January 9, 2007

Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), will be the keynote speaker at the Opening Convocation at Dana College later this month. The event, which will mark the start of the spring semester, will be held on Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. in the Gardner-Hawks Center. Admittance to the convocation is free and open to the public. The title of Hanson’s address will be “Unquenchable Curiosity and Evangelical Persistence.” The event will also highlight Dana’s commitment to service by our faculty, staff and students. A reception will follow the convocation in the Cooperman Atrium of the Gardner-Hawks Center. “ We are honored to have Bishop Hanson visit our campus,” said Dana College President Janet Philipp. “This is an enormous opportunity for our students to hear from a speaker with a national influence and international influence.” Bishop Hanson will also sit in on classes throughout the day, and Dana students will have the opportunity to join him for lunch in the college’s cafeteria.

Dana College is one of 28 colleges of the ELCA.

Hanson was elected to serve presiding bishop of the ELCA in 2001. He previously served as bishop of the Saint Paul (Minnesota) Area Synod and served as pastor of three Minnesota congregations.

Born in Minneapolis on December 2, 1946, he graduated from Augsburg College with a B.A. in sociology. He was a Rockefeller Fellow at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, and received a Master of Divinity degree there in 1972. He also attended Luther Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota, and was a Merrill Fellow at Harvard Divinity School in 1979.

In 2003, he was elected president of the Lutheran World Federation, a position he holds concurrently with his position as presiding bishop of the ELCA. In this position, Bishop Hanson has the opportunity to speak with Lutherans throughout the world about the social, economic, and political injustices that we, the people of God, are called to confront.

The son of a Lutheran evangelist, Hanson is by reputation an advocate for social justice, especially issues that impact the poor, including racial justice, housing, welfare rights, and immigration rights.

He is the author of Faithful Yet Changing, the Church in Challenging Times and Faithful and Courageous, Christians in Unsettling Times, both from Augsburg Fortress, Publishers.

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For more information or to set up an interview with Bishop Hanson, contact:

Carrie L. Reed, Director of College Relations and Marketing,
402-426-7385, creed@dana.edu