Established on 11.21.2005 by Carroll and Jo Engelhardt †
Former Iowa farm kids Carroll and Jo Engelhardt arrived at Concordia College on July 1, 1970, traveling in a small U-Haul truck and a 1967 Mustang from the University of South Dakota at Vermillion. When they neared Moorhead, Jo drove ahead to get the key for the college-owned Nemzek House they rented on the corner of Twelfth Avenue and Fifth Street South next to the Hvidsten Music Hall. Years of living in furnished apartments while Carroll earned a doctorate at the University of Iowa had left them bereft of furniture. They happily furnished their new home with items purchased at a nearby estate sale.
Together the couple logged sixty-nine working years at Concordia. Carroll started teaching history at the end of August. Jo worked as a secretary in the newly formed Charis Office until their first-born daughter Kristen arrived on October 6th. The Business and Economics Department hired Jo as a part time secretary for the 1971-72 academic year. Daughter Rachel was born on August 15th soon after the couple had moved three blocks west of campus into the only home they will own. Jo returned as a part time secretary for the Sociology and Social Work Department in 1975. She retired as Office Manager for the History, Political Science, Sociology, and Social Work Departments on May 15, 2006. She moved to Prior Lake, Minnesota, in order to help Kristen care for two sets of fraternal boy-girl twins that were newborns and just three years old. Meanwhile, Carroll taught United States, Latin American, and Modern European history in a variety of courses to more than five thousand Cobbers as a full time and adjunct professor until he retired on May 1, 2007. The couple accompanied many other collegians on five May Travel Seminars between 1979 and 2000. Carroll additionally published four books including the centennial and sesquicentennial histories of Concordia College, two book chapters, nine journal articles, and more than thirty book reviews in state and regional historical journals.
Jo and Carroll have observed the academic progress and professional success of a multitude of Cobbers during their half-century as members of the Concordia College community. They established a student scholarship in appreciation of the rich educational rewards that Concordia has bestowed on several student generations. They are happy to return a portion of what they have been given in order to help future Cobbers attain a Concordia education.
The Carroll and Jo Engelhardt Memorial Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to one or more students majoring in history and/or sociology or social work.