Muhlenberg Receives $39,974 Grant to Explore the College’s Lutheran Roots
The grant will support a public conversation about the College’s Lutheran affiliation and the values that have underpinned its development over the last 50 years.By: Meghan Kita Wednesday, April 10, 2024 09:14 AM
Photo by Kristi MorrisIn December, the College was awarded a $39,974 grant from the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC)/Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) to support “Red Door Roots: Reframing Muhlenberg’s Lutheran Narrative.” This initiative seeks to initiate a public conversation about the College’s Lutheran affiliation to reveal the Lutheran values (human flourishing, social responsibility and personal vocation) that have underpinned Muhlenberg’s development in the past 50 years.
“This is a great opportunity to explore Muhlenberg’s Lutheran history and present affiliation in thoughtful, creative ways that highlight our core values,” says Muhlenberg President Kathleen Harring. “Reflecting on our past and connecting it to current institutional priorities will provide invaluable insight. We’re very grateful to CIC/NetVUE for their support.”
The grant will support speakers; learning communities of faculty, staff, students and alumni; the gathering of alumni interviews; and the production of videos, brochures and a book of essays. The planning phase of the project began this spring.
“This is a great opportunity to explore Muhlenberg’s Lutheran history and present affiliation in thoughtful, creative ways that highlight our core values. Reflecting on our past and connecting it to current institutional priorities will provide invaluable insight.”
—President Kathleen Harring
The College received a $10,000 grant to launch its NetVUE efforts in 2020. The learning community that was supported through that grant led to the concept for a humanities internships project that received a $29,900 grant from CIC/NetVUE last year. The College also received a $10,000 CIC/NetVUE grant in 2021 for Humanities Research for Public Good for "What Allentown Read: The Culture of Reading in the 19th-century Libraries of Muhlenberg College and Allentown, Pennsylvania.”
Head of Special Collections and College Archives Susan Falciani Maldonado and Chaplain and Director of Religious & Spiritual Life Janelle Neubauer are serving as the Lutheran roots project leaders. Other collaborators include Professor of Religion Studies and Director of the Institute for Religious & Cultural Understanding William Gruen; Vice President for Communications and Marketing Todd Lineburger; Executive Director of External Relations Stephen Payne; and John Wittenbraker, a social and behavioral scientist and spouse of President Kathleen Harring.
The funded activities are supported by the Council of Independent Colleges and Lilly Endowment Inc.
