Concordia University, Nebraska

Freshman Keith Siek of Saint Joseph, Michigan, is majoring in journalism at Concordia University, Nebraska and is in the pre-seminary program. He runs cross country and track for the Bulldogs and is involved with the university's swing dancing club, intramural flag football, pre-sem club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Men's Chorus and German club. He enjoys attending evening prayer and several student-led Bible studies each week.

The gift of music frequently brings together people from across the world in fellowship, and Christmas at Concordia is no exception. Over the course of four performances the weekend of December 5-7, over 2,400 students, faculty and staff, and Concordia community members gathered in St. John Lutheran Church in Seward, Nebraska, to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the salvation that the world receives through him.

On November 6-9, 25 Concordia University, Nebraska students across a variety of programs attended the annual Beautiful Feet Mission Conference. This year, the event was held at Concordia University, Wisconsin.

Elizabeth Salo is studying history and English at Concordia University, Nebraska. This summer, she will be volunteering as a College Conference Volunteer (CCV) at the Higher Things conference taking place at Concordia Nebraska.

Sophomore Rachel Amey from Wichita, Kansas is double majoring in criminal justice and psychology and double minoring in Spanish and servant leadership at Concordia Nebraska. She is part of the university's inaugural cohort of Paul Scholars, Concordia Nebraska's work education program and works in the university's safety and security department.

Concordia University, Nebraska's Concordia Catalyst Competition (C3) is a multi-part event that spans months. Mentor Night occurs prior to the fall Pitch Competition and the spring Business Plan Competition. C3 was created to provide practical experience for those formulating and executing business plan ideas and is open to high school students, community members, current Concordia Nebraska students and alumni of the university. This spring's Business Plan Competition winners included: First Place: Nathaniel Sizer and David Marin Second Place: Lane Schoff Third Place: Mark Arp Fourth Place: Cael Washburn

Concordia University, Nebraska recently announced its upcoming Student Senate leadership team, which will take over the governance of the club starting in the 2025-2026 academic year. Officers for the upcoming school year include senior Quinlan Hendrickson of Lincoln, Nebraska as president, senior Ramona Ojeda of Lexington, Nebraska, as vice president, senior Emma VanTol of Unionville, Michigan, as treasurer and junior Kayla Korb of Burley, Idaho, as secretary.

Concordia University, Nebraska recently honored 27 graduating seniors who maintained high levels of academic excellence during their time at the university at the 2025 Commencement Honors Dinner on May 9. Each year, academic departments may confer two or more awards, depending on the department's size and the number of students in a particular program. Each department may determine the basis for students' attainment of these awards; however, they must consider the student's grade point average, service to the department and service to the university.

Concordia University, Nebraska recently named 241 students to its honors list for the Spring 2025 semester. Students who earn a 3.90 GPA or higher while also completing at least 12 credit hours during the semester qualify for this list.

Concordia University, Nebraska's Competitive Leadership Team was started in 2017. What started with one team of six students has doubled in size in the past eight years. The team has traveled to places like Cleveland, Ohio, and Norfolk, Virginia, for past Collegiate Leadership Competitions (CLC) and this spring traveled to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for the regional competition. This year's Competitive Leadership Teams won the Midwest Regional Championship finishing in first and second place. Team member Victor Santana said that the trip to Oklahoma City allowed the team to grow both competitively and in their relationships with each other. The teams also finished in second and fifth place in the online Global Competition. Other teams that participated attended schools such as Brigham Young University, the University of Toronto, Old Dominion University and Southwest Oklahoma State University.

On May 10, Concordia University, Nebraska awarded undergraduate and graduate degrees to more than 430 graduates. The class of 2025 was honored during an undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremony.

