Her answer kickstarted her son’s lifelong interest in intelligence and individual differences. Today, Yoon specializes in individual differences and behavioral genetics as co-director of �鶹��’s biopsychology major. Since joining �鶹�� in 2009, he has embraced the flexibility to pursue new, meaningful directions. So when generative artificial intelligence burst on the scene in recent years, he was interested both as a scientist and as a teacher.

“At first, I thought it might be a flash in the pan,” Yoon said. “But when I began to delve into it, I realized this might be a monumental moment not just for technology, but in the history of our species.”

Like any good researcher, he went to work, developing an annotated guide and toolkit of AI resources. Yoon divided them into categories that made sense to a psychologist: how AI works, potential impacts on instruction and teaching, implications for the science of learning and cognition, and ethics. In the last 18 months, he has published , contributed to Lindell Library’s student-facing AI- and digital-literacy work, created and led multiple faculty workshops on AI through , and developed . Now, he’s developing a focused operational-readiness discovery project with student-facing administrative offices.

In all of these arenas, Yoon starts with the end goal in mind. “The right question is: ‘What are my learning outcomes or work objectives, and would AI be appropriate to help?’” he said. “Not: ‘Here’s this AI tool, how should I use it?’”

Reflecting his own curiosity, Yoon’s research interests intersect with multiple issue areas, from substance use risk to criminal justice reform. Across his �鶹�� career, Yoon has mentored nearly 80 student researchers in scholarly activities. His students have gone on to pursue careers in medicine, clinical psychology and neuropsychology, addiction research, and other STEM fields. Many of his students have completed projects in �鶹��’s electroencephalogram (EEG) lab, where a major focus of Yoon’s research, in partnership with ���ٱ�豫��®, has been to examine whether certain measures of brain activity may serve as candidate markers associated with substance-use risk. Others are engaged in research into the scientific validity of polygraph interrogation or “lie detector” tests, which can contribute to false confessions and wrongful convictions. �鶹�� students work on real cases of people who have been told they failed a polygraph test but were later exonerated. In related work, Yoon served as an expert consultant for an amicus brief submitted to the Texas Court of Appeals; in 2025, the court affirmed a lower court’s decision to suppress the post-polygraph statement as involuntary.

That kind of engagement, to Yoon, is what AI cannot replace in the college experience. “More than ever, I believe that students need hands-on experiences, like the ones they get in the lab: learning to formulate a research question, design an experiment, collect data, think critically, and communicate what they find. This is more important than ever in the shadow of AI.”

Working alongside Yoon, “a brilliant academic peer,” has been one of the highlights of his time at �鶹��, said Ben Denkinger, professor of psychology. After the COVID-19 pandemic, Yoon and Denkinger jointly developed a course called “Psychology in a Post-Pandemic World,” which sought to grapple with the deepening political polarization in the U.S. Students in the course explored misinformation and disinformation, how people come to hold conspiratorial beliefs, and moral psychology. They also practiced developing the skills to have conversations about challenging topics.

Since teaching the course, Yoon has become involved with , a nonpartisan organization that seeks to build bridges across political differences. In a world where science itself has become politicized, he sees his role as helping others understand how automatic and emotional processes can shape our reactions—often outside our awareness—and how understanding those processes can help all of us avoid contributing to increasingly polarized discourse.

“In this era of social media and news polarization, it’s difficult for all of us not to default to threat and fear responses,” he said. “But to me, a healthy democracy depends on our ability to keep having productive conversations across our differences. If we can develop a deeper understanding of where each of us is coming from, it can help us engage more constructively with one another.”

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With a background as a landscaper and urban farmer and training from the Permaculture Research Institute, Wells brings both traditional groundskeeping expertise and knowledge of native plants and soil health to �鶹��. He also came to campus with a network that has flourished during his time on the job, contributing resources that include labor, funding, and advice on sustainable landscapes.

Assistant Groundskeeper Blair Myers-Leehy is a key member of that network of contributors. He acts as a mechanic, manages the mowing, and collects the garbage on campus. Student workers are also vital to groundskeeping, but due to the extreme temperatures that can accompany Minnesota weather, they can be hard to find. Wells said that Associate Professor Joe Underhill “has been a huge support. He’s helped me find students who are interested in the outdoors.”

