For a line published in 1814’s “Mansfield Park,” it prophetically resonates in the life and work of Augsburg alumna Devoney Looser ’89.

Looser earned a doctorate in English and women’s studies, holds extensive credentials as a professor who has served at leading universities, and has written and contributed to dozens of books, scores of academic journals, and even more book reviews. When national and international publications need an expert on 18th-century literature, British women writers, or Jane Austen, they want Looser—if they can catch her before roller derby practice.

Finding her voice

Looser grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. College seemed like a distant dream, both because of the financial barrier and the fact that she came from a family with no college degree in sight. Her perspective changed when she applied to Augsburg and earned a President’s Scholarship for her academic merit.

“That made all the difference in terms of my ability to go to college. Augsburg gave me an incredibly generous opportunity with that scholarship,” Looser said.

Looser wasn’t outwardly confident, but she caught the eye of Cathie Nicholl, an English professor who taught at Augsburg for nearly 30 years until her retirement in 1999. Though Looser was somewhat quiet, Nicholl said, “her written work was always wonderful. She’s really blossomed a lot since then.”

Looser first became enthralled with Jane Austen’s writings through a literature class with Nicholl, who has maintained correspondence with Looser through several decades. “I had no idea at the time how significant, how important [that connection with Nicholl] would turn out to be to my life—to a path toward a future in [literary] work.”

, a professor of English who’s taught at Augsburg since 1988, met Looser when he first arrived at the university. “She was exceptional. We had a real conversation about literature,” said Green, a poet and scholar who teaches Shakespeare, drama, and writing as well as gender, sexuality, and women’s studies.

Did Austen predict roller derby?

“I hate to hear you talking so, like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days.” — Mrs. Croft, Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” (1818)

Though literature was central in feeding Looser’s ravenous appetite for knowledge, people and experiences also offered lessons beyond the classroom.

“There were lots of things at Augsburg that brought me out of my shell,” Looser said. “I was very shy at 18, and to see the same faces who could tell me, ‘You can do this,’ made a big difference in my believing in myself.”

For a suburbanite, moving to the heart of Minneapolis was an education in itself. “Being in an urban area, being able to live among other students was amazing,” Looser said.

“Augsburg’s student body was very diverse. Being in class alongside students from all over the world was mind-blowing. It made me reimagine my role in the world, and what my world could be, and how I was part of their world.”

Engaging with a variety of people and ideas has served Looser well in her literary pursuits and academic experience alike. She has held positions teaching English and women’s studies at institutions including the University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, Indiana State University, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is described as a thoughtful and wise mentor who empathizes with first-generation college students. Her ability to reflect on and relate to the challenges others face is something Looser shares with the central figure of her academic work: Jane Austen.

Literary sense and moral sensibility

“Austen is one of the most psychologically perceptive observers in all of the history of the novel,” said Jenny Davidson, a novelist and professor of English at Columbia University who connected with Looser over their shared professional interest in 18th-century literature.

Known for romantic plots steeped in English society, including “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility,” Austen’s writings have been in print continuously for nearly 200 years and retain an unassailable foothold in contemporary art and culture. Who was Jane Austen, really—and how did she become what she represents now?

That’s the focus of Looser’s latest book, “The Making of Jane Austen,” which earned high praise among literary peers. It was named a Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book for nonfiction, featured in CNN interviews, and reviewed in The Economist, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

Looser’s remarkable scholarship has led to an abundance of prestigious opportunities, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in support of one of her current projects: a book about unheralded British sister novelists Jane and Anna Maria Porter.

Davidson offered a scholar’s perspective: “The project on the Porter sisters is a genuine project of reclamation, of rewriting an injustice of literary history: these were two extremely widely read and well-regarded novelists whom literary history has essentially dumped in the trash.” Because of Looser’s background, Davidson believes, the first-generation college graduate is attracted to the works of underdogs and can convey their stories empathetically and authoritatively.

Track tenure

Perhaps her affinity for the underdog is part of what drew Looser to a lesser-known sport—roller derby.

Nearly a decade ago, Looser and her friend Katie Carr, a special collections librarian at the University of Missouri where Looser was a professor of English, reconnected over a mutual sense that they needed a change. Angela Rehbein, one of Looser’s then-graduate students who is now a professor of English at West Liberty University, joined them to skate at a roller rink’s retro night, where members of a local roller derby team invited the three to derby practice. It sounded fun, so they accepted.

