Luther College News

Celebrating the rich diversity of contemporary imaginative writers, Luther College is hosting the Luther College Writers Festival Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28-29.

Luther College junior Joshua Burniece of Burnsville, Minnesota, will present a piano recital at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30, in the Noble Recital Hall in Luther’s Jenson-Noble Hall of Music.

Nationally acclaimed storyteller, poet and musician David Gonzalez will present “The Power of Your Own Story” artist residency Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28-29, on the Luther College campus.

According to Luther College senior Gabrielle Blair, the prevalence of deer in the Midwest has led to the importance of studying their mating structures. This kind of study has been done primarily on captive deer, so being able to research the mating structures of wild deer creates a new direction for researchers.

Luther College junior Ashalul Aden was recently named a 2018 Rising Star from the Interfaith Youth Core for her work as an interfaith leader for the Luther community. “I became involved in the Luther community because I am passionate about making the world a better place for every single human regardless of their ethnicity, gender identity, race, religious identity or sexual orientation,” Aden said.

Luther College presents flutist Lisa Bost-Sandberg in a concert of contemporary solo flute music at noon Saturday, Sept. 29, in the Noble Recital Hall of the Jenson-Noble Hall of Music on the Luther campus. Following the concert, at 2:30 p.m., Bost-Sandberg will present a composition workshop in the Center for Fine Arts room 217.

On June 10, 1912, in the town of Villisca, Iowa, eight residents, including two parents, their four children and two youth visitors, were enigmatically slaughtered. Luther College Professor Emeritus and Villisca historian Edgar Epperly will present a lecture based on the early investigation of the 1912 Villisca axe murders at the emeriti colloquium at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, in the Mott Room in Luther’s Dahl Centennial Union.

Recent Luther College graduate Kristen Carlson was selected for a 2018-19 Fulbright U.S. Student Award to Latvia from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Carlson will support the teaching of English at Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Music Academy and Riga Teika Secondary School in Riga, Latvia, as part of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship.

Asking Muslims to condemn terrorist acts can lead to racist scapegoating, an act which prevents majority populations in the West from coming to terms with their own violent past and their ongoing complicity in a violent world order, according to Todd Green, Luther College associate professor of religion.

A new water quality research project investigating water-borne disease-causing agents in Winneshiek County is underway. Eric Baack and Jodi Enos-Berlage, both professors of biology at Luther College, were recently awarded a $39,938 grant from the Iowa Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contaminants that will allow them to quantify levels of harmful bacteria and viruses in both ground and surface waters. Luther is the first small college to receive this grant in CHEEC’s 30-year history.