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| Type | Private college |
|---|---|
| Established | 1860; 165 years ago (1860) |
Religious affiliation | Evangelical Lutheran Church in America[1] |
Academic affiliation | Annapolis Group |
| Endowment | $217 million (2022)[2] |
| President | Andrea Talentino |
| Students | 2,349 (fall 2022)[3] |
| Undergraduates | 2,318 (fall 2022) |
| Postgraduates | 31 (fall 2022) |
| Location | ,, United States 41°30′08″N90°33′01″W / 41.5023°N 90.5504°W /41.5023; -90.5504 |
| Campus | Urban, 115 acres (47 ha) |
| Newspaper | Augustana Observer |
| Colors | (Navy blue and gold) |
| Nickname | Vikings |
Sporting affiliations | NCAA Division III –CCIW |
| Mascot | Vikings |
| Website | augustana.edu |
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Augustana College is aprivateLutheran college inRock Island, Illinois, United States. The college enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Its campus is adjacent to theMississippi River and covers 115 acres (46.5 ha) of hilly, wooded land.
Augustana College was founded as Augustana College and Theological Seminary in 1860 by theScandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod. Located first in Chicago, it moved toPaxton, Illinois, in 1863 and to Rock Island, Illinois, its current home, in 1875.[4]
After 1890, an increasingly largeSwedish 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 a sense of Swedishness with pride in the United States. Thus, 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 of the creation of a republic that promised liberty and destroyed the menace of slavery.[5]
The college grew by donation of 5 acres (2.0 ha) on the south in 1886 and purchase, enabled by donation ofC.J.A. Ericson, of 10–12 acres to the north in 1899.[6][7]
In 1947, whenConrad 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.[8] It merged with otherLutheran seminaries to form theLutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Old Main was constructed between 1884 and 1893. It is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[9] On August 2, 2010, the New Science Building was officially named the Robert A. and Patricia K. Hanson Hall of Science after Robert Hanson, a formerJohn Deere CEO. Hanson, who donated $8 million to the college, credits his success in life to his time spent at Augustana.[10] The science building, dedicated in 1998 and enlarged in 2019, is the largest academic building serving approximately 700 students in 17 majors, minors and concentrations.[11] The Hanson Hall of Science's facilities and resources include seven classrooms, 35 laboratories (including a cadaver lab), a 400 MHz liquid-and solid-state NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrometer, scanning electron microscope, instrumentation for X-ray powder crystallography and a fully functioning 40-foot (12 m) greenhouse.
In October 2021, Augustana dedicated the Peter J. Lindberg, M.D., Center for Health and Human Performance in honor of alumnus Peter J. Lindberg. The 52,000-square-foot Lindberg Center is home to the college's new kinesiology program and growing public health program, as well as the men's and women's swimming/diving and new water polo teams.[12]
Augustana has five traditional residence halls: Andreen Hall, Erickson Residence Center, Seminary Hall, Swanson Commons, and Westerlin Residence Center. All five of these residence halls are coeducational. The majority of first-year and sophomore-year students typically reside in one of these five residence halls.[13] For juniors, Augustana also offers Transitional Living Areas (TLAs), apartment-like complexes or traditional off-campus houses administered by the college's Office of Residential Life. These areas usually have 2–6 students who share a bathroom, a kitchen, and other living spaces.[14]
The Fryxell Geology Museum, named after Augustana geologistFritiof Fryxell, features a large collection of dinosaurs and fossils, rocks and mineral specimens.[15][16] Displays include a complete skeleton of aPlatecarpus "sea serpent", skulls ofParasaurolophus,Ankylosaurus,Apatosaurus,Allosaurus andTyrannosaurus rex and a 2-billion-year-old fossil. There is also a complete 22-foot-long (6.7 m) skeleton ofCryolophosaurus, a large, crested carnivorous dinosaur discovered inAntarctica in 1991 by Augustana paleontologistWilliam Hammer. The museum is located in the Swenson Hall of Geosciences.
The most popular undergraduate majors at Augustana, based on 2021 graduates, were:[17]
The college is classified as "more selective," accepting 33% of applicants.
Since 1950, Augustana has had a chapter of thePhi Beta Kappa honor society. The college also has non-"Greek" collegiate fraternal organizations, includingEpsilon Tau Pi (ΕΤΠ)(Eagle Scouts),Alpha Phi Omega (APO) (service),Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI) (music),Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (PMA) (music),Epsilon Sigma Alpha (ESA) (Service),Alpha Psi Omega (ΑΨΩ) (theater), and others.[18] The Omicron chapter ofPhrateres, a non-exclusive, non-profit social-service club, was installed here in 1941. Between 1924 and 1967, 23 chapters of Phrateres were installed in universities across North America. (The chapter name "Omicron" was reused for the chapter installed atSan José State University.)
Augustana has seven sororities and eight fraternities.[19]
Augustana has many other organizations, including a chapter ofMENC: The National Association for Music Education, a National Band Association chapter,American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Paintball Team (NCPA),American String Teachers Association (ASTA),College Democrats of America,College Republicans, Psychology Club, Business Club, DDR Club,Anime Club, Asian Student Organization (ASO), Latinx Unidos, Investment Club, Ladies of Vital Essence (L.O.V.E.), The Order of the Phoenix, Martial Arts Club, Student Government Association and Viking Pups, a club dedicated to training service dogs on campus.[18]
Augustana College is located on the east side of Rock Island and is accessible via theQuad Cities MetroLINK. Routes 10, 53, and 57 provide bus service from campus to downtown Rock Island, downtown Moline and other destinations.[20]
Augustana athletic teams are nicknamed as the Vikings. The college is a member of theDivision III level of theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in theCollege Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) for almost all of their sports since the 1946–47 academic year. The only current exception is women's bowling, in which the Vikings are charter members of the single-sportCentral Intercollegiate Bowling Conference (CIBC) that began competition in the 2019–20 season. The Vikings compete in a combined total of 25 male and female team sports, and five out of seven students compete in some form ofvarsity, club, or intramural sport. The Vikings previously competed as a member of theIllinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) from 1912–13 to 1936–37.[21]
Augustana College competes in 28 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, eSports, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, water polo and wrestling; while women's sports include basketball, bowling, cross country, eSports, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, water polo and wrestling;.[21]
Between 1983 and 1986, the Augustana College football team won four consecutiveDivision III national championships under CoachBob Reade. Coach Reade's overall winning percentage of 87% is second only toLarry Kehres andKnute Rockne on the all-time list[citation needed].
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