Augsburg College

Augsburg University has maintained a strong academic reputation defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies since 1869. A safe and welcoming campus in the heart of Minneapolis, Augsburg offers undergraduate and graduate degrees to more than 3,500 diverse students.

Augsburg offers many ways to engage, connect, and belong. Students and parents receive support and resources. Alumni use their college degrees to live out their callings. Visitors cheer on Auggie athletics, attend live performances, complete service projects, and embrace other opportunities to learn.

Augsburg University educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community that is committed to intentional diversity in its life and work. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

Augsburg’s campus in Minneapolis surrounds Murphy Square, the city’s oldest park. The Mississippi River and the Seven Corners theater district are just a few blocks away, and convenient bus routes and light rail transit lines unite Augsburg with the greater Twin Cities area.

Augsburg University educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. The Augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community that is committed to intentional diversity in its life and work. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran Church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.

Augsburg is a quality liberal arts institution set in the heart of a great metropolitan center. There are approximately 24,000 Augsburg alumni. In a world that has changed much since those first days of the College, Augsburg still sends out graduates who make a difference where they live and work.

Augsburg University is committed to helping its members – students and employees alike – explore their vocation. As a University with a calling, we welcome the unique gifts that each of our employees brings to our collective work, and we are committed to supporting our employees as they seek to match those gifts with the needs of the University and our larger community. It is through this ongoing discernment of vocation – of helping our community members seek meaning in their lives and work – that we believe we will be best equipped to serve our neighbor and to educate our students at the intersection of faith, learning, and service.

The University recognizes that in order to serve our students and live out our mission we need to be committed to ensuring that the work environment allows employees to have clear expectations of their job responsibilities and career opportunities matched with the needs of the University, as well as competitive compensation. We strive to have a collective commitment to the success of our colleagues. We are dedicated to creating an atmosphere of work that epitomizes co-creation and effective partnerships as a hallmark of our work together.

In the undergraduate programs, the Core Curriculum combines liberal arts, major coursework, and Augsburg’s signature courses to prepare students to be leaders of our ever-changing world. All students learn outside of the classroom through service opportunities, internships, fieldwork, consulting projects, and study abroad. It’s this commitment to hands-on learning that makes the Augsburg Experience truly unique.Our graduate curriculum is guided by the themes of preparation for leadership, education for service, and recognition of cultural and social diversity.

When you live and learn in the heart of the city, there’s always something to do. Augsburg’s campus sits in the vibrant Cedar-Riverside neighborhood near downtown Minneapolis. Our location is a short walk, bike, or train ride away from Fortune 500 companies, world-renowned theaters and museums, concerts and sporting events, lakes and trails, restaurants and shopping, and hundreds of other destinations.

August Weenaas was Augsburg’s first president (1869-1876). Professor Weenaas recruited two teachers from Norway—Sven Oftedal and Georg Sverdrup. These three men clearly articulate the direction of Augsburg: to educate Norwegian Lutherans to minister to immigrants and to provide such “college” studies that would prepare students for theological study.

In 1874 they proposed a three-part plan: first, train ministerial candidates; second, prepare future theological students; and third, educate the farmer, worker, and businessman. The statement stressed that a good education is also practical.Augsburg’s next two presidents, Georg Sverdrup and Sven Oftedal, also emphatically rejected ivory tower concepts of education. This commitment to church and community has been Augsburg’s theme for over 130 years.

Keeping the vision of the democratic college, Georg Sverdrup, Augsburg’s second president (1876-1907), required students to get pre-ministerial experience in city congregations. Student involvement in the community gave early expression to the concept of Augsburg’s motto, “Education for Service.” Following Sverdrup’s death in 1907, Sven Oftedal (1907-1911) became president. Like Sverdrup, Oftedal was a supporter of what became known as the New School.