Roller derby is a sport in which two teams of five players in roller skates line up on a track. The “jammer” on each team tries to maneuver past the “blockers” on the opposing team, and it all happens in a series of two-minute increments called “jams.” Players force opponents off the track or block them with their shoulders, chests, and hips. Because it’s full-contact, they wear helmets, mouthguards, knee pads, and elbow pads.

It’s customary for derby players to create personas based on names that use a play on words. Carr dubbed Looser “Stone Cold Jane Austen,” a mashup of Looser’s literary expertise and professional wrestler Steve Austin’s stage name.

Looser is now a faculty advisor to the roller derby team in addition to her work as a professor of English at Arizona State University. She still remembers the coaches who patiently taught her to play derby, which perhaps unexpectedly refreshed her perspective on higher education. “It’s humbling to start out as a complete newbie, and being laid flat and embarrassing myself,” she said. “It put me in headspace that made me realize how students must feel their first year of college, when you didn’t know what you were doing, and it was terrifying.”

People who know Looser best—like Carr, Rehbein, and her former doctoral student Emily Friedman—point to Looser’s knack for transforming her interests into excellence.

“There’s this world-renowned academic and also someone who plays roller derby and excels at it. She is an incredibly generous friend and an amazing wife and mother,” Carr said, referring to Looser’s sons and husband George Justice, a fellow Austen scholar and British literature professor at Arizona State University.

“I learned a lot from Devoney’s incredible work ethic and her generosity toward her students and toward other scholars,” added Rehbein, who appreciates Looser’s influence both in and beyond the classroom.

The same is true for Friedman, who has also worked on Austen scholarship and now serves as a professor of English at Auburn University. Friedman observed Looser’s simultaneous commitment to hard work and a rewarding life outside of it, and how “she keeps them dancing rather than in conflict and fighting.”

Like Jane Austen and many icons before her, Looser will maneuver past any limitations in her path.

“She’s the hardest worker I know,” said Friedman. “I’m just trying to skate in her tracks.”

Looser’s next book topic: Roller Derby

“Roller derby got its start in the United States in 1935. It included male and female athletes of many ages. It was multiracial: it was gay-lesbian inclusive. We’re so quick in American culture to talk about baseball, basketball, football. I think roller derby has had a similar kind of impact.” — Devoney Looser

The first time Looser played roller derby: ” I was worried that I was too old,” Looser remembered. ” It was terrifying: What am I even doing here, doing something where I could get my teeth knocked out?”

Photos by Deanna Dent, Arizona State University

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Thinking from a student perspective, she understands the intense obligations today’s students face and, with her colleagues, implemented a series of changes to make it possible for students from all backgrounds and enrolled in any major to participate in Augsburg’s theatrical productions despite family or work commitments.

As a faculty member, Engen observed that faculty in the arts sometimes struggled to receive appropriate credit for their artistic and scholarly work, so she advocated for revisions to promotion and tenure guidelines to address the issue.

Now, she’s been asked to call on those twin perspectives in a new leadership role: helping to guide the commemoration of Augsburg’s sesquicentennial during the 2019–20 academic year. In a recent interview, Engen shared her views on the university’s 150th anniversary, the important contributions faculty will make in commemorating the occasion, and what makes Augsburg unique in American higher education. “One of the things I love about Augsburg is that we are more like the real world than other colleges and universities. The needs of the real world around us are present in everything we do.”

You are a co-chair of the sesquicentennial committee. What do you hope this milestone will do for Augsburg? 

I hope that it gives us a moment in time to understand our past, mark where we are now, and look forward. It’s an opportunity for us to appreciate those who came before us, what we’re doing in the present, and those who will inevitably follow after us.

What does this occasion mean to you as both an alumna and a faculty member?

In our costume shop, there are boxes and boxes that say things like “summer hats.” Those labels were handwritten by my professor, Ailene Cole, the former chair of the theater department, before she retired in her 80s. When I’m in the costume shop and see her handwriting, I’m reminded of her and what she did for me and all her students. That inspires me to do the same for my students. As a former chair myself, now, I am part of a legacy, which gives me a lot of satisfaction. I’m aware that all of us, chairs and faculty, are so privileged to be able to create an atmosphere where our students can thrive as artists. I keep the past with me as I try to carve out paths for the future with my students.

