# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2013_S93 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) SYNOD REPORTS liberal arts and professional studies for lives of learning, service, and leadership.” Acknowledging that all good things come from our gracious God, we note the following accomplishments since the last Synod convention. • Concordia University (CUI) is the fifteenth fastest-growing private Master’s Degree-granting university in the US, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. • Concordia’s enrollment grew from 2,500 in 2009 to 3,500 in 2012. • Concordia added the following academic programs: • • • • • • • • • • • • BA in Economics BA in Graphic Design BA in Health Care Management BA in Organizational Psychology BA in History & Political Thought BS in Athletic Training RN-to-BSN program in Nursing MA in Educational Specialist with an emphasis in Mild/Moderate Disorders MA in School Counseling, including a Pupil and Personnel Services credential MA in Educational Technology MA in International Studies with an emphasis in International Development Minor in Global Cultural Studies • CUI will offer its first doctoral program, a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership, in 2013. • Concordia expanded the reach of its Master’s Degree programs in Education throughout California, offering face-to-face instruction at eight regional centers—including two in the San Francisco Bay area—and in over 30 off-campus sites to over 700 students annually. • A core curriculum was implemented as part of its general education for all undergraduates. This innovative curriculum, which combines study of great works with emphases on interdisciplinary study, critical thinking, intensive writing and global awareness, has been praised by both the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) and the Association for Core Texts and Colleges (ACTC). • The Office of Global Programs was established to provide stronger support for mission trips, study-abroad experiences, and international students attending the university. • In Fall 2010 and again in Fall 2012, CUI offered its groundbreaking Around-The-World Semester®, in which two faculty and two staff led approximately 25 students on an 18-week study tour that literally circumnavigated the globe, earning a semester’s worth of college credit and engaging in mission and service projects on four continents. During the Fall 2012 semester, students studied, served, and witnessed to the Gospel in Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Ethiopia, Austria, Hungary, Bolivia, and Peru. • In 2010, Concordia completed and began implementing a strategic plan with four main emphases: (1) strengthening academic rigor; (2) communicating institutional identity; (3) enhancing the student experience; and (4) improving institutional operations and finances. In 2012, with many of the original initiatives accomplished, the university updated its strategic plan, adding an emphasis on expanding graduate, adult, and online education. • Concordia’s Theatre Department continues to receive accolades from the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival. The department’s 2010 production of The Cover of Life was invited to KC/ACTF’s annual regional festival, as were scenes from Hamlet (2010) and Beau Jest (2012). In 2012, the department launched Looseleaf Theatre Company, in which local professional actors perform alongside Concordia students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Its 93 production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night was enjoyed by nearly 1,500 people. • Concordia’s forensics program has achieved national prominence in speech and debate competitions in the last three years. Since 2010, the team has placed first or second at numerous national tournaments, competing successfully against schools such as Texas Tech, Oregon, and the University of California-Berkeley. • CUI’s athletic programs, competing in NAIA Division I, have enjoyed unprecedented success in the last three years. Our baseball team won its first national championship in Spring 2011; our men’s basketball team won its second national championship in Spring 2012 (the first was in 2003); our women’s volleyball team posted a perfect 38-0 record in Fall 2012 and won its first national championship, after going 37-2 and reaching the national title game in 2011. • Concordia hosted its first-ever Teen Entrepreneur Academy, which drew 40 high school students from Asia and the United States to learn more about starting their own businesses while incorporating biblical principles in their business plans. • Concordia is engaged in a campus master planning process. The new master plan will help determine construction priorities for building out the Irvine campus to capacity. Anticipated future campus additions include a science and nursing building, performing arts space, a residence hall, expanded student union space, and an aquatics center. • The Center for Public Policy was established to provide a venue for bipartisan discussions of critical issues affecting those who live in Orange County and California. • CUI continues to strengthen its financial position. The university recently refinanced its debt and secured favorable financing for a five-year term, paying down debt to approximately 20 percent. Unrestricted net assets grew by 52 percent in the last several years, and Concordia achieved the maximum U.S. Department of Education financial composite score of 3.0. • Last May, Concordia’s annual Gala of Stars netted $550,000 for student scholarships. During the Gala, Concordia presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Louis Zamperini, Olympic champion, WWII prisoner of war, and subject of the best-selling book, Unbroken. • On July 1, 2010, Dr. Kurt Krueger began his service as the University’s fourth president. Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, WI Patrick T. Ferry, President Concordia University Wisconsin, founded in 1881 on Milwaukee’s near west side in the basement of historic Trinity Lutheran Church, has always espoused the integration of Christian faith and higher learning in the classroom. The University’s mission statement, in part, aspires to “help students develop in mind, body, and spirit for service to Christ in the Church and the world.” With that in mind, listed below in no particular order are some of the wonderful accomplishments at CUW over the past 30 months. • In early summer of 2010, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the $15 million School of Pharmacy, making CUW only the second university in Wisconsin to offer a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. The focus of the pharmacy school is to prepare pharmacists as practitioners for rural and urban Wisconsin. On September 16, 2011, the building was officially dedicated. • In September 2011, a new Accelerated Learning Center opened in Waukesha, bringing to four the number of such centers in the metro-Milwaukee area; the other three being Mequon, Midtown, and Miller Park Way. 2013 Convention Workbook