Graduate Receives Fulbright

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Concordia College

April Reino ’12 has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship. Beginning in September, she will spend a year in Vienna teaching English at a secondary school while also studying at the University of Vienna.

She is the 30th student from Concordia to win a Fulbright Award since the college began participating in the program in the mid-1980s. Concordia is among the leading Lutheran colleges in securing Fulbrights. Reino is currently teaching English at an elementary school in Incheon, South Korea.

“It’s a great place for English teachers,” says Reino. “Nearly half the population of the country lives in the Seoul metro area, so it’s easy to meet Koreans and people from all over the world.”

Reino says studying abroad in Germany and participating in Concordia Forensics gave her the skills and confidence to work abroad.

“I was a timid person when I came to Concordia, but my teachers, coaches and teammates helped me conquer my fear of the unknown, and I learned how to take more risks,” she says. “I was challenged to go for my goals.”

At the University of Vienna, Reino will conduct research on international law and its role in the world economic crisis. After her Fulbright year, she plans to attend law school and ultimately work with an international organization.

“Vienna is a perfect fit for me. It hosts dozens of international organizations and is a crossroads between Western and Eastern cultures in Europe,” says Reino.

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Class of 2013: Where are They Going?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Concordia College

Concordia College will present approximately 588 bachelor’s degrees and 10 Master of Education degrees during the Commencement ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 5, in Memorial Auditorium. Roxana Saberi ’97, author, journalist and human rights advocate, will speak at the ceremony.

We set out to discover how Cobbers will be sent forth and making the most of their Concordia degree after they walk across the stage.

Read our Storify about graduation
View more information about commencement

Posted in Campus Events, Community Events, In the News, International, Internship, Job Placement, Service, State, Students, Study Abroad | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Leading Change: Bill Gates at Concordia

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Concordia College

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and co-founder of Microsoft, spoke at Concordia College, Moorhead, on April 27 as part of dedication festivities for the newly renovated Grant Center, home of the Offutt School of Business.

Approximately 3,800 people attended the event. Hundreds more watched it via livestream. Gates, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, addressed his career at Microsoft and his transition to philanthropy. He spent most of his 70-minute presentation answering questions from Concordia students.

“What a great day for Concordia College,” says President William Craft. “We are so pleased at the inauguration of the Offutt School of Business and the chance to honor Ron Offutt, one of our most distinguished and philanthropic graduates. What a delight and honor to have Bill Gates here. He set such a terrific example this morning in Memorial Auditorium. I was so pleased about the event as an educational moment for our students and something that in many ways embodies the mission of the college to influence the affairs of the world.”

Read our Storify of tweets and pictures gathered from the day.

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Curating Creations: From Classroom to Real World

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Concordia College

It’s one thing to learn about creating and curating works of art. It’s a completely different experience to actually do it.

Students from an intermediate ceramics course and a capstone class created artwork, which was then curated by students in a museum studies course. The end product? A student art exhibit that displays a visual commentary on activism. “From the Earth” was unveiled during the Celebration of Student Scholarship April 18.

The timing was intentional, explained Ross Hilgers, who teaches ceramics and the capstone course.

“By exhibiting in the campus center during the Celebration of Student Scholarship, we are inviting the viewer to contemplate the visual arts as any other form of research and scholarship,” he says.

For the students, it was an opportunity to put classroom experience into action. Bryan Wang ‘13, Billings, Mont., says the environmentally active theme of the exhibit was a great way to become more responsibly engaged in the world.

“Students creating art for an exhibit that is commenting on issues with globally profound effects directly relates to being a responsible citizen,” Wang says.

The “From the Earth” exhibition is a first for collaboration between student artists and Dr. Susan Lee’s museum studies class.

Curating an exhibit requires a different mindset than creating the art, says Kaitlyn Garvin ’13, Hutchinson, Minn. She learned that the collaboration between artists and curators can strengthen a particular message and guide focus of the exhibition for the viewer.

“Through this exhibition, we’re encouraging others to think about these environmental issues,” Garvin says. “We’re challenging them to become involved themselves.”

