Endowed Fellowships and Faculty Development Awards

The Luther College endowed fellowships and faculty development awards include the following:

  • The H. George Anderson and Jutta F. Anderson Faculty Development Fund
  • The Ruth Caldwell Endowed Faculty Fellowship
  • The Paideia Faculty Fellowship
  • The Marilyn Roverud Endowed Fellowship in Lutheran Studies
  • The Uwe J. Rudolf Endowed Faculty Fellowship
  • The Sootheran-Simmonds Endowment for Peace Fellow
  • The Tomson Family Faculty Fellowships
  • The Doris and Ragnvald Ylvisaker Endowment for Faculty Growth

Anderson Faculty Development Fund

Alexander Meszler portrait
Assistant Professor of Music
Organ

Office: Jenson-Noble 212

Phone: 563-387-1205

Email: alexander.meszler@luther.edu

In 2020, Alexander completed his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at Arizona State University under Kimberly Marshall. Read More

Orçun Selçuk portrait
Associate Professor of Political Science
International Studies Program Director

Office: Koren 304

Phone: 563-387-1250

Email: selcor01@luther.edu

Hongxiao Yu portrait
Assistant Professor of Management

Office: Olin 332

Phone: 563-387-1706

Email: yuho02@luther.edu

The H. George Anderson and Jutta F. Anderson Faculty Development Fund was established by H. George Anderson and Jutta F. Anderson to provide support for summer faculty development projects for faculty members in the early years of their careers. It facilitates scholarship, research, and creative and artistic work in a wide range of disciplines, in recognition that such work contributes to the vitality necessary for strong undergraduate liberal arts education.

The Anderson Faculty Development Fund award recipients for 2025–2026 are Alexander Meszler, Orçun Selçuk, and Hongxiao Yu.

Caldwell Endowed Faculty Fellowship

The Ruth Caldwell Endowed Faculty Fellowship honors Professor Ruth Caldwell for her dedicated service to Luther College, its students, the liberal arts, and the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. In order to enhance and promote excellence in student learning, the fund provides awards for faculty in the department in support of their research, scholarship, and other professional development activities.

The Caldwell Endowed Faculty Fellowship for 2025–2026 had no applicants.

Paideia Faculty Fellowship

Lindsey Row-Heyveld portrait
Associate Professor of English

Office: Main 504

Phone: 563-387-1596

Email: lrh@luther.edu

In May 2024 the Paideia Steering Committee, in consultation with the Provost, established the Paideia Faculty Fellowships funded by the Paideia Endowment.

The Paideia Faculty Fellowship for 2025–2026 is awarded to Lindsey Row-Heyveld.

Roverud Endowed Fellowship in Lutheran Studies

Robert Christman portrait
Professor of History
History Department Head

Office: Koren 207

Phone: 563-387-1451

Email: chriro05@luther.edu

Richard Mtisi
Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History

Office: Koren 210

Phone: 563-387-1264

Email: mtisri01@luther.edu

Wanda Deifelt portrait
Professor of Religion

Office: Main 203A

Phone: 563-387-2147

Email: deifwa01@luther.edu

The Marilyn Roverud Endowed Fellowship in Lutheran Studies was established in celebration of our namesake, Martin Luther, and in honor of the inspired leadership of Marilyn (Haugen) Roverud ’66, alumna, regent, synod volunteer, mother, patron of the arts, friend, and more, by the Roverud Family. As a liberal arts institution and college of the church, Luther embraces a way of learning described by Dr. Darrell Jodock as the “third way” – committed to academic freedom to seek the truth, respectful of other faith traditions, and disciplined to seek whatever will truly serve the needs of the neighbor and make the world more trustworthy. It is the Roverud Family’s intent that this fellowship serve as a catalyst for lively and informed discussion about what it means to be a college of the church.

The Roverud Fellowship for 2024–2026 is awarded to Robert Christman and Richard Mtisi.
The Roverud Fellowship for 2025–2026 is awarded to Wanda Deifelt.

