News

Wow! The first Sunday after Labor Day has hints of returning to “normal”. Yes, we have masks, social distancing, bumping elbows, and communion carefully distributed, but we are back!

The Open Forum was a huge success–both in-person and via Zoom. We had great music with limited singing, lunch for the students and YES, the Stewardship Team welcoming everyone to worship. We had the largest attendance since we have been having in-person service.

This coming Sunday be sure to pick up your Welcome Package and Pledge Cards in preparation for Stewardship Sunday on September 26, 2021.

If you have any items for the University Lutheran Church newsletter, please submit them to the office (info@ulctempe.org) by Tuesday, September 14th. Thank you!

Dr. Michael Crow met recently with ASU’s Council of Religious Advisors or which LCM is an active partner. Here are just a few gleanings regarding ASU today.

77,000 on campus students/80,000 on line students.

All states and most counties in the US have students at ASU/153 countries represented.

Currently there are 250 different research groups at ASU working on COVID including future vaccines.

“We are in the 3rd inning of COVID with more variants, etc. possibly coming.”
8% of students have tested positive for COVID since the pandemic began…about 8% of the student body. 1,000 staff/faculty have tested positive; about the same percentage.

ASU has the world’s largest faculty for global futures working on, among other things, climate change. Currently ASU has developed artificial trees that do a better job than natural trees in fighting carbon emissions. 10,000,000 of these trees could put the air quality back to pre-Industrial Revolution levels. However, the expense currently is cost-prohibitive

For the first time in several years the state of Arizona has put an investment into AZ universities. Arizona has one of the lowest support levels of its state universities in the US.

More students live in ASU dorms than the number of athletes who lived in the Olympic Village in Tokyo. Unlike the Olympic Village, ASU is not allowed to require testing and vaccinations.

Over 1 billion in new construction is underway at ASU.

ASU is the only university in the US who did not lay off, reduce staff, or reduce salaries during the pandemic.

Several campus clergy stated that in discussions with colleagues around AZ and the US, none of the universities seem to have the strong support we have at ASU. Most express surprise the president regularly takes time to meet with campus ministry groups.