“I already feel bad for my future children,” joked Bel Snyder ’23. “They are going to have to hear the story of Minnesota’s only collegiate women’s wrestling team over and over again.”

Snyder is one of 10 women wrestlers who made history at Augsburg during the 2019–20 academic year—a quarter century after the university founded the NCAA’s first women’s hockey team in the Midwest, followed by Minnesota’s first varsity women’s lacrosse team in 2014. That pioneering spirit drew Snyder to Augsburg, which received a Breaking Barriers Award in February at Minnesota’s National Girls and Women in Sports Day event at the Minnesota History Center.

“I have never felt such close bonds or such support,” added Snyder, who’s an elementary education transfer student. “I am going to bleed maroon and gray for the rest of my life.”

Green but Great

It’s a young team with seven first-year and three transfer students who had never wrestled for an all- woman team until now. The roster includes some of the nation’s top competitors, including Emily Shilson ’23, who’s considered the top woman recruit in the country by some wrestling news outlets. The 19-year-old finance student qualified to wrestle for a spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (which have been rescheduled for 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

How did a budding team recruit such champions? Meet Women’s Wrestling Head Coach Max Mejia, a former Harvard wrestler who became a women’s and skills coach for Arizona’s Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club, which produced 55 Olympic medalists in both men’s and women’s wrestling.

“In wrestling, you can control your destiny more than other sports. It’s not about height or speed. Champions have mental toughness, diligence for detail, and a hunger to win,” he said. “My goal is to produce the best women leaders in the world. When they graduate, I want them to understand how these traits convert to success in the real world. And I want the employers to gobble them up because they recognize what comes from that level of leadership, dedication, and grit,” he said.

Mejia focuses on process, knowing results will follow. He seeks to understand each athletes’ hopes and motivations so he can help them play to their strengths for both athletics and career success.��Mejia empowers each wrestler to set her own goals: “I know I have the discipline to do anything I put my mind to, and I’ll have a great mindset while doing it,” said kinesiology major Savannah Vold ’22.

“He doesn’t see us as we are but as we could be,” said Vayle-rae Baker ’23, who ranks at the top of her weight class. “Then he pushes us through self-doubt or��whatever is holding us back. I take more risks, and I’m seeing the rewards.”

Those strengths are showing. With an overall record of 4-2, Auggie Women’s Wrestling ranked among the top��10 programs in the NCAA as the team headed into the inaugural Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships in early March. Augsburg finished in ninth place as a team, while Shilson claimed the national title to close out her inaugural collegiate season.

NCAA Names Women’s Wrestling an ‘Emerging’ Sport

In January, NCAA Division II and Division III voted to add women’s wrestling to its list of Emerging Sports for Women; in June, Division I voted in agreement. The next milestone��for the wrestling community will be��to reach at least 40 NCAA-affiliated varsity women’s wrestling teams, which is required to achieve official NCAA Championship status. At present, about 35 NCAA schools support women’s wrestling teams.

Augsburg Athletic Director Jeff Swenson ’79 is optimistic. “We have no doubt women’s wrestling will build on our reputation as a ‘wrestling school,’ with our men’s team having secured its 13th national title in 2019.

“In 1995, Augsburg made history with the region’s first women’s ice hockey team, and now you’re unique if you don’t offer women’s hockey. Then in 2014, Augsburg started the NCAA’s first varsity women’s lacrosse team in Minnesota, and now, here we are with women’s wrestling,” he said. “Augsburg continues to be a pioneer for women’s athletics, and we’re invested in the success of women’s wrestling.”

Men’s Wrestling Co-Head Coach Jim Moulsoff is thrilled that Augsburg is creating opportunities for women to wrestle at the collegiate level. Girls’ wrestling is the fastest growing high school sport, according to the U.S. Wrestling Foundation, yet Minnesota and Wisconsin are among the 30 states that haven’t made girls’ wrestling an official sport.”

“For the past 18 years, I have helped out at junior freestyle summer trainings, and it’s been amazing to see the growth of women’s wrestling from no girls in attendance to hundreds each year,” said Moulsoff, the 2015 and 2019 National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III National Coach of the Year.

