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Art to inspire: Karolynn Lestrud

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Personal and public. Creative and practical. Forward-thinking and backward-knowing. By sponsoring 鈥淏oth/and,鈥 a custom glass art treatment for the skyway that links the library to the Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion, Karolynn Lestrud 鈥68 supports artist Teri Kwant鈥檚 effort to bridge disparate disciplines both figuratively and literally.

Kwant鈥檚 art will illustrate the transitional space by etching pairs of words from different disciplines into the glass of the skyway. Think: define divinity, probe force, radiate support, love density. When Lestrud, an English major who did graduate work in linguistics and considers word play a part of her life, first saw the proposal, she thought, 鈥淔antastic! But then I started puzzling over the pairs that didn鈥檛 make sense鈥攁nd thought aha! She got me! She made me ponder,鈥 says Lestrud. 鈥淚 hope students will react the same way, with their curiosity piqued as they stroll through. I wonder if they will write about their experiences, walking through this walkway of words.鈥

Words on the skyway windows will also make the glass visible to birds, so they don鈥檛 鈥渟mack themselves silly on the glass. I thought this was a brilliant solution to a real concern, and a very thought-provoking piece as well,鈥 she adds.

Lestrud lauds the selection process, too. A resident of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, she volunteers for and supports various art groups, including those charged with choosing art for public spaces. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such an interesting process, because you have people who know nothing about art but 鈥榢now what they like.鈥 It鈥檚 hard to set up guidelines when you hear commentary like that,鈥 she points out. 鈥淢any people want to go for something very representational, very safe, and in many cases, very uninteresting. But that didn鈥檛 happen on this committee.鈥

She served on Augsburg鈥檚 Art and Identity committee, which began discussing art when the Hagfors Center was 鈥渟till a dream on paper,鈥 working with architects to identify where artwork should go, what size it should be, and how it should be lit. 鈥淣inety-nine percent of the time, people wait until the structure is inhabited before they start embellishing it,鈥 she explains. 鈥淲e seem to have an innate yearning to embellish our surroundings. The earliest people did cave drawings. The Victorians had every surface covered with doodads. So we鈥檙e following a very natural impulse, and I think it鈥檚 wonderful that Augsburg made the commitment to do this in a well-thought-out and big way.鈥

Once locations were selected and artist proposals solicited, committee members met with artists individually to field questions and fuel the creative mission through a deeper understanding of the building in particular and Augsburg in general. 鈥淭hat was also interesting and not always something that happens in the broader world,鈥 Lestrud says. She was delighted to chat with Kwant, a public artist, director of RSP Dreambox, and frequent lecturer on experience design, environments, and communications for the U. of Minnesota School of Design and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Kwant will also create one-of-a-kind glassed-topped tables that are available for sponsorship.

Lestrud contrasts the Hagfors Center with the boxy, cement block structure of the old science hall. 鈥淲hen you walked in, all you wanted to do was get out again,鈥 she remembers. 鈥淭he art going into this new building will make it the kind of place that will inspire students, give them a mental break, and, I believe, encourage them to linger.鈥

Chilstrom Scholarship Inspires Lives of Courage

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Bishop Herb Chilstrom鈥檚 journey from poor, small-town boy to first presiding bishop of the ELCA began with a spiritual awakening at age 14. By the time Bishop Chilstrom 鈥54 reached college age his goal to become an ordained minister was clear, but the source of funds to pay for college was less certain. 鈥淭here weren鈥檛 many scholarships at the time I attended Augsburg,鈥 he remembers. Knowing that his parents wouldn鈥檛 be able to give him more than a five dollar bill every once in a while, he chose to attend the Lutheran college located in the heart of the job-rich Twin Cities: Augsburg. There, he knew, he鈥檇 be able to find a job 鈥 or two or three jobs (at the same time), as it turned out. That experience and a desire to help today鈥檚 students led the bishop and his wife, the Reverend E. Corinne Chilstrom, to establish the Corinne and Herbert Chilstrom Scholarship for students interested in social work or the ordained ministry. If you give a student some kind of financial support, he says, 鈥淚t means you鈥檙e doing well, and we want to help you.鈥

A social conscience emerges

When Bishop Chilstrom arrived at Augsburg he began to realize that both his spiritual journey and his view of the world had been too narrow-minded. 鈥淚 had too many pat answers,鈥 he remembers. Augsburg professors like Joel Torstenson, sociology, challenged him to open windows to the world. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 wealthy, but I realized I had the privilege of simply being white, and that opened doors that weren鈥檛 open for others. Joel impressed on us that we have a profound responsibility to those who did not have the advantages we had.鈥 At Augsburg, says Bishop Chilstrom, he learned about Christianity鈥檚 call to fight injustice and how to live a courageous life. He began to develop the radical social conscience for which he later became known.

