Concordia College, Moorhead

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For other academic institutions named Concordia, see Concordia University (disambiguation).

Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota is a private, four year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). It is famous for its Concordia Language Villages in Bemidji, Minnesota. It also prepares many students for seminary.

Contents 1 Academics 2 Athletics 3 May Seminars 4 Music 5 Notable alumni 6 Past Presidents of Concordia College 7 Tri-College University 8 Trivia

[edit] Academics

There are 24 departments includes 78 majors.

Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees are offered.

[edit] Athletics

Concordia College is a member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).

[edit] May Seminars

Many departments including Math, History, Music, Business, Biology, French, Russian, Theatre, Sociology, Education and Family & Nutritional Sciences offer May Seminars. In providing the opportunity to travel abroad and visit locations of true scholarly importance, the May Seminar programs seek to bring students closer to the things they study in class. May seminars begin at the end of the spring semester and typically last four weeks.

[edit] Music

The college is also renowned for its excellent Music Department and associated touring ensembles. The Concordia Choir, critically-acclaimed as ranking among the world's finest a cappella choirs, tours annually throughout the United States as well as abroad every few years. The college also maintains four other choirs, two concert bands, two full orchestras, two handbell choirs, and chamber and jazz ensembles. Rene Clausen is the conductor of the choir.

The college also presents a well-known Christmas Concert series performed before capacity audiences in Moorhead and at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis each December. The concert features the choirs, orchestra and handbell ensemble of Concordia staged before an impressive, unique mural reflecting the theme of each yearly concert.

[edit] Notable alumni

• Chris Coste - Major league baseball catcher and infielder.
• David J. Hetland - Liturgical artist
• Coya Knutson - U.S. Congresswoman
• Morrie L. Lanning - former Moorhead, Minnesota Mayor & current Minnesota State House Representative
• Ronald D. Offutt - CEO and founder of RDO Equipment Company and RDO Agriculture, the largest potato grower in the world, and the current chairman of the Board of Reagents.
• Richard L. Torgerson - President of Luther College (IA)
• Gary Larsen - NFL defensive tackle - Purple People Eaters for the Minnesota Vikings

[edit] Past Presidents of Concordia College

• Ingebrikt F. Grose 1891-1893
• Hans H. Aaker 1893-1902
• Rasmus R. Bogstad 1902-1909
• Henry O. Shurson 1909-1911
• Johan A. Aasgaard 1911-1925
• John N. Brown 1925-1951
• Joseph L. Knutson 1951-1975
• Paul J. Dovre 1975-1999
• Thomas W. Thomsen 1999-2003
• Paul J. Dovre 2003-04
• Pamela Jolicoeur 2004-current

[edit] Tri-College University

Students who are enrolled at North Dakota State University and Minnesota State University Moorhead can take classes at Concordia without going through additional admission procedures and paying extra costs.

[edit] Trivia

• The school's first building, Old Main, was originally surrounded by corn fields when Moorhead was still a mostly rural area. It seemed logical to the school's founders that Concordia's mascot should then be an ear of corn and that the students should be known as "Cobbers".
• There is a sculpture by the regionally distinctive sculptor Paul Granlund in the library.
• Concordia College is located next to Prairie Home Cemetery. Humorist Garrison Keillor derived the name of his popular radio show, A Prairie Home Companion from this cemetery.
• First year students are given a bright yellow beanie hat during orientation upon arrival to campus and are supposed to wear them throughout their orientation week until the last day when everyone gathers on Olin Hill and throws them up into the air. This marks their official beginning of college. (Transfer students receive burgundy beanies and luckily don't have to wear them at all because their orientation is so short).
• The rivalry between students from Minnesota State University Moorhead, a neighboring campus, and Cobbers sometimes results in beanie-stealing attempts. Some attempts have gone so far as MSUM students even attending Cobber orientation posing as Cobber freshman in order to make friends with the new unknowing students. These students are then very surprised later on in the day when there is a knock on their dorm room door and their beanie is swiftly snatched from their head by their new found "friend" from orientation, who then runs outside and hops into a waiting getaway car. MSUM football players are the usual perpetrators and wear their stolen beanies as badges of honor. Freshman Cobber football players are supposed to wear their beanies up until they win their first football game, so depriving them of their beanies is considered a great prize. However, all Cobber freshman are potential targets.
• The bell tower goes as deep into the ground as it does into the sky.
• There is also a superstition that goes,depending on who you talk to, if a student walks through the opening at the base of the bell tower before they graduate he or she will never get married. Up until a few years ago, graduates had to walk through the tower as part of the graduation procession. Thus, perhaps this is one reason why most students are engaged by their senior year. Either because of the myth or peer pressure, most Cobbers do go to great lengths to avoid walking through this tower, even in the wintertime when walking around it is somewhat treacherous.
• The word "UFF-DA" can be found in the mosaic upon entering the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library.
• A statue of former college president Joseph L. Knutson is referred to as "The Chocolate Man" and is a common meeting place for students.
• There are also two large modern art granite statues on a round base between Old Main and the Centrum that are referred to as "Ole and Lena," named for the famous Minnesotan-Norwegian couple whose misunderstandings and marital problems are known to jokers throughout the upper midwest.
• The campus is said to hold the highest point (Olin Hill) and lowest point (Prexy's Pond) in Moorhead, MN.
• Concordia means "Our hearts together" in Latin.

Colleges and universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Augsburg • Augustana (IL) • Augustana (SD) • Bethany • California Lutheran • Capital • Carthage • Concordia • Dana • Finlandia • Gettysburg • Grand View • Gustavus Adolphus • Lenoir-Rhyne • Luther (IA) • Midland • Muhlenberg • Newberry • Pacific Lutheran • Roanoke • St. Olaf • Susquehanna • Texas Lutheran • Thiel • Wagner • Waldorf • Wartburg • Wittenberg

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Augsburg • Bethel • Carleton • Concordia Moorhead • Gustavus Adolphus • Hamline • Macalester • Saint Catherine • Saint Benedict & Saint John's • Saint Mary's • Saint Olaf • Saint Thomas