LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 266

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266 HIGHER EDUCATION

the following were added to the faculty. Steven Fritzler —
1971, Michael Gruhn — 1972, Judith Heimsoth — 1972, Mark
Heimsoth — 1971. Doreen Jabs —1971, Michael Kalmes —
1971, Neil Lohmeyer — 1972, Laurel Raatz — 1971. Kenneth
Fuchs has joined the staff as Director of Recruitment and
Walter Loeber has assumed the position of Director of Public
Relations and Development.

Summary Statement

It is impossible to present a complete report on the mul-
tiplicity of activities of the college in a short space. All of
these are reflections of the unlimited blessings of a gracious
God in whose mercy we rejoice. In gratitude for them we
rededicate ourselves to the task of sharing and preparing
others to share the new life which is ours in Jesus Christ.

Boarp OF CONTROL
O. G. Tiemann, Secretary
Walter Rosin, Executive Officer

6-14

Concordia College, Edmonton, Alberta

With gratitude to the Lord of the church, the Board of
Control of Concordia Lutheran College and High School,
Edmonton, Alberta. Canada, is pleased herewith to submit
its report of the past biennium to The Lutheran Church —
Missouri Synod, assembled in convention in New Orleans,
La. At the same time we take this opportunity on behalf
of fellow Lutherans in western Canada to express our ap-
preciation to our church for her support of the Synod's
only institution of secondary and higher education in Canada.

The Past

During the past biennium Concordia has experienced
gratifying growth, particularly on the college level and with
regard to both curriculum expansion and enrollment in-
crease. With the addition of several university courses to
its first-year college program. which is affiliated (accredited)
with the University of Alberta, Concordia has been able to
provide greater curricular attractiveness to college students
who want to transfer to either the terminal schools of the
Synod or to the arts. science or education faculties of Cana-
dian universities. The college's scope of service has broad-
ened continuously in recent years, as the modest but steady
increase of college students demonstrates (1969 — 31; 1970 —
68: 1971 — 69: 1972 —77), in that more general education
students who desire a smaller Christian college, or who
want to take advantage of Concordia’s university transfer
program, are beginning to enroll. Herein lies a challenging
opportunity for Concordia and for our church to serve the
Christian youth of western Canada.

A similar opportunity has continued to exist on the high
school level. As the only high school of our Synod all across
Canada, Concordia’s program of providing the youth of our
church with a Christ-centered education on the secondary
level has been a distinctively important one. Even more
important, the recruitment of young men and women for the
various ministries of the church from the ranks of the
Canadian youth would be extremely difficult. if not im-
possible, without the existence of Concordia’s high school
program. At the present time about 75% of those students
who are preparing for full-time church work are enrolled
in the high school.

During the school year 1972-73 Concordia had its highest
enrollment of students — 196.

With the increase in enrollment and the modest expansion
in course offerings. there has also been a corresponding in-
crease in faculty personnel. Concordia’s teaching and ad-
ministrative staff numbers 16 full-time members, in addition
to seven part-time instructors who teach primarily on the
college level. This is an increase of two full-time and
three part-time instructors over the past biennium. All aca-
demic administrators have a part-time teaching load.

The Future

As Concordia continues in its commitment to Christ, and
as it looks forward confidently to further growth, it is, and

will be, alert to the need for ongoing study of its educational
program, in order that it may maximize its service and con-
tribution to the church in Canada.

The faculty has been engaged for more than a year in
a comprehensive self-study, with a view eventually to
achieving university affiliation for its second year of college.
While such achievement involves, on the one hand, addi-
tional faculty personnel to teach the courses of a much ex-
panded curriculum, and while it also requires the addition
of library, laboratory, and classroom facilities, it also sug-
gests the probability of students continuing at Concordia
for another year of college work. Because of its strategic
proximity to the University of Alberta, Concordia has the
advantage of working very closely with a number of uni-
versity departments and of frequently sharing instructors.

The faculty is also cooperating with the A-BC District
of the Synod in studying ways in which Concordia can assist
in helping to train “lay ministers” for congregations and in
which it can be of service to pastors of the two western
Canadian Districts through institutes and continuing edu-
cation programs.

Because of the opportunities and challenges that lie be-
fore Concordia to be a focal point of Christian higher educa-
tion in western Canada in the future, we are keenly aware
of the need to find solutions to the basic problems of quali-
fied faculty, adequate facilities and increased financial sup-
port. Studies are presently being made for the erection of an
academic addition, which will incorporate additional class-
rooms, science laboratories. faculty offices and an expanded
library. In addition, the music program needs to be enlarged,
so that Concordia can take advantage of its musical heritage
and of its evident opportunity to be a center of church
music in western Canada.

In a number of ways Concordia faces a bright and ex-
citing future in the educational enterprise. The faculty and
Board of Control look to that future optimistically because
of their faith in our Lord's leadership. It remains for us to
make the most of our opportunities through the power of
trusting prayer and with diligent and bold planning, in
order that Concordia may continue to be a faithful servant
of the church in this area of our Lord's kingdom.

Board oF CONTROL
Roland A. Frantz, Executive Officer and President

6-15

Lutheran College, Irvine, Calif.

A major Lutheran educational institution on the west
coast has been the expressed wish of the LCMS for more
than a decade. As the new Lutheran College is about to
spring up in the Irvine community of Southern California,
many prayers of thanksgiving are being said to our God
by His church for bringing this Christian college into ex-
istence.

The Lutheran College has been a part of the educational
plans of the LCMS since the Cleveland (1962) and Detroit
(1965) church conventions when the property was pur-
chased and architectural plans by John Carl Warnecke and
Associates were completed. The Milwaukee convention of
the LCMS in July 1971 authorized “two million dollars en-
abling the school to be opened by the fall of 1973.” The
Irvine Board of Control and the Synod’s Board for Higher
Education are working at an accelerated pace to meet a pro-
jected opening date of September 1974.

The new Lutheran College is scheduled to be our church's
major 4-year liberal arts college in the western states. It is
located in the Turtle Rock area of Irvine, Calif. — across
the street from the University of California at Irvine. In
July 1973, California Concordia College at Oakland, which
had been in continuous operation since 1906, will close as
a Lutheran college. The Irvine College, when it opens, will
assume the educational continuity of the Oakland school on
the west coast.

Although the college has not yet been named, the an-
nouncement by the Board of Control indicating the selection
of the name will probably be made during the New Orleans
convention. A careful selection process has been employed
to assure that the name chosen would reflect the unique