The support Wells receives goes far beyond his team. His mentor, Stefan Meyer, whom he met at the Permaculture Research Institute, came to campus to help design the garden beds and choose native plants. Several organizations have provided assistance through grants and other forms of financial assistance, including grant funding for native plants from the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization; significantly discounted trees from Tree Trust; and funding for an electric vehicle, electric mower, and other electric landscaping equipment from �鶹��’s Environmental Stewardship Committee. “Our electric vehicle has been a huge help,” Wells said. “If we didn’t have that, there’d be times when the students would just be walking around with tools.”

As a member of the Sabo Center Engagement Council, Wells also had the opportunity to work with the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, which offered several workshops, many on native plants. “I learned a lot from them,” he said. “A lot of students showed up, and staff and faculty.”

Since he joined �鶹��, Wells has overseen the installation of many native plants in beds that were once devoted to annuals, saving the university money and, once the annuals were established, reducing reliance on watering. They’re also more resistant to rabbits.

“I heard a lot from students that they wanted more fruit trees, edible landscapes, as far as plants go,” Wells said. “I think about rabbits a lot when I’m planting. My first year, I didn’t think rabbits would be that big of a deal, but they took out a lot of plants and even the bark around trees. That was a big problem.” Besides planting natives, he finds that including marigolds in the landscaping and spraying plants with Neem oil and hot pepper also help.

Despite the challenges he faces, from finding resources to protecting plants from rabbits, Wells finds the work well worth it. Not only does he get to be outside, but he gets to share his love of the outdoors with students. “I like training them, showing them, teaching them about plants,” he said. “I’ll teach them whatever they want, and that’s fun.”

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Earth Day is often associated with faraway places and unfamiliar landscapes. But for Madeline Aberg, assistant professor of biology at �鶹��, the natural world worth appreciating is all around.

Growing up, Aberg says she always enjoyed being outside and developed an interest in animals at a young age, frequently visiting northern Minnesota’s state parks along Lake Superior with her family. Despite her close ties to the natural world, Aberg once thought she was limited to simply enjoying it as a quiet observer.

It wasn’t until she began taking a required introductory biology course in college that she started to see a bridge between a cherished hobby and her future career.

“When the professor talked about the research that he did, ecology became a tangible career to me,” she says. “I ended up doing research with that same professor the following summer. We lived out at a prairie site and spent most of the days riding around in this truck, watching bison and observing their behavior. Helping with some of the analysis afterward really solidified my enjoyment of research and that it was something I wanted to pursue more seriously.”

Now preparing to complete her first year of teaching at �鶹��, Aberg aims to help students find their place in the urban ecosystem that surrounds campus.

A familiar fit

Having attended a small liberal arts college in Minnesota herself, Aberg always envisioned returning to a similar environment to teach. That initial desire was later solidified during her PhD program, where she found fulfillment through the face-to-face interaction of working with students while completing the required research components.

The main draw to teaching at �鶹�� specifically? Its close ties to the local community.

“There’s this feeling that you’re working with students who are immediately going out and making this area better,” Aberg says. “It feels like there’s a nicely reciprocal relationship there. I was also excited by the idea of doing ecology out of a school that was in an urban environment. Oftentimes if you’re in a city, you’re not necessarily thinking of it as an ecosystem that’s around you. The idea of making those connections more evident to students was really exciting to me.”

This perspective ensures that students don’t feel their daily lives are separate from the environment, but rather that they are active participants in its health.

Coursework in action

Aberg’s courses at �鶹�� range from core biology classes to more niche upper division options like Conservation Biology and Ecology. She’s also taught The Biological World, a general education course covering the whole span of biology with “a big focus on getting students to be more aware of the ecosystem that’s around them.”

Students in Aberg’s courses can expect their learning to reach beyond the classroom, with easy application to real-world issues.

“For one of our in-class activities, students wrote up a script that could be used to describe the benefits of the Boundary Waters to someone who was making a policy decision about [a mining project],” she says. “If students felt strongly about it, they could use that script to make a call.”

By providing these tools, she empowers students to turn scientific understanding into civic action.

On campus, this work continues in the �鶹�� Community Garden, where Aberg has spoken with students and community members who are passionate about food justice and eager to apply ecologically backed gardening techniques to nourish the neighborhood.

By focusing on these intersections, she demonstrates that ecology is as much about people and equity as it is about plants and animals.

Equipping through ecology

Introductory biology courses like those Aberg teaches lay the foundation for many possible pathways for students to take toward a future career in ecology. She says further coursework in biology and environmental studies are good options, while taking advantage of internships and summer research opportunities with faculty members can provide the experience needed to obtain an entry level position in the field.

