Luther Magazine Spring 2024

Luther magazine

Volume 57, number 3, spring 2024

© Luther College 2024

Editor

Kate Frentzel

Art director/designer

Michael Bartels

Contributors

Megan Buckingham

Amy Gustafson

Armando Jenkins-Vazquez ’21

Jeanie Lovell

Jon Lund

Sharon Sander-Palmer

Mariah (Bringer) Smith ’95

Rachel (Schutte) Vsetecka ’09 Luther College Photo Bureau

Luther magazine feedback, inquiries, and ideas may be sent to the Editor, Luther Magazine, Luther College, 700 College Drive, Decorah, Iowa 521011045; magazine@luther.edu; phone (563) 387-1483

Class Notes submissions, changes of address, and alumni news may be sent to the Alumni Office, Luther College, 700 College Drive, Decorah, Iowa 52101-1045; alumni@luther. edu; (800) 225-8664; (800) 2 ALUMNI.

Find us online at luther.edu/ magazine.

Cover: Newelle Dalton ’24, an elementary education major, spent last fall in Norway. She says, “My experience teaching and traveling abroad in Norway made me a more confident and authentic person. I learned so much about myself from being there for 11 weeks. The beauty of the fjords, sea, mountains, northern lights, bright culture, and the kindness of the Norwegian people changed me forever.”

When Kathi (Klink) Anderson ’92, pictured here with Christopher Turnis, read a Facebook plea to consider kidney donation, she responded in a major way. Read more on page 20.

A shared love of math

The

student organization reflects four decades of dynamic history.

A sense of place

scholarship brings refugee and displaced students to Luther.

Global citizens

LET’S STAY IN TOUCH

Update your contact information to hear about class reunions, events in your area, and college and alumni news. You can also update your personal and professional news or submit a birth/adoption or marriage announcement. Scan the code, email alumni@luther.edu , or call 800-225-8664.

During a Scholar Recognition Day visit event this spring,

GOOD

Courage

Dear Luther Community,

Two hundred years ago, Luther’s Norwegian forebears set sail for America in the first organized immigration from Norway to this country. They could not have known what would lie ahead, either as they crossed the ocean or as they disembarked and made their way toward Decorah. The beloved Lutheran retreat center Holden Village was still just the wild side of a mountain along Copper Creek in the Cascades. But I can imagine the boat passengers intoning the thoughts contained in the “Holden Prayer” under their breath as they sailed: “O

God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In many ways, what we often hear referred to as “headwinds” in higher education require us to have similar good courage, as the students seeking a college education are fewer and the American public questions the value of what we offer at places like Luther more and more.

In this issue of the Luther magazine, you will hear from our Director of Admissions about how Luther is thinking about these demographic shifts. You will also read about one aspect of our response, through the newly configured Office of Student Success (OSS). OSS implements high-impact retention initiatives and targeted faculty and staff development to create opportunities

to strengthen students’ academic abilities, cultural competency, and self-advocacy while supporting their personal growth and sense of belonging.

We are sailing faithfully into our future in a spirit of continuous improvement, and with intense focus on equipping our students— through our faculty and staff—with the tools they will need to navigate not just education, but civic life in general. At the same time, we know that our alumni are our best ambassadors for telling the world the ways in which their lives and their communities have benefited from a Luther education.

You contribute to our good courage, and for that we give thanks.

Soli Deo Gloria,

President Jenifer K. Ward

President Jenifer K. Ward

Michelle Boike (right), assistant dean and director of the Center for Intercultural Engagement and Support, staffed a table with students Sloan Clemens ’24 (left ) and Berly Derival ’26 (center).

FACING ENROLLMENT CHALLENGES HEAD-ON

It’s a challenging time in higher ed. The dreaded enrollment cliff—the sharp demographic decline in traditional college-aged students— has already hit the Midwest. And the pandemic and inflation threw more curveballs into the mix. We checked in with Matt Beatty ’03, director of admissions, to learn more about the enrollment challenges Luther faces and why we have reason to hope.

What were you doing in life before joining the admissions team at Luther? Why did you decide to return?

Working in higher ed is very fulfilling to me. The chance to return to Luther was appealing both personally and professionally. My wife, Molly (Vanderstoep) Beatty ’03, and I are both Luther graduates, as are many of our extended family members. We cherish our memories as Luther students and are excited about the quality of life that Decorah offers us and our twin boys. Most recently before Luther, I served as director of international admissions and global learning at Concordia College–Moorhead.

Can you give us a snapshot of higher ed enrollment over the past few years?

Nationally, college enrollment has been sliding downward for the past decade.  According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the population of high school graduates will peak at just over 3.9 million in 2025. After that, projections start to fall every year for at least a dozen years. Data indicates a 10 percent drop in the high-school-to-college pipeline by 2035. And the plot thickens. Most colleges and universities already face financial stressors, increasing student support needs, the rapid use of artificial intelligence, and questions about whether a bachelor’s degree is still worth it.* These factors are creating, arguably, the most pressing time in history for these institutions to meet their enrollment and revenue goals.

What

are the challenges specific to colleges like Luther?

Serving as an admissions counselor is a very rewarding career. You get to work on a college campus, counsel college-ready students, and connect with families in a really positive way. Unfortunately, declining demographics coupled with unanticipated outcomes from the pandemic have been really challenging for enrollment managers here. The constant state of uncertainty, increase in competition, and limited student interactions resulted in a high level of burnout, especially post-pandemic. Since 2021, Luther’s Office of Admissions has experienced a 90 percent staff turnover. But, just like the demographic changes in prospective students, Luther isn’t alone. That turnover is happening nationwide in admissions offices.

What strategies and initiatives is Luther implementing to recruit students?

I like this question. High school students today are watching colleges’ videos on Instagram, Tik Tok, Niche.com, and other emerging platforms while going through the college-search process. So we’re becoming even more active on social media and in other spaces. We’re also helping to streamline processes with respect to applying to Luther and transferring credits.

*Financially, it is. In March, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that in 2023, recent college grads age 22–27 working full-time earned $24,000 more per year than 22–27-year-olds with only a high school degree.

A new visit website makes it easier for students to sign up for the visit option that works best for them.

Internally, we’re leaning more heavily on institutional data, research, and new technologies to enhance our recruitment practices. We’re reaching out to students earlier in their high school years, streamlining admissions dashboards, and deploying more personalized messages.

But in the end, Luther students are our best recruiters—so we still want prospective students to visit campus. To really get a feel for Luther, new students should walk around the Library Lawn, sit in on a class, enjoy lunch in the Caf, and picture themselves here. A campus visit can make all the difference.

What’s going on this year with the FAFSA, and how does it affect enrollment?

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as the FAFSA, has long been due for an update. In December 2023, a new version of the form was released by the US Department of Education. Information from these new forms recently became available to higher ed institutions. The delay, however, has created additional setbacks and pressure for those working in the sector.

You’ve worked at other institutions in similar roles. What makes Luther special?

What makes Luther truly special are the people, from

our faculty and staff to students and alumni. Year after year, their unwavering care for this institution is palpable in every aspect of campus life. I get to witness these incredible interactions every day—the mentorship between professors and students, the support networks that thrive between Luther and Decorah, and the genuine pride exhibited by alumni long after they’ve graduated. Luther has a gorgeous campus, but what’s even more beautiful—and more compelling—are the people who make this place happen.

What are you hopeful about regarding enrollment at Luther?

There’s a lot that gives me hope, but I’ll mention just three areas. First, the college’s strategic road map, which includes an ambitious yet realistic and sustainable five-year enrollment plan that aims to bring the college to a thriving community of 1,800 students. Next, we have an exceptional admissions team. Under the leadership of our vice president, Karen Hunt, we’ve assembled an outstanding team. We’re dedicated to reaching critical enrollment goals, trying new recruitment tactics, and engaging with prospective students who can thrive at Luther. And finally, it’s the overwhelming support from our campus leaders and the Decorah community. As President Ward likes to say, “Luther is Decorah’s college, and Decorah is Luther’s town.”

How can alumni, parents, and friends of the college support enrollment at Luther?

Luther alumni, parents, and friends play a vital role in supporting enrollment. One of the most impactful ways they can contribute is by proactively sharing their own Luther story (#LutherCollege). Comment on and share our Luther features and news to others in your social media. Talk to high school students about your J-Term program, faculty mentors, and lifelong friends. Recommend high school students through our Future Norse Referral Program so we can reach out to students who might thrive here. By sharing the transformative experiences you’ve had here, you’ll inspire more prospective students to consider Luther as their home away from home.

HELPING STUDENTS CHOOSE LUTHER BEYOND THEIR FIRST YEAR

Recruiting students is part of enrollment. So is retention. As President Ward says, “The days of recruiting students only one time are over. . . . Every Luther student has an opportunity to ‘choose us’ eight times over a traditional timeline at Luther, and the first four semester decision points are the most critical.”

To address this reality and improve retention, Luther recently restructured the way we support students throughout their years here. The new Office of Student Success (OSS), says provost Brad Chamberlain, develops relationships and processes to allow us to seamlessly pass the baton back and forth between the various offices that are critical to supporting Luther students in the classroom and beyond.

This approach, he says, “will increase collaboration and decrease friction for students, faculty, and staff alike.”

“We’re trying to work out cross-cutting projects that are difficult when there’s a separate silo for each one,” Chamberlain says. “Now, under this integrated model, together we can say, Here’s the priority. Here’s what we’re going to work on together.”

The OSS, led by dean of student success

Kate Elliott, gathers under one umbrella the following areas:

• Academic advising

• Center for Academic Enrichment

• Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

• Disability Services

• Writing Center

• TRIO Student Support Services

• Career Center

Some key initiatives the OSS will implement include:

• Luther 360, a software system that monitors leading indicators to identify at-risk cohorts and academic struggle. Luther 360 collects early data on student academic performance and empowers collaboration and communication among support teams.

• the Chase Team, a group of staff who will work with under-registered and non-registered students to identify barriers and institutional roadblocks and help students return to Luther

• revised financial hold policies so that all students, including those from at-risk populations, can register for their preferred courses

• a new team-based, proactive, holistic advising model to complement faculty-centered academic advising

• monitoring academic success rates in gateway (essentially prerequisite) courses, especially those with high proportions of students who receive a grade of D, F, or W (withdrawal). In response, investigating whether to split these courses into smaller classes or to offer extra tutoring, course redesign workshops for faculty, and/or academic success workshops for students.

• focused academic support for student-athletes, including a new position (coordinator of student-athlete success), academic success workshops to be piloted during fall sports camps, and study tables for all athletic teams

• reviewing procedures connected to academic warning, probation, and dismissal

• developing academic recovery programs for students on academic probation

• refining student exit interviews to better identify common reasons why students withdraw from Luther

NEW VP FOR FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

In March, Patti (Schroeder) Hetrick ’84 was named vice president for finance and administration. The Caledonia, Minn., native brings a wide range of governmental, public sector, and corporate experience managing large and complex operational infrastructures. Most recently, she was chief financial officer of the Hennepin County Library System in Minneapolis, which includes 41 libraries serving 1.2 million residents. About the hire, President Jenifer K. Ward says, “Given the pace of change in higher education, we will be well served by her fresh perspective coupled with her genuine investment in the vitality of her alma mater.”

TENURE AND PROMOTIONS

In February, the Board of Regents granted tenure to Brian Hiester (biology) and Philip Iversen ’87 (mathematics). Four faculty members were promoted to full professor: Anita Carrasco (sociology, anthropology, and social work), Benjamin Moore ’02 (visual and performing arts), Holly Moore (philosophy and identity studies), and Thomas Johnson (communication studies). Hiester and Deborah Gover (music) were promoted to associate professor.

