NetVUE Regional Conference Presenters

Dr. Paul Pribbenow is the 10th president of Augsburg University, and is recognized as one of the country’s most engaging commentators and teachers on ethics, philanthropy, and American public life.

Dr. Pribbenow has become a leader among the 27 colleges and universities of the ELCA, helping to articulate the gifts shaping and supporting Lutheran higher education in the 21st century.

Dr. Pribbenow serves on the national boards of the Coalition for Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) and Campus Compact. He is also active in the Anchor Institutions Task Force. Locally, he chairs the Cedar-Riverside Partnership and serves on the executive committee of the Minnesota Private College Council. In January 2025, he was elected as chair of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities.

Dr. Pribbenow received the William Burke Award for Presidential Leadership in Experiential Education from the National Society for Experiential Education in 2012. He was named a McCormick Presidential Civic Leader Fellow for 2003–04 and 2005–06. And, under his leadership, Augsburg University became the first higher education institution in Minnesota to earn the prestigious Presidential Award for Community Service, the highest honor possible for service work.

Dr. Pribbenow is the author of numerous articles on philanthropy, ethics, and not-for-profit management. He is the co-author of Radical Roots: How One Professor Changed a University’s Legacy (Myers Education Press, 2023) and co-editor of Through Truth to Freedom: Reconciling a University’s Past, Present, and Future (Myers Education Press, 2024). He publishes a bimonthly email newsletter titled, “Notes for the Reflective Practitioner.”

Rev. Dr. Anthony Bateza is a specialist in Martin Luther, moral theology, and Christian ethics.

Luther’s political theology is his primary area of research, focusing on the reformer’s understanding of human agency and his relationship with the virtue tradition and Augustinian thought. He is also personally and professionally invested in questions of race, identity, and social justice. He has written on Black liberation theology and connections between Lutheran teaching and confronting racism in the United States.

Dr. Bateza teaches a variety of courses in the religion department that connect theological and historical questions with contemporary challenges. He has taught in the Enduring Conversations program and currently serves as the program director of the Race and Ethnic Studies program (RACE) and chair of the Race, Ethnic, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department (REGSS).

Outside of the classroom, Dr. Bateza is involved in a number of important projects at St. Olaf that center the college’s strategic efforts to center character and leadership. With the support of an Academic Leadership Fellowship from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, he serves as the Special Assistant to the Provost and is helping to develop an Academy for Leadership and Character.

He is also the principal investigator on the college’s “Character in Community” project, a three-year effort designed to foster the disposition and capacity of St. Olaf students to engage in intentional character development, oriented to discern and pursue the common good, by working in community to identify, assess, and apply learning from exemplars. This project is supported through the Educating Character Initiative, a part of Wake Forest University Program for Leadership and Character, funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc., which aims to support a wide community of more than 400 institutions to educate character within colleges and universities.

Dr. Deanna A. Thompson is recently retired from 29 years in higher education. Most recently she was the Director of the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community and Martin E. Marty Regents Chair of Religion and the Academy at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Dr. Thompson’s research focuses on topics ranging from Martin Luther and feminism to the intersections of cancer, trauma, and faith, and what it means to be rooted in Christian faith while also being committed to interfaith engagement. She is author of five books, including The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World and most recently, Glimpsing Resurrection: Cancer, Trauma, and Ministry.

lMr. Pazos is St. Olaf’s Vice-President for Community and Belonging. Previously, he was the assistant dean of student affairs for identity and culture as well as the director of the Center for Multicultural Life at Bowdoin College. Earlier in his career, Pazos worked with immigrant families in Texas as a pastor and chaplain, where he led a Spanish-speaking ministry and counseled students and parents in moments of crisis.

Mr. Pazos earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston Baptist College and a master’s degree in religion from Yale University, and he is currently working on his Ph.D in leadership and organizational management from the University of Southern Maine. He also holds certifications in building a diverse workforce from Cornell University and mental health first aid from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Dr. Kelly Sherman-Conroy, a proud member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is a dynamic storyteller, poet, lover of all forms of art, dedicated mom, and scholar. As the first Native woman to earn a PhD in theology within the ELCA, she offers a groundbreaking blend of Indigenous spirituality and Christian teachings, opening paths to healing and reconciliation across cultures. Kelly teaches at Augsburg University and St. Olaf College, guiding students in social justice, spirituality, and racial reparations through an Indigenous lens. As a pastor at All Nations Indian Church, she provides spiritual leadership, creating a safe space for growth and community. She is also a convener of the Twin Cities Interfaith Movement, where she has trained over 400 chaplains since the George Floyd uprisings. A nationally and internationally sought-after speaker, Kelly’s wisdom on healing, justice, and spiritual connection resonates with diverse audiences. Her life and work inspire real, lasting change, empowering others to embrace the sacredness of every person and every part of creation.

