It’s intimidating because no one before you has done what you are trying to do. There’s no road map to keep you on track.

But it’s also exhilarating to create the map for others and to leave an indelible mark on everything that follows.

“I am excited to be at the forefront of Augsburg College’s varsity women’s lacrosse team,” said Coach Kathryn Knippenberg. “I’m looking forward to building a team that knows winning is as much about team chemistry and bonds as it is about the stick.”

It’s not just that Knippenberg is Augsburg’s first women’s collegiate varsity lacrosse coach.

It’s bigger than that. Knippenberg is the first women’s collegiate varsity lacrosse coach at any college in Minnesota, and at the one that launched in 1995 the first women’s collegiate varsity hockey team.

“It’s an honor to help pioneer this great sport,” Knippenberg said. “Getting to lead at a place that believes in the value of women’s athletics is thrilling and challenging.”

Knippenberg, who as a student at the University of Minnesota was captain and president of the school’s club lacrosse team, said the commitment that Augsburg is making to lacrosse has significant meaning for student athletes.

“Auggie athletes won’t have to spend time like my college club team did on fundraising for equipment and travel. They won’t have to worry about budgets and scheduling practice and game time,” she said.

“They just have to show up, practice, and play hard. My job is about having things in place so our student athletes can improve their skills on the field, and to help make sure they stay on track and are achieving in the classroom.”

Jeff Swenson, athletic director for the College, said Knippenberg is accomplished in Minnesota’s fast-growing lacrosse community and that the players will benefit from her experience and leadership.

“Coach Knippenberg will lead us in realizing our goal of expanding opportunities for women, and continuing to prepare them for success beyond Augsburg,” Swenson said.

“These student athletes will develop their skills on the field, and carry into life and work valuable lessons about how to balance multiple priorities and to work as part of a diverse team.”

Knippenberg said her primary work now is focused on recruiting and preparing for the first sanctioned and regulated games scheduled for spring 2014.

“I hope the community comes out to watch our games. It’s fast paced and intense,” she said.

“Whether the team wins or loses, one thing is sure: Everyone in the stands will be part of something bigger. We’ll all be making history as Augsburg continues to blaze a new trail for women’s varsity athletics in Minnesota.”

Knippenberg has served as head lacrosse coach at Academy of Holy Angels since 2009, is cofounder and president of the North Central Women’s Lacrosse League, and works with Winning For Life, an organization that develops positive leadership and life skills through sports.

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On November 10, Augsburg celebrated 40 years of varsity women’s athletics and the 40th anniversary of the passage of Title IX. Lavonne (Mrs. Pete) Peterson ’50 and Joyce Pfaff ’65 were honored at the celebration with “One of Our Own” plaques for their contributions to Augsburg College and the Athletic Department. In addition, female athletes from each decade were chosen for All-decade Teams.

Peterson, an instructor, coach, and women’s physical education director, started the Auggiettes basketball team in 1950 and coached the team for 18 years, leading them to an incredible 154-6 record. Pfaff, an Augsburg coach, instructor, and director of women’s athletics, started several women’s teams after the passage of Title IX and served the College for 43 years.

Here we recognize a few of the leaders and milestones in women’s athletics at Augsburg. To read more about these women and others who contributed to the proud tradition of women’s athletics at Augsburg College, go to athletics.augsburg.edu.

Pre-Title IX

1951 – The Auggiettes basketball team, coached by Lavonne Peterson

1970s

1971 – In both the floor exercise and balance beam, gymnast Ann Knutson Brovold ’74 is the first Augsburg female athlete to compete in a post-season event — an Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Region 6 tournament.

1972 – Title IX is passed June 23, 1972.

1972-73 – Women’s varsity intercollegiate volleyball, gymnastics, and tennis are founded while basketball is restarted.

1974-75 – The volleyball team [left] places second in the Minnesota Associate for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) state tournament, qualifying to compete in the Region 6 AIAW tournament both years. The Auggies place fourth in the Region 6 tournament in 1974 and fifth in 1975.

1974-75 – Softball is added as a varsity sport.

1975-76 – Women’s track and field is added as a varsity sport.

1979 – The softball team [left] places second at the MAIAW state tournament.

1979-80 – Kathy Korum ’81 [right] is the first woman to play and letter on a men’s varsity team (golf).

1980s

1981-82 – The softball team qualifies for its first AIAW national tournament.

1982-83 – Augsburg joins the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).

1985 – Women’s soccer is added as a varsity sport.

1988 – Under coach Paul Grauer, the women’s track and field team earns a third place National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) team finish with Carolyn Ross Isaak ’89 [middle] and Melanie Herrera-Storlie ’88 [right].

1990s

1991 – Women’s cross country is reestablished as part of the varsity athletics program.

1995-96 – Augsburg established the first Midwest varsity women’s hockey team.

1999-00 – The women’s hockey team [right] is the Division III national tournament runner-up in the American Women’s College Hockey Alliance (AWCHA).

2000s

2003-04 – Augsburg establishes the swim and dive program.

2004-07 – Women’s soccer qualifies for the MIAC playoffs

2012 – Augsburg announces that it will establish the first varsity intercollegiate women’s lacrosse program in the state of Minnesota.

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These aspirations for our students require that all of us who are part of the Augsburg community consider how we model in our lives and work the core values embodied in these aspirations. In other words, we need to live what we teach!

This issue of Augsburg Now offers several examples of how we are seeking as a college community to live as thoughtful stewards.

You’ve read in past issues of this magazine the remarkable progress we have made as an institution in our commitment to environmental stewardship—composting leftover food from the cafeteria, community gardens on campus, new biodiesel production methods, and a commitment to carbon neutrality by 2019.

All important work, but stewardship is a rich concept and extends to our care for all of the gifts we have been given as a community. I am particularly struck by how our College has explored ways in which we care for our physical location and facilities. The 2010 Campus Space and Master Plan is not simply a map to future facilities; it is a statement of values around stewardship of the land and buildings we occupy and the need for us to be constantly vigilant about the opportunities to renew, reuse, and extend the life of our spaces and buildings. In addition, the plan points to our commitment to stewarding relationships with our neighbors, building facilities and designing landscapes that welcome our neighbors to campus rather than keep them away.

Stewardship is also about people—and as I was reminded again this year at our Homecoming celebrations, Augsburg is all about people. The upcoming celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX—the landmark federal legislation that seeks to ensure equity for women and men in intercollegiate athletics—is an example of what it means to be good stewards of our people. For years and years, women students at Augsburg participated in athletics without the support and recognition enjoyed by their male counterparts. A couple of years ago, we honored those unheralded women Auggies with the athletic letters they never received while on campus. Now, we lift up our enduring commitment to opportunities for all Auggie student-athletes. Our recent news about establishing the first intercollegiate

women’s lacrosse program in Minnesota is just one example of how we steward the gifts of people—students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and friends who make Augsburg strong!

In 1931, the renowned 20th-century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote in The Christian Century an essay with the provocative title, “Is Stewardship Ethical?” His indictment of Christians for the ways in which they had turned stewardship into random programs of fundraising and voluntarism stands as a relevant challenge to all of us.

We are called to be thoughtful stewards. Stewardship is a way of life. At Augsburg, we are working hard to live what we teach.

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