Concordia Students Awarded Eddie Phillips Scholarship

Three Concordia College students were selected to receive the Eddie Phillips Scholarship for African American Men, a two-year program created and coordinated by the Minnesota Private College Fund. It is designed to help students launch their careers after graduation.

Demetrius Turrentine , Colin Conteh , and Jacob Parmer, all juniors, began the program this past summer with 16 other students from eight participating Minnesota institutions. Seniors Patrick Smith and Telvan Vah were awarded the scholarship in 2021.

In addition to funds during their junior and senior years, the students receive valuable experiences, including advising, mentoring, and leadership development opportunities. They participate in internships, attend a national conference, and network with local African American leaders.

French Government Honors Professor, Alumna

Dr. Gay Rawson , French professor and chair of world languages and cultures, and Liane Mattson ’72 were each named a Chevalier (knight) of the Ordre des Palmes académiques (Order of Academic Palms) from the French Ministry of Education. The national award distinguishes their promotion of the French language and culture.

Rawson has traveled the world sharing her expertise and has led students working and learning in Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, France, Germany, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Switzerland, and Vietnam. Rawson has experience teaching French to all ages, including toddlers in the Cobber Kids early education center.

Mattson recalled a May Seminar to France when she was a student as a turning point in her life. She became a French teacher and worked as a counselor at Concordia Language Villages. She is currently co-director of Language & Friendship Inc., a nonprofit created by Naomi Toso Thomsen ’68 that helps provide language teachers and students with educational programs.

State Department Selects Professor for Program

Dr. Anne Walker, professor of education, was selected by the U.S. Department of State for a prestigious English Language Specialist (ELS) project held virtually with the Russian National Association of Teachers of English (NATE). She delivered a keynote address at the NATE conference in October titled “The Future of Teaching English to Young Learners.” She also led a workshop for Russian K-6 teachers.

The Specialist Program is an opportunity for leaders in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) to enact meaningful and sustainable changes in the way English is taught abroad.

Walker previously spent three weeks as a specialist working with the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education in rural areas of Saudi Arabia. She has also conducted several State Departmentfunded teacher exchange and training programs for English teachers from Russia, Turkey, and 11 developing countries across the globe.

Two Composition Students See World Premieres of Their Pieces

At 16, Jacob Shay ’23 was trying his hand at writing music. At 21, he attended the world premiere of his commissioned piece “Spark!” by a symphony orchestra in October. Shay submitted some of his music to Dr. Kevin Sütterlin, associate professor of instrumental conducting and conductor of The Concordia Orchestra who is also the music director for the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, one of Wisconsin’s finest professional orchestras. Instead of only receiving recommendations from Sütterlin on his pieces, Shay was invited to write an overture for Fox Valley.

“Jacob is quite talented; I immediately loved his bright and colorful instrumentations, beautiful melodies, and overall imaginative ideas,” Sütterlin said. “I remember thinking ‘wow, this guy really has a gift.’ I asked him to write a short concert opener that is exciting, exhilarating, has lots of forward momentum, and will have the audience on the edge of their seats gasping for air in the first minutes of the concert.”

Frederick Robin ’24 was in the audience as the Roma Tre Orchestra performed the world premiere of his piece in November at Teatro Palladium in Rome, Italy. After connecting on social media, Robin collaborated with the orchestra and its artistic director, Valerio Vicari, on “Rondo in A Major,” which opened the concert “Africa! On the Occasion of the World Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.” A multimedia performance, it was the orchestra’s first performance “fusing olfactory art and orchestral music,” because Robin is also a perfumer –scented strips of paper were distributed to attendees to smell while listening to the composition.

Robin started loosely composing as a child, taking piano lessons at age 4 and, by age 10, he was manipulating music to his own style and started studying perfumery after founding the olfactory lifestyle brand Studio FSR with his mom when he was 14.

Robin currently studies with Dr. Doug Harbin, associate professor of music theory and composition, who said, “Frederick’s premiere is a wonderful example of a Concordia student who has taken action to move beyond the classroom to generate his own opportunities and to engage new communities through his music.”