Ramassamy, an international student from Paris, was assigned to choose an object from Augsburg’s permanent collection of art and complete a research project resulting in a final paper, a speech, an installation, and a curatorial file.

“Augsburg expects us to discover things. We are encouraged to make deep connections with people, to find new ways to problem-solve, to make a difference.”����—Indra Ramassamy ’17

Ramassamy was drawn to a print by Nilda Getty called “Psychic,” one work in a five-piece series titled, “Life Series.”

“What drew me to this print was a sort of ‘motion’ around a white circular shape—to me, it represented the moon,” Ramassamy said. “We can see six female figures around the shape, but there is a possibility that these female figures might actually be one person at different moments.”

A little persistence goes a long way

In researching the piece, Ramassamy found that biographical information about the artist was limited. She was, however, able to locate and contact an art gallery where Getty had once exhibited. The art gallery contacted Getty about Ramassamy’s inquiry, and within a week, they were speaking regularly on the phone for Ramassamy’s project. A few weeks later, Getty and her son, Leslie, contacted Ramassamy and invited her to Colorado, offering to fly her out so she could complete her assignment.

Ramassamy gladly accepted. “It was about a lot more than the paper,” she said. “Through phone conversations and an exchange of emails, I had already made a connection with Nilda and was beyond excited to meet her.”

Leaving a lasting legacy

A few weeks later, Ramassamy was on a flight from Minneapolis to Fort Collins, Colorado, for a 48-hour stay. While there, Ramassamy toured Getty’s studio, met Getty’s family, learned how to use metalsmithing tools, and studied Getty’s artwork—from silk prints to photographs, metalwork to jewelry. She also visited Colorado State University where Getty taught metalsmithing in the Art Department.

When Ramassamy asked Getty about “Psychic,” Getty said the white circle represented both the world and the universe. But the artist also explained that it doesn’t matter what she thinks of the piece. What is important to Getty is the viewer’s experience with the art and the relationship formed with it.

Ramassamy was inspired by Getty’s work, by her outlook on art and life, and by her warmth and spirit. “One of the sweetest things was when Nilda told me her ‘greatest works of art are her children’—and she also asked me a lot about my own mom,” Ramassamy said. “I believe Nilda’s legacy will be what her children go out into the world and achieve.”

An Augsburg education is shaped by its global settings

Ramassamy is grateful to Augsburg for the whole experience. “There’s a culture at Augsburg to go the full extent—do as much as you can,” she said. “Augsburg expects us to discover things. We are encouraged to make deep connections with people, to find new ways to problem-solve, to make a difference.”

And that’s exactly what Ramassamy did.

Fun facts about Augsburg’s permanent collection of art

MOST FAMOUS?
Andy Warhol’s “Liz”

LARGEST?
Henry Lande’s minimalist sculpture, 24 Elements, stands outside between Urness Tower and Christensen Center at 33 feet tall.

BEST-TRAVELED?
A photograph of Gerda Mortensen vanished from Mortensen Hall (more than once) and reappeared at St. Olaf College.

MOST GENEROUS DONORS?
Don and Dagny Padilla, avid art collectors, who gave dozens of pieces to Augsburg’s permanent collection of art, including Nilda Getty’s “Psychic.”

AVAILABLE IN TWO SIZES?
Jakob Fjelde’s life-size marble bust of Augsburg’s third president, Sven Oftedal, and Fjelde’s small-scale plaster copy, a recent gift from Melinda and Jim Kohrt.

The post Taking research on the road appeared first on Augsburg Now.

Although it’s not cooked in the traditional sense, the raw fish in ceviche goes through a chemical process that rearranges or “denatures” its proteins, much like what happens when meat or other protein is cooked with heat. The acid in citrus juice cures the raw fish, which makes it safer to eat.

This is just one of the fascinating processes students learn in one of Augsburg College’s popular physics courses: The Science of Food and Cooking, taught by Associate Professor Ben Stottrup.

