Helga Fjelstad (b.1864 - d.1938) Helga Fjelstad, a Norwegian immigrant, began her career at Concordia in 1895. As matron of the college, she was responsible for overseeing the food service and all it employed. This job was quite an undertaking as nearly every student and several faculty members lived on campus at the time. Considered by many homesick Cobbers to be a “substitute mother,” Miss Fjelstad was known for her comforting talks accompanied with milk and cookies.
During a typhoid outbreak on campus in 1899, all board services were shut down. Miss Fjelstad orchestrated a make-shift dining hall in the basement of President Bogstad’s home so that the students did not have to go without food. She also dutifully brought meals to those stricken with typhoid. She retired in 1921, but was asked to return in this capacity two years later. In 1938, a new women’s dormitory was built and named “Fjelstad Hall” in her honor. Miss Fjelstad was present at the cornerstone laying, but passed away before the building’s completion. At the dedication of the new hall, President Brown praised Miss Fjelstad for making “the greatest contribution of any individual to the progress and welfare of Concordia College.”
Martha Brennun (b.1894 - d.1961) Martha Brennun was born on January 14, 1894 in Oak Park Township, Marshall County, Minnesota where her Norwegian-American parents Peter and Sophia Brennun farmed. She graduated from high school in Oslo and was among only a few young women in the area at that time to receive a high school degree. After high school, Brennun attended Concordia starting in 1913. She was an intelligent young individual who was driven to bring changes to the campus. Brennun and two others created the first women’s literary society at Concordia: Alpha Kappa Chi Literary (AKX) Society. The society had their first public programming on March 16, 1917.
Brennun majored in mathematics, unusual for women at the time and seen by some as “unladylike.” She also studied Norwegian. On May 25, 1917, she was one of six students (five male, one female) to graduate from Concordia’s new four-year college program. Brennun was thus the first female student to graduate from a collegiate class at Concordia, as well as the college’s first salutatorian. After graduation Brennun was employed by the college, where she remained for the next 38 years. She served as the registrar and periodically taught Norwegian, mathematics, and religion courses. Brennun retired from Concordia in 1960. To honor her years of service, faculty and friends gathered together for a Norwegian dinner, held appropriately on May 17, Norwegian Independence day.
Frida Nilsen (b.1894 - d.1978) Frida Nilsen joined Concordia’s faculty in 1929 as an Associate Professor of English. Previously, Nilsen had been a missionary serving as principal of a girls’ school in China. Her education included a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from St. Olaf College and a master’s degree in education from the University of North Dakota. She also studied zoology at the University of Minnesota and Chinese at the International Language School in Peking.
At Concordia, Nilsen was known for being both strict and encouraging with students. Her varied interests and talents led her to be a role model for many Cobbers. She provided funding for student scholarships, tutored foreign students in English and often opened her home to displaced students during the holidays. While serving as dean of women, Nilsen was instrumental in the planning of Fjelstad Hall. She also introduced changes in the women’s dormitory government. In 1938, Nilsen established the Concordia Museum, and upon her retirement in 1962, the lounge in Fjelstad Hall was renamed “Frida Nilsen Lounge.
Dorothy Olsen (b.1907 - d.2002) “Dean Dot” was originally apprehensive about becoming Concordia’s Dean of Women. She had planned to stay just two years, but ended up falling in love with the college and its students. With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history, she taught high school for 12 years before earning her Ph.D. in guidance and counseling in 1953 from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. That same year she accepted an offer from Concordia and moved with her mother, Ella, to Moorhead where they elected to live in the dormitories, first in Fjelstad and then Park Region.
As Dean of Women, Olsen didn’t try to “mother” the girls, rather, she befriended them. Olsen’s priority was that students should enjoy their college experience as much as possible. At the time she came to Concordia, freshman women had a 7:30 pm curfew. If a woman was two minutes late, she had one-fourth of a mark put on her record. Dean Olsen relaxed the rule stating that it was because she couldn’t add fractions. Before Olsen’s tenure, each dorm had a “Dorm Mother.” Instead, Olsen instituted the tradition of Resident Assistants. When asked how she would like to be remembered, she replied, “A Dean of Women who enjoyed being a Dean.” In 1998, the Boe-Olsen apartments were named to honor Olsen and her colleague, Dean of Men, Rev. Vic Boe.
