Wartburg College
Wartburg College is a selective 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 is highly competitive and has an 89 percent medical school placement rate and a 100 percent placement rate in other fields of medicine.
In 2007 US News and World Report rated Wartburg College 6th for academic excellence among Midwestern comprehensive colleges which primarily award bachelor's degrees, and 2nd in terms of "bang for the buck" (i.e. best value when tuition costs, scholarship aide, and academics are compared).
History
Wartburg College was founded in 1852 in Saginaw, Michigan, by Georg M. Grossman, a native of Neuendettelsau, Bavaria. Grossmann was sent by Pastor Wilhelm Löhe to establish a teacher training school for German immigrants. 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 clever Wartburg cross-country runners 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 Fox network and made Rolling Stone magazine's list of the most memorable college pranks of the 1996-1997 year. The creativity in the rivalry continued when student staff members of the college radio station, [http://www.kwar.org KWAR], secretly entered a float in the Luther College Homecoming Parade. The staff members decorated the float as an environmental club - the Organization of Nature Enthusiasts - from Luther College. In front of judges stand, the float quickly changed colors from blue and white to orange and black. The float continued all the way through town and onto Luther's campus, with numerous Wartburg students joining the procession from the crowd as the parade passed them.
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 one-day holiday Outfly, a deliberately mistaken translation of the German noun Ausflug. 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 2008 the new [http://www.wartburg.edu/wellness/ Wartburg-Waverly Sports and Wellness Center], an indoor athletic complex co-sponsored by the city of Waverly, opened. The new center includes a performance arena, an indoor track, and natatorium. It replaces Knights Gymnasium, the longtime home of Wartburg Basketball and Volleyball, as well as the Physical Education Center which formerly adjoined the old gym.
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 [http://www.thelutheran.org/article/article.cfm?article_id=4179 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", [http://www.coleenrowley.com/ candidate] for U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 2nd District in 2006.
Debra Scheller, class of 1978, Miss Iowa 1977[http://www.missiowa.com/former.html].
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
Dr. Delbert H. Meyer, discovered process for creating purified terephthalic acid (PTA), a key building block in the production of polyester; recipient of the National Medal of Technology (1992).
Presidents of Wartburg
Georg M. Grossman 1852-1868
John Klindworth 1868-1875
Georg Grossmann 1878-1894
Friedrich Lutz 1894-1905
Gerhard Bergstraesser 1905-1909
August Engelbrecht 1909-1933
Edward J. Braulick 1935-1945
Conrad Becker 1945-1964
John Bachman 1964-1974
William Jellema 1974-1980
Robert L. Vogel 1980-1998
Jack R. Ohle 1998-2008
William Hamm 2008-2009 (Interim)
Darrel Colson 2009-
Friedrich Richter 1894-1899 (Clinton IA)
Otto Kraushaar 1899-1907 (Clinton IA)
John Fritschel 1907-1919 (Clinton IA)
Otto Proehl 1919-1935 (Clinton IA)
Locations
Wartburg College has moved many times throughout its history:
Saginaw, Michigan 1852-1853
Dubuque, Iowa 1853-1857
St. Sebald, Iowa 1857-1868
Galena, Illinois 1868-1875
Mendota, Illinois 1875-1885
Clinton, Iowa 1894-1935
Waverly, Iowa 1879-1933 and 1935-Present
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