Augustana University
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Augustana University is a private Lutheran university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The university identifies 1860 as the year of its founding, the same as its Rock Island, Illinois, Swedish-heritage sister school, Augustana College. It derives its name from the Confessio Augustana, or Augsburg Confession, a foundational document of Lutheranism. Until September 2015, the university was known as Augustana College.
Augustana is South Dakota's largest private university<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and offers more than 100 majors, minors, and pre-professional and graduate programs.
History
Augustana traces its origin to 1835 when Scandinavian immigrants established the Hillsboro Academy in Hillsboro, Illinois. In 1846, the academy became the Literary and Theological Institute of the Lutheran Church of the Far West before moving to Springfield, Illinois, under the name Illinois State University. In 1860, after church leaders formed the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod, Professor Lars Paul Esbjörn and a group of followers moved to Chicago to create their institution. There they established the Augustana College and Seminary, marking the date that the university identifies as the year of its founding.<ref name="history">Template:Cite web</ref>
As the United States expanded westward during and after the American Civil War, pioneers moved the school to Paxton, Illinois, in 1863. There, a split occurred: the Norwegian leadership, desiring to create their school, relocated to Marshall, Wisconsin, in 1869,<ref name="history 2">Template:Cite web</ref> while the Swedes later moved to Rock Island, Illinois, establishing Augustana College (Illinois). The school at Marshall moved to Beloit, Iowa, in 1881, and then to Canton, South Dakota, in 1888.<ref name="history"/>
The Lutheran Normal School opened in 1889 in Sioux Falls, housed in what is now known as Old Main, to educate teachers. City and business leaders lobbied for Augustana to relocate to Sioux Falls, and church leaders in 1918 merged the Lutheran Normal School and Augustana College in Canton under the name Augustana College and Normal School.<ref name="history"/> In 1926, "and Normal School" was dropped from the name and the Canton site eventually became Augustana Academy.<ref name="history"/> Despite the similarities in name, the academy was no longer affiliated with the college, and closed in 1971.<ref name="history"/> The 2010–11 academic year marked Augustana University's sesquicentennial.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Augustana draws its name from the origin of the Lutheran Church in the Augsburg Confession, written in 1530 during the Protestant Reformation. "Augustana" stems from the document's Latin name, Confessio Augustana.<ref name="history"/> On August 21, 2015, the school announced that it would change its name from Augustana College to Augustana University as of September 1, 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Academics
Augustana University offers more than 100 majors, minors, and pre-professional and graduate programs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The top majors declared by Augustana students include nursing, biology, business administration, psychology, exercise science, finance, elementary education, computer science, accounting and marketing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The university's curriculum is based on a calendar divided into two 15-week semesters, separated by an interim period of four weeks during January, as well as an optional summer term of eight weeks. Classes and study-away programs are offered during January. The school has a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Extensive internship, study abroad, undergraduate research and Civitas, the university's honors program, supplement Augustana's curriculum. Between 2007 and 2008, 285 students participated in an international educational experience, and 44% of students studied abroad before graduation.<ref name=Beyond>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2023, Augustana's financial endowment surpassed $115 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Donations have allowed the school to expand its academic facilities, such as the renovation of the Mikkelsen Library, 2015 reconstruction of the Froiland Science Complex (formerly Gilbert Science Center), 2022 addition of Ralph H. Wagoner Hall,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 2023 addition of Midco Arena,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and ongoing construction of the Morrison Commons.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Admissions and rankings
Template:As of, Augustana's student body consisted of 1,825 undergraduates,<ref name=forbes/> 99% full-time students and 1% part-time, and 59% female.<ref name=forbes/> The acceptance rate is 61%.<ref name="PR"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> U.S. News & World Report classified Augustana as a "more selective" school,<ref name=usnews>Template:Cite web</ref> with 62% of the students enrolled having graduated from high school in the top quartile of their class,<ref name=Beyond/> the average GPA being 3.7.<ref name="PR"/> ACT test score submissions had a 23–28 middle 50% range,<ref name="PR"/> with an average ACT composite score of 26.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The school's retention rate of freshmen returning as sophomores was 80% between 2013 and 2014.<ref name="NCES">Template:Cite web</ref>
Those enrolled are primarily from South Dakota (42%) and Minnesota (34%), followed by Iowa (12%) and Nebraska (4%).<ref name=profile>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the fall of the 2010–11 academic year, Augustana reported its largest ever incoming class of international students. Fifty-four new students, representing 20 countries and five continents, joined 25 continuing international students for a total of 79 international students from 23 countries, making up about 4.5% of the student body.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although only 46% of students claim a preference for the school's Lutheran religious affiliation, the school is nevertheless composed primarily of students following a Christian denomination, with Catholicism the second largest at 21%; 22% of students are categorized as "other".<ref name=Beyond/>