Team of ‘Firsts’ Mentors Young Girls

Members of the women’s wrestling team also are driven to share their knowledge and pave the way for the next generation of women wrestlers. Every one of the student-athletes has lived a first—the first girl on a high school’s wrestling team, the first match��a competitor forfeited because he “didn’t want to wrestle a girl,” the first time she saw women’s wrestling at the Olympics (in 2004). They embrace the strength gained from those moments, but it is time for more women to have opportunities to wrestle.

Nine years ago, Minnesota USA Wrestling began hosting open gyms at Augsburg every Sunday, and��four girls attended the first session. Earlier this year, about 60 girls showed up every week, even with weekend tournaments pulling some away. Baker said she and her teammates consistently volunteered to coach and mentor the girls, who ranged from 6 to 18 years old.

“I started wrestling when I was 9, and I was the only girl on that team and the only girl on my middle and high school teams,” Baker said. “I look forward to coaching and connecting with the girls each week. My teammates and I want to show them they can do this, and show them there will be teams for them when they go to college.”

Chad Shilson ’93, women’s wrestling director and coach for Minnesota USA Wrestling, said lifelong friendships seem to emerge at every practice, as girls experience wrestling with those who are similar in strength, weight, flexibility, size, and goals. “They get to be the iron that sharpens other iron,” he said.

The result: some of the top women wrestlers in the country, if not the world, have come out of the open gyms—“hungry for the sport and everything it has to offer,” added Shilson, the father of top-ranked Augsburg wrestler, Emily Shilson.

Coach Mejia hopes to collaborate with USA Wrestling and other organizations to offer even more camps and open gyms (when it’s safe and appropriate for public health regarding the coronavirus) for the estimated 300 girls who are wrestling at some level in the state. When they graduate from high school, Mejia said, “I want them to have no doubt that Augsburg is the place to be.”

‘We Keep Playing. … We Persist’

Word has gotten out. Alumni and friends of the university are tweeting their praises and sharing news coverage of the historic team. Children’s book author and public speaker, Shelly Boyum-Breen ’97, said the university’s investment in women’s wrestling is also an investment in girls and women in general.

“I was fortunate to be at Augsburg when women’s hockey started, and I saw lives changing before my eyes. I��know firsthand the impact that��continues to make on those��women’s lives,” said Boyum-��Breen, who taught physical��education and coached��women’s basketball at Augsburg. “When we invest in women and our diverse communities, we invest in what’s possible. We have to show it in action through media coverage. Kids��need to hear these stories—boys and girls.

“Look at the decision-makers, the percentages of coaches,��the funding gaps, and the near media blackout of women’s professional and collegiate sports. And yet, we keep playing. And people keep watching. Because of the support that��exists, we persist,” said Boyum-Breen, who also established grants to pay sports fees and equipment costs that functioned as barriers to participation for some Minnesota girls.

Augsburg women’s hockey coaches know better than most the kind of��investment and persistent leadership required to create and sustain a vibrant women’s athletics program.

“To be a leader—it’s scary,” said founding Women’s Hockey Head Coach Jill Pohtilla. “I’ve seen Augsburg, time and time again, make bold moves based on what makes sense and what is right,” said Pohtilla, who was inducted into the Women’s Hockey Association of Minnesota Hall of Fame in 2006.

The women’s wrestling program has made an immediate impact in the Athletics Department and has increased expectations for success, said Michelle McAteer, Augsburg’s women’s hockey head coach.

“Coach Mejia was able to bring in a large and talented class for the inaugural season, and it’s clear how skilled, determined, and committed these women are,” she said. “They are representing Augsburg and our Athletics Department with great pride, and growing the profile of their sport at the same time.

“They are making history, living history,” McAteer added. “It’s a special team doing very special things.”

A Brief History of Women’s Athletics at Augsburg

1922

Women’s basketball team assembles. Beginning in 1950, they earn a record of 125-5 over 15 seasons.