1,800 2,400 400

A COMMUNITY OF JOY

In recognition of her contributions to campus life, Nancy Le ’24 received the second-ever Joy Tlou Memorial Award. This award was established by Hla Tlou last year in memory of her brother, Bonolo Joy Tlou ’86.

Le is a visual communication major from Hue City, Vietnam. During her time at Luther, she has worked as an admissions ambassador, in the Writing Center, and in the Career Center. She was also a member of Luther College Cheerleading. She is known far and wide on campus because of her incredible friendliness and positivity.

“In each class Nancy has taken from me, she’s brought infectious energy. Ultimately, this has really elevated entire classroom communities in profound ways,” says Thomas Johnson, professor of communication studies. “She’s a bright light, no doubt.”

“I feel like I’m meant to be at Luther,” Le says. “The small size of the college has allowed me to create meaningful connections with a lot of members of our campus community, and it truly feels like home here. The friends I’ve made, the professors I’ve had, and Luther staff I’ve encountered have all contributed to making Luther a special place for me.”

DECORAH FEATURED ON PBS

In March, Decorah—including Luther—was featured in a half-hour episode of PBS’s John McGivern’s Main Streets. It’s available on YouTube and a great chance to revisit some of your favorite spots through fresh eyes.

NEW LUTHER

VIDEO SERIES

Check out our new video series, Grounded and Global, which highlights student learning in Decorah and globally.  Three students—Karson Trujillo ’26, Harrison Blum ’23, and Blake Henriquez ’24— gained critical experience interning with Decorah-area companies WinnMed, Deco Products, and Decorah Bank and Trust.

SHARING A LOVE OF MATH

In February, Luther hosted the 30th annual Iowa Collegiate Math Competition (ICMC). Hosting the event is an honor, since its host is determined by teams that did well the previous year (congrats to Anastasia Cicala ’26, Jack Moriarty ’24, and Supreme Paudel ’26). But beyond hosting, this event was significant for Ruth Berger, Luther professor of mathematics, who has coordinated the competition for the past 20 years and just passed the torch to former student Andrew Becklin ’12, now an assistant professor of mathematics at Drake University in Des Moines.

Becklin entered Luther thinking he was good but not great at math. Several Luther profs disagreed. He remembers one afternoon in Lounge 313 in Olin when Berger asked him to become a math tutor. He’d planned to go into actuarial science but, he says, “The tutoring went great. I was able to retool it into an active, engaged environment, modeling what I was seeing in my own classrooms with Luther professors. One thing led to another, and I ended up deciding I wanted to go into higher education.”

In grad school at the University of Nebraska, Becklin was able to work with students from underresourced backgrounds. “They didn’t have access to pristine high school educations and experiences, and I learned to appreciate how positive experiences in the math classroom could change their outlooks and opportunities,” he says. “I think that a lot of people

compartmentalize themselves as just not being good at math, definitionally. Like that’s something that’s accepted in our society—to say, ‘I’m just not a math person.’ I tend to not agree with that, and I try to change that mindset in my students.”

Of course, the students who compete at ICMC don’t need convincing—they already have a well-defined love of math, and this event gives them an opportunity to share it. This year, ICMC brought 17 teams from seven colleges and universities together to puzzle out 10 rigorous problems. One of the highlights of the competition—before students file out to compete in closed rooms in groups of three—is a social hour, held this year in Valders Concourse. It gives students an opportunity to shake off some nerves, meet some new friends, and play low-stakes games like SET.

“To me, the value of the competition is getting students from all over Iowa together in one place,” Becklin says. “We have a wide range of schools represented. We’ve got R1 institutions like Iowa State mixing with midsized private universities like Drake mixing with smaller liberal arts colleges like Luther. It creates a good opportunity for students in different areas with different resources to interact and build community.”

—Kate Frentzel

Andrew Becklin ’12 (left) is taking on the mantle of coordinating the Iowa Collegiate Math Competition from his former Luther professor Ruth Berger (right). At this year’s ICMC, a team from Iowa State placed first; Luther’s team of Anastasia Cicala ’26, Minh Nguyen ’25, and Elliott Stuenkel ’26 took second; and one of Drake’s teams placed third.

THE ASAA TURNS 40

In February, Luther’s Asian Students and Allies Association (ASAA) celebrated its 40th anniversary. Over its four decades, it has reflected the cultural and demographic shifts of a dynamically changing Asian and Asian American student body at Luther.

As the anniversary approached, Brian Caton, professor of history and former ASAA faculty advisor, grew increasingly aware that little formal documentation

Pioneers of the 1950s and 1960s

Asian students have attended and graduated from Luther since the 1950s. The first was Augustine Chen ’55, a student from China who came to Luther needing just one year of coursework to earn a bachelor’s degree in physics. Also notable was Helen (Liu) Ott ’58, from Taiwan, who hoped to become a pediatrician. Importantly, she was elected homecoming queen in 1957, the first woman of color to hold that office.

From the 1950s through the 1970s, Luther enrolled about one to five Asian students a year. They came from Taiwan and Hong Kong, but they also started coming from places like Iran, Japan, Jordan, and Malaysia.

existed about the history of Asian and Asian American students at Luther. He set out—with the help of Mia Suzuki ’24— to change that. What follows is a CliffsNotes version of what they learned.

The history below is a condensed version of Brian Caton’s lecture, “Recovering the History of Asian and Asian American Students at Luther College,” given in fall 2023.

Student/Faculty Research Makes This History Possible

In the early 1960s, President Farwell famously pushed the college to increase its racial and ethnic diversity, first through initiating an exchange program with three historically Black colleges and universities, and second through building a recruitment program in urban Chicago. While these measures were aimed toward recruitment of African American students, they sometimes also attracted other students as well—like Susan (Yung) Maul ’69, the first Asian American student at Luther. She happened to be at a Chicago recruitment fair where Luther staffers were hoping to attract Black applicants.

As an Asian American at Luther, Maul was an anomaly. Luther attracted very few Asian American students before 1980— probably fewer than five in that entire time period.

When Caton put out the call to students to help research this history, international studies major Mia Suzuki ’24 answered. Over the course of summer 2022, the pair interviewed almost 40 alumni about their experiences as Asian and Asian American students at Luther. Suzuki says she learned that “There’s a lot of value in this type of research, where you aren’t just looking through archives or empirical data, but you’re talking to people and then kind of synthesizing their stories. You’re honoring the meaning that they share with you.”

Soon, the interviews will be uploaded into the Luther College Archives so that others can listen to these firsthand experiences.

Refugee and Displaced Students of the 1970s and 1980s

In failing to recruit Asian American students, Luther was not particularly unusual in the Midwest. Most Asian American students tended to enroll in colleges and universities near Asian American communities in coastal cities. Luther administrators didn’t anticipate large numbers of such students in their primary four-state recruitment area.

A key change to Luther student demographics in the 1980s came in the form of refugees from Southeast Asia. The first wave of Southeast Asian refugees began to arrive in the US in the late stages of the war in Vietnam in 1975. A trickle of these first-wave refugee students, usually about one or two a year, enrolled at Luther in the late 1970s, including Clara (Phan) Knudson ’79.

The second wave of refugees began arriving in the US around 1978 and 1979, including Hmong people who had aided US forces in Laos during the war. Families and churches in Decorah sponsored about 125 of these refugees by 1980.  Luther sociology professor Kenneth Root saw a key gap in the support services available to refugees: namely, the education of high school students. Services aimed at adults provided language and job training for them, and young children received language and cultural instruction through local public schools. But children of high school age didn’t particularly benefit from either.

Root and President Farwell secured grant funding to start a degree program for refugee students drawn from across the country. The program balanced a reduced number of Luther academic credits with 11 credits per year of ESL coursework. By the 1983–84 academic year, the number of Southeast Asian students enrolled in this ESL program had risen to about 40.

Founding of the ASA in 1984

These were the students who pushed to form the ASA—the Asian Students Association. There is little documentation giving a direct, clear rationale for why they did so, but the preamble of the ASA’s constitution states that its main objective was to provide “cultural, educational, and social growth for all students—Asian and non-Asian students—of Luther College.” Anyone of Asian origin was welcome to join. The first president of the ASA, N-Tam de Monteiro ’84, insisted in a Chips interview that “We are not going to stick together and alienate ourselves. We want to blend ourselves and learn.”

However, given the time requirements of the ESL program, the additional labor required for learning in an Englishlanguage school, and the work-study components of students’ financial aid packages, few members of the ASA likely had time to participate in other organizations and activities that might make them feel more integrated.

On this page: ASAA group photos from the mid- to late 1980s.

Demographic Shifts of the Late 1980s and 1990s

The trend of US citizens adopting children from South Korea, which began during the Korean War, increased in the 1970s, and these Korean American adoptees started to reach college age in the late 1980s. Also in the 1980s, the federal government reduced or eliminated programs established in the 1970s to encourage underrepresented populations, particularly African Americans, to enroll in colleges and universities. This had a pronounced negative effect on the enrollment of African Americans at Luther, which dipped to fewer than 10 students at certain points in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

At the same time, Luther increased its efforts to recruit international students, favoring a strategy of cultivating larger numbers of students from a few countries rather than one or two students from many different countries. In addition, the college adopted a minimum TOEFL score for incoming students, which had the effect of favoring students from countries that had been or still were colonized by Britain or were protectorates of Britain— particularly Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. So while the end of the ESL program saw dramatically fewer Southeast Asian students at Luther, there was an increase in Asian international students from other countries.

The Evolution of the ASAA

This shift in demographics changed the character of the ASA from something that was organized around a primarily refugee identity to something that was more oriented toward international students and a broader sense of what would be included as Asian students. Simultaneously, members in the 1990s typically had more time to spend on other organizations. Some students attended meetings of the ASA, the Black Student Union, and the Inter-

national Student Association, and some years these organizations scheduled their meetings consecutively on a single night so that students could attend all three in the same room over the course of a few hours.

The intensive interest among students involved in these various identityoriented organizations in the 1990s led them to coordinate their advocacy for each other on campus and in the public sphere. It also led non-Asian students to become members of the ASA, which hadn’t been true in the 1980s. In the early 2000s, on the recommendation of Sheila Radford-Hill, then the executive director of the Luther Diversity Center, the ASA added the word “Allies” to its name.

A Changing Student Body in the 2000s

Restrictions on student visas in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks on Washington and New York resulted in a decrease in the overall numbers of international students at Luther and a significant decrease in the numbers of students from South Asian countries. The college responded to this decrease by shifting its recruitment strategy to the opposite of what it mostly recommended in the 1980s, and Luther went from focusing on a few countries to recruiting small numbers of students from many different countries as a means of guarding against political or economic crisis.

Also in the 2000s, Luther became a partner institution of the Davis United World College Scholars Program, which smoothed financial pathways for international students coming from UWC institutions and increased the number of countries of origin of Luther students.

American students adopted from Asian countries continued to enroll at about the same pace as earlier, with adoptees from China beginning to replace those from South Korea. Secondgeneration Asian Americans also started to enroll at Luther in recognizable numbers.

Below: ASAA group photos from the 1990s.

While some students from these different demographic groups felt drawn to join the ASAA, others questioned whether they were the sort of Asian the organization sought as members, and elected not to participate.

