Fall 2026 Symposium Day: The Power of Story

9 a.m. start; Brunner Main Stage

Presenters:

• Chad Gunnelson, assistant athletic director for leadership and development, director of track & field and cross country
• Paul Olsen, Hall of Fame coach and faculty
• Fred Whiteside, Hall of Famer, alumnus, retired coach
• Dave Wrath, Hall of Famer, alumnus, retired sports information director
• Doug Sand, champion, alumnus, current coach 

Augustana hall of famers, leaders, alumni, and current coaches share stories covering a journey of over a half century of Viking fellowship in track & field and cross country. Hear about connections that started here and have sustained a lifetime, long beyond graduation day. Also hear about how that tradition continues forward today.

9:15 a.m. start; Lindberg 202

Presenters:

• Dr. Kirsten Day, professor of Classics
• Dr. Mischa Hooker, continuing lecturer in Classics
• Dr. Nick Dobson, adjunct assistant professor of Classics

In this session, Classics faculty will lead a guided discussion with the audience about Christopher Nolan's summer blockbuster "The Odyssey," exploring the enduring appeal of the story of this Homeric hero and considering how Nolan has transformed his tale into a commentary on our current moment.

9:15 a.m. start; Tredway Library, Special Collections

Presenters:

• Adam Miller '27, history and communication studies
• Kaitlyn Goss-Peirce, research and instruction librarian
• Micaela Terronez, special collections librarian
• Mak Winkiel '27, history and WGSS
• Bethany Yanchick '29, Scandinavian studies, environmental studies and history
• Jillian Gorham '29, history and WGSS
• Kat-Jean Glusick '26, English and WGSS

Come visit Ruby Slippers & Technicolor Dreams, a pop-up exhibit curated by the students from WGSS 499: Archiving in the Community! Seniors Adam Miller and Mak Winkiel, sophomores Bethany Yanchick and Jillian Gorham, and 2026 graduate Kat-Jean Glusick worked diligently over the spring semester to process an archival collection from The Project of the Quad Cities in preparation for the organization's 40th anniversary this fall. As part of the celebration, the students designed this exhibit centered on the anniversary theme -- the Wizard of Oz -- and the impact it has had on the LGBTQ+ community worldwide. Join the students as they showcase their display alongside an open house of the TPQC collection.

We ask that all attendees arrive with clean, dry hands. Upon entering, please store coats, bags, and other personal items in the designated cubbies located near the entrance. Food and beverages are not permitted in Special Collections and must be left on the shelves outside the entrance to be collected later. During your visit, please handle all items gently, as many of our materials are fragile and can be easily damaged; we want these materials to last for many years to come!

9:15 a.m. start; Lindberg 204

Presenters:

• Dr. Lucy Burgchardt, associate professor of communication studies
• Dr. Katherine E. Brown, assistant professor of sociology
• Dr. Rachel Horner Brackett, associate professor of anthropology and affiliated faculty in public health

Join faculty from Sociology, Anthropology, and Communication Studies to explore the relationships among community, story, and place. Dr. Katherine Brown (Sociology) studies community, recovery, and sisterhood among women with alcohol use disorder who engage with mutual aid and safe spaces on their sobriety journeys. Dr. Rachel Horner Brackett (Anthropology) has conducted fieldwork since 2008 at a rural Italian estate raising Cinta Senese heritage hogs, and now explores how African Swine Fever may reshape rural life in Tuscany. Dr. Lucy Burgchardt (Communication Studies) traces how nineteenth-century storytellers turned Ancestral Puebloan community centers into U.S. national parks. What might a sobriety group, an agritourism business, and a national park have in common? Come find out!

Gävle Rooms, Gerber Center

Presenter: Ken Liu

Is "AI art" just meaningless slop that threatens the work of human artists? Or is there more to the explosion in computer-generated content? Drawing on the history of the mechanization of human craft, science fiction author Ken Liu devises a framework for productively speculating about the uses and misuses of AI in storytelling and art. As an artist who cares deeply about the human spirit as well as the possibilities opened up by new tools, Liu highlights some concrete ways that AI may change how we think about and create art while pointing out deeply ingrained challenges that must be resolved before the full potential of the "artistic machine" can be unlocked.

Presented with support from The Teagle Foundation.

Ken Liu (kenliu.name) is the author of the "Dandelion Dynasty," a silkpunk epic fantasy series, as well as "The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories," "The Hidden Girl and Other Stories," and "The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories." His latest novels, the Julia Z series ("All That We See Or Seem" and "What Birds Have Vanished"), feature a hacker who uses her extraordinary technical skills to save the world. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer and litigation consultant.