Aberg says one of her favorite characteristics of ecology is that “it intersects with so many other disciplines.” She emphasizes the importance of statistics and being able to code using R. Another critical competency comes through Geographic Information Systems (mapping): a skill that can be learned through �鶹��’s sociology department and urban studies program.

One thing is clear about ecology: the subject is not one-size-fits-all, nor is the trajectory toward a future career in the field.

“You could have a student who’s really interested in political science but wants to go into environmental law. Within biology, ecologists and conservation biologists are incorporating more genetics into their work. There’s a lot of potential for students who have other interests to find an intersection between their interests and ecology or conservation, both in their personal and professional lives,” Aberg says.

The dueling mandate

Aberg’s own research focuses on the “dueling mandate” of conservation: the tension between protecting natural areas and allowing for human enjoyment. By measuring the impacts recreationists have on wildlife, she seeks to provide the data needed to mitigate their footprint while still encouraging people to get outside.

Part of that is asking the question, “How do you motivate people to behave sustainably?” While answers may vary from person to person, Aberg suggests a universal theme of connection to place.

“It’s so much harder to make people care about behaving sustainably if they don’t feel that connection—if they feel like their day-to-day life is totally separate from the natural environment they live in—which is pretty easy to feel if you’re not used to tuning in and seeing the ecosystem that’s around you,” she says.

Get involved

This Earth Day, Aberg invites the �鶹�� community to explore the connection between recreation and conservation. Beyond the classroom, several Twin Cities organizations offer opportunities to build that connection:

• Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board: Participate in or check out .
• Friends of the Mississippi River: Help restore and improve the health of the .
• Urban Bird Collective: Join designed for all experience levels.
• MN Department of Natural Resources (DNR): Learn beginner-level outdoor recreation skills through the or join to meet fellow nature enthusiasts.

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Nose cone. Airframe. Apogee. Newton-seconds.

Mubarak Abdi ’27 sketches in the air with his hands as he describes what it takes to put together a rocket from scratch, a process he likens to building with Legos. “If I had a rocket, I’d show you,” he laughs.

Abdi speaks the language of rocketry with a fluency that suggests long familiarity. But in fact, he built his first rocket less than two years ago, when a friend invited the recent transfer student to check out the �鶹�� Rocket Club during Fall 2024. Abdi, who was contemplating a future in robotics at the time, thought it sounded like a fun way to try out engineering.

Today, the physics major from Green Bay, Wisconsin, holds a national high-powered rocketry certification and serves as one of the facilitators of the Intercollegiate Rocketry Challenge, a program of the . In this role, Abdi leads regular Zoom workshops for rocketry clubs from a diverse group of seven institutions around Minnesota, including Minnesota State University Moorhead, Gustavus Adolphus College, and Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. In the fall, the groups learned to build “dual deploy” (two-parachute) rockets from kits. This semester, they’re using what they learned in the fall to construct their own airframes along with a sophisticated suite of electronic sensors that will collect and log data at least once per second.

Several of these institutions, including �鶹��, will compete in the 2025–26 Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocket Competition launch day in May, which takes place on a private sod farm in North Branch in partnership with the Minnesota chapter of the national Tripoli Rocketry Association. Abdi explains that this year’s competition involves “roll control,” or devising a mechanism to control the direction and degree of spin during flight. Teams will also use a downward-facing camera to decode a message displayed on the ground before landing their rockets safely. He expects the rockets to reach an altitude of up to 3,000 feet based on their motor size.

Daniel Hickox-Young, an assistant professor of physics at �鶹��, works with Abdi and �鶹��’s rocketry team as a mentor for the Intercollegiate Rocketry Challenge.

As a computational physicist, his own research in materials science involves quantum-based simulations of structure-property relationships (in layman’s terms, “picking interesting materials to understand how they work”) rather than direct experimentation. But being at �鶹�� provides plenty of creative ways to work with students. For Hickox-Young, this includes supervising summer research; teaching “Physics for Fine Arts,” which uses the arts as an entry point to explore physics principles and the scientific method; and learning alongside amateur rocketry enthusiasts about fin placement and microcontroller programming. Weaving in and out of the classroom, these different threads contribute to an evolving curriculum. Next year, �鶹��’s School of Natural Sciences will debut an engineering minor, which Hickox-Young helped design along with Professor Moumita Dasgupta (physics) and Assistant Professor Jacob Troutman (chemistry).

