Wartburg College

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Wartburg College


Motto	Be Orange
Established	1852
Type	Private
Endowment	$35 Million
President	Jack R. Ohle
Faculty	150
Undergraduates	1,811
Location	Waverly, Iowa, USA
Campus	rural, 118 acres (47.75 ha)
Colors	Orange & Black
Nickname	Knights
Affiliations	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Website	wartburg.edu

Wartburg College is a four-year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Waverly, Iowa. Wartburg also operates a satellite campus in Denver, Colorado, referred to as Wartburg West.

The most popular programs of study at Wartburg are, (in order): business administration, biology, communication arts, elementary education, and psychology. Wartburg's social work program is the oldest undergraduate program of its kind in Iowa. Wartburg is the only private college in Iowa offering a music therapy major. The college has an 89 percent medical school placement rate and a 100 percent placement rate in other fields of medicine.

In 2006 US News and World Report rated Wartburg College 7th for academic excellence among Midwestern comprehensive colleges which primarily award bachelor's degrees, and 10th in terms of "bang for the buck" (i.e. best value when tuition costs, scholarship aide, and academics are compared).

1 History
2 Famous alumni
3 Presidents of Wartburg
4 Locations
5 External links

[edit] History

Wartburg College was founded in 1852 in Saginaw, Michigan, by Georg Grossmann, a native of Neuendettelsau, Bavaria. Grossmann was sent by Pastor Wilhelm Löhe to establish a teacher training school for German immigrants. Originally dubbed "Vartburg", the name of the college was changed to "Wartburg" following its move to Iowa. The location of the college moved many times between Illinois and Iowa until permanently settling in Waverly in 1935.

The longstanding rivalry between Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and Wartburg College has produced colorful moments over the years. The origins of the rivalry are vague. Stories of pranks date back to the 1940s. The rivalry has, for the most part, been characterized by fun and good sportsmanship. The rivalry rose to new heights in October 1996, when two Wartburg students rented a light plane, flew to Decorah, and dropped leaflets on the Luther campus. The incident was reported in every major newspaper in Iowa, got national mention on the ESPN network and made Rolling Stone magazine's list of the most memorable college pranks of the 1996-1997 year.

The college is named after Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany, where Martin Luther was protected during the stormy days of the Reformation. Student and alumni groups often travel to the castle, and the Wartburg Choir has performed in the castle several times. Waverly and Eisenach are sister cities, and they often swap foreign exchange students. The college is proud of its German heritage, and celebrates an annual student-declared holiday "Outfly", a deliberately mistaken translation of the German noun Ausflüge. Another German element of campus life is the stone inscription on the Chapel: "Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott", which English-speaking Lutherans sing as "A Mighty Fortress is Our God".

Campus buildings are named after places and people in Wartburg's history, including Grossmann, Luther, Saginaw, Galena, etc. The college is nearing the end of a long-term effort to unify the architectural appearance of the campus, with new music, library, stadium, cafeteria, and science buildings over the past 15 years. An array of skywalks and building corridors now allows students to walk from one end of campus to the other without having to go outside. In 2005 the new Wartburg-Waverly Sports and Wellness Center was announced. This facility will replace Knights Gymnasium, the longtime home of Wartburg Basketball and Volleyball, as well as the adjoining Physical Education Center, with a new Physical Education building co-sponsored as an athletic center with the city of Waverly. Ground was broken on this new center in early 2006.

[edit] Famous alumni

Missy Buttry, class of 2005, only runner in any division, male or female, to win three consecutive NCAA Cross Country championships.
Sarah Corpstein, class of 2005, Miss Iowa USA 2006.
Mark Holtz, class of 1971, voice of the Texas Rangers, Texas Rangers Hall of Fame.
Kathryn Koob, class of 1960, one of the 52 Americans held hostage in the US Embassy in Iran from November 1979 until January 1981. Koob accepted a post as a guest instructor in Oral Communication and has taught a course entitled Reconciliation at Wartburg.
Coleen Rowley, class of 1977, whistleblower FBI agent, researched suspected WTC terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, joint 2002 TIME "Person of the Year", candidate for U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 2nd District in 2006.
Debra Scheller, class of 1978, Miss Iowa 1977[1].
Don Denkinger, who achieved fame for his call at 1st base as an umpire in the 1985 World Series
Dennis Johnson, Dunedin, Florida, class of 1974, restaurant co-owner/founder of Hooters Restaurant chain