CONCORDIA COLLEGE
Fifteen members of the faculty and staff retired during the 2025-26 academic year or will be retiring this summer. They have a combined total of 443 years of service to the college and their contributions are appreciated! Honored retirees include:
Tim Brown, Facilities, 20 years
Martin Graefe, Concordia Language Villages, 30 years
ElRoy Hagen, Facilities, 25 years
Larry Jensen, Facilities, 24 years
Mark Krejci, Psychology, 39 years
Steven Makela, Music, 24 years
Elizabeth Maring, Bookstore, 14 years
W. Scott Olsen, English, 39 years
Debbie Pollock, Conferences & Events, 35 years
James Postema, English, 37 years
Jack Rydell, Nursing, 20 years
Carol Terhark, Admissions, 38 years
Karin Wakefield, Music, 38 years
Leigh Wakefield, Music, 38 years
Jennifer Wang, Concordia Language Villages, 22 years
Congratulations to all the retirees!
Tim Brown
Tim Brown has worked at Concordia College for 20 years.
I’d like to thank Tim Brown for his over 20 years of dedicated service to Concordia College. Although I didn’t get to supervise him for very long, I quickly saw how much Concordia was blessed to have Tim on staff. His knowledge of our campus and its operations and his leadership that he provided to his staff will continue to be greatly missed. Again, I thank you Tim for all of your dedication to Concordia and wish you well in your retirement.
— Nick Kraft, assistant director of maintenance and utilities
Martin Graefe
Martin Graefe has worked for the Concordia Language Villages for 30 years. Martin has enjoyed helping people live out the mission of Concordia Language Villages, preparing and giving them the tools and insights to more effectively and meaningfully engage with other parts of the world and their neighbors.
Martin says being able to apply the immersion principles of the language villages to a group of learners beyond those in summer youth programs has been incredibly rewarding. Not only that, but Martin met the woman who would later become his spouse at Waldsee, and their sons attended the villages. His family’s commitment to a lifestyle that focused so intensely on the language villages has given him a personal connection to last a lifetime.
Once retired, he will miss the energy and the incredible colleagues that support every aspect of the CLV program. During retirement, Mark plans on enjoying living on the lake, spending time with family, traveling and becoming a Master Gardener.
Martin, thank you for a remarkable career at Concordia Language Villages that has shaped generations of learners and colleagues alike. You have contributed across every corner of the CLV community: operations and facilities; program leadership; grant writing and budget management; community engagement and government relations; hiring and mentoring; and teaching, teaching, and more teaching. You carried out this work with deep professionalism and a steadfast commitment to mission. Your contributions reflect both a deep love for the villages and a forward-looking spirit. You were willing to serve when called, committing your time to ensuring the organization thrived into the future. It has been an honor to work alongside you, and your legacy will endure in the remarkable facilities you supported, the programs you led, and the people you inspired on their paths to becoming courageous global citizens.
— Susan Larson, interim executive director of Concordia Language Villages, and provost and dean of the college
ElRoy Hagen
ElRoy Hagen has worked as an electrician at Concordia for over 25 years. He has enjoyed working with his co-workers, students, and faculty. He found his time particularly rewarding through serving through five presidents and three facility managers and is also proud of being able to see his two children and daughter-in-law graduate from Concordia.
ElRoy will miss time spent with his co-workers, and watching “The Price Is Right” during his morning break. After retirement, he plans to move to the lake and start a new build on their lake lot in Frazee, Minnesota, and is excited to host his four grandchildren there.
When I arrived at the electrical supervisor role, I filled a position that was held by a good friend of ElRoy’s that he held close. I was grateful that ElRoy showed respect towards me and was very helpful with his 25 years of electrical experience working at Concordia. There were several times that sharing his knowledge of the campus electrical system was more than helpful. ElRoy and his acceptance stood out to me as a very sincere act, and I will always be thankful for this man’s stature, his help, and his kindness. May he have an overabundance of great times in his retirement.
— Chris Zurn, electrical project supervisor
Larry Jensen
Larry Jensen has worked at Concordia College for 24 years.
Larry is a very well-liked, dedicated, hardworking, and self-starting individual. His decades of knowledge and experience of our campus will be greatly missed.
—
Charlie Somdahl, heating plant supervisor
Mark Krejci
Mark Krejci has worked in the Psychology Department for 39 years.
During that time, his career at Concordia has been a blessing, and he has enjoyed what he calls three careers over the span of his tenure. He started as a new professor and for the first 17 years, grew as a teacher-scholar. Then, he served as the vice president for academic affairs for nine years and later provost as well as the dean of the college. Finally, Mark returned to the classroom to teach students, helping them become educated to influence the affairs of the world.
Mark says that getting to know students and even working with a number who went on to have wonderful careers in psychology has been incredibly rewarding. He will miss the students the most and appreciates their stories, uniqueness, and being blessed by their presence in his life.
During retirement, Mark will be involved in diaconal ministry in his parish and across the Diocese of Crookston, having been ordained as a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church back in 2017. He also plans to spend quality time with his family.
Thank you for being a source of wisdom, energy, and institutional enthusiasm for the Psychology Department. Your knowledge, work ethic, and personal and professional integrity have been a model for us all, and we will miss your presence. Thank you for spending your career at Concordia College!
