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Crafted for the Journey: ’89 Grad Gives Boats Their Start

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A liberal arts education that began decades ago in Weekend College led Dennis Davidson 鈥�89 to a life of discovery that landed him at the headwaters of the Mississippi River today, where he watched 16 Augsburg students head off on the River Semester in canoes that were built in his shop. The flotilla of canoes accompanying the students for the first 9 miles of their nearly 2,000 mile journey were paddled south in large, wood-strip canoes that Davidson built himself.

As the owner and primary boat-builder of , Davidson sells most of his large, voyageur-style canoes to groups like Wilderness Inquiry, a River Semester program partner, which provided the canoes that students will take down the full length of the Mississippi, concluding their interdisciplinary semester in New Orleans this December. (See more about the .)

The canoes can take up to 10 paddlers or 1,800 pounds apiece, and are intended to increase opportunities and make canoeing accessible to all ages and groups, including families with special needs.

Davidson makes big cedar-strip canoes, and will sell you everything you need to make a canoe yourself鈥攎any of the plans are free. He also stocks just about every part you might need to make a canoe repair or replacement. 鈥淚f it sticks to the canoe, there鈥檚 a good chance I鈥檓 going to carry it,鈥� he says.

The Right Degree

Augsburg鈥檚 program for working adults, now called Adult Undergraduate, allowed Davidson, then a married father of two, to finish his degree.

鈥淚t was a real life-shaping experience,鈥� he says. With two toddlers at home, and deep and varied interests, including photography, the Weekend College program made college accessible for Davidson, who was working full-time.

Completing his degree in marketing and communications allowed him to pursue a career in sales and marketing that took him into both the paper and software industries, before he came to work for Bell Canoe, then based in Princeton, Minn. Looking back, Davidson realizes that a lot of ambient learning happened there, talking with the people that designed the canoes, watching the production and knowing the product line in depth. 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 be there and not learn, because it was a small business,鈥� he says. Continue reading “Crafted for the Journey: ’89 Grad Gives Boats Their Start” →

An Auggie Finds His Calling

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Photo credit: Zoya Greene.

For Jay Matchett 鈥�08, 鈥�13 MAL in his current job, all the pieces have come together. His long-held interests in politics, sociology, and human rights have coalesced into a vocation that couldn鈥檛 feel more right. Since he took on the directorship of , a multipronged social service agency in his hometown of River Falls, Wisconsin, he feels he can convincingly say: 鈥淭his is where I鈥檓 supposed to be.鈥�

Our Neighbors鈥� Place is an organization Matchett watched grow from its infancy to serve a great need in for people who found themselves homeless or in need of transitional housing.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been exciting, exhilarating,鈥� he says, of his four months as director, serving his community and engaging the complex issues surrounding poverty and homelessness.

Drawn to Justice

His attraction to social justice was born early and instinctively. A lifelong passion to do something about the cause of poverty began as a child. On a trip to Tucson, he saw an older person pushing a shopping cart alone on the sidewalk. He couldn鈥檛 understand why that would ever happen. He never forgot it.

His mother was a teacher, and he would volunteer in her classroom. There, he saw that not all kids were equipped for school鈥攖hey were hungry or didn鈥檛 have boots in the winter.

As a young person he knew intuitively, 鈥淭his is not right.鈥�

Then, in middle school, as part of his preparation for Confirmation, he spent a night and served a meal at a homeless shelter. Even in that short time at the shelter, he saw that they had more in common than differences. 鈥淭hey like the Packers; they鈥檙e just like us,鈥� he remembers thinking. 鈥淭hat just changed my world.鈥�

And the idea started to germinate: How can I make things better for folks? In college, he was drawn to sociology and political science because he wanted to change things. Continue reading “An Auggie Finds His Calling” →

Finding Home All Over the World

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Wubitu Ayana Sima 鈥�89, 鈥�15 MBA might never have predicted she would end up as the proprietor of a classic British tea room, but she never expected to spend more than a decade in Geneva, Switzerland, working abroad for the United Nations and the World Health Organization either.

