Download the Fall 2004 PDF - Augsburg College

HOMECOMING 2004TWO HONORED AS 2004 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI by Lynn MenaTwo alumni join 164 others as Distinguished Alumni of Augsburg College. Recipients are recognizedfor significant achievement in their vocations and outstanding contributions to church andcommunity, through years of preparation, experience, dedication, exemplary character, and service.Brian J. Anderson ’82Dr. Brian J. Anderson graduated fromAugsburg in 1982 with a B.A. inphysics, mathematics, and religion.From 1983-1987, he served as aresearch associate at the University ofMinnesota, where in 1987 he earned aPh.D. in physics. In 1986 he returnedto Augsburg as a visiting lecturer inphysics, and in 1987 as an assistantprofessor of physics. During his twoyears on the Augsburg faculty, he was instrumental in securing agrant from the National Science Foundation for the establishmentof a vacuum technology laboratory for advanced physicsstudents.In 1988, Anderson relocated to the East Coast to serve as apostdoctoral associate at Johns Hopkins University AppliedPhysics Laboratory, where he is currently a senior physicist. Healso supervises the magnetic fields section of the APL’s SpacePhysics Group, and is a member of the science team for NASA’sMessenger mission to Mercury, among others.Anderson is internationally recognized in space physics forhis innovative and wide-ranging contributions to theunderstanding of the dynamic particle and magnetic fieldenvironment of near earth space.In addition to his duties at Johns Hopkins, Anderson alsoserves as president of Division III (Magnetospheric Phenomena)of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy,the international scientific association that brings together spacescientists worldwide for biennial scientific congresses. Herecently completed service as an editor for Geophysical ResearchLetters, the premier international journal of earth and spacesciences. He was also a member of a panel convened by theNational Academy of Sciences to provide guidance over the next10 years to all U.S. government agencies in the areas of solar andspace physics.Anderson is an active member of Evangelical LutheranChurch in Frederick, Md., where he serves on the church counciland on various committees. He also serves as an assistingminister in worship and is a regular participant in othercongregational events. His wife, Dr. Leeann Rock, is a 1981graduate of Augsburg.Fern L. (Hanson) Gudmestad ’41As a child growing up in Seattle, Wash.,Fern L. (Hanson) Gudmestad learnedabout Augsburg from her uncle, the Rev.Frederick Iversen, an early 1900s graduateof Augsburg College and Seminary.Although she enrolled at the University ofWashington—where she ultimatelyreceived a B.A. in art in 1941—sheconvinced her parents to send her toAugsburg for her sophomore year.Gudmestad’s time as a student on the Augsburg campusproduced numerous lifelong bonds—particularly to onealumnus, the Rev. Lawrence Gudmestad ’39 (1983 AugsburgDistinguished Alumnus), whom she married. Three of their fourchildren also attended the College—one graduating in 1965 andthe other in 1968—as well as a daughter-in-law and a grandson,making theirs a four-generation Augsburg family.Gudmestad has remained a loyal and active alumna of theCollege, having served as an adviser to the College of the ThirdAge, as a longtime member of the Augsburg Associates, and onthe committee assisting with the recent Lutheran Free Churchcelebration held on campus in June. In addition, she has been aregular contributor to The Augsburg Fund and a member of thepresident’s Maroon & Silver Society. She generously funded a pipein Hoversten Chapel’s new organ for each of her children, andafter her husband’s death in 1986 she directed memorial gifts toAugsburg.As a young woman in the 1940s and ’50s, Gudmestadanswered the call to serve along with her husband during hisyears as a parish pastor in both Washington and North Dakota.As his partner, she managed a myriad of responsibilities, and inthe 1970s and ’80s she held successive and increasinglycomprehensive leadership positions in the American LutheranChurch Women (ALCW) organizations, beginning as president ofher local ALCW, later as president of the ALC’s SoutheastMinnesota District ALCW Board, and ultimately as president ofthe national ALCW.Recognized as a wise and quietly powerful woman,Gudmestad’s special combination of faith and skills in leadershipcontinues to bring many invitations to speak at events andparticipate on committees and boards.8 Fall 2004