Distinguished Service Awards / Music Awards / Athletic Awards
Distinguished Service Awards
Susan (Livingston) English ’82
English is retired from the Northeast Iowa Agency on Aging, where she served in several capacities for more than 20 years. She and her late husband, Cliff English, professor emeritus of sociology, headed up the college’s Malta program and taught several years with Luther’s Lutherlag event. In retirement she volunteers with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, First Lutheran Church Pantry, and for the Alzheimer’s Walk. She is on the United Way Board and the Elks Club Foundation Committee and is a member of the Friends of (Mississippi River) Pool 9. She works as a substitute lunch lady for Decorah Schools and has volunteered to drive people to La Crosse, Wis., and Rochester, Minn., for cancer treatments. English is also a member of the Luther College Woman’s Club.
Janice (Engle) Gray ’62
Gray served as president of the Minnetonka Montessori School, tutored for the Bucket Brigade, spent nine years as a Girl Scout leader, and chaired the PAR program, a drug abuse/use program for elementary students. She later served as senior service program manager for the Minnetonka School District. The couple ran an office supply company for many years, and in retirement Gray continues to volunteer, receiving several awards for her service, including the Volunteer Exceptional Award for South Shore Senior Community Center in 2009 and the Hero Award from the Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Chamber of Commerce in 2010 for “relentless volunteer spirit and undying passionate commitment to serve the senior community.” Gray and her husband, John Gray, have been active supporters of Luther as fundraising campaign leaders. Life members of Luther’s President’s Council, they also founded the John P. and Jan (Engle) Gray Scholarship in 1997.
Michael Harman ’87
Harman spent four years in the United States Air Force, from 1981 to 1985, while going to school part-time at Northern Michigan University. He graduated from the Graduate School of Banking in Boulder, Colorado, in 1997. Harman worked for Decorah State Bank/Community First Bank for nearly 20 years and then started Harman Realty with his brother Mark. He has served on the Decorah Downtown Better Committee and the Winneshiek County Development Board and led fundraising efforts for projects such as Trout Run Trail and the St. Benedict Church capital campaign. He was named the Business Professional of the Year by the Decorah Area Chamber of Commerce in 2009 and the Volunteer of the Year by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs in 2010.
John Helgeland ’62
Helgeland earned a master of divinity degree from the Luther Theological Seminary in 1966, a master’s degree in the history of Christianity from the University of Chicago in 1969, and a PhD in early church history in 1973. He taught a semester at Luther and several years at St. John’s University and Divinity School and joined North Dakota State University in 1977, where he chaired religious studies from 1977 to 2015. Helgeland founded the Group Decision Center at NDSU and Northern Plains Ethics, where he is now codirector and board chair. He is also a consultant to the FBI, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and local law officials. He was the Blue Key Honor Society, NDSU, distinguished educator for 1982 and received the service award from the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at NDSU in 1998. He’s served as class agent for the class of 1962 since 2003, and with his wife, Susan, he belongs to Luther’s Heritage Club.
Sheldon Hermanson ’52
Hermanson completed a master of theology from Duke University Divinity School. He had a 30-year career as an air force chaplain, and his chaplain team was named the Finest Chapel Team for Ministry and Community Outreach Team in the Air Force. Hermanson was awarded three Meritorious Service Awards from the Air Force, three Outstanding Unity Awards, and two Legion of Merit Awards. In addition, he was presented the National Defense Service Medal and Churchmanship Award from the San Antonio, Texas, Council of Churches. In retirement, Hermanson served as the bishop of the Southwestern Texas–Louisiana Synod and as consultant to the bishop from 1986 to 2000. He and his wife, Renee (Aust) Hermanson ’54, are members of Luther’s Heritage Club and life members of the President’s Council.
Sujay Lama ’92
Lama became head women’s tennis coach at the University of Illinois, Champaign–Urbana, in 1995. His team was named ITA All-Academic all eight seasons, advancing to the NCAA team tournament five times. Since 2006, Lama has been head women’s tennis coach at the University of North Texas, which earned Sun Belt Conference championships in 2010, 2012, and 2013. He was named the Coach of the Year each of those three seasons. He was named Coach of Year by the Professional Tennis Registry National College for 2013 and by the United States Professional Tennis Association Texas for 2009 and 2014. Lama founded and directs Project Nepal, which funds schools for poor and orphaned children in Nepal. He is married to Lynne Tan-Lama ’90 and was inducted into Luther’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.
