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82nd Annual Conference - September 29-30, 2017 - Conference Website

Re-Forming Communities: Toward the Next 500 Years

Intersections of Faith, Culture, and Community in Higher Education

Communities across our nation struggle to uphold the ideal of serving the common good in a world that seems to be continually shrinking. Our faith calls upon us to love our neighbor as our self. And yet we are challenged—in the classroom, on campus, in our neighborhoods, and within our academic fields—to develop and enact concrete practices that can foster vibrant, cooperative, resilient and respectful communities in a world where we seem to have less and less in common.

Please join us as we explore together how the 500 year old tradition of Lutheran higher education inspires and encourages us to respond to this call.

California Lutheran University, located midway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, is a newly-designated Hispanic-Serving Institution.  With a religiously and ethnically diverse student body, we are committed to building a learning and work environment that trains leaders to work for the common good. We respect each person's dignity and view individual differences as a source of strength and knowledge while being rooted in the Lutheran tradition of education.?

• Conference Hosted by California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California

Call for Papers

Submit proposals to present during a concurrent session (12-15 minute presentations, 5 double-spaced pages) at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Association of Lutheran College Faculties focus on one of the theme topics, as outlined below:

• Theologies of interfaith work for the common good

• Faith-based responses to violence

• Service learning and/or experiential learning in the classroom

• The Lutheran commitment to workplace equity

• Faith-driven relationships to the environment

• The role of the arts in shaping and inspiring communities and their ideals

• The role of Lutheran education in working for the common good

• Pedagogies that support engaged and resilient students

• Institutional practices that support active and well-spirited faculty

• Toward the next 500 years of Lutheran higher education: strengths, challenges, growth opportunities, creative contributions

Plenary Address

Kirsi Stjerna, Ph.D. - First Lutheran, Los Angeles/Southwest California Synod Professor of Lutheran History and Theology

Session 1

Educating and Equipping Lutheran Schools with Trauma-Informed Practices
Michael Uden, Ph.D. — Concordia Wisconsin

ELCA Schools as Sites of Eco-Reformation
Lisa Dahill, Ph.D. — Cal Lutheran

Binaural Beats: Resonating Powerful Effects on the Nation
Christian Albano, Ph.D. — Concordia Wisconsin

The Future of Lutheran Higher Education in Study Abroad for Re-forming Global Communities
Ann Lutterman-Aguilar, Ph.D. — Augsburg University

Walk for Hope: Service Learning in the Classroom
Laura Pollom, Ph.D. — Concordia Chicago
Incorporating Service Learning into Digital Coursework
David Grannis — Cal Lutheran

Session 2

Deep-Story Selves: The Vocational Autobiography and the Classroom Community
Samuel Thomas, Ph.D. — Cal Lutheran

How the “New Wave” of Comparative Theology Encourages Interreligious Hermeneutics through a Gadamerian Hermeneutic
Mariah Moston-Lilligren — Fresno Pacific

 Panel - Role of criminology and criminal justice education within the Lutheran context
Schannae Lucas, Ph.D., Robert Meadows, Ph.D. — Cal Lutheran

Building Bridges, Not Barriers: Interfaith Understanding at Carthage College
Fatih Harpci, Ph.D. — Carthage College

Lutheran Higher Education: Stillness for Vocation
Rachel Eells, Ph.D. — Concordia Chicago

Session 3

Lutheran Public Health Programs and Consortium: A Call for Action
Christian Albano, Ph.D. — Concordia Wisconsin

Jen Janousek, Ph.D. — Concordia Nebraska

How Can We Tie Sociology to Professional/Career Development through Experiential Learning?
Akiko Yasuike, Ph.D. — Cal Lutheran

 The Impact of Spirituality on School Leadership
Mary Zaharis — Concordia Chicago

Reducing Student Resistance: Mindful Teaching as a Tool for Maximum Engagement in Higher Education Classrooms
Daniel Low, Ph.D. — Concordia Chicago

It’s Time to Leave the Capsule if You Dare: Using Social Foundations to Create Transformative Distance Learning Experiences
Pamela Konkol, Ph.D. — Concordia Chicago

Peter Renn, Ph.D. — Seattle Pacific

Session 4

Panel - Teaching Islam and Religious Literacy at ELCA Institutions
Rose Aslan, Ph.D. — Cal Lutheran

Fatih Harpci, Ph.D. — Carthage College

 Balancing Positionality and Interculturalism for a Re-formed Learning Community: Working with International Students in a Lutheran University
Michael Wannah, Ph.D., Yurimi Grigsby, Ph.D., and Jamie Kowalczyk, Ph.D. — Concordia Chicago

Out of the Mouths of Babes: The Intersection of Poverty, Drama, and Faith with Milwaukee Urban Youth
Lori Woodall, MFA — Concordia Wisconsin

 The Economic Organization of the Early Church
David Tucker, Ph.D. — Concordia Portland

Navigating the Incarnation in Twentieth-Century Literature
Kathryn Artuso, Ph.D. — Cal Lutheran

2017 ALCF Committee

• Tim Hengst, President, California Lutheran University

• Paul Hillmer, President Elect, Concordia University St Paul

• Brian Harries, Past President, Concordia University Wisconsin

• Robert Hayes, Secretary, Concordia University Chicago

• Patricia Trautrimas, Treasurer, Midland University

• Mark Looker, Concordia University Ann Arbor