1972

Title IX mandates equal opportunities in education, allowing women to participate on high school and college athletic teams. Augsburg basketball, gymnastics, tennis, and volleyball record their official inaugural varsity seasons in the Title IX era.

1974

Softball is added as a varsity sport.

1975

Women’s track and field is added as a varsity sport.

1985

Women’s soccer becomes a varsity sport.

1991

Women’s cross country program begins.

1995

Augsburg establishes the first varsity women’s hockey team in the Upper Midwest.

2003

Swimming and diving program begins.

2014

Augsburg establishes the first varsity women’s lacrosse team in Minnesota.

2019

Augsburg launches the only varsity intercollegiate women’s wrestling team in Minnesota.

The post How to Build a Women’s Wrestling Program from Scratch appeared first on Augsburg Now.

A crime is committed. An eyewitness identifies a suspect in the lineup. The suspect is prosecuted and relegated to years of incarceration. Justice is served … until DNA evidence exonerates the suspect.

Augsburg University Professor of Psychology Nancy Steblay believes these crucial questions deserve answers: How reliable is eyewitness identification,��and how trustworthy are the law enforcement procedures that collect eyewitness evidence?

“I was trained as a social psychologist. As I was teaching after graduate school, I saw��that many of the principles I’d learned about social psychology and experimental methods really applied to this area of psychology��and law,” said Steblay, who is entering retirement after 32��years at Augsburg. “What became interesting to me are principles through which we could change the justice system.”

Activists and community leaders in the United States have long decried the injustices of racial discrimination and violence perpetuated in the criminal justice system. More than six years��before Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, prompting a growing number of citizens and leaders to call for greater accountability for law enforcement officers—with some calling into question the legitimacy of police policies and even police presence as a whole—Steblay and her team collected data, evaluated methods, and drew scientific conclusions about a specific mechanism within the��law enforcement system that many believe is, at the very least, in desperate need of reform.

That component of the justice system is the police practice of lineups: a law enforcement process designed to confirm an eyewitness’s identification of a criminal suspect among a lineup of several people with similar appearance, build, and height as the suspect. However, this process is far from flawless.

Mistaken eyewitness identification is observed in��seven of every 10 cases when the true identity of the criminal is revealed by forensic DNA testing, said Gary Wells, an Iowa State University psychology professor who collaborated with Steblay.��“It’s a national problem and has major implications for our criminal justice system and our belief in the reliability of that system.”

Real People in Real Cases

Eyewitness identification of criminal perpetrators is a staple form of evidence in courts of law.

“Think of eyewitness memory like trace evidence, such as blood, gunshot residue, or other physical evidence,” Steblay said. “You don’t want to contaminate it.”

Steblay, along with Wells, is among the top national experts in eyewitness identification. As an experimental social psychologist who has conducted research on eyewitness memory, police procedures, and eyewitness evidence for 30 years, she is often called upon by defense attorneys to testify when they believe a suspect is being wrongly accused based on faulty identification.

Her ability to speak with authority on the subject has been reinforced��by her research findings. Assisted by Augsburg student researchers, Steblay and Wells led studies that, for the first time, sought to understand and predict eyewitness identification errors using actual lineups.

Before these studies, scientific psychology’s understanding of eyewitness identification accuracy was based almost exclusively on controlled laboratory studies that simulate eyewitness experiences.

Steblay and Wells were awarded a National Science Foundation grant to pursue a four-phase study from 2014-2018. The research followed up on their prior work, in which police lineups were presented to real eyewitnesses by detectives using laptop��computers with a software program developed specifically for the field experiment. Data was collected from 855 lineups in four cities: Austin, Texas; Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina; San Diego; and Tucson, Arizona.

The field data collected in these cities provided lineup photos and eyewitness identification decisions, investigator reports, and audiotapes of the verbal exchange between the lineup administrator and eyewitness during each lineup procedure. A startling discovery emerged from a pattern of cases when lineup administrators, who were also the case detectives, knew who the suspects were and behaved in a leading fashion with the eyewitnesses.

Learning From Lineups

Augsburg student researchers collected data and assessed 190��real lineups for fairness or bias. “It’s powerful to bring students into research by saying, ‘Here’s the problem of wrongful convictions, and let’s figure out how to solve them,’” Steblay said.

