LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 282

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282 HIGHER EDUCATION

clusively for women who intended to become teachers, dea-
conesses, or social workers in the Lutheran Church.

St. Paul’s College and High School. Concordia, Mo., was
established in 1883 by St. Paul's Lutheran Congregation of
Concordia and one of its founding pastors, Rev. F. J. Biltz. As
President of the Western District, which at that time extended
to the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, Rev. Biltz recog-
nized the great need for the training of pastors and teachers.
With encouragement from the District, Concordia Congregation
founded an academy in 1883. The District assumed ownership
in 1884, and in 1896 the Synod recognized the significance of the
new school and added St. Paul's as a synodical institution. The
first college classes were added in 1905.

St. John’s College. Winfield, Kans., was founded in 1893 by
John Peter Baden, a Lutheran businessman of Winfield, to
provide for training ministers and to offer opportunities for
young people to secure a higher education under Christian
influence. The property was presented to the English Ev. Lu-
theran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, now the
English District of the LCMS. In 1908 St. John's College was
transferred to the control of the Kansas District, and in 1911
it became the only coeducational college of The Lutheran
Church— Missouri Synod. When St. John's was accepted by
the Synod, it operated ministerial, scientific, classical, and
business departments.

Concordia College. St. Paul, Minn., was founded in 1893
with a 3-year classical and normal preparatory course. The
1893 convention determined a need for a preparatory school
for pastors and teachers in Minnesota, preferably the St. Paul-
Minneapolis area. A fourth year of high school was added in
1902, and 2 years of college were added in 1905 to provide the
normal 6-year program of synodical schools. The preparatory
department for training teachers was discontinued from 1908
until 1950, when teacher education was added. In 1962 the col-
lege was expanded to a 4-year degree-granting institution in
elementary teacher education. Teacher education for males
was added in 1965.

Concordia Teachers College. Seward, Nebr., was founded
in 1894 and operated originally as a preparatory school for
Lutheran Normal College, Addison, Ill. The Synod in 1893 de-
termined that a second teachers seminary should be started
in Nebraska. The offer of land and money from individuals in
Seward (population 2,000) was accepted. In the early years
the majority of support came from congregations in the Ne-
braska District. By 1905 the Synod authorized the expansion
to a full high school and 2-year normal college. Training for
women began in 1919. Between 1936 and 1939 two more years
were added, making Concordia a 4-year teachers college. The
high school department was continued until 1972. Pretheological
students, though no official program was offered, began to
attend in 1950.

Concordia College. Bronxville, N. Y., had its beginning as
Concordia Institute in 1881 to train boys for the Gospel min-
istry. With funds provided mainly by the Atlantic and Eastern
Districts, the Bronxville campus was acquired in 1908. By 1918
the college preparatory courses were added to the ministerial
training program in part as a response to the need for teachers.
Concordia Junior College was established in 1936 and became
coeducational in 1939. The high school was eliminated by 1969,
and in 1971 authorization was given for the college to be ex-
panded to 4 years. The Lutheran Education Society has been
instrumental in gathering support for Bronxville since its
founding.

Concordia Lutheran College. Edmonton, Alta., Canada, was
founded by the Synod in 1921 and is a coeducational junior col-
lege affiliated with the University of Alberta. The original pur-
pose was the preparatory training of young men for the preach-
ing and teaching ministry of the Lutheran Church. In 1939
coeducation was introduced, and men and women were enrolled
in general courses of study: the curriculum included a senior
high school department as well as the 2-year junior college.
General education students were admitted in 1967 on the first-
year university level, and the second college year was eliminated
upon the granting of affiliation by the Board of Governors of
the University of Alberta. Concordia College welcomes all
students who want a general first-year college education and
may wish to transfer to a university to continue their program.

Concordia Lutheran College. Austin, Tex., was opened in

1926 as an academy to train young men interested in the min-
istry. The junior college department was added in 1951 and
became coeducational in 1955. The curriculum was expanded
to include general education programs in 1961. The high school
department was discontinued in 1967. The college sees as its
purpose the promotion of educational programs in the atmos-
phere of a Christian community at the junior college level.

Concordia College. Portland, Oreg., began as a 4-year acad-
emy in 1905 primarily to recruit men from the Northwest for
the ministry. In 1950 a junior college department for men was
added, and in 1954 the college became coeducational. From
its founding the college has emphasized a well-balanced liberal
arts curriculum serving students with a variety of educational
interests. The offerings have been broadened, and students
not interested in church-related vocations are actively recruited.
Concordia, Portland, has continuously operated a high school
department.

Concordia Senior College. Fort Wayne, Ind., was originally
authorized in 1947 to provide the upper level of ministerial
education prior to entrance to the synodical seminary at St.
Louis. It was to be part of a junior-senior college system to pre-
pare young men for seminary entrance. The junior college —
seminary route operated by the Synod did not meet the require-
ments of the American educational system, because a bacca-
laureate degree was not part of the seminary admission re-
quirements. The senior college opened its doors in 1957 with
the purpose of nurturing the growth of spiritual maturity of
future pastors, to raise the academic standards of training, to
develop broad leadership qualities, to engender a strong pro-
fessional intent for the work of the parish pastor, and to develop
loyalty to the Missouri Synod and its efforts to carry out the
Great Commission.

Alabama Academy and Junior College. Selma, Ala., was
acquired by The Lutheran Church-— Missouri Synod in 1962
from the Synodical Conference. The Synodical Conference
provided funds for training professional church workers and
selected Selma, Ala., as the site for training blacks. Classes
were started in 1922, and the present campus was dedicated
in 1925.

Concordia Lutheran Junior College. Ann Arbor, Mich., was
dedicated in 1963 on authorization of the 1959 synodical con-
vention. The convention authorized the BHE to establish a
Junior college for preparing students for the senior college level
and the teachers colleges. Curriculum and operation were to
be comparable to the synodical coeducational junior colleges
already in operation.

Synodical resolution and direction has been involved in
founding five of the present colleges: the remainder were
started by Districts, congregations, or individual pastors and
laymen. Synodical action started the colleges at Austin, Tex.:
Edmonton, Alta., Can.: St. Paul, Minn.: Seward, Nebr.: and
Ann Arbor, Mich. However, local financing was encouraged
and necessary as these schools struggled to survive in the early
days.

Response to Changing Conditions

The early faculties of the various colleges and seminaries,
as well as the Synod itself through special committees, were
continually desirous of improving the curriculum of the col-
leges and seminaries. In 1917 a synodical survey committee
was appointed for the purpose of improving the institutions.
In 1932 this was followed by a committee on higher education
which submitted an improved curriculum in 1935 and at the
Same time recommended appointing a new committee that
would prepare an integrated and unified curriculum.

Curricula for the junior colleges and seminaries and for the
teachers colleges, for complete introduction in the various
institutions and for further development of the entire synodical
educational program, were submitted for approval to the 1938
convention. The convention also determined that the necessary
coordination between the various preministerial schools and
the seminary at St. Louis could best be achieved with the help
and guidance of a central agency. By this time the educational
changes facing the synodical institutions (e. g., accreditation,
general education, and coeducation questions) were becoming
extremely complex and needed resolution.

One of the first tasks performed by the newly authorized
Board for Higher Education in 1938 was a survey of the recent