Concordia University at Austin
Encyclopedia
Concordia University Texas is a private
, coeducational institution of liberal arts
and sciences located in northwest Austin
. The university offers undergraduate and graduate
degrees as well as an Accelerated Degree Program for part-time students and adult returning students at satellite campuses in San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth.
Concordia University Texas is under the auspices of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and is a member of the Concordia University System
, the ten-member association of LCMS colleges and universities enrolling a total of 22,000 students nationwide. As a Lutheran university, Concordia's stated mission is to develop Christian
leaders.
Concordia was founded in 1926 as Lutheran Concordia College of Texas, a four-year high school
that prepared young men for careers in ministry and teaching. The school opened with 26 students on its original site along East Avenue (now Interstate 35) on the then northern outskirts of Austin, Texas. In 1929, a two-story classroom building, later called the Music Building and now known as College Central, was built.
Concordia was founded by members of Texas's Wendish
immigrant community. The original main building, Kilian Hall, is named for the Wend John Kilian
, founder of the first Texas Lutheran church associated with the Missouri Synod and leader of a large group of Wends
(also called Sorbs) who settled in the Serbin
area. Today, between 10 and 15% of Concordia's faculty, staff, and students are of Wendish heritage.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s many buildings were added to the campus, such as Hirschi Memorial Library in 1949 and Kramer Hall, the college's first fully air-conditioned classroom building, in 1951. Also in 1951, Concordia started using a two-year junior college
curriculum.
Building developments on campus continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The campus built its chapel, named Birkmann Memorial Chapel, in 1952. Texas Hall, which housed dining services and faculty offices was dedicated in 1953. Studtmann Hall, an all-girls dormitory opened in 1955. The first Beto Hall on the Concordia campus was built in 1969 and housed science labs. In the early 21st century, this building was converted into the school's mail services facility.
In 1955 Concordia admitted women as students for the first time and the institution changed its name to Concordia Lutheran College in 1965. In 1969, the four-year high school program was disbanded and Concordia’s curriculum expanded to four years after receiving permission to award Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1980.
Concordia joined the Concordia University System (CUS) in 1993. The CUS represents the ten universities and two seminaries run by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. In 1995, under the leadership of President Rev. Dr. David Zersen, the name of the institution was changed to Concordia University at Austin after joining the Concordia University System, which includes 10 colleges and universities across the U.S. The Accelerated Degree Program (ADP), with sites in Austin, Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio, within the College of Adult Education, was launched in 1995 to offer working adults the opportunity to earn a degree. Harms Hall, a dormitory, opened in January 2000 more than doubling campus resident capacity.The first Graduate program was developed during this period.
In 2002, Dr. Thomas E. Cedel, a former fighter pilot and Colonel in the United States Air Force was named President of Concordia University at Austin.
In 2007, Concordia University at Austin changed its name to Concordia University Texas.
In August 2008, Concordia University relocated its primary campus, moving onto over 389 acres (157.4 ha) in Northwest Austin. The City of Austin allowed for the demolition of the former campus. A developer bought the space with plans to construct a mixed-use development. The developer filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
The new campus was dedicated on 26 October 2008.
U.S. News & World Report
included Concordia University Texas in its 2007 list of “America’s Best Colleges.”http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drglance_3557_brief.php
The site for Concordia’s new campus is the former Schlumberger
Austin Systems Center. The site, formerly an R&D facility, had six buildings connected by covered walkways encircled by a nature trail. The six buildings, named by letter A-F, while extensively renovated, retained their basic design and features including solid oak trim, large windows, sky lights and atria.
Three new structures were built prior to occupation of the new Concordia campus: student housing, a fieldhouse, and a front entry/guard house. In addition to the new structures, additional parking—to the tune of more than 600 spaces—as well as new roads were built to handle the increased traffic on the campus.
