion for music. A savvy hospital administrator with a knack for storytelling. A humble, generous servant-leader who was committed to being a good steward of the gifts he’d been given.

More than anything else, Augsburg will remember John Schwartz as a lifelong friend.

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