How are faculty members going to be involved in marking this significant moment in the life of the institution?

I’m very grateful that we were able to make resources available for faculty to create scholarly projects that reflect sesquicentennial themes. The support opens the door for these scholarly projects, whether they be permanent works or ephemeral experiences, to be installed or occur during our yearlong celebration. They will honor and mark the 150th anniversary and also give faculty the opportunity to expand the good work they do, which is ultimately to support our students.

I understand that the number of proposals for faculty sesquicentennial projects exceeded your expectations. What does that enthusiasm say to you?

It was amazing to get all the proposals for such thoughtful projects. It goes to show you that we faculty members all have in us, no matter how busy our days can sometimes be, a great love for this institution.

What kinds of projects are faculty members working on, and what are they trying to achieve?

There’s so much incredible work being done, but I’ll offer a few examples to give you an idea of the scope of the effort.

, assistant professor of music, is working on an original musical—with original music—about Augsburg, embracing both the rocky and exceptional moments in our history. Her team is interviewing as many people as possible and conducting story circles where students, staff, alumni, and friends can share their Augsburg experiences to inform the production.

, assistant professor of computer science, is building an app for exploring Augsburg’s campus now and at various points in history via augmented or virtual reality. The idea is that if you’re on campus, you can look around through your phone and see what a particular part of campus looked like at another time. And if you’re not here, you can virtually explore those same environments. We’re hoping to create online experiences that capture as much of the art and activity and scholarship happening on campus that year as possible.

As Augsburg prepares to commemorate 150 years, what stands out for you?

I’ve toured a lot of colleges; I’ve taught at two other universities. One of the things I love about Augsburg is that we are more like the real world than other colleges and universities. The needs of the real world around us are present in everything we do.

Augsburg’s plans to celebrate the sesquicentennial are developing, and updates will be posted at .

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And he discovered a passion for space physics. Beyene’s research, which was funded by Dean ’91 and Amy Sundquist his first summer and TRIO McNair Scholars for the second, helped him stand out in national scholarship competitions. The following year, he was awarded a Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious national program that provides financial support to undergraduates who show the promise of becoming leading scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Then, Beyene’s Augsburg advisors helped him successfully apply for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, providing him with more than $100,000 for graduate school.

Now a Ph.D. student in space physics at UCLA, Beyene credits his Augsburg undergraduate research experience with getting him where he is today. “You don’t see the level of personal coaching at other schools like you do at Augsburg,” he said. “I really appreciate that about Augsburg.”

Augsburg’s undergraduate research opportunities are paying off for students like Beyene, who compete alongside the nation’s top students to land high-profile fellowships, internships, and scholarships as well as selection to highly competitive graduate programs.

In fact, Augsburg had a banner year in 2017–18, with a record number of students earning prestigious awards and fellowships.

Here are some highlights:

• Augsburg had six Fulbright winners named this past year and has been listed five times in The Chronicle of Higher Education as a top producer of Fulbrights for master’s level institutions. The previous single year record for Augsburg was four. Since 2008, Augsburg’s Fulbright winners total 29.
• An Augsburg student was one of just four Minnesota recipients of the Goldwater Scholarship last year. Out of 1,280 applicants nationwide, 211 were named.
• Three Auggies were Critical Language Scholarship winners in the first year that Augsburg undergraduates pursued this fellowship. Only 10 percent of applicants nationwide receive this award. Two of the students were selected to study Swahili in Tanzania; the third, to study Mandarin in Taiwan.
• Another two Auggies were Public Policy and International Affairs Program winners. Only 20 percent of applicants nationally are accepted into this program. One of the Augsburg winners studied at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. The other student spent seven weeks at University of California—Berkeley in a law-focused program.
• For the first time ever, an Augsburg student won a Boren Award, which honors undergraduates studying language in areas underrepresented in study abroad programs. The Auggie, who studied Swahili at the University of Florida this past summer, is continuing to study the language and culture in Tanzania this semester. He will commit to one year of paid federal government service after graduation.