The campus includes a 225 acres (91.1 ha) nature preserve that has wetlands, caves, dense trees and wildlife, and is home to the Golden-cheeked warbler
, a rare species of bird native to Central Texas. A 10-A Federal permit is required and only one other higher education institution carries one.
The inclusion of a nature preserve will allow Concordia to devote time to urban environmentalism
in the Austin community.
Student Body, Fall 2011
degrees in majors in the colleges of business
, education
, liberal arts
, and science
.
Top Enrollments
Concordia is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of College and Schools .
. They do not award athletic scholarships per NCAA DIII Rules. The athletic programs at Concordia are: baseball, softball, men's basketball, women's basketball, cross country, golf, men's soccer, women's soccer, track and field (started in 2009), volleyball and athletic training.
There had been relatively little athletic tradition with the exception of the baseball program which has been regionally and sometimes nationally recognized. In spring 2011, "Purple Out" events were started to encourage students, staff, and the community to support athletics. On designated "Purple Out" days, everyone is encouraged to wear purple and those attending a sporting event receive purple "Tornado Towels".
There were four athletic facilities on the old campus and one off-campus. On Campus: Fascholz-Keller Field (baseball), Bartholomew Park (softball), Pharr Tennis Center, Woltman Gymnasium. Off-campus: St. Francis School (soccer). Currently, men's and women's soccer play at St. Stephen's Episcopal School. Recently, the Concordia University soccer teams have been seen playing at Monroe Stadium at nearby Vandegrift High school.
standout. As a player, he was named Texas "Mr. Basketball" in 1995 His father, Stanley Bonewitz Sr., recently retired as a state-championship winning coach at East Central High School in San Antonio.
In 2009 Concordia inducted its first ever Hall of Fame class, including the 2002 baseball team that played for the NCAA Division III College World Series and Atlanta Braves reliever Scott Linebrink
.
In 2011 3 more members were inducted: Kenneth DeBord '02, basketball; Lisa Hintz '88, volleyball & basketball; and Linda Lowery, who served stints as the Athletic Director, volleyball coach and men's and women's golf coach from 1980-2008.
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
, coeducational institution of liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
and sciences located in northwest Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. The university offers undergraduate and graduate
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
degrees as well as an Accelerated Degree Program for part-time students and adult returning students at satellite campuses in San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth.
Concordia University Texas is under the auspices of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and is a member of the Concordia University System
Concordia University System
The Concordia University System is an organization of ten colleges and universities throughout the United States operated by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod . All ten institutions are named "Concordia" and all include professional church work programs as part of their curricula. The CUS was...
, the ten-member association of LCMS colleges and universities enrolling a total of 22,000 students nationwide. As a Lutheran university, Concordia's stated mission is to develop Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
leaders.
History
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
that prepared young men for careers in ministry and teaching. The school opened with 26 students on its original site along East Avenue (now Interstate 35) on the then northern outskirts of Austin, Texas. In 1929, a two-story classroom building, later called the Music Building and now known as College Central, was built.
Concordia was founded by members of Texas's Wendish
Wends of Texas
The Texas Wends or Wends of Texas are a group of people descended from a congregation of approximately 588 Sorbian/Wendish people under the leadership and pastoral care of John Kilian who emigrated from Lusatia to Texas in 1854. The term also refers to the other emigrations occurring before and...
immigrant community. The original main building, Kilian Hall, is named for the Wend John Kilian
John Kilian
John Kilian also , was a Lutheran pastor and leader of the colony known as the Wends of Texas.-Background:...
, founder of the first Texas Lutheran church associated with the Missouri Synod and leader of a large group of Wends
Sorbs
Sorbs are a Western Slavic people of Central Europe living predominantly in Lusatia, a region on the territory of Germany and Poland. In Germany they live in the states of Brandenburg and Saxony. They speak the Sorbian languages - closely related to Polish and Czech - officially recognized and...
