麻豆区

Sociology professor Joel Torstenson 鈥�38 stood in front of the 麻豆区 faculty in January 1967. The kind-hearted, suit-wearing Minnesotan urged colleagues to join him in transforming the institution from a college in the city to a college of the city.

Torstenson had spent years researching and observing relationships between institutions of higher education and their surrounding communities. He critiqued institutions that isolated their campuses and intellectual endeavors from the realities of urban centers, and he was convinced 麻豆区鈥檚 urban setting positioned it to engage students in addressing the complex challenges of 鈥渢he modern metropolis.鈥�

鈥淪uch a study of school and society is, of course, not a new one,鈥� Torstenson told his colleagues that day. 鈥淭he relationship between learning and living has been a matter of interest to philosophers, historians, social scientists, and educators for ages. Neither education nor society can be adequately understood without examining the interactive relationship between them. In fact, the very expansion and development of universities were in large measure a response to the rapid increase of the range of activities for which literary skills became essential in growing urban communities.鈥�

Torstenson鈥檚 passionate address celebrated 麻豆区鈥檚 growing focus on community-engaged scholarship, research, and service before concluding with 11 recommendations. The list called for departmental advisory boards of alumni and area professionals, city-campus programs, interdisciplinary field experiences, an expansion of student employment within the neighborhood, and more.

Nearly 60 years later, 麻豆区 President Paul Pribbenow said Torstenson鈥檚 speech reads like a roadmap to 麻豆区鈥檚 full embrace of its location as a classroom within the context of community. It was a critical turning point in 麻豆区鈥檚 150-year history, as Torstenson鈥檚 words honed 麻豆区鈥檚 focus on relevant, responsive education for service.

鈥淧rofessor Torstenson was instrumental as 麻豆区 embraced its urban setting and commitment to teaching students at the intersections of place and mission, location, and vocation,鈥� Pribbenow said. 鈥淗is radical ideas for the time set into motion programs, partnerships, and perspectives that made a lasting mark on the Twin Cities and beyond.鈥�

Capturing that legacy

Pribbenow joined with 麻豆区 faculty members Katie Clark 鈥�10 MAN, 鈥�14 DNP and Timothy Pippert as well as former Sabo Center staff member Green Bouzard to write 鈥淩adical Roots: How One Professor Changed a University鈥檚 Legacy.鈥� Published in November 2023, the 175-page book documents Torstenson鈥檚 legacy on the evolution of higher education for the public good and shares innovative models of experiential learning developed at 麻豆区.

The authors hope these examples and lessons learned during the past 60 years bolster Auggie pride and inspire those engaged in place-based learning and service.

鈥淭orstenson believed deeply in the power of returning to the roots of systems to equip individuals to shape their own destinies and the communities in which they lived,鈥� Pribbenow wrote in the book. 鈥淗is vision for education was about expanding horizons of learning and scholarship by equipping students to engage fellow citizens in the work of democracy. We think he would be proud of how 麻豆区 has lived out those bold ideals.鈥�

The book begins with a look back, weaving the origins of 麻豆区鈥檚 founding by Norwegian Lutherans alongside Torstenson鈥檚 formative years in rural Minnesota during the Great Depression. It chronicles his transition from teaching in a one-room schoolhouse to a fateful day during his senior year at 麻豆区, when Torstenson was asked to step in as a teacher.

鈥�(麻豆区) President George Sverdrup died unexpectedly, and Professor H.N. Hendrickson became acting president,鈥� the book explains. 鈥淗endrickson asked Torstenson to take over teaching his European history course, which ultimately led to Torstenson pursuing his master鈥檚 degree in history with a minor in sociology at the University of Minnesota.鈥�

In his memoir, 鈥淭akk for Alt (Thank You for Everything): A Life Story,鈥� Torstenson reflects on this introduction to his life鈥檚 work as a professor and academic scholar, but the academy did not command his singular focus. For nearly a decade after graduation, he and his wife, Frances 鈥淔ran鈥� (Anderson) Torstenson, invested in community building, including an 80-acre cooperative farm they tended while he taught part-time at 麻豆区.