Abdi and Hickox-Young are part of a rewarding and close-knit STEM lineage at �鶹��, one of three founding members of the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium. The consortium is part of the NASA-funded National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, a network that spans all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. All Minnesota Space Grant affiliate institutions offer specific, NASA-themed opportunities for their students as a means of advancing aerospace education. Since 1991, �鶹��’s Space Grant program has provided scholarships and paid research opportunities for �鶹�� students, educational events for the campus community, and support for K-12 teachers with the latest tools for science and mathematics education.

In early February, Abdi delivered a poster presentation about the Intercollegiate Rocketry Challenge at the consortium’s annual student symposium at the University of Minnesota Duluth. While in Duluth, he also took the opportunity to tour the facilities of aviation company Cirrus Aircraft. While all of his five older siblings have gone into health care, Abdi is now set on pursuing aerospace engineering after graduation. The hands-on aspect of rocketry, and the opportunities he’s had to learn, teach, lead, and launch, hooked him.

“Building stuff that flies is so cool,” he says.

Slideshow: Launch Day

Students from �鶹��’s Rocket Club participated in a launch day in North Branch, Minnesota, in November 2025. (Photos by Hayley Selinski)

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Top image: Mubarak Abdi ’27, center, works with other �鶹�� students to construct a rocket as part of the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium’s Intercollegiate Rocketry Challenge. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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We asked Austin about their journey to �鶹��, their ministry, and what being named a 2025 LGBTQ changemaker means to them.

What brought you to �鶹��?

I am so glad that I found my way to �鶹��, because I have found a community here that I absolutely adore. It baffles me that I hadn’t heard of �鶹�� sooner. I came to �鶹�� for two reasons. One, because I received an amazing financial aid package, which allowed me to afford to attend university. And two, because it’s a Lutheran university, which really appealed to me, since my mother is an ELCA Lutheran pastor. My mother and I took the train out here all the way from the west coast in Washington. It was a long journey, but so worth it for all the love I have found in both the people and the physical spaces �鶹�� has.

What was it like to be featured on the GLAAD 20 Under 20 list honoring exceptional LGBTQ youth?

Being one of GLAAD’s 20 Under 20 is a huge honor. It has been such a joy to receive recognition for the work I’ve been doing in my community and in the church. And it has been such a privilege to share more about this work on a larger scale and raise awareness of all the intersections the church holds. There are queer folx in the church; there are people of color in the church. We are here, and we are the church. I have grown up with my mother as my pastor, a woman of color. I have grown up surrounded by the diversity of the Lutheran church, and it’s absolutely beautiful. I wish everyone could see the beauty that is God’s love in action. I’m excited to have this accolade with me as I continue to do this work.

“It is absolutely possible to be a person of faith and have a queer identity. In fact, for me, those two identities are intertwined and irretrievably linked.” —Dante Austin ’29 in Teen Vogue

How do you see your faith and your queer identity as being linked?

For me, there has never been a separation between my queerness and my faith. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve struggled with my identity and my belief system before. But when I think about these two parts of myself, they are more similar than they have ever been different. I know that I, along with everyone and everything else in this world, am made in God’s image. For me, that means being Black, being queer, being Hispanic, being everything that I am without shame or regret. I am proud to be who I am, and that is a faithful and queer person of color. I know that God created me this way, to be living proof of intersectionality and to “be light and love that the world so desperately needs,” as �鶹�� University Pastor Babette Chatman ’06 says.

What does your ministry look like?

I have primarily worked with children, youth, and families in the church. I feel called to make the word of God accessible to the most marginalized among us. And oftentimes, there is not much representation for children who grow up in the church, or for them to see the Bible stories portrayed in ways they can connect with. I show up with all of my marginalized identities to be a visible advocate for others. I want to show children that they can participate in church leadership if they so choose, or at the very least, see someone who looks like them, someone they feel comfortable speaking to leading in worship—whether it be reading, singing, or assisting in any other way—and sharing the word of God through a minority lens.

What are your dreams for the church?

My dream is for the church to act out its faith in the world; to be the hands and feet of Christ; to display the love of the gospel; and to uplift the voices of the most marginalized or minimized in our community. I see my dreams slowly being realized every day—in Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry and Secretary [Lucille “CeCee”] Mills, in the work I do with my family on our podcast, “Sacred Storytime With Pastor Priscilla,” and in daily chapel with Pastor Babette Chatman. Slowly but surely, we are changing the church for the better; we are building tables to commune, not barriers; and we are inviting in, not pushing out. The church has always been a home for me, and I dream of a day when, whether someone believes or not, no one feels afraid or rejected when they enter a place of worship. I dream that spaces of praise to God are places where all of God’s creation feel safe to rest and be in community with one another.

