Augustana (Illinois) Vikings
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| Type | Private college |
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| Established | 1860 |
| Affiliation | Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
| Endowment | $115.9 million |
| President | Steven C. Bahls |
| Students | 2,500 |
| Location |
Rock Island, Illinois, United States 41°30′08″N 90°33′01″W / 41.5023°N 90.5504°WCoordinates: 41°30′08″N 90°33′01″W / 41.5023°N 90.5504°W |
| Campus | 115 acres |
| Colors | Navy blue and gold |
| Nickname | Augie |
| Mascot | Vikings |
| Website | www |
Augustana College is a private liberal arts college in Rock Island, Illinois, United States. The college enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Covering 115 acres (46.5 ha) of hilly, wooded land, Augustana is adjacent to the Mississippi River.
Augustana College was founded as Augustana College and Theological Seminary in 1860 by the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod. Located first in Chicago, it moved to Paxton, Illinois, in 1863 and to Rock Island, Illinois, its current home, in 1875.
After 1890 an increasingly large Swedish American community in America promoted a new institutional structure, including a lively Swedish-language press, many new churches, several colleges, and a network of ethnic organizations. The result was to foster with pride a sense of Swedishness in the United States. Thereby there emerged a self-confident Americanized generation. Augustana College put itself in the lead of the movement to affirm Swedish American identity. Early on all the students had been born in Sweden but by 1890 the second generation of American-born students predominated. They typically had white-collar or professional backgrounds; few were the sons and daughters of farmers and laborers. These middle class youth developed an idealized view of Sweden, characterized by romanticism, patriotism, and idealism, just like their counterparts across the Atlantic. The new generation was especially proud of the Swedish contributions to American democracy and the creation of a republic that promised liberty and destroyed the menace of slavery.
The college grew by donation of 5 acres (2.0 ha) on the south in 1886 and purchase, enabled by donation of C.J.A. Ericson, of 10–12 acres to the north in 1899.
In 1947, when Conrad Bergendoff was college president, the Augustana Seminary formally separated from Augustana College and became an independent body. It remained on the Rock Island campus until the 1960s, when the Seminary moved to Chicago. It merged with other Lutheran seminaries to form the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
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