Concordia University Nebraska

Motto	Preparing Servant Leaders for Church and World
Type	Private University
Established	1894
Affiliation	Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
President	Rev. Dr. Brian L. Friedrich
Provost	Dr. Jenny Mueller-Roebke
Academic staff	121
Students	2,200
Undergraduates	1,092
Location	Seward , Nebraska , USA
Campus	Rural 120 acres
Colors	Navy and White
Affiliations	GPAC, NAIA
Mascot	Bulldogs
Website	www.cune.edu

Concordia University, Nebraska, is a private, coeducational university located in Seward, Nebraska. It is affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and part of its ten-member Concordia University System. Concordia offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 50 academic programs in both on-campus and online formats. Intentionally Christ-centered, the university educates its more than 1,250 students in accordance with its motto: "Preparing servant leaders for church and world."

The university attempts to achieve this goal through degree programs in professional education and the liberal arts.

History

Founded in 1894 as the Evangelische Lutherische Schulleherer Seminar, the university began as a preparatory teacher’s school with its twelve students boarded, fed and taught in the same building by J. George Weller and his wife. The surrounding community was supportive of a school in their midst, and did much to help the students with extra foodstuffs, funding, and housing. The school granted its first teaching degrees in 1907. During World War I, the school faced anti-German sentiment, but worked alongside the community to support the America by constructing a 100 ft (30 m) flagpole. Following the war, the school was accredited as a junior college, and women joined the student body in 1919. At first, the women were required to eat and board off-campus in area homes, but they were permitted in the dining hall in 1932, and a women’s residence hall was built in 1941.

The first bachelor's degrees were awarded in 1940, and the school became an accredited four-year institution in the late 1940s. In 1959, Concordia became the first of the LCMS schools to be accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).

Additional educational and housing facilities were added as the university grew and expanded its programs, including science labs, a large library, and multiple residence halls. Business, art, science, and health-related programs were added to the teaching and pre-seminary courses. Graduate programs were added in 1968.

The college became part of the newly-established Concordia University System in 1995, and became a university in 1998.

In 1995, the college first hosted the first annual Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival. In 2009 over 8000 elementary and middle school students took part in the festival. It has included famous authors such as Lois Lowry, John R. Erickson, and John Archambault.

New facilities, including the Thom Leadership Education Center and a track-and-field and stadium complex, have been added in recent years. The newest of its 11 residence halls was opened in 2006. The Health, Human Performance and Athletic Center (HHPAC) was completed on May 9, 2009. The first event held in the HHPAC was the commencement ceremony for the graduating class of 2009.

The current President of Concordia University, Nebraska is Brian Friedrich.

The Thom Leadership Education Center was dedicated in 2000 and contains state-of-the-art classrooms, meeting rooms, and an auditorium. It houses education programs, including the Director of Christian Education program.

Residential Halls

There are currently 11 Residential Halls (dormitories) on the University's campus. These dorms are separated by gender, with the exclusion of Jonathan Hall. The following is a list of the current Residential Halls:

Philip Hall – Men Timothy Hall – Men Dorcas Hall – Men Esther Hall – Men Ruth A Hall – Men Ruth B Hall – Men

Schuelke Hall – Men Jonathan Apartments – Mixed-gender (genders separated by hall) David Hall – Women Strieter Hall – Women Ruth C Hall – Women

The current visitation hours are from 10:00am until 12:00am Sunday through Thursday and 10:00am until 1:00am on Friday and Saturday. The dormitories are run by resident assistants (RAs) who are overseen by the Student Life Office (SLO).

Academics

Concordia offers both graduate and undergraduate programs designed to prepare students not only to succeed in their chosen careers, but also to encourage responsible participation and leadership in a complex and diverse society. Concordia University, Nebraska is a fully-accredited institution, accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The teacher education programs are accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE); music programs are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM); and the institution's business program is accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE).

Undergraduate

Concordia awards bachelor's degrees in more than 40 undergraduate programs in education, business, science, art, music, communication, health, math, English, drama, and theology. Concordia also awards the Lutheran Teacher Diploma, the Director of Christian Education, and Director of Parish Music certificates which allow holders of those credentials to serve as church workers in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Pre-seminary and pre-deaconess programs are also available, including the necessary language courses to attend the seminaries of the LCMS.

• Concordia Undergraduate Course Catalog

Graduate

Concordia University offers eight master’s degrees primarily in education. These programs offer a majority of their courses online, along with concentrated, on-campus courses offered during the summer months. The Master of Education program offers concentrations in administration (elementary and secondary), literacy, and early childhood education.

• Concordia Graduate Catalog

Campus

Concordia University, Nebraska encompasses 120 acres (0.49 km²) in the town of Seward, Nebraska. Having grown from one brick building, the campus now has over 11 academic and administration buildings and 11 residence halls. The newest residence hall is an apartment-style-living facility, and all of the campus's residence halls include internet access and cable telecommunications connections. The university grounds are home to a portion of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum as well as a number of university-commissioned and student-made sculptures.

• Campus Map

File:WellerCUNE.JPG

Weller Hall will be one of the first things you would see upon arriving at the campus. Named for the founding professor, it houses administrative offices, classrooms, and the chapel/auditorium.

The Link Library contains about 232,000 titles and offers a computerized Web-based cataloging system. The terminals also provide access to the databases of other independent colleges and universities in Nebraska. Bartels Museum, in the basement of Link Library, houses 75 displays of geological interest, including fossils and minerals from around the world.

