When change is underway, we want our friends and neighbors to know what we are doing and why.
Numerous stories have circulated about our actions: it’s important that you know exactly what is changing – and what is not – at our global liberal arts college of the Lutheran church.
What is the impact of recently announced changes to academic programs at Concordia? Students will continue to be able to study Classics, French, and German, and minor in them, but majoring in these fields has been closed to new students. Students will be able to study and major in Chinese and Spanish. We have discontinued the major in Health, but majors in Health Ed, Physical Ed, and Exercise Science remain. The Scandinavian Studies concentration is closed to new students, as is an interdisciplinary “Humanities” major that has no students enrolled.
In the majors now closing and the one concentration, there are 38 students all told, 12 of whom will graduate this May. The remaining students will be able to graduate in their chosen major/concentration on time.
Why did we make these decisions? Concordia has responded to the 24 percent drop in the number of Minnesota students seeking a college degree by positioning itself as a liberal arts college of 2,100 to 2,300 students. At this size, we will remain larger than The American private college average of 1920. So that our students, faculty, and staff will thrive, we are directing our resources for strength by:
- Ensuring that we are the right size for the current enrollment market.
- Reviewing existing programs to see if they should be continued in their present form.
- Devising compelling new academic programs and learning experiences.
Our decisions about reductions or closures came after extensive analysis of programs in which the number of student majors had dropped. The majors and concentration affected in these decisions have benefited many Concordia students over the years, and their graduates have gone on to distinguished professional and personal accomplishments.
What then is new? Concordia’s faculty and academic administration have created new majors and new forms of learning over the past year to serve student interests, to prepare students for post-college success, and to compete for new students.
Here are those programs and learning forms:
- New majors in neuroscience and in finance, and a program to infuse digital skills into studies in the humanities and fine arts.
- A new graduation requirement that will lead every student into hands-on learning beyond the classroom.
- The Concordia Career Initiative, a four-year sequence of reflection and real-world work to prepare every student for jobs or graduate school.
- To support student learning a complete renovation of science facilities is now underway thanks to highly successful fundraising. This project extends the momentum generated by the renovation of the Grant Center and the launch of the Offutt School of Business in 2013.
Finally, what has not changed at Concordia? We are and we will continue to be a global liberal arts college of the Lutheran church. We will continue to lead our students in free inquiry, discovery, and application for their own sake and for the health of the world. We continue to be a college where students study abroad at five times the national undergraduate average. We will continue to offer an outstanding return on the educational investment, evidenced by on-time graduation and high placement rates in jobs and grad school. We will continue to be one of the lowest cost private colleges in our state and region, with an average annual net cost of $20,401, thanks to $37 million of our funds underwriting student costs each year.
We will continue to be an innovative, vital partner for Fargo-Moorhead, our region, our nation.
The faith, arts, business and health care communities here are so much a part of our college story, to the good of our students and our college as a whole. At our new size, with new programs and with resources directed to excellence of all student learning, we will continue to be one of America’s very best colleges.
Craft is president of Concordia College, Moorhead.
This letter first appeared in The Forum newspaper.