Augustana University News

This fall, the Augustana University Rydell School of Business introduced a trust minor to its offered studies — developed as part of Augustana’s strategic plan Viking Bold: The Journey to 2030. The minor — available at only a handful of colleges nationwide — aims to offer Augustana students another avenue to study as a potential career.

For more information on the trust minor at Augustana University, visit augie.edu/trust.

The Augustana Esports Program — the university’s home of organized gaming — has found a space to call home on campus. Established in 2022, the program acquired a lab on the second floor of the Fryxell Humanities Center this past spring.

Augustana University has recently been awarded a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. for the “promotion and support of religious, educational or charitable purposes.” Augustana is one of 48 recipients in Lilly Endowment’s National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life 2025.

With support from Lilly Endowment, Augustana will launch a 5-year storytelling initiative, “Sacred Discoveries: Stories of Christian Flourishing in College.”

In Fall 2024, the Office of Faith & Spiritual Life embarked on a new initiative in coordination with Augustana Athletics — a Team Chaplains Program — with the purpose of “further integrating spiritual well-being into the lives of student-athletes and coaches. Now that a more intentional relationship between the Office of Faith & Spiritual Life and Athletics has begun, they hope it strengthens over time.

Augustana University student-athletes are not only excelling on the playing field, they’re getting it done in the classroom. In Academic Year 2024-25, three Augustana University student-athletes — Ella Bakken ‘25, Liz Dierks ‘25 and Ryan Hartman ‘24 — earned NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, which recognize the association's most accomplished student-athletes.

Since 2018-19, Augustana is tied for the most scholarships won (11 in total) compared to all schools in NCAA Division II and ranks in the top 10 among all NCAA schools nationwide.

This past September, Augustana University student Zouhera Mahamed ‘27 was named a recipient of the Obama Foundation’s Voyager Scholarship (also known as the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service). Created by former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama and Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, Mahamed is only the second South Dakota student and third South Dakotan to have been awarded the scholarship.