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Rev. Brian Konkol, Valparaiso University’s incoming president , said Friday that growing up in the tiny town of Amherst Junction, Wisconsin, Valpo was always on his radar.

“This is a dream opportunity for me,” said Konkol, whose bow tie and spectacles give him a glancing resemblance to Orville Redenbacher, the city’s revered popcorn entrepreneur. “This is the dream job.”

During a meeting with local media after a meet and greet in the community room of the Christopher Center Library that drew more than 100 people, Konkol, who starts in his new role Jan. 1, said he sees the opportunity as the university’s 20th president to be “both rooted and reaching.”

Rooted in the Lutheran tradition, he explained, and reaching to educate young people not

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