“From the Earth” Exhibit is located outside Jones A/B in the Knutson Campus Center and in adjacent lounge until April 24.

Get more information about the Celebration of Student Scholarship and see the complete schedule.

Posted in Art, Campus Events, Campus Life, Community Events, Faculty, Higher Education, In the Classroom, Students, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vaccines for Africa

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Concordia College

Students at Concordia are taking action to help save lives in Africa by raising funds to purchase vaccines that fight the effects of meningitis.

It’s called the Meningitis Vaccine Project and a donation of only 50 cents will purchase a vaccination. Project partners hope to inoculate 300 million people in the African meningitis belt by 2015.

Arthur Gutnik ’13, Sioux Falls, S.D., and Marc Pritchard ’13, Hawley, Minn., are the students leading the fundraising effort.

Gutnik says they expect to raise enough funds to provide for 700 inoculations. He says an anonymous benefactor from Fargo-Moorhead is matching all funds donated by students.

“This shows how far a dollar can go and how much good a small gift can make,” says Gutnik. “It’s low cost with a high impact.”

The Meningitis Vaccine Project is a partnership between the World Health Organization and PATH, an international nonprofit organization based in Seattle. The funds raised on campus will be sent to PATH, which will deliver the vaccines to the meningitis belt and provide the inoculations.

“So we know exactly where the money is going,” says Pritchard. “Every dollar we raise will be spent on vaccines.”

Gutnik says he’s heartened by the response from students.

“Some have told me they are contributing their lunch money for one day,” he says. “What matters is that something is being done here on campus that has a global impact.”

Meningitis is an inflammation of membranes that surround the brain, and is caused by infection by bacteria or viruses and can lead to deafness or death.

Gutnik and Pritchard learned about the seriousness of meningitis infections in a microbiology class taught by Dr. Ellen Aho, then heard of PATH in Dr. Peter Hovde’s global sustainability class.

“We put the two together and quickly saw how we could take on a global project that would be affordable for students, yet do a lot of good,” says Gutnik.

He says the vaccination project started when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided a global health grant to improve the lives of people living in Africa’s meningitis belt.

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Concordia Library is ‘Bridging Cultures’

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Concordia College

A new permanent collection of books and films exploring the many aspects of Islamic religion, art and literature is now available in the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library.

The collection may also be accessed from the library website in the collections section under the title “Muslim Journeys Bookshelf.”

Instructional librarian Virginia Connell says the Forum on Faith and Life and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association provided the materials to the college.

“With this collection, we’re trying at many levels to bridge cultures and foster stimulating conversations,” Connell says. “The collection supports an appreciation of the mixture of cultures in our Fargo-Moorhead communities.”

The program, called “Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys,” aims to familiarize the Fargo-Moorhead community with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims both locally and around the world.

Connell says community members may obtain a library user card for a one-time fee to use the collection. Students, faculty and staff have free access to the books and films.

“Our hope is that this collection will help our whole F-M community become more familiar with Muslim faith and culture,” Connell says. “The library wants to be a good resource for our campus and the broader community.”

An initial outreach will be a showing of the film “Koran by Heart” at 6:30 p.m. April 10 in Morrie Jones Conference Suite A-B, Knutson Campus Center. A panel discussion will follow the film led by Dr. Mona Ibrahim, Dr. Ahmed Afzaal and Dr. Yahya Frederickson.

“We think the timing of this gift to the library is appropriate given that so many new immigrants to the Fargo-Moorhead area are from Islamic countries,” Connell says. “Some of the books explore what it is like to grow up in America as a Muslim.”

The major themes in the collection include histories, literary reflections, art, memoirs, novels and spiritual principles.

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Religion and the Internet: Huffington Post Editor to Speak at Concordia

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Concordia College

Concordia’s Forum on Faith and Life welcomes the Rev. Paul Raushenbush to campus to speak about religion, interfaith and the Internet.

Raushenbush met with a small group of faculty, staff and students over lunch and then spoke with a religion class about interfaith on Tuesday afternoon. He will present a free public lecture tonight at 7 p.m. in the Centrum on Concordia’s campus.