Those who do not learn from history 鈥

鈥淭o be an effective pastor you really have to study the Bible and theology and church history, but you also have to have a much broader perspective,鈥 says Bishop Chilstrom. 鈥淪ociology really broadened my world, and I fell in love with history, thanks to Professor Carl Chrislock.鈥 He recalls Anne Pedersen, 鈥渢he best English teacher in the world,鈥 who opened his mind to literature and instilled respect for the English language. He was amazed by President Bernhard Christensen鈥檚 intellect. 鈥淚t was awesome to hear him reach into the depths of his mind and spirit and pull poetry and prose and Biblical understanding together.鈥 He remembers sitting in chapel and thinking, 鈥淗e鈥檚 the kind of person I would like to be.鈥

Augsburg also provided opportunities to stretch his leadership wings. He became president of the campus youth group his sophomore year, and as student body president his junior year, he led the student campaign to raise funds for Memorial Library. He went on to earn degrees from Augustana Theologial Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary and his doctorate from New York University. He became a parish minister, professor and church leader, serving as the first bishop of the fledgling ELCA from 1987 to 1995.

Tither turned philanthropist

鈥淎fter I had an enlightening experience as a teenager, one of the first things I discovered is that people who believe put their faith on the line by giving,鈥 says Chilstrom. While still in high school he began tithing 10 percent. 鈥淚 gave at least 10 percent all through my life,鈥 he explains. 鈥淣ow Corinne and I are able to give much more than that, and it鈥檚 a lot of fun.鈥

A commitment to future opportunities

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Paul and LaVonne (both 鈥63) Batalden鈥檚 commitment to endow 含羞草传媒 faculty with future opportunities has deep roots鈥攖hree generations deep, in fact鈥攁nd a spiritual foundation grounded in lives well-lived.

Paul鈥檚 grandfather, a fisherman who grew up just off the west coast of Norway and lost a brother at sea, decided in 1871 to move to Minnesota and take up farming. His name was Christian Olson, a name so common that his mail often wound up in the wrong hands, prompting him to change it to Batalden, after the island where he grew up. That first Batalden, an active supporter of education and child development, took special note of Augsburg Seminarium, which Norwegian Lutherans had founded in Marshall, Wisconsin, in 1869 and moved to Minneapolis in 1872. His youngest son, Abner Batalden, enrolled there and, despite some interruptions, earned a history degree in 1935.

Abner, Paul鈥檚 father, was also committed to education and understood the struggle it involved. 鈥淗e was going to school during the Depression, when Augsburg was having trouble staying open. The students, many of whom were the first generation to attend college, were living hand-to-mouth, working and paying tuition. Augsburg was living on those tuitions,鈥 says Paul.

Abner started the student employment service at Augsburg, worked at the publishing house, managed the bookstore, and, after a few years away, returned to take a position in the development office. He helped raise funds for the first science building, now being replaced by the Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion; Paul remembers going to the dedication as a child. It was Abner鈥檚 idea to establish, in 1980, a convocation and lecture series known as the Batalden Symposium on Applied Ethics.

鈥淎pplied ethics covers every discipline, every walk of life. It was the way he lived his life,鈥 says Paul. 鈥淓thics scholars say that ethics is the application of morals to everyday life. In his mind, the life he lived was grounded in moral values, which for him were Christian. It was so fundamental, and he saw it in many lines of work.鈥

鈥淓thics were looked upon as a philosophical endeavor, but he saw it as much broader,鈥 adds LaVonne, who married Paul three weeks after graduation. The two had met in a freshman English class and shared a love for science. After a globe-spanning career in pediatrics and public health that expanded their knowledge of other cultures, Paul remains active as professor emeritus at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Geisel School of Medicine, and LaVonne retired recently as associate professor of natural sciences at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. They still travel widely but now live in St. Paul, close to their family.