Among other concepts, students in the course learn the fundamental physics and chemistry of materials science through hands-on preparation, like the phase change that occurs when spinning cotton candy and the Maillard reaction caused by searing a steak. They are taught the mechanical properties of ricotta cheese and the states of matter in a root beer float.

And the students love experimenting with various cuisine.

“My biggest takeaway from this class is that science is, in fact, present in everything in our daily lives,” said Cynthia Del Villar ’15, business administration and economics major. “Even eating is a daily reminder that food undergoes its own scientific transformation through cooking or even combining certain ingredients, like oil and vinegar.”

Del Villar took much away from the class—from learning how to prevent freezer burn to emulsifying a mayonnaise to gaining an understanding of heat transfer through a molten chocolate cake. But she also made a personal contribution to the course— her Mexican family’s traditional shrimp ceviche recipe for experimentation in the lab.

Restaurant reviews, cook-offs, and potlucks

But it’s not just the food that gets students engaged—Stottrup also introduces competition and community involvement. For example, while baking cupcakes, some groups are allowed the use of measuring devices while others are not. Or some use measurements based upon volume versus weight. This, of course, determines the outcome of each recipe.

At the end of each lab, guest judges from various departments on campus decide whose dish was most successful. The competition and participation of the wider campus community “creates an educational, memorable, and interactive experience,” Stottrup said.

Members of the greater Twin Cities restaurant scene also play an important role in the class. One requirement of the course is that students dine at one of three well-known Minneapolis restaurants and then write a restaurant review describing the materials science on their plate. Afterward, one chef from each restaurant comes to campus to participate in a panel discussion on the creativity and lifestyle of being a chef.*

Community members participate in these panel discussions each term, which range from local cooks revealing the process of handcrafting the perfect scoop of natural, organic ice cream to urban planners explaining sustainable food systems to entrepreneurs from the craft beer industry talking about the chemistry of brewing.

To wrap up the semester, the class participates in a “Minnesota potluck,” where each student makes a dish to share and describes the science behind it to their peers. These engaging, communal activities make science “fun and accessible to all students, not just science majors,” Stottrup said. He hopes the class helps students gain a new appreciation for science, as well as “for growing, preparing, cooking, and simply enjoying food.”

*SPECIAL THANKS to chefs Erick Harcey of Victory 44, Landon Schoenefeld of Haute Dish, and Karyn Tomlinson of Borough for lending their expertise to the course.

Shrimp ceviche for a crowd

“ This is a traditional family recipe from my parents’ home state of Nayarit, on Mexico’s west coast.”
– Cynthia Del Villar ’15

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds headless shrimp
• 10 medium limes
•10 medium tomatoes
• 4 large cucumbers
• 1 purple onion
• 8 small green serrano chili peppers
• 2 tablespoons salt
• Tortilla chips

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1. Cleanse shrimp in water, peel completely, and chop into half-inch pieces. Place in large bowl and set aside.
2. In a blender, combine lime juice and serrano chili peppers and blend until smooth. Pour over shrimp.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of salt to mixture and stir.
4. Cut onion into thin slices and add to shrimp. Allow mixture to sit for 20 minutes.
5. In the meantime, dice tomatoes and cucumbers into small cubes and add to shrimp.
6. Mix all ingredients well and salt to taste.
7. Serve with chips or tostadas.

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During her final semester at Augsburg, Kuoth Wiel ’13 landed her debut film role in “The Good Lie,” a drama that tells the story of a family-like group of Sudanese refugees who are offered shelter in the United States more than a decade after militia attacks in their home country left them orphaned and homeless.

While the characters themselves are fictional, the film is based on the experiences of thousands of real refugees—people sometimes dubbed the “Lost Boys of Sudan”—who immigrated to the U.S. in the thousands before Sept. 11 prompted authorities to suspend a resettlement program.

As People magazine suggests, Reese Witherspoon is the film’s biggest name, but the real stars of “The Good Lie” are her castmates.

