Concordia University, Nebraska

Concordia University, Nebraska honored graduating seniors who exhibited outstanding academic success during their time at the university during its annual Commencement Honors Dinner on May 3. 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. The basis for students' attainment of these awards is determined by each department; however, they must consider students' grade point averages, service to Concordia and service to the department.

Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Each year, Concordia University, Nebraska art students submit work for the university's annual Student Art Exhibition and are eligible to earn awards and scholarships based on their submitted work. This year's scholarship and award recipients were announced at the Marxhausen Gallery of Art on April 21. The Student Art Exhibition is on display through May 1. Entrance in the Student Art Exhibition is required for all art majors. Senior and junior students must submit seven works, while freshmen and sophomores must submit five. Students with an art minor can submit up to five works. The total amount of money awarded among all scholarships and endowments this year totaled over $20,000.

Concordia University, Nebraska's natural sciences department recently held its annual banquet recognizing graduating seniors from the department and select students for their outstanding service and scholarship. Students and faculty enjoyed each other's company, fellowship, prayer and the game, "Are you smarter than a middle schooler?" The banquet featured a presentation from Concordia Nebraska physics professor Dr. Robert Hermann highlighting the 2024 American total eclipse and a trip that he co-led with physics professor Dr. Brent Royuk to bring Concordia undergraduate students to Southern Missouri and into the path of totality. Ultimately successful, the memorable trip became a legitimate "star trek" as unforeseen traffic difficulties plagued the venture.

The Concordia Theatre Department performed two student-directed performances on April 4-6, 2024 in the Black Box Studio Theater in the Borland Center for Music and Theatre for Concordia Nebraska's annual One Act Play Festival. The festival is the practical component of the communication and theatre arts play production class. The class takes the students through the process of analyzing their play from multiple perspectives, including design, technical and acting choices so they are prepared to work with their peers to direct and produce a complete performance. This year's plays included "But We Don't" by Alan Haehnel and "Odds Are" by Keith J. Powell. "But We Don't" was directed by Emily Loseke and assistant director was Makayla Finecy. The acting ensemble included Timothy Baker, Jonathan Baumann, Jason Church, Brett Determan, Aiden Jenik, Brianna Pike, Araceli Regalado, Ethan Reynolds, Amanda Steinke, Sarah Stepp, Alleah Struble, Catherine Vyhlidal and Kristen Welling. "Odds Are" was directed by Elizabeth Ascher and stage manager was Julie Oetting. The acting ensemble included Jonathan Baumann, Madeline Hudson-Knowlton, Marieka Kaufman, Joshua Nikodym, Sara Erickson, Jason Church, Harley Storie, Brett Determan and Sarah Stepp. "I enjoy providing the opportunity for these student directors to learn the process and develop the skills needed to produce a show, and for other students to participate in additional, smaller shows" said Professor Bryan Moore, director of Concordia Nebraska's theatre department. "Many of our former one act directors have directed plays and musicals in their jobs at schools, churches, and community theaters, so it's exciting to know that this course and production were a part of their training. I can imagine the same opportunities and success for Emily and Elizabeth in their future teaching careers."

Concordia University, Nebraska's Vocal Jazz ensemble is set to travel to locations across Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin and South Dakota during their spring 2024 tour from May 5-10. The 14-voice choir, comprised of mostly music majors, is selected from among the A Cappella choir members and has performed concerts and school assemblies throughout the Midwest including performances at the Nebraska Music Educators' annual conference, the Columbus NCDA jazz festival, and in the historic Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Mo. The choir is under the direction of Concordia's director of vocal music, Dr. Kurt von Kampen. Von Kampen has served at Concordia since 1998. He earned his bachelor's degree from Concordia Nebraska, a master's in choral conducting from Oakland University and a doctorate in choral music education from the University of Nebraska.

Thirteen Concordia Nebraska students currently have art work on display at the 2024 CINCF/Lincoln Industries Student Art Show in Omaha. The 2024 CINCF/Lincoln Industries Student Art Show is open through April 26, 2024, in the Hillmer Art Gallery on the College of Saint Mary campus located at 7000 Mercy Road in Omaha. The exhibition is open to the public Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Concordia Nebraska students exhibiting in the show art Ava Bartels, Sophia Bossio, Abby Gerber, Matt Hawes, Hannah Helmer, Elizabeth Lee, McKenzie Moore, Isabella Peperkorn, Kaitlyn Porter, Hannah Schaefer, Harley Storie, Heidi van der Heijden and Aiden Weishaar.

On Tuesday, April 9 at 7 p.m., Concordia's music department hosted its spring 2024 honor recital. The honor recital allows students who perform at a high level to showcase their vocal and instrumental talents in front of a live audience. Placement in the honor recital program is based on students' performance at auditions held by music department faculty members. The department holds auditions and recitals twice per year, or once each semester. This semester's recital featured pieces from composers from across several centuries and many countries, and pieces performed vocally or on instruments including clarinet, trombone, piano and organ.

On Friday, March 22, the Concordia Music Department hosted its Spring 2024 composers' recital. The composers' recital provides a unique opportunity for students who have composed original musical works to debut them in front of an audience. The program featured pieces by five different Concordia students. Performances included arrangements for voice, saxophone, organ, piano, violin and viola.

