The Global Draw of a Luther Education
We talk a lot about the global education that Luther students receive—through a robust study-away program, courses that center global perspectives, and more. Today, we want to shine a light on the global appetite that exists for the kind of education Luther offers.
Jon Lund presents to a group of prospective students in East Africa.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that international student enrollment on U.S. college campuses has been declining since 2015, but Luther bucks this trend in a major way. We’ve had more or less growing enrollment of international applicants since 2004, with 2024 breaking a record for us. At this point, an astounding 30 percent of our applicants are international students.
This global interest is a boon for all Luther students. The diverse experiences, perspectives, and cultures that our students bring with them enrich our campus, our community, and the experience of every Luther student.
Critical to building our student body in this way is a very special program, brought to campus by an equally special staff member.
The Davis United World College (UWC) Scholars Program
Jon Lund, who retired in February as director of international admissions after a 30-year career at Luther, saw an opportunity in 2004 to apply for a newish program “committed to fostering a greater diversity of globally engaged students and communities on U.S. college campuses.” The Davis UWC Scholars Program extends the mission of United World Colleges, a network of 18 secondary schools around the world that are intentionally international and intercultural and that provide education with an emphasis on empathy, responsibility, and lifelong action.
The Davis UWC Scholars Program offers UWC graduates a fully funded education at one of 100 U.S. partner colleges and universities—like Luther, where we’re celebrating 20 years of partnership with the program this year.
This partnership has brought Luther nearly $30 million in scholarship support, but more importantly, it’s brought us nearly 400 students. And these aren’t just any students—they’re some of the best and brightest thinkers and doers on the planet. Because of the UWC curriculum, most of them are curious, socially engaged, service-minded problem-solvers. They contribute immeasurably to campus life, classroom learning, the Decorah community, and eventually to their fields and the larger world.
In this way, the Davis UWC Scholars Program and the Luther education that students receive through it are not only life-changing—they’re world-changing. Students with great potential receive more education and opportunities. They’re consequently able to apply themselves to positions and programs where they can make meaningful impact.
The International Appeal of the Liberal Arts
International students, including UWC students, commonly get accepted at top U.S. schools—Brown, Yale, Princeton, the University of Chicago. So how does a recruiter for a small college in rural Iowa gain traction with such in-demand applicants?
Jon Lund (far left) visits with students at Luther's Culture Fest 2025 in April.
“I focus on the personalized education they’ll receive,” Jon says. “And I talk about the liberal arts model, because the world our students will inherit really requires liberally educated people. There’s hardly a presentation that I do where I don’t describe the liberal arts.”
The liberal arts as a concept takes some explaining. As Jon says, “It has nothing to do with the way you think of liberal versus conservative. And it has nothing to do with arts versus sciences. So it’s a meaningless phrase unless you understand Latin, and it roughly translates into the ways of thinking that set people free. So I tell students that at Luther, we liberate you to think about the world differently. And in order to do that, you’re going to have to study more broadly than you would if you go to some other schools. But we think that’s exactly what the world needs more of in the future.”
Salomé Valdivieso ’23 understood. After her time at UWC Red Cross Nordic in Norway, she says, “I was searching for a college that would allow me to continue exploring education through a global, interdisciplinary, and community-oriented lens. Luther’s commitment to the liberal arts model and its strong emphasis on civic engagement and social justice resonated deeply with the values I developed during my UWC experience. I was drawn to the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations across disciplines, build close relationships with professors, and take part in campus initiatives that aligned with my academic and personal interests.” Salomé is now earning a master’s degree in Latin American studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
It’s not just students who’ve picked up on what Luther offers. One of nicest notes Jon ever received during his time at Luther was from a counselor at a school in India who was retiring. She wrote, “I want to let you know that Luther was one of those schools that I could look my kids in the face and tell them, ‘If you go there, they’ll do well by you.’”
At this point in time, about 14 percent of Luther students are international, which places us among the top 50 small liberal arts schools in the country for our percentage of international students. We’re also fourth in the state of Iowa not for our percentage but for our number of international students, on a list that includes large state schools with enrollments exceeding 30,000 students.
In 2024–25, Luther was privileged to host 205 international students from 77 countries. While we can count the countries of origin of these students, our metrics can’t capture the countless ambitions, concerns, heartaches, values, and stories these students bring with them. Stories that will touch and be touched by those of other Luther students. And that will ultimately become part of the larger Luther story.
30 Years of Travel with a Purpose
Travel, for Jon, has not been glamorous. “My travel up to this point has been travel with a purpose,” he says, “meaning that I almost never spend an hour laying on a beach or beside a pool—I’m racing around. I remember going to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and arriving late in the evening. I went to the hotel. I had a large fair with about 4,000 students at it. I did about 20 interviews onsite. I met with a couple of parents at the hotel and a few alums. And I left a day and a half later. In the car on the way back to the airport, I realized I had never stepped foot outside the hotel.”
Stacy Soderstrom (far left) and Jon Lund (far right) with Musa Kamaika and his family in Tanzania. Musa works closely with Luther's J-Term program in Tanzania.
Not that he hasn’t loved it. “It’s a really special job to be able to travel the world—but it’s not the way people think of travel,” he says.
Jon remembers visiting a small village in India that was celebrating the first kid from the village ever to attend college. Jon met with the proud family for lunch, then went to the local school, where the equally proud principal said, “I have a surprise for you. I’ve got the entire group of sixth graders waiting for you to teach them how to conjugate past tense.”
Jon recalls, “First of all, of anything to teach, past tense is beyond comprehension. Second, not only is the sixth-grade class sitting there, but their parents are standing along the back window!”
While that visit was intense, Jon remembers a more stressful time visiting Pakistan after a group of school bombings. He rode to a school he was visiting in a caravan preceded and followed by jeeps with Pakistani sharpshooters in them. As they drove into the school, Jon could see machine gun turrets on top of the building. “For a couple of years, those were my visits to Pakistan,” he says. “But once in the country, I met with some of the loveliest families you would ever meet. I’ve tried to separate events occurring in the world with great people who need to be educated around the world.”
Stacy Soderstrom, who is taking the reins from Jon as director of international and transfer admissions, has a deep history in international college recruitment. She chose to work at Luther, she says, because “I wanted to work for a place that already knew the value of international students and what they bring to a college campus.” And she likes to see the international ripple that Luther students make. “Luther students are being prepared to make differences in the communities they live and work in,” she says. “With our international students, that spreads out to so many places around the world.”
Fun Facts about Jon Lund
Jon loves data. He tracks the miles he’s flown (more than 1.5 million, and he always books economy), countries he’s visited (106, and he doesn’t count a country when he’s only been to an airport), hotels he’s stayed in, presentations he’s made, and recruitment fairs he’s attended.
Places he hasn’t been: Australia and New Zealand
The phrase he learns in every language? “My name is Jon. What’s your name?”
Foods he’s eaten: pig-lung soup, fried tarantula, raw horse. “One of the joys of my job is being invited into family homes to share a meal with them,” he says. “I’ve met so many wonderful people around the world, and I get invited to a lot of places, and that’s a privilege.”
In retirement? Jon wants to give himself time and space to consider what to do next, but it will almost certainly involve service and travel. In fact, he spent the first three weeks of his retirement volunteering in Roatan, where he serves on the board of an international school.