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ALUMNI NEWSAlumni NewsFrom the Alumni Board president’s desk…Hello Augsburgalumni! As thefirst WeekendCollege graduate toserve as AlumniBoard president,I’ve been spendingsome timeconsidering boththe similarities andthe differences among our alumni andtheir experiences.Augsburg has done an incredible jobof creating educational programs that fitthe contrasting needs of students. Inyears past, the College was smaller andoffered fewer programs. Today, ourstudents may choose from the weekend,Rochester, graduate, or traditional dayprograms. They may live on campus orthey may commute from home.It’s only natural, then, that graduatesof 20 or more years ago are likely to havevery different memories from those whograduated more recently. In turn, thisalso means that the “Augsburgexperience” will mean different thingsfor our alumni—their memories areunique and the connection each feelstoward Augsburg varies. For example,many adult learners do not feel the samelong-term association and affection forthe College as do those students who liveon campus. However, we all share in thetraditions and events that have beentreasured to this day, like Advent Vespersand Homecoming.One important goal of the AlumniBoard is to help create meaningfulrelationships between all Augsburgstudents and alumni. We want everyoneto share a deep “Augsburg experience”and a continuing connection with theCollege—which we believe will help tospread Augsburg’s educational andvocational values throughout thecommunity. All alumni have one thing incommon: the great benefit of anAugsburg degree, which does notdifferentiate between student types.Five alumni appointed to Alumni BoardThe Augsburg Alumni Board ofDirectors appointed five newmembers and elected Bill Vanderwall ’93WEC as president and Karina Karlén ’83as president-elect. To view the completelist of board members, visit theAlumni/Parent Relations Web site at. The newmembers are as follows:Buffie Blesi ‘90, ‘97 MALBlesi graduated from Augsburg with aB.A. in business administration and aMaster of Arts in Leadership. She issenior vice president and director ofoperations for TCF Investments.Andy Fried ‘93 WECFried graduated from Augsburg WeekendCollege with a B.A. in managementinformation systems. He is operationsand systems support manager forWindLogics, Inc.Calvin Hanson ‘98Hanson graduated from Augsburg with aB.A. in history. He is a senior admissionscounselor at Augsburg.Joyce Miller ‘02 BS Nursing,RochesterMiller graduated with a Master of Arts inNursing from Augsburg’s nursingprogram in Rochester, Minn. She is aregistered nurse at the Mayo Clinic andan adjunct instructor at Augsburg.Elizabeth “Liz” Pushing ‘93Pushing graduated from Augsburg with aB.A. in business administration. She isdirector of financial services atProvidence Place.Of special note in this issue of theAugsburg Now is the article on page 28about the newly formed WeekendCollege Alumni Network (WECAN).This group is already developing somegreat strategies on how we can betterconnect with current Weekend Collegestudents in order to establish a strongalumni relationship later. We value yourinput on how to accomplish this, soplease call the director of Alumni/ParentRelations, Amy Sutton, at 612-330-1525,or e-mail . Youmay also e-mail me at with yourideas. I look forward to serving as yournew Alumni Board president!Bill Vanderwall ’93 WECPresident, Alumni BoardAlumni Board electsfirst WEC alumnusas presidentAugsburg’s Alumni Board of Directorsis pleased to announce the election ofBill Vanderwall ’93 to serve as the2004–2005 board president. Vanderwall isthe board’s first Weekend College alumnusto serve as its president.“I am honored to bring in some newideas to further connect Augsburg to nontraditionalstudents,” says Vanderwall.“Personally, my degree from Augsburg hashad great impact in helping me discern myvocational direction and in setting a courseof action on how to get there—ultimatelyenabling me to work and live in a way thatis consistent with my values.”Vanderwall was recently promoted tovice president of family services atLutheran Social Service of Minnesota. Hepreviously served as LSS’s senior directorof housing services.Fall 2004 27