Center for Ethics and Public Engagement

Connect Learning with Living

Connect your curiosity in the classroom to the individual and social elements of daily life. Imagine and evaluate your ethical responsibilities. Discover how to align your values with community action.

The Luther College Center for Ethics and Public Engagement (The CEPE, pronounced “The Keep”) designs opportunities to help you become an informed, engaged, and critical thinking global citizen. Experience one of our public events, join a book group, or partner with The CEPE in community outreach.

The CEPE Theme for 2026-2027: COUNTS

Why Counts?

It’s a verb and a noun, each with multiple layers of meaning.

Counts invokes broad conceptual ideas and practices:

Who counts? Who doesn’t count? Who decides who counts in different contexts? How can people change the structures of who counts?

For 2026, the US national celebration and the November election involve counting.

Counting the years of national history & counting voters and ballots. These are vital acts where ethics and public engagement converge, and The CEPE strives to bring folks together on these matters through critical thinking, higher education, and transdisciplinary creativity.

In Fall 2026, The CEPE will host the award-winning & best-selling writer Stephen Graham Jones on campus for a public talk and informal gatherings with students. His novels have included winter counts and counting coup. Plus, his latest novel, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, features vampires, so, you know–Counts like Count Dracula and the loveable math-loving blood-sucker on Sesame Street.

At The CEPE, the upcoming academic year Counts.

Book Group for Next Fall - "The Only Good Indians" by Stephen Graham Jones. Signups available fall of 2026.

More about Stephen Graham Jones

https://www.stephengrahamjones.com/bio/

The Podeia Podcast

Produced in partnership with KWLC, Podeia explores local stories at the intersection of ethics, place, and public life. Season 3 tells the story of the Kennedy family, a 19th-century African American family in Decorah.

Listen Here!

Author Stephen Graham Jones to visit campus October 29th, 2026

Stephen Graham Jones is the NYT bestselling author of thirty-five or so novels and collections, and there’s some novellas and comic books in there as well. Most recent are The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and Killer on the Road. Next is Off the Reservation. Stephen lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado.

Jones will be on campus for a public event October 29th at 7pm in the CRH.

The Annual Roslien Distinguished Lecture on Science and Leadership – “Public Health in Crisis: What This Means to You” featuring Dr. Michael Osterholm

Held on April 15th, 2026 in the Center for Faith and Life, this year’s Roslien Lecture gave participants the opportunity to hear from Dr. Osterholm, founding director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and an internationally renowned epidemiologist who has been at the forefront of public health preparedness and led many outbreak investigations of global importance.

Connected events included a book group that met to talk about Dr. Osterholm’s book “The Big One” on April 2nd, as well as a student informal conversation with Dr Osterholm during the afternoon of April 15th.

Year in review at The CEPE

Learn about events across campus supported or planned by The CEPE:

2025-2026 Year End Review

Meet The CEPE Faculty Research Fellow

The 2025–2027 Research Fellow is Associate Professor of Management Hongxiao Yu. Her research explores how users perceive and trust AI in decision-making contexts, particularly in hospitality, tourism, and education. She investigates the ethical challenges and human factors that influence AI adoption and misuse, with the goal of promoting transparency, informed use, and public trust. During her fellowship, she will conduct interviews and surveys, develop a theoretical framework on AI trust, and engage the campus through guest speakers, student research, and public events.