# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S24
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

24 SEMINARIES AND COLLEGES

necessary remodeling and repair of parts of our oldest dormitories
and Administration Building, the installation of a complete fire- |
alarm system, the construction of the central offices of administra: }
tion and a fireproof vault, and for the allowance for furniture 3
and equipment of our expanded science and art classrooms and 3
laboratories. Our requests for needed space and facilities are
presented jn separate memorials.

Regional Accreditation Achieved

On March 24 the North Central Association of Colleges and
Secondary Schools officially accepted the application of Concordia.
Teachers College into the membership of the Association, thus {
granting unqualified recognition and putting its stamp of approval '
upon the expansion and progress of the past four trienniums. ;

Though our college has for many years enjoyed recognition |
by the State Department of Public Instruction and the State :
Examining Board for Teachers Certificates, as well as by the :
University of IWinois and other graduate schools, operative and -
pending educational legislation of various States made it imperative ;
that regional accreditation be secured as soon as possible. During ;
the war the North Central Association suspended its accrediting .
procedures, but the college worked steadily toward this goal with °
the co-operation of the Board for Higher Education and in harmony -
with the advice of Dr. John Dale Russell, now Director of the*
Division of Higher Education in the U. S. Office of Education, who ©
examined our college in 1944. Many improvements were made upon i
his recommendation. When in 1948 the new library and dormitory
allowed by Synod in 1944 were under construction, the college was
again thoroughly examined by Dr. M. G. Neale, Professor of Edu-
cation at the University of Minnesota and an experienced North;
Central evaluator, and Dr. Paul Lange, Principal of the St. Louis:
Lutheran High School. Over a period of two trienniums the:
teaching and administrative staff, the accounting system, the cur-

- riculum, library, classrooms, commissary, dormitories, and other
facilities were adapted to meet the expanded needs of Synod’s
teacher-training program, while at the same time conforming t
recognized collegiate standards. Following the formal applicatior

_ for accreditation, President Irwin Lubbers of Hope College, Hol
Jand, Mich., and Dean Robert White of Kent State University, Kent
Ohio, conducted the official examination and visitation in Decem
ber, 1949. Their twenty-five page report was the basis of th
favorable action by the North Central Association.

The examiners emphasized eight specific elements of streng'

at Concordia Teachers College. The first of these concerns itsé
with the purpose of the institution. Here the evaluators state

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