At 54, the dual-degreed Auggie has always been a woman who likes a challenge. She鈥檚 happy when she鈥檚 busy, and as the owner of Lady Elegant鈥檚 Tea Shoppe in the leafy St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul, and a part-time MBA student at Augsburg, the mother of three is already thinking about her next adventure.

Serving Tranquility
Lady Elegant鈥檚, which she purchased from the previous owner, is actually two businesses鈥攁 tea shop and a tranquil tea room that is perfect for conversation and popular for groups of all sizes by appointment. Ayana Sima does the baking for the formal teas, including croissants and scones with clotted cream. The adjoining tea shop sells more than 80 varieties of tea. Her husband, Admasu Simeso, helps manage the restaurant, from the paperwork to the online shop.

She manages four part-time employees, and everyone works Saturdays, because it is their busiest time.

Each place in the tea room is set with a distinct tea cup. She鈥檚 collected cups from all over鈥攖hey come from the United Kingdom, China, and Japan鈥攁nd washes each one by hand. They break easily, she warns, especially in the transition from a group service in the morning to a group in the afternoon.

鈥淚鈥檓 a coffee drinker,鈥� she confesses. Growing up in Ethiopia, she would pick coffee out of the backyard at her mother鈥檚 house and they鈥檇 roast it themselves. She learned to enjoy tea while working in Switzerland, and has grown to know the delicate chemistry of time, tea leaves, and temperature of boiling water.
Continue reading “Finding Home All Over the World” →

Nothing Retiring About Life after Research

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George Johnson 鈥�65 counts his time at Augsburg as 鈥渢he days of Courtland Agre.鈥� In those days, Johnson was on a mission to pursue chemistry.

Johnson 3Johnson came to Augsburg determined to do something good with his life, and for the cum laude chemistry graduate from Annandale, Minn., science was the path to that goal. He remembers the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood as a dicier place than the small town where he grew up, and his urban education was eye-opening. The community work he saw happening on and around campus struck a chord with Johnson, who, growing up, was eager to help people. He pursued a career as a research scientist to do what he could to help better lives.

These days, thanks to a mission of another kind, he keeps up with Pakistani English-language newspapers, and has a new perspective on a world he knew nothing about six years ago. He came to know more鈥攁nd to teach, another thing he鈥檇 never done before鈥攚hen his church in Bethesda, Bradley Hills Presbyterian, connected Johnson and his wife, Leslye, with in Lahore, Pakistan.

In January of this year, he helped organize a workshop on chemical pharmacology in Lahore, Pakistan, after he and Leslye spent the past three-and-a-half years teaching in the sciences, from undergraduates to PhD students.

Both hold PhDs in biochemistry, and though they鈥檇 never taught before, that didn鈥檛 deter the couple who saw their mission trip there as an opportunity to learn about the world as it really is, through direct engagement.

Road to Lahore

After spending more than 35 years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland, where he worked as a laboratory investigator and as a research grant manager in drug discovery and development, Johnson and Leslye, also a career research scientist, were ready for a new adventure.

They weren鈥檛 looking for a cruise. Continue reading “Nothing Retiring About Life after Research” →

Physician Assistant Program is Pathway to Leadership

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As a beginning undergraduate student in psychology, Tracy Keizer (MPA 2007) knew she wanted to enter the field of medicine, but she was unaware of the Physician Assistant (PA) programs emerging in the U.S. until a classmate started talking about applying to some of them. Those conversations eventually led Keizer not only to Augsburg for her master’s in Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) degree, but to a fulfilling career and a variety of opportunities as a leader in the field and a strong advocate in the public, legislative arena as well.