Educational and Student Support Buildings on Campus:

Founder's Hall
Weller Hall (Administration, Chapel, AED, and Theater)
Jesse Hall (Business, Communication, Theology and Language Arts)
Brommer Hall (Fine Arts)[1]
Link Library (Research and Study Materials)
Science Hall (Science and Math)
Music Center (Music [2], Heine Hall and Dr. Joseph Herl)
Thom Leadership Education Center (TLEC) (Education, Languages, AED, Psychology, and Religion)
Human, Health and Performance Athletic Center (HHPAC) Athletics [3] and Human Health Programs
Janzow Campus Center ("Fine" Dining Hall, Trayless Eternity, Cattle Conference Room, Student Life Office [SLO], Game Room, Mail Room, Student Activities Council Office [SAC], AED, Counseling Center, and the Bookstore)

As of the 2009–2010 academic year, Founder's Hall was closed. Classes and offices were moved out and relocated to other locations. The only occupant left is the Theatre Program's set-construction workshop, which is in the basement. At the moment, there is no official decision on what to do regarding the building.

Student Life

Extracurricular activities

Over 30 clubs and organizations exist on campus for students to participate in, ranging from service-oriented groups to intramural teams to academic support groups to honorary societies. The Sower is the university's bi-weekly newspaper. The Tower is the title of the institution's yearbook. The Student Activity Committee (SAC) organizes multiple events for the student body throughout the year, including concerts, comedy shows, free movies, bowling nights, and the popular Spring Weekend.

• Complete list of Organizations

Traditions

Concordia students have developed a number of annual traditions.

The Weekend of Welcome (known as WOW) is the orientation period for freshmen and transfer students held in August. It features the popular O-show in which the particulars of Concordia life are satirically portrayed.

The Naked Man Snow Angel Run in an annual tradition held on the first snow of the year in which male (and since 2009 female) students gather in Dorcas hall and run wearing minimal clothing to the Son of Man Be Free statue (commonly called The Naked Man) where they form snow angels before retreating to warmth.

Spring Weekend is the most prominent weekend at Concordia. The Student Activity Committee organizes events in which teams compete. Historically, mud-volleyball and mattress racing were part of the events but have since seen many changes. Popular events include the Lip-sync event and sync-swim in which students perform choreographed programs in child-sized pools.

Music, Theatre, and Art

The Concordia Department of Music is NASM (National Association for Schools of Music) -accredited. Concordia has more than a dozen vocal and instrumental ensembles open to students, including University A Cappella Choir, Chamber Choir, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Men's Chorus, Women's Chorale, Concordia Handbell Choir, Jazz Band, Brass Ensemble, Bulldog Band (Pep Band), Community/University Band, and University Symphonic Band. Some tour coast-to-coast and travel internationally.

The Theatre Program stages two full-length shows each year, in addition to one-act plays, readers’ theater, and a host of student-directed productions. The University's theater division has been honored by inclusion in Playbill, the yearly publication of the Alpha Psi Omega dramatic honor society, for more than 20 years. The Theatre faculty and students are active in the Region V Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Students have received recognition for playwriting, directing, lighting design, set design, and acting at recent regional festivals. Despite the success of the theater groups, the university has yet to build a dedicated theater facility.

Concordia’s art students exhibit their artwork at the Marxhausen Gallery of Art, which also hosts visiting artists from around the country. The university’s permanent collection of more than 300 works, the Koenig Collection, contains mostly screen prints, etchings, lithographs, and other original prints by nationally- and internationally-recognized artists. The Center for Liturgical Art at Concordia seeks to encourage and assist the Church in its ministry through the visual arts by promoting its use in worship. Students work alongside faculty and visiting artists to create a variety of pieces.

Athletics

There are 19 varsity sports teams including:
Wrestling (M) Winter
Baseball (M) Spring
Football (M) Fall
Softball (W) Spring
Volleyball (W) Fall
Competitive Dance (W) Year Round
Tennis (M/W) Spring
Soccer (M/W) Fall
Golf (M/W) Fall and Spring
Cross Country (M/W) Fall
Basketball (M/W) Winter
Track–Indoor & Outdoor (M/W) Year Round
plus intramural sports. Year Round

Concordia Invitational Tournament Since 1950, Concordia has competed in an annual men's basketball tournament against other LC-MS universities. A women's tournament was added in 1965. Throughout the history of CIT, Concordia, Nebraska holds the best aggregate record in both the men's and women's tournaments with a 73–45 record, with 23 titles for the men and 58 wins, 16 losses and 22 titles for the women. Since 2001 the teams are: Concordia University, Nebraska, Concordia University Wisconsin, Concordia University, Chicago and Concordia University, Ann Arbor.

The school mascot is the Bulldog.

Facilities include the 1,400-seat stadium & track and field constructed in 1997.

Student government

The university has a student senate composed of one senator elected by their floor peers to represent their respective dorm floor, a proportionate number of senators elected to represent students who live off campus, and a representative for the Student Activities Committee and Student Worship Committee. The president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer are elected at large from the entire student body. All official student groups also have a vote and their funding is tied to attendance at the weekly meetings.

External links

• Concordia University, Nebraska
• Concordia University, Nebraska's Bookstore
• Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
• Campus Map
• Concordia Graduate Catalog
• Concordia Undergraduate Course Catalog
• Complete list of Organizations

References

• Concordia University, Nebraska's website