Rudolf Endowed Faculty Fellowship

Hongxiao Yu portrait
Assistant Professor of Management

Office: Olin 332

Phone: 563-387-1706

Email: yuho02@luther.edu

The Uwe J. Rudolf Endowed Faculty Fellowship honors Professor Uwe Rudolf for his dedicated service to Luther College, its students, the liberal arts, and the Department of Economics, Accounting, and Management. The Rudolf Faculty Fellowship will be awarded to faculty in economics, accounting, and management to support their scholarly work and other professional development with the goal of enhancing and promoting excellence in student learning.

The Rudolf Endowed Faculty Fellowship for 2025–2026 is awarded to Hongxiao Yu.

Sootheran-Simmonds Endowment for Peace Fellow

Anne-Marine Feat portrait
Associate Professor of French

Office: Main 604

Phone: 563-387-1185

Email: featan01@luther.edu

Funded by the Lynne Sootheran and Kent Simmonds Endowment for Peace, Research, Education, and Development, the Peace Fellows Program supports the study of peace and dialogue studies at Luther College. Grounded in academics, the program seeks to engage students, faculty, and the broader community in dialogue and academic projects around peace. The program recognizes and uplifts that everyone and every academic discipline is relevant to peace, just as everyone and every academic discipline is relevant to the transcendentals that permeate and hold together all things.

The inaugural Faculty Peace Fellow for 2024-2027 is Anne-Marine Feat. With a master’s degree in Celtic Studies from the Université de Bretagne Occidentale and a doctorate in Irish Studies from the Université Bordeaux III, Anne-Marine focuses her research and teaching on group identities in the context of national identity and democracy.

Anne-Marine’s dialogue-centered, role-immersion pedagogy draws on Reacting to the Past simulations to explore peacebuilding and political negotiation. She has taught The Collapse of Apartheid and the Dawn of Democracy in South Africa, 1993; and The Needs of Others: Human Rights, International Organizations, and Intervention in Rwanda, 1994. Her current project involves Ending the Troubles: Religion, Nationalism, and the Search for Peace and Democracy in Northern Ireland, 1997–98.

Tomson Family Faculty Fellowship

Tony Guzmán portrait
Professor of Music
Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Band

Office: Jenson-Noble 163

Phone: 563-387-1354

Email: guzmanto@luther.edu

Brooke Joyce
Professor of Music
Co-Head of Music Department
Composer in Residence

Office: Jenson-Noble 214

Phone: 563-387-1386

Email: brooke.joyce@luther.edu

Michael Smith portrait
Professor of Music
Low Brass

Office: Jenson-Noble 166

Phone: 563-387-1179

Email: smitmi01@luther.edu

The Tomson Family Faculty Fellowships, established to honor the tradition of great teaching in the liberal arts, provide tenured faculty in accounting, economics/management, mathematics, and music with the opportunity for study and for rethinking the ways they enable Luther students to learn. The awards provide recipients with a limited amount of reassigned time and/or funding to support their scholarly work.

The Tomson Family Faculty Fellowship in Music for 2025–2026 is awarded to Tony Guzman, Brooke Joyce, and Michael Smith.

Ylvisaker Endowment for Faculty Growth

Anita Carrasco portrait
Professor of Anthropology

Office: Koren 308

Phone: 563-387-1158

Email: carran02@luther.edu

Thomas C. Johnson portrait
Professor of Communication Studies

Office: Center for the Arts 104

Phone: 563-387-1091

Email: thomascjohnson@luther.edu

Holly Moore
Philosophy Professor
Philosophy Department Head
Identity Studies Department Faculty
Law & Values Program Committee

Office: Valders 372G

Phone: 563-387-1222

Email: moorho01@luther.edu

The Doris and Ragnvald Ylvisaker Endowment for Faculty Growth was established by the generous support of Doris and Ragnvald Ylvisaker.

The Ylvisaker Endowment for Faculty Growth award recipients for 2025–2026 are Anita Carrasco, Thomas Johnson, and Holly Moore.