In the 2015 U.S. News & World Report ranking of Midwestern colleges, Augustana placed third.<ref name=usnews/> The publication also named it a "Best Buy" school, a designation based on academic quality in relation to cost. The Princeton Review named Augustana one of 159 "Best in the Midwest" schools in 2015.<ref name="PR">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, ForbesTemplate:'s list of "America's Top Colleges" placed Augustana 97th among schools in the Midwest and 423rd overall.<ref name="forbes">Template:Cite web</ref>
Arts
Augustana created the Center for Western Studies in 1970,<ref name="history 2"/> founded by professor Herbert Krause,<ref name=Cloquet2010>Template:Cite web</ref> which serves as a library, repository for special collections of art and artifacts, and academic publisher.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The center holds an annual Dakota Conference on the Northern Plains for history, literature, art, and archaeology. It is "the largest annual humanities conference specifically about the Northern Plains".<ref name=SDSHS>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to shows and galleries of Western, Scandinavian, and Native American art,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the Center also hosts the Boe Forum on Public Affairs,<ref name=SDSHS/> which has featured speakers such as Pervez Musharraf, Sandra Day O'Connor, and Mikhail Gorbachev.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Augustana Choir and Concert Band tour widely nationally and internationally, including to China,<ref name="band">Template:Cite web</ref> Italy,<ref name="choir">Template:Cite web</ref> and Tanzania.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While on tour in Egypt during the Revolution of 2011, the band was briefly stranded in Cairo due to anti-government protests.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Augustana University Theatre Company presents 4 main-stage shows each year, one of which is a musical, as well as 2 student-produced shows by the Augustana Collaborative Theatrical Society.<ref name="theatre">Template:Cite web</ref> Augustana Theatre sponsors an improv group, Brand Name Improv. The department also hosts the Claire Donaldson New Play Festival (formerly the 8-in-48 Claire Donaldson Short Play Festival), which occurs every other year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was the first theatre department in the state to host a 24 hour play festival. In 2023, the department collaborated with Lifescapes of Sioux Falls and the Black Hills Playhouse to perform the first all-abilities show, which included a half Augustana cast and a half Lifescapes cast, which Augustana students designing as well.
In 2006, the Center for Visual Arts replaced the old art department buildings, previously used as barracks during World War II.<ref name="history 2"/> It has artist and professor studios, studio classrooms for design, drawing, printmaking, painting, sculpture, ceramics, an art education lab, and the Eide-Dalrymple Gallery, which hosts several art exhibitions every year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Civitas
Augustana's honors program, Civitas, launched in 2007.<ref name="Civitas (Honors Program)">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> "Civitas" is Latin for "citizenship" and the program is built upon the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who was a founding member of the Confessing Church and a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism. Bonhoeffer's essay "The Structure of Responsible Life" is the program's central focus.<ref name="Civitas (FAQ)">Template:Cite web</ref> Emphasizing Stellvertretung (roughly translated as "vicarious representative action"), Bonhoeffer participated in the Abwehr plot to assassinate Hitler and subsequently wrote the piece as a justification for his actions. Students examine his work in classes specifically designated for Civitas and in special honors sections of existing courses. 40 students are selected from each graduating class; they must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA,<ref name="Civitas (Honors Program)"/> with entrance priority going to incoming students with an ACT score of at least 27 and a 3.5 cumulative high school GPA.<ref name="Civitas (FAQ)"/>
Athletics
The Augustana Vikings participate in NCAA Division II athletics in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Vikings joined the NSIC from the North Central Conference, which folded in 2008. The men's basketball team won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The women's basketball team advanced to the NCAA Division II Final Four in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The men's baseball team won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During both the 2004–05 and 2009–10 school years, Augustana wrestlers finished second in the NCAA Division II championship. The Sanford Pentagon is the home court for the men's and women's basketball teams. The Elmen Center, opened in 1989,<ref name="history 2"/> is the home court for the volleyball and wrestling teams.
On December 13, 2018, President Stephanie Herseth Sandlin announced that Augustana would begin pursuing a transition to Division I as part of the university's "Vision 2030" plan. In the fall of 2023, Augustana University launched their Division I men's hockey team, a step towards Sandlin's goal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As of 2024, following the Summit League's denial of Augustana's application, the plan has generally been abandoned.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Media
The college used to operate a radio station, 89.1 FM KAUR, that broadcasts 24 hours per day. Until 2009, KAUR broadcast a variety of genres of music and specialized in independent or college rock. KAUR was founded in 1972. Augustana also had a self-constructed AM station, founded in 1945.Template:Citation needed In 2009, Augustana administrators discontinued KAUR's student operations in favor of broadcasting Minnesota Public Radio News.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Notable alumni
References
External links
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