Brad Chamberlain began his duties as Luther College’s 12th president on February 7, 2025.
Dr. Chamberlain comes to the president’s role with more than two decades of experience at the college, starting in the teaching ranks and progressing to academic and administrative leadership positions.
President Brad Chamberlain’s Day 1 Message
"On my first day, what I want you to hear most are four words: honesty, hope, pride, and belief."
When people think about a college that is drawing excellence out of students, I want them to think about Luther College. Students arrive at Luther with a set of dreams, and we help them achieve those dreams. But we also want to plant within them dreams that are bigger than the ones they brought with them to college.
Brad ChamberlainPresident
Chamberlain most recently served as provost of Luther College, starting as an interim in August 2022 and becoming permanent in the role in December 2022. As provost, Chamberlain brokered new academic programs and expanded the Office of Student Success with the addition of Advising, the Career Center, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and the Writing Center to create an integrated student success model, the first of its kind at Luther. He also shepherded Luther through a successful interim evaluation by the Higher Learning Commission.
Before serving as provost, he was the vice president for mission and communication from 2019 until 2022. Chamberlain led the implementation of Luther’s first integrated brand strategy. It included the integration of newly identified brand pillars, a refreshed visual identity, social media strategy and a redesigned luther.edu website. In addition, Chamberlain developed the college’s first strategic internal communications plan and co-led the COVID Response Team, under which he provided leadership for the development of a set of indicators and alert levels that provided a flexible and phased approach for all curricular and co-curricular operations during the height of the pandemic.
Brad Chamberlain advising a first-year student at registration in 2015.
Joining the college in the fall of 2001 as a visiting professor, Chamberlain has devoted his entire academic and administrative career to Luther. In the classroom, he progressed through the ranks, earning tenure in 2007, becoming a full professor in 2014 and chairing the chemistry department from fall 2014 until spring 2018. A chemist with a specialty in polymers and plastics, Chamberlain has many international, national and regional publications and presentations ranging from the American Chemical Society to the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Starting with research-based grants and external awards, Chamberlain has generated more than $800,000 in total awards. He is also the co-owner of a patent related to his work in polymers. His collaborative research with students was a hallmark of his time in the classroom, with more than 60 mentored undergraduates, three-quarters of whom entered graduate or professional programs and received a wide range of honors, including a Goldwater Scholar and 11 senior honors projects.
In parallel with his research and teaching, Chamberlain began a career of academic leadership at Luther, serving the first of his two terms chairing the college’s Academic Planning Committee in 2006. Leading the shared-governance committee charged with oversight of Luther’s curricula, Chamberlain co-facilitated a revision of the college’s general education curriculum and brokered the creation of new interdisciplinary majors.
Between his two stints with Academic Planning, he was co-director of the College Science Enrichment Project and Luther’s campus director for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. Both programs sought to uplift STEM disciplines utilizing external grants. As a part of a 16-institution consortium to broaden support for underserved populations, more than half of the students who participated in the Stokes Alliance program obtained admission to graduate and professional programs.
The Chamberlain family in Norway in May 2024: Drew Chamberlain, Luther College class of 2026; , Brad Chamberlain; Julie Torkelson Chamberlain, Luther College class of 1996; and Liam Chamberlain, a Decorah High School senior.
Graduating magna cum laude with his bachelor’s in chemistry from Gustavus Adolphus College, Chamberlain earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Minnesota. Before joining the Luther faculty, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University. A lifelong learner, Chamberlain has continued his education with professional certifications in fundraising management from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy; in diversity, equity and inclusion from Cornell University’s online campus; and in strategy from the Harvard Business School’s online program.
A frequent speaker at chapel and Luther’s student-led worship services, he is the husband of Julie Torkelson Chamberlain, a 1996 graduate of Luther and lead pastor of a Decorah congregation. They have two children: Drew (Luther College class of 2026) and Liam (Decorah High School class of 2025).
Brad Chamberlain succeeds Luther’s 11th president, Jenifer K. Ward, who will serve as president emerita and senior advisor for strategic initiatives until her retirement in summer 2025.
Office of the President
Tara Quass, Executive Assistant
President’s Office
Dahl Centennial Union
700 College Drive
Decorah, Iowa 52101
Phone: 563-387-1527