In the movie, Wiel plays the character Abital, the 19-year-old sister of one of the Lost Boys. In reality, Wiel has personal ties to the conflict in Sudan. She was born in an Ethiopian refugee camp to Sudanese parents and lost her father at age 3 after he was killed while working as a United Nations medic in the Sudanese Civil War. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1998, spent her childhood in Faribault, Minn., and as a young adult moved to Minneapolis to attend Augsburg, study social psychology, and model part time.

Today, Wiel calls West Hollywood, Calif., home. She has appeared in more publications and on more television shows since the film’s release at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival than she can recall, and she’s driven to use her brush with stardom to serve her community and spread messages of hope and empowerment among people who have been displaced due to global conflict.

Auggies on and off campus have followed Wiel’s personal storyline since she earned her movie star status, so we’re delighted to share a brief reflection on Wiel’s experience in her own words.

Q&A: Meet Kuoth Wiel ’13

Not all students at Augsburg or anywhere else, for that matter, receive the opportunity to act in a feature film. How did this come about?

I have to give thanks to the power of social media. A friend of mine saw the opportunity to audition on his Facebook page and forwarded it to me. They were looking for Sudanese actors and actresses around the U.S. and around the world. I sent in my bio and then they sent me the script. I read it and fell in love. Then I sent in a video made on my MacBook of me going over my life; it was nothing professional. I didn’t hear back for a month, but [finally they said], “Okay, we want you to meet with the director.” A week later, I flew to Atlanta to rehearse with the cast, and that’s how it all began.

When you decided to say “yes,” sign your contract, pack your bags, and head off to Atlanta, what did people say?

I had already told my mother and my girlfriends. My mother—she was at first taken aback by it. She said, “Are you going to finish school? You only have one month left, so why are you going to leave school just like that?”

I felt like I gave it to a higher power; I can’t control this. Luckily, I was in a position where I had finished all my exams, and I had finished everything except for my final essays for my seminar class. I was very fortunate to be in the position…where my teachers were very excited for me and allowed me to Skype to stay on track.

Why do you think it was important for “The Good Lie” to cast Sudanese actors?

It is the experience of being in a war. My character and I had parallel worlds but lived in different times. She was a Lost Girl; I was never away from my parents in that sense, but we share the same story of going through this traumatic event and wanting to leave it.

In the film you play Abital, who you mentioned was a Lost Girl. How did she fit into the storyline?

Abital becomes a significant figure throughout the story in that [the Lost Boys] try to find her again because they are separated from her when they come to America.

How did the director or other members of the film crew help you get into character and deepen your understanding of this person?

It’s about knowing the background for each character; they made sure that we knew our story. The director really helped me in controlling my emotions and knowing when to remind me to call on my background as a refugee or recall something that I had lost in my life.

How did your own life experiences allow you to relate to the character?

It helped a lot. I mean the journey definitely put into perspective how far I have come from Sudan to Ethiopia and then to America. I didn’t remember it very well because I was a child, but now I know what this conflict was—it put into life the story of people who I can relate to.

What was a typical day like for you on the film set? Or, was every day completely different?

You’re given a different scene each day…sometimes you wake up as early as 4 a.m., and sometimes you don’t [wake up] until noon. And, so, it all depends on what time they want to shoot.

I’d wake up in the morning and then have a van come pick me up to go to set. Once you get there, they do the hair and makeup and the wardrobe and then, after that, you stay in your trailer until they come get you to do the scene.

Sometimes they give you a few hours [to] stay in your trailer and get into character. They didn’t want a lot of interaction with other actors there. It was important to make sure you just concentrate and get yourself physically and mentally ready for the next scene.

Did you feel that “The Good Lie” was a job, or did you think, “How could this possibly be work?”

For me, I felt like it was a job. Not a job in the sense where you show up and mechanically do things, but it was a job where you are responsible to give this character life like a real person. I felt like I owed that to this story. Sure, you get to meet cool people, but it was a responsibility for me to portray this person—to show the world how this person lived—and it was my responsibility to do it well.

The best-known actress in this film is Reese Witherspoon. Were you pinching yourself when you met Reese?

I love her. I think I was a little shocked. When you meet someone who you admire, it becomes a totally different experience. She was very nice, actually. She came and introduced herself to me, and we just talked. She’s very down to earth.

