Spirit of Luther Award / Distinguished Service Awards / Music Awards / Athletic Awards
Spirit of Luther Award
Victoria and Gregory Fields ’77
Greg is a regent emeritus who served on Luther’s board from 2005 to 2017. He is an HR analyst at Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicagoland. Prior to her retirement, Vickie was a vice president at Bank of America. Over the years, Greg and Vickie have consistently been two of Luther’s strongest advocates and dedicated ambassadors in the Chicagoland area. Together they have attended (and often co-hosted) nearly every Luther event and gathering involving admissions, alumni, or development efforts in their region. Greg provided key leadership in developing a Luther College black alumni organization and was instrumental in planning, organizing, and hosting Luther’s black alumni reunions, as well as contributing to various strategic planning processes.
The Spirit of Luther Award recognizes individuals who have provided significant sustained service to the college.
Distinguished Service Awards
Wayne A. Rohne ’53
Rohne spent two years in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, then earned a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. In 1967, he opened his own practice in Arlington and worked until his retirement in 1994. He served for a decade as mayor of Pantego, Texas, and then as Pantego city attorney until 2006. Other leadership positions he has held include: president of the Norwegian Society of Texas, trustee of Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, president of the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, vice president of the board of trustees for the Clifton Lutheran Sunset Home, and regent on the Luther College Board of Regents.
Russell P. Loven ’58
Loven was deployed to Okinawa, Japan, after volunteering for active duty with the U.S. Army in 1954. After returning, he was an educator for 44 years, serving either as counselor, teacher, principal, or superintendent in northeast Iowa; Stoughton and Watertown, Wis.; and Grand Meadow, Minn. He has held various leadership positions, including: mayor of Guttenburg, Iowa; vice president of Winneshiek County Memorial Hospital Board; assistant rotary governor; president of the Clayton County Emergency Board; trustee of the Guttenberg Municipal Hospital and Clinic Board; and church council president.
Deborah Hafner DeWinter ’73
After ordination at First Lutheran Church in Decorah in 1986, Hafner DeWinter traveled to Hong Kong, where she developed ministries with Filipina migrant workers, began the Hong Kong Fellowship of Christian Artists and outreach programs for Vietnamese refugees in detention centers, and served on the founding board of Hong Kong’s first shelter for battered women, Harmony House. After her return to the U.S., she served as program director for resettlement at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, associate director of the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program, executive director of FilmAid International, and program executive for the U.S. at World Council of Churches. She now serves as pastor at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Marilyn (Wangberg) Brattskar ’78
Brattskar is a virtuoso organist, dedicated teacher, leader in environmental and social justice issues, and prominent figure in Norway's diplomatic community. A sustainability advocate, she single-handedly led the Holmen Church where she works in attaining the Norwegian "Green Church" accreditation. In 2015, she was appointed as a Paul Harris Fellow for contributions to Rotary International's work to help eradicate polio. She has given several solo organ concerts throughout the world and has served as a lecturer and host during Luther's J-term Paideia 450 course "Green Germany and Norway: Advanced Models of Sustainability."
Celia (Nybro) Manlove ’78
Manlove has held several high-profile positions in the field of health care, including: director of provider relations for Physicians Health Plan of Minnesota; senior vice president of health services at Northwestern National Life in Minneapolis; associate vice president of Provider Services for Amerigroup Corporation in Texas; and chief operating officer of Amerigroup’s Austin and San Antonio health plans. She now acts as president of Kentucky Medicaid. She has been active in Lutheran and Episcopalian churches and Girl Scouts and has served on boards of directors for the Kentucky Opera and the Neighborhood House, a center dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty.
David Lietz ’88
A graduate of Georgetown Law School, Lietz founded his own practice, which concentrates on complex civil litigation involving wrongful death and critical injury. His passion for learning and the liberal arts encouraged him to teach, with Bill Craft, a J-Term course at Luther called Literature, Law, and Justice. He served on Luther’s Board of Regents for 12 years, during which time he was valued for his keen insights, willingness to ask hard questions, and propensity to reach out to students and faculty.
