Archives for August 2022

North Memorial Hospital is offering an extended unit of CPE that will run from early October to the end of March. If you are interested, please contact CPE certified educator Verlyn D. Hemmen at verlyn.hemmen@northmemorial.com.

Reported employee cases: 0
Reported student cases: 1
Students in quarantine or isolation: 1

Reported cases only include students and employees who have been on campus within a period of time during which they may have been contagious. According to the CDC this includes two days prior to the onset of symptoms or a positive test.

If you have recently tested positive for COVID-19, or if you are an unvaccinated individual who has been in close contact with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 (close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of that person for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period), please report that to the appropriate person. For employees, that person is Michael Morrow (mmorrow001@luthersem.edu). Students should contact Leon Rodrigues (deanofstudents@luthersem.edu).

Contact Tracing Protocol

When an on-campus case of COVID-19 is reported, that person is first asked to stay off-campus and quarantine in accordance with CDC guidelines. In addition, the seminary takes two steps for contact tracing:

1. The Minnesota Department of Health is notified, per guidelines for institutions of higher education

2. The person reporting the case is asked to identify “close contacts”; the close contacts identified are notified of the exposure and asked to follow CDC guidelines for testing and quarantining (quarantine applies only to close contacts who are unvaccinated).

In this devotion, Louise E. Stromberg ’90 M.Div. writes, “Being righteous is living the way God intends us to live.” Read today’s God Pause.

Curious about or already serving in bi-vocational ministry? Join this upcoming, online course through Faith+Lead to meet others, get support, and find out some of the practical steps needed to make bi-vocational ministry a success. Whether you have a passion you’d like to turn into a side hustle or feel called to more than one vocation, this short course can help!

There are four sessions starting September 9, which run online and are recorded for later use.

Find out more and register now.

If you are interested in reproductive justice, and are interested in how religious leaders can advocate for an individual’s medical freedom, please email eclements001@luthersem.edu to join Luther’s new reproductive justice team.

Today we welcome Steve Thomason, associate professor of spiritual formation and discipleship. Steve will divide his time between the degree programs and Faith+Lead. He has taught as an adjunct professor in both the D.Min. and M.A./M.Div. programs. Steve says, “I have been married to Lona for 33 years, and we have four adult children. We live in Apple Valley, and we enjoy movies, music, and good food. I am a visual artist—drawing, painting, cartooning, animation—and I really look forward to bringing my art into our collaborative scholarly work with you all at Luther. I can’t wait to meet everyone!”

Steve’s office is in Bockman 104D. Feel free to stop by and say hello.

Terri Elton
Dean of Academic Affairs

Rolf Jacobson
Dean of the Faculty