Motto | "In litteris proficere volo, malo diligere Jesum" |
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Type | Private University |
Established | 1893 |
Affiliation | Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod |
Endowment | $21.4 million |
President | Rev. Tom Ries |
Students | 2,800 (2011) |
Location | St. Paul, Minnesota, United States |
Campus | Urban, 5 acres (2 ha) |
Mascot | Golden Bears |
Website | http://www.csp.edu/ |
Concordia University is a liberal arts university located Coordinates: 44°56′59.22″N 93°9′17.75″W / 44.9497833°N 93.1549306°W in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Concordia University was founded in 1893 and currently enrolls approximately 4,000 students. The institution is an affiliate of the ten-member Concordia University System, which is operated by the second-largest Lutheran church body in the United States, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS).
Concordia University was founded in 1893 to provide a Christian learning environment for high school students preparing to enter the professional ministries of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The first students were welcomed to class on September 13, 1893, in temporary quarters next to Zion Lutheran Church in St. Paul. The following year, Concordia spent $22,000 to purchase 5 acres (2 ha) and several buildings previously owned by the state training school for boys in its current location midway between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.
In the next decade, Concordia continued to grow, adding a fourth year of high school, and then freshman and sophomore college years. Concordia's early success fueled new construction projects on campus, including the Gymnasium (converted in the 1950s to Graebner Memorial Chapel) and Recitation Hall (now Meyer Hall). Dr. Theodore Buenger served as Concordia St. Paul's professor and first director.