One of the things that is perhaps unique to Augustana is this idea that our, our faculty connect very deeply and very personally with the students in the classroom, during office hours. But then also when it comes to going to art exhibits, when it comes to going to research presentations, when it comes to going to volleyball games, the faculty show up, they take students abroad, those relationships persist. There's lots of benefits to being at Augustana, as opposed to a larger institution because of the smaller class sizes. So you get to know your professors a lot better and your professors know you. And that's really important because when you ask for letters of recommendation from an Augustana professor, if I write letters of recommendation for students that I've done research with, and I can say all kinds of great things about them, because I've worked with them all summer long one on one, and I know a lot about them. One thing that I have super enjoyed about the faculty culture here is that they are experts in their field. Their research is incredibly interesting and important to them. But we are a teaching first school in the sense that our professors are here to teach and they're here to get to know us students. And that's something that you notice right away during your first year here is they're excited about being in the classroom and they're excited about you being at Augustana.