(also called Sorbs) who settled in the Serbin
Serbin, Texas
Serbin is an unincorporated community in southwestern Lee County, Texas, United States. Located about east of Austin, it was originally established as Low Pin Oak Settlement by Wendish immigrants to Texas in the mid-1850s...
area. Today, between 10 and 15% of Concordia's faculty, staff, and students are of Wendish heritage.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s many buildings were added to the campus, such as Hirschi Memorial Library in 1949 and Kramer Hall, the college's first fully air-conditioned classroom building, in 1951. Also in 1951, Concordia started using a two-year junior college
Junior college
The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...
curriculum.
In 1955 Concordia admitted women as students for the first time and the institution changed its name to Concordia Lutheran College in 1965. In 1969, the four-year high school program was disbanded and Concordia’s curriculum expanded to four years after receiving permission to award Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1980.
Concordia joined the Concordia University System (CUS) in 1993. The CUS represents the ten universities and two seminaries run by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. In 1995, under the leadership of President Rev. Dr. David Zersen, the name of the institution was changed to Concordia University at Austin after joining the Concordia University System, which includes 10 colleges and universities across the U.S. The Accelerated Degree Program (ADP), with sites in Austin, Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio, within the College of Adult Education, was launched in 1995 to offer working adults the opportunity to earn a degree. Harms Hall, a dormitory, opened in January 2000 more than doubling campus resident capacity.The first Graduate program was developed during this period.
In 2002, Dr. Thomas E. Cedel, a former fighter pilot and Colonel in the United States Air Force was named President of Concordia University at Austin.
In 2007, Concordia University at Austin changed its name to Concordia University Texas.
In August 2008, Concordia University relocated its primary campus, moving onto over 389 acres (157.4 ha) in Northwest Austin. The City of Austin allowed for the demolition of the former campus. A developer bought the space with plans to construct a mixed-use development. The developer filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
The new campus was dedicated on 26 October 2008.
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
included Concordia University Texas in its 2007 list of “America’s Best Colleges.”http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/directory/brief/drglance_3557_brief.php
New Campus
In 2005, the Board of Regents approved the relocation of the Concordia University Texas campus. Since its founding the school has occupied a 23 acres (9.3 ha) campus near downtown Austin. The new campus is located in Northwest Austin on more than 380 acres (153.8 ha) of land. Construction began in the spring of 2007, and the new campus opened in September 2008.The site for Concordia’s new campus is the former Schlumberger
Schlumberger
Schlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries...
Austin Systems Center. The site, formerly an R&D facility, had six buildings connected by covered walkways encircled by a nature trail. The six buildings, named by letter A-F, while extensively renovated, retained their basic design and features including solid oak trim, large windows, sky lights and atria.
Three new structures were built prior to occupation of the new Concordia campus: student housing, a fieldhouse, and a front entry/guard house. In addition to the new structures, additional parking—to the tune of more than 600 spaces—as well as new roads were built to handle the increased traffic on the campus.
The campus includes a 225 acres (91.1 ha) nature preserve that has wetlands, caves, dense trees and wildlife, and is home to the Golden-cheeked warbler
Golden-cheeked Warbler
The Golden-cheeked Warbler Dendroica chrysoparia is an endangered species of bird that breeds in Central Texas, from Palo Pinto County southwestward along the eastern and southern edge of the Edwards Plateau to Kinney County...
, a rare species of bird native to Central Texas. A 10-A Federal permit is required and only one other higher education institution carries one.
The inclusion of a nature preserve will allow Concordia to devote time to urban environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
in the Austin community.
Student body
The student body at Concordia has grown from 1,075 students in 2002 to more than 2,500 in 2011.Student Body, Fall 2011
- Total Enrollment: 2658
- Undergraduate: 1502
- Graduate: 1156
Academic programs
Concordia University Texas offers 21 undergraduate and 2 graduateGraduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
degrees in majors in the colleges of business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
, liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
, and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
.
Top Enrollments
- Business
- Education
- Nursing
- Kinesiology
Concordia is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of College and Schools .