Although they had initially wanted to endow an ethics chair, they realized that building upon Abner鈥檚 foundation would serve more people. Along with Paul鈥檚 brother, Stephan Batalden 鈥67 and his wife Sandra, they have endowed what is now the Batalden Faculty Scholar Program in Applied Ethics, which covers the seminar series and also offers two years of release time to faculty members, who often pass along stipends to students involved in their projects. Recipients come from various fields, so far including nursing, sociology, religion, and environmental studies.

鈥淚t鈥檚 perfect. Paul鈥檚 father had a vision for the future, and we have brought it into the 21st century,鈥 says LaVonne. 鈥淲hat pleases us is that it maintains the idea of service grounded in theology and ethics, and we have broadened that.鈥

Paul, who served on Augsburg鈥檚 Board of Regents from 1979 to 1990, cites his concern for education鈥檚 future in our culture, which depends heavily on the voluntary sector, unlike government supported health and welfare in Europe. Colleges cannot rely on tuitions alone, and religious institutions can no longer bridge the gap.

鈥淲e realized that Augsburg had basically no endowment, and it鈥檚 clear that that pattern of financial support would not lead to more creative and flexible programming. We want to make sure that this program is secure,鈥 Paul says. 鈥淐ollege offered us a liberal arts education, and we are deep lovers of the liberal arts. We see their relevance to everyday life the same way my father saw ethics in everyday life.鈥

The couple also believes in doing what you can. They cite a favorite poem by David Whyte, quoted here in part:

Start close in,

don鈥檛 take the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don鈥檛 want to take. . .

. . .

Start right now

take a small step

you can call your own

don鈥檛 follow

someone else鈥檚

heroics, be humble

and focused,

start close in . . .

 

 

 

 

The ongoing gifts of the Augsburg Agres

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Peter Agre 鈥70 claims that if he had been born into another family, he might not have become a scientist. But the Nobel-prize-winning physician-researcher is the son of Courtland Agre, PhD, who founded the department of chemistry at Augsburg in 1959. And if there was anything his father could do, it was inspire interest in science.

Beloved by students who knew he wanted them to succeed first in class and then in their careers, Courtland taught chemistry to a generation and then encouraged them to do great things with it– hundreds went on to graduate or 鈥淗e felt very strongly that these young people, even though they were mostly from families of modest personal wealth, could achieve significant things in science, and they did.鈥

It was fitting, then, when he passed away in 1995, that the Agre family, former students and friends established the Courtland L. Agre Memorial Scholarship to provide 鈥渆ncouragement鈥 as well as financial assistance to juniors or seniors studying chemistry. Since then, 23 students have received awards and a nudge from the professor long gone.

Big picture thinkers

Courtland himself proved that someone born, raised, and educated in Minnesota could make it in other arenas. After earning his PhD at the University of Minnesota, he worked on plastics at Du Pont and adhesives at 3M before deciding to teach (first at St. Olaf and for most of his career at Augsburg). As a member of the faculty, he traveled to India to teach, did research, and one year secured a National Science Foundation grant, enabling him to do a sabbatical at the University of California Berkeley. 鈥淪o we all [the family of then-seven] moved out there in an old station wagon,鈥 Peter recalls. 鈥淲e were kind of like the Norwegian version of the Beverly Hillbillies.鈥 There Courtland met luminaries like two-time Nobel winner Linus Pauling, who would later visit Augsburg. 鈥淗e taught the big picture of what science could provide,鈥 Peter says.

That was a picture he shared with all, including his sons, who majored in chemistry at Augsburg and then went on to medical school. They weren鈥檛 pressured to do so, according to Peter. It was more that they were exposed to a parade of former students, colleagues, and visitors from academia, medicine, and industry. 鈥淭here were plenty of role models,鈥 he says, adding that by comparison, other fields just didn鈥檛 seem as important or interesting.

Peter Agre is now a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. Jim Agre 鈥72, former head of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Wisconsin, is now a member of the rehabilitation medicine faculty at the University of Minnesota. And youngest brother Mark Agre 鈥81 is a rehabilitation medicine specialist in St. Paul. Their sister Annetta graduated in 1969 聽with a major in elementary education.