Concordia's Competitive Leadership team took the top two spots in the recent Collegiate Leadership Competition, which took place on April 4 and 6. Twelve students competed in total, forming two teams - Concordia Platinum and Concordia Cobalt. The CLC was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit organization where students can engage in a digital practice space to apply what they're learning as part of their undergraduate education. Each April, they host a national virtual competition. Schools up to five times as large as Concordia compete, including the University of California - Riverside, Old Dominion University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and more. Dr. Curt Beck was the first to start a competitive leadership team at Concordia in 2017. Since then, Beck and other members of the business faculty have engaged in its leadership, allowing it to grow and flourish as a consistent national contender. Concordia's CLC team uses curriculum that allows its students to learn the attributes of effective leaders, creative problem-solving methods, conflict resolution, ethical decision-making, and more. This year's virtual Collegiate Leadership Global Challenge ended with Concordia Platinum and Concordia Cobalt taking the top two spots and maintaining their title as national champions.

On Sunday, March 24, Concordia's music department hosted its spring chamber recital. Chamber recitals, given once each semester, allow students to facilitate, practice, and perform pieces of their choice in small, or "chamber," ensembles. Students' ability to choose their own pieces opens the recitals to a variety of musical genres, instrumentations and arrangements. Six ensembles performed at this spring's event, which included both vocal and instrumental performances in the recital hall of the newly renovated Borland Center for Music and Theatre.

Concordia University, Nebraska's theatre department will perform the play "Little Women" in the Black Box Studio Theater in the Borland Center for Music and Theatre March 22-24.

Four members of Concordia's Wind Symphony participated in the 2024 Nebraska State Bandmasters Association Convention held in Lincoln, Neb. on March 2. The annual NSBA convention brings together middle schools, high schools and colleges from across the state to partake in several days of music-making and other activities. The intercollegiate band takes place during this convention.

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.

Concordia University, Nebraska recently named 226 students to its honors list for the Fall 2023 semester. Students who earn a 3.90 GPA or higher while also completing at least 12 credit hours qualify for the honors list.

Concordia University, Nebraska today announced that four students have been inducted into the university's Eta Theta chapter of Phi Epsilon Kappa (PEK). Elena Batenhorst, Greta Corneliusen, Seanna Patterson and Micah Henschen were honored by the university on November 12.

This year, Concordia University, Nebraska's Lighthouse club is participating in Dressember. They have surpassed their amount raised last year by almost $2,000 already, and they are only $200 away from reaching their new goal.

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 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.

Forty-three Concordia students gathered on October 24 for an evening of nachos and presentations about summer opportunities for education majors. The Concordia Ambassador Students in Education (CASE) organization hosted the event, at which nine education students presented and introduced others to their experiences during the summer of 2023, when they each served in unique mission- and education-related capacities around the country and the world.

On November 12, 2023, Concordia's music department hosted its fall honor recital. The semiannual honor recital at Concordia showcases the vocal and instrumental talents of student musicians. Musicians are chosen to perform based on auditions judged by music department faculty members. The recital is held twice a year, once each semester.

On November 7th, Concordia University, Nebraska's music department hosted its Fall 2023 Composers Recital. Included in the program were pieces composed by six different Concordia students. The pieces included works for organ, voice, flute, and piano.

Concordia University, Nebraska's theatre department will be performing the musical, "The Addams Family," in Weller Hall on November 4th and 5th and November 10th - 12th.

Concordia's programming team likes to solve problems, in one way or another. This year, they're coming back ready to work with a team of eight returners and an additional five new freshman. The team is coached by Marcus Gubanyi, assistant professor of computer science, chair of the mathematics and computer science department, and assistant coached by Ian Kollipara, Concordia alumnus.

The Concordia University forensics department hosted the university's annual fall Bulldog Tournament speech and debate event on the Concordia campus on Saturday, September 30.

Recently, the Foundation of the Nebraska Society of CPAs awarded five Concordia accounting students scholarships. The scholarships are awarded to accounting majors with high GPAs who are on a CPA track, and who are planning to practice accounting in Nebraska once they graduate.

From May 9-16, Dr. Brian Gauthier, assistant professor of theology, Amy Hubach, and five students went on a mission trip to Peru.

From May 4-11, Dr. Jennifer Janousek, professor of health and human performance, Jill Beisel, physician's assistant and Dr. Sarah Matthias, pediatrician, and nine students: Ian Fiala, Garret Nokelby, Emily Morse, Reece Snodgrass, Rebecca Gebhardt, Halee Steffensmeier, Kylie Freudenberg, Roxana Dynes and Seanna Patterson went on a medical mission trip to Guatemala.

Most people don't realize that universities like Concordia Nebraska have esports teams. These teams not only offer opportunities for fun and fellowship with teammates, but may also mean scholarship opportunities for students. Concordia Nebraska's esports team Valorant enjoyed particular success in the spring 2023 semester.

From May 6 to May 12, six Concordia business students: Aubrey Baumann, Ashley Gerczynski, Sydni Kroll, Mady Payne and Kyla Schleusener, went on a mission trip to Cambodia led by Dr. Curt Beck, professor of business administration.