Mrs. Elissa Whitwam of Sioux Falls was one of Augustana's summer
Master of Arts in Teaching graduates who enjoyed an informal
reception in the Humanities Concourse following the ceremonies.
Westby Assumes State Cabinet Position
Associate Dean of Students A. Richard Petersen counsels with
freshman-to-be Pat Thurmer of Jackson, Minn., during a summer
new student registration session. Over 600 freshmen and transfer
students were expected to begin classes at Augustana this fall. Most
paid early visits to the campus to sign up for classes before the fall
rush.
Fourteen Degrees Awarded
Augie Officially Opens
113th Fall Semester
Evenson Accepts
Fund Raising Post
Robert Evenson, who for the past
13 years has been associated with Wal-dorf
College of Forest City, Iowa,
has accepted an appointment as as-sociate
vice president for development
at Augustana. He began his new
duties here on September 3.
In his position at Augustana, the
Rev. Mr. Evenson will direct the
college's fund-raising efforts as a part
of the school's Development Division
under the over-all direction of Dr. Tom
Kilian, vice president for development.
The new Augustana staffer attended
public schools at Wolverton, Minn.,
attended Lutheran Bible Institute and
earned an A.A. degree from Waldorf.
His education includes study at Con-cordia
College in Moorhead, Minn.,
the completion of a B.A. degree at
Augsburg College in Minneapolis and
a C.Th. degree at Luther Theological
Seminary in St. Paul.
He served for a time as a parish
pastor before joining the staff at Wal-dorf
as assistant director of admissions
in 1960. He later was promoted to the
admissions directorship and ultimately
to the position of director of develop-ment
and public relations, the job he
resigned to accept the assignment
here.
His wife is the former Lillian Swan-son
whose mother, Mrs. Anna Swanson,
resides in Genoa, Neb. The couple are
the parents of four children— Jon,
20; Kirk, 18; Margit, 15 and Eric, 14.
Dr. Orval Westby, chairman of Aug-ustana's
Department of Sociology and
Social Work, has been granted a leave
of absence from the college in order
that he might accept the appointment
of Gov. Richard Kneip to head up
the new South Dakota Department of
Social Services and Human Relations.
The department, regarded as similar
in nature to a cabinet post, is one
of 16 main divisions which emerged
from the governor's executive reorgan-ization
plan which condensed 160 state
agencies into fewer, but more corn-prehensive
units. Westby has been a
member of the Augustana faculty since
1947. He holds a bachelor's degree
from Northern State College, a B.Th.
degree from Luther Theological Sem-inary
and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees
from the University of Minnesota.
Augustana will officially signal the
start of its 113th fall term by the tradi-tional
tolling of the Old Main bell fol-lowing
opening convocation cere-monies,
Monday, September 10.
Classes will begin the next morning.
A student body of approximately
2.000, the same as a year ago, is an-the
degrees. Dr. Jorgen Thompson
presented the candidates and the grad-uate
hoods were placed by Dr. Lucy
Fryxell of the English department
and Dr. Endre Gastony of the history
department.
Music for the occasion was provided
by the Augustana Brass Quintet under
the direction of Dr. Harold Krueger.
A reception for the graduates, their
families and friends, was held in the
Humanities Concourse immediately
following the ceremonies. The Augus-tana
MAT Alumni Association ar-ranged
a "Dutch treat" noon luncheon
in the Ordal Dining Room of the Mor-rison
Commons.
Receiving master's degrees in ele-mentary
education were Robert R.
Geigle, Herreid; Allen A. Hofer, Nellie
L. King and Thomas L. Vanden Bosch,
Sioux Falls and Mrs. Beverly J. Spink,
Harlingen, Tex. MAT degrees in spec-ial
education went to Olivia A. Bentley,
Burlington, Iowa; Myron M. Fuerst,
Mrs. Judith Kane, Owen L. Saunders
and Mrs. Elissa G. Whitwam, all of
Sioux Falls.
MAT degree recipients with majors
in other areas were Miss Betty Creigh-ton
and Mrs. Germaine G. Wessman,
both of Sioux Falls, in English; Ken-neth
E. Morken, Tacoma, Wash., in
secondary education and Bruce Spars,
Sioux Falls, in history.
