Ambassador College

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Seal of Ambassador College

Ambassador College was a college with three locations in California, Texas and England before it closed in 1997. It was originally established as an unaccredited liberal arts institution in 1947 at Pasadena, California by the Radio Church of God, a religious organization incorporated in the State of California by Herbert W. Armstrong to promote the beliefs of the Worldwide Church of God. In 1960 a second campus was opened at Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, England and a third campus was opened in 1964 at Big Sandy, Texas. Ambassador operated for 50 years and had become regionally accredited by the time it ceased operations in 1997.

1 Brief history
2 Pasadena Campus
3 AICF - Ambassador International Cultural Foundation
4 References
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Brief history

The history of Ambassador College is tied to the development of the Radio Church of God, which later changed its name of incorporation to the Worldwide Church of God. The name Radio Church of God was initially selected in the 1930s because the church was tied to its broadcasting activity, which the church claimed was not to encourage membership, but to warn the world of impending disaster and the return of Jesus.

Each eventual campus of Ambassador College had a broadcasting studio where the church's radio program, known as The World Tomorrow, was recorded. The California campus eventually had a television studio as well, as the program crossed over to that medium.

While the radio and TV programs performed a "warning" role, the college was designed to prepare youth for life and service in the church. In the earliest days of Ambassador, male students frequently graduated into the ministry of the church. By the 1970s, that occurred less frequently.

The motto of the college was Recapturing True Values. Although most students of the college were associated with the church, it was not a strict requirement. Nonetheless, the students and faculty were primarily those with church affiliation.

Throughout most of its history, Ambassador operated under state approval or its international equivalent. Regional accreditation was not sought, for it required a degree of separation between church administrators and the administration of the college itself.^[1] Founder Herbert Armstrong believed that such accreditation would result in the truth of God, as he believed and taught it to be, being watered down at an Ambassador that would become increasingly secular. He held this opinion despite the fact that numerous accredited colleges and universities around the country were operated by the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church and other church denominations.

The final phase of Ambassador began in the late 1970s and was characterized by constant uncertainty and indecision. The Ambassador campus at Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, England was closed in 1974, as operating funds were deemed necessary for other functions of the Worldwide Church of God. For similar reasons, the Texas campus was shuttered in 1977, and all students who wished to were offered the opportunity to transfer to the original campus in Pasadena, California. In the interim the decision had been made by church leadership to pursue regional accreditation in California. However, in 1978 President Garner Ted Armstrong, son of college founder Herbert Armstrong, announced that everything would be moving back to the Texas campus^[2], with the California facility becoming a graduate school. Within months, however, the younger Armstrong was ousted from all positions in the church and college due to an unrelated scandal^[3], and Herbert Armstrong, recovered from a heart attack, announced that Ambassador was closing its doors altogether.

That stance was softened just as quickly, however, and the decision was made to continue operating Ambassador as a scaled-down academic institution more in line with a bible college. That began in August 1978. Eventually, Ambassador returned to full four-year status, operating with state approval but not regional accreditation.

In 1981, Herbert Armstrong decided to reopen the Texas campus,^[4] which was still owned by the church. In 1985 he decided to close that campus again.^[5] In January 1986 Armstrong died, and his successor as church leader, Joseph W. Tkach, decided to keep the Texas campus open.^[6]

The dynamic of higher education in the United States began to have an effect on independent, unaccredited colleges like Ambassador. For many years, regional accreditation was not required for colleges to open in various states -- only state approval was needed. By the late 1980s, however, many states began to require that a college, after having operated for a certain number of years, would have to move from state approval to regional accreditation, or be closed. Ambassador was at a crossroads, in that it either had to seek regional accreditation, or reduce to a bible college offering diplomas rather than recognized degrees, or close its doors for good.

The board of regents of Ambassador, still comprising members of the Worldwide Church of God, decided to merge all operations at one location and seek regional accreditation. The decision was made to separate the college from the church's base of operations in California, and move all college operations to the Big Sandy, Texas campus. The California college closed for good in 1990.[1] Students on the Pasadena campus and many faculty members who were pursuing advanced degrees were transferred to the Big Sandy campus, which was in the midst of a construction boom to accommodate the influx of new personnel and to support the regional accreditation efforts.

Seal of Ambassador University

Ambassador College at Big Sandy, Texas began the process of applying for regional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Accreditation was granted in 1994.^[7] That same year the college underwent a name change to Ambassador University. This new period of transformation was short-lived, however. For decades Ambassador did not have an endowment fund separate from the church. School officials had begun the process of establishing the first dedicated operating endowment in Ambassador's history, but there was not sufficient time to build the endowment. Doctrinal controversy within the Worldwide Church of God led to numerous splits and church spinoffs, and the resulting decrease in membership and contributions to the church led to a rapid decline in the annual financial subsidy the church had historically provided to the university. In December 1996 the university's board of regents voted to close the institution once and for all.^[8] That May, with the university having just concluded its 50th anniversary year, Ambassador closed its doors.

[edit] Pasadena Campus

Aside from being the sponsor of The World Tomorrow radio broadcast for a time, the college in Pasadena became locally well known for its magnificent campus gardens, a portion of which flanked the famous New Year Tournament of Roses Parade. Another claim for the college in Pasadena was its Ambassador Auditorium worship and concert venue, which for a time was host to many famous artists from classical music to jazz. The Auditorium closed in 1995 but will be reopened under a new plan in which a portion of the Ambassador campus will be sold to interdenominational Maranatha High School.

Ambassador Auditorium itself has been acquired by Harvest Rock Church of Pasadena, CA. Harvest Rock Church (HRC) is a Pentecostal church founded in 1994 under senior pastor Che Ahn. Since the acquisition of Ambassador Auditorium HRC has re-opened the venue to the public and hosts many local groups including the California Philharmonic and the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra. Harvest Rock Church's services, conferences and special events are also held at the Auditorium.

In September 2006, the Pasadena City Council approved the redevelopment of the Ambassador College space into the "Westgate Pasadena" complex: a large mixed-use development consisting of 820 condos and apartements as well as and 22,000 square feet of commercial space. This will remove most, if not all, of the former college campus[2].

[edit] AICF - Ambassador International Cultural Foundation

Ambassador College also sponsored archaeological excavations in Israel and together with a related Ambassador International Cultural Foundation they sponsored both the Ambassador Auditorium concert series and many appearances by Herbert W. Armstrong in the company of world statesmen and women. The two organizations also jointly sponsored educational projects in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Jordan.

[edit] References

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