Mask on or mask off…
Lakeland is a family. Throughout our long history, what has always set us apart is our people.
We are creating a fall experience that will reunite our campus. Mask on or mask off, Lakeland will always be here for our students, alumni and community!
Follow along with our plans to reopen this fall by visiting the link below. We can’t wait to safely welcome our students back home.
Lakeland’s Commitment to Solidarity and Change
"...assumption of white superiority is a moral and ethical cancer in America's soul."
At Lakeland University, we stand firmly with our black community members against white supremacy in all its forms.
We know that the trauma and outrage visible in our country right now is not new. We are committed to making necessary changes at Lakeland, as well as doing our part in Sheboygan County, so both are places that celebrate our diversity and are safe, welcoming and inclusive environments to study, work and live.
Since white supremacy and racism operate on multiple levels, we have been developing multi-pronged plans this year to address oppression at institutional, ideological, interpersonal and internalized levels in the short, medium and long term. We will listen to and partner with students, faculty and staff, centering marginalized voices at every opportunity.
We will care for community members most impacted by the most recent murders and protests while also committing to the longer work of transformation. We will release more detailed plans of these concrete steps this summer, and we welcome feedback and accountability.
We will not be perfect, but we will learn from our mistakes with resilience. As a university affiliated with the values of the United Church of Christ, which believes in a God whose name is love and whose work is justice, this commitment and this work is central to our mission.
We need to honestly face our history in order to fully understand where we are and how we move forward. It was with that motivation that President David Black recently wrote to our students, faculty and staff, and we share that letter below:
Sisyphus 2020 is a Black person pushing the rock of violent racism up the mountain of humanity. This modern Sisyphus has the disfigured face of Emmett Till, the crushed throat of George Floyd, the lifeless legs of Ahmaud Arbery, the bloody back and chest of Walter Scott and Alton Sterling, and the pierced and broken heart of Breonna Taylor.
Lakeland University’s people condemn the prejudice, discrimination and violence that people of color in America continue to face every day. We acknowledge the evil that the assumption of white superiority is and does.
Systemic racism is a structural and historical reality in every institution of society. And its foundational assumption of white superiority is a moral and ethical cancer in America’s soul. Let us commit to a searching of our own institutional and personal souls in the matter of racial equality and to healing this cancer that has inflicted so much pain.
Two resources among many that would inform this commitment are: Nikole Hannah-Jones’s 1619 Project in the New York Times Magazine and Richard Rothstein’s book “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America.’
Our Lakeland Chaplain and Ethicist, who has a Ph.D. in Social Ethics and has spent 19 years doing social justice advocacy, education and community work, with a focus on anti-racism efforts, is working this summer in preparation for a year’s instruction of administrators on inclusiveness.
I look forward to hundreds of hours of work together on this critical part of our human condition in the year(s) ahead.
Fostering success and providing guidance:
The Lakeland University Mentorship Program
We’re looking for alumni to pair with our cooperative education students. Interested in learning more? Click below to learn more!
Awarding alumni successes
We want to hear about the success stories of our alumni! Submit a nominee you think deserves to be recognized by the university.
55th annual Koehler Campus Senior Award
Lakeland University senior Shyanne Koski, an education major from Random Lake, Wis., has been named the winner of the 55th annual Clarence H. Koehler Campus Senior Award, the university’s top award for undergraduate students.
The Koehler Award is presented each year to a Lakeland senior who best exemplifies “The Lakeland Spirit” by his or her participation in and support of the university’s programs and activities. To be eligible, graduates must complete all their undergraduate years at Lakeland and maintain a high level of academic achievement.
To learn more about Shyanne Koski and the full list of this year’s award recipients, be sure to follow the link below to our blog. Congratulations to all!
Pam Engebretson to retire after influential career as faculty, staff member
Pam Engebretson, who joined the Lakeland family in 1988, has announced her retirement, ending a four-decade professional career as an educator.
She has served Lakeland as both a staff and faculty member at the main campus and our centers, and is known for being a teacher with high standards who both challenged and advocated for her students throughout her years of service.
Please join us in thanking Pam for her service and wishing her well in retirement. She is pictured below with 2007 graduate Barkha (Limbu) Daily
You enjoy reading news about your classmates and friends – they would love to read about you, too. Did you move? Get married? Get a new job? As we prepare the next edition of the Lakeland University Magazine, let us know so we can keep you informed and include your changes in the “Alma Matters” section of the magazine.
Upcoming Events
Please visit lakeland.edu/calendar for the most up-to-date listing of events.
August 26
Fall Term Begins
Oct 8
SOAR: Women Reaching Higher – Appleton
Oct 10
Homecoming
Oct 22
SOAR: Women Reaching Higher – Sheboygan