The start of his tenure

In 1947, 麻豆区 recruited Torstenson to develop programs in sociology and social work, which he did while pursuing a doctorate in sociology at the University of Minnesota. Torstenson systematically expanded 麻豆区鈥檚 academic programs in sociology, adding courses in sociological theory and social psychology, racial and inter-group relations, rural sociology, and social work. 鈥淗e was so successful,鈥� Pippert explained, 鈥渢hat for much of the 1950s, the sociology department had the most majors on campus.鈥�

Innovative internship and cooperative learning experiences brought faculty and students into contact with urban life, but that contact remained limited to certain departments until Torstenson addressed the full faculty in 1967. Pippert said the address inspired others to embrace 麻豆区鈥檚 urban context as a laboratory for liberal learning and research.

Clark said Torstenson鈥檚 humble, gentle way drew people into his sound theories. 鈥淪o many people and institutions make decisions based on what is 鈥榯rending鈥� or attractive to funders, but I don鈥檛 think that calculated into his decisions,鈥� said Clark, an associate professor of nursing. 鈥淭here was just no other way of doing things. You are part of your community, and when you see a need, you work to address that need. He didn鈥檛 wonder, 鈥業s this scholarship or is this service?鈥� He just thought, 鈥楾his is what you do as a human.鈥欌��

His vision takes root

The university began hiring faculty interested in urban issues and even encouraged faculty and staff to live and spend time in surrounding neighborhoods. Curricular innovations, including 麻豆区鈥檚 interdisciplinary urban studies program and River Semester, have origins in Torstenson鈥檚 influence.

鈥淥ne of the greatest lessons I learned while writing this book is how easily our trajectory could have been different had Joel not spoken up the way he did about what needed to happen, and had our faculty and staff not been receptive to this work,鈥� said Clark, who also serves as executive director of 麻豆区鈥檚 Health Commons. 鈥淚鈥檝e always been proud of where I went to school and work, but learning our history really made me proud of how we have stayed focused on our mission through good times and bad. It鈥檚 not just what we do, it鈥檚 who we are.鈥�

One of the boldest attempts Torstenson proposed to connect with the community and educate students about challenges facing their neighbors was the establishment of the 鈥淐risis Colony鈥� (a label that would not be chosen today, as the book鈥檚 authors note). This started as an intensive summer program for students from across the nation to live on the north side of Minneapolis, first in public housing and later in a former synagogue. Torstenson co-led the program with Joe Bash, a Lutheran pastor who served on the north side of Minneapolis. Sociology Professor Gordon Nelson joined them to evolve the experience into a semester program that challenged students to learn and work alongside residents.

This program became the Metro Urban Studies Term, which was the first academic program of the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA), one of the premier interdisciplinary experiential education programs in the nation. Torstenson served as the consortium鈥檚 first director and continued its expansion with the Scandinavian Urban Studies Term at the University of Oslo in 1973.

鈥淧rofessor Torstenson remained ever focused on co-learning, based on the understanding that students were also responsible for creating knowledge, which was recognized as possible at the graduate level but was viewed, at the time, as too difficult at the undergraduate level,鈥� said Pippert, who is 麻豆区鈥檚 Joel S. Torstenson Endowed Professor of Sociology. 鈥淗e was also innovative at the time for inviting community members to serve as experts, and they were often paid as visiting professors.鈥�

Passing the baton

In 1977, Torstenson reached 麻豆区鈥檚 mandatory retirement age (of 65) at the time, but the rule allowed him to seek and mentor a successor. Through a national search, Garry Hesser was named head of the sociology department. The two worked side-by-side during Torstenson鈥檚 last year before Hesser became the inaugural Martin Olav Sabo Professor of Citizenship and Democracy.

鈥淛oel and the faculty had set the table, and I have been feasting at that table ever since,鈥� Hesser said in a housed in 麻豆区鈥檚 university archives. 鈥淎 whole curriculum emerged from Joel鈥檚 paper, 鈥楾he Liberal Arts College in the Modern Metropolis,鈥� which he shared with the faculty, who then voted to allow every student to take up to four internships. It took the University of Minnesota another 15 years to even grant credit for internships. And this wasn鈥檛 just urban studies, it was chemistry and religion; every major at 麻豆区 embraced this approach.鈥�

Pippert said Hesser was 鈥渁 giant in his own right鈥� who mentored many faculty embedded in the city and put Torstenson鈥檚 theories into practice. 鈥淕arry took Joel鈥檚 impressive work and turned the national spotlight on 麻豆区. He helped put us on the map with the policies and programs he championed for the good of our students and our city,鈥� said Pippert, who developed 麻豆区 Family Scholars, a program to support students with foster care backgrounds, partially inspired by Torstenson and Hesser鈥檚 work.