Top image: Dante Austin ’29 was named a 20 Under 20 LGBTQ changemaker by GLAAD. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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When Amy Cooper started her role as �鶹�� athletic director on June 1, she knew she had a lot to learn—although not about the NCAA, student-athletes, or sport administration. She gained that experience throughout her time as senior associate athletics director at the University of St. Thomas, associate athletic director of administration at Howard University, director of athletics at Trinity Washington University, and in coaching roles at South Carolina State University, Southwest Minnesota State University, and Prairie View A&M University.

While she championed the �鶹�� mission, Cooper still had a lot to learn about being an Auggie herself.

“I’m the type of person who has to get in, dig in, and see what’s going on,” said Cooper. “I can lead better when I fully understand everything, and I’ve been doing a lot of learning.” Her �鶹�� experience has involved a lot of time on the operations side of Auggie Athletics to see how everything functions together.

The biggest surprise, she said, was how familiar �鶹�� student-athletes felt to her. “I’ve been surprised by the connection that I feel like I already have with our student-athletes. I feel like I’ve known them for a long time. They’re always speaking, saying hello, being polite.”

Cooper has also been learning about the array of responsibilities �鶹�� student-athletes juggle. Beyond coursework and practice schedules, many of them have jobs and other extracurricular commitments. She has worked to emphasize the importance of balance, for both the students and the coaches. “That’s what the Division III model is about, making sure student-athletes have an opportunity to do a lot of different things,” said Cooper. “We’ve got a cross-country runner in band and a hockey player in the choir. When Mohammad Bati ’26 won the MIAC cross country championship for the fourth time, I know he went to work later that day. I was shocked to hear how many students we have participating in different things.”

To supplement that balance, Cooper said it’s important to celebrate classroom accomplishments alongside athletic achievements. Earlier this month, on National First-Generation College Celebration Day, �鶹�� Athletics recognized the first-generation student-athletes—both on the football field during a game against Gustavus Adolphus College and on the volleyball court during a game against St. Mary’s University.

“I think it’s so important to do our best to make sure student-athletes are having a great experience at �鶹�� in general. They only have four years for it. I want them to live it up before the real world comes,” Cooper said.

There have been plenty of great experiences during the Fall 2025 athletics season: men’s wrestling has ranked number one in the nation, women’s hockey number two, men’s soccer number three, and Bati has experienced tremendous success in cross country. Cooper described the excitement of hosting a semifinals sendoff for the women’s soccer team, when they advanced in the MIAC tournament on November 6.

Cooper’s goals for the future? “I want to keep going. It’s been years of building up to this point for these teams to have this success. We’ve got a lot of other teams working hard to get there. My job now is to bolster and support our coaches and student-athletes as much as possible to add to that success.”

Top image: Amy Cooper began her journey at �鶹�� on June 1, 2025, serving as athletic director. (Photo by Cary Percy)

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Yuming Fang takes the “critical thinkers” part of �鶹��’s mission statement seriously. Now in her second year as an assistant professor of communication studies, she is an expert in misinformation—how it spreads, why we believe it, and how to disrupt it.

Fang’s research has shown that familiarity leads to credulousness: the more familiar a piece of misinformation feels, the more likely people are to agree with it, regardless of prior exposure to the misinformation. Media literacy and numeracy as well as deliberative information processing are critical in prompting individuals to be more suspicious when encountering misinformation, she says, noting that people are also more likely to believe false claims that contain statistics.

Fang is a key faculty member in �鶹��’s strategic communications major at a time when the world is grappling with misinformation challenges fueled by the explosive rise of generative AI and social media. First introduced two years ago, the strategic communication concentration equips students to navigate complex communication challenges in a range of settings, from traditional agency work in advertising, public relations, and marketing to in-house roles focusing on social media, content creation, and crisis management for major companies.

But Fang notes that students should think broadly about their career options. The strong written, oral, and visual communication skills that are foundational to strategic communication are relevant across many contexts, including big tech, the nonprofit sector, government and public affairs, health, sports, entertainment and media, and more. Whether individually or at the societal level, the ability to create messages that break through and influence behavior is increasingly valuable.

This fall, Fang’s classes—Principles of Strategic Communication, Organizational Communication, and Mass Media and Popular Culture—address both the micro and macro. “If you think of an inverted pyramid,” she says, “at the top is the societal level, where we think about what emerging trends need to inform strategy. Below that is the organizational level, where communication helps to reach the goals and objectives of an organization. Then you move down to the communication level, where all the elements of a campaign come together to persuade.”

