Luther College News

Luther College’s fall 2017 Dean’s List includes 737 students; 142 first-years, 142 sophomores, 184 juniors and 269 seniors. To be named to the Dean’s List, a student must earn a semester grade point average of 3.5 or better on a 4.0 scale and must complete at least 12 credit hours with 10 hours of conventional grades (A, B, C, D).

See Martin Luther as never before in an original one-act musical “Martin Luther: Monk of Funk” 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, at Decorah Lutheran Church, 309 Winnebago St., Decorah.

Luther College Associate Professor of Communication Studies Thomas C. Johnson, along with Aaron Lurth, director of visual media and art instructor, Brooke Joyce, associate professor of music and composer-in-residence, and Jack Ross, Luther class of 2017 and multimedia strategic fellow, will be featured on the Iowa Public Television series “The Film Lounge.”

Discussing her career in global development and human rights, Luther College alumna Cynthia Kamikazi, class of 2005, will present “Gender, Development and International Engagement,” at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, in Valders Hall of Science, Room 362, on the Luther campus.

Midwesterners think they are all too familiar with ice this time but year, but is there more to ice than just the freezing of water? Luther College Professor Emeritus of Physics Dennis Barnaal will go into depth on the fascinating aspects of ice at 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, in the Mott Room of Dahl Centennial Union as part of the Luther Emeriti Colloquium series.

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Rochon, provost at the University of Southern Indiana, will give Luther College’s annual Martin Luther King Jr., Day lecture, at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 15, In Valders Hall of Science, Room 206, on the Luther campus.

Renae Hartl, Luther College director of intercollegiate athletics, has named Brittany Sisk the college’s new head volleyball coach. Sisk joins the Norse with a wealth of experience as a head coach and assistant coach at both the NCAA III and NCAA II levels. She will begin her new duties immediately.

Luther College President Paula Carlson announced Monday, Dec. 11, that Brad Chamberlain, Luther professor of chemistry and co-chair of the strategic planning process, will serve as interim dean for institutional planning and mission. He began transitioning into his new duties on Dec. 1. As interim dean, Chamberlain will lead Luther’s campus-wide strategic planning process and coordinate the college’s re-accreditation process with the Higher Learning Commission through 2019. He will oversee two critical components of the re-accreditation process: federal compliance and the assurance review. Chamberlain will oversee the Center for Ethics and Public Engagement, the Center for Sustainable Communities, Campus Programming and College Ministries.

Participating in a mathematics program with 36 other undergraduate students at the University of California, Los Angeles, Luther College senior, Onward Mahachi, of Chaona, Zimbabwe, served as an intern with Google Venice. Mahachi, the son of Jaqualine Mahachi and the late Duncan Mahachi, is a graduate of United World College in Waterford Kamhlaba, South Africa. He plans to graduate from Luther in spring 2018 with a major in mathematics.