Is acting something you want to pursue in the long run? Can you tell me about your vision for the future?

I love it. Right now I’m exploring different realms of acting. I’m doing improv. I want to learn how to regulate my emotions in a better way so that I can do it in different scenes. I would really love to perfect [acting], that’s why I’m studying it in greater depth.

What has been the most surprising aspect of working on “The Good Lie?”

I would say the traveling. I traveled a lot. A lot. I literally lived in airports…I had to get used to adjusting to different situations and knowing what to bring, what not to bring, what to look out for, and stuff like that. And, when we went to South Africa, that was my first time back to Africa so that was a really good experience for me. I just felt that anywhere in Africa was home.

Things have been busy for you the past couple of months—to say the least—but what do you hope to achieve through your humanitarian work in the future?

Right now we are working on raising awareness. The producers have set up The Good Lie Fund, which you’ll find after the film—TheGoodLieFund.org. This raises money for people in the refugee camps right now. Our main priority is to raise money for aid. We’re also working with UNICEF. When we were in Nashville we sent a message for the kids who are [in refugee camps]. We talked about our own experience in the camps and tried to give people hope.

An Augsburg education emphasizes that vocation is not simply finding a job but, instead, using your passions and talents to serve the world. How has this experience shaped your calling in life?

I remember writing about that—initial thoughts on what I wanted to do—my senior year. I knew I wanted to give back to my community, but I also wanted to use [my vocation] as a message of empowerment for women because there are girls, like me, in refugee camps who probably don’t know that there’s a better life out there. I always tell people I came from a place where I thought there was nothing left. But, I’m here. So, for me, I think it’s to raise the message of hope for women.

The post Meet Kuoth Wiel appeared first on Augsburg Now.

Imagine it’s spring and you are at a site USA Today named as among the nation’s 10 greatest places in America to smell the flowers. You start to meander along a footpath that will lead you through a natural habitat of trees and ferns to rolling prairie and lowlands, all while birds sing after a long winter.

As you round the corner from the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s visitor center, you come across a small homesteader’s cabin. It’s nestled among the trees. A group of people, dressed as peasants from the 1800s, bicker with one another. You’ve just walked smack into the middle of the set of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen, being performed by students from Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

The site-specific performance—a production shaped by the unique place in which it is performed and that relies upon existing landscapes and features to serve as the stage and sets—was the first time the two schools collaborated and probably the first site-specific production of this scale for Twin Cities’ theatergoers.

“This adaptation demanded new partnerships between schools and with many theater artists—puppeteers, movement specialists, musicians, [and] fight choreographers. We pummeled students with new experiences and gave the audience a spectacular performance,” said Darcey Engen ’88, associate professor and chair of Augsburg’s Theater Arts program.

Collaborating with the University of Minnesota allowed Engen and her counterpart, Luverne Seifert ’83, to assemble the large cast required by the play: about 40 student actors in all. And the complexity of the script meant students would build new skills in collaboration, forge friendships, and nurture the beginnings of new professional networking relationships in the tightly connected world of Twin Cities theater.

“It seemed odd to Darcey and me that each night there were groups of students creating all of this amazing artistic energy, and they were only three blocks away from one another,” Seifert said. “We thought the universe might like them to meet. We wanted to see new alliances formed and to create more opportunities for artistic intersections because theater and artists are best served when more and more connections can be made.”

The staging of this classic Norwegian tale at a Minnesota landmark also was a testament to the academic excellence driven by Augsburg faculty and alumni who create multifaceted student-learning experiences.

“Faculty know that in order to develop students’ abilities to think critically and to solve problems—essential 21st-century skills—we need to expose them to hands-on opportunities to work together, to interact with people who think differently from themselves, and to provide time to reflect upon and voice what they learn,” Engen said.

Students co-create script

That multi-layered complexity drew students to the story. Boo Segersin ’15, an Augsburg theater major pursuing minors in musical theater and Norwegian, said she was drawn in by the density of Peer Gynt.

