# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1981_S250 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 250 HIGHER EDUCATION and supply purchases, equipment maintenance, institutional staff employment, and auxiliary service operations. The college’s faculty, staff, and students have unlimited access to the library holdings and media resources of South- western College at no cost to the college. The holdings of each library are cross-referenced in the catalogs of the other school. The college has the opportunity to offer students the innovative experience of the January Term, a program that the college could not readily conduct by itself, and also wider opportunities for theater, orchestra, concert band, and instru- mental ensemble experience. Accreditation St. John’s College is accredited with the principal regional accrediting agency of the Middle West, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The college has been accredited as a two-year college with the association since 1961. In 1980 the North Central Association renewed its accredi- tation of the college’s two-year terminal programs and also accredited the college’s four-year programs leading to the baccalaureate degree. (The North Central Association awarded accreditation to the following baccalaureate-degree programs: bachelor of arts in preseminary study, bachelor of science in education, bachelor of science in business, bachelor of science in parish work, and bachelor of arts and bachelor of science in liberal arts.) The Faculty of the College The extension of St, John’s College to the status of a four- year institution can be achieved with the addition of a rela- tively small number of new instructional staff persons to the existing faculty. The number of new faculty members to be added by 1983—84 is five, each to hold an earned doctorate ora comparable professional degree. The college’s academic faculty numbers 20 men and 8 women, who serve'as teachers or administrators or both. In addition, seven persons in staff positions are advisory members of the faculty and four are part-time instructors. Twenty-three faculty members either have attended or are graduates of the colleges and seminaries of the Synod; and all of them, as well as the five other members of the academic faculty, have received additional education and earned post- graduate degrees at other recognized colleges, universities, and professional schools. The members of the academic faculty have completed the educational preparation leading to the following degrees: 4 hold the doctorate, 20 have master’s degrees, and 4 have bachelor’s degrees. Of those who have master’s degrees, five hold multiple master’s degrees and two are at the dissertation stage of doctoral programs. All who at this time have only a bachelor’s degree are enrolled in master’s degree programs. In addition, seven of the academic faculty are ordained clergymen. Previous experience of members of the faculty provide a variety of approaches to the educational task. Some have been educated to be pastors and have had parish experience; some have been educated to be teachers and have had experience in elementary, secondary, and higher education; some have had administrative experience as principals or deans; and some have had employment experience in business and in health- care services. All have stated their commitment to the character of the education that the Synod sponsors and supports at the college. The report of the North Central Association Review Com- mittee, written in 1980 by the chairman of the NCA on-site visitation team, provides the following statements of evalua- tion of the college’s faculty: The major description of this faculty is that they are very competent people, dedicated to St. John’s and to the Lutheran doctrine. Faculty members are considerate and kind people who express great optimism... The teaching methodology is traditional and conservative. Members of the teaching staff are fiercely loyal people who are enthusiastically supportive of students. The administration generally is proud of the fact that they have the opportunity to teach. Preseminary Program The Preseminary Program at St. John’s College is a bacca- laureate-degree course of study that meets both the specific course requirements in the study of foreign languages and the recommended course distributions for direct entry into the seminaries of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod: The Preseminary Program is in accordance with the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ that the church teach and proclaim the Gospel. The Preseminary Program offers a plan of education for men for a ministry in Word and Sacrament that is in harmony with the Lord’s commission to establish the public ministry. The Preseminary Program contributes to the recruitment and enlistment for the pastoral ministry in being readily accessible to prospective students in the south-central Middle West. The Preseminary Program helps reduce the large number of vacancies in the Synod by giving to the Synod an institution for preseminary education in an area of the Synod that has not been served directly by another institution of the Synod. The Preseminary Program builds on and extends the 87- year tradition of preseminary education that has been an integral element of the college’s curriculum since the founding of the college in 1893 by Mr. Baden. The Preseminary Program fulfills the academic require ments for entry into the theological seminaries of the Synod, including the requirements in Greek and Hebrew at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., and in Greek at Concordia Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind. The Preseminary Program meets also the recommendations for entry into the seminaries of the Synod—namely, that preseminary students’ programs of study include a broad background in the liberal arts (and especially in the humanities and social sciences) and that students have the facility to read German and Latin. The Preseminary Program provides personnel resources for area congregations for both professional and lay education. The Teacher Education Program Teacher education at St. John’s College is a four-year program of professional growth and development preparing students for placement into the elementary schools of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The program has a unique emphasis on preparation for teaching in small Lutheran schools. The historical stance of the Synod regarding the role and worth of Christian education (generally for the fostering of faith and life) and of Christian day schools (especially for those ends); the continuing needs for synodically-trained teachers for the schools supported by the congregations of the Synod; the specific emphasis of the college’s teacher-education pro- gram; and the parish-service contributions of teacher educa- tion for congregations of the college’s immediate constituency provide warrant for the college’s intention to offer a program of professional elementary education for the service of the members of the Synod. The Synod continues to support its historical position— namely, that Lutheran schools are the best and most effective agency through which the Synod can carry out its mission of education in the church. The number of Lutheran preschools continues to grow. The number of children enrolled in these preschool pro- grams continues to grow. The number of children enrolled in these preschool pro- grams who will enroll in Lutheran elementary schools con- tinues to grow. The number of Lutheran elementary schools continues to grow. The number of Lutheran elementary school classrooms continues to grow. The number of students enrolled in these classrooms con- tinues to grow. The Teacher Education Program at St. John’s College is not