LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 83

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, will fund a literacy project entitled Uniting Church, School, and Community.
All of us in the Concordia Chicago community are blessed to be
servants of God, and we thank Him for continued blessings for our
students, staff, and faculty.
Daniel L. Gard, President

Concordia University, Irvine
Mission Statement
Concordia University, Irvine, guided by the Great Commission
of Christ Jesus and the Lutheran Confessions, empowers students
through the liberal arts and professional studies for lives of learning,
service, and leadership.
Vision Statement

Concordia University, Irvine, will be among the finest, distinctively Lutheran liberal arts universities in America, preparing wise,
honorable, cultivated citizens, informed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
for the Church and world.
University updates for 2016 Convention Workbook:
• Concordia is the seventeenth fastest-growing private Master’s
degree-granting university in the US, according to the Chronicle
of Higher Education.
• Concordia’s enrollment grew from 4,046 students to 4,560 students
in the last three years.
• In the last three years, Concordia added the following academic
programs:
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AA—General Education Degree (Online/Blended)
BA in Liberal Arts (Online/Blended)
BA in Business Administration and Leadership (Online/Blended)
BA in Healthcare Management (Traditional and Online/Blended)
BA in Organizational Psychology (Online/Blended)
BA in Nonprofit Leadership (Online/Blended)
MA in Education Administration (Online)
MS in Nursing (Online/Blended)
MA in Healthcare Administration (Online/Blended)
MA in Educational Technology (Online)
MA in International Studies—Africa (Traditional/Online)

• In the fall of 2013, Concordia initiated its first doctoral program,
an EdD in Educational Leadership. Currently, 75 doctoral students
are enrolled in the program.
• Concordia is transitioning its athletic affiliation from the NAIA to
the NCAA Division II. Full NCAA affiliation should be realized
at the beginning of the 2017–2018 school year.
• Recently, Concordia was awarded a $540,000 Lilly Foundation
grant to support a series of Theology Institutes for high school
youth beginning in the summer of 2016. The Institutes will engage
high school students in the application of Lutheran theology to contemporary social issues.
• Concordia established a Great Commission Institute to help the
university achieve its mission to train students, faculty, and staff to
“make disciples of all nations.” The Institute also serves the churchat-large by acting as a think tank on such challenging issues as
communicating the Gospel across ethnic, generational, cultural,
national, and other boundaries, whether natural or humanly constructed, that exist between the people of God.
• Concordia completed its campus master plan and is now working to obtain building permits from the City of Irvine for initial
projects: construction of the Music, Worship, and Theology building; renovation and expansion of the CU Center for Worship and
the Performing Arts; additional parking and internal roadway

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improvements; establishment of the Keck Astronomy Center;
installation of competition-level sand volleyball courts; and other
athletic and student amenity upgrades.
• Concordia’s Board of Regents adopted and implemented an upto-date Policy Manual to direct its activities and clarify its role in
University governance.
• CUI hosted its fourth annual Teen Entrepreneur Academy, which
drew 100 high school students from Asia and the United States to
learn more about starting their own businesses and compete for a
$1,000 prize for best business plan. Over 300 high school students
have participated in the annual business summer camp academy.
• CUI hosted the first annual Kid Entrepreneur Academy summer day
camp for kids in grades 5–8. The kids learned principles of business and business start-up strategies. Fifty kids participated.
• CUI became the host university for the Association for Core Texts
and Courses and its Liberal Arts Institute.
• CUI freshmen scored in the top 10 percent of freshmen in the
country in nearly every indicator of academic engagement in the
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).
• University Advancement received several recognitions from the
Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) based
on three years of fundraising data, including the 2016 Best Practices
in Fundraising (Gold) award and the 2015 Education Fundraising
Award for Overall Performance.
• The Concordia University Irvine Endowment has more than doubled in recent years, growing from $12.2 million at the end of Fiscal
Year 2012 to $26.2 million at the end of Fiscal Year 2015. In addition, $6.4 million in estate pledges have been recorded since the
end of Fiscal Year 2012.
• More than 200 volunteers are actively involved with the university, serving on boards and councils and supporting our key special
events, including our annual Gala of Stars celebration.
• Concordia recently received a Keck Foundation grant of $250,000
to support astronomy projects on and off campus.
• In 2014, CUI was reaccredited by the Western Association of
Schools and Colleges for the maximum term of 10 years. A number
of CUI faculty and staff have been invited to speak at several WASC
annual conferences in the last two years to present the university’s
exemplary work in accreditation and assessment to colleagues at
peer institutions (public and private) in the western US.
• CUI now employs more than 150 full-time faculty, more than 300
part-time faculty, and more than 200 support staff, who serve more
than 4,500 students annually.
• Nineteen current and former CUI faculty, staff, and regents collaborated on a book entitled The Idea and Practice of a Christian
University, edited by CUI Assistant Provost Scott Ashmon and
published by Concordia Publishing House in 2015. The book examines the interaction of faith and learning in many dimensions of
Lutheran higher education and is intended to inspire broader dialogue in the Christian higher education community.
Kurt J. Krueger, President

Concordia University Nebraska
Greetings from Concordia University, Nebraska, where we continue to equip students for lives of learning, service, and leadership in
the church and world. Our prayers are with the delegates during their
convention deliberations. May God bless richly the 66th Convention
of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and our mutual efforts to
proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
During the last triennium, Concordia transitioned from executing
one strategic plan to developing and implementing another. Highlights
2016 Convention Workbook