Paying it forward

Each year, at an annual symposium, the sons of Courtland Agre do what their father did for so many years鈥攅ncourage students to think big about careers in science. Peter hopes the event opens students鈥 eyes to new possibilities. 鈥淚鈥檓 encouraging them to think creatively and not necessarily constrain their aspiration based on family and friends,鈥 he says. His own career has included not only the research on cells that led to his Nobel prize but also working on malaria, advising national leaders on health policy, and engaging in international exchanges with scientists from countries including Cuba and North Korea. 鈥淪cience opens doors,鈥 he says.

This year at the symposium Jim Agre will talk about the ground-breaking research he did on the late effects of polio. In the 1980s and 1990s, patients who had had polio in the 1950s came to him with questions about problems including fatigue, weakness, and pain. 鈥淲hen I looked at the literature, there were no answers to the questions the patients had,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hat led me to write research grants to get funded so I could study the problems.鈥 His research helped explain what was going on as well as what could be done about it.

Jim Agre now teaches residents to do what he learned鈥攖o observe, ask questions, and base conclusions on evidence. He knows his own thinking was heavily influenced by the man who was both father and professor, and he hopes the scholarships given in Courtland鈥檚 name will help students to be inquisitive and observant as well. 鈥淪upporting students is important,鈥 he says, citing the high cost of education. He then points out another reason for investing in students: 鈥淚t鈥檚 to the benefit of the country to have a population who鈥檝e been taught to look at important issues and ask, 鈥楢re we really doing the right thing?鈥欌

 

By Carmen Peota.

A family connection to Augsburg

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Educating Students to Serve

鈥淚 think people are interested in what Augsburg is doing to educate students so they can be of ministry in the world,鈥 says Martha Gisselquist 鈥86. Her gifts help 含羞草传媒 do just that, while lifting up programs that are dear to her heart: To honor her family鈥檚 Augsburg legacy and celebrate their shared love of music, she gives for the Clement A. Gisselquist Church Music Endowed Scholarship Fund. Martha, a nurse by training, also generously supports and passionately advocates for Augsburg鈥檚 nursing outreach programs. 鈥淚 just want Augsburg students to be successful in their professions and find ways to be of service to the community.鈥

Borghild and Martha Gisselquist ’86

A Musical Legacy

Martha comes from good Auggie stock: Her father, the Rev. Clement A. Gisselquist 鈥41, all five of her siblings, and many other family members attended Augsburg. Her uncle, Orloue Gisselquist attended Augsburg and was a professor of history for three decades. Since 1987, the Gisselquist Fund has provided support to 37 music students, with preference given to students of organ and/or choral music who hope to serve in the ministry of music of the Lutheran Church. 鈥淎ugsburg was close to [Clement鈥檚] heart and we knew that music was something he was always interested in,鈥 explained Martha鈥檚 mother, Borghild Gisslequist, in an Augsburg Now article. 鈥淚 always wish the scholarships could be more,鈥 says Martha, 鈥渂ut every little bit helps as they try to make their tuition.鈥

Nursing students, faculty and alumni serving the community

While the family connection to Augsburg is strong, it was the nursing program in Weekend College (now the Adult Undergraduate Program) that drew Martha to Augsburg as a student in the 1980s. The program offered her a chance to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (which she needed to advance her career) while continuing to work fulltime as a manager with Ebenezer鈥檚 home care and community service programs.

To Augsburg she brought a passion for nursing outreach that thrived as she became involved in the Nursing Center (now the Augsburg Central Health Commons), which provided students with public health experience and helped meet Minneapolis鈥 growing homeless population鈥檚 health needs. She went on to graduate with the first Weekend College nursing class. Degree in hand, she continued to advance her career, which culminated in long term care insurance product development with United HealthCare.

“If you鈥檝e done it unto the least of these, you鈥檝e done it unto me.”

Now retired, Martha volunteers at Health Commons weekly. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of counseling, blood pressure checks, wound care, and foot care,鈥 she explains. She works alongside Augsburg nursing faculty, students, and alumni, while community volunteers distribute contributed toiletries. She also supports this and other Augsburg community nursing work with gifts to the Nursing Outreach Endowed Fund. The Fund supports programs like Health Commons that provide health care and services to underserved communities, while also providing practicum sites for students.

