Concordia University, Nebraska

Founded in 1894 by The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Concordia University, Nebraska is a private, coeducational institution of higher learning. The main campus is located in Seward, Neb. (population 7,000), about 25 miles west of Lincoln, the state capitol. The graduate school and degree completion program are based in Lincoln.

Concordia University, Nebraska is an excellent academic and Christ-centered community equipping men and women for lives of learning, service and leadership in the church and world.

By 2020, Concordia University, Nebraska will be a thriving Lutheran university that engages students in dynamic, life-shaping learning experiences and relationships as they discover, pursue and realize their vocational callings.

We use our Lutheran tradition to help students strengthen their own Christian identity and gain the practical experience they need to successfully learn, serve and lead in the church and world.

If you are a student who wants an excellent academic education and desires a vibrant, Christ-centered community, Concordia University, Nebraska is the college that can best prepare, serve, mentor, support and inspire you to develop a clearer identity, improve your skills, explore your calling and ultimately serve and lead through your career, family, church, community and world.

Concordia will engage you in dynamic, life-shaping learning experiences and relationships. As you do, you will discover, pursue and realize your purpose and calling.

Concordia's faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends will help you develop your talents in ways that will help you effectively explore, identify and ultimately fulfill your personal and professional goals.Maybe you simply want a higher education. Maybe you want a stronger faith, better skills, prestigious accomplishments or athletic records.Whatever the desire, Concordia can help you reach your goals—and, with our help, you may be able to achieve more than you ever imagined possible.

Because most of Concordia's students live on campus, a variety of events are going on at almost any given time. And many of our students come from out of state, which means they stay on campus during the weekends. Concordia's student activities council (SAC) regularly schedules fun activities and events such as concerts, comedians, dances, coffeehouses and much more. What has SAC cooked up now?

The admission office will host a Summer Jump Start Visit Day in June. This special visit day allows confirmed students a chance to take care of their finances and attend to other first-year issues before they arrive for Launch - Orientation Weekend.

Each residence hall features in-room access to cable and the Internet, along with study spaces, laundry facilities and cozy lounges with big-screen televisions. In addition to these benefits, you’ll also have opportunities to participate in educational programs and fun group events with your floor mates.

The school that grew to become Concordia University, Nebraska opened its doors on Nov. 18, 1894, with one professor, a dozen male students and a three-year high school curriculum. Concordia has since grown into a fully accredited, coeducational university that has granted degrees to tens of thousands of students.

The cornerstone on Founders Hall bears the initials E.L.S.L.S., short for Evangelische Lutherische Schullehrer Seminar, apparently the first name given to Concordia in 1894 by its German-speaking founders. Translated into English, the name was Evangelical Lutheran School Teachers Seminary. However, the school’s early leaders didn’t worry much about settling on a consistent name.

Dr. Jerry Pfabe, emeritus history professor and the university’s archivist, has found references to a dozen official and unofficial names. Several of those names cropped up in the first few decades:Zweites Schullehrer Seminar zu Seward, Nebraska (The second school teachers’ seminary): The school’s only purpose in the early years was to train teachers for Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod parochial schools. The LCMS started its first teachers’ seminary in Indiana and later moved it to Illinois. Lutheran Seminary/Evangelical Lutheran Seminary/ Teachers’ Seminary/Lutheran Teachers’ College.

Seward College: This was an unofficial name that appeared on baseball uniforms. No one knows for sure when Concordians first started playing organized sports, but they were believed to have adopted the Bulldog mascot in honor of Coach Walter Hellwege’s pet bulldog, who accompanied him to games in the 1920s.German College: This was an unofficial—sometimes derogatory—name used by Seward County residents to describe the college.

Lutheran Normal School: “Normal school” training was the term for teacher education programs in the early part of the century. Concordia began offering bachelor’s degrees in 1939, but in many states teachers were not required to have bachelor’s degrees for several more years.

Look long enough and you may still find the initials CTC stamped on objects around campus. Concordia Teachers College was the school’s official name for decades; however, the “Teachers” was gradually dropped from recruitment materials as the curriculum expanded to include DCE and pre-seminary programs, followed by a host of liberal arts majors in the 1970s and 1980s.

Although Concordia is still operates under the auspices of the LCMS, it now recruits students from many Christian denominations. Teacher education is still the largest program on campus, but makes up less than half the student body.The school changed its name to Concordia University in 1998.