Psychology majors made up the research team at Augsburg, adding laboratory skills to what they learned in the classroom. Steblay and 27 student researchers conducted the first and second studies across multiple semesters.

Verbal exchanges between police lineup administrators and eyewitnesses to crimes were audio-recorded. There had never been an analysis of recorded verbal comments from actual witnesses because such recordings had never existed until this study.

The Augsburg students coded 102��audio transcripts to examine the association between witness comments and lineup selection, finding that an instant identification by an eyewitness was less likely to produce an error than when the witness was deliberative.

Natalie Johnson ’18, who’s pursuing a master’s degree in counseling psychology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, was one of the students who listened to police audiotapes and coded them based on whether the decision-making process was immediate or deliberative.

She and other students were startled��to realize that the police push for a conviction could, in some cases, influence how criminal cases are pursued.

“Doing the work on police lineups made me realize how flawed our system can be,” she said. “It made me realize our criminal justice has a long way to go.”

��Sean Adams ’17, who is currently a legal assistant, said he was shocked by how poorly some of the lineups were constructed.

The tests were designed to include fake witnesses, and these mock witnesses in Augsburg’s laboratory studies represented the worst possible scenario: a witness with no memory of the offender. Mock witnesses should not be able to pick the police suspect from ��a lineup at a rate higher than chance. “The worst lineup I saw had such a leading description that the [laboratory] witnesses picked the police suspect 80% of the time,” Adams said. “That should have statistically been less than 20% of the time.” Lineups should be constructed so that the suspect and the fillers (innocent people added to the lineup) match the suspect description.

Relevant Research

Along with stunning insights into eyewitness identification, these studies brought to light more questions worth exploring. The research resulted in 12 conference poster presentations involving 23 students, and it fostered two student honors projects and spinoff projects that are ongoing.

“It was time-consuming, but it was important. I think the student researchers had a sense of the importance,” Steblay said. “It was really fun to work with them. Their work enabled me to complete the project.”

Augsburg student researchers saw the subject material’s importance for effective law enforcement practices as well as its resonance with people beyond their research group. When Austin Conery ’17 began researching how to predict eyewitness identification errors, he discovered that his Augsburg University research project was a hot topic with friends and family.

“Every party or every family event, someone would ask what was going on at school, and��I could talk about the research for hours because it was so relevant,” Conery said.

Besides a view into a major criminal justice system issue, students said the research opportunity gave them practical experience.

Conery said the research gave him the confidence to read, understand, and apply studies in his current job as a site director at a children’s mental health provider, PrairieCare.��“It was a great way to implement the things I was learning in class,” he said. “It gave me the place to think critically in a controlled environment.”

As Adams considers his future work, he’s looking back to his time at Augsburg. “I’ve been thinking of what I enjoyed in college, and a lot of it was the work I did with Nancy,” he said.

Turning Research Findings into Practical Policies

Steblay’s influence may not make her a household name, but her research findings are being put to practical use in a variety of ways.

Minnesota judges view a webinar module she created, “Eyewitness Science: Protection and Evaluation of Eyewitness Identification Evidence,” as part of their judicial e-learning program. Steblay also published a chapter in the 2019 book, “Psychological Science and the Law.”

The findings of the research by Steblay, Wells, and Augsburg student researchers are leading to major reforms nationally. The best practices include critical stipulations: that lineups must be double-blind, meaning the administrating officer doesn’t know who the suspect is, and that the non-suspect fillers in the lineup must resemble the suspect and match the description of the offender that was provided by the eyewitness.

“There are hundreds of thousands of police officers who are using these eyewitness identification protocols that we didn’t use 20 years ago, and they don’t know Nancy Steblay’s name,” said William Brooks, a police chief in Norwood, Massachusetts.

Brooks travels the country training police on what he regards as groundbreaking science-backed best practices for lineups. “I don’t think there’s been as wide of an impact in other areas of investigation as in how we deal with eyewitness memory,” he said.