Gerber Center, You Belong Here Lounge

Presenters:

• Amanda Baugous, professor of business administration
• Students in BUSN301: Organizational Behavior

We are gathering real-world student perspectives on their approaches to coursework, and we want to hear from you! Taking time to share your stories about your own academic journey affords you a valuable opportunity to reflect on work habits, stress patterns, and time management. Voicing your experiences will also help BUSN 301: Organizational Behavior students begin their research into the root causes and real outcomes of academic procrastination. Participants will engage in brief, structured interviews conducted by BUSN 301 students, making all participating students presenters in this session.

Lindberg 202

Presenters:

• Elaina Biechler, Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiology, Loras College
• Jordan Fullan, co-CEO, Hodge
• Melissa Gunnelson, associate dean of enrollment, University of Dubuque
• Maggie Liaboe, PT, DPT, founder, Growing Motion

Follow the journey of these professional women across business, education, and law enforcement. The panel will highlight similarities, differences, and perspectives. Their stories will explore more than just careers; they will share that being a professional also includes being an advocate, athlete, active member of the community, a mother, a partner and more.

Lindberg 204

Presenter: Jennifer Popple, associate professor of theatre and film

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (1952), the longest-running play in theatrical history, is typically understood as a conventional detective drama in which identifying the murderer restores social order. Yet the play contains tensions that complicate this seemingly tidy resolution, particularly in its treatment of trauma, care, and two queer-coded characters whose subversive potential remains unresolved. Drawing on textual analysis and a 2025 production at Augustana College, this presentation explores how queer and trauma-informed readings reveal possibilities that the play's conventional detective-story ending attempts to contain. These openings invite us to reconsider The Mousetrap not simply as a conservative restoration of order, but as a text whose contradictions allow for more complicated understandings of identity, relationality, and healing.

Lindberg 203

Presenter: Eric Rowell, assistant director of admissions and diversity outreach

Great novels and stories throughout history have proven to be windows that reveal the true human experience. Many of these stories are tragedies, those written to showcase the harshness of life that often creates strong emotion and builds empathy and understanding for the reader. My session will be comprised of readings from various novels and discussion on the significance of tragedy and its ability to enhance character and give explanation to the difficulties of living in any given society.

Wallenberg Hall

Presenter: Jonathan Malesic, author and instructor of first-year writing at Southern Methodist University, Dallas

When a former student approached theology professor Jonathan Malesic at a college-sponsored graduation keg party, he had a story to tell about an unexpected way college had changed his life. And in fact, many students and educators hope education will be transformative, that the student will change over time. That means a key outcome of education is living out a story and being able to tell it. In this talk based on his forthcoming book, Dear Student, Malesic will share stories of transformative learning that he has seen, been told, and lived across more than three decades as a student, professor, and observer of higher education. He will also invite listeners to reflect on their own (unfinished) stories of learning.

Jonathan Malesic is a writer whose essays on work, religion, education, and art have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Commonweal, America, The Point, The Hedgehog Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Notre Dame Magazine, and elsewhere. He is the author of two books, most recently The End of Burnout, which was named a Best Book of 2022 by Amazon and the Next Big Idea Club and has been translated into ten languages. His next book, Dear Student: Letters on Life and Learning in College, will be published by Princeton University Press. He is a former theology professor, sushi chef, and parking lot attendant who has a Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of Virginia. He now teaches first-year writing at Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. Learn more: jonmalesic.com, jonmalesic.substack.com, The End of Burnout

Lindberg 202

Presenters:

• Dr. Kirsten Day, professor of Classics
• Augustana Prison Education students currently enrolled in CLAS 258: Greek Warrior Myths and Combat Trauma

In this session, APEP students from Kirsten Day's "Greek Warrior Myths and Combat Trauma" course at the East Moline Correctional Center will share their thoughts on how ancient war stories can help modern veterans process their combat-related trauma, as well as touching on other demographics that can benefit from these narratives as well.

Lindberg 203

Presenters:

• Lucas Street, director of the Reading/Writing Center
• Farah Marklevits ’99
• Joe Strabala-Bright ’13
• Yemurai Mapurisa ’19
• Annelisa Burns ’22 

The Reading/Writing Center turns 50 years old this year! To celebrate our semicentennial, come hear a diverse panel of tutor alumni share their RWC experiences from decades past. Learn little-known stories of tutors finding true love, founding a satellite writing center inside a prison, and applying skills learned and honed in the RWC to careers such as accountant, dean of students, grant writer, journalist, teacher and more. Our panelists come from various backgrounds, disciplines, and places, but what they have in common are unique memories of how the RWC has both reflected and shaped Augustana students’ stories over the last half-century.