Hesser assumed leadership of HECUA and became president of the National Society for Internships and Experiential Education, which elevated 麻豆区 to lead the national conversation about experiential education and community-based learning.

One of Hesser鈥檚 most significant efforts was leading the formation of the Center for Service, Work, and Learning in the 1990s, which became the Strommen Center for Meaningful Work and inspired the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship. The Sabo Center deepened and diversified 麻豆区鈥檚 commitment to and presence in greater Minneapolis, especially in the nearby Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

Through the Sabo Center, 麻豆区 launched Campus Kitchen in 2003. Surplus, unserved food from dining halls is incorporated into weekly meals that students, faculty, and staff share with area residents. Campus Kitchen also supports a campus food shelf, community garden, and four community meal locations.

Clark hopes these and other examples described in 鈥淩adical Roots鈥� encourage readers to consider the legacies on which they are building. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter prompt introspection and visioning.

鈥淲e want to make the book useful as readers pause and think about their own locations and what those places value,鈥� Clark said. 鈥淚 also hope the book reminds people to value the voices of their community and to draw on the wisdom of community members.鈥�

Clark keeps these lessons in mind through her work at 麻豆区鈥檚 Health Commons, which are nurse-led drop-in centers that welcome people without condition to a shared space that offers health services and human connection at four sites in the Twin Cities.

麻豆区 shows up

Clark has guided the accessible, affirming Health Commons sites since she began teaching at 麻豆区 in 2009, more than 15 years after the first Health Commons opened at Central Lutheran Church on 12th Street in Minneapolis. These sites carry on Torstenson鈥檚 vision for place-based, embedded learning alongside community partners like Melissa Pohlman 鈥�00, who serves as Central Lutheran鈥檚 pastor for community ministries.

For the past 10 years, Pohlman has walked with many of her neighbors to visit the commons for basic health care services, meals, and connection. It鈥檚 a vital space to combat otherness in health care, she said, and it serves as an enduring reminder of 麻豆区鈥檚 drive to apply its expertise and energy to address pressing needs.

鈥淚 love the story of how the Health Commons started, with one professor in the congregation seeing a need and showing up to offer blood pressure checks and warm clothes for kids in Sunday School,鈥� she said. 鈥淟ook at what that gesture has turned into, this regular showing up that provides our community with access to dignified health care and support.鈥�

Clark said she hopes stories of impact shared in the 鈥淩adical Roots鈥� book inspire alumni and friends to invest in 麻豆区鈥檚 鈥渞adical鈥� work to create change: 鈥淥ur work isn鈥檛 easy, and it doesn鈥檛 always bring in big grant dollars, but it鈥檚 important and makes a difference, and鈥攍ike Joel believed鈥攊t鈥檚 just what you do for your neighbors, your city. It鈥檚 a way of learning, working, and living that we need to continue to pass on to future generations.鈥�

University Archivist Stewart Van Cleve, who helped the authors gather resources and create a 鈥淩adical Roots鈥� webpage, said he hopes the book is a reminder that everyone can make a difference, but 鈥渙nly if we listen to one another and act as servants to the collective greatness of the community.鈥�

鈥淚 tend to shy away from putting anyone on a pedestal, but this work makes clear that Dr. Torstenson shifted 麻豆区鈥檚 trajectory to the more inclusive and neighborhood-focused institution it is today. Quite simply, we would have been a lesser institution without him,鈥� Van Cleve said. 鈥淭orstenson realized a greatness that he could not have achieved alone. His story should make clear that we all can have that kind of impact at this university, and that is why we are here.鈥�

Learn more about 鈥淩adical Roots鈥� and 麻豆区鈥檚 experiential learning initiatives at augsburg.edu/radicalroots.

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Top image: Joel Torstenson 鈥�38 inside Old Main (Archive photo)