“I read the play over winter break and wondered how we could do it. It’s on mountains. It’s in mountains. There are trolls. Just the landscapes were a challenge in themselves,” Segersin said.

The students worked with Sarah Myers, Augsburg College assistant professor of theater arts, to adapt the script and halve the length of the play.

“I was nervous to work on the script, but one of the best parts was working—as a full cast—with Sarah to cut things down,” Segersin said. “We found the ‘red thread,’ the core storyline that runs through the script, and, with that, found our way.”

That thread allowed the students to take the play from the three-hour adaptation by famed Minnesota poet Robert Bly to a compact 90 minutes that was accessible to newcomers of all ages but that remained engaging and challenging for seasoned theatergoers. It’s quite a feat when one considers that Ibsen’s original was a hefty seven hours.

Navigating culture, cast, weather, and landscape

Wrestling with the script of the play—a story of loss due to procrastination and avoidance followed by redemption late in life—was just one of the challenges faced by students. They also had to identify features in the arboretum’s landscape that could serve as sets, deliver their lines in open-air scenes with acoustics affected by the landscape and ambient noises not usually present in a theater, and learn original music, all while getting to know the culture and student performers from another school.

Then there were the logistics for which no planning can be done.

“Because of the variables involved, site-specific theater provides attendees the chance to see what is a once-in-a-lifetime performance and to leave having been an active traveler in the play,” Engen said. “For performers, there’s a textured chaos that you can’t plan for and that forces you to think fast and improvise within boundaries. It leaves you exhausted and exhilarated at the end.”

Being faced with those challenges was just what Engen and Seifert wanted for students. The two worked closely to co-direct students in this first-ever collaboration between the schools.

“Students learned to perform to the moment at hand,” Engen said. “Sometimes that meant changing the energy and volume of lines to overcome wind or a noisy attendee. Other times it meant staying in character but improvising when a young child persisted in trying to break into the scene.”

Segersin said that it was a rewarding experience to work with peers from the University of Minnesota and to perform for the nearly 1,000 attendees who visited the arboretum for the production.

“This beautiful thing happened: We became a team,” Segersin said. “And now, sometimes, when I sleep, I dream about them.”

Building professional networks

The relationships and networks, though, extend beyond just the student peers at the two institutions. Engen used the production to help students connect with other theater professionals.

“Students built experience in creative problem-solving with some of the Twin Cities’ foremost theater professionals, including master puppeteers, musicians, and movement professionals,” Engen said. “It was a chance for students to explore the many ways to work in theater and to challenge themselves to meld these disciplines.”

Seifert added that making connections with artists across disciplines and fields is critical for the future of theater and the artists. 

“These students now can reach out to one another to collaborate on future projects,” he said. “This model allowed us to give students an understanding of how major companies in regional theater increasingly are combining resources to produce shows.”

That goal wasn’t lost on Segersin, who was invited to work as a summer intern with Sod House Theater, a production company founded by Engen and Seifert. 

“We’re still working out what it means. But I will have the chance to work with the performance of Peer Gynt at sites around the state, to meet professional Twin Cities’ actors and local actors, and to network,” Segersin said. 

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Trevor Rodriguez-Sotelo ’13 was the kid who was fascinated by anything with a steering wheel and motor. From a young age, instead of playing with Matchbox cars or Tonka trucks, he would tinker with real engines in his uncles’ garages.

Later, when Rodriguez-Sotelo enrolled at Augsburg College, he had a clear vision of his dream: to work as an engineer designing automobile—specifically BMW—engines. He knew entering this highly specialized field was going to be a challenge, but he soon learned that Augsburg faculty and staff were eager to help him achieve his dream.

During his first semester at the College, Rodriguez-Sotelo took Calculus Workshop, an elective course designed by Rebekah Dupont, the coordinator of an Augsburg program that seeks to increase the number of minority students who complete degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Rodriguez-Sotelo said Dupont helped prepare him for success in college-level mathematics courses, supporting him inside and outside the classroom. She recognized Rodriguez-Sotelo’s remarkable abilities and suggested that he take them to the next level through undergraduate research on campus, which he went on to conduct with Benjamin Stottrup, associate professor of physics.