Prior to pursuing a PhD in mass communication and media studies at the University of Minnesota, Fang received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School. In that program, students ran a newsroom and graduated with a set of published projects that spanned print, video, and interactive multimedia. The deadline-driven environment was “stressful but worth it,” she says, and she carried the hands-on approach forward into her own classrooms. She asks her students to develop a communications campaign for a real-world client of their choosing—for example, a coffee shop, an immigration nonprofit, or a local retailer. Over the course of the semester, they come up with the strategic plan, key messages, creative design elements, budget, execution, and evaluation plan. In a competitive job market, Fang wants her students to graduate with a tangible portfolio in hand and the experience to back it up.

This experiential approach is a natural fit at �鶹��, where Fang appreciates the culture of welcome on campus. As a first-generation college graduate herself, the sense of connection has made a deep impression, both in terms of the support she has received as a new faculty member and the ease with which students and faculty interact every day.

“Students are really seen here,” she says. “It feels great to work at �鶹��.”

Top image: Beginning her second year at �鶹��, Yuming Fang dedicates much of her work toward media literacy and numeracy. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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Stephen Nushann ’27 took his first tour of �鶹�� through AVID, a college preparatory course offered through his high school. He had heard about �鶹�� through family members and felt comfortable when he was on campus, noting the option for small classes while being in a big city. After discovering the Act Six scholarship, which provides full tuition, room, and board for up to seven incoming undergraduate students each year, he knew that applying to �鶹�� was a no-brainer.

“I first met Stephen the summer after his high school senior year. He was a leader among his peers even then, going out of his way to engage and involve the other participants in the program he was attending,” says Jeremy Myers, Bernhard M. Christensen Professor of Religion and Vocation and director of the Christensen Center for Vocation (CCV). “And now, I see him stepping up and trying on new leadership roles as a junior in college, becoming the student body president with the continued intention of creating community and a sense of belonging for all of his peers. He is an incredibly selfless and self-aware leader.”

What made you decide to run for student body president?

I hadn’t participated in student government before, so my immediate thought was “no.” Then I talked to my grandma—I really love and respect my grandma—about this opportunity. She really encouraged me to do it. My biggest fear was that I might not know enough and would make mistakes. She told me, “You’ll be great,” and reassured me that it’s fine to make mistakes as long as I learn from them. That was all I needed to tell myself that I could do this and make a change on campus.

What are some of your goals as president this year?

I want to make sure that student government is seen on campus. As a freshman and sophomore, I didn’t always know about student government and what they did. So I want the students to know us and know that we are here to represent them. We meet on Wednesday nights, and I want to encourage students to come to meetings. I want students to see me around campus and feel comfortable asking me questions.

I want to think more intentionally about dining options around campus. It’s such an important part of the student experience, and I think there are ways to improve the food and the experience for students. I’d like to see more ethnic food on the menu, but even better if we can partner with community members to bring their recipes to campus.

What would you like other students to know about student government?

We are a group of students for students. We represent the student body. If or when students want to make a change on campus, we are here to listen to them.

What are you most excited about this year, both as president and as a student?

As a student, I’m most excited about getting involved with student government, Campus Ministry, Auggie Cup, and other activities around campus. I’m excited about these experiences, the people I’ll meet, and the things I will learn.

As president, I look forward to seeing results. Last year, student government supported the Environmental Stewardship Committee to give us the [the grounds crew’s new electric utility cart named for former environmental student leader Leah Tift ’25]. It took a lot of work to make that happen. I’m excited to see more ideas and plans come to life.

How has �鶹�� helped you to become the leader you are today?

I have a really, really good support system here at �鶹��, whether that’s Campus Ministry, Act Six Scholars, Eve [Christensen] in Campus Life, and the CCV. I have people who are rooting for me to succeed and people who I can go to with questions and concerns. That support system has encouraged me to become the leader I am today.

What would you like the public to know about your experience here at �鶹��?

My �鶹�� experience has been absolutely amazing. I could not imagine myself anywhere else. I have found my community here. �鶹�� has been so welcoming, and I’ve experienced so much learning and growth. The person I was two years ago when I came here to the person I am now is completely different. The people I’ve encountered, the lessons I’ve learned, the classes and professors—it’s all changed me to be a better person.