Recognizing Martha鈥檚 commitment to nursing outreach, one of her nephews made a gift to the Fund in honor of her birthday. 鈥淗e just went online and did it,鈥 she says. 鈥淗e knew it was something that I鈥檇 really appreciate.鈥 Martha hopes that others will join her in supporting experiences that provide nursing students at all levels the opportunity to integrate curricular studies, experiential learning, and service. 鈥淭he needs are great out there,鈥 she reminds us. 鈥淚f you have the time, abilities and interest, there are so many ways that you can serve and be God鈥檚 hands.鈥

A Generous Family

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Jean and Phil Formo

鈥淕o west, young man!鈥 was the mantra guiding the young Philip Formo in his college selection. But after graduating from Pacific Lutheran University in 1968, he must have heeded a different axiom: 鈥淵es, you can go home again.鈥 Home again he came, not only to finish a special education degree at St. Cloud State University and a divinity degree at Luther Seminary, but also to pick up the Formo family legacy where it left off鈥攁t Augsburg.

Now a retired ELCA pastor, Phil, his wife, Jean, and their niece, Dawn, are the primary Formo forces behind not one, not two, but three separate scholarships honoring various family members and extending generosity to future Augsburg students.

鈥淚 was the first person on both sides of the family not to go to Augsburg,鈥 says Phil. 鈥淢y mother met my father in chemistry class there. She was in nursing and needed help, and he was good in chemistry. They also both sang in the first Augsburg choir concert that ever took place, after the men鈥檚 chorus and the women鈥檚 chorus merged.鈥 His parents, Jerome and Winifred, both 鈥37, were extremely dedicated to Augsburg and stayed deeply involved in all things Auggie throughout their lifetimes. Jerome received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1983 and was also a Regent Emeritus.

In 2009, Phil designated proceeds from their estate to establish the Jerome and Winifred Formo Scholarship for music majors or those with a strong interest in choral music directing. Seven students have already benefited from this fund, but it was not the first Formo scholarship. That distinction belongs to the David J. Formo Scholarship, which was established in 1979 and is awarded annually to a junior or senior student who has successfully overcome adversity to achieve academic and extracurricular excellence.

鈥淢y brother David graduated from Augsburg in 1964 and became a U.S. Navy commander whose plane went down in the Mediterranean Sea on November 3, 1979, the same day that Iran took U.S. captives. Before that, he had delivered to the Shah of Iran the gift of a new jet. It鈥檚 really a small world,鈥 mused Phil.

The scholarship to honor his brother was the first for the Formo family, but not the last. When Phil retired in 2011, he decided to write a book about his maternal grandfather, Andreas Helland, who immigrated from Norway in 1889, attended Augsburg Seminary, and served there as New Testament professor for 35 years. 鈥淗e was also very involved in fundraising. In those days you did everything, and he was really good at stewardship. One of his daughters, Beatrice, married Norman Anderson, who was the fundraiser for the first science building at Augsburg, and they were all there for the groundbreaking. My grandfather was the first to give a major gift,鈥 Phil recalls.

Proceeds from Phil鈥檚 book, Papa鈥擜 Life Remembered, along with contributions from his own family and his parents鈥 estate, fund the Andreas Helland Scholarship, established In 2012 for students with financial need and academic achievement. 鈥淓ducation is so important, but we all know how expensive college is,鈥 Phil says. 鈥淚f students can get through in four years instead of five or six, they will have saved the equivalent of two years鈥 salary.鈥

Phil is sold not only on the value of affordable education, but also on the value of Augsburg. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been amazed by what Augsburg, long known as a conservative Lutheran school, has become. What they are today is just awe-inspiring鈥攖heir involvement in the community and openness to everyone is incredible. Culturally, they have really been able to reach out, to take minorities seriously,鈥 he says. 鈥淔or the only ELCA college in the city, what a unique opportunity.鈥

A Sisterhood: Strong, Adventurous and Daring

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Sisterhood had long been the goal of Kathryn Kingsbury, who grew up in rural North Dakota with two brothers. 鈥淚 wanted sisters so bad! I kept praying to God, but that doesn鈥檛 always work,鈥 she says. Or does it? What she got instead of siblings may well reveal the mysterious power of prayer.

Fairview Nurses Class of ’69.