“Trevor came with a dream, and he had to slog through my biophysics lab to get to that dream,” said Stottrup, who for two years advised Rodriguez-Sotelo in the use of scientific instruments to measure resistance to flow in biomaterials.

Rodriguez-Sotelo said he knew this research wasn’t linked perfectly to his automotive engineering interest, but would give him priceless experience. Part of Rodriguez-Sotelo’s on-campus research was made possible through Augsburg’s McNair Scholars Program, a federal grant-funded graduate school preparatory program to help ready underrepresented students for doctoral study.

“Stottrup stressed writing skills even though we’re in the sciences,” Rodriguez-Sotelo said. “This helps you become more articulate and allows you to present yourself better— those skills are applicable in my future.”

Rodriguez-Sotelo’s work on campus bolstered his off-campus research applications and opened the door to a prestigious summer automotive engineering position at Oakland University outside of Detroit, Mich.

In addition to conducting research on and off campus, Rodriguez-Sotelo was a member of the men’s track team, was president of Augsburg Latin American Students and of Augsburg’s Society of Physics Students chapter, mentored first-year STEM students, and more.

“I had the opportunity to do all the academic, cultural and social activities I liked,” he said. “I was able to do everything because of personal and academic support from faculty and staff. I followed their advice, and they put me on the right path.”

Rodriguez-Sotelo graduated last May, and in August took a step closer to achieving his goals by beginning a master’s degree program at the renowned Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research. He earned a competitive BMW fellowship, which will help fund his graduate studies and allow him to intern at BMW Manufacturing Co. next summer. He credits earning this award to his “whole body of work” at Augsburg.

“The beautiful thing about Augsburg is that faculty and staff pay attention to their students…they care what kind of person I am and where I go after Augsburg,” he said. “Since I was a little kid, I knew this was where I wanted to be, and now I’m here—an automotive engineer.”

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BY WENDI WHEELER ’06 AND STEPHANIE WEISS

When it came time for Janice Murphy Gladden ’14 to think about returning to college, she found herself taking advice from her college-aged daughter.

Several decades earlier, while studying at a junior college in Cupertino, Calif., she and Dan Gladden met. The two later would marry.

She would leave school to focus on being a wife and mother, and also would work to support the family. She would put on hold the education her father urged her to pursue while her husband developed his baseball-playing career, going from an amateur free agent to a major league star.

“It was one of those things where Dan had the opportunity,” she said. “Someone needed to work. It’s worked out really well, and we’ve been very fortunate.”

Dan would become a champion left- and center-fielder for the Minnesota Twins, a core part of the dream teams that propelled the Twins to victory in two World Series.

A couple of years ago, Gladden decided that the time was right for her to return to college to finish what she started some 30 years ago. She talked with and listened to one of her two daughters, Whitney Nicole Gladden ’12.

“My daughter had such a great experience at Augsburg,” Gladden said, “so she encouraged me to visit.”

Gladden met with an admissions counselor, and said she was hooked from the very beginning—even though the idea of again being in the classroom was daunting. Augsburg faculty and staff supported her and made easier her transition to life as a college student in communications studies, she said.

“I thought I’d be on my own, navigating this journey,” Gladden said. “But there are so many ways to access services and help and to be connected.

“I feel valued in class. My thoughts matter, my opinions matter,” she said. “As adult learners, we kick around our experiences, and I get to hear from people at Medtronic and Target and other places. I’m more well-rounded.”

In addition to benefiting from the experiences shared by her peers, Gladden said her Augsburg education has helped her develop valuable workplace tools including stronger interpersonal and nonverbal communication skills that she is using in her career. For 18 years, she has worked for Target Corp. in the financial and retail services division.

While Gladden chose on her own to return to college, she also said the decision was made easier because her company encourages employees to continue to develop and supports pursuit of education. But perhaps one of the biggest influences stretches back through the decades to her days as a child growing up in California.