Many of these accomplishments are the result of Augsburg’s decade-plus commitment to providing undergraduate research opportunities for students. Two programs are responsible for much of this success: the and the .

URGO, now in its 14th year, offers an 11-week, on-campus, faculty-led undergraduate research experience with 50 students each summer. Students receive support throughout the research process from a faculty mentor, participate in weekly seminars, and engage in roundtable discussions with fellow student researchers to hone their communication skills. URGO also advises students about national fellowships, graduate school, medical school, and other health sciences.

The McNair Scholars program is a federally funded program designed to prepare students from groups currently underrepresented in graduate school for doctoral studies to some of the most competitive institutions in the U.S. The program currently serves 26 students a year and includes 21 months of graduate school preparation workshops, travel to national research conferences, and hands-on scholarly research projects with faculty mentors.

Through these programs, talented Augsburg students are earning prestigious national opportunities that they otherwise may not even have known about. “Many [of the students] who win awards and fellowships had never even heard the word ‘Fulbright’ before they were in this program,” said Dixie Shafer, URGO director.

When students start their first summer research experience, Shafer said, they’re looking around wondering how they got selected. “You can tell they’re a little bit nervous,” she said. “By the end, when they’re giving oral presentations and submitting projects, they’re the experts in the room. Their level of confidence has grown.”

Students agree that they gain key skills from research and writing in partnership with faculty members, presenting their work at conferences, and receiving hands-on guidance from advisors about how to translate those experiences into top fellowships, internships, scholarships, and graduate programs. And they often go on to other off-campus research experiences to expand their curricula vitae.

Blair Stewig ’18, currently a Fulbright scholar in Poland, first did summertime research at Augsburg in a biophysics lab. She successfully applied for an Augsburg grant to do research while canoeing the Mississippi River during the 2015 River Semester experience, then did summer research with the Minnesota Lupus Foundation at the Mayo Clinic. The next summer, she conducted cancer research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Currently, Stewig is conducting research on colorectal cancer at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Poland and will shadow physicians and volunteer at the Maria Skłodowska Curie Memorial Cancer Centre.

“Without my research experience and the support of staff and faculty at Augsburg, I don’t think I would have had the confidence to apply for the larger competitive research experiences,” said Stewig, who plans to apply for combined M.D./Ph.D. programs in the future.

Similarly, two months into her first year at Augsburg, biology major Vision Bagonza ’17 regularly started visiting the URGO office and mapping her trajectory to medical school. “They were with me every step of the way,” she said. In her first summer research project, Bagonza worked on genomics research with Associate Professor and Biology Department Chair Matthew Beckman. “That was instrumental to my understanding of what was going on throughout the field,” she said.

The following summer, she researched biomedical ethics at Mayo Clinic, and she spent her third summer researching malaria at Johns Hopkins. These experiences set the stage for her participation in the Mayo Innovation Scholars program, where she learned about the complexities of the FDA approval process when bringing innovation to market. Finally, Bagonza was awarded a full scholarship to the Cleveland Clinic Lerner School of Medicine after working closely with three URGO advisors on her medical school applications.

“It was almost like they knew more about my story than I did,” Bagonza said.

Shafer sees this type of faculty and staff interaction with students as a key part of helping students evolve. “Faculty and staff believe in students and then the students start believing in themselves,” she said.

Fourth-year biology major Holly Kundel ’19 chose Augsburg after meeting faculty on a campus tour and learning that she would be able to do research directly with them.

The summer after her first year, Kundel began her paid research on the rare Spatterdock Darner dragonfly in Twin Cities area wetlands. Kundel, who loves being outdoors during Minnesota summers, was drawn to the project after approaching Biology and Environmental Studies Assistant Professor Emily Schilling and learning that the research entailed doing fieldwork.

Since then, Kundel has received other grants to support her research with Schilling. “It’s nice to work with a faculty member who knows exactly what my strengths and weaknesses are,” Kundel said.

This year, Kundel received a Goldwater Scholarship, providing tuition assistance for her fourth year at Augsburg, and the associated prestige is expected to set her apart in her applications for doctoral programs in freshwater ecology. “I wouldn’t be applying to the graduate programs I am this fall if I hadn’t done this research at Augsburg,” Kundel said.