In mid-May, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed bipartisan legislation that requires uniform science-backed eyewitness identification practices for all law enforcement, which goes into effect in early 2021.

Still, the eyewitness identification best practices face resistance. “Some��of it is individual police jurisdictions just not wanting to be told how to do things,” Steblay said in an interview with Yahoo News. “Sometimes police��or prosecutors say they don’t want rules to be so rigid, because then if we just violate one of the rules, then that ruins our prosecution or we can’t catch the bad guys or whatever. So they feel like it’s undermining their ability to do the good job that they should do.

“I don’t see it that way,” Steblay said. “I just think these are not difficult changes.” Steblay views the recommended lineup reforms as a means to strengthen eyewitness evidence and reduce the likelihood of a mistaken identification.

The Innocence Project, a nonprofit founded in 1992 to exonerate the wrongly convicted through DNA testing, has worked to pass laws throughout the country that embrace the scientifically supported best practices advanced by Steblay and Wells.

“When we began our work, a handful of states had embraced best practices. Today more than half of the states in the country have adopted key eyewitness identification reforms,” said Rebecca Brown, the nonprofit’s policy director.

Steblay hopes more police departments will enact these reforms. “We have at least part of the answer to how police can reduce mistaken identification and wrongful convictions.”

Reforms in action

States where core eyewitness reforms have been implemented through legislation, court action, or substantial voluntary compliance:

via Innocence Project

 

The post Mistaken Identity: How Reliable is Eyewitness Identification? appeared first on Augsburg Now.

The post Commencement 2020 and One Day in May appeared first on Augsburg Now.

I am particularly struck by the claim made in that��centennial motto, and I wonder what it might mean��to explore how “Through truth to freedom” shapes our��teaching and learning community in the midst of these pandemic times.

In a recent presentation, Professor of Religion Mary��Lowe offered a provocative challenge when she asked us��what it might mean to educate our students for freedom.��What a countercultural notion! Educated for freedom from��ignorance, from oppression, from division and hatred and��violence. Educated for freedom to make the world more fair��and just and healthy, to be good neighbors, to take care of��creation. Educated for freedom for the sake of the world, for��the good of others, for the promise of wonder and creativity.

At Augsburg, the possibility of this education for freedom��is grounded in claims of truth. Above all, a theological��claim of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ—stated so��powerfully in that founding scriptural motto from the first��chapter of John’s gospel—a truth that makes all things��possible in our lives and work in the world. At the same��time, it’s the truth we find in our commitment to a liberal��arts education—to the belief in scientific knowledge, in��social analysis, in artistic expression, in cultural wisdom.��And finally, it’s the truth we find in the lived experiences of��our students and the communities from which they come,��truths that reside in rituals and traditions and practices that��invite us into worlds rich in knowledge and wonder.

“Through truth to freedom” strikes me as a compelling��response to this moment when we find ourselves living��at the intersection of three pandemics. The COVID-19��pandemic has disrupted all aspects of how we live and��work, and it has pointedly illustrated the tension between��public health and economic well-being. Following in the��wake of that pandemic, an economic pandemic threatens��our social fabric with massive unemployment and business��closures worldwide. And, most recently, the racial inequities��exacerbated by the senseless murder of George Floyd by��Minneapolis police officers—along with countless Black,��Indigenous, and other people of color who’ve experienced��similar racism and violence—have created a third pandemic��that threatens to tear our country apart. Surely this��uncharted intersection of crises presents unique challenges��for all of us as citizens, trying to imagine how we will��navigate to some as yet unknown future.

The question we will ask at Augsburg—a question at��the heart of our academic mission and our commitment��to social justice—is, “Where is the truth in the midst of��these pandemics?”

What is the truth about keeping each other healthy��in the face of a novel coronavirus? What is the truth in��an economy that, more and more, deepens remarkable��inequities What is the truth in centuries of systemic��racism and oppression? And the truths we will find, always��evolving and emerging and transforming, will free us for the��work we are called to do as “informed citizens, thoughtful��stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders”—Augsburg’s mission!