“My father would be so proud, so proud I stuck to it, no matter my age,” she said. “Education was the biggest deal to him. It’s what I remember him emphasizing when I was little: ‘Education. Education. Education.’”

Gladden is less than a year away from finishing her undergraduate degree, and is thinking about what is next in her life. She said her positive experience at Augsburg has her pondering a graduate degree.

“I love Augsburg. I love the vibe. I like the peer networks. I like that it is small enough that even after 30 years I could  find a way to come back,” she said. “I’m thinking now about getting a master’s degree at Augsburg. I’d love to teach.”

The post Janice Murphy Gladden—an Auggie All-Star appeared first on Augsburg Now.

• Have a dream.
• Focus on key priorities.
• Recognize the importance of the team.
• Never give up.

These are the four life lessons Mike Good ’71 shared with Augsburg alumni at the Eye Opener breakfast in January, a talk that tied together key themes of Good’s journey to Augsburg and back again.

It started at Fridley High School where, Good said, his dream was to become a wrestling state champion. He posted a sign above his bedroom door—“SC” for “state champion”—to remind him every day of his goal and the importance of working toward it. In his senior year, his high school won the state championship as a team. Individually, though, Good lost in the semi-finals, ultimately placing third—a result that was critical to the overall team’s victory. Listening to Good recount the story, it’s clear that the team accomplishment is as important to him as any individual title might have been.

Have a dream. Focus on priorities. Recognize the importance of the team.

At Augsburg, Good said, he was passionate about racial justice and freedom from hunger. A sociology major and physical education minor, he also remained passionate about wrestling. His new goal: to be Augsburg’s first All-American wrestler.

Again, as Good recounted the outcomes of this dream, he not only reported his own success in winning an All-American title, but with equal relish named several of his teammates—Daryl Miller ’69, Ron Johnson ’72, Pat Marcy ’72—who also earned All-American titles during their time at Augsburg.

Dream. Focus. Team.

When Good got into real estate, he brought this same focus and drive to his leadership.

By 1998, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer for NRT Incorporated, responsible for the oversight of more than 1,000 offices nationally. Then, in 2004, when his parent company, Cendant Corporation, bought the rights to use the Sotheby’s brand, he was tapped to serve as chief executive officer of Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates, Inc.

No one ever had built a luxury real estate franchise before, Good said. So, early on, many of the premier independent real estate companies in the United States were not interested in joining Sotheby’s. Instead of worrying about that, Good focused his team on building a unique value proposition for Sotheby’s real estate, growing the franchise to 650 offices in 45 countries. In the end, many of those same independent real estate companies who said, “no thanks,” at the beginning, joined the Sotheby’s operation and, according to Good, dramatically grew their sales within the first few years of taking on the Sotheby’s name.

Focus on priorities. Recognize the importance of the team. Never give up.

This past January, Good retired from Sotheby’s and, with his wife, Ann, moved back to Minnesota. He also just completed four years as chair of the Augsburg College Board of Regents, where he has served since 2001. So now he has taken on a new challenge: serving as campaign chair of Augsburg’s capital campaign for the Center for Science, Business, and Religion. In his January talk, Good acknowledged that the campaign has moved forward more slowly than desired but, he said, “Nothing happens without belief.”

Today, Good has another sign above his door: “CSBR. Believe.”

Another dream, another focus. A team, Good said, that will include alumni and others who can and will make a significant impact on the College. And, even if it takes longer than expected, Good said, he is in this for the long haul.

“I believe in this college,” Good said. “I believe in what it does for young men and women, helping them grapple with the issues of today and come out as leaders.”

The post My Auggie experience: Mike Good ’71 appeared first on Augsburg Now.

On the first Saturday of the 2012 Weekend and Evening College (WEC) fall term, Tina Prchal seemed as excited and nervous about returning to college as you might expect a new student to be. Tina met with me on that first day of classes through Augsburg’s “Start” program, which helps new WEC students transition to Augsburg and provides WEC alumni an opportunity to help those new Auggies navigate their college experience.