— Mikel Olson, chair/professor of psychology
Steven Makela
Steven Makela has worked at Concordia College for 24 years.
As professor of composition and music theory for over two decades, Steven Makela showed remarkable dedication to his students, colleagues, and the music department. As a teacher of music theory and technology, he was always thorough in his preparation, creative in his approach, and meticulous in his feedback to students. Students appreciated his good humor, dry wit, and keen intelligence, as well as his genuine warmth and care for student learning and wellbeing. In teaching composition, he was a visionary professor, opening new sound worlds to students, supporting their creative efforts, and skillfully mentoring individual students in independent projects, graduate school applications, and forays into the professional world. As a member of the music faculty, he was valued as a collaborative colleague, a creative problem-solver, and a committed contributor to committees and group work. His own compositions, which have been performed by many faculty and students, show great originality and uniqueness, push the boundaries of sonic and conceptual possibilities, explore technological innovation and interaction, and provide opportunities for musicians to explore new techniques and musical ideas for the edification and enjoyment of all involved.
— Nathaniel Dickey, chair of the music department
Liz Maring
Liz Maring was a member of the Cobber Bookstore staff for 14 years. Liz’s creative and artistic strength was an excellent match for the merchandise buyer position! Liz did a fantastic job creating excitement for and promoting the Concordia brand. She had a great eye for new trends and styles.
The capabilities Liz brought to the merchandise buyer position created much success in the sales of gifts and wearing apparel for Concordia College. Liz’s brand ambassador awareness and the designs she selected have been worn by and used by many over the past 14 years. We will continue to think of Liz often as we see students and other campus members wearing her designs!
The Bookstore team has missed Liz since her retirement in early January. She has a great laugh and a way of saying the word “bye” that we miss hearing on a regular basis.
Since retiring in January, Liz has spent time in Arizona warming up away from the Minnesota winter weather. In retirement, she is looking forward to traveling, spending time at the lake, and spending more time with family that live outside of the area. We wish Liz much joy and happiness as she continues to settle into retirement living!
Liz was a member of the Cobber Bookstore staff for 14 years. Liz’s creative and artistic strength was an excellent match for the merchandise buyer position. Liz did a fantastic job creating excitement for and promoting the Concordia brand! Liz had a great eye for new trends and styles. The designs she selected have been worn by and used by many over the past 14 years. We will continue to think of Liz often as we see students and other campus members wearing her designs!
— PJ Hines, director of the Cobber Bookstore
W. Scott Olsen
W. Scott Olsen has been a member of the faculty of the English Department writing program since 1987 — 39 years. Scott is especially grateful for the creative, artistic, and research opportunities Concordia has provided. The leader or co-leader of 19 student trips overseas, from May Seminars to Exploration Seminars, Scott has been to Mount Everest, scuba-dived the Great Barrier Reef, explored Grise Fiord (720 miles north of the Arctic Circle on Ellesmere Island), traveled to New Zealand and Australia, come to know London and Paris well, hiked the West Highland Way in Scotland, and with Jonathan Steinwand led the Around the World May Seminar. His individual research led to becoming a private pilot, photographing the perimeter of the Lower 48 in an Amtrak Sleeper Car, and driving the Alaska and Dempster Highways to the Arctic Ocean.
At Concordia, Scott was the editor of the international literary magazine Ascent for 26 years and, with Tracey Moorhead, Mark Krejci, and Pamela Jolicoeur, founded the National Book Awards on Campus program. In 2019 he was awarded the SGA Distinguished Service to Students Award for faculty.
In retirement, Scott will deeply miss the joy of meeting students in a first-year writing class and seeing them develop throughout their time at the college. Just as deeply, Scott hopes to continue the wonderful, multi-disciplinary conversations he has with colleagues within the English Department and across the campus.
Scott Olsen led with enthusiasm and vision, and we are grateful for his many years of reminding faculty and students to dream big. Scott initiated the charge to bring to campus the National Book Award Celebration and the national literary journal Ascent. He took students sailing, had them piloting planes over Fargo, and flying as passengers on around-the-world adventures. He took students hiking through the Scottish hillsides and documented his own trip to Mount Everest. He taught himself the art of photography and quickly added several photography books to his long list of publications. He set a speed record for a Cessna flight across North Dakota, and so much more. Thank you, Scott, for 39 years of sharing your grandiose vision and boundless energy, and for helping us to dream big!
— Vincent Reusch, chair and associate professor of English and program director of multimedia journalism
Debbie Pollock
Debbie Pollock served in the Conferences & Events Department at Concordia for 35 years.
She has especially enjoyed meeting and working with students throughout her career. She has found her time assisting students, faculty, and staff with their room reservation requests rewarding.
As she prepares for retirement, Debbie expects to miss the daily social interactions and conversations with her colleagues the most.
In retirement, she looks forward to spending time with family, gardening, taking bike trips with friends, and engaging in volunteer work.
Debbie, thank you for 35 amazing years of service to Concordia College. Your work touched people across campus every day, and your dedication and values truly reflected the heart of Concordia. You will be deeply missed, but we’re so grateful for everything you’ve given over the years. Wishing you all the best and every happiness in your well-deserved retirement. Congratulations, Debbie!
— Todd Wawers, director of conferences & events