The ASAA was meant to be an organization that provided support, but even its target demographic felt uncertain about access to that support. Perhaps because of this, Asian and Asian American students increasingly prioritized their participation in athletics, music ensembles, media outlets, Greek organizations, academic clubs, and other kinds of activities.

ASAA membership, then, starting in the late ’90s and particularly in the 2000s, became unpredictable from year to year. Some years there would be six or eight students, other years 15 or 20.

In 2008, the hire of Hongmei Yu as a tenure-line faculty member in Chinese

language accelerated the push to create an academic program in Asian studies. The Board of Regents approved an Asian studies minor in May 2013. Subsequently, Yu, as ASAA faculty advisor, encouraged the organization to develop events that could support the Asian studies minor.

The Future of ASAA

During 2020 and 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic brought the activities of ASAA to a halt. This was especially unfortunate in spring 2021, in the wake of over a year of anti-Asian micro- and macroaggressions nationally and the mass shooting of Asians in the Atlanta suburbs in spring of 2021. During this time, some students felt acutely the need for a student organization that could provide emotional and social support, while other students perhaps obtained the support they

needed through other networks, some not tied to Asian identity.

Current Asian and Asian American students certainly continue to face micro- and macroaggressions and other problems on and off campus, and doubtless they want members of the college community to better understand their cultures. But it is not at all clear that they regard ASAA as the means to meet those needs.

Perhaps the narrative of Asian and Asian American student experiences and the ASAA can help current students decide how they want to proceed— whether they want to claim ASAA for themselves and shape it into an organization of support in the 21st century.

Celebrating the ASAA

In February and March, Luther celebrated the ASAA’s 40th anniversary with a series of events, from chapels to performances to lectures. The ASAA has a long history of celebration. In 1984, it held its first Ethnic Arts Festival, featuring food,

music, and other performances. The event was so popular that it was held annually until 2020. In 2023, it was renamed Culture Fest and celebrated in downtown Decorah.

Left: When Tamim Dostyar ’27 arrived at Dulles International Airport from Afghanistan, he was greeted by DC-area alum Stephanie Heishman ’01. Right: Matthew Frantsuzhan ’27, from Ukraine, met with Jon Lund on the Luther campus.

Place A SENSE OF

A new Luther scholarship—and plenty of Luther alumni—helps refugees and displaced students find their place at Luther.

Over 100 million. That’s the staggering number of individuals the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates are presently classified as refugees or displaced persons around the world. These individuals find themselves forcibly displaced as a result of human rights violations, war, conflict, and persecution. This number has never been greater. Of this number, the UNHCR estimates that only 6 percent of refugees have access to higher education.

Exactly Two. That’s the number of students at Luther—Tamim Dostyar ’27 from Afghanistan and Matthew Frantsuzhan ’27 from Ukraine—who enrolled in August 2023 as a result of a new scholarship, the Maclay-Tlou Scholarship for Displaced and Refugee Students. The scholarship is designed to provide access to higher education for this particularly vulnerable and underserved group. The scholarship is named in memory of regent emerita Susan Maclay Blackman ’64 and Thomas Tlou ’65. It was established with both endowed and current gift components by Paul Black-

man in honor of his wife, Susan, and her long-time Luther friend Tom. In addition, former Luther faculty members Deb (Rusch) ’82 and Bill Fordice ’82 generously contributed to the new scholarship to help ensure that it had an immediate impact.

Because of one place. The scholarship is a meaningful expression of the sense of place cultivated at Luther. Tamim, a computer science major, found his way to Luther due to the advocacy efforts of Washington, DC, alumna Stephanie Heishman ’01 and friend Ann Cavanaugh. Stephanie and Ann had volunteered their time to help bright students from Afghanistan find college options in the US. Stephanie’s love of Luther, her faith in Tamim, and the newly established scholarship made Tamim’s dream of a college education possible.

Matthew’s pathway to Luther involved lots of Luther connections too. As a high school exchange student at Valley High School in Des Moines, Iowa, Matthew discovered his passion for music thanks

to his vocal music teacher, Haley Gibbons ’11. When the war in Ukraine broke out, Matthew was unable to return to his home country. A Des Moines–area family, Cristina (Webb) ’97 and J. R. Deeds ’99, stepped in to serve as host parents for Matthew. And with the support of Dr. Andrew Last ’97, director of choral activities, Matthew made his way to campus.

It is fitting, indeed, that a college founded by immigrants offers help to those who are displaced or stateless and provides for them a sense of place. And it’s Luther alumni and their attachment to this place that make it possible.

—Jon Lund, director of international admissions

If you’d like to explore ways to assist more students like Tamim and Matthew by contributing to the Maclay-Tlou Scholarship for Displaced and Refugee Students, please contact the Luther College Development Office, 563-387-1862.

Learning in the wider world is a hallmark of a Luther education. From Morocco to Turkey to Tanzania, our students explore new cultures and communities and learn about global issues firsthand. This year, for the first time, first-year students were allowed to participate in off-campus J-Terms: Nordic Tales and Traditions (in Norway) and Theatre in the US (in NYC). They joined hundreds of other Luther students on their journey toward becoming global citizens.

GLOBAL

Citizens

HOLDEN VILLAGE:

“My photo is of Copper Mountain rising over a fog that had been surrounding Holden Village for the entire day, obscuring any view of the mountain. I chose this photo because of the beauty of nature it represents and the example of just how close these places were to our class.” —Charles Jetton ’26, anthropology major

NOTTINGHAM: “The Nottingham program is an experience like no other! It was a formative year in every aspect. I lived with and traveled around the UK with some of the best people I have come to know, all while growing as a person and in my academic life.” —Chilekwa Ling’omba ’24, management major

NORWAY: “Captured in Tromsø during a quest for the Northern Lights at the Arctic Ocean’s shore. Despite the elusive auroras due to the weather, our spirited group of 12 relished engaging conversations with guides Katrina and Stina while savoring hot chocolate, Norwegian reindeer broth, and Christmas treats. A memorable Arctic adventure, even without the lights.” —Shanti Yadav ’27, economics major

MALTA: “The semester in Malta expanded my horizons, enriched my understanding of history, and gave me lifelong friendships. It was an experience that reconnected me with the beauty of the world and reminded me of the joy that comes from immersing oneself in a new and captivating culture.” —Christopher Cevallos ’25, political science major

Scan for a video about the first-year Norway J-Term.

COSTA RICA: “I made some absolutely amazing lifelong friends from all over the United States. In the end, I have learned and grown so much, and now I understand that if something scares you— like really scares you—you absolutely have to do it because those experiences are what turn you into your strong and unique self.” —Abigail Bates ’25, environmental studies major

NORWAY: “Norway has always held a special allure for me; it’s a destination I definitely plan to explore further. Last spring, I had the incredible opportunity to study at University of Agder for a semester. It proved to be a fantastic experience, allowing me to immerse myself in Norwegian culture and university life and embrace independent life for a while. Interacting with a diverse group of individuals with varied backgrounds and interests enriched my experience, and I deeply value the connections I made during this time.” —Rawan Hannoon ’25, neuroscience major

MALTA: “Traveling to Malta led me to meet some amazing people. This experience changed me in multiple ways, and I would encourage anyone to go there.”

—Sebastian Zavala ’24, accounting major

SPAIN/MOROCCO: “The highlight of my trip in Morocco was definitely our time in a Berber camp out in the Sahara. During the nighttime, we had an opportunity to dance to and learn the history of important Berber songs. From songs on learning to let go of loved ones and resistance to French colonization, the night was unforgettable and something I will forever take with me.” —Luis Cruces ’24, political science major

NORWAY: “I absolutely loved my time studying at the University of Oslo International Summer School! It was such a valuable experience getting to meet students from all over the world, as well as being immersed in Norwegian culture. My favorite moment was exploring the nature of northern Norway up near Tromsø! I highly recommend this program for anyone who may be interested.” —Jens Bjorge ’24, biology and Nordic studies major

SPAIN: “My experience studying abroad in Bilbao, Spain, was incredible! While studying international management and Spanish, I created unforgettable memories with my amazing host family and new friends from across the States. This experience broadened my knowledge of international business in the Spanish-European context. I thank my off-campus program advisor and academic advisors for helping me make my dream to study abroad in Spain possible.” —Gabriela Castelan ’24, economics, management, and Spanish major

TANZANIA “Going to Tanzania this J-Term was a life-changing experience. I was able to experience so many things that I didn’t know would be possible. I met wonderful people, saw amazing landscapes and animals, ate great food, and made lifelong memories. I loved everything about this J-Term, but if I had to choose my favorite moment, it was probably our five-day-long stay in our Maasai guide’s hometown.” —Tancrede Lefort ’25, international studies and political science major

TURKEY: “My photo is of a fellow student, Samuel Scheffler, at the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey. The photograph captures the mystical underground atmosphere of the Basilica Cistern. The ancient cistern, with its dimly lit ambiance, is brought to life through a symmetrical composition that guides the viewer’s gaze down a pathway flanked by rows of massive textured columns. The reflections of light shimmer on the water’s surface, adding depth and a sense of tranquility among the massive structure. The arches above the columns create rhythmic patterns throughout the space, with the subject’s head perfectly in between. The subject stands contemplatively observing the grandeur, providing scale and a human element that invites the observer to share in the moment of discovery.” —William Valentine ’24, political science major

SOUTH AFRICA: “This is Cape of Good Hope, where two different seas meet, the second most southern tip of all of Africa.” —Samantha Suski ’25, nursing major

LIFELONG IMPACT

Across decades, disciplines, and destinations, Luther studyaway programs have had a profound impact on Luther grads. We recently asked on Facebook for your fondest J-Term memories. Here’s what some of you had to say!

CONNECTING WITH JOY

Kevin Pleasant ’87 finds inspiration as board chair of Living Well Disability Services.

In his day job, Kevin Pleasant ’87 is vice president, senior treasury management officer at Minnesota Bank and Trust. In his personal life, he does a lot of 5K fun runs—and one of them changed the trajectory of his life.

At a 5K seven years ago, Kevin ran into Martha (Stadstad) Larson ’87. She had just taken on the role of CFO at Living Well Disability Services, a Twin Cities–based organization that serves more than 300 people living with disabilities in 37 group homes and through in-home services. Martha invited Kevin to their annual gala, where he got the hard sell about joining the board.

Kevin’s no stranger to serving on boards—he points out that people who work in banking often feel the pull to give back to their communities. But of Living Well, he says, “I have two children, including a son with disabilities who is on the autism spectrum and has mild cerebral palsy. So as a parent of a child with disabilities, I had some personal reasons for wanting to get involved.”

Seven years later, Living Well rewrote its bylaws to allow Kevin to continue to serve on the board (term limits used to max out at six years). These last two years, Kevin has headed up the organization as board chair.

One of Kevin’s proudest moments from his time with Living Well was in 2023, as part of a team of advocates who lobbied the Minnesota legislature for more funding for disability support staff. Kevin notes that support staff in homes like Living Well’s hadn’t had an increase in their funding rates from the state since the early 2000s. Happily, the 2023 legislative session brought nearly $3 million in new, recurring funding to Living Well in 2024 and kicked off annual cost of living adjustments for staff in its immediate care facilities.

“The individuals we support are really medically fragile and have intensive medical needs, and some of them can’t speak or see,” he says.

As board chair, Kevin Pleasant ’87 attends lots of Living Well functions, like Family Fun Day 2023, where he made friends with Living Well home residents and staff.

“The people who work with them and support them are with them 24/7. They really live the mission.”