Currently a PA in the inpatient psychiatric intensive care unit at Regions Hospital in downtown St. Paul, Keizer says she finds every day both challenging and gratifying. She feels privileged to walk alongside patients while they go through periods of crisis and stabilization, and she continues to be impressed with the resilience of patients who face the chronic struggle of mental illness. She is appreciative of the interdisciplinary team-based approach in PA work, which in her case brings together psychiatrists, nursing staff, social workers, pharmacists, and occupational therapists.

, the first in Minnesota, admitted its first class in 1995. It is a 31-month, full-time program that includes academic and clinical education. The PA concept, set in motion in the mid-1960s in response to a shortage of primary care physicians, was pioneered in 1965 at Duke University Medical Center with a class comprised of former military corpsmen. Now, state law defines the PA鈥檚 scope of practice, and the supervising physician helps determine the PA鈥檚 role. Keizer says that, as health care costs rise and PAs continue to work efficiently as members of the healthcare team, the PA鈥檚 role will continue to expand. She has enjoyed forging a path for more PAs to enter and thrive in the mental health field, and strives to fight the stigma that mental illness poses and break down the barriers of access to needed care. Continue reading “Physician Assistant Program is Pathway to Leadership” →

Capturing the Imagination

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KariLoganWhen Kari (Eklund) Logan 鈥�82 agreed to assist a client in raising public awareness of the value of trees, she decided to hang huge price tags on the trees in the front yard of Minnesota鈥檚 State Capitol. The client, the Minnesota DNR鈥檚 Division of Forestry, was pleased. In fact, the rush of media attention that followed resulted in the act鈥檚 replication by foresters across the country and even other parts of the world.

At CEL Public Relations (Plymouth, Minn.), where Logan heads up the media relations team, capturing the public鈥檚 imagination is the norm. With eight years鈥� prior experience in TV news and programming (WCCO-TV and KSTP-TV), Logan is well-connected and can pull out all the stops (websites, newsletters, TV coverage, campaigns, and numerous other marketing communications) in order to assist CEL clients. Primarily a writer, she especially enjoys the diversity of subjects that cross her desk every day, including CEL鈥檚 signature areas of service鈥攅ducation, urban forestry, financial services, and the arts.

Having joined the firm in 1990, when it was only two years old, Logan has helped increase awareness in numerous areas, including pregnancy and infant loss, Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, Parkinson鈥檚 disease, and eldercare. She has worked and dined with famous chefs, including Ina Garten and Andrew Zimmern. In 1993 she became a partner in the firm.

Kari Ren Fair-2When she isn鈥檛 writing, you may find her singing in a theatrical production. Logan recalls her first visit to Augsburg, as a junior high student, to see Godspell with her older sister, Lori (Eklund) Quello 鈥�77, then a student at Augsburg. That night, Logan knew she 鈥渉ad to be part of Augsburg Theater.鈥� Continue reading “Capturing the Imagination” →

Jane Austen on Wheels

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Devoney Looser ’89. Photo credit: Jennifer Roberts of Moonshadow Studios.

If Jane Austen were magically to come back to life and appear in Devoney Looser鈥檚 鈥�89 English classroom at Arizona State University, she would undoubtedly be charmed by the lively discussion of her writings from two centuries ago, pleased that they had survived and continue to be relevant among college students. If she decided to hang out after class, however, she would be in for quite a surprise, learning about Looser鈥檚 athletic alter ego. For the past five years, Looser has played roller derby as Stone Cold Jane Austen.

A Twin Cities native, Looser first encountered Austen鈥檚 novels as a teenager (thanks to her mother, who had not read the novels herself but sensed their importance). Looser loved the opportunity to read them then鈥攁nd loves to teach them now鈥攁long with other favorites from that era, like Frances Burney, Mary Hays, and Maria Edgeworth. She also is intrigued by other truly unusual women from that period who led fascinating lives: Harriette Wilson, Lady Hester Stanhope, and Anne Lister.

