What's Campus Buzz?
Campus Buzz is a monthly publication of the Office of Communications and Marketing
designed to complement the online C-News
and distributed to Concordia faculty and staff.
For the most current Concordia news, please
visit www.ConcordiaCollege.edu/cnews.
Scholarship
and activities information may be submitted to kappes@cord.edu.
Amy Kelly, Editor
Office of Communications and Marketing akelly@cord.edu
Concordia Welcomes Largest Freshman Class Ever
Concordia needed more yellow beanies than ever this August as the class of 2011 moved on campus. The college released the final fall enrollment numbers, totaling 2,815 - with 838 first-year students, making it the largest freshman class in Concordia's history.
Total enrollment is up 91 students from last year.
The class of 2011 compiled an average ACT score of 25 and one-third were in the top 10 percent of their high school class. Seven of them are National Merit Scholars, a highly prestigious scholarship program for the country's brightest students.
Omar Correa, vice president for Enrollment, believes Concordia is attracting these students because of it's reputation as a small school with numerous opportunities.
"More and more high-caliber students are recognizing the quality of the highly personalized educational experience we offer at Concordia," Correa says. "The academic profile of our incoming class reached an all-time high this year."
Discover Greece on a New Alumni Travel Seminar
Concordia College and Concordia Language Villages are partnering to offer a travel program for alumni
modeled after the college's May Seminars and Exploration Seminars. The new Concordia Global
Seminars will open with a Discovery Seminar in Greece in March.
Led by Dr. Larry Alderink, professor emeritus of religion, the travel group will explore ancient and modern Greek history, art history and political thought. The seminar will feature presentations, lectures, and visits to sites and museums, including the Acropolis, the Byzantine Museum in Athens, the Theater of Dionysus and the National Archaeological Museum.
The Discovery Seminar in Greece is designed for 25 people, with a maximum of 30, and is open to Concordia College and Concordia Language Villages alumni and friends.
The new and improved Dining Services is catching the attention of many - from the increased number of off-campus students buying meal plans to the faculty and staff who are using up their meal tickets faster than they anticipated.
The bright and welcoming Anderson Commons is perhaps the most visible of the changes, which continue all the way through the new serving stations, equipment, menu, recipes and more. When it came time for change, Dining Services went all out.
"Throughout the planning process, we knew just building a new building wasn’t enough of a full-scale change," says associate director of Dining Services Janet Paul Rice. "We knew the menu would change too, all the way down to the recipes and even the ingredients that go into the recipes."
Here are a few of the new additions:
Stone hearth pizza oven making about 100 made-from-scratch pizzas daily
Core menu items served daily at each station, complemented by new items every day or two
All-day breakfast bar with waffle makers and cereal, among other choices
Vegetarian options at every station
Especially popular Comfort station serving meat and potato-style meals
Charbroiler and flat-topped grills for more preparation choices
Explore station introducing cultural cuisine, a new variation introduced each block
Analyzing Alexander the Great and Service-Learning: Two New Books from Faculty Authors One text extols the virtues of service-learning, while another reveals groundbreaking research about the ancient Greek world - both from Concordia faculty researchers.
Two members of the English department, Dr. Dawn Duncan and Dr. Joan Kopperud, wrote "Service-Learning Companion" just released by Houghton Mifflin, a leading textbook publisher. The 137-page, wirebound volume is intended to be a well-thumbed, practical guide for faculty and students on how to implement service- learning and the potential benefits from properly structured programs.
"It's meant to be a easy-to-use, inexpensive book suitable for any discipline," says Kopperud. "Dawn and I think it beautifully fits our mission at Concordia and our Core Curriculum theme of civic and global engagement."
Duncan says, "The book was due in a year, so we needed to work fast and be extremely collaborative."
Art historian Dr. Peter Schultz edited and wrote text for "Early Hellenistic Portraiture: Image, Style, Context," recently published by Cambridge University Press in England.
Schultz's contribution reveals new, groundbreaking research on the origin of the first known sculpture portraits of Alexander the Great, once located in the Philippeion at Olympia, Greece.
Schultz worked with his colleague in the art department, David Boggs, to produce the first full reconstruction drawings of what this monumental building and sculpture looked like. It is Alexander's first appearance in art history and now with Schultz's and Bogg's interpretations, we know what he looks like. Schultz's main research was based on a three-year study of the material remains of the Philippeion.
"David Bogg's drawings are pivotal to the project, which is collaborative work at its best," says Schultz. "This volume shows we're responsibly engaged in the world at Concordia."
Campus Gathers For Peace Rally
Students and faculty gathered for a Concordia Peace Rally Sept. 12. Highlights of the all-day event included an outdoor chapel service and silent walk led by area Pax Christi Sisters, speakers and musicians at the Bell Tower, thought-provoking films shown throughout campus and a war memorial in Knutson Campus Center.
Sponsored by Student Peace Alliance and Mathetai, with support from the Dovre Center for Faith and Learning, the event attracted students, faculty, community members and student organizations who engaged in dialogue about global issues concerning politics, religion and peace.