Lindberg 204

Presenter: Dr. Dawn Farmer, associate professor of music education

As a researcher I have had many mentors along my path and as my mentors started to become older and no longer available for conversations, I wanted to learn more about them. Unfortunately, I have learned that if you were a leader before smart phones existed, it is more difficult to have your story and legacy be preserved, especially if you are female. This work has taught me a lot about how lives and stories are hidden, and that those who deserve to be known might need help in sharing their stories. In my session I will talk about strategies used to carve out stories of others who might have remained hidden and share biographical information of my essential figures.

Olin Auditorium

Presenters:

• Stacy Barton, associate professor and film program director
• Augustana film students: Nickolas Schrock, Ciara Hull, Trevor Matteson, Finnean O'Higgins, Ethan Chezum, Alison Locander, Zuleika Martinez, Rylon Hall, Atticus Georgas, Ulan Okai, Avery Voigt, Rhiana Winston, Meka Bantu, Dev Reed, Gerard Cabrera, Sawyer Carver, Brock Obmascik, Riley Vu

See what Augustana Film students who won awards at the 2025-26 annual showcase created in film courses last year, crafting professional, artistic, and entertaining motion pictures through hard work, determination, creativity, and talent. Topics range from introspective to dramatic to mysterious to horrifying to hilarious. Join us for an hour of relaxation and fun, then end the session asking the filmmakers your most pressing questions in the Q&A!

Brunner Black Box

Presenters:

• Dr. Erin Hopkins, assistant professor of music education
• Researchers: Abby Carmichael, Brandon Jones, Hannah Rath, Jacob Maxwell, Brittany Kelley, Diana Butler, Jade Weller, Luke Frutiger, Michelle Oliger, Sarah Coughlin

In most traditional research methods, the academic researcher holds the power of deciding what questions to pursue and how to use participants' data to answer those questions. Instead, our research team used participatory methods so that individuals with disabilities from the Quad Cities community could have equal power as co-researchers to determine every aspect of a research study investigating inclusive practices in music education. We will share how we made this happen and how this collaborative process has benefitted everyone involved.

Wallenberg Hall

Presenters:

• Aubrey Barnes, poet and founder of Young Lions Roar
• Rock Island High School student poets
• Dr. Allie Barringer, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience

Rock Island High School students will perform original poetry from Stories of Rock Island, an anthology created through a collaboration with the school’s AVID Program and Young Lions Roar. Following the performances, Aubrey Barnes, founder of Young Lions Roar, and Dr. Allie Barringer will engage the student poets in conversation about storytelling, poetry, identity, and the power of young people sharing their own experiences. Together, we will explore how student voices can shape the stories we tell about ourselves and our community—and how storytelling can foster connection, healing, and belonging in Rock Island.

Gerber Center; Gävle Rooms

Presenters:

• Dr. Amanda Baugous, professor of business administration
• Dr. Jason Mahn, professor or religion
• Dr. Jonathan Malesic, author of The End of Burnout

We often think of our careers in terms of what they promise, including money, prestige, moral character, and purpose. But what can pursuing a career cost us? And what should we do when those costs become more than we can bear? In this dinner discussion, Jonathan Malesic, author of The End of Burnout, will invite us to discuss how work can undermine the very things it promises. The event will include a 25-minute presentation from Dr. Malesic followed by dinner and dialogue with Augustana students, peers, alumni, and other valued community members in response to the big questions posed.

RSVP is required. RSVP here.

Details coming soon.

Anderson Pavilion; rain location: Ascension Chapel

Presenter: Karen Aumuller, professional faculty, clinical supervisor, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders and externship supervisor

Join Campus Ministries for evening chapel outdoors in the amphitheatre by the Brunner Center (Anderson Pavilion), or if rain, in Ascension Chapel. This is a half-hour service with communion, followed by fellowship and snacks. Rev. Liz Kuster of the Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover will officiate communion. All semester we are having Augie professors, staff, and alumni reflect on the parables of Jesus in the series "Stories that Form Us." On October 7 our special Symposium Day speaker is Prof. Karen Aumuller (CSD/MS-SLP Program), who will speak on "The rich young fool...and considering the lilies" from Luke 12:16-31.