Luther College News

Gnome is where the heart is for Luther College’s Giving Day, which  returns for its ninth year on Thursday, March 7. The annual event aims to celebrate the Luther community while raising  money for the Luther Fund, Luther’s unrestricted current fund that supports all students, faculty, staff and community endeavors on campus

Hongxiao Yu, assistant professor of management at Luther College, won the inaugural Excellence in Collaboration Award this year for forging connections between the college and Decorah businesses like Impact Coffee, Pulpit Rock Brewery and the Landing Market. 

Luther College’s Asian Student Association and Allies (ASAA) continues to celebrate 40 years on campus with a series of events including lectures, performances and a Center Stage Series concert this spring.

Rev. Lamont Wells, the executive director of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (NECU), will give the Black History Month Keynote Address at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in the Center for Faith and Life’s Main Hall.

Luther College will host a Green Dot Bystander Intervention Workshop from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, in Peace Dining Room on the second floor of Dahl Centennial Union. The workshop is open to all Decorah area community members to learn strategies for preventing interpersonal violence in the community.

Luther College will host its annual Benefactor’s Organ Recital, featuring Nicole Keller, assistant professor of organ at the University of Michigan. The recital will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18, in the Center for Faith and Life’s Main Hall. 

“Black History Month provides an opportunity to reflect on the contributions and influences of African Americans,” said Robert Clay, diversity, equity and inclusion officer and assistant to the president for community engagement at Luther. “It also challenges us to further social justice and civil rights efforts that are necessary for African Americans to have equitable experiences in local and global capacities.”

Luther College’s Hongxiao Yu, assistant professor of management, is the first recipient of the Excellence in Collaboration Award from the Decorah Area Chamber of Commerce and Luther College for her active role in helping local businesses. 

Ron McCurdy, professor of music at the University of Southern California, and his quartet will perform Langston Hughes’s “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz” for Luther College’s Center Stage Series at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9, in the Center for Faith and Life Main Hall. 

Twenty-three students from Luther College Model U.N. attended the conference, with some representing Malta and others representing Niger. Norton won the Outstanding Delegate Award for her representation of Malta in the International Telecommunication Union.