Let us go forward together into the next 150 years of��Augsburg’s life recommitted to education guided by the��belief that through truth there is indeed freedom. I can only��wonder what such a countercultural belief will mean for��stories yet to be told.

Stay strong, safe, and well.

Faithfully yours,

Paul C. Pribbenow, President

The post Notes from President Pribbenow: ‘Through Truth to Freedom’ appeared first on Augsburg Now.

Because we wanted to share these remarkable stories and Auggie accomplishments as soon as possible, our team decided to release this Spring–Summer 2020 issue in digital-only format, a first in the magazine’s history. You can also download the .

—John Weirick, editor

The post Editor’s Note: Augsburg Now’s First Digital-Only Issue appeared first on Augsburg Now.

WEB EXTRA: used to introduce Augsburg at the award ceremony.

The post Augsburg Wins Campus Compact Impact Award appeared first on Augsburg Now.

Hana Dinku

Q: Why was One Day in May such a pivotal moment for the Augsburg community in 1968?

A:��One Day in May forced Augsburg to recognize all the ways it had failed to live up to its mission and values. In the wake of Dr. Martin��Luther King Jr.’s assassination, higher education institutions across the country saw a wave of protests and a demand for structural change. One Day in May was Augsburg’s response to the moment. The community speakers, Augsburg students, staff, and faculty who participated shed light on systemic white supremacy in the Augsburg community and the nation. This public acknowledgment created a level of transparency and accountability that helped move Augsburg in the right direction.

Q: How did the reintroduction of One Day in May arise and become the theme of this year’s��commencement ceremony?

A:��When I started my job at Augsburg, one of my mentors, community elder Mahmoud El-Kati, told me the real history of Black folks at Augsburg. Elder Mahmoud was one of the community speakers at One Day in May and spent years working closely with the Pan-Afrikan Center. Very few people on campus knew about One Day in May and the contributions of Black students, staff, and faculty. After learning that Augsburg’s sesquicentennial book, “Hold Fast to What is Good,” didn’t mention it, I worked with other Augsburg leaders to make One Day in May the theme for the university’s 2020 MLK Day celebration. As more people heard the story and understood the significance of One Day in May, it took on a life of its own. Directors of International Student Services, LGBTQIA+ Student Services, and Multicultural Student Services worked with faculty member Leon Wang and the administration to build and promote a sesquicentennial campaign about One Day in May.

Q: What is one component of One Day in May that is especially relevant for our current social and��political environment?

��A: All aspects are relevant, but if I had to identify one particular component, it would be the demand to decolonize the curriculum at Augsburg. The Eurocentric core of the education system is the clearest example of how our institutions are embedded in white supremacist ideology. This is why we gathered this year to begin the creation of a Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies department.

Q: What do you hope is accomplished through the reintroduction of One Day in May?

A: My goal for this campaign was to help Black students understand and appreciate the battles fought by those who came before them. I want Black��students and other marginalized students to know that we are a part of Augsburg history; we are not guests at this institution. When the whole Augsburg community understands this, we will see the kind of institutional changes that marginalized students, staff, and faculty have demanded for years.

WEB EXTRA: Visit to see more ways Augsburg is building on the foundation of One Day in May.

The post On the Spot: Hana Dinku appeared first on Augsburg Now.

WEB EXTRA: Listen to the new season at augsburg.edu/podcast or in your podcast app.

The post The Augsburg Podcast: Season 3 appeared first on Augsburg Now.

The post The Art of Augsburg, 1950s to Today appeared first on Augsburg Now.

Augsburg, home of The Forum on Workplace Inclusion since last summer, is “proud to partner with the forum to help expand diversity, equity, and inclusion skills, so our students can fully participate and succeed in the workforce,” Pribbenow said.��The 32nd annual, three-day conference attracted more than 1,500 people from around the world and across sectors.

The Star Tribune recently published an article featuring Steve Humerickhouse, executive director of the forum, in which he explained the importance of creating safe places for difficult conversations.

The post President Paul Pribbenow shares Augsburg’s Story at the Forum on Workplace Inclusion appeared first on Augsburg Now.