The people at Living Well, Kevin says, have expanded his passion for wanting to help. He echoes one of the organization’s program managers when he says: “My work with Living Well is not really a volunteer job or an effort—it’s a joy.”

LUTHER CONNECTIONS ABOUND!

Kevin can’t help but highlight the many connections between Living Well and Luther. Not only was he recruited by Martha (Stadstad) Larson ’87, but he joined the board at the same time as Kris (Kleppe) Olson ’87. Living Well’s 2023 gala was also full of Luther supporters. Kevin, who had a presenting role, recounts, “I’m giving this audience of 400 people my speech, and then I point out: ‘That table over there is full of my Luther friends. And this video you’re about to see about one of our homes? The neighbor in this video is a Luther grad. Are you guys sick of hearing about this yet? We’re everywhere!’”

—Kate Frentzel

A SPARE TO

Kathi (Klink) Anderson ’92 prepares for surgery at the same time as Christopher Turnis, on whose behalf she donated a kidney.

by Kate Frentzel

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When Kathi (Klink) Anderson ’92 read the plea of an acquaintance on Facebook to consider living organ donation, she not only considered it—she made the radical decision to donate a kidney for a teenager she barely knew.

A BORN PROBLEM-SOLVER

Kathi is a born problem-solver. It’s how she became a neonatal physical therapist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. “I’d get a kiddo who was five and think, Why in the world didn’t they pick up on these problems earlier? And then I’d get a consult on a three-year-old and think, Boy, a year or so earlier and I’m sure I could have had them walking by now. And then I’d get a consult on a one-year-old and think, Oh, they have abnormal movement patterns already— I’m sure we could have prevented this. That’s how I ended up in neonatology, because I wanted to try to prevent as many of the problems as I could early on.”

ANOTHER MOM ASKING FOR HELP

In addition to working with kids, Kathi and her husband, Mike Anderson ’92, have three of their own, including Mateo, who’s now thriving at 13 but who, because of a large congenital diaphragmatic hernia, spent a lot of time in hospitals early in life.

Because of this history, Kathi was familiar with the Turnis family—both the Andersons and the Turnises were featured in a University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital campaign—and knew that Christopher Turnis’s kidney was damaged from a birth defect. He’d had a transplant at age six, but transplanted kidneys can wear out. In November 2022, Kathi saw a Facebook post

from Christopher’s mom, Kristina, explaining that his kidney was failing, that they couldn’t find a match within the family, and if anyone would consider living kidney donation, here’s a link to learn more. Kathi didn’t think twice before clicking. She remembers thinking,

“Another mom is asking for help with her medically needy child. I can’t say no to that.”

GETTING THE GREEN LIGHT

Of course, the whole thing was theoretical at first. “I went into it completely blind, with no clue that I would ever qualify,” Kathi says. But as she started medical testing and getting green light after green light, the possibility became real.

Along the way, she and Mike, both medical professionals, felt reassured by the thoroughness of the kidney donation program—and the fact that it put donor health first and foremost. “Their emphasis is on protecting the donors,” Kathi says. “They’re not going to let you donate if the outcome doesn’t look extremely good, and the list of reasons to come off of qualifying is long—very long.” The psychological testing is also extensive, with psychologists walking donors through everything from readiness and reasons for donating, to possible financial implications of recovery, to scenarios including meeting (or not) your kidney recipient or dealing with the outcome that a recipient dies.

By May 2023, Kathi had cleared most of the major hurdles for donation—but the decision of whether or not to tell the Turnises that she’d decided to donate was up to her. “It was kind of a God thing,” she laughs. “I always pray: Make it obvious, God, because I’m a little dense and I don’t know what to do.” A chance encounter with Kristina and Christopher at Target in June made up her mind. She sent a long text to Kristina, who got the joyful news on a really hard day.

In mid-October 2023, Kathi got the call: you’re cleared for donation. When can we officially put you on the registry?

MAKING A MATCH

The National Kidney Registry is a living donation program through which people can donate a kidney on behalf of a loved one or stranger—even if it isn’t a match. The registry then finds a match for that donated kidney and for the loved one or stranger.

Ideally, the matchmaking happens as part of a pair swap, but sometimes the matchmaking happens in wider networks. Kathi’s and Christopher’s surgeries, for example, happened as part of an octet, with four kidneys criss-crossing the country via O’Hare International Airport on the same day in early January 2024.

The deceased donor pool for kidneys is limited, and wait time on that list averages three to 10 years. Living donation can speed up the process to just three months. Kidneys from living donors also last an average of 20–40 years, compared to 10–15 years for kidneys from deceased donors. People who become living donors also ensure that they get moved to the top of the deceased donor list if they or an immediate family member need an organ down the road. Plus, Kathi points out, one in 1,000 people are born with just one kidney anyway so, she says,

“You really do have a spare to share!”

Several months after surgery, both Kathi and Christopher are doing well. Kathi was back to work in four weeks and jogging again in six. Christopher plans to study at the University of Iowa and become a child life specialist, helping other families navigate challenging medical situations. “He’s going to be able to help so many kids and so many parents because he’s lived it,” Kathi says.

And on the same day in March, Kathi heard from her kidney recipient—a 39-year-old father of three young boys in Southern California—and Christopher heard from his kidney donor—a 25-year-old occupational therapy student in Georgia! “It’s so, so cool how we’re all connected now,” Kathi says.

Kathi urges anyone who’s curious to take the simple step of learning more about living kidney donation. About her decision, she has no regrets, saying, “Life is too short and too hard not to help each other.”

Learn more at kidneyregistry.org.

BRINGING LEGENDARY SHOWS TO LIFE

Annie Goodroad ’19 produces major events, including the Super Bowl halftime show.

Annie Goodroad ’19 was 12 when her older brother took her to a Beyonce concert. She was a huge fan of the popular performer and knew the words to all her songs. As Goodroad watched the show, something besides the singing and dancing caught her attention.

“She had so many dancers onstage and a band— there was so much production,” recalls Goodroad, a Minnetonka, Minnesota, native. “There were these stagehands running things out—mics, guitars. I was drawn to that. I couldn’t stop talking about the people dressed in black on stage. What are they doing? Why are they doing that? I wanted to know what was going on.”

The concert unleashed Goodroad’s curiosity, which never let up. Her interest in event production led her to a career working on major projects as a staff member at Diversified Production Services (DPS), an Emmy

In her role at Diversified Production Services, Annie Goodroad ‘19 served as the talent manager for Super Bowl LVIII’s halftime show starring Usher.

Award–winning company with 14 full-time employees and a team of freelancers who produce live entertainment, including broadcasts and corporate events. DPS was the lead producing team for Super Bowl LVIII’s halftime show starring Usher, with Goodroad serving as talent manager for the big event.

“What’s cool about the halftime show is it’s an artist-driven creative project,” says Goodroad, who is based in Philadelphia but travels frequently for DPS. “Everything we do is based on the creative vision of the talent who’s performing. We work with the NFL, the artist’s team, stage producers, and creative designers. My side is logistics—making sure we can fit everything into a schedule. Once you get to the stadium, every movement must be planned.”

So, how does someone go from majoring in management to working on massive

productions?

By leveraging lots of stepping-stone opportunities, including at Luther, where she served as concert coordinator with the Student Activities Council (SAC), helping bring major acts—including Lizzo, Ben Rector, Parachute, and T-Pain—to campus. She was also a Photo Bureau photographer and KWLC radio student manager and pursued several internships, including as an assistant to the director of the 80/35 music festival in Des Moines, which helped advance her career.

After graduating, Goodroad took on various jobs— production assistant, production runner, artist relations coordinator—before landing at DPS. She says she’s grateful to be able to travel around the country working with some of the most famous and legendary musicians and entertainers alive today. When she tells people what she does for a living, one big misconception is that she’s hobnobbing with celebrities. But for Goodroad, it’s all about going above and beyond to get the job done.

“When I meet people for the first time, they’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh, are you hanging out with Snoop Dogg?’ I have to say, ‘No, I don’t hang out. I’m working.’”

—Amy Carlson Gustafson

THE EYES, EARS, AND VOICE OF A NEW COMMUNITY

Eric Min ’22 creates high-volume, high-quality work as a KTTC journalist.

During his junior year, Eric Min ’22 swapped his job in the Caf to try working for Chips. It changed everything. “I totally fell in love,” he says. “I loved the atmosphere. I loved the job. I loved everything about the industry.”

He decided to pursue a visual communication major and spent spring of 2021 interning through the Rochester Semester. During this time, not only was he living through the tense first year of the pandemic— he was also watching his home country of Myanmar/ Burma suffer a military coup and the violence that followed. While navigating tumultuous reports from home, Eric interned with Collider, an organization that supports local early-stage entrepreneurs. He embedded himself in the community and focused on sharing how small business owners were surviving Covid.

He says, “It was a very, very difficult time for me, doing a job I’ve never done before, learning a lot, but also struggling with what was going on.”

What Eric didn’t know at the time was that even while he was wracked with worry for one home, he was planting the seeds for a future one.

“That internship was just so perfect—I can’t even explain what a great fit it was. It really was a catalyst for all the things to come later on,” he says.

Eric spent the year after graduating from Luther honing his skills at Decorahnews.com, then headed back to Rochester for a job as a multimedia journalist at KTTC.

The job is complex, fast-paced, and demanding.

But less than a year into his new role, Eric is flourishing. And he’s trusted to cover important, sensitive stories, like a tribute to Rochester native Adam Finseth, a first responder who was killed in the line of duty.

“It was a really sad day for Rochester,” Eric says. It was also a really busy day for Eric. “I had to turn in my story for the 5 p.m. show, but I couldn’t get my interviews until 3:30, so I literally had an hour to do it. I was running on pure adrenaline, just pure instinct with this story. I got my interviews, shot my video, ran back to the station with the car, and then wrote all of the script, edited all of the video, and uploaded everything. And then I changed my clothes to a suit and presented on air.” His piece betrayed none of the harriedness of the day, but was instead full of professionalism, respect, and compassion.

While the job of a journalist can be intense, it can also be the fastest route to engaging deeply with a new home. Within two months, Eric says, “I really built a community, built relationships with a lot of people who know me. Now I’ve covered so many stories— happy and sad, soft and hard news—I feel very good about the connections I’ve made.”

—Kate Frentzel

Check out Eric’s stories at kttc.com/authors/eric.min/.

Class Notes

Notices as of March 6, 2024

’51

Lew Lewison of Rochester, Minn., received the Book of Golden Deeds Award from the Rochester Exchange Club. Lew has been a member of the service club for 65 years.

’74 Jeff Barth of Sioux Falls, S.D., is retired following 16 years of service as a Minnehaha County commissioner in Sioux Falls.

Vicki (Koestner) Blake of Porthill, Idaho, is retired from a career as a choir conductor, dancer, and choreographer. Vicki conducts the SPIRITSONG international women’s choir, which completed a tour of Cuba, as well as the BOUNDLESS chamber choir.

Kitty Chadima of Iowa City, Iowa, is an independent wellness consultant and district manager with Arbonne International.

Diane (Butt) Christensen of Round Rock, Texas, is retired following a career in computing and information technology.

Ele (Bynoe) Clay of Houston, Texas, serves as redevelopment pastor at Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church in Houston. Ele is also the cofounder, member, and director of Color of Grace, a collaborative ministry created to step into the challenge of dismantling racism.

Karen (Olson) Gerth of Carlton, Minn., is retired from her work as an ELCA deacon.