J. Erik Beguin ’93
After moving to Austin, Texas, in 2000, Beguin became concerned with the inequitable mortgage lending terms offered to Spanish-speaking versus Caucasian families. To help address the inequity, in 2002 he became a licensed mortgage lender and in 2006 founded a bank to serve the Hispanic community. Now operating as Austin Capital Bank, Beguin’s enterprise offers traditional community banking, a digital mortgage lending division, and a fintech product platform to help low- to moderate-income consumers establish and build credit nationwide. He has been appointed to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s seven-member Community Bank Advisory Council and to the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank Advisory Council.
Anjela A. Shutts ’93
After earning a law degree from Drake University, Shutts began her career at Whitfield & Eddy in Des Moines, Iowa, where she continues to practice family law, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution. Her leadership in finding ways law can serve both the common good and guarantee individualized justice has resulted in many accolades, including the 2018 Iowa Supreme Court’s Voice of Justice Award. She currently serves as vice chair of the Access to Justice Commission of the Supreme Court of Iowa and on Luther’s Board of Regents.
Criteria considered for Distinguished Service Award (DSA) candidates include meritorious service to society in areas such as education, government, the arts, business, church, labor, industry, agriculture, research, medicine, and community affairs; loyalty and service to Luther; fidelity to the ideals of Luther; and timeliness of the award. Though individuals nominated for DSAs typically have a strong Luther connection, they do not have to be alumni. Nominations may be made at luther.edu/alumni/services/awards.
Music Awards
Carlo A. Sperati Award
Juan Tony Guzmán ’90
Juan Tony Guzmán ’90, Luther professor of music, is director of the college’s Jazz Orchestra and jazz program and holds its Weston Noble Endowed Chair in Music. Guzmán is sought-after globally as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Recently, he has given clinics and presentations for the Singapore American School, Choral Music Experience Institute, Association for Music in International Schools, Universidade Federal da Paraíba and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil, World Choral Symposium, Scottish Association for Music Education, and Festival 500 in Canada.
Weston Noble Award
Paul Gulsvig ’73
From 1979 to 2006, Paul Gulsvig ’73 was choral director at Onalaska (Wis.) High School, where he transformed a small swing choir into a nationally recognized program. From 1985 to 2006, the Hilltoppers swing choir won grand championships in 16 cities and seven states and won the national championships in 2004 and 2006. In 1986, he started the Parent Support Group, which has raised more than $1 million to support choral trips around the country. In 2016, Gulsvig was one of only a few educators ever to receive the “Mousker” Award by the Disney Corporation Foundation.
Richard C. and Joann M. Hemp Family Prize
Michael Winkler ’19
Michael Winkler ’19 of Sheboygan, Wis. is principal trumpeter in Luther’s Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2015, he toured as lead trumpet with Kids From Wisconsin for a three-month tour during which he performed in front of more than 100,000 people. In 2018, he was a semifinalist at the National Trumpet Competition, ranking him in the top group of undergraduate soloists in the nation.
Theodore Presser Foundation Scholarship
Brenna Sherman ’19
Brenna Sherman ’19 of Rochester, Minn., plays flute in Concert Band, Chamber Orchestra, and Symphony Orchestra and sings in Aurora, Cathedral, and Collegiate choirs. She held a lead role as Despina in Luther’s 2017 opera Cosi Fan Tutte. Her scholarships at Luther include a President’s Scholarship, All-State Music Scholarship, “Become” Award, Weston Noble Instrumental Music Excellence Scholarship, Preus Music Scholarship, and John H. Monson International Education Scholarship.
Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees
Inductees into Luther’s Athletic Hall of Fame during Homecoming 2018 were (left to right): Katie (Haseman) Asplund ’03, diving; Ellen Drewes-Stoen, former head volleyball coach (1979–2003); Barb (Wagamon) Aamodt ’93, volleyball, track and field; Maureen (Silberstein) Awtry ’93, track and field; Tyler Sherden ’08, football, track and field; Jesse Reyerson ’03, wrestling; and Todd Ancelet ’98, soccer.