Dr. Michael ‘95, MAED ‘98 and Dr. Melinda ‘95 Schulteis, both longtime professors at Concordia, have made serving God’s kingdom through the mission of the University the focus of their lives and of their giving, sowing time, talent, and treasure into the community for more than 30 years.
“We believe in Concordia, so to give back is important,” Melinda says.
Both Mike and Melinda had early connections to the Concordia campus.
Melinda, whose father is a Lutheran pastor, fell in love with what was then Christ College Irvine during a campus visit. She enrolled in 1991 intending to study accounting, but switched to mathematics instead at the suggestion of an important mentor in her life, former professor of mathematics Ken Mangels, who later served as the dean of the School of Arts of Sciences. Mangels helped her at key moments to select a different major, enter the teaching profession, attend graduate school, and come to work at Concordia.
“God put him in the right places to drop the right comments at the right times,” she says.
After earning her degree and then a teaching credential through Concordia, she worked in the admissions office and taught lower level classes as a graduate assistant while doing doctoral work at UC Irvine. She transitioned to the regular faculty in 2004 and is in her twenty-eighth year of teaching.
“I love the place. I absolutely do,” she says. “At Concordia, our students grow not only academically but socially, spiritually, and emotionally.”
Mike’s maternal grandparents were Lutheran missionaries to India, and his father, a teacher and principal at multiple Lutheran high schools in the LCMS Pacific Southwest District, served on Concordia’s Board of Regents for 12 years. A young Mike tagged along to meetings on what was then the Christ College Irvine campus, which counted less than half a dozen buildings. He recalls the days when every professor performed multiple jobs and the financial aid filing system “was in shoeboxes, labeled.”
He also vividly remembers attending the dedication ceremony for the CU Center when it first opened and says it was visible then from the 405 freeway.
Mike chose to attend Concordia to fulfill his lifelong goal of being a teacher. He majored in biology, went through the teacher education program, and was “a guinea pig for the combined credential/MAEd program,” of which he is now director, he says.
Mike and Melinda essentially raised their boys on campus. Her mathematics classes usually were scheduled in the mornings and Mike’s education classes took place in the evenings.
“We passed the little ones between us, and a couple of students babysat if there was overlap,” says Melinda.
Before returning to Concordia as an employee, Mike taught a wide range of subjects at Hope Lutheran School in Glendora and at Orange Lutheran High School. He now serves as co- director of Concordia’s undergraduate teacher education programs in the School of Education — and still marvels at how the campus has blossomed over the years.
“It’s wild how much it has grown up,” he says. “I look at the renovations of the CU Center now because it’s amazing to see something we saw when it opened being changed for the better.”
The couple chose to stay and invest their lives in the University because of its heart and its mission, they say. Melinda helped coordinate the President’s Academic Showcase for 15 years, creating opportunities for students and faculty to work together on undergraduate research. In recent years she served as the academic liaison and math event coordinator for the Lutheran Elementary Schools Tournament (LEST) which welcomes hundreds of junior high students from the western United States for annual competitions and showcases of various disciplines, from sports to science to music.
Mike and Melinda also strongly believe in the value of Lutheran education as an environment in which teachers can help students beyond the classroom with life’s deeper issues.
“It gives an extra dimension to our teaching that makes it so much better,” says Mike. “We can share our ministry with students who are hurting and say, ‘Here is where our hope is.’”
Melinda has been able to assist students who lost homes or loved ones, or suffered some other distressing life event.
“That’s as much part of the teaching experience as classroom learning,” she says. “You see that someone is not their same self in class. You get to ask, ‘How are things going? Is there something we can be praying for?’”
She refers students to the University’s Assessment and Care Committee which works with the Wellness Center counselors to keep an eye out for students who may be experiencing troubles and need someone to come alongside them.
“Many times, I walk a student to the Wellness Center and connect them with someone,” Melinda says. “I love that we have the ability to do that at our University.”
Mike and Melinda enjoy attending Concordia sports, music and theatre events and seeing their students in other contexts where they shine. They also love to travel, and have taken groups of students abroad to look at how education is offered in places like China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Australia.
During one of their sabbaticals, Mike and Melinda both taught middle school for a year at the Concordia International School in Shanghai.
The Schulteises also prioritize Concordia in their financial giving. Following their parents’ examples, they made tithing and giving a high priority, and have regularly donated to their church and to “the ministry of Concordia because we believe this place helps the ministry of the kingdom as well,” Mike says.
They have given to every building project since the Chi Rho dorms were built.
“Buildings have an immediate effect on students, and they last quite a while,” Mike explains.
More than twenty years ago they decided to start the Schulteis Family Endowment to give scholarships to students intending to teach in the sciences and mathematics.
“We said, if we can help them get out there with less debt, that would be great,” says Mike. “They can further the kingdom without having the burden of financial loans. It’s a multiplier effect.”
Their endowment has paid out scholarships for over a decade, and they count it a pleasure when they get to meet student recipients.
“We don’t give huge amounts, but every little bit helps,” Mike says. “Some people think it’s all about having a huge amount of money to give. It’s not. It’s a little bit here and there. It doesn’t have to be much, and you can make a difference.”
Melinda emphasizes that “slow and steady” consistency over time works powerfully.
“You give what you can in each category: time, talent, and treasure,” she says. “To have been here as students and seen the growth of the whole person and faithfulness to God’s calling — we want to be part of that.”
The Schulteises’ younger son, Matthew, is a sophomore at Crean Lutheran High School. Their oldest son, Paul, is now a freshman at Concordia and is taking a New Testament class with Mark Brighton, one of Melinda’s favorite classes when she was an undergraduate.
“It’s a fun full-circle moment,” she says. “He’s playing volleyball on the same courts I did. To see him thriving and experiencing wonderful things we did as students is so rewarding.”