While many in the URGO Summer Research Program are science majors, other disciplines are represented as well.

English literature major Abigail Tetzlaff ’18 studied patterns in language and rhetorical uses in poetry and prose. Currently a Fulbright Fellow in Berlin, she is an English teaching assistant and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in English literature to ultimately become a university professor.

“Especially for undergraduates studying within the humanities, it isn’t very common to come out of college with a research experience already complete,” Tetzlaff said.

For Beyene, if not for the direct support from faculty and his McNair Scholars and URGO advisors, he wouldn’t have considered himself graduate school material. “Being at UCLA now, I realize how fortunate I was to have programs like McNair and URGO,” he said.

[Top image]: Undergraduate research boosts the resumes of Auggies like Holly Kundel ’19, who looked for a rare dragonfly in Twin Cities area wetlands.

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Dozens of buses en route from 25 Minnesota school districts pause on 23rd Avenue to unload hundreds of students in grades three through six at the Augsburg University Air Structure (aka the Augsburg Dome). The air lock opens, and grinning youngsters wheel, walk, and run into the 360-by-216-by-63-foot inflatable bubble lined with activities to exercise their cognitive, emotional, and physical muscles.

Augsburg has held this one-day Sports Extravaganza for nearly 20 Novembers. Do the math: that’s more than 4,000 children, teachers, and paraprofessionals who have visited campus, and two decades of Auggies who have applied their health, physical education, and exercise science coursework to the field.

HPE instructor said the event wouldn’t have started without the dome. “Imagine funneling hundreds of kids with mental and/or physical disabilities into Si Melby Hall via untold batches of elevator trips,” she said. “Without the air structure, this dual community engagement and learning opportunity would have never taken off.

“Every year, teachers tell us that students ask about the event from the first day of classes, and we see that excitement as kids meet others and participate in activities they might have assumed were inaccessible to them.”

AN EXPANSIVE GATHERING PLACE

Sports Extravaganza is one of several community events squeezed into the dome between softball and lacrosse games and practices for baseball, track and field, golf, soccer, and football. Physical education classes, intramural activities, alumni events, and more also vie for the space, which features four batting cages, a driving range net, and four soccer goals.

About 35 campus and community groups schedule the space each year, according to Greg Holker, the men’s soccer head coach, who helps manage dome schedules as part of his dual role as athletic facilities assistant manager. Thousands of people use the dome for a total of about 3,000 hours during any given year.

“Regular users include our sports teams, HPE classes, camps, the Minneapolis United Soccer Club, and other prominent academies and associations,” he added. “During Super Bowl LII this year, a large corporation hosted a Punt, Pass, and Kick Competition, and the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee fi lmed a commercial in the space.”

Each November, more than 500 student-athletes join coaches, staff, and administrators to erect the weather-proof structure. It’s a Herculean effort that illustrates the university’s cooperative, all-in attitude, according to Athletic Director Jeff Swenson ’79. Come May, after 12-hour weekdays and about 18-hour weekend days, the dome is put away in about three hours, again by a campus-wide team. Swenson said the dome has substantially increased Augsburg’s workout space.

“Nobody appreciates the air structure more than our spring sports,” Swenson said. “Access to a climate-controlled regulation fi eld in our backyard gets them in the game earlier in the season without interruptions due to weather.”

The university also is able to offer physical education classes, including golf and soccer, in the spring. Eric Rolland ’97, men’s and women’s golf head coach, said without the dome, spring offerings would be limited to indoor activities like bowling. And while Rolland enjoys throwing a strike as much as the best of them, the former All-American golfer said he has enjoyed the ability to teach golf throughout the year.

“It’s a lifelong sport that can enhance your career, given that so many business meetings occur on the golf course,” said Rolland, who has taught golf classes for the past fi ve years. “Students make lasting friendships, too, as the dome transforms into a giant driving range where students visit as they perfect their swings.”

“In 1993, the original Augsburg Dome was installed as one of the first inflatable air structures operating in the Midwest region. In the summer of 2004, the university installed Sprinturf, which looks, feels and plays like natural grass, but it is safer and far more durable than older-style artificial-turf surfaces. A new state-of-the-art bubble was installed in the fall of 2006 with hanging lights, creating a more spacious and well-lit facility.” — David St. Aubin, athletic facilities director.

