News Archives - 2007

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day has become an Augsburg custom. One staff member brought the event to the next level through the generosity of the workculture@augsburg grant program.

Alice Kloker, former director of international travel seminars, says, “It struck me that we were celebrating a great day with powerhouse speakers, but not doing a lot of King’s reading.”

She applied for and received a workculture@augsburg grant, proposing that the Augsburg community read King’s “World House” essay and engage in discussions on the themes of poverty, racism, and militarism. The grant covered the costs of photocopies, posters, and refreshments served at three campus forums. Several faculty members added the essay to their curricula.

While Kloker is no longer at Augsburg, she hopes the King reading project continues. “It’s a community learning opportunity, with faculty and staff collaborating around issues and concerns that engage us at a higher level.”

Begun last year, “workculture@augsburg” was designed to create and fund vocational opportunities for faculty and staff not otherwise funded through individual departments. The program is an outgrowth of Augsburg’s commitment to the vocational development and to the “common work” of the entire college community.

Last school year, 23 opportunities were funded, falling into four categories: professional/vocational development, communication collaboration, community events, and team teaching.

To find out more, visit www.augsburg/edu/workculture or contact a program manager: Gaye Lindfors at 612-330-1023 or Diane Pike at 612-330-1228.