Intentionally International
In February, Luther was awarded the 2026 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization.
Only five U.S. universities and colleges were selected this year to receive the award, which recognizes excellence in integrating international education throughout all facets of university and college campuses. Luther is the first private college in Iowa to receive the recognition.
“The honor is even more striking because it almost always goes to large universities rather than small liberal arts colleges,” says Victoria Christman, Luther’s Center for Global Learning director. “But the award rightly recognizes decades of intentional international engagement on the part of Luther College, and the success of Luther in embedding that internationalization throughout the curriculum and the student experience.”
Nearly 80 percent of Luther students study off campus before graduation. Between 30 and 40 faculty and staff lead study-away programs each year, and Luther provides $250,000 annually in need-based scholarship support for study-away educational opportunities.
The result is a student body that engages with global issues and ideas and with cultures outside their own. And they learn deeply in the process. As Myiah Wagner ’28, who traveled from London to Rome during the J-Term course In Frankenstein’s Footsteps, says, “I never thought I would be able, in a month, to learn so many things. When they say, ‘You had to be there,’ it doesn’t even begin to describe what I discovered.”
In January, Anna Tauscher ’26, an economics and political science major, took Paideia 450: National Memory and Identity in Turkey and Greece. She caught this photo in the ancient city of Ephesus, outside of Izmir, Turkey. She says, “We spent a day walking among ruins, learning about how many ancient Greek sites are actually found in Türkiye, highlighting the connection between the two countries’ pasts and how it has shaped their current identities.”
Visual communication major Jackson Loomis ’29 spent a month on the Theatre in New York J-Term course, where he snapped this fantastic photo of the Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State Building centered in the middle, as seen from Dumbo, Brooklyn. “I heard of this photo spot and was excited to test my photography skills in framing a subject,” he says.
Psychology major Maggie Patten ’26 spent J-Term on the Paideia 450 course National Identity and Memory in Turkey and Greece. She took this photo of the Izmir clock tower in Turkey. She says, “This monument’s significance is interesting because it is secular, whereas most of the major sites in Istanbul, the other city we visited in Türkiye, are religious in nature. Religion versus secularism was one of the prominent binaries we examined in our course.”
Jacob Bruns ’28 also spent J-Term in Turkey and Greece. He caught this photo of Athens at night, taken from a lookout spot in the Anafiotika neighborhood. “This is a neighborhood historically populated by immigrants from Greek islands,” he says. “Our course looked into how legacies of migration shaped Athens, as well as the broader region encompassing Turkey and Greece, into the places they are today.”
Biology major Jacob Michaelson ’26 spent January on the Marine Biology course in Roatan, Honduras, where fellow traveler Henry Lenaburg ’27 took this photo of Jacob exploring the reefs with other Luther students.
Social work major Ashlynn Thorsen ’26 spent January on the Practicing Embodiment course in Costa Rica, where she captured this sunset at Dominical Beach.
Lawson Morris ’27, an environmental studies and political science major, traveled to Montana during Environmental Studies 239: The Good Life? He captured this atmospheric photo of students taking in the mighty ponderosa pines on their foggy first day at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp in Lakeside, Montana.
Global health major Jermaine Dizon ’26 spent J-Term on Paideia 450: People and Parks in Tanzania, where he captured this stunning photo. The course examined how conservation intersects with cultural identity, as seen through the lens of the Maasai people of northern Tanzania. Jermaine says, “We had a great experience traveling to many conservation areas and interacting with Maasai communities in rural and urban settings. We were so grateful to be immersed in and appreciate the cultures we were surrounded by and to have seen all of the wildlife as well!"
Molly Paffenroth ’29, an English secondary education major, traveled through Italy, England, France, and Switzerland during the J-Term In Frankenstein’s Footsteps. She commemorated riding with fellow students in a red cable train up to the Mer De Glace in Chamonix, France, where the group visited the same piece of ice that Mary Shelley wrote about in her novel. “We spent the whole trip learning a lot about Romantic era literature, so seeing these places in real life was very powerful,” Molly says.
Charlie Krob ’28, a neuroscience major with a minor in Spanish, spent J-Term on the Spanish for Medical Professionals course in Oaxaca, Mexico. She spent a week of clinical rotations in Santa María Coyotepec, where clinicians, she says, “taught me something more impactful than medical terminology or conjugations of Spanish verbs—they helped me learn how to slow down, to savor simplicity, to appreciate the quiet parts of life just as much as the exciting ones.”
English major Katherine Griffin ’26 spent spring 2025 on the Nottingham program. She took this photo in Whitby, England. “This is the Whitby Abbey that was left to ruins after King Henry VIII switched to Protestantism,” she says. “I learned that this was the inspiration for part of Bram Stoker’s Dracula because of the ruins and the sudden cliffs right next to the abbey.”
Exercise science major Myiah Wagner ’28 spent J-Term on the course In Frankenstein’s Footprints, tracing the story through Italy, England, France, and Switzerland. In Venice, she says, her group focused on Romantic poets and the history of the Doge. They also enjoyed traveling along the city’s famous canals.
Hannah Coy ’26, an elementary education major, used an Imagine Fellowship to travel to France, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain to study art, architecture, and nature to inspire elementary art lessons and projects. Along the way, she snapped this photo of an overlook of Manarola in Cinque Terre, Italy.
Psychology and art major Lauren Ingram ’26 spent J-Term on a Paideia 450 course in Turkey and Greece. She took this photo of the Vallianeio Megaron, which served as the National Library of Greece until 2017. She wanted, she says, “to display the artistry and attention to detail that went into the creation of this beautiful building.”
Anna Tauscher ’26, an economics and political science major, spent spring 2025 on the Washington Semester. She took this striking photo in her Securing the Homeland course, during a tour around historic monuments in D.C.
Donor support helps make study-away experiences like these possible. To learn more about funding opportunities, please contact the Advancement Office at advancement@luther.edu or 563-387-1861.