Quick Facts About Stephen

• Favorite people on campus: Pastor John [Rohde Schwehn], Pastor Babette [Chatman ’06], Jeremy Myers, Eve Christensen
• Favorite campus event: Friendsgiving, Back to School Block Party, Taste of �鶹��
• Favorite food at The Commons: Sushi, spaghetti, and the cultural cuisines
• Favorite class: All of my religion classes and my class with Jeffrey Clement

Top image: Stephen Nushann ’27 wears many hats at �鶹��, including his active role within Campus Ministry. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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Few people on campus are as radiant as University Pastor Babette Chatman ’06. Her heart for the �鶹�� community is revealed through her strong hugs, easy smiles, and gentle prayers. She’s a consistent presence at core campus events in her white robe or Auggie swag, eager to cheer for students at opening convocation, commencement, and every chapel service, symposium, and campus block party in between.

Pastor Babette knows the importance of showing up for students, especially since she was once an �鶹�� student herself. She promised her family that she would finish her undergraduate degree when she moved from Detroit to Minneapolis in the early 2000s, and �鶹��’s former Weekend College program allowed her to take classes around her regular work schedule as an adult student. Many of her credits transferred, and a major in English literature made the most of her previous academic experience, helping set her up for what came next.

Her next steps led her to ministry and eventually back to �鶹��, thanks to some divine orchestration. Here, Pastor Babette shares what she loves most about being part of the �鶹�� community and what she has learned about herself along the way.

How did you stay connected to �鶹�� after graduation?

After I graduated, Campus Pastor Emeritus Dave Wold, who was the then-director of ministry, and then-Associate Pastor Sonja Hagander were having conversations about an intentional collaboration between �鶹�� Campus Ministry and a north side parish. I worked at Redeemer Lutheran Church at the time, and my supervisor and brother Pastor Kelly Chatman helped me begin a collaboration with Redeemer and �鶹�� Campus Ministry in 2007. There, I offered the Ministry of Presence, which is about being physically and emotionally present and relational. This collaboration really fed me. During this time, my sense of call felt concrete for both my work at Redeemer and at �鶹��.

What drew you to ministry?

Originally, being a minister was just who I was and what I did. While on professional staff at Redeemer Center for Life—Redeemer Lutheran Church’s nonprofit—I did outreach, youth development, and evangelism work within the community. I was invited to be a council member on the Minneapolis Area Synod. While on the council, I chaired a committee and joined several others in service to the Synod and community. All the things I said yes to were solidifying to me that I was actually doing ministry. After presenting to a group of college presidents, my brother told me I should go to seminary to be a pastor. I was hesitant for a long time, but then I did an accelerated path to my master’s degree, which fit my life better.

When Pastor Dave retired, I was invited to take over Doing Theology With Girlfriends, a Bible study group for students, and to just be more present. That’s when I realized that God might be up to something. In 2018, I applied for and was extended the call to be the associate pastor at �鶹��. Then, when I was onboarded, then-Pastor Justin Lind-Ayres made a decision around equity that we would no longer be identified as senior pastor and associate pastor. We would both be pastors equally.

�鶹�� has a way of creating belonging. I don’t say yes to opportunities if I don’t believe I belong or can bring something to the community. I am unapologetically a Black woman, and I feel like �鶹�� never once asked me to minimize myself or decrease myself to acculturate to an identity. I felt like the invitation was always to be my true, authentic self, which honors the fullness of the student body.

What have you learned about yourself through ministry?

Faith is all about relationships, and it is about spirit. In some ways, it’s a relationship of a mothering spirit. These young adults come here, and they don’t know what they don’t know, but I hope that being proximate to me could give them a sense of home.

There are two things that have always been at my core. I tend to notice the person that’s not belonging. Even as a child in school, I usually noticed the other classmate that was sitting by themselves or one that might’ve been bullied or ignored, and I made my way to them. I’ve also always been drawn to working with young people—middle schoolers, high schoolers, and young adults. With me, young people get to practice challenging adults; I have capacity for that. They challenge me as much as anybody, but in them challenging me, I don’t reject them. Instead, I wait them out, and I do the work to make them fall in love with me as I am falling in love with them.

How do you think �鶹��’s roots as a Lutheran institution inform the student experience?

I think the church is at its best when it turns towards the marginalized, not away from them. I have had my own marginalized experiences in the sanctuaries of this tradition that I belong to. Because of that, I think �鶹�� is so unique in its approach to Campus Ministry. Pastor John Rohde Schwehn, my co-pastor, knows that we are university pastors to the whole of �鶹��. The believers and the nonbelievers, the atheists, the agnostic—they are all ours because we are called to pastor. We’re the ones trained to touch the suffering, and suffering comes to everybody. It’s important that everybody experiences radical love and hospitality through Campus Ministry.