 

Kingsbury used to sit with a dictionary in that North Dakota kitchen, studying every word of the 鈥淭ell Me Doctor鈥 feature in her mother鈥檚 Ladies Home Journal. Fascinated by all things medical, she first pursued medical technology but eventually found herself in nursing school at Fairview Hospital, one of 33 women in the class of 鈥69. Today she is among the many donors who contribute to Augsburg nursing scholarships through the Fairview Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association, of which she is the treasurer, database keeper, and indefatigable fan even as health care education evolves dramatically.

The Fairview nursing school, which began in 1916 and ended in 1976, trained nurses in three years. 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 beat a three-year grad. We could function at 100% on day one of our hire,鈥 Kingsbury says. The student nurses attended psychology, chemistry, and biology classes on the Augsburg campus and lived together in a dorm since replaced by Fairview鈥檚 corporate offices. It was rumored that their proximity to the Augsburg boys鈥 dorm across the street created some jealousy among Auggie girls, but what Kingsbury remembers most is the indelible bond linking the future nurses.

鈥淢rs. Torland, our housemother from Norway, was strict and firm but loving. She was a mother hen who scrutinized our dates and invited us to her house for Norwegian coffee,鈥 Kingsbury says. It was a time of penny loafers and skirts at all times on campus, and, on the hospital floor, glass intravenous bottles that required nurses to count each drip (10 or 12 drops a minute, depending on the IV fluid brand).

鈥淚t鈥檚 not quite the same, is it?鈥 the Fairview alumni say when they gather for their annual luncheon, Kingsbury reports. About 1,000 nurses from 38 states and 5 countries populate her database; about 100 attend the luncheon, which, this year, included a table of graduates from 65 years ago. 鈥淥h, they鈥檙e funny 鈥 so strong, adventuresome, and daring,鈥 says Kingsbury. 鈥淟ater grads, who did not live in the dorm, don鈥檛 have the sense of unity that we did. We were tight.鈥

Sisterhood reigned, but change was inevitable. By the 鈥70s, a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) became the gold standard, but out of reach for many. In 1996, the Fairview alumni created an Augsburg nursing scholarship fund with proceeds from the estate of Clarice J. (Vaardahl) Laushkin, Fairview class of 鈥35. Ann Good, Fairview class of 鈥70 and wife of former Augsburg board member Mike Good 鈥71, still works three days a week at a chiropractic clinic in Alexandria and has made several donations to the fund.

鈥淲e were a very close community,鈥 she says of her fellow students. After a decade of work at Fairview, she wanted to go back to school for her BSN but was unable to do so. 鈥淪cholarships are so important. I want returning nurses to have the opportunity I didn鈥檛 have at the time, to be able to go back and get their degree.鈥

Some of the Fairview Nurses Class of ’69 today.

While she recognizes that the Fairview Nurses Alumni Association will eventually die out and is currently archiving its artifacts with the Minnesota Historical Society, Kingsbury is happy that the scholarship program is endowed in perpetuity, though of course new gifts are encouraged. For her, it has been a worthy journey. 鈥淚 got my sisters鈥攚onderful sisters,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e were there for each other in good times, in bad times, and in between.鈥

A Bountiful Blessing

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Out of family tragedy, springs student opportunity

The Lester A. Dahlen Family Endowed Scholarship is a bountiful blessing. It rewards 含羞草传媒 students鈥 hard work and provides financial assistance, while also assuring the family of Rev. Lester Dahlen that their family鈥檚 values will live on at Augsburg and be carried into the world. 鈥淎s graduates go on to their lives after Augsburg, we hope they will be loving Christian people wherever they are and that they will touch whomever they can with the love of Jesus,鈥 explains Barb (Dahlen) Cornell.

A blessing today, the scholarship sprang from a family tragedy more than 50 years ago. In 1966, when Barb was 18 and her sister, Ginny (Dahlen) Baali 鈥72, was 16, their brother Paul died in a plane crash with fellow Augsburg senior Jerry Pryd. Paul was pursuing a social studies major and physical education minor and, like his father before him, he played on the Auggie baseball team. To memorialize their son and highlight the importance of Augsburg to their family, Rev. Lester Dahlen 鈥39, 鈥42 and Marian Dahlen established the Paul Dahlen Memorial Scholarship to help students who had Christian purpose, demonstrated academic achievement and participated in extracurricular activities.