At lunch in the Quad between Tina’s morning and afternoon classes, she talked about her first class—algebra. She said she loved her professor, but she was nervous about studying math after more than 20 years away from the subject. She also talked about her previous college experience, her current job, her family, her long commute to campus in the winter, and her career and educational goals.

As I listened to Tina, I remembered my own feelings about beginning classes at Augsburg in 2001. Like Tina, I looked forward to being a student again but was also anxious about getting good grades, balancing life and work obligations with schoolwork, making friends, and, frankly, being able to stick with the program in order to complete my degree. What I know now, and what I shared with Tina that day, was just how much support is available at Augsburg for all students.

For 30 years, students in Augsburg’s weekend and evening programs have achieved the goal of obtaining a degree through their own dedication and with the encouragement of staff and faculty. The Start program now gives WEC alumni an opportunity to join in to support students and help them achieve success at Augsburg.

So how is it going for Tina? After her first week, she said she felt less intimidated. “I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be successful in my classes, but seeing that other students felt the same way as I did gave me confidence,” she said. “I’m so very glad I transferred to Augsburg.”

Share your success with a new Auggie

If you are a WEC alum, you can help support a new adult undergraduate student through the Augsburg Start program. Contact Pat Grans in Alumni Relations at 612-330-1329 or gransp@augsburg.edu to volunteer for the upcoming winter or spring trimester.

The post Helping a new Auggie get started appeared first on Augsburg Now.

The Augsburg students teaching English in Thailand pose outside of the Wat Benchamabophit, a temple in Bangkok.

The Augsburg Choir U.S. Tour

The Augsburg Choir, under the direction of Peter Hendrickson ’76, toured the Midwest in May. With stops in Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming, the choir performed nine concerts and had opportunities to connect with potential Auggies and their families as well as alumni and friends of the College.

Teaching English in Thailand

This was the fifth year that English professor Kathy Swanson and her husband, Jack, took students to teach English in Thailand as part of a short-term study abroad course through the Center for Global Education. In addition to teaching for 10 days in the village of Prachuap Khirikhan, the students learned about Thai culture and history, sailed on the Gulf of Siam, rode elephants, and tried to stay cool in the 120-degree heat.

International Management and Finance in Germany

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

The group met for two weeks in Europe, visiting the European Parliament in Strasbourg and witnessing firsthand the financial crisis that was occurring 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.

Then, back 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.

Political and Civic Engagement in Egypt

Political science professor Joe Underhill and Mohamed Sallam, director of Pan-Afrikan student services at Augsburg, led students to Egypt in May to study youth movements and social change. The group visited cultural sites, villages, an ecotourism resort, and a Bedouin camp, observed the historic presidential election, and examined ongoing efforts to rebuild the country in the wake of the 2011 revolution. The combined political science and history course, Political and Civic Engagement in Egypt, was a faculty-led study abroad program coordinated through Augsburg’s Center for Global Education.

An excerpt from Underhill’s blog:

Election day is notable for its calm. Everyone is voting and waiting; my sense is that people are still feeling that they are in a dream, not sure that this can really be happening, and wondering if they will wake up in the morning to find the military back in power, or in fact with a leader they have chosen. The city is quieter than usual, less traffic and crowds, with people staying home to vote.

Read more of the for more about the elections, the extreme traffic in Cairo, and sharing a plane ride with former President Jimmy Carter.

Social Service in a Global Context: Namibia and the U.S.

During July, a group of 25 Master of Social Work (MSW) students studied in Namibia and South Africa accompanied by Lois Bosch, professor and MSW program director, and Nancy Rodenborg, associate professor and chair of the Social Work Department. The group visited social service agencies, hospitals, schools, and other venues.

Auggies abroad in 2012-13 (including summer 2012)

• 28 students participated in summer programs in Austria, Ecuador, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Namibia, Norway, Jamaica, Jordan, Spain, and the United Kingdom
• 41 students took part in summer short-term faculty-led programs including programs in Egypt, Germany, and Thailand
• 27 students will study abroad in fall semester
• 6 students will study abroad for the full 2012-13 academic year

The post Posts from the road: Summer travel 2012 appeared first on Augsburg Now.