Leah Simmons '09, co-organizer of the Peace Rally, says she hopes students left the rally with a more thoughtful and informed opinion and the confidence to fulfill Concordia's mission to influence the affairs of the world.
"It's important to learn to communicate in a peaceful way," she says. "What better place to talk about global issues than on campus?"
Scholarships and Activities
Dale Thornton (American Indian Outreach) attended a National Early Awareness Symposium in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. This inaugural event conceived by Thornton was an opportunity for those interested in early awareness to share information.
Mary Thornton (French and Russian/religion), Dale Thornton (American Indian Outreach) and Lois Balko '99 led a group of eight high school students and one adult from Trinity Lutheran Church on a one-week mission/ educational trip to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The trip involved building and delivering bunk beds for children, general repairs, cleaning and painting of residences, and learning about Oglala Lakota Sioux history and culture.
Dr. Per Anderson (religion/Global Education) has been appointed co-chair of the ELCA task force charged to develop a social statement on genetics and biotechnology for the 2011 General Assembly of the ELCA.
Odile Streed (business, accounting and economics) presented a second paper in June at the International Conference on Economics and Management of Networks in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The title of the paper was "Concept Uniformity in Limited-Service Restaurants."
Dr. James Postema (English) received word that North Dakota Quarterly will publish his article "First (Double) Crossings: Vikings, Christianity, and the Skraelings of North America." The article will likely appear in late 2008.
Molly Flaspohler (library), Erika Rux (library) and Dr. John Flaspohler (biology) have had their manuscript, "The Annotated Bibliography and Citation Behavior: Enhancing Student Scholarship in an Undergraduate Biology Course," accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of CBE-Life Sciences Education.
Dr. Dawn Duncan (English) and Dr. Joan Kopperud (English) have recently published "The Service-Learning Companion," the first interdisciplinary text for use with college students. This new Houghton Mifflin text allows professors in any discipline to focus on their own content while using the text to help students understand and practice service-learning to achieve course objectives. It is a text that fits well with helping students become responsibly engaged in the world.
Dr. Per Anderson (religion/Global Education) presented a paper titled "Sufficient, Sustainable Lifespan for All: Responsible Biotechnology and ELCA Social Thought" at the Convocation of ELCA Teaching Theologians Aug. 12-14 at Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, N.C.
Dr. Peter Schultz (art) has published his book "Early Hellenistic Portraiture: Image, Style, Context" with the Cambridge University Press. Co-edited with Ralf von den Hoff (Archaeological Institute of the University of Freiburg im Breisgau), the volume treats the origins and meanings of "portraiture" in the fourth and third centuries B.C. Schultz's article in the volume, "Leochares' Argead Portraits in the Philippeion" presents, for the first time, a full reconstruction and interpretation of Alexander the Great's first documented public portrait. Original reconstruction drawings of the setting for this portrait were created by David Boggs (art).
Dr. Scot Stradley (business, accounting and economics) presented a paper at the 34th annual meeting of the History of Economics Society June 8-11 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. The paper, titled "Philosophy of Human Nature in the Works of Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus and David Ricardo," was reviewed by Dr. David Levy.
Please send scholarship and activities submissions to kappes@cord.edu.
Banner at Concordia
Meeting Important Milestones
A project the size of our Banner initiative requires careful planning and targeting specific milestones.
The key milestones for Banner include:
Hardware installation - currently underway, due Sept. 24
Advancement (alumni and development) go-live - Nov. 1, 2008
Decision support and expanded reporting - Nov. 1, 2008
Human Resources go-live - Jan. 1, 2009
Financial Aid go-live - Feb. 1, 2009
Student system go-live (college) - March 1, 2009
Student system go-live (Language Villages) - Sept. 1, 2009
To successfully meet each of these milestones, many members of the Concordia community will need to invest countless hours. The following individuals will have primary responsibility to be certain that all work is accomplished and each milestone is met:
Linda Brown, executive sponsor for the Banner initiative; Dr. Mark Covey, Banner Steering Committee co chair; Dr. Mark Krejci, executive sponsor for the Banner initiative; Marla Branden, Banner Project manager; Werner Golling, executive sponsor for the Banner initiative; Rebecca Amundsen, Kari Dreher, Carol Eid Fliss, Annette Kirchner, Dr. Keith Landa, Karen Lee, Mark Lillehaugen, Jasi O'Connor, Dale Pember, Carole Stalheim, Dennis Stugelmeyer, Peggy Torrance, Bruce Vieweg, Kim Walerius and Jane Williams
Each month, this section of Campus Buzz will provide specific details on Banner, the new commercial information system at the college.
October 2007 Contents
Concordia needed more yellow beanies than ever this August as the class of 2011 moved on campus. The college released the final fall enrollment numbers, totaling 2,815 - with 838 first-year students, making it the largest freshman class in Concordia's history. 
Concordia College and Concordia Language Villages are partnering to offer a travel program for alumni
modeled after the college's May Seminars and Exploration Seminars. The new Concordia Global
Seminars will open with a Discovery Seminar in Greece in March. 
The new and improved Dining Services is catching the attention of many - from the increased number of off-campus students buying meal plans to the faculty and staff who are using up their meal tickets faster than they anticipated. 