Florence Kruger (b.1896 - d.1979) Florence Kruger was born in Chicago, IL and moved with her family to Marion, IA. She graduated from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA in 1918 with majors in German, mathematics, and home economics. She received her master’s degree in home economics at the University of Iowa at Iowa City and taught at Wartburg College for nine years before coming to Concordia in 1929.
Kruger is credited with keeping the home economics department functioning during the Great Depression when funding was scarce. She organized silent auctions, athlete dinners, and food sales to raise money and also accepted potato and onion donations from area farmers. Wanting to give home economics majors a practical experience, Kruger organized the home management house in the fall of 1941. For six weeks at a time, six students lived in the house and assumed various rotating duties such as head cook, hostess, and laundress. Kruger also lived in the house and served as its residence head. Kruger was described in the 1947 Cobber as expecting and receiving nothing but the best from her students.
Mae Anderson (b.1899 - d.1948) Mae Anderson grew up in Shelly, MN and graduated from Concordia College in 1920. As a student, Anderson was a member of the Alpha Society, which was organized during her senior year. Only students achieving “A” grades were admitted to the society and their earnestness and work habits were also taken into consideration. She continued her education after Concordia, earning a master’s degree in 1923 and a Ph.D. in 1936, both from the University of Chicago.
Anderson returned to Concordia in 1928 as a faculty member in the Mathematics Department. In 1937 she became the first female faculty member to chair an academic department, a position she held? until the time of her death from leukemia. In addition to her teaching duties, Anderson worked on the Graduate Scholarship Committee and was secretary for the Committee on Relations to the Armed Forces. She also was active in Lutheran Daughters of the Reformation at Trinity Church. The Cobber 1949 yearbook described Anderson as having “that trait found in the rare teacher which is the ability to see the subject through the eyes of the student and thus to anticipate the difficulties he is sure to encounter.”
Vivian Wensl (b.1934 - d.2013) Vivian Wensel (née Floberg) was born in Hawley, Minnesota on February 26, 1934. She received her bachelor’s degree in education in 1956 from Moorhead State Teachers College. Wensel joined the faculty in the physical education department in 1957 after briefly teaching at the Thief River Falls High School. She stayed at Concordia until 1960 at which time she took a break from teaching to raise her children. In 1965, she returned to Concordia to teach and coach full-time. While on Concordia’s faculty, Wensel taught a total of twenty different classes, representing a broad range of topics and activities such as CPR, wellness, cross-country skiing, badminton, ice skating, camping and golf. In addition to valuing Wensel as a coach or classroom instructor, many students remember her for her May Seminars. She led twelve separate bicycle tours across Europe. During Wensel’s time at Concordia, she achieved progress for women involved in organized athletics. Title IX was passed in 1972 which prohibited sex discrimination in any educational program or activity at any educational institution that received federal funds. Wensel embraced Title IX enthusiastically. She was instrumental in paving a path for women’s athletics at Concordia College.
Pamela M. Jolicoeur (b.1944 - d.2010) Dr. Pamela M. Jolicoeur served as the tenth president of Concordia College until her untimely passing in 2010. Jolicoeur was born in Denver and grew up in California. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University. She received her doctorate from Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana and then became professor of sociology at California Lutheran University in 1972. Jolicoeur served in various capacities at California Lutheran University including department chair, academic dean, and provost. She left California Lutheran University in 2004 to become Concordia College’s first female president.
Dr. Jolicoeur greatly impacted Concordia College and was a visionary leader. One of her presidential achievements was advancing the global education program. She established a student exchange program with the United International College in Zhuhai, China through the Minnesota Private College Council. During her presidency, Jolicoeur was part of a select group of American college presidents invited by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling to participate in a summit on international education. She was also one of 30 college leaders who participated in a conference in Istanbul that looked for ways to strengthen exchanges between American and Muslim majority colleges and universities.
This concludes your journey through "History & Heritage: Celebrating 125 Years of Concordia College." We hope you enjoyed exploring the college's history and commemorating this milestone! Soli Deo Gloria.