Campus Highlights

THINGS Wild and Free

Incoming WLC freshmen have traditionally been assigned a book to read over the summer - the “campus read” - which they begin discussing as part of their orientation weekend and College 101 course. This past year, with new general education requirements in place for students, the campus read became part of a second-semester course for freshmen titled “Liberal Arts Seminar.” develops additional to campus for a panel discussion Boehlke talked about how we are now faced with environmental problems that the author couldn’t have anticipated. He said that

What remains the same is that the college’s Academic Co-Curricular Committee Panel participants Dr. Paul Boehlke, Dr. Nick Schmal, and Jason Nickels programming to support each the creatures of the earth and year’s book selection, which for the resources by God. We are 2019-2020 was A Sand County accountable to Him; we are not left Almanac by Aldo Leopold. to do as we please. He said that WLC welcomed Dr. Paul Boehlke, in Scripture is impossible, but we professor emeritus of biology, back should strive to do it. mankind is put in charge of to fulfill the ecological imperative of Leopold’s land ethic and the Following his talk in front of about Christian ecological imperative on 60 people, Boehlke was joined by March 2 in the Raabe Theatre. Jason Nickels, whose experiences include field research at Mequon Nature Preserve, and Dr. Nick Schmal, a former WLC professor who has worked with government agencies such as the USDA Forest

Service. WLC professors Dr.

Angela Ebeling ’99 (associate professor of biology) and Dr.

Dan Ebeling ’98 (professor of chemistry) moderated the discussion.

Dr. Schmal said: “Through natural resource management, I understood what a land ethic could be. As far as an ecological imperative goes, I felt I was able to exhibit a management style on public lands that hopefully shadowed what God wanted me to do.”

Dr. Angela Ebeling concluded: “God has given us directive to care for the world, out of respect for Him and out of love for our neighbor. Dominion over the creatures and nature doesn’t mean we do what we want.”

WOMEN IN MATHEMATICS CONFERENCE

Thanks to the generosity of a WLC Christian Women’s Leadership Circle grant, mathematics majors Mandy Abernathy ’21, Ashley Scherf ’20, and Sarah Snyder ’21 had the opportunity to attend the 22nd annual Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics (NCUWM) January 31-February 2. Dr. Tova Brown, an academic staff member in mathematics at WLC, attended with the students.

“We were excited to meet other undergraduates who share a common motivation to solve problems and apply mathematical skills in future careers,” said Mandy. “Because of our interdisciplinary studies in mathematics and other courses of study, it was great to see how professional researchers and other undergraduates are doing research in pure math, probability, mathematical modeling, physics, and biomathematics.”

Mandy gave a talk at the conference, presenting research that she completed at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in the summer of 2019. Her studies in mathematics, biology, and computer science at WLC enabled her to complete mathematical biology research through the Mathematical Biosciences Institute. The project focused on developing a mathematical model that predicts blood flow rate in blood vessels of the human retina and oxygen concentration in the surrounding tissue. While Ashley is planning to pursue her Ph.D. in mathematics, she is not yet sure what she wants to do with an advanced degree. At NCUWM, she was able to hear about multiple career paths from women working at Ford Motor Company, the NSA, and in academia. She said it was encouraging to hear that many presenters were unsure of what they wanted to do when they entered graduate school.

Sarah, who first decided to major in mathematics her sophomore year, said it was awesome to learn from women who have succeeded in their careers. Attending a breakout session led by a graduate student encouraged Sarah not to rule out attending graduate school and to keep seeking God’s plan for her education and career.

NCUWM demonstrated there are countless opportunities in the field of mathematics and so many career possibilities. “The conference was an excellent opportunity for us to grow as students and leaders,” Mandy said. “It helped us realize that when making decisions about our future, we should trust that God has a plan and will help

us realize how we can best serve Him.” Earlier this year, a generous Wisconsin company donated $100,000 to WLC as a matching gift for scholarships if WLC donors could give $100,000 in 100 days. Thanks to our amazing WLC alumni and friends, we met the 100-day challenge by May 16. Given that the COVID-19 crisis arose in the middle of this opportunity, we were not sure if it would be achieved. By the grace of God, we raised over $200,000 for more students to attend WLC. Thank you!

Top Test Scores for Psychology Majors

WLC senior students majoring in psychology ranked in the 89th percentile in the country based on outcomes of the 2020 Education Testing Services (ETS): Major Field of Study in Psychology test. For the past six years, WLC has ranked in the top 20% in the nation on the same test.

In 2020, 34,750 senior students representing 320 institutions across the United States completed the ETS: Major Field of Study in Psychology test. ETS and its Major Field Tests help higher education institutions meet the evolving accreditation and funding requirements for measuring student learning outcomes.