Mary Gregory Johnson and Craig Johnson of Sherwood, Ore., are retired from careers as professors at George Fox University in Newberg, Ore.

Jackie (Lowell) Kitch of Carroll, Iowa, is retired from a career in teaching.

Barbara Droher Kline of New Prague, Minn., serves on the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy.

Joel Mjolsness, of San Jose, Calif., is a principal with Mjolsness Advisory.

Anne (Kruse) and Dale Olson of Bozeman, Mont., are retired

following careers in school administration.

Marilyn Peitso of Sartell, Minn., is retired following a career as a pediatrician and is a certified yoga teacher.

Rich Steinberg of Damascus, Ore., is retired following a career as a urologist.

Julia Wall of Decorah is retired following a career in K–12 and postsecondary education.

’75

Michael Osterholm of Minneapolis was awarded the Outstanding Government Service Award from the American Medical Association. The award is presented to public servants who use science and medicine to promote public health.

Warren Kuh of Marble Falls, Texas, is retired following a career in business and administration.

’76

Nancy (Sorenson) Powers of Saginaw, Mich., is retired after 41 years of public and private music teaching.

’77

Mike Meyer of Shawnee, Kan., is retired following a career in business and finance administration.

’82

Laird Edman of Orange City, Iowa, is a professor emeritus at Northwestern College and received the Northwestern Excellence in Faith and Learning Award as well as a grant from the Templeton Religion Trust to study the nature of ritual, social bonding, and openness in church settings.

Joy (Turner) Royston of Wisconsin Dells, Wis., is retired after owning a custom promotional and sports products retail business.

’83

Derek Morris of El Cajon, Calif., retired following a 34year teaching and administrative career in the San Diego Unified School District and earned a doctorate in social justice innovation and change, social engineering (DSW) from the University of

Southern California. Derek is a social justice, advocacy, innovation, and change consultant.

Carol (Knudsen) Woodruff of Des Moines, Iowa, is retired following a career in information technology.

’84

Ruth Anderson of Wenatchee, Wash., is director of music ministries at Grace Lutheran Church in Wenatchee.

Rebecca (Brierly) Barnes of Omaha, Neb., is an administrative assistant at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.

Steve Berg of Boone, Iowa, is an agent with Symmetry Financial Group.

Julie (Henriksen) Bowe of Eau Claire, Wis., works in the undergraduate support program at the College of Nursing, UW–Eau Claire.

Dan Eidsmoe of Marathon, Fla., is retired following a career as an attorney in the financial industry. Dan can be found scuba diving and kayaking in the Florida Keys.

Steve Harder of Pequot Lakes, Minn., is a physician with Essentia Health.

Sara (Andreasen) Hopkins of Decorah is a school social worker with Keystone Area Education Agency.

Sandy (Heitland) Krekling of Hayfield, Minn., is retired following a career as a teacher with the Hayfield Public Schools.

Anne (Mattson) McAnallen of Phoenix, Ariz., is retired following a 40-year career in the banking and mortgage industry.

Brian Mehlhaus of Boone, Iowa, is retired from a career as a family medicine physician and works part-time covering rural hospital emergency rooms.

Jeff O’Brien of Arlington, Va., is project manager with AFG Group.

Kris Ohm of Katy, Texas, is retired following a career in teaching.

Lisa (Smith) Rembert of Crest Hill, Ill., is retired after serving as a psychologist with the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Developmental Disabilities.

Rick Stover of Story City, Iowa, retired from a 38-year career as a high school math teacher. Rick continues to tutor students in math.

Ann (Aspenes) Ulring of Minneapolis is retired from a career in nonprofit and higher education fundraising.

Ingrid Urberg of Camrose, Alberta, Canada, is professor of Scandinavian studies at the University of Alberta, Augustana campus.

Anne Vaaler of Grass Valley, Calif., is retired from a career in teaching music in the Northern California public schools. Anne operates a music studio, teaching private voice and music classes for all ages.

Fred Venable of Grand Mound, Iowa, is financial services coordinator with Genesis Health System in Davenport, Iowa.

Carter Woodruff of Des Moines, Iowa, retired following a career with Des Moines Water Works.

’85

Mark Anderson of Waverly, Iowa, was elected mayor of Waverly and began a two-year term in January 2024.

’86

Rich Henriksen of Minneapolis opened a jazz music bar, Berlin, in Minneapolis’s North Loop.

’88

Lowell Christensen of Round Rock, Texas, is retired following a career in financial analysis.

Phil Hull of Warrensburg, Mo., is director of the International Center at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.

’89

Cyndi (Bangs) Lyons of Waukon, Iowa, is a data processing coordinator at Luther.

’90

Jane (Vaaler) Roets of Wethersfield, Conn., is a clinical supervisor with the Village for Families and Children and serves on the Wethersfield Town Council.

’92

Dirk Buettner of Glendora, Calif., is a smart drive coordinator for San Gabriel Transit.

’94

Daniel Stout of Fitchburg, Wis., is life science web

editor at Bruker Fluorescence Microscopy and owner of Daniel Stout Photography in Madison, Wis.

’97

Nate Reisetter of Arden Hills, Minn., is employment partners director with the Redemption Project in Minneapolis.

Joshua Vorvick was recently named the first two-time winner of the Bluebird Golden Pick Contest.

’98

Gayle (Dunkel) Gort of Castle Rock, Colo., is delivery director, verticals with Snowflake in Denver. Gayle also earned a certificate of organization change from Harvard Business School.

’99

Ann (Berglund) Ballard of Rochester, Minn., earned an MSN in nursing management and organizational leadership from Post University and is a nurse supervisor at Mayo Clinic.

Kate (Starz) and Nathan Boonstra live in Urbandale, Iowa. Kate is a professional learning and leadership consultant with Heartland AEA. Nathan is a pediatrician at Blank Children’s Hospital.

Julie Bussman of Rochester, Minn., is a licensed clinical psychologist.

Sarah (Hahn) Campbell of Denver, Colo., is pursuing an EdD at the University of Northern Colorado.

Sara (Scheevel) Harwood of Chanhassen, Minn., is communications and events manager with the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota.

Joy (Halstead) Hensel of Duluth, Minn., serves as synod minister for mental health and wellness with Northeastern Minnesota Synod, ELCA.

Christine (Loven) Loven-Santos of Denver, Colo., is principal at the Denver Language School.

Jennette (Walsh) Marckese of Kenosha, Wis., is director of implementation consulting with WTW.

Michelle (Ellringer) Miller of Savage, Minn., is assistant vice president, creative project and process manager with Synchrony Financial.

Trish Miller of Lakewood, Colo., is a financial advisor with UBS.

Amy (Hinshaw) and Andrew Nyren live in Milwaukee. Amy is an assistant professor at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. Andrew is a chaplain with Compassus Hospice in Milwaukee.

Mel Rainwater of Champaign, Ill., is an electrical/lighting designer at Henneman Engineering.

Heidy (Quintanilla) Rivera-Høgberg of Klavestadhaugen, Norway, is a pedagogical leader at Christianslund Barnehage in Fredrikstad.

Jake Seltz of St. Paul, Minn., is a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments.

Jamison Young of Holmen, Wis., is the chief financial officer at Spineology.

Vonnie Zachman Fiedler of Minnetonka, Minn., is the AVP, clinical operations strategic regulatory support with Healthfirst.

Jon Zora of Seattle is a systems engineer with Mitutoyo Research and Development America.

’00

Sarah Long of Iowa City, Iowa, is a science teacher at West High School in the Iowa City Community School District.

Dirk Stadtlander of Iowa City, Iowa, is an interfaith clinical chaplain at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, specializing in perioperative, psychiatric, and trauma chaplaincy.

Andy Wirtz of Bondurant, Iowa, is talented and gifted coordinator for the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools.

’01

Laura (Caulum) Gratton of Morganton, N.C., is vice chair of the board of directors for New Dimensions Public Charter School.

Heather (Ciernia) Nelson of County Galway, Ireland, works in marketing and business development for Monarch Collective.

’02

Libby Caulum of Minneapolis is chief executive officer with MNsure.

’03

Elena (Karadjova) Ateva of Bethesda, Md., is director, climate and disaster resilience for Americares.

’04

Erin (Brown) Lenninger of Neenah, Wis., serves as conservation coordinator with Wisconsin Farmers Union.

Chris Nelson of County Galway, Ireland, is chief solutions architect with Monarch Collective.

Scott Stugelmeyer of DuPont, Wash., is an eighth-grade math and geometry teacher and coaches cross country, track, and girls basketball at Pioneer Middle School in DuPont.

’05

Jackie (Denison) Getchius of Eden Prairie, Minn., has published two books: That’s

Emotional Neglect: Healing from Emotional Abuse, a Memoir and Emotional Validation: A Guided Journal

Helen (Griese) Handley of München, Germany, works at the Bavarian International School. Helen also earned a master’s degree in early childhood administration from National Louis University.

’06

Matt Jordahl of Urbandale, Iowa, is director of network infrastructure with Lightedge Solutions.

Matthew Kozemski ’24, Geneseo, Illinois, music education major

Luther alumni gather in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to reconnect. Left to right: Jon Lund, director of international admissions, Duc Le ’18, Minh Pham ’16, Hung Pham ’13, and Minh Nguyen ’14

Carly Rusek ’16 and Matthew Peterson ’17 were married in Janesville, Wis., in November 2023. They were celebrated by so many Luther grads, including parents of the bride, Kathy Tenges ’82 and Ray Rusek ’81, and guests Jay Rusek ’76, Lori (Koch) Cannestra ’82, Kevin Wenger ’13, Lindsey (Ryan) Swanson ’16, Kelsey Agather ’16, Melissa VanBenthuysen ’16, Katie (Supplee) Huber ’16, Aaron Huber ’15, Peder Hopkins ’17, Katelin (Klyn) Boots ’17, Peter Scott ’18, Becca (Lahey) Scott ’17, Blake Heeren ’17, Paul Fritzell ’18, Mileah (Gumpert) Fritzell ’17, John Mai ’19, Chad Villhauer ’18, Owen Schleif ’18, Catherine Karsell ’17, Jay Puffer ’18, Jonathan Lovagnini ’19, Jimmy Conway ’19, and Lucia Holte ’17

Several Luther grads sang together as part of the South Dakota Symphony Chorus’s performance of Handel’s Messiah on December 2, 2023, at First Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls. Left to right: Kristen (Frank) Herbst ’94, Elise (Chesley) Hasche ’05, Araylla (Jensen) Hennigar ’08, and Michelle Sawyer ’10

A group of Luther grads got the chance to see Andrew Stenson ’08 perform the lead role of Nemorino in Minnesota Opera’s production of The Elixir of Love at the Ordway in St. Paul in February. Left to right: Sarah Frederickson ’09, Julia (Stuebner-Holt) Salzman ’08, Marie (Palmquist) Scholtz ’08, Andrew Stenson ’08, Beth (Jeddeloh) Schultz ’09, Nathan Petersen-Kindem ’01, Mandy (Inhofer) Johnson ’09, Culynn Curtis ’10, Valerie Weaver ’09, Rebekah (Stadie) Shepard ’09, Meg (Berven) Curtis ’09, and Sara Jeske ’09

Nguyen ’14 and Ngoc Hoang were married in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in September 2023. Luther friends were there to celebrate! Left to right: Hieu Nguyen ’14, Minh Pham ’16, Minh Nguyen ’14, Ngoc Hoang, Duc Le ’18, and Lam Nguyen ’16

Beth (Olson) Haddinger ’96 of Rogers, Ark., pictured here with her husband, Dan Haddinger ’96, earned a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Arkansas. Beth teaches English as a second language in the Rogers (Ark.) Public Schools.

