When was augustana college founded

Also during this time period, the Augustana Theological Seminary separated from the main Augustana campus and constructed its own academic center at the top of Zion Hill. This new Seminary complex, built in , included a dormitory, classroom space, a library, and a Chapel. Hilleboe, who had served as president of Lutheran Normal School the previous year, was selected as the first president of Augustana College and Normal School.

To transition from a two-year junior college to an accredited four-year college, as desired by church leadership in , Augustana was required to attain at least one full-time professor in each of eight liberal arts departments: English, ancient languages, mathematics, philosophy, chemistry and physics, biological sciences, modern languages, and pedagogy. As a Lutheran college, there was also a department providing Christian instruction to all students.

Professor Sven A. When college-level modern foreign language courses were established for the new institution in , the choices were French and Norwegian. Within the next couple of years, German and Spanish would be added.

Eikeland Augsburg Publishing House, Norwegian courses are no longer regularly offered at Augustana. The college catalog boasts how easily Sioux Falls could be reached via railroad, listing typical lengths of travel from various central points in the Midwest. Riding the trains, students from Albert Lea, Minnesota, could reach Augustana in a mere — eight hours!

Not surprisingly, the students enrolled in all came from the Midwest, specifically South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and to a lesser extent, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Montana.

Sorensen's academic career had made him an internationally respected scholar. During his tenure, Augustana's enrollment doubled in size and several new buildings were added, including the Roy J. The seminary returned to Chicago in ; the college acquired the property known as the Augustana Book Concern from the LCA and later renamed the building Sorensen Hall. The grant allowed the college to enhance its curricular balance of liberal arts study with professional preparation, while the Carver gift put his name on the college's new physical education center.

On July 1, , Dr. Thomas Tredway became president after having served for five years as dean of the college and 11 years as a member of the history faculty. While his tenure may be remembered for the unprecedented growth of academic facilities — including the library, the Science Building, and the Franklin W. Olin Center for Educational Technology — a more lasting legacy is the strengthening of Augustana's faculty and academic program as well as of the college's endowment.

As Tredway observed in a president's report from the s, "No amount of new construction or success in fundraising will compensate for an inferior academic program. We do well to remember that a college is really about teaching and learning, about faculty and curriculum and students.

In recognition of his service, particularly in bolstering Augustana's focus and status as a college of the liberal arts, the library was dedicated as the Thomas Tredway Library in Augustana's current president, Steven C. Bahls, was installed in Since coming to Augustana, Bahls has overseen development and adoption of an ambitious strategic plan designed to advance the college's position among the nation's premier liberal arts colleges.

The plan's title, "Authentically Augustana," was chosen in part, according to Bahls, because, "the primary and clarion values of Augustana are the values associated with authenticity — truthfulness, excellence, genuineness, and faithfulness.

Within the first years of Bahls' presidency, a document entitled "The Five Faith Commitments of Augustana College" was created to articulate the historic and ongoing relationship between the college and the Lutheran Church, and provide context for the missional priorities of Augustana, including ecumenism, global focus, personal piety, servant leadership, and social justice.

In doing so, it provides a distinctive small-campus undergraduate experience within one of Canada's leading universities. Augustana remains mindful of its heritage, open to a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds, and responsive to the rural region in which it is located. Augustana Faculty is characterized by a lively, collegial academic culture of research, creativity, and public engagement in which students are invited to participate. It values interdisciplinary inquiry, teaching, and learning.