THE DOME ‘SAVED OUR SEASON’

Talk of spring takes Softball Head Coach Melissa Lee ’04 back to April, when the Twin Cities experienced its snowiest and fourth-coldest April on record, according to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which reported 26.1 inches of the white stuff and an average high of 47.4 degrees.

“It was the winter that would never end,” said Lee, who is in her 15th season on Augsburg’s coaching staff. “Other teams in our conference have to rent out dome space or practice on hard gym floors incapable of mimicking competition, so when the weather is bad, those players may catch—or try to catch—their first deep pop fly of the season during a game. We made the playoffs last year, and I believe the dome contributed to that success.”

Then-senior-outfielder Katie Parker ’18 was among the Augsburg softball players who spent the majority of the 2018 season under the dome. Playing inside requires adjustment, she said, with rules against catching deflected balls (to avoid injuries), turf vs. dirt, and many lights, rather than the sun’s sole beam. But the snowy season didn’t faze the native of Lakeville, Minnesota.

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A group of 15 Augsburg University students, two professors, and two guides departed August 24 in 24-foot voyageur canoes to spend the semester studying, researching, and living on the Mississippi River. The students and their guides are traveling nearly 1,000 miles, making stops to camp at several locations.

The River Semester, led by Associate Professor of Political Science , is a unique 100-day, hands-on, interdisciplinary program. Students earn 16 credits studying biology, environmental science, health and physical education, and political science. This is Augsburg’s second time conducting the program; the first was in 2015.

Experiential education is a trademark of students’ Augsburg experiences. “We do this because we think this is the best way to learn both about the Mississippi River and about what’s going on out in the world,” Underhill said. Students return to the Twin Cities on December 1.

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I invite members of our theater faculty and local improv performers to come to class to help us understand why improv is so important to places like Chicago (think Second City) and Minneapolis (think Dudley Riggs’ Brave New Workshop). Then the fun begins.

The improv artists invite us to the front of the classroom where we are taught some basic improv skills. Embarrassment aside, these sessions are full of life lessons. My favorite exercise goes like this: one student makes a statement related to an assigned topic. Perhaps the topic is the weather, and the student proclaims, “Wow, is it hot.” The next student then answers, “Yes, and … I’m sweating like a faucet.” The next student continues, “Yes, and … my faucets often leak.”

You get the point. No one is allowed to say “No” or even “Yes, but … ”—it’s always “Yes, and … .” That’s how improv works, and I believe that’s how Augsburg works when we are at our best.

We live in a “No” and “Yes, but … ” world—a world of scarcity that keeps us from risking ourselves in relation to others. Improv teaches us the way of abundance, a way that finds we are better together. “Yes, and … ” builds upon the gifts of others to help us live healthier, more just and compassionate lives together.

The anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson offers this helpful word: “Improvisation and new learning are not private processes; they are shared with others at every age. We are called to join in a dance whose steps must be learned along the way, so it is important to attend and respond.”

This issue of Augsburg Now is full of stories of “Yes, and … ”—including highlights of our planning for next year’s sesquicentennial celebration, Augsburg’s 150th anniversary. What a grand celebration it will be, as we recall the abundance of our founding in 1869, the decades of educating students for lives of meaning and purpose, and the promise of Augsburg’s mission in the years ahead.

Yes, and … it will be good!

Faithfully yours,

, President

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Augsburg University dedicated the press box at Edor Nelson Field in honor of the late during the Auggie football team’s home opener this fall. Augsburg’s campus pastor from 1983 to 2013, Wold died April 21 at age 72. In addition to his service to the Augsburg community as a faith leader, Wold was a constant presence in the Augsburg athletics community, serving as public address announcer for football, men’s basketball, and wrestling home competitions, along with events in many other sports. The breadth of Wold’s pastoral care supported generations of Auggies, and he is beloved by alumni and Augsburg community members around the world.

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[Top image]: Augsburg’s press box, completed in 2008, was made possible by gifts from Oliver Dahl ’45, John ’36 and Christine Haalan, E. Milton “Milt” Kleven ’46, Glen Person ’47, President Paul C. Pribbenow, Dick “Pork Chop” Thompson ’61, and Gunner and Mary Wick.

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