Luther College News

According to research by Luther College senior Catelyn Janda, a community music school would benefit not only local musicians but also Luther College music education students looking to get more hands-on experience. The Batavia, Illinois, native is spending her summer exploring the creation of a Luther College Community Music School.

Luther College is joining the push to mitigate one of the most critical public health crises facing the world, according to the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control and Prevention: antibiotic resistance via development of a new research-based lab course by Jodi Enos-Berlage, Luther professor of biology, and a summer research collaboration between Enos-Berlage and Martel DenHartog, Luther senior majoring in neuroscience.

Dogs have the ability to communicate with human beings through everyday interactions and bonds. With his summer research project, Jacob Noble, Luther College senior of Plymouth, Minnesota, is studying the extent to which certain interactions affect canine-human relations.

Luther College announces the induction of 37 seniors into the Luther chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa national academic honor society at a ceremony held this spring in the Center for Faith and Life on the Luther campus.

Only approximately 50 of the nearly 400 effigy mounds remain in the state of Iowa. The mounds tell the story of Iowa’s prehistoric past, serving both as a visible reminder of the past as well as standing as a symbol of Iowa’s heritage. Thanks to a grant by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, the Luther College anthropology program is working to further document and conserve some of the remaining Effigy Mounds in Northeast Iowa.

Is there more to cafeteria and food services workers quitting than just not wanting to work in the food industry for a living? Jacob Wessels, Luther College senior of Dubuque, Iowa, is examining the reasons behind turnover of food service workers for his summer research project and will use the information he gathers to help the college’s cafeteria student work retention rates.

Move out week at Luther College was another success this year, with a 56 percent reduction of waste from the 2013 baseline.

Thanks to a grant from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, Luther College’s Preus Library and the Winneshiek County Historical Society will make county newspapers more accessible to the public.

A Norwegian immigrant in the Midwest in the 1860s, Herbjørn Gausta was a painter who attended Luther College in 1872. He painted portraits of influential people, genre scenes and landscapes in the Midwest and Norway. Annika Vande Krol, Luther College senior from Decorah, Iowa, is in her second year of summer research about Gausta in an effort to find previously unknown works.

Luther College’s Social Impact Fellowship Program partners together one student studying social work and one student studying business to research a problem and develop a business plan for a solution. Italee Castellon, Luther College senior from Chicago, Illinois, and Lauren Voigt, Luther College junior from St. Louis Park, Minnesota, are working with nonprofit organizations in the surrounding Decorah area in order to better connect Luther College students with volunteer opportunities.