Now, Looser is following their example. She is editor of a recently released volume, The Cambridge Companion to Women鈥檚 Writing in the Romantic Period (Cambridge University Press). As much as she enjoys spending time around people who鈥檝e written fascinating books (one of the 鈥済reat gifts鈥� of her professional life), she is likely surrounded by many who feel the same about her. Find more information on her numerous publications and background at . Continue reading “Jane Austen on Wheels” →

Curt Rice ’84 Named President at Norway’s Largest University College

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Photo: Sonja Balci / HiOA

聽Curt Rice ’84 was appointed the new president of Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA). Rice is the first non-Norwegian head of a Norwegian institution for higher education.

The University College is Norway鈥檚 largest, and is unique owing to its wide range of professional programs and close ties between research and corresponding fields of practice.

Rice, a philosophy major at Augsburg, and wife Tove I. Dahl ’84 jointly received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009.

鈥淚 look forward to meeting the faculty, staff and students and working closely with them and our other partners to write HiOA’s next chapter,鈥� says Curt Rice.

Rice comes to the University College from a position as professor at the Department of Languages and Linguistics at the university in Troms酶. He earned his PhD in general linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin. Rice will assume his new position on August 1st. Continue reading “Curt Rice ’84 Named President at Norway’s Largest University College” →

Teaching Must Be in the DNA

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Jane (Catlin) Bracken 鈥�71 and Jenna (Bracken) Held 鈥�05

Things have changed a lot since Jane (Catlin) Bracken 鈥�71 began teaching first grade in Cannon Falls back in the early 鈥�70s. Handouts done on ditto machines (with that distinctive purple print), filmstrips, and simple newsletters have given way to iPads, Smart Boards, and classroom blogs. And though most of the tools have changed, the supreme satisfaction of teaching little kids how to read has remained constant for Bracken. For 41 years, she taught first grade (all in the Cannon Falls district), and in 2009, she was named Cannon Falls Teacher of the Year. She says it has been 鈥渟o cool鈥� to watch students grow up and have kids of their own, then meet with them as parents during conferences. One year not too long ago, one-third of her students were children of earlier students.

Bracken鈥檚 daughter, Jenna (Bracken) Held 鈥�05, is now following in her mother鈥檚 footsteps, attracted to not only the joy that a teacher鈥檚 lifestyle can provide, but the opportunity to do something she loves鈥攚ork with children. And last year, after having taught fourth and fifth grade for eight years, she copied her mother again and switched to first grade. Teaching at Lincoln Center in South St. Paul is especially sweet for her, as it allows her to work in the community where she lives, and to see her students around town. Continue reading “Teaching Must Be in the DNA” →

Paying It Forward, with Gratitude

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Kathryn Lange 鈥�72 and Dennis Sonifer in Salzburg

A few years ago, Kathryn Lange 鈥�72 and her husband, Dennis Sonifer, decided to update their will, a process that tends to open up a variety of possibilities that aren鈥檛 necessarily on our daily radar screens. They realized it would be possible to reach out beyond family members, and agreed that supporting a college made sense, particularly since they both had enjoyed great experiences at small, church-related, liberal arts colleges. Determined to reciprocate the favor of the substantial financial aid each had received as a student, they decided to 鈥減ay it forward鈥� and set up an endowed scholarship at Augsburg.

Currently serving as associate dean of the Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University in Boston, Lange has spent her entire career in higher education, including a six-year stint as director of admissions at Augsburg. Originally planning to find work directly related to her Social Work degree, she reassessed her plan when she found herself accepting various positions in higher education. Lange stresses, however, that she uses her Augsburg Social Work education every day in her work with students and faculty. At St. Olaf, she worked in housing for three years, followed by her admissions work at Augsburg, and then at the University of Minnesota, first in financial aid and then in student services in the College of Pharmacy. While at the U, she realized she liked working in the college environment and decided to earn a Master鈥檚 degree. In 2002, she and Sonifer moved to Boston for their next adventure. 聽 Continue reading “Paying It Forward, with Gratitude” →