Gustavus Adolphus College is a
private liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America located in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. A coeducational,
four-year, residential institution, it was founded in 1862 by Swedish
Americans. To this day the school is firmly rooted in its Swedish and Lutheran
heritage. The premier event on campus is the annual Nobel Conference, which
features Nobel Laureates and other world-renowned scholars explaining their
expertise to a general audience. The college presents its mission as tied to
the fact that it is a church-related college: A "private residential
liberal arts college firmly rooted in its Swedish and Lutheran heritage.” While
the institution offers many majors, the school also presents itself as a place
where "a mature understanding of the Christian faith" is nurtured; so
that “students are encouraged to work toward a just and peaceful world.” Many
students are involved in volunteer work, and service learning is integrated
into many of the courses on campus.The college was founded in 1862 as a
Lutheran parochial school at Red Wing by Eric Norelius, pastor. Originally
named Minnesota Elementarskola (elementary school in Swedish), it moved the
following year to East Union, an unincorporated town in Dahlgren Township. In
1865, on the 1,000th anniversary of the death of St. Ansgar, known as the
"Apostle of the North", the institution was renamed and incorporated
as St. Ansgar's Academy. In April 1873, the college was renamed Gustavus
Adolphus Literary & Theological Institute in honor of King Gustavus
Adolphus of Sweden. On October 16, 1876, it opened as Gustavus Adolphus College
at the current location, enticed to relocate to St. Peter by the town's offer
of $10,000 and a large campus. Gustavus is the oldest of several Lutheran
colleges in Minnesota. It was founded as a college of the Augustana Evangelical
Lutheran Church. In 1962 it became a college of the Lutheran Church in America,
when the Augustana Synod merged into that body. The Lutheran Church in America
merged in 1988 to create the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavus
Adolphus is currently ranked among the best 100 national liberal arts colleges
by U.S. News & World Report. In 2014, Gustavus ranked 76th rising from 85th
in the 2013 rankings.Students choose from over 70 programs of study with 75
majors in 24 academic departments and three interdisciplinary programs
(including 14 honors majors), ranging from physics to religion to Scandinavian
studies. The College's Writing Across the Curriculum program fosters writing
skills in all academic disciplines. Since 1983, the college has had a chapter
of the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa. The school offers an alternative
interdisciplinary general education program known as the Three Crowns Curriculum.
Recently the college instituted a test-optional admission policy, making it the
first private college in Minnesota to forgo the ACT/SAT score requirement on
its application. The campus features science facilities, computer and language
labs, and a large, new dining facility. The college's Christ Chapel, which
seats 1500 people, stands in the center of campus. Gustavus' first building in
St. Peter, affectionately known as "Old Main," originally housed the
entire college. Major renovations to the building were completed in 2005. In
the Fall of 2011, a new social science center, Beck Hall, was opened on campus.
The campus includes 33 sculptures by the late Minnesota sculptor, Paul
Granlund, an alumnus of the college who for many years was sculptor-in-residence.
Every tree indigenous to Minnesota is grown in the Linnaeus Arboretum. In 2009
students founded Big Hill Farm, which grows produce for the cafeteria and aims
to connect the campus to sustainable agriculture. Christ Chapel is a church
located in the center of Gustavus Adolphus College. Constructed from March 2,
1959 to fall 1961, the chapel was dedicated on January 7, 1962. Construction of
the chapel was made possible by gifts from the congregations of the
LutheranAugustana Synod, a predecessor body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America, which is affiliated with the college. Ecumenicalservices are held
each weekday and on Sundays during the academic year. There is seating for
1,500 people in the chapel, with 1,200 on the main floor and an additional 300
in the balcony. It is the largest seating area on campus.
The chapel and surrounding grounds
are adorned by the sculptures of Paul T. Granlund, the former
artist-in-residence at Gustavus Adolphus College.
The organ in Christ Chapel was originally
built by Hillgreen-Lane at the time the Chapel was built. It has been
significantly altered in the last 30 years. These renovations, carried out by
David Engen and more recently by the Hendrickson Organ Company of St. Peter,
include a new console with solid state combination and relay, moving several
ranks of pipes from an antiphonal position in the basement into the main organ
above the balcony, restructuring the Swell mixture, and extensive repairs
following the tornado of 1998. It currently contains 55 speaking ranks of
pipes, played from a four-manual console, and has a preparation on the new
Great chest for a mounted Kornet V stop.
The Chapel also houses a small
portative organ of three stops on one manual which is used for accompanying and
especially for continuo playing in Baroque compositions.
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