Melinda Pupillo

Campus Chaplain and Director of Spiritual Development

• Phone: 309-794-7478
• Email: melindapupillo@augustana.edu
• Office: Bahls CLC

Rev. Melinda Pupillo has served at Augustana since January 2021. She has also served as pastor of Holden Village, a remote Lutheran Christian retreat center in Washington’s Cascade Mountains, where she supported a religiously diverse and non-religious community.

Before arriving in Washington, she spent 13 years in La Crosse, Wis., serving primarily as associate pastor, in a large congregation for 11 years. She also worked in Wisconsin as a program and retreat coordinator for the Franciscan Spirituality Center.

She has experience working abroad in South and Central America, where she has lived and also led groups of young people in cultural learning. 

Rev. Pupillo coordinates religious and spiritual life on campus and supervises the worship planning team and student leadership team. She works beside counselors and others within the student life team, with a particular focus on the spiritual health and growth of Augustana students.

She also acts as one of the college’s primary liaisons with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Northern Illinois Synod, and advises the President’s Cabinet in matters of institutional values and mission.

Specializations: Campus Ministries, Campus Cupboard