# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1981_S254 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 254 HIGHER EDUCATION —For the past four years the Board of Mission Directors of the Kansas District and the health-care professionals of the Winfield area have participated in a challenge pro- gram whereby each group has provided $7,500 annually in support of the Associate Degree Nursing Program. St. John’s College Alumni Association The St. John’s College Alumni Association is an indepen- dent association of alumni and friends devoted to the support of the college, not a department of the college devoted only to alumni services. The association, the oldest alumni group at any of the colleges and seminaries of the Synod, has supported and will continue to support the college in the general areas of publicity, recruitment, scholarships, and long-range financ- ing. The association is a significant link between the college and its graduates and former students, and is the principal medium for generating and sustaining the good will of gradu- ates for the college. The association historically has encouraged the college to continue the deveopment of its four-year plan and has publi- cized the plan in its publications, which keep the college in touch with its alumni, former students, and friends. The Association has aided in the recruitment of students by helping the college identify and contact outstanding high school students. The Association has provided significant scholarship assistance to students: $18,000 to $20,000 for 60 to 80 students in both 1979—80 and 1980—81. (Association plans call for the awarding of more than $20,000 to more than 80 students in 1981—82.) The Association has served as a trustee for funds to be used for special projects for the development of the college. An example of such service is the gathering and holding of more than $25,000 for the Tower Fund, which will support the construction of a clock tower in the plaza area to be developed in the college’s long-range campus improvement program. The association has made plans for sponsoring a teaching chair in the area of business administration and has raised more than one-half million dollars in endowment funds for the continued support of the college. The Association has disseminated information concerning various other aspects of gift giving for the support of the college—for example, matching-grant programs, the establish- ment of trust funds, and the designation of the college as a beneficiary in wills, trusts, etc. These efforts by the Association have the sole purpose of providing long-term financial support for the college. St. John’s College Association of Lutheran Congregations The St. John’s College Association of Lutheran Congrega- tions is an independent nonprofit corporation that has supported and will continue to support, promote, and advance Christian higher education at St. John’s College. The St. John’s College Association of Lutheran Congrega- tions was established in 1974 to stimulate the recruitment of church-worker students on the congregational level, to provide scholarship aid for students from member congregations, and to provide additional direct support from congregations to the college in order to supplement the annual subsidy of the Synod. Membership in the association has grown from 34 charter- member congregations to the current membership of 115 congregations. The Association has supported the Associate Degree Nursing Program since the introduction of the program in 1974; it has contributed more than $175,000 to the program since that time. The Association has provided scholarship assistance to students from member congregations. During the past six years, more than $116,000 in such scholarship assistance has been awarded to students who attend St. John’s College. Since 1974 an average of 60 students a year have received substantial scholarship aid from the association as a result of their home congregations’ membership in this association. The association has assisted in the recruitment of students by sponsoring visits to the college’s campus for prospective students. The association has served the important function of being a vital communication link between the congregations of the Middle West and the college. Winfield Community Support The Winfield community and its trade area, through the efforts of leaders in business, industry, and the professions especially, has supported the college financially and has indicated through pledges that Winfield will continue to help the college achieve its goals for the $2 million development campaign and for continuing improvement of the Associate Degree Nursing Program. To demonstrate this support, the Winfield community accomplished the following: —The Winfield community during the past nine years has supported the college by contributing to the Winfield Community Scholarship Fund. The amount contributed during that period was more than $57,500. —The Winfield business community has pledged its support to the $2 million development campaign by adopting a support goal of $120,000. This goal is to be achieved by the end of the 1982 calendar year. —The Winfield area health-care professionals have con- tributed more than $24,000 to the Associate Degree Nursing Program since 1976. —The Winfield area health-care professionals have pledged an additional $12,000 for the 1980—81 academic year for the Associate Degree Nursing Program in a matching- fund campaign in cooperation with the Kansas District Board of Mission Directors. —Winfield area residents have provided more than $7,500 from bequests, private gifts, scholarships, and contribu- tions from professional organizations in support of the Associate Degree Nursing Program of the College for use as scholarships and other kinds of financial aid for Winfield-area students enrolled in the program. —The city of Winfield has leased to the college for a 20-year period the three-story facility that formerly housed the William Newton Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. This facility, leased to the college for $1.00 for the 20-year period, provides office space for four members of the nursing-education faculty, a nursing education library, four classrooms, and living quarters for as many as 58 students. The facility is located two blocks from the college’s campus. —The Winfield business community has repeatedly encour- aged the College to continue its effort to move to the status of a four-year baccalaureate degree-granting institution. —From a historical point of view, the Winfield business community has made substantial financial contribution to the college’s physical development by providing $50,000 for the construction of a women’s residence hall (Mundinger Hall—North) and more than $32,000 for the purchase of property to develop a number of athletic fields that could be jointly used by the college and the Winfield community. In addition, the city of Winfield has helped the college provide lighted tennis courts for use by the college’s community, as well as by the residents of Winfield. St. John’s College has enjoyed a relationship with the Winfield community that has been marked by acceptance, respect, and good will. Winfield Community Setting The city of Winfield offers a setting that is congenial to and supportive of St. John’s College and its program of Christian higher education. The relationship between the college and the community is mutually beneficial. The long and friendly relationship between the college and the community has existed since 1893, when John Peter Baden, a respected and successful pioneer businessman in Winfield, founded the college. The mission and ministry of The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod in higher education and in parish life is known, accepted, and highly respected in Winfield, and the Winfield community has demonstrated in many tangible ways that the college is a vital and integral element of social, economic, educational, and cultural life.