Augustana College (Illinois)

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**Augustana College**

Established	1860
Type	Private college
President	Steven C. Bahls
Students	2,400
Location	Rock Island, Illinois, United States
Nickname	Vikings
Affiliations	Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Website	http://www.augustana.edu/

Augustana College is a small liberal arts college, with a current enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. Covering 115 acres (465,000 m²) of hilly, wooded land, Augustana is adjacent to the Mississippi River in Rock Island, Illinois. A large percentage of the student body takes part in a wide variety of groups and activities related to the performing arts, theatre, debate, publications, broadcasting, student government, and a broad spectrum of professional, religious, departmental, political, social, and service organizations.

Swedish immigrants founded the College in 1860. Augustana is a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is the alma mater of Daniel C. Tsui, the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Augustana College is the home of the Augustana Choir, which was founded in 1931 and is known for its performances of a cappella choral music. Among the choir's many accomplishments are a performance at Carnegie Hall and several trips to Sweden. In addition to the numerous other music performance groups on campus, including the Augustana Symphony Orchestra, the Augustana Symphonic Band, founded in 1875, is the oldest. During World War I, members of the band enlisted as a unit in the American Armed Forces. During that time they not only saw action, but also gave a concert tour after the Armistice was signed. In 1928, the Band became one of the first American collegiate bands to tour in Europe.

Augustana College houses the Fryxell Geology Museum and John Deere Planetarium. The museum, named after Fritiof Fryxell, has become one of the largest and finest collections of rocks, minerals and fossils in the Midwest. Founded in the late 1880's with a small collection devoted to natural history, the museum now contains over 1,500 rock, mineral, and fossil specimens. On display is a complete skeleton of a Tylosaurus "sea serpent", skulls of Parasaurolophus, Ankylosaurus, Apatosaurus, Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex and a 2 billion year old fossil. Of particular interest is the display of the complete 22-foot long skeleton of Cryolophosaurus, a large crested carnivorous dinosaur discovered in Antarctica in 1991 by Augustana paleontologist Dr. William Hammer.

Augustana College is also home to the Swenson Center, a national archives and research institute providing various resources for the study of Swedish immigration to North America, the communities the immigrants established, and the history and culture of Swedish immigrants and their descendants in America.

In 2006, Augustana College's Thomas Tredway Library was selected as the winner of the Association of College & Research Libraries' "Excellence in Academic Libraries Award" for four-year colleges.

The Augustana Vikings compete in the NCAA Division III College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW). The Vikings compete in a combined total of 21 male and female team sports, and four out of five students compete in some form of varsity, club, or intramural sport. The Augustana College football team won four NCAA Division III national championships in a row from 1983 - 1986 under Coach Bob Reade. Coach Reade's overall winning percentage of 87% is second only to Knute Rockne on the all-time list.

1 Courses of Study
2 Notable faculty
3 Notable alumni
4 External links

[edit] Courses of Study

Majors Accounting, Art, Art Education, Art History, Biochemistry, Biology, Business Administration, Chemistry, Classics, Computer Science/ Mathematics, Earth Science Teaching, Economics, Elementary and Secondary Education, English, French, Geography, Geology, German, History, Mathematics, Medicine, Music, Music Education, Music Performance, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Scandinavian, Sociology, Spanish, Speech Communication, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Studio Art, and Theatre.

Minors In most major areas, plus Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and Women's Studies.

Coordinated Degree Programs Dentistry, Engineering, Environmental Management, Forestry, Landscape Architecture, and Occupational Therapy.

Pre-Professional Studies Dentistry, Law, Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Optometry, Pharmacy, and Physical Therapy, Veterinary Medicine.

[edit] Notable faculty

One of the foremost scholars of consumer credit, Dr. Lendol Calder, joined the Augustana College history department in the mid 1990s. He is the author of Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit.

Dr. William Hammer, a paleontologist who holds the college's Fritiof Fryxell Chair in Geology, has twice discovered the remains of dinosaurs while leading research expeditions funded by the National Science Foundation in Antarctica.

[edit] Notable alumni

Ken Anderson (1970) - NFL Quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals for 16 seasons.
Brenda Barnes (1975) - Current CEO of Sara Lee. Former CEO (and first female head) of PepsiCo.
Jon Schweppe - Worldwide Poker Champion
Lane Evans (1974) - United States Congressman (Illinois 17th District)
Don Sundquist - Former governor of Tennessee (1995–2003)
Daniel C. Tsui - Nobel Prize winner in physics.