Augustana To Seek
$9 Million Over
Next Five Years
Efforts to achieve Augustana's new
Five-Year Plan have begun, effective
last July 1, according to Dr. Tom Kil-ian,
Vice President for Development.
The plan seeks to raise $9,175,000,
mainly for the support of academic
programs and teaching, by 1978.
Augustana will seek support from
the Sioux Falls community, alumni
and other college-related individuals,
foundations, government and other
sources, Kilian said.
The plan was developed after a year
of study by the Faculty Planning Coun-cil,
who established the priorities and
components of the plan, he concluded.
ticipated and will include about 600
new students. Most of the newcomers
have paid summer visits to the campus
for counseling sessions with the assoc-iate
deans of students, registration
for their fall classes, and a tour of
the campus. Most of the students' par-ents
accompanied their children to get
an advance look at the place where
their sons and daughters may spend
the next four years.
In anticipation of still many unans-wered
questions an orientation pro-gram
for freshmen and transfer stu-dents
was to begin Thursday, Septem-ber
6. Dorms were opened at noon
and an orientation program for the
parents was set for 3:00 p.m., followed
by the traditional students-parents
picnic outside the Morrison Commons.
A part of the scheme behind the
orientation program is to keep the new
students so busy they don't have time
to get homesick— if they should have
a tendency in that direction. They will
be kept in the usual whirl of activities
including a slide show describing their
new school, and an ice cream social
with the faculty serving and a Dixie-land
band playing.
The next day the schedule called
for a visit to the business office to
clean up those troublesome financial
details, taking some tests and meeting
with the deans. Sessions to describe
"Opportunities for Involvement" at
Augustana, a question and answer per-iod
and a dance in the Commons will
wind up the second day on campus.
Saturday, September 8 the corn-mittee
had a tour of Sioux Falls
planned, plus a concert-on-the-green
featuring Jericho / Harp, an afternoon
pep fest and the kick-off of the Viking
football season at 7:30 against Con-cordia.
New students are invited to
various faculty homes for treats and
more getting acquainted after the
game.
Sunday will mark the re-opening for
the fall term of the Augustana Student
Congregation worship services. That
evening the orientation banquet is
planned in the Ordal Dining Room
of the Commons.
Transfer students have a noon picnic
planned for them on Monday, and that
night the bell will toll, and hopefully,
all students will be present or ac-counted
for.
Students will be met on September
11 by a total of 15 new faculty faces.
Joining the teaching ranks will be
Marie Czmowski in nursing, Kent P.
Gerlach, special education; Brent M.
Haglund, biology; Mrs. Margaret Heg-ge,
nursing, Mrs. Maureen Kind,
French ; Mrs. Christiane T. Martens,
art; Dr. Harold Wheeler, special
education; James I. Stepleton, music;
Paul Kendle, physical education; John
Sorenson, Richard E. Barnes and
James Pentico, sociology; Mrs. Ruth
Dunmire, business education; Dr. Lor-en
A. Berge, chemistry and Dr. W.
Norman Haupt as Director of the
Sioux Falls Continuing Education Cen-ter.
Classes will continue uninterrupted,
except for a short breather during the
50th anniversary Viking Days week-end,
until the Thanksgiving break
November 22-25. The fall semester ends
December 18 under Augustana's 4-1-4
school calendar.
January 3 is the starting date for
the Augustana Interim featuring 95
four week courses of all disciplines
and including 17 overseas or foreign
study tours. The second regular term
begins February 4 and is punctuated
by spring vacation March 18-22 and
Easter vacation April 12-15. Com-mencement
day, the earliest in years,
will fall on May 19, 1974.
augustana
today
29th and Summit, Sioux Falls, S.D. 57102
September, 1973, Volume 1, Number/
During Summer Commencement
Dr. John Harris, superintendent of
the Sioux Falls Public Schools, ad-dressed
the 10th summer commence-ment
exercises held at Augustana since
the inception of the college's graduate
school program. A summer class of
14 members received Master of Arts
in Teaching degrees during morning
ceremonies Wednesday, August 1.
President Charles L. Balcer presided
over the ceremonies and conferred