Blessed by Augsburg

Ginny (Dahlen) Baali ’72 and Barb (Dahlen) Cornell

鈥淥ur family鈥檚 connection to Augsburg started with Dad,鈥 explains Barb, who supports the scholarship along with Ginny. A Minneapolis native, Rev. Dahlen enrolled in Augsburg in 1935 and quickly became involved in athletics, choir, student government and other organizations. 鈥淎ugsburg helped prepare him for God鈥檚 calling and to be a man of faith and missions,鈥 she continues.

鈥淓ver since we were little kids we heard about Augsburg from our dad,鈥 remembers Barb. Rev. Dahlen often brought the family to concerts, games and other campus events and, in later years, he sometimes wore Paul鈥檚 letter jacket. He was grateful for his lasting friendships with Augsburg greats Leland Sateren 鈥35, Edor Nelson 鈥38, Ernie Anderson 鈥37, Sig Hjelmeland 鈥41 and others.

After graduating from Augsburg Seminary, he served several parishes during the course of his 40-year career. The family did mission work in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and Rev. Dahlen also served as Lutheran Free Church Director of World Missions and staff member of the American Lutheran Church Division of World missions. 鈥淎ugsburg was in his heart always,鈥 remembers Barb. Their mother also held Augsburg in high regard: Marian worked in the financial aid office and joined the Augsburg Associates to provide volunteer support.

A Lasting Memorial

When Marian passed in 2003, memorial gifts boosted the scholarship fund. When Rev. Dahlen passed in 2012, a portion of his estate and memorial gifts further augmented the fund. Around that time Ginny and Barb fine-tuned the scholarship criteria to clarify their parents鈥 intent and more closely represent their family鈥檚 values. 鈥淏arb and I have continued to be representatives of the scholarship,鈥 explains Ginny, who supports other Augsburg programs in addition to the family fund. The scholarship gives priority to students who are involved in campus ministry and pursuing a major or minor in physical education, and who demonstrate financial need and academic achievement. 鈥淧eople who have a faith background should come to the school and be blessed by it,鈥 says Barb.

And after graduation? 鈥淚 hope that scholarship alumni will be Christian witnesses to those around them, reach out in love and share their faith with others,鈥 says Barb. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that Augsburg鈥檚 Christian legacy be nurtured and encouraged for all the students who will attend and be blessed by the school. That鈥檚 why we want to continue with this.鈥

-Kara Rose

Dusty Froyum: “It Felt Like Home”

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The life path of Dustin (Dusty) Froyum 鈥98 has had its share of twists and turns, but somehow he always manages to find his way 鈥渉ome鈥 to Augsburg. He acknowledges his gratitude with an annual gift to the Augsburg Fund as well as a recent pledge to sponsor a room in the Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion to honor favorite professor and fellow alumnus Dale Pederson 鈥70.

鈥淎ugsburg runs through my whole family. It鈥檚 a big part of who we are,鈥 says Froyum, citing alumni relatives that include both parents, his aunt and uncle, and a younger brother. 鈥淲hen my older cousins were attending Augsburg during my teenage years, I think I had promised that I was never going to Augsburg. But you know what? I went there on a football visit and it just felt right. It felt like home,鈥 he adds. 鈥淚 turned down some football and academic scholarships to come home to Augsburg.鈥

Sports and science connections cemented the bond. Like his father and brother, Froyum played football, and like his mother and brother, he majored in science during his upper division years, landing in Pederson鈥檚 notoriously challenging cellular biology class. 鈥淗e is a tough but fair professor. I never tried so hard to get a 4.0,鈥 says Froyum, who managed a 3.5. 鈥淗e is a role model as a person of science and faith famous for pushing students to do their best. My brother鈥檚 zoology class was famously difficult as well. Dr. Pederson famously said that he could write a test for which no one could get a right answer, and I鈥檓 sure that鈥檚 true. He is聽an extraordinarily brilliant person who, quite frankly, could have been successful in a lot of different settings. But he chose to dedicate his vocational life to Augsburg, and that should be honored. With its fusion of science and faith and impact on the community, the Hagfors Center spoke to me. I can think of no better place to honor Dr. Pederson.鈥

After graduating, Froyum earned a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law, intending to become an intellectual property lawyer focused on biotech and chemical patents. 鈥淏ut I ended up as a summer intern at Wells Fargo and fell in love with it,鈥 he says. He has handled technology transactions there for nearly 17 years. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 an important part of my giving motivation. Wells Fargo is a huge corporate donor and has one of the largest community support programs in the country. It is ingrained in our culture, and they make giving very easy, especially to quality nonprofit educational institutions.鈥

In his younger years, Froyum adds, he had more time to donate. But today, with two young children, a busy career at Wells Fargo, and side projects dedicated to integrated alternative energy, financial contributions鈥攅specially when matched by his employer鈥攁re what he is best able to give.

