Roll Call

A few fast facts about the current student body:
•   2,772 students
•   870 new students, including 722 freshmen
•   Incoming freshmen have a median ACT score of 25.
•   First-year to second-year retention is 85 percent.

Building a New Generation of Leaders

Excited about construction beginning at the Offutt School of Business, key leaders say they also are anticipating the new generation of business leaders who will emerge from the program.

Concordia broke ground for the new Offutt School of Business on June 2.

“We won’t remember what happens today as much as the product that will be coming,” says lead donor Ronald Offutt '64 for whom the school is named.

The Grant Center, located between two residence halls on the southeast corner of campus, is being repurposed by Gast Construction Co. to house the new school.

The $12.9 million facility will open in fall 2012.

View the time-lapse video from the construction camera.

Presidential Inauguration Set

The inauguration of Dr. William J. Craft will take place Saturday, April 28, 2012. He is Concordia’s 11th president.

More details will be posted on the college’s website, but please save the date for this important day in the college’s history.

Remembering 9/11

A composition by Dr. René Clausen, conductor of The Concordia Choir, was featured in a New York City concert commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Clausen conducted “Memorial” Sept. 11 at Lincoln Center. The 300 singers who performed under his direction included about 30 Concordia alumni and 50 members of the Master Chorale of Fargo-Moorhead, which Clausen also conducts.

“The experience of conducting my composition ‘Memorial’ at Lincoln Center in New York City – a matter of blocks away from ground zero – was a moment in time I shall not forget,” Clausen says.

“This composition was inspired by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and now being given the opportunity and privilege to perform it on the 10th anniversary of this national day of remembrance for our country was at once a humbling, renewing and healing experience.”

In 2003, the American Choral Directors Association commissioned Clausen to write “Memorial” to commemorate the attack on the World Trade Center. The four-part piece moves from an illusion of a beautiful fall day to the harsh attacks to prayers for compassion.

Recognized for Great Contributions

Concordia recognized Dr. Susan Cordes-Green, chair and assistant professor of psychology, and Scott Ellingson '77, director of Admissions, with Flaat awards.

Cordes-Green received the Flaat Distinguished Teaching Award on Aug. 25 for her dedication to education.

She spends hours outside class encouraging her students to be responsibly engaged in the world. Students describe her as a mentor, guru and a second mother.

Ellingson was awarded the Flaat Distinguished Service Award on Sept. 1.

He generously gives of his time to meet with prospective students, parents and alumni. He began his career at the college in 1979 and has been director of Admissions since 2001.

Schuetz Named Enrollment VP

Steven Schuetz has been named vice president for Enrollment at Concordia College.

Schuetz comes to Concordia from Ripon College, Ripon, Wis., where he served as vice president and dean of admission and financial aid since 2003.

“Steve brings exceptional gifts and experience: in the data-driven decision making now essential to enrollment, in the care for others essential to leadership, and in enthusiasm for our mission as a liberal arts college of the church,” says President William Craft.

Schuetz earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and a master’s degree in management from the University of Maryland – University College. He began his duties at Concordia on Aug. 25.

Fulbright Record Set

Concordia has more Fulbright scholars in 2011-12 than ever before. This year’s record-setting recipients have all lived in the locations where they received Fulbright grants.

Derek Mattern '11 went back to Jena, Germany.

He studied there his junior year, where he met a scientist researching biochemical pathways. This led to the development of his current research project – the biochemical pathways of the coca plant.

“If we discover a pathway that hasn’t been discovered,” he says, “it could lead to the development of new drugs.”

Hannah Haegeland '11 took a journey back to her childhood home.

She was awarded a grant to teach English in Nepal, where her parents work in relief and community development. In addition to her teaching, she is also doing research and projects with organizations fighting the sex slave trade. 

Susan (Nelson) Ydstie '11 made a return trip to Kassel, Germany, where she studied as a senior.

This time she is teaching English at the middle school and high school level. Ydstie, a math education and German graduate, is also taking math and education classes at Kassel University.

All the Right Words

The word is out on Concordia’s speech team. Concordia speech competitors rose above 84 other colleges and universities to place 14th in the American Forensic Association’s National Individual Events Tournament.

Twelve Concordia students traveled to the national competition at the University of Nebraska Kearney. Stephanie Villella ’11, Fargo, N.D., Andrew Eilola ’12, Eveleth, Minn., and Alexander MacArthur ’12, Marshall, Minn., all reached the single elimination finals.

Villella reached the quarterfinals of the prose interpretation event while MacArthur reached the quarterfinals of dramatic interpretation.

Eilola placed sixth in the nation in persuasive speaking. Villella was named an All-American. The All-American award is based on a student’s combined achievements in academic, competitive and service realms.

Honored for Leadership

Engagement, vision, inclusiveness and community orientation – these are all leadership qualities Stephanie Barnhart '13, Kenmare, N.D., shares with Concordia’s 10th president, Dr. Pamela Jolicoeur.

