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To mark the 150th anniversary of St. Olaf College, 20 faculty and staff members are contributing chapters to a new book titled Honest Storytelling: A Sesquicentennial Exploration of Identity, Mission, and Vocation at St. Olaf College. As part of the Honest Storytelling Project, Visiting Instructor in Asian Studies and History Eric Becklin ’12 is writing a chapter tentatively titled “St. Olaf’s Chinese International Students and the Context of Lutheran Missions, Lutheran Transnationalism, and Education in the Midst of American Policies of Chinese Exclusion.” He shares what has inspired and driven his work.

My mom and I arrived on the St. Olaf campus in August of 2008 to move me into Kittelsby Hall and get me settled for my first year of college. In the hubbub of getting moved in and getting settled and a last-minute run into town to grab forgotten essentials, I didn’t have time to pay attention to the history of the building itself — nor the history behind its name. My mom got me unpacked, helped me loft my bed, and met my roommate (hi, Anders!), and then I was left to discover my dorm and my campus for myself.

As I got acclimated to life at college, I one day noticed a plaque in my dorm building that I had walked past nearly every day on my way to class and other campus activities. The bronze plaque — which has been temporarily removed while Kittelsby Hall is undergoing renovations in the 2024–25 school year — commemorates a woman named Agnes Kittelsby, a graduate with the Class of 1900, who taught at the college from 1904–14. The reason the plaque commemorates Kittelsby is not necessarily for her service to the college, but for her service to another institution: the American School Kikungshan, located in central China in Xinyang, Hubei Province. Kittelsby served as the head of the school from 1915 to her death there in 1925. Her former students at the school erected the memorial for her when the hall was built in the 1950s.

Kittelsby’s story is only a small piece of the connection St. Olaf has to China. It is one of the earliest, though, and it has been commemorated due to the efforts of her former students and Clemens Granskou, St. Olaf’s fifth president from 1943–63. Following Kittelsby’s death in China, Granskou served as her successor from 1925-27 while he was a missionary in China with his wife, Ella. Recollection of this plaque and the college’s connection to China led me to see what I could uncover about China’s Lutheran past.

Daniel Nelson — one of the first Norwegian-American missionaries to leave the U.S. to evangelize in China — has his image in the stained glass of Boe Memorial Chapel as another example of the college’s Lutheran connection to China from the Norwegian-American side (several of Nelson’s children attended St. Olaf). Missing in our college’s visible history in the same way are the Chinese Lutherans who shared their communities with missionaries and who came to St. Olaf as well. Missionaries like Clemens and Ella Granskou relied on the generosity of their fellow Lutherans in China in many ways. The connections between Chinese Lutherans to Lutherans connected to St. Olaf has led not only to the presence and growth of international students on campus; curricula and departments have roots there as well. These students’ stories are not written on the college’s walls in the same way as those of Kittelsby, Nelson, or even Granskou (for whom the Granskou Complex — where Alumni Hall, the Center for Art and Dance, and the Link are housed — is named).

When I began life at St. Olaf, I knew that I wanted to study history. I had intentions to go to law school, and history seemed to be a good fit for that (students reading: it still is!). I had studied German in high school, and I also wanted to try to develop my German language skills more. A high school classmate of mine (hi, Garvey!) who also came to St. Olaf suggested that we try studying Chinese. We needed the language credits to satisfy our general education requirements, and if we didn’t like Chinese, we could always go back to German. I spent the next eight semesters studying Chinese at St. Olaf. That, combined with the research mentorship I experienced in the History and Asian Studies departments at St. Olaf, led me to think about how far I might be able to take research and learning as part of my life. So I put law school on hold and earned a Fulbright scholarship to study medieval Chinese Christianity in Fujian Province. I continued to research Christianity in China and the way we can see social networks forming from connections between Chinese and foreign Christians, and I recalled the plaque in Kittelsby Hall commemorating her experience in China. The happenstance choice of studying Chinese led me to look for more ways that my alma mater had connections to China as well.

