From left to right: President Jack and Kris Ohle, Adeline and the Rev. Drell Bernhardson, James and Susan Peterson.
Gustavus Adolphus College is pleased to announce that the Reverend Drell and Adeline Dekko Bernhardson have made an endowment gift of $2 million that will support the Nobel Conference.
This generous gift will solidify the core funding of the renowned Nobel Conference which is in its 44th year of existence at Gustavus. In addition, the gift will give the college increased flexibility to respond to Nobel Conference related initiatives and will enhance the intentional relationship between the conference and science education at Gustavus.
“We are grateful to the Bernhardsons for their continued support of Gustavus,” President Jack Ohle said. “This gift will ensure that the Nobel Conference will continue to be a premier educational conference.”
The Bernhardsons, parents of four Gustavus alumni, have a long history of generosity toward the College. In the late 1950s Reverend Bernhardson was among those who led efforts to raise funds to build Christ Chapel. In 1996 a major gift helped to establish the first fully endowed chair at Gustavus – the Bernhardson Chair in Lutheran Studies, currently held by Dr. Darrell Jodock.
More recently they made the first significant gift to endow the Kendall Center for Engaged Learning with its emphasis on student and faculty scholarship, learning, and research. Other gifts made by the Bernhardsons have supported the Christ Chapel endowment, Church Relations programs, and a scholarship fund that has made more than 900 awards since its inception during the 1993-94 academic year.
In 1997 the college recognized them with the Greater Gustavus Award – the highest honor given by the Alumni Association to those “who by deed, have notable advanced and aided Gustavus Adolphus College.” At the 2008 commencement ceremony, the college conferred on both of them the degrees Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510