Dr. Andrea Talentino, the ninth president of Augustana College, celebrated her 100th day as President on Oct. 9. Student groups, including culture groups, sports teams and several sororities and fraternities welcomed her in the Viking Plaza during a celebration.

The celebration was a collaboration between Student Government Association (SGA), Multicultural Programming Board (MPB), Student Life Programming Board (SLPB), and the Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity (OSID), and was created to help the president get to know the different student groups at Augustana. 

So far, President Talentino says she has met with SGA, faculty and staff, and different academic departments. Additionally, she has communicated with leaders in the community such as the director of the airport and the communications Marketing Director of John Deere, and she has also had extensive training with other Lutheran colleges, as well as a new president “bootcamp.”

“I like to talk about what I’ve done so far in three categories. Things on campus, things in the region and things in higher ed,” President Talentino said. 

When President Talentino was first announced as the next college president in December of last year, she said one thing she wanted to do when she comes to the school is to get to know the different culture groups and how better to support them.

According to junior Alexis Osei-Kofi, Black Student Union (BSU) president, President Talentino will meet with BSU on Oct. 25. This will be the first meeting President Talentino has with any of the culture groups on campus. 

However, President Talentino says that the 100th day celebration presents an opportunity for her to get to know what the students want, even before one-on-one meetings with the students. 

At the celebration, there was a short opportunity for students to ask President Talentino questions about the future of the college. 

When asked if President Talentino would work to raise student wages, she said there were many layers to this issue. However, President Talentino says that as Illinois’ minimum wage rises, so should Augustana’s student worker wages. 

“I don’t know quite when this happens but I know that the minimum wage in Illinois is going to go up soon, maybe in January,” Talentino said. “It’s part of the current structure, I think we pay 80% of minimum wage, so when that goes up obviously our pay will go up to ensure that our percentage that we’re paying for that is consistent with the agreement and expectations our students have.”

Just because there is a change in leadership does not mean Augustana will radically change in the next couple of months. 

To include students in this process, President Talentino says open-ended questions might be sent out in the future to gauge the community’s opinion. Additionally, President Talentino will hold recurring office hours bi-weekly.

“And what we have to do collectively is just kind of figure out what our priorities are, some things I care about are developing really transformational experiences for students,” Talentino said.  

In terms of transformation experiences for students, President Talentino says she wants to support existing programs like the Upper Mississippi Center, and the EDGE Center.

“I think we need to move that from being pockets on campus to really being definitional of what time at Augustana is,” Talentino said. “It can’t be so much like, ‘oh no, I just want to sit in my room and do nothing.’ That’s part of it, if you’re coming here, you’re gonna get involved in those things.”