Do you have any words of encouragement for the �鶹�� community?

We acknowledge the suffering in our world. We don’t deny it. We acknowledge it, and sometimes we’re at a loss for words. But then we get this blessed assurance: God is with us. Come visit us in the Foss building, and we’ll remind you that God is with us. God enters our suffering with us daily. No matter what happens, we’re not alone. On �鶹��’s campus, both physical and virtual, we’re in this together.

Also, specifically for the students and their families, our work is a promise that somebody is thinking about their child. Somebody is thinking about your child and their best interests. Provost Paula O’Loughlin, President Paul Pribbenow, Dean of Students Mike Grewe, Pastor Babette, Pastor John—we’re all thinking about the students and the staff and faculty. Because no matter what, we’re together. We’re an intentional community. We are intentionally �鶹��.

Top image: University Pastor Babette Chatman ’06 at Opening Convocation, August 2024 (Photo by Courtney Perry)

The post Everyone’s Pastor appeared first on �鶹�� Now.

July marked two years since Paula O’Loughlin arrived at �鶹�� to take on the role of provost and senior vice president of academic and student affairs. As the university’s second-ranking officer after President Paul Pribbenow, her portfolio includes oversight of �鶹��’s academic programs, faculty, campus life, student support and retention, accreditation, and more. In two years, she has also facilitated major strategic initiatives, including a recent revision of the general education curriculum and the development of a schools-based administrative structure.

Having previously served as provost and dean of the faculty at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as a senior administrator at Gustavus Adolphus College, and as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota–Morris, O’Loughlin knows that authenticity matters in leadership. And whether she’s unpacking the “rumor of the week” in her weekly campus email, coordinating an office potluck in Memorial Hall, or putting in a cameo appearance in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” it’s clear that fun matters, too. Here, O’Loughlin reflects on her journey and how she has been shaped by the �鶹�� community so far.

Q: What drew you to higher education?

A: My parents were both academics, and it was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I certainly didn’t plan to be a teacher or provost—which is kind of like if the leader of the rebel forces all of a sudden runs the Death Star. But it turns out I love what I do, and I realized that you can do so much more for students as a provost. You can do a lot of good by amplifying certain strategic choices and helping more students achieve their dreams. You can also mentor faculty, which is important.

Q: When did you realize you wanted to join the “dark side” of academia (i.e., administration)?

A: The critical moment was when I went to a political science conference, and then I went to an American Association of Colleges and Universities conference. I geeked out more at the AAC&U conference than the PoliSci one. That’s when I knew I wanted to expand beyond teaching a specific discipline. There was an intellectual excitement to the academic administrative conversations. I wanted to help open up the academic systems to all students—not, for example, just the students who knew the right professors.

I see what I do in the form of a calling. It’s not a job. It’s an adventure.

Q: What brought you to �鶹�� specifically?

A: The �鶹�� mission—that’s what it’s all about. You can love a school’s mission, but your skills may not be able to make a difference. When I was on campus for my interview, I realized I could probably make a difference here to one extent or another. I’m trying to keep learning. Paul Pribbenow is a rock star in the higher ed world. You don’t often get to learn from a president whose values are the same as yours and has been doing this work for a long time.

I’ve always wanted to enable students to tell their own stories. A lot of schools talk about giving students opportunities, and �鶹�� actually does it. That means something. The students that come to �鶹�� are from communities that are often underrepresented. They may not have had the same opportunities as their peers, and I want them to. For me, that’s our mission, and our mission is embedded in a community that comes together around students, opportunities, and being authentic to who we are, both as people and as �鶹��.

Q: What’s your favorite time of the academic year?

A: Oh, that’s tough. It’s either the beginning of the year or graduation. The clapping tunnel [at opening convocation and commencement] is a pretty powerful time. I love that for the first-year students, and I also love it at the end of their college career. Being there for commencement and seeing our students’ families is a pretty special thing. The more you know students and see them succeed, the better it is. So I can’t tell you which one I like better—the start of the year or the completion. They are both filled with real happiness and possibility.

Q: How did you get involved with �鶹��’s production of ‘The Rocky Picture Horror Show’?

A: Honestly, I asked [Professor of Theater Arts] Darcey Engen ’88 if I could participate. I have zero theater background, but I just wanted to. When she found a part for me, I did it. I loved it—we were all having so much fun. How many provosts will just laugh at themselves enough to dress up and be a character? Throughout my time at �鶹��, I’ve tried to bring my authentic self, hoping that other people can find opportunities to do so in their own ways, too, especially after the pandemic.

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