“I think the Internet is key to interfaith dialogue,” Raushenbush said. “The opportunity for someone from a homogenous community to interact with someone across the world is there, unlike ever before.”

Raushenbush has worked as the senior religion editor for The Huffington Post since 2011. In that time, he developed a comprehensive interfaith religion website that is currently the No. 1 source for religious news on the Internet.

He spoke about interfaith opportunities with students in the “Faith in Dialogue: Interfaith Leadership” class and praised the ELCA, Concordia’s faith foundation, on being open and welcome to discussion between faiths.

“By the tradition of this school, you are encouraged to do interfaith dialogue,” he said.

Raushenbush’s lecture will be streamed live at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5.

See what people are saying about Raushenbush’s visit via Storify.
Join the conversation using #cordmn

Raushenbush’s visit is sponsored by the Forum on Faith and Life and is designed to showcase the new religion concentration in faith and leadership.

Posted in Campus Events, Community Education, Community Events, Higher Education, In the Classroom, Religion, Students | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Concordia Students’ Spring Break Experience

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Concordia College

Concordia students have spent spring break week in a variety of places with many students choosing to use the week for service-learning experiences.

Here is what a few are doing.

  • One hundred twenty-six students volunteered through Habitat for Humanity going to seven different destinations.
  • Two groups of students are taking part in high impact leadership trips.
  • Two student groups are participating in Justice Journeys

Read what some of our students are doing through Storify.

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The Concordia Choir: Touring through Texas

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Concordia College

The Concordia Choir is heading south this week on its 2013 tour through the middle of the U.S. and spending several days in Texas. Tour is a musical highlight for many of the singers and the chance to get to sing in The Concordia Choir brings many students to campus.  Read choir member Daniela Flores’ story (below), see where the tour is going next and follow it on Storify - the tweets and posts of choir members.

Dedicated Researcher

Daniela Flores ’13, Blaine, Minn., never considered applying to any college other than Concordia. As a high school freshman, she heard singers audition for music scholarships at Concordia and was totally impressed.

“I thought if that’s the kind of singers that go to Concordia, that’s where I want to be,” she says. “Choir is the reason I came to Concordia, but I found my passion in the biology program.”

Last summer, Flores was a research assistant at San Jose State University working on mutating enzymes for use in biomedical studies. She was selected through a national program known as REU – Research Experiences for Undergraduates. Flores then had the rare opportunity of presenting her research at a national conference for science educators in Seattle.

“That’s almost unheard of as an undergraduate,” says Flores. “It shows how well we are prepared at Concordia, that we can step up to this level.” Next year Flores will continue to study genetics at either Iowa State University or the University of Minnesota – Duluth. Her fondest memory of Concordia will be three years of singing in The Concordia Choir.

“We make beautiful music together as a family,” she says. “We care so much about each other, and we grow together as performers. It’s just a thrill for me to sing every day with this great group of people.”

 

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MN Higher Education Director in Moorhead

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Concordia College

Concordia College hosted Larry Pogemiller, director of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, in a roundtable discussion Feb. 14 about Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposed budget recommendations for higher education.

Dayton has proposed a $240 million investment in higher education, with $80 million going into the Minnesota State Grant program. This is the largest percentage increase in any area of the annual budget and is the largest increase in direct student aid in 25 years.

Pogemiller met with eight students from Concordia, Minnesota State University Moorhead and M State, representing two-year and four-year public and private institutions.
The discussion was an informal opportunity for Pogemiller to hear from students about how they chose a college, what their financial aid situation looks like and how they see their job prospects after graduation.

The topic that seemed to dominate conversation was internships. Students were in general consensus that everyone has to make the tough decision between getting a job – to offset the cost of college – or an unpaid internship – to get a leg up after graduation. Paid internships, they said, are very rare.

“Most of you view an internship as an expectation these days,” Pogemiller said, and the students seemed to agree. Many companies, they said, won’t hire a recent graduate who did not have an internship.

Leaving the discussion, Pogemiller informed the group that helping businesses afford to pay college interns could be an important step toward improvement.
“Higher ed is not a partisan issue in the state legislature,” he said. “We want to turn this around for you.”

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