Campus Life
Some of the many clubs and organizations that students participate in are: Concordia Outdoor Ministry, Service-Learning, Missions Club, Communication Club, Student Leadership Association, Concordia Youth Ministry Team (CYMT), Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Helping Hands, History Club, Preseminarians of CTX, The Executives(Business Club), Society for Human Resource Management, Psychology Book Club, Kinesiology Club, Financial Management Association, Education Club, Directors of Christian Education Club, Biology Club, Behavioral Sciences Club, Association of Computing Machinery, Academic Advising Consultants, and the Spirit Squad. The school newspaper, "The Mullet," was first published in 2006 and has been circulating ever since.Athletics
The Concordia mascot is the Tornados and the school colors are purple and gold. Concordia's intercollegiate athletic teams participate in NCAA Division III competition within the American Southwest ConferenceAmerican Southwest Conference
The American Southwest Conference is a college athletic conference, founded in 1996, whose member schools compete in the NCAA's Division III. The schools are located in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi...
. They do not award athletic scholarships per NCAA DIII Rules. The athletic programs at Concordia are: baseball, softball, men's basketball, women's basketball, cross country, golf, men's soccer, women's soccer, track and field (started in 2009), volleyball and athletic training.
There had been relatively little athletic tradition with the exception of the baseball program which has been regionally and sometimes nationally recognized. In spring 2011, "Purple Out" events were started to encourage students, staff, and the community to support athletics. On designated "Purple Out" days, everyone is encouraged to wear purple and those attending a sporting event receive purple "Tornado Towels".
There were four athletic facilities on the old campus and one off-campus. On Campus: Fascholz-Keller Field (baseball), Bartholomew Park (softball), Pharr Tennis Center, Woltman Gymnasium. Off-campus: St. Francis School (soccer). Currently, men's and women's soccer play at St. Stephen's Episcopal School. Recently, the Concordia University soccer teams have been seen playing at Monroe Stadium at nearby Vandegrift High school.
Basketball
The Concordia Men's basketball team has been coached by Stanley Bonewitz Jr. since 2004. He is a former Texas Tech basketballTexas Tech Red Raiders men's basketball
The Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball team represents Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition The team is currently coached by Billy Gillispie. Prior to Gillispie being named coach, the coach was Pat Knight who succeeded his father, Hall of Famer Bob...
standout. As a player, he was named Texas "Mr. Basketball" in 1995 His father, Stanley Bonewitz Sr., recently retired as a state-championship winning coach at East Central High School in San Antonio.
Baseball
The Concordia Men's baseball team is coached by former major leaguer Tommy Boggs. Coach Boggs led the team to victory in 2011 as the ASC west division conference champions, and later to the NCAA championship tournament where they fell two games short of advancing to the College World Series. Prior to Boggs tenture, Mike Gardner was head coach since 1998. He retired at the end of the 2009 season as the winningest coach in school baseball history. Tornado field debuted on the new campus in February 2011 and was dedicated in April 2011. It is home to Tornado Baseball.Other Sports
Chris Randle became the first student athlete from Concordia to qualify for the NCAA track and field championship tournament. His 6 in 7 in (200.66 cm) high jump earned him a 6th place finish in the tournament. Randle's participation marked the first time in school history that Concordia was represented at the NCAA Division III Championships in two sports during the same academic year, as the baseball team won the ASC title and won two games over nationally-ranked opponents – Linfield and Redlands – at the West Regional.In 2009 Concordia inducted its first ever Hall of Fame class, including the 2002 baseball team that played for the NCAA Division III College World Series and Atlanta Braves reliever Scott Linebrink
Scott Linebrink
Scott Cameron Linebrink is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher, who is a free agent. He attended Texas State University.-Career:...
.
In 2011 3 more members were inducted: Kenneth DeBord '02, basketball; Lisa Hintz '88, volleyball & basketball; and Linda Lowery, who served stints as the Athletic Director, volleyball coach and men's and women's golf coach from 1980-2008.