Clark Shah-Nelson ’91 (left) and Jonathan LaMaster ’93 collaborated on a song and video, “ReachingForTheSun.” They were in friendly rival bands at Luther—Clark in the PryOrrities, with Michael McAbee ’90, Gary Fisk ’89, and Dave Orr ’91, and Jonathan in Katzenjammer, with Lars Olson ’92, Aaron Nielsen ’93, Richard “Rico” Ford, and Greg Hanson. In 2023, when Jonathan—who lives in Winthrop, Mass., and works in web/mobile tech—and his family visited Baltimore, where Clark lives with his family and works as assistant dean at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, the two old Luther friends jammed together and decided to put out a song with Clark on bass and Jonathan on Moog theremin and fiddle. Watch it on YouTube!

Minh

Jenna Mockler-Gjerde of Decorah is manager of Dragonfly Books and director of the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation.

’07

Jacoby Boles of Austin, Texas, is director of customer development with Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits.

Mark Strohbehn of London, England, completed the MBA Essentials Program at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

’08

Kari Myers of Des Moines, Iowa, is director of education at Des Moines Performing Arts. In February, the Des Moines Business Record named Kari to its 2024 Forty Under 40 class, a group recognized for career achievement and community involvement.

Tressa (Hoegh) Zook of Peshastin, Wash., is a trails coordinator with the US Forest Service–Chelan Ranger District.

’09 Ashley (Johnson) Bonk of Burnsville, Minn., is a wealth planner with Zions Bancorporation.

Peter McLellan of Covington, Ga., is program director of hunger education with the ELCA.

’10

Erik Malmquist of München, Germany, is head of casting at the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Tyler Powell of Northfield, Minn., is CEO of the Northfield Area Family YMCA.

Ben Schori of Northfield, Minn., is associate pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church in Northfield.

’12

Haylie (Fercho) Schmit of Madison, Wis., is a senior account manager with M3 Insurance.

Kristina Tucker of Staines-UponThames, England, is a primaryyears program teacher with ACS Egham International School. J. Ward of Des Moines, Iowa, is a corporate attorney with Merchants Bonding Company.

’13

Calli Micale of Hamden, Conn., earned a PhD in religious studies and theology from Yale University and is assistant professor of theology and ethics

and director of the MDiv program at Eastern University.

Abby (Sandry) Moe of Madison, Wis., is a program attorney with Disability Rights Wisconsin.

Chelsea Wyman-Green of La Crosse, Wis., is an educational services librarian with Gundersen Health System.

’14 Benjamin Anderson of Minneapolis is a math teacher with Intermediate District 287.

Austin Bauer of Winona, Minn., is a salesforce consultant with Elevation Solutions.

Erik Bay of Salt Lake City, Utah, is a Seventh Infantry Division protocol noncommissioned officer. Erik was awarded a Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal for work with the Tacoma and Pierce County (Wash.) Humane Society.

Brad Beale of Eden Prairie, Minn., is adjunct professor of music at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn.

Hans Becklin of Ephrata, Pa., is senior pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading, Pa.

Ellen Behrens of San Ramon, Calif., is an assistant scientist with Cerus Corporation in Concord, Calif.

Meggie (DeJong) Bjertness of Moorhead, Minn., is associate pastor at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Moorhead.

Haley (Veith) Brackett of Bloomington, Ind., is a physical therapist with IU Health Bloomington Hospital.

Matthias Broner of San Francisco is head of growth, Latin America, for Matter Labs.

Jaimie (Rasmussen) Burk of Minneapolis is a marketing manager with Target Corporation.

Eve Christensen of St. Paul, Minn., earned an MA in leadership in student affairs and serves as assistant director of campus life at Augsburg University (Minn.).

Del Ciucci of Northfield, Minn., is assistant director of strength and conditioning at the University of St. Thomas, Minn.

Becca (Dugdale) Cochrane of Chaska, Minn., is an ARA manager with Deloitte.

Chloe (Gumpert) and Peter Douglas live in Seattle. Chloe is a pediatric nephrology fellow at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Peter is a pediatric dentist with Cascadia Kids Dentistry.

Cate (Anderson) Duin of Minneapolis is a principal aide with District Two, Ramsey County (Minn.).

Dan Etter of Sigourney, Iowa, is southeast Iowa technical agronomist–channel seeds with Bayer Crop Science.

Jake Fox of Apple Valley, Minn., is an associate attorney with Dudley and Smith in Mendota Heights, Minn.

Beth (Martens) Hansen of Grimes, Iowa, is a music teacher with Music Class for Tots and owner of Beth’s Bon Bons and Cake Pops.

Kaitlin Heikkinen of St. Paul, Minn., is a product owner with Securian Financial.

Maddy Kofoed of Longmont, Colo., earned a JD from the University of Colorado Law School and serves as an appellate law clerk with the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Kate Krasky of New York earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and is an investment banking associate with Guggenheim Securities.

Jess Landgraf of St. Paul, Minn., is quality manager at MISCO/ Minneapolis Speaker Co.

Taylor (Johnson) Ledvina of La Crosse, Wis., is director of human resources with the La Crosse Area Family YMCA.

Aimee Lenth of Mason City, Iowa, earned an MSW from Augsburg University and is a school social worker in the Mason City Community Schools.

Clara Lind of Minneapolis is director of coaching with GiveMN.

Hannah (Taylor) Martin of Isanti, Minn., is a physical therapist with Twin Cities Orthopedics in Blaine, Minn.

Elizabeth (Hawkins) and Keaton Palo live in Cottage Grove, Minn. Elizabeth is pursuing a DNP in the nurse anesthesiology program at Saint Mary’s University. Keaton is a CRNA with AAPA.

Bobby Ragoonanan of St. Paul, Minn., is minister of worship and music at University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis. In 2023, Bobby was a recipient of the Minnesota American Choral Directors’ Advocate for Choral Excellence Award and a semifinalist in the Wiener Schule Conducting Competition.

Sara (Pecinovsky) Richert of Winona, Minn., is a student support specialist at Saint Mary’s University, Minn.

Alexandra Robinson of Minneapolis is content manager for the Minnesota Orchestra.

Bekah Schulz of Minnetonka, Minn., is a PhD student studying nutrition at the University of Minnesota.

Kelsey Smith of Oxford, Miss., earned a doctorate of arts from the University of Northern Colorado and is instructor of cello at the University of Mississippi.

Genevieve (Becker) Soltau of Austin, Minn., is senior finance manager at Hormel Foods.

Emily (Pappas) Strusz of Mason City, Iowa, is a trust officer with First Citizens Bank.

Ben Wegner of St. Paul, Minn., is a graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

Sam Zook of Peshastin, Wash., is a trails coordinator with the US Forest Service–Entiat Ranger District.

’15

Jenna Darsee of Des Moines, Iowa, is a sixth- and seventh-grade art teacher with the Johnston (Iowa) Community School District.

Dylan Hinton of St. Paul, Minn., is a content marketing manager with Samsara.

Blane Maher of Northwood, Iowa, is a functional consultant with Oracle. Blane is also pursuing a master’s degree in computer and information technology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kolin Walker-Lieberman of Lake Forest Park, Wash., is an associate scientist with Bristol-Myers Squibb in Seattle.

Elizabeth (Reed) Wiese of Verndale, Minn., is a grants coordinator with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

’16

Ryan Eppen of Chatfield, Minn., is activities director and dean of students at Lewiston-Altura High School.

Jessica (Speicher) Johnson of Decorah is lead patient appointment services specialist with Mayo Clinic Health Systems.

’17 Teddy Klingsporn of Scottsdale, Ariz., is a sales manager with Vursor.

Sheri Schwert of La Crosse, Wis., is an agriculture water quality outreach specialist with UW–Madison Extension.

Tori (Sandeno) Wulff of Rochester, Minn., is an RN at Mayo Clinic and a clinical instructor in nursing for Luther’s nursing program.

’18 Joseph (Tiegen) Doegen of Wisconsin Dells, Wis., is pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church in Wisconsin Dells.

Sam Tollefson of St. Paul, Minn., is an advancement and engagement associate with Great River Greening.

’19 Alex Aakre lives in Hager City, Wis. Following ordination, Alex accepted a call at Eidsvold-Svea Lutheran Parish in Bay City, Wis.

Sadie Andersen of Hartwick, Iowa, is a fourth-grade teacher in the Mount Vernon (Iowa) Community School District.

Mimi Armatas of Minneapolis is an associate benefit specialist with Portico Benefit Services.

Erin (Hocker) Betts of West Des Moines, Iowa, earned an MA in school counseling from the University of Iowa and is a professional school counselor in the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools.

Becca Buse is an agriculture volunteer with the Peace Corps in Madagascar.

Curtis Cook of Ramsey, Minn., earned a JD from Creighton University School of Law and serves as a judicial law clerk with the 10th Judicial District of Minnesota.

Natalie Cote of Minneapolis is an attorney with Goetz and Eckland.

Mayalyn Cott of Chicago is event and sales manager with Jose Andres Food Group.

Brady Cotton of Tulsa, Okla., is a product movement analyst with ONEOK.

Nikita Daly of Moab, Utah, is a trail ambassador for Grand County.

Martel DenHartog of Madison, Wis., is a research program coordinator and master’s student studying life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Tressa Forrest of Shorewood, Wis., earned an MS in psychology and is pursuing a PhD in psychology at Marquette University. Tressa is an assistant clinical supervisor at SSAIL Center.

Kyle Gilberg of Decorah is a materials manager with Deco Products in Decorah.

Celia Gould of St. Paul, Minn., is a consultant with EMA.

Claire Hamilton of Melbourne, Iowa, is donor relations manager for the Nature Conservancy.

Annie Harriman of St. Paul, Minn., is a corporate and foundation grant writer at Goodwill–Easter Seals Minnesota.

Keanna (Belau) Johnson of La Crosse, Wis., is an administrative assistant with the La Crosse School District.

John Kuntz of St. Paul, Minn., is an associate producer of Pipedreams with American Public Media Group and Minnesota Public Radio.

Sarah Kuntz of Eden Prairie, Minn., is a registered nurse at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.

Anna Larson of St. Louis Park, Minn., is a psychiatric nurse practitioner with the University of Minnesota Physicians Group.

Alex Lau of Fargo, N.D., earned an MS in college student personnel from Western Illinois University and is an academic advisor at North Dakota State University.

Anh Le of Minneapolis is an environmental graphic designer with HGA.

Ananda (Easley) Lettner of Pocatello, Idaho, works as a licensed professional counselor.

Brendan Londergan of Apple Valley, Minn., earned an A-BSN from Milwaukee School of Engineering and is a cardiovascular intensive care unit RN at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

Carly Mester of Oak Grove, Minn., is a senior statistical programmer at Mayo Clinic.

Brian Murman of Sioux City, Iowa, earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Briar Cliff University and serves as a physical therapist with Burgess Health Center in Onawa, Iowa.

Addy Pender of Ankeny, Iowa, earned a master’s degree in sports management from the University of South Dakota and is a PE/health teacher with the Johnston (Iowa) Community School District.

Rachel Penningroth of Des Moines, Iowa, is a laboratory instructor at Drake University.

Maren Phalen of Dubuque, Iowa, earned an MSW from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is student life assistant director for student transition and leadership at Edgewood College in Madison, Wis.

