Reflections on Building the Historical Timeline of Luther College By Dr. Yvonne Petry, Dean of Luther College at the University of Regina and Professor of History
As I worked on Luther College’s historical timeline in the winter of 2021-22, I was also reading Doug Cuthand’s 2007 book, Askiwina: A Cree World, a collection of stories from and about the Cree people on the Canadian prairies. Cuthand says that “‘Askiwina’ is a Cree word that refers to the passage of time, roughly meaning ‘over the years.’” 1 The white settler community still has a lot to learn about storytelling from our Cree neighbours and I hope to continue to do so at a personal level. That said, as a professional historian I was trained to keep events in order, and I admit that I jumped at the chance to create a timeline of fifty years of the life of Luther College at the University of Regina. The ancestors of the timelines we commonly use are chronicles, which are often the oldest and most important historical documents we have for many ancient societies. A timeline is not just a list of facts— and it does tell a story. Constructing this timeline for the first fifty years of the life of Luther College at the University of Regina has been a deeply rewarding and deeply humbling experience. At Luther, we have sometimes struggled to define our identity, but as I worked through our history, it became clear to me that there is a continuity in Luther’s sense of
self and purpose; an underlying mission and vision is implicit in the ongoing work of the College. I see important recurring themes: the desire to find the best ways to serve our students’ needs, the ambition to stay current and even ahead of the curve on programming, pedagogy, and technology, the commitment to the intellectual formation of the whole community through our Luther Lectures, and the ongoing dedication to art and music as important expressions of the human soul. Over the past fifty years, we have gone from blackboards to white boards to PowerPoint to Zoom. We have gone from typed memos and printed posters to email to social media. We have kept abreast of change and been responsive to it. Luther College is a small institution, and a lean one. Every employee, regardless of their role, has learned how to multi-task, and how to be flexible, cooperative, and innovative. Not all initiatives have endured; some were abandoned, while others continued to evolve. Faculty and staff members have come and gone; some stayed a short while and others built their entire career at Luther College. Each one has contributed something important. Our timeline tells a story. Nevertheless, a timeline only skates across the surface of the history of Luther College. The history is the story of our students, who have arrived, studied at Luther, stayed at Luther, and gone on to live lives influenced by the time they spent with us. The history is embedded in the work of
Doug Cuthand, Askiwina: A Cree World (Regina; Coteau Books, 2007), iii.
1
6
LUTHER STORY SPRING 2022
hundreds of individuals who, over the past fifty years, have arrived at work every day to make sure that our students learn something in their classes and that they have the resources to do so. The history includes those who have recruited students and brought them to us, and those who have shepherded them through the winding path from their eager-but-overwhelmed first year to their convocation day. The history includes our faculty members who have juggled teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities, and those dedicated instructors who have taught for the College on sessional stipends. The history of the College is embedded in the work of those who have looked after the intellectual, social, physical, spiritual, and mental health needs of our students. It is seen in the efforts of all those who have ensured that our building is a clean, warm, attractive, and safe place to study and work. The history of the College is found in those who have fed us for fifty years, provided a home for our students, planned events, managed the library, attended meetings, kept the lines of communication open, sought donations, managed our computers, and kept the books in order. Our history includes the story of the time and talents that the members of our volunteer Board of Regents have contributed to the oversight of not one, but two, institutions. In sum, it is in the daily work of all those who have, over fifty years, dedicated their minds, hearts, and souls to the life of Luther College at the University of Regina that we find our story.