鈥淚 feel an overall social responsibility to my Augsburg education,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 attribute some of those values to my grandfather, who was very progressive in many ways. At some point he turned over his farm acreage to conservation interests, and he chose to be cremated instead of occupying a piece of land.鈥 Froyum lives his values at home, too, by driving an electric car, and tending an urban farm, and making his Golden Valley home completely energy-independent.

鈥淭o be part of your community and your world, you need to be responsible. I鈥檝e done well in my career, and this is what I can do,鈥 he says. There is, after all, no place like home.

Orville and Gertrude Hognander Endowment Fund

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鈥淚 guess you could say that if it weren鈥檛 for Augsburg, I wouldn鈥檛 be here,鈥 said Joe (Orville C.) Hognander, Jr. with a chuckle. The retired naval officer and private investor has deep Augsburg roots: his grandfather, Reverend Lars R. Lund, graduated from Augsburg Seminary in 1912 and his parents, Gertrude Lund and Orville Hognander, met during their Augsburg Class of 1936 freshman registration.

Reverend Lars R. Lund, ’12

Gertrude and Orville shared a lifelong love of music. Gertrude began playing the piano when she was five and subsequently played the organ in her father鈥檚 church while still in her teens. Orville, who also grew up surrounded by church music, supported his dad鈥檚 ministry by serving as announcer for the family鈥檚 weekly WDGY radio program of music and the spoken word. Joe recalls hearing classical music regularly in their home, especially from their complete collection of New York Philharmonic Orchestra鈥檚 78 RPM records in the pre-FM聽radio days.

Gertrude Lund and Orville Hognander

While students at Augsburg, both Gertrude and Orville were deeply involved in the newly formed choir, Gertrude as piano accompanist and Orville as the announcer/business manager. Most notably in 1935, he created and produced the 鈥淗our Melodious,鈥 a weekly radio program on WCCO featuring the 50-member choir. He also planned and arranged the choir鈥檚 first tour, which covered 20 concerts and more than 2,000 miles.

After Augsburg, the Hognanders served their communities in many ways. Gertrude became a teacher and music education supervisor in Escanaba, Michigan, before marrying Orville and moving to Minneapolis in the early 1940鈥檚. She became organist and director of several church choirs and joined, among other groups, AAUW, the St. Louis Park Woman鈥檚 Cub, and the United Nations Association of Minnesota, eventually becoming president of those associations. In 1973, she received Augsburg鈥檚 Distinguished Alumni Award.

Orville began work for the Tennant Company as a salesman in the Detroit area, advancing rapidly to become vice president at age 31 and member of the Board of Directors eight years later. At the same time, he rose through the ranks of the National Sales Executives, becoming vice chairman in the early 1950鈥檚. Sadly, at age 43 he suffered a major stroke that paralyzed his right side and required him to re-learn how to walk, talk, and write. Through great determination, he succeeded and was able to resume his responsibilities at Tennant, where he negotiated foreign business agreements that opened markets in Europe and Japan.

Joe (Orville C.) Hognander Jr.

Joe recalls how his father gave great thought to where his money should go when he was no longer here. It was a difficult decision but in the end he chose to support those organizations and causes that had been of greatest importance to him during his life.

After he died in 1997, his will provided money to Augsburg College to create the Orville and Gertrude Hognander Endowment Fund, which specifies full tuition funding for an outstanding junior and senior in the Music Department. The department faculty selects the recipient based on past performance during their freshman and sophomore years at Augsburg or another college as well as their potential for future distinction.

鈥淭he scholarship鈥檚 goal is to provide a strong incentive to encourage and reward excellence for those in the music field,鈥 noted Joe. 鈥淚 have been very impressed with each one of the past winners.鈥