Cassie Richter of Wanamingo, Minn., is a special education teacher at Goodhue (Minn.) Public Schools.

Janet (Irankunda) Satern of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earned an MA in postsecondary education, student affairs from the University of Northern Iowa and is director of residence life at Mount Mercy University. Janet serves on the board of the Catherine McAuley Center and is a member of Vocal Artists of Iowa.

Emma Schlabach of St. Paul, Minn., is a support engineer with First Due.

Sarah Smallfield of Bloomington, Minn., is an elementary music teacher with Bloomington Public Schools.

Grant Sparstad of Duluth, Minn., is a school psychologist with Northland Learning Center.

Nicole Stier of Fort Myers, Fla., is a pre-op/operating room/recovery RN at St. Marks Surgical Center in Fort Myers.

Morgan Streyle of Rochester, Minn., earned an MS in physician assistant studies at Des Moines University and is a physician assistant with Colon and Rectal Surgery Associates.

Katie (Hancock) Stuelke of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is marketing and office manager at the Cedar Rapids Opera.

Daniel Swehla of Tiffin, Iowa, is an inside sales representative for Integrated DNA Technologies.

Emily (Marlow) Yuce of Woodland Hills, Calif., is a senior inventory planner with Munchkin in Van Nuys, Calif.

’20

Emmy (Buntrock) Bloomquist of Two Harbors, Minn., is a substitute teacher with ISD 381 in Two Harbors.

Noah Madryga of Lawrence, Kan., is sports event manager with Shawnee County (Kan.) Parks and Recreation.

Derek McCready of Ankeny, Iowa, is a school counselor with the Ankeny Community School District.

Amber Sorenson of Slayton, Minn., earned an MA in communication studies and completed a graduate certificate in nonprofit management, both from Kent State University. Amber is marketing director for Murray County Medical Center.

Paige Yontz of West Des Moines, Iowa, is state advocacy manager for AARP Iowa.

Tyler Zeimet of Denver, Colo., is a pediatric speech-language pathologist at Children’s Therapy Services of Colorado.

’21

Kari (Jacobson) Aakre of Hager City, Wis., is an English language arts teacher at Red Wing (Minn.) High School.

Evan D’Alessandro of Iowa City, Iowa, earned an MA in military history from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and is pursuing a PhD at King’s College. Evan has designed and run war games for several international entities including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Marriages

Notices as of February 26, 2024

’89

Amy Hochberg and Paul Black, Jan. 2023

’90

Dijana and Paul Seffrood, Nov. 2022

’92

Sally Ripple and Tony Clarke, Jan. 2024

’97

Lara Tills and Gary Haines, Sept. 2023

’99

Marcy Howerter and Rick Waller, Aug. 2023

’09

Ashley Johnson and Dan Bonk, Sept. 2022

’13

Lauren Nielsen and Anders Bloomquist, Oct. 2023

’14

Caitlin Auer and Kevin Knutson, June 2021

’22

Natalie Brown of Urbana, Ill., is a teacher with Urbana School District 116.

Hailey (Becker) and Ian Clear live in De Pere, Wis. Hailey earned a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. Ian is an account manager with Reyes Coca-Cola.

Shane Holmstrom of Geneseo, Ill., works as a farmer.

Landon Hoppe of St. Paul, Minn., is pursuing a law degree at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

Jerry Jones of Bloomington, Ind., is retention specialist and academic advisor at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Alain Nishimwe of St. Paul, Minn., is a research assistant at the University of Minnesota.

Kimberlyn Perez-Salazar of St. Paul, Minn., is an RN with Allina Health.

Olivia Schmidt of New York is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University.

Jayne Cole and Christopher Southard, Sept. 2023

Andrea Kayser and Dan Etter, Feb. 2022

Jenna Hoge and Samuel Smith, Sept. 2023

Bridget Keenan and Brad Beale, July 2023

Terra Kruger and Tim Acri, May 2022

Minh Nguyen and Ngoc Huong, Sept. 2023

’15

Mary Lieberman and Kolin Walker, Dec. 2023

Sarah Matthiesen and Matt Haechrel, Sept. 2023

Tanya Meyer and Tyler Kohnen, Oct. 2022

’16

Maya Hansen and Zack Ziegler, July 2022

Carly Rusek and Matthew Peterson ’17, Nov. 2023

Jessica Speicher and Sam Johnson, Aug. 2022

’17

Maria Kaczmarek and Brett Baum, Nov. 2023

’18

Paige Dolan and Joseph (Tiegen) Doegen, Aug. 2022

Emily Green and Nathan Baldwin ’19, July 2022

’19

Keanna Belau and Andrew Johnson, Sept. 2022

Ananda Easley and Brian Lettner, Aug. 2022

Kia Feia and Izzac Suarez ’18, June 2023

Erin Hocker and Andrew Betts ’17, July 2023

Leah Hunt and Joey Cardamon, Feb. 2024

Taylor Olstadt and Zane Kittleson, June 2022

Jana Mueller and Zachary Stowers, Sept. 2023

Molly Matthes and Brian Murman, Sept. 2022

Alexis Brown and Lucas RugeJones, Oct. 2022

Sommer Stevens and Jake Vogt, Sept. 2023

Emily Steinbach and Dan Swehla, Jan. 2022

’20

Monica Barron and Blake Naylor, Nov. 2022

’21

Addyson Bixby and Shane Holmstrom ’22, Nov. 2022

’22

Hailey Becker and Ian Clear, July 2023

Brent Zastrow of St. Louis, Mo., is a sixth-grade social studies teacher with the School District of University City, Mo.

’23

Ethan Bellendier of Wauwatosa, Wis., is a clinical research assistant III with the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Allison Breen of Collegeville, Minn., is apprentice to Richard Bresnahan, artist-in-residence at St. John’s University, Minn.

Annie Buresh of West Concord, Minn., is consulting director with the Dodge County Historical Society.

Steven Conradt of Madison, Wis., is a retail support team member at Ward-Brodt Music in Fitchburg, Wis.

Brandon Cruz of Santa Maria, Calif., is a project accountant data analyst at Atlas Copco Mafi-Trench.

Jacob Curry of Rochester, Minn., is a veterinarian assistant at Dodge Vet Clinic in Dodge Center, Minn.

Jamie Deuhs of St. Joseph, Minn. is advancement services assistant at Saint John’s University, Minn.

Nicholas Drilling of Decorah is coordinator of music outreach and marketing at Luther.

Audrey Fashimpaur lives in Japan, teaching English for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program.

Sydney Frank of Rochester, Minn., is an executive assistant and housing navigator with YWCA in La Crosse, Wis.

Rick Guha of Ooltewah, Tenn., is a research analyst with the Hamilton County (Tenn.) Department of Education.

Eric Head is pursuing an MM in collaborative piano at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor.

Kailin Jolstad of Decorah is a Catalyze coach with College Possible at Luther and a member of the Oneota Valley Community Orchestra.

Stephanie Lewis of Ham Lake, Minn., is a research technologist at Mayo Clinic.

Kitri Lindberg of Anoka, Minn., is a legal assistant at the Anoka County attorney’s office.

Kaylee Martin of Ankeny, Iowa, is a social work case manager in the Department of Health and Human Services in Ames, Iowa.

Josie Ramler of Chanhassen, Minn., is an acting apprentice with Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro, Minn.

Payton Shockey of Freeport, Ill., is an actuarial analyst with Securian Financial.

Gabriella Vargas of Northfield, Minn., is a mental health coordinator with Northfield Union of Youth.

Noah Woxland of Winona, Minn., is associate technical program analyst with Fastenal Company.

Notices as of February 27, 2024

Births & Adoptions

’90

Jack, July 2023, child of Dijana and Paul Seffrood

’99

Brielle Lee, Sept. 2022, child of Bridget and Bradley Nussdorfer

’05

Anders, Dec. 2023, child of Lindy Buck and Mike Nadeau

Julian, Sept. 2023, child of Hilary Hinrichs and Joseph France Jr. Phineas, Dec. 2022, child of Kaeleigh and Jon Trullinger

’06

Kaanin, Sept. 2013, adopted Jan. 2023, child of Michelle (Kohlmann) and Nicholas Bonifazi ’05

Katalina, May 2018, adopted Jan. 2023, child of Michelle (Kohlmann) and Nicholas Bonifazi ’05

Turner, Feb. 2023, child of Kelsey (Eisenmann) and Kent Shook

’08

Sofie (photo 1), May 2023, child of Helga Kaasin and Joey Corbin

’09

Bryson (photo 2), Sept. 2023, child of Morgan (Marlow) and Tim Fechner

Hannah Lucille, July 2023, child of Rebekah (Stadie) and Chris Shepard

Hattie, Jan. 2024, child of Gaoxue (Her) and Alex Stoppel

Marcus Robert, June 2023, child of Ashley (Johnson) and Dan Bonk

Penelope, Sept. 2023, child of Brittany Schwefel and Aaron Peterson

William, May 2023, child of Randall and Jack Franson

’11 Caylee, Oct. 2023, child of Shannon and Ryan Klompenhower

Espen (photo 3, left), Aug. 2023, child of Kelsey (Balk) and Jordan Grimm

Harper, May 2023, child of Kelsey (Leppert) and Kody Sjoblom

Nels (photo 3, right), Aug. 2023, child of Kelsey (Balk) and Jordan Grimm

’12

Axel René, Dec. 2023, child of Michelle Boursier and Sam Felt

Elizabeth, Dec. 2023, child of Kristi (Wietecha) and Michael Muston

Jordan Roy, Feb. 2023, child of Haylie (Fercho) and Matthew Schmit

’13Holden (photo 4), Oct. 2023, child of Emily (Banitt) and Nate Conery

’14

Alora Elouise, Feb. 2023, child of Amanda (Take) and Elijah Ungs

Ava, Feb. 2023, child of Haley (Veith) Brackett

Beckett, Nov. 2021, child of Anna (Derdzinski) and Alan Banks

Benjamin, April 2023, child of Rachel (Woolsey) and Alex Perry

Bo Douglas, July 2023, child of Jennifer (Vaith) and Del Ciucci

Courtney, April 2023, child of Caitlin (Auer) and Kevin Knutson

Emilia, Oct. 2023, child of Alex (Dallman) and Dylan Essing

Freya, Dec. 2021, child of Emily (Pappas) and Logan Strusz

Garrett, Aug. 2023, child of Anna (Derdzinski) and Alan Banks

Gus, Dec. 2023, child of Kayla (Uphoff) and Vaughn Tackmann ’11

Henry, Nov. 2021, child of Hannah and Jake Fox

Isaac, Feb. 2022, child of Martha Crippen and Ian O’Neill

Jaden, July 2022, child of Jaimie (Rasmussen) and Aaron Burk ’12

Kalvin, April 2023, child of Caitlin (Auer) and Kevin Knutson

Kendall, March 2023, child of Becca (Girvan) and Matt Zellmer ’13

Kinsley Ann, Aug. 2023, child of Hannah (Taylor) and Jedidiah Martin

Kyla Alexandra, July 2022, child of Hannah (Taylor) and Jedidiah Martin

Lenora, May 2022, child of Becca (Dugdale) and Jim Cochrane

Maddie, Dec. 2022, child of Sarah (Nicla) and Nick Harrison

Owen, March 2022, child of Taylor (Johnson) and Ryan Ledvina

Rose, Jan. 2022, child of Marita (May) and Connor O’Connell

Sam, Dec. 2021, child of Katie and Austin Bauer

’16

Micah, July 2023, child of Maya (Hansen) and Zack Ziegler

’17

Vivian Rae, Nov. 2023, child of Tori (Sandeno) and Jake Wulff

’19

Sema Mary, June 2023, child of Emily (Marlow) and Bilo Yuce

’20

Ollie Jay, Dec. 2023, child of Emmy (Buntrock) and Dillon Bloomquist

In Memoriam

Notices as of February 29, 2024

’39

Eugene “Gene” Nordby of Madison, Wis., died January 18, 2024, age 105.

