2008 Covenant Award Presentation

The Covenant Award is bestowed annually to celebrate the efforts of individuals who have made distinctive contributions toward strengthening the partnership between Gustavus Adolphus College and member congregations of the Association of Congregations. Alumni, pastors, Association delegates, faculty, staff, and students of the College are eligible for the award.

President Jim Peterson will present the 2008 Covenant Award to Dr. Paul F. Tillquist on April 26 at the Association of Congregations annual meeting.

Dr. Paul F. Tillquist '63 has been a long-time advocate for the church-related identity of Gustavus. Working for the College much of his professional career has been his way of teaming his commitments to the Church and the College. In various roles on staff—as admission counselor, Director of Academic Counseling, Associate Academic Dean, Director of Planned Giving, Senior Development Associate, and now as Executive Consultant in Advancement—Tillquist has remained intentional in his efforts to promote Gustavus as a college of the Church.

A number of church-related initiatives that Tillquist helped plant into the soil of Gustavus have grown into key elements in expressing the living relationship Gustavus enjoys with the Lutheran Church. Tillquist assisted Interim Chaplain Robert Esbjornson to begin the Transfiguration Talks, a program that brings an alumnus back to campus to give a series of five chapel talks during the week of the Transfiguration of Christ. During the 1980s, Tillquist worked with the Office of Church Relations in developing the program that has, over the years, grown into the Partners in Education program, which sends Gustavus professors into congregations on Sunday mornings for various educational presentations. He also worked with Dennis Johnson to establish the criteria for the Covenant Award in 1991, when it was first given.

His efforts toward the Church-College connection have been seen at many points of his career. In the aftermath of the 1998 tornado when Tillquist served as Vice President, Development and Communications for Lutheran Social Service, he worked to connect LSS with members of the Gustavus Association of Congregations and other ELCA congregations to help organize and transport volunteers to campus for service days.

Born in St. Paul, Paul Tillquist received his bachelor's degree from Gustavus in 1963; and his master's and Ph.D. from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, in 1966 and 1968, respectively, and has also studied at Harvard University's Institute for Educational Management.

Paul and his wife Ruth (Anderson '63) are members of Incarnation Lutheran Church of Shoreview, Minnesota. Their sons are Jonathan and Christopher ('91).