The web page about the college’s past presidents notes that Granskou bears credit for broadening the college’s global connections beginning with his presidency. Indeed, Granskou’s presidency coincides with much of the college’s shift to looking outward. In addition, St. Olaf has a deep history with global Lutheran missions. As a part of this mission project and the growth of a Chinese Lutheran Church, St. Olaf enrolled what records show is its first Chinese international student in 1918, a young man by the name of Xie Shouling. Xie came to Minnesota to expand his language abilities and later became a theology professor at the Chinese Lutheran Seminary. When he arrived, the Olaf Messenger declared that with the first Chinese student’s arrival, the college’s “vision [had] broadened.” The second student, Chen Jianxun, arrived in 1924.

Other St. Olaf students like Daniel Nelson Jr. grew up speaking Chinese as a first language before coming to the college. Lulu Hwoo, of Beijing, entered the college in 1930 and found her husband at Carleton College before they both returned to China to work for the government. In 1939 St. Olaf awarded Peng Fu, the president of the Lutheran Church of China, an honorary doctorate. In the midst of war between China and Japan, Peng traveled to the United States to receive the honorary degree and circulate around Lutheran congregations in Minnesota and the Dakotas to gather support for Lutheran congregations struggling under Japanese occupation. Xie, Nelson, Hwoo, and Peng all formed a club in China on the basis of their shared St. Olaf connections.

“The stories of Chinese students traveling to St. Olaf and St. Olaf students traveling to China connect the college to a larger history of globalization. With the globalization of the Lutheran church came that same globalization coming home to roost and changing the college as well.”

The stories of Chinese students traveling to St. Olaf and St. Olaf students traveling to China connect the college to a larger history of globalization. With the globalization of the Lutheran church came that same globalization coming home to roost and changing the college as well. Stories like those of Xie, Hwoo, and Peng represent some of the foundations of the college’s turn to global engagement and education. When Xie arrived at St. Olaf in 1918, he was one of the only international students, and one of the first from Asia. During the 2024–25 academic year, St. Olaf enrolled 320 international students — 10 percent of the student body — and they are an important part of the college’s identity and contribute in meaningful and important ways to campus life. What have we done to tell these parts of the college’s story? My chapter in the Honest Storytelling volume works to bring some of this history to light. How might Xie and Hwoo’s time at the college help us understand not only where we have come from, but where we are going as a community?

I’ll share what I’ve learned so far in a talk alongside St. Olaf alumnus Valeng Cha ’95 on Monday, May 5 at 5:30 p.m. at Northfield Public Library. The talk is part of a series of Celebrate Asia Pasifika events in honor of Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month hosted by the Asian Studies Department, Academic Civic Engagement, Leraas Fund, Taylor Center, and Northfield Public Library. All of the events will be free and open to the public. The other events include:

• Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika! An Evening of Filipino Music
  Tuesday, May 6 | 7:30–9 p.m. | Boe Memorial Chapel| More Information
  All are welcome to attend Kay Ganda Ng Ating Musika! An Evening of Filipino Music, featuring Walter Tambor, Isabella Dawis, and Paolo Debuque, along with students from Pamilya Pinoy.
• Taking Up Space: The Power of Storytelling in Leadership
  Wednesday, May 7 | 6–7 p.m. | Viking Theater| More Information
  All are welcome to attend Taking Up Space: The Power of Storytelling in Leadership, a fireside chat with Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay featuring student organization leaders from Asian American Student Union (AASU), Hmong Ole Student Association (HOSA), Pamilya Pinoy, Vietnamese Culture Organization (VCO), and more.
• Preserving Indigenous Culture: The Hawaiian Collection at the University of Hawaiʻi
  Thursday, May 8 | 6  p.m. | Virtual| More Information
  All are welcome to attend a talk titled Preserving Indigenous Culture: The Hawaiian Collection at the University of Hawaiʻi by Jodie Mattos, department chair of the Hawaiian and Pacific Collections at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. RSVP with Prof. Ka Wong at wongk@stolaf.edu or fill out the registration form here. Virtual meeting details will be sent to registered attendees via email prior to the event.
• Pasifika Anime Film Showcase
  Thursday, May 8 and Friday, May 9 | 6:30–8  p.m. | Viking Theater
• Taiko Spring Concert
  Monday, May 12 | 7–8  p.m. | Lion’s Pause Mane Stage

I hope to see you there!