Larrie Wanberg ’52
Wanberg earned a master of social work degree from Washington University, St. Louis, in 1954 and a PhD from the University of Denver in 1973. He was a Fulbright Fellow, 1957–58, at the University of Oslo. Wanberg had a 20-year career as a social work officer/colonel in the United States Army Medical Service Corps, retiring in 1981, when he received the Legion of Merit Award from the U.S. Army Medical Services. He also taught at the Washington University School of Medicine, the University of Maryland, the University of North Dakota, Schiller International University in Strasbourg, France, and the European Institute of International Communications at Castle Well, among others. Wanberg owns Vanberia, a research and development company in Grand Forks, North Dakota; is a curator at the Dakota Heritage Institute in Northwood, North Dakota; and writes and edits for the Norwegian American and Scandinavian Press Magazine. His father, Richard Wanberg, class of 1914, received a Distinguished Service Award from Luther in 1964. His wife was the late Bjorg (Lahlum) Wanberg ’59.
Julie (Braastad) Wurtzel ’77
Wurtzel earned a certificate from the Iowa School of Banking and a master of education degree from Iowa State University. She has worked at Northeast Iowa Community College since 2005, variously as executive director for college advancement, executive director of the NICC Foundation, director of continuing education, and director for alumni giving and annual giving. Before joining NICC, she held positions at Decorah banks. Wurtzel has served on Winneshiek County boards such as Nordic Fest, planning for the Decorah stop of the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride across Iowa, and the Decorah Sesquicentennial Committee. She’s a member of Winneshiek County Development, the Winneshiek County Community Foundation, and Decorah Community School District Foundation, and she is a charter member of the 100+ Women Who Care. Wurtzel is also a member of the Luther College Woman’s Club. In 2015 and 2016, she received the NICC Innovation of the Year Award. She is married to Don Wurtzel ’74.
Carlo A. Sperati Award
David Upham ’92
David Upham ’92 is director of orchestras at the University of New Hampshire. He earned a master of music in orchestral conducting in 1995 from the University of Northern Colorado and a doctor of musical arts in instrumental conducting at the University of Washington in 2007. Upham spent six years in the public schools of the Kent School District and the Bellevue District. He supervised thriving programs, including the Young Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra in Seattle, the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra Classical Orchestra, and the Debut Symphony Orchestra in Seattle. Upham was also associate conductor of the Rainier Symphony Orchestra in Tukwila, Wash., along with many other orchestral positions that have enriched his orchestral abilities. His father, Leonard Upham ’62, was a Sperati Award winner in 1992.
Weston Noble Award
Shelly Schaeufele ’92
Shelly Schaeufele ’92 holds a master’s degree in education from Viterbo University. She has taught music for all elementary, middle, and high school grades and guest conducted honor choirs at both the middle school and high school levels. The Iowa Choral Directors Association named Schaeufele conductor of many of their district honor choir events, and in 2016 she was named one of the conductors of the Iowa Opus Honor Choir Festival. In 1991 she joined Dorian Summer Music Camps as a counselor and now is dean of students.
Richard C. and Joann M. Hemp Family Prize
Charles Craig ’18
Charles Craig ’18 is principal clarinet of Luther’s Symphony Orchestra, and, for the third consecutive year, has won the Torgerson Concertmaster Chair in the Concert Band. He appeared as soloist with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, was a finalist in Luther’s Concerto Competition, and has subbed in the Northeast Iowa School of Music Chamber Fest Orchestra and the Tri-State Wind Symphony. He also records Austro-Hungarian and Czech band music with George Foeller’s Heritage of the March Band, where he plays E-flat clarinet.
Theodore Presser Foundation Scholarship
Christopher O’Connell ’18
A member of the Pi Kappa Lambda national music honor society, Christopher O’Connell ’18 has been a member of the Luther Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Combo, Concert Band, and Trombone Choir. He has also worked as an audio technician at Luther for four years, recording student recitals. During the summer, O’Connell has worked as an instructor, musical director, accompanist, and arranger for the Rochester Civic Theatre Musical Theater Camps, the Rochester Catholic Schools Theater Camp, and the Rochester Repertory Theater. In addition to studying applied trombone, he has studied euphonium, voice, composition, and jazz improvisation. Last semester, he was a musical director and conductor with the Luther production of Rent.
Athletic Hall of Fame inductees