Jaden Janak (they/he) is an Assistant Professor of History at St. Olaf College and a Senior Fellow with the Center for Applied Transgender Studies. Their research focuses on U.S. prison abolition organizing, LGBTQ+ radical politics, and popular culture. His current book project, Experiments in Freedom: Present Histories of an Abolitionist Future, explores the development of abolitionist politics in local and national organizations from the 1990s to the present. Their scholarship can be found in journals and outlets such as Liminalities, GLQ, Behemoth, Hood Communist, and AGNI. Outside of their research, Jaden organizes with various abolitionist collectives and is an avid supporter of women’s sports.

Dr. Rehanna Kheshgi is an ethnomusicologist whose current research focuses on community engagement through music with Somali diaspora communities in the US. Her project, “Somali Songs: Building Community through Sound,” which seeks to empower Somali youth and foster sharing of intergenerational knowledge through listening, performing, and building public resources on Somali songs has received support from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council. Kheshgi leads students in courses and research exploring music from around the world through a locally grounded approach centered on community building and social justice. Kheshgi’s research on gender, sexuality, and the body at the intersections of popular, folk, sacred music and dance performance in India has been supported by the American Institute of Indian Studies, the American Association for University Women, the Fulbright Program, and the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. Her publications explore performances of gender and sexuality through Bihu, the springtime Assamese New Year’s festival.wys

Diane C. LeBlanc is professor of English and associate dean for the first-year experience and sophomore thriving at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She directs a two-course sequence of First-Year Seminar and Writing and Rhetoric for first-year students, coordinates pre-major advising; she also leads the current development of a sophomore experience that engages students in vocational exploration and reflection. Diane also directs the college writing program. She is the author of several poetry collections and contributed a personal essay to Claiming Our Callings: Toward a New Understanding of Vocation in the Liberal Arts (Oxford, 2014).

Alyssa Melby is the Director of the Svoboda Center for Civic Engagement and has been with St. Olaf College since Fall 2017. While overseeing all programming within the Svoboda Center, she also works with faculty on integrating community engagement into their courses and scholarship as well as with community partners to create mutually beneficial and meaningful collaborations. Melby contributed a chapter on place and vocation in Honest Storytelling. She is a former community partner of higher education institutions, having previously worked in arts management and arts education.

Martin Olague has been at St. Olaf since August of 2021.  He received a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf in Social Studies Education in 2004 and received a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from St. Mary’s University in 2013. He serves as the Director of the Taylor Center. His work in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) stems from seeing injustice and needing the language to articulate the experience. It is important to have these conversations with students and have a space where they can learn and grow. This type of work is not easy, but it’s necessary to create a better world for the future.

Dr. Sara Pillatzki-Warzeha is a theatre director, scholar, and educator. She is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at St. Olaf and the co-director of the Musical Theatre Concentration. She is also the co-founder of Mni Giizhik Theatre Ensemble, a Native theatre company in the Twin Cities, along with Adrienne Zimiga-January and Sequoia Hauck. Sara’s directing work has been seen across the Twin Cities with the Jungle Theatre, Full Circle Theatre, Stages Theatre Company, Minneapolis Musical Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, and others.  Her research focuses on intercultural collaborations between Indigenous artists and PWIs. A scholar-practitioner, Sara serves on the Native Advisory Council at the Guthrie Theatre and has worked as an Indigenous consultant, advocate, and scholar with organizations such as the Jungle Theatre, the Stratford Festival, Native Voices, History Theatre, New Harlem, and UMN. She is an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate from the Big Coulee District.

Nicole Yokum (they/she) is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at St. Olaf. They specialize in critical philosophy of race, feminist philosophy, and critical theory, with particular interests in abolition feminism, coalition politics, and the politics of emotion. Nicole has published work in journals such as Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Philosophy and Social Criticism, and the Journal of Speculative Philosophy. She has forthcoming chapters in the Oxford Handbook of Adorno as well as the volumes Adorno and Identity and The Dialectics of Freedom: The Critical Theory of Angela Davis.