At present, this page provides alumni with the annual newsletter. This particular newsletter addresses 2003-2004. If you have ideas on how to improve or add to this page, please e-mail 
Susan L. Schrader, Chair of the Department.
This is the seventh newsletter for Sociology at Augustana. We are enthused about this as a way of communicating with you as alumni. We are hopeful you will find the Sociology newsletter to be an informative addition to the news you regularly receive through Augustana Today and other college publications.
Fifteen people graduated from Augustana in May with degrees in Sociology. Congratulations to these fine people on their accomplishments here at Augustana! We will miss them!
An additional five students graduated from Augustana with degrees in Social Work. As the Social Work Program is being phased out at Augustana, it has been sad to see an excellent program end. Yet, students with great promise graduated this year. We are proud of them!
As a department, our goals were to engage in excellent teaching in the classroom, to increase the number of students declaring Sociology as a major, and to invest ourselves in departmental assessment. Much of the faculty's efforts were directed towards these aspirations, with good results. A record number of graduating Sociology (15!) and Social Work (5!) majors marched across the commencement stage in May. Students continue to report satisfaction with the Sociology courses, and each of us has endeavored to try new and innovative approaches in our courses. And we successfully completed our Program Review, submitting that report to the Curriculum Council in Fall 2003. You may find the Program Review report on our website. In addition to this document, we received approval from the Curriculum Council to streamline the major, add a new specialty course (Sociology of Religion), and to strengthen our attention to field experiences/internships by offering another new course, Applied Sociology.
The year promised beginnings and endings for us, not an uncommon experience in our department over the last five years! As we mentioned in the last newsletter, Dr. Susan Wortmann came to Augustana to fill a tenure-track Assistant Professorship, beginning Fall 2003. She brings some quality teaching experience with expertise in gender, sociology of religion, and stratification to our mix. We have been delighted with her presence and willingness to engage students in and outside of the classroom.
Another pleasing beginning that occurred this year was the genesis of the student-initiated Sociology Club. Current sociology majors are savvy in navigating the funding waters of ASA (Augustana Student Association). So, with perseverance and focus, the group has been able to achieve legitimation with ASA. Several events were scheduled during the year (see next article), and plans are underway for additional events in 2004-2005.
The ending we hoped would never come pertains to the retirement of Dr. Martin Brokenleg from the Native American Studies program. Martin was offered a tremendous opportunity to chart new waters in Native American ministry. He accepted the position of Director of Native Ministries and Professor of First Nations Theology at the Vancouver School of Theology, beginning in June 2004. While this move isn't the typical "retirement" that many of us anticipate, it is one that will provide Dr. Brokenleg with new opportunities and ways to share his many gifts. We will miss him terribly.
To honor Dr. Brokenleg, the Social Science Division hosted a celebration in April 2004. Family, friends, and students attended to acknowledge the significant impact and tremendous contributions that Dr. Brokenleg has made to Augustana, the region, and beyond. The following array of pictures capture some of the celebration of Martin's 30 years of service to Augustana, its students, and its faculty.
So, as we look forward to Fall 2004, we will be bidding farewell to Dr. Martin Brokenleg and temporarily to Dr. Bill Swart. Susan and Susan will welcome two new adjunct instructors (Jessica Hanson and Susan Bunger) to join the department for Fall 2004. It will be a new composition once again, but one for which we are enthusiastic.
In the spring of 2004, a few dedicated Sociology majors began the long process of establishing a club. Their dreams became a reality after months of researching and planning.
The Sociology Club grew quickly from only a few pioneers to 39 members from the Augustana student body, including the seven elected officers. Outreach Coordinator and Recruiting officer, Anna Lind, states, “I am not surprised that so many Augie students chose to join the club. There are a huge number of students that have sociological interests.”
The Sociology Club was started to create opportunities for students to explore various avenues within the field of Sociology, to expand their knowledge of contemporary sociological research, and to provide community and fellowship to students involved in the Sociology program.
The club is off to a great start. Last spring the Sociology Club launched its first event with a campus-wide Ice Cream Social. To end the school year, the club invited the Augustana community to join them for pizza, pop, and to watch the movie, The Big One, during finals week. Programming Coordinator, Lindsey Karlson, says, “We hope to have a wide variety of programming so many students can become interested in the diverse field of sociology.”
Next year the Sociology Club anticipates having one big event each month. Karlson indicates that most of the fall events have already been determined. The Sociology Club plans on having a Freshmen Social and Deviant Night in September and possibly a presentation by Dr. Susan Wortmann in November.
Pictured Left to Right (Back Row): Chris Pommerleau, Kellie Furman, Becka X, Anna Lind, Ali Ceynowa, Pam X, Randi Quade. (Front Row): Jen Sjuts, Lindsay Carlson, Rita X, and Dr. Susan Wortmann.
Another interesting and satisfying year at Augustana! I had some wonderful classes of students, some enjoying gerontology and family, others working through the grueling paces of social science research. All in all, we had fun, and we all learned a lot!
