Andrews University
Andrews University is a private Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Founded in 1874 as Battle Creek College, it was the first higher education facility started by Seventh-day Adventists and is the flagship university of the Seventh-day Adventist school system, the world's second largest Christian school system.
The university consists of eight schools or colleges, offering 130 undergraduate majors and 70 graduate majors in addition to graduate degree programs. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the Adventist Accrediting Association.
History
1874–1901: Battle Creek College
Andrews University was founded as a small Seventh-day Adventist school called Battle Creek College in 1874 named for the nearby city of Battle Creek, Michigan.1901–1959: Emmanuel Missionary College
In 1901, the school moved from Battle Creek, Michigan to its current location in Berrien Springs. It is said that everything the school had was packed up in 16 boxcars and sent on its way. The school was renamed "Emmanuel Missionary College", or EMC for short.as "the first school among us having a distinctive Biblical name".
After this SDA college that had been known as Battle Creek College moved to Berrien Springs, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg opened a new Battle Creek College in Battle Creek under his presidency in 1923, by bringing together the existing Training School for Nurses, the School of Home Economics, and the School of Physical Education. This Battle Creek College operated until 1938.
Emmanuel Missionary College continued to grow slowly through the early 20th century. In the 1940s, Nethery Hall, the current location of the College of Arts and Sciences, was built as the administration building. Its construction marked the culmination of an aggressive building program.
SDA Theological Seminary
In the 1930s Seventh-day Adventist leaders established a Theological Seminary. At first, it was located on the campus of Pacific Union College in the Napa Valley, California. Later it was moved to Washington, D.C., and located near the denominational headquarters.1959–1974: Andrews University
The following events culminated in relocating the graduate program and theological seminary of Potomac University from Washington, D.C., and joining with the school in Berrien Springs in 1959.Potomac University
In 1956, denominational leaders decided to organize a university in order to train elementary and secondary teachers in an Adventist school rather than send them to an unaffiliated university which did not promote a denominational perspective."In 1956 a charter was granted. The new school was named Potomac University. Earlier, Ellen White, cofounder of the Adventist Church, had advised that Adventist schools locate in rural settings. Church leaders looked for a suitable rural location where the new university could be near to, and in affiliation with, Washington Missionary College, now Washington Adventist University. Over a period of two years effort was put forth to find such a location. Finally the idea was abandoned. Too much expense was involved in making such a move.
At the 1958 Autumn Council, held in Washington, the board of Emmanuel Missionary College invited the General Conference to locate Potomac University on its campus. After careful deliberation, the council voted unanimously to accept the offer and move the institution to the EMC campus.
Arrangements similar to those envisioned for Washington Missionary College were made with EMC. Emmanuel Missionary College did not lose its identity. It remained the college for the youth of the Lake Union Conference, but was affiliated with the new Seventh-day Adventist university.
In 1959, H. L. Rudy, a vice-president for the SDA General Conference, described the relationship of the new graduate university with Emmanuel Missionary College:
Andrews University
Because of the addition of the graduate programs and the seminary in 1960, the school was renamed "Andrews University" in honor of John Nevins Andrews, an Adventist scholar and the first officially sponsored overseas missionary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.On April 18, 1957, the Minutes of the General Conference Committee report gave the conclusion that " the name of the graduate school be Adventist University" Three years later, the April 5, 1960, Minutes of the General Conference Committee's Spring Meeting recommended that it be Andrews University, saying "This name was chosen because it honors our first missionary, a scholarly, dedicated man, J. N, Andrews, and is a name that has a very strong Adventist appeal.
Today the seminary is known as the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.
A marker designating the college as a Michigan Historic Site was erected by the Michigan Historical Commission. The inscription reads:
This, the oldest Seventh-day Adventist college and the pioneer in a world-wide system of Christian education, was chartered in 1874 at Battle Creek as Battle Creek College. It was moved to Berrien Springs in 1901 where its name was changed to Emmanuel Missionary College. The first classes here were held in tents. The old Berrien County Courthouse served as an administration building. Permanent buildings were erected by student labor. In 1960 the Adventists' Theological Seminary, founded in 1934, and the Graduate School, were moved here from Washington, D.C., to join Emmanuel Missionary College under one charter as Andrews University. The name honors a pioneer Adventist author, administrator, and missionary, John Nevins Andrews.
1974–present
In 1974, the undergraduate division of Andrews was organized into two colleges—the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Technology. The School of Business Administration, which evolved from the Department of Business Administration, was established in 1980. In a similar move, the Department of Education became the School of Education in 1983. In 1993, the Department of Architecture became the Division of Architecture, and is now the School of Architecture, Art & Design. At the same time existing and new programs in technology were restructured and a new School of Health Professions was opened in 2012.The present organizational structure of the School of Graduate Studies was adopted in 1987. Now the School of Graduate Studies & Research, it oversees graduate programs and research activities campus-wide.
Griggs University joined Andrews in 2011 to become the School of Distance Education. It extends access to Adventist education beyond campus, community and national boundaries. It supports all schools in delivery of degrees at national and international locations, while also promoting and modeling best practices in distance education.
On Thursday, April 11, 2007, President Niels-Erik Andreasen announced at a special chapel assembly that the university had just received a gift totaling $8.5 million. The anonymous donors requested the money be spent on the following: Construction of the new entrance on Old US 31, Two endowed chairs: one for the Marketing Department in the School of Business Administration and the second in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary's Christian Ministry Department, Construction of a milking parlor for the Andrews Dairy, Refurbish the kitchen and dining facilities in the Campus Center, and Support for the educational program of the Aeronautics Department.
Campus
Andrews University is located in the Village of Berrien Springs in southwest Michigan. The campus is adjacent to the St. Joseph River and away from the shores of Lake Michigan. South Bend, Indiana, home of the University of Notre Dame, is away; thus, some Andrews faculty members hold joint appointments with Notre Dame.The campus is officially designated as an arboretum. The campus maintains a variety of indigenous trees, especially around the quad in the center of the campus. The campus is composed of 27 instructional buildings, the Howard Performing Arts Center, an airpark, four single-sex residence halls and four apartment complexes.
The four dormitories on campus are Lamson Hall, the undergraduate women's hall, Damazo Hall, the graduate women's hall, Meier Hall, the undergraduate men's hall, and Burman Hall, primarily for men who are either graduate or seminary students. The residence halls strictly enforce a curfew depending on a student's age, as well as a visitation policy which does not allow students of the opposite sex in dorm rooms at any time. Students living on-campus are also required to attend a number of worship services.
Public art
Artworks on the campus include Corten Steel Sculpture, Legacy of Leadership, and Regeneration.Corten Steel Sculpture was designed by Timothy Malone while he was a graduate student and part-time instructor at the University of Notre Dame. The Corten steel sculpture weighs and bears the Andrews University motto and the text "Corpus, Mens, Spiritus" on one side; the opposite side displays an imperfect circle that represents the globe and two curved meridian lines. It was supposed to be installed in December 1966, but was postponed until April 1967 due to Malone's illness and an "imbalance" in the sculpture.
Academics
Following a major reorganization in 2019, the university is currently made up of five major academic units, offering 130 undergraduate majors and 70 graduate majors. In addition, post-graduate degrees in several areas are supervised by the School of Graduate Studies. Its most popular undergraduate majors, in terms of 2021 graduates, were:The university's freshmen retention rate is 83.9% while the graduation rate is 53.3%.