Barnhart is the first recipient of the President Pamela M. Jolicoeur Endowed Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship recognizes leadership in students entering their junior year.

“The President Pamela M. Jolicoeur Memorial Scholarship is a continuing way to recognize Pam’s gifts, talents and love for Concordia while helping to support emerging leaders for future generations,” says Mike Doyle, Jolicoeur’s husband.

Band Heads East

The Concordia Band will be eastward bound on its domestic and international tour in 2012.

The band’s international tour to Japan in May was canceled because of safety concerns following the natural disasters and nuclear crisis in the country. When the tour was rescheduled, China was chosen because of increased travel costs in Japan.

“China had also been a country of interest since travel to the East was planned years ago,” says Dr. Scott A. Jones, director of bands.

The tour will include visits to Hong Kong and the cities of Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu and Beijing. The band will travel May 10-24.

The band will travel across the Midwest on its domestic tour Feb. 12-19.

Performance dates:

4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12
Chisago Lakes High School Performing Arts Center
Lindstrom, Minn.

7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13
Big Foot High School Auditorium 
Walworth, Wis.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14
A.F. Siebert Chapel, Carthage College 
Kenosha, Wis.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16
Forest City High School Auditorium 
Forest City, Iowa

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17
Ames High School Performing Arts Center 
Ames, Iowa

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18
Washington Pavilion
Sioux Falls, S.D.

4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19
Memorial Auditorium, Concordia College

Collegetown Culture

Concordia came alive with international flair this summer. Twenty-six international students traveled to campus to get a firsthand opportunity to experience American culture.

The students from China, Poland and Italy spent four weeks of their summer on Concordia’s campus. The program called Collegetown is a partnership between Concordia Language Villages and Concordia College.

The students were immersed in English studies and ventured out to see a Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks game, learn about the Red River Valley on wheat and dairy farms, marvel at technology at Microsoft and enjoy nature at Itasca State Park.

Preventive Medicine

Vaccinology, the science or methodology of vaccine development, is Concordia’s newest minor thanks to a partnership with Minnesota State University Moorhead and North Dakota State University.

This is the first minor of its kind to be offered to undergraduates, and local supporters hope the program will help to grow a vaccine industry in Fargo-Moorhead.

Dr. Jennifer Bath (front center), assistant professor of biology, is coordinating Concordia’s vaccinology program; faculty from all three schools are teaching the required curriculum. Eight students from each school are participating in the program.

The program is funded in part by a $150,000 Vaccinology Professorship Endowment from Sanford Health.

For more information on the vaccinology collaboration, visit the Tri-College University website.

International Ties

A love for the game united the women’s soccer team with teams from Thailand and Cambodia this summer. The Concordia women had the chance to train with the top local and regional teams and play against some of the best clubs from their host cities.

“I was humbled by the generosity of the Thai and Cambodian people,” says head soccer coach Daniel Weiler. “I was equally proud of the willingness for our girls to become engaged in meaningful connections with complete strangers. It was a trip that I will never forget.”

The team volunteered with a nonprofit organization called the SALT Academy, says Weiler. The academy rescues girls, ages 6 to 20, from human and sex trafficking.

Soccer helps them to regain their confidence, and visits from teams like Concordia’s encourage them to have hope for the future.

When the team returned to campus, they started a student organization to raise awareness about trafficking and raise support for the SALT Academy.

Seoul Music

The Concordia Choir spent May performing and traveling in South Korea. It was the college’s first music ensemble to tour an Asian country.

While in South Korea, the choir rehearsed, performed and recorded with the Incheon City Chorale, a professional chorus considered to be one of the world’s finest choirs. A crowd of 2,000 people gathered to hear the choirs sing together.

Choir members also worked closely with esteemed Korean composer Hyo-Won-Woo. They performed her composition “Me-Na-Ri” on the tour and also collaborated with several professional and university choirs. Other highlights included attending ceremonies at a Buddhist temple and singing for military men at a small army chapel.

The choir’s tour guide told the group that South Koreans are often timid. It wasn’t something The Concordia Choir students needed to worry about during their first concert. They performed for a full church of about 1,500 people and performed not one, but two encores.

“We all felt a little like rock stars,” says alto Carrie Johansen '12, Mound, Minn. “There must be something special in the Korean air.”

Donor Honor Roll Online

In 2010-11, more than $19 million was given to Concordia for capital improvements, scholarships and other essential operational needs.

To honor those who have given, the college has posted its Donor Honor Roll online. Here you will find participants in the Alumni Class Challenge. Also recognized are parents and friends, staff, businesses, foundations, donor charitable funds and churches that have supported Concordia in the past fiscal year.

Touring Under a New Baton

Foster Beyers, the third conductor of The Concordia Orchestra, made his tour debut this fall.

Beyers comes to Concordia after serving as interim director of orchestra at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. He is in demand as a conductor and has led more then a dozen orchestras.

The orchestra toured Minnesota from Oct. 30 to Nov. 6.