’49

Lorene (Knutson) Geiselhart of Calmar, Iowa, died December 9, 2023, age 94.

Mary (Ramsland) Sordel of Westmont, Ill., died February 15, 2024, age 97.

’50

Pauline (Bigalk) Bailey of Eagan, Minn., died January 1, 2024, age 95.

Marvin Bertelson of Sunnyvale, Calif., died December 3, 2023, age 98.

Holger Christiansen of Ham Lake, Minn., died December 16, 2023, age 97.

Jean (Olson) Malizia of Los Osos, Calif., died May 25, 2023, age 93.

Marilyn (Ferguson) Sands of Alpharetta, Ga., died May 19, 2022, age 92.

’51

Theodore “Ted” Hilpert of Lebanon, Tenn., died November 20, 2023, age 96.

’52

Elton Erdahl of Hopkins, Minn., died November 15, 2023, age 95.

’53

Ralph Ellefson of Rochester, Minn., died January 13, 2024, age 92.

Knute Gilbertson of Minnetonka, Minn., died February 11, 2024, age 92.

Alton Hillesland of Sidney, Mont., died February 10, 2024, age 95.

Enid (Erickson) Sagvold of Spokane, Wash., died January 19, 2024, age 92.

Lois (Rossbach) Thedens of Rowley, Iowa, died January 22, 2024, age 89.

’54

Eunice (Fortun) Dahlen of La Crescent, Minn., died January 10, 2024, age 91.

’55

Marlene (Watson) Hanson of Osseo, Wis., died January 2, 2024, age 90.

Betty (Stoskopf) Storlie of Harmony, Minn., died January 10, 2023, age 86.

’56

Conrad “Connie” Rolland of Story City, Iowa, died January 21, 2024, age 89.

’58

Charles “Chuck” Enge of Downers Grove, Ill., died January 6, 2024, age 87.

Gerald Inglebret of Cresco, Iowa, died January 17, 2024, age 90.

Beverly “Bev” (Baardseth) Kohlmeyer of Galesville, Wis., died December 12, 2023, age 86.

Janet (Schletty) Wallerstedt of Eden Prairie, Minn., died November 15, 2023, age 87.

Warren Wind of Park Ridge, Ill., died August 15, 2023, age 86.

’59

Leslie “Les” Fjelstul of Charles City, Iowa, died December 7, 2023, age 91.

Constance “Connie” (Gilberts) Nielsen of Trussville, Ala., died November 30, 2023, age 85.

’60

Janet (Hilpert) Anderson of Baxter, Minn., died November 21, 2022, age 85.

Marlys (Stueven) Bungum of Alexandria, Minn., died December 14, 2023, age 85.

’61

James Ringlien of Maumee, Ohio, died January 29, 2023, age 83.

Allan Stoa of Albert Lea, Minn., died February 22, 2024, age 86.

David “Dave” Swenson of New Ulm, Minn., died September 20, 2022, age 83.

’62

Dennis “Denny” Olson of Friendsville, Pa., died January 12, 2024, age 84.

’63

Norman “Norm” Leistikow of Park Rapids, Minn., died January 31, 2024, age 83.

John Schwenn of Walworth, Wis., died December 14, 2023, age 83.

’64

James “Jim” Davis of Sartell, Minn., died September 3, 2023, age 81.

’65

Patricia “Pat” (Kvamme) Duschek of Mesa, Ariz., died December 16, 2023, age 80.

David Pierce of Valley Park, Mo., died February 20, 2024, age 80.

’66

Jean Olson of Story City, Iowa, died February 9, 2023, age 77.

Janet (Becker) Swiston of Stevens Point, Wis., died February 19, 2024, age 79.

’67

David “Dave” Berg of Westby, Wis., died December 6, 2023, age 76.

’68

Jon Baldock of Oregon, Wis., died December 30, 2023, age 78.

’69

Susan “Sue” (Helleckson) Ruzek of Austin, Minn., died December 24, 2023, age 76.

’70

D’Elda (Palas) Erickson of Gunder, Iowa, died December 2, 2023, age 95.

Philip “Phil” Stroetz of Stacy, Minn., died October 12, 2023, age 75.

Pamela “Pam” (Espinosa) McFarland of Mason City, Iowa, died February 24, 2024, age 76.

’71

Katherine “Kathy” (Rihs) Bell of Winona, Minn., died February 13, 2024, age 71.

’72

Sandra “Sandy” (Wacker) Emerson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died March 2, 2023, age 73.

Leon Sterner of Yachats, Ore., died September 28, 2023, age 74.

’73

Vivian (Schmidt) Johnson of Olympia, Wash., died December 28, 2023, age 72.

’74

Julia “Julie” (Jacobsen) Allen of St. Anthony, Minn., died January 16, 2024, age 71.

Randall “Randy” Keehn of Mandan, N.D., died January 21, 2024, age 71.

’75

Steven “Steve” Wettach of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, died January 10, 2024, age 70.

’76

Randall “Randy” Denner of Eldridge, Iowa, died January 30, 2024, age 69.

’77

Melinda (Morris) Berkeland of Lake City, Minn., died December 20, 2023, age 68.

’81

Dirk A. Darnell of Silver Spring, Md., died October 26, 2023, age 64.

’84

Scott Roeder of Bancroft, Wis., died November 29, 2023, age 59.

’88

Jeffrey “Jeff” Struck of Waverly, Iowa, died March 12, 2023, age 56.

’90

William “Bill” McCann of Waterloo, Iowa, died November 22, 2023, age 55.

Janice “Jan” Willis of Eldridge, Iowa, died February 15, 2024, age 87.

’94

Carola (Webern) Gloyd of St. Louis, Mo., died January 31, 2024, age 51.

Peter Strube of Mount Horeb, Wis., died December 11, 2023, age 52.

’95

Cynthia Knutson of Minneapolis, died February 3, 2024, age 50.

’99

Ellen (Daniels) Osborn of Sioux City, Iowa, died April 25, 2023, age 45.

’06

Caroline “Cassie” Dillon of Brooklyn Center, Minn., died December 3, 2023, age 39.

’20

Matthew Harper of Waukee, Iowa, died February 8, 2024, age 25.

Celebrating OUR NEW LIFE MEMBERS OF PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL

We extend our deepest gratitude to the new Life Members of the Luther College President’s Council. These distinguished individuals and organizations have reached an extraordinary milestone, having contributed cumulative gifts of $100,000 or more in the 2023 calendar year. It was a joy to honor them at the college’s spring Donor Recognition and Appreciation Event in early May.

Brent Asplin ’90 and Suzy Asplin

Michael Dorner ’86

James Fogdall ’64 and Judith (Larson) Fogdall ’65

Craig Fox ’83

Michael Gerdin ’92 and Nicole Gerdin

Ruth (Berschet) Kauls ’88 and Scott Kauls ’87

Juanita (Zeman) Loven ’56 and †Russell Loven ’58

Michael Osterholm ’75

Russell Savre ’68

Julie (Hedlund) Seidelmann ’73 and Thomas Seidelmann ’73

Cassandra Warner ’85

Eaton Corporation

Gerdin Charitable Foundation

†Gordon Bauman

†Charles Enge ’58

†Marilyn Wahlberg

† Deceased

“Receiving a phone call from our daughter Lizzie (class of 2023) as she drove up the hill toward Minneapolis after her basketball season ended, knowing she would not be a Luther student anymore and hearing her express her love for the Norse, brought back memories of our own time in Decorah. It reminded us of the strong sense of community and support we experienced there. People invested in Luther even before Ruth and I arrived, and it’s with great joy that we now support the next generation of students. This tradition of alumni investing in the future of Luther is what sets it apart from other liberal arts schools. We believe in leaving Luther better than we found it, ensuring that future students have the same transformative experiences and an even greater experience than all three of us had.”

—Ruth (Berschet) Kauls ’88 and Scott Kauls ’87

“Each spring, we celebrate the charitable contributions of our President’s Council donors, whose investments in Luther share confidence in our mission and excitement for the future of the college. I’m especially pleased to recognize our new Life Members (these donors have contributed cumulative outright gifts of $100,000 or more). For some, this is the culmination of decades of unwavering support to their alma mater. For others, it’s the result of one transformational gift. Their individual stories of generosity are all inspiring, and the college is grateful for their enthusiastic support of Luther students.”

—President Jenifer K. Ward

For more information on President’s Council, visit luther.edu/presidents-council.

COMMENCEMENT

Sunday, May 19, 2024

Luther College

NORDIC FEST

Thursday, July 25–

Saturday, July 27, 2024

Decorah, Iowa

FIRST DAY OF CLASSES

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Luther College

FAMILY WEEKEND

Friday, September 20–

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Luther College

HOMECOMING

Friday, October 25–

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Luther College

ONE TEAM DAY

Thursday, November 21, 2024

Luther College

CHRISTMAS AT LUTHER PERFORMANCES

Thursday, December 5–

Sunday, December 8, 2024

Luther College

GIVING DAY

Thursday, March 6, 2025

Luther College

KNOW YOUR OPTIONS

IRA CHARITABLE ROLLOVER

For years, the purpose of IRAs was for individuals to save for retirement. In recent years, the opportunities have expanded.

Provide outright support to Luther College through a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your IRA.

Rather than take the required minimum distribution from your IRA, make a QCD directly to Luther College.

• Your gift will have a positive impact on the lives of Luther students.

• If you are age 70 ½ or older, you can transfer up to $105,000 directly to Luther College and avoid income taxes.

• You may satisfy some or all of your required minimum distribution, age 73 or older.

Establish a Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA) with a QCD and receive a lifetime of payments.

IRA owners age 70 ½ or older can take advantage of a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity by funding a CGA with Luther College and receiving payments for life.

• Funding a CGA from your IRA can be done only once in your lifetime.

• In 2024, the maximum amount you can transfer from your IRA directly to a CGA with Luther College is $53,000.

• Payments may be made only to you and/or your spouse.

• Payments you receive from the CGA are taxed as ordinary income.

In order to take advantage of these opportunities, funds must be directly distributed from your IRA administrator to Luther College or a CGA with Luther. To learn more about how to make an IRA charitable rollover gift or to fund a CGA with Luther College, please visit legacygiving.luther.edu, scan the QR code, or contact Kelly Sorenson at kelly.sorenson@luther.edu or 800.225.8664. We welcome the opportunity to visit with you! This information is not intended as tax, legal, or financial advice. Gift results may vary. Consult your personal financial advisor for information specific to your situation.

LUTHER COLLEGE

700 COLLEGE DRIVE

DECORAH, IOWA 52101-1045

Last winter, students enjoyed the Davidson Møteplass (Norwegian for “meeting place”), a newly built social space adjacent to the CFL and Ylvisaker Hall. Generously given by Thor ’93 and Wendy (Jaycox) Davidson ’92, the møteplass is a project born from the campus master plan that will guide Luther over the next 10 years. The fire pits overlook the valley and embrace the Nordic notion of friluftsliv—purposeful, immersive time outdoors.