Feature of the Month

Alpha Sigma Nu is proud to salute the work of Rev. Mike Steltenkamp, S.J.

Alpha Sigma Nu first recognized Wheeling Jesuit Faculty Adviser, Michael F. Steltenkamp, S.J., when it awarded him the 1994 AΣN Jesuit Book Award for Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala. He was then inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu in 1995 at WJU where he has been Faculty Adviser since 1998.

Steltenkamp was ordained a deacon on the pow-wow grounds of Manderson (Black Elk’s reservation town). For three years, he taught high school in Pine Ridge, the nation’s poorest county and second largest Indian reservation. He undertook doctoral studies in anthropology at Michigan State University. Steltenkamp taught for three years at Bay Mills Community College, one of thirty-one American Indian colleges nationwide.

Currently, Father Steltenkamp is a professor of Religious Studies and Anthropology at Wheeling Jesuit University. In 2001, Father Mike and the WJU AΣN Chapter launched “the daily bread run.” AΣN student-volunteers pick up leftover bread and deli items from local grocery stores and deliver these goods to the Catholic Charities Neighborhood Center in downtown Wheeling. Recently, the chapter also began pick-ups at the local Panera’s restaurant. The University of Kentucky’s “ruraljournalism.org” recognized the Wheeling Jesuit’s AΣN chapter for living the Society’s values in service to others.

Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Missionary, Mystic, is the title of Father Mike’s new book. It is the first complete biography of the revered holy-man. This special person comes to life in a work that draws upon previous literature, and unpublished material he acquired when interviewing Black Elk’s friends and only surviving child, Lucy Looks Twice. Mike details not only Black Elk’s life, but also his influence on the New Age and Indian revitalization movements of the late twentieth century.

If anyone wishes a signed copy of the book for the AΣN member price of $20, send a check made payable to Margie Cooke, Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, WV 26003. A dollar will be donated to Alpha Sigma Nu for each copy ordered.

 

 

 

 

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