Graceland University

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Graceland University
Motto Prudens futuri (Wisdom for the Future)
Established 1895
President Dr. Steven L. Anders (acting)
Faculty 146
Students 2,351
Location Lamoni, Iowa, USA
School Song Graceland Forever
Colors Blue & Gold
Nickname Yellowjackets
Mascot Sting
Affiliations Community of Christ
Website www.graceland.edu

Graceland University is a private liberal arts university of about 2300 students and 150 faculty with campuses in Lamoni, Iowa and Independence, Missouri. The school, though non-sectarian, is affiliated with the Community of Christ and was founded in 1895.

Its main campus is located in Lamoni, Iowa. This residential campus offers 43 majors and 60 degree options, 17 varsity sports, campus wide activities, and intramural sports. Among the significant architectural structures on the Lamoni Campus are the original Higdon Administration Building, the Roy A. Cheville Chapel, Closson Physical Education Center, Frederick Madison Smith Library, and the Shaw Center.

The Independence campus is an urban campus that houses the school of nursing, undergraduate and graduate programs in education and Community of Christ Seminary.This campus also houses the Center for the Study of the Korean War, the largest Korean War archive in the United States.

In 1995, Graceland University acquired SkillPath, a business training company offering seminars and classes in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. SkillPath has offered approximately 20,000 sessions to more than 500,000 students in 450 cities. [1]

John K. Menzies resigned as Graceland’s President on August 5, 2006. Dr. Steven L. Anders, Graceland’s vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty became acting president of Graceland University on August 7, 2006.

Graceland won first-place in the four-year division of the SIFE USA National Exposition in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 23, 2006. The team then went on to be the 1st runner up at the World Cup competition in Paris, France

Contents

[edit] Housing System

Instead of having fraternities and sororities like most Universities, Graceland has a system where every student is placed on a theoretical "house," regardless of whether they live on or off campus. Each house deals with the same functions that closely resembles a fraternity or sorority. In addition, each house has positions to organize and run their affairs, including a President, a Vice President, a C.O.S.A. (Council of Student Activities) member, a S.A.C. (Student Academic Council) member, a Senator (a person who makes sure everything is functioning correctly around campus), an Intramurals representative, a Chaplain, and finally Crescents (who only are featured in women's houses and whose duties include decorating and doing arts and crafts). All members of a house council are elected to their positions by members of their house.

Men's Houses

Women's Houses

[edit] Prominent alumni


[edit] Athletics

[edit] Football

In 2005, the Yellowjackets went 9-3, won their first conference title since 1975 and qualified for the NAIA national championships for the first time ever. This was just four years removed from an 0-10 season. Cris Welch is 28 and 14 in four years.

Herbert Goodman and Jeff Criswell went on to play in the NFL

[edit] Women's soccer

In 2006, GU won their third straight Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship. Despite a 17-1-1 record, the Jackets were not selected for the NAIA national tournament. They have not been defeated in conference play since October 2003 (29-0-3). GU is 67-6-11 over the lst four years.

[edit] Women's volleyball

Stew McDole has won 741 matches in 25 years at Graceland.

[edit] Men's volleyball

The Jackets capture three NAIA Championships (1973, 76, 79). They were one of only two teams to qualify for nationals all 11 years it was run. The NAIA stopped the championships following the 1978-79 season.

[edit] Men's soccer

In 2006, Graceland went 18-4-2. Despite losing in the Region V Championship, the Jackets were selected to the NAIA National Tournament and seeded second. They beat Milligan 1-0, Grand View 3-0, Webber International 1-0 and Azusa Pacific 0-0 (7-6 in a shoot out) to win the NAIA National Championships.

They beat Grand View 3-0 after losing 3-0 to them in the opening game of the season. In the semi finals against Webber International they played without one of the top two defensive players, Ruben Ruelas (broken ankle against GV), Edson Edward (#3 scorer, injury) and veteran Brett Porter (sitting out due to yellow cards). In the final against Azusa Pacific, they were without Ruelas, Edward, Facundo Rinaldi (Top reserve, out with a red card) and Kevin Souter (top player out on fouls).

In the shoot out, both teams made all five of their penalty kicks, which is highly unusual. Then in the second round, both teams missed their first three shots each. After each made the fourth shot, Goal Keeper Isaac Unruh came up with a huge save and Nick Gay put his shot past the keeper for the win.

[edit] Women's cross country

GU finished 3rd just 28 points behind two of the top 10 teams in the country (Mid-America Nazarene and William Woods) at the Region V Championship to earn their first trip to nationals since 1993.

[edit] Track and field

Bruce Jenner ran for the Jackets and won the Gold in the Olympic Decathlon in 1976.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ SkillPath Seminars – About Us, webpage, retrieved June 24, 2006
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