Over 60 students presented at the 14th annual Academic and Research Symposium at Concordia Nebraska on April 28, 2025. The event, which takes place in the Dunklau Center for Math, Science and Business, includes both poster and oral presentations throughout the late afternoon and evening. Associate Professor of Mathematics Dr. Brian Albright has been coordinating the event for the past four years. The symposium gives students the opportunity to present original research and significant projects they've worked on over the course of the semester in an interdisciplinary setting. This year, majors from history and psychology to biology and English were represented at the event. A total of 62 students gave 38 poster and 23 oral presentations on topics ranging from chiropractic care to football recruiting. This year, the event concluded with a lecture by keynote speaker Lyman Stone, a Lutheran demographer and senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. Stone's presentation was entitled "What Tomorrow May Bring: Evidence from the Lutheran Religious Life Survey Revealing How the LCMS is Changing."

Concordia University, Nebraska has awarded the university's President's Scholarship to 25 students for the 2024-2025 school year. The scholarship acknowledges freshmen with excellent academic performance, notable extracurricular involvement and high test score achievements. "While Concordia Nebraska is honored to have faculty and staff who are devoted to Christ-centered excellence, it is the students who play a central role in maintaining such a legacy," said Concordia University, Nebraska President Dr. Bernard Bull. "President's Scholarship recipients exemplify a commitment to excellence and, in doing so, promote a Christ-centered academic community that embraces a relentless pursuit of excellence, truth, beauty, goodness and using their gifts to be a future blessing to their families, churches, communities, and workplaces."

Four Concordia Nebraska students - Gracie Flamig, Mackenzie Houser, Megan Eurich and Yaire Ojeda - were recently inducted into Alpha Phi Sigma, the national criminal justice society. Concordia Nebraska's chapter of this society is called Pi Epsilon Eta and requires students to hold a minimum 3.2 grade point average overall and in four criminal justice courses.

This Concordia University, Nebraska esports fall season was a rollercoaster of excitement and growth for the program's teams. "The League of Legends and Rocket League teams both battled hard in highly competitive brackets, finishing with identical 3-4 records, showcasing moments of brilliance and setting a foundation for future success," said Concordia Nebraska esports coach Ryan Hinds.

Concordia Nebraska usually has about 45 resident assistants (RAs) each year in the university's 11 residence halls. Each residence hall coordinator (RC) oversees, helps support and supervises nine to 13 of those RAs as their primary role. Their secondary role is helping serve the residents directly. The RC role includes many tasks including providing spiritual leadership for RAs and residents in their buildings, supporting their group of RAs throughout the year, working with Student Life Office staff to help lead RA training and the annual staff renewal retreat, assisting the Student Life Office Staff in emergency or crisis support on campus and responding to other incidents that occur on evenings and weekends. For the 2024-2025 academic year, the university sought to hire for all four of the university's residence hall coordinator positions. After reviewing applications and reference forms from a number of applicants (all of who are current RAs), the university has announced that students Micah Henschen, Joshua Jurchen, Eliyah Moldenhauer and Abigail Niemeier will serve as university residence hall coordinators for the 2024-2025 academic year.

This May, several faculty and students went on a study and service-learning tour to Peru. The trip was led by Dr. Joel Helmer, Holly Helmer, and Dr. Brian Albright.

On Saturday, November 4, Concordia's programming team ended their competitive programming season with the North Central North America Regional. This regional contest is part of the International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC), where thousands of universities from around the world strive to solve as many programming problems as possible, as fast as possible.

Concordia University, Nebraska recently named 223 students to its honors list for the Spring 2023 semester. Students who earn a 3.90 GPA or higher while also completing at least 12 credit hours qualify for the honors list.

On Thursday, April 13 and Saturday, April 15, Concordia's leadership teams participated in the national Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC) via Zoom. The two teams - made up of 12 students total - each competed in three challenges on Thursday and three challenges on Saturday placing first and second in the competition.

Concordia University, Nebraska today announced that senior Emily Morse of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and senior Lexis Haney of Dwight, Nebraska have been named the 2023-2024 recipients of the Eunice Goldgrabe Health and Human Performance (HHP) Scholarship.