I chair a statewide group, Partnership for Improving End-of-Life Care in South Dakota. A sophomore sociology major, Ali Ceynowa, spent her January in an independent study project on grant writing. We focused her efforts on writing a real grant to the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation to support a community survey of households on the topic of end-of-life. The grant was funded, so we are in the throes of completing the details necessary to conduct that survey during Summer 2004. I am excited about the prospects this research will bring to the Partnership and to the Sioux Falls community. We are also continuing the 5-week End-of-Life Seminar, which brings together students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work (and gerontology), and chaplaincy. It has been a refreshing opportunity to do research and planning with a quality group of professionals. I am hoping to get a manuscript describing the End-of-Life Seminar and its outcomes to the South Dakota Journal of Medicine yet this summer.
In addition to the new emphasis on end-of-life, I did some local presentations on my work with South Dakota centenarians and chaired the Augustana Campus Benefits Committee. I continue to enjoy my garden and dog, Sebastian (he's my exercise program!). We do some camping with my little camping trailer, and have done some traveling throughout the States. I'm plannning a trip to Europe, so if you have ideas, I'd welcome them! Next January (2005), I will be on leave, so I hope to do some exploration of the Carribean, in hopes of crafting a UMAIE course. Overall, the year has been a good one, and I hope that as alums, you have had a good year, too!
It’s been another whirlwind year (my seventh) at Augustana College. In addtition to my regular course load, I had the opportunity to lead a group of Augustana Regent Scholarship recipients to Potsdam,Germany during Spring Break. Our course emphasized conflict resolution and applied this general topic to specific points in German history including the holocaust, East/West reunification, and contemporary German/Polish relations. Of course, as good Lutherans, we also visited the cities of Wittenberg and Erfurt. This was my first trip to Germany, and I enjoyed it thoroughly - the students were great and it was nice to see another part of Europe outside of Ireland and the UK.
With the promotion/tenure process behind me, I will embark on my first academic sabbatical during the 04/05 school year. During this time, I will engage in a field study of the divorce mediation process. Specifically, my research will explore the negotiation of fairness around property division and child custody/visitation issues that coincide with marital dissolution. This research will be supported by a Midwest Sociological Association small grant as well as the Augustana College Research and Artist Fund. Other minor projects during my leave include the expansion of my Native American Studies course and a LOT of reading in preparation for taking over our Sociological Theory course starting Fall '05. I might also work in a little time to do some sailing!!
I have thoroughly enjoyed my first action-packed year here, and, I realize as I write this, I have come to feel a growing sense of belonging. I am inspired by the enthusiasm, hard-work, curiosity, creativity, and humor of my students, the encouragement and support of my colleagues, and the commitment to teaching, learning, research, and service of Augustana faculty and administration. I am also impressed by the Sioux Falls community at large and am happy to call Sioux Falls my new home.
My teaching repertoire expanded this year to include Gender Studies, Sociology of Gender, and Social Inequality, as well as Contemporary Society. Activities and topics from several of these classes inspired four of my students to participate in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s annual No Limits Women’s Studies Conference. Three students, inspired by Dr. Schrader’s Research Methods class and my Intro to Gender Studies, conducted their own survey on body image, and presented the preliminary results at the Augustana Research Symposium. In short, I was pleased to see that students came away from class inspired to do Gender Studies and Sociology!
Our Sociology majors and minors are an ambitious bunch, I’ve found. With the support of Drs. Schrader, Swart, and myself they planned, negotiated, and launched a successful Sociology Club. I look forwarding to advising this organization and watching it grow. Senior Jen Sjuts addresses this vibrant group later in this newsletter.
One of my pedagogical goals is to establish meaningful sociological connections between students and community. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Sioux Falls community members were so willing to take the time to present in my classrooms this past year, sharing insights into the national No Child Left Behind Act, housing inequality, the South Dakota Self Sufficiency Standard, abortion attitudes of college students, and realities of sexual and domestic violence in South Dakota. I look forward to continuing to develop community ties that enrich student understanding of local and national social worlds.
This summer I remain busy with research. I am currently preparing two articles from my dissertation for publication. My next research project is to identify and interview families whose children are diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. I want to understand the ways in which they cope, (or fail to). This project is inspired by my immediate family’s struggle with my youngest son’s diagnosis. I will present a portion of this project at the Midwest Sociological Society meetings in Minneapolis in Spring 2005.
To summarize my year here, I’m likely to agree with Dr. Reynold Nesiba’s daily greeting: “It’s a great day (week, month, year) to be a Viking!” I look forward to continuing to teach, learn, and research, and participate in this welcoming community.
Obviously, you are reading this newsletter on the Internet. However, some of your Sociology alumni friends may not be connected to the web. Our yearly newsletter is available only on the Internet, so if you'd like to share your web newsletter with them, do so! Otherwise, please suggest to them that they request a paper copy of the newsletter in the mail by completing the following information and sending it to us at:
So, all in all, we have had a good year. We watched with pride as twenty Sociology and Social Work majors graduated in the Class of 2004 and we are pleased with growing enrollment within the major and the College at large.
Should you have occasion to return to campus, please know that the welcome mat is out for you!