wfn.org | ELCA College President to Retire

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE - NEWSBRIEF

March 12, 1997

AUGSBURG PRESIDENT TO RETIRE

The Rev. Charles S. Anderson, 67, will retire this summer as
president of Augsburg College, Minneapolis.  Anderson cited
personal and professional reasons for his early retirement.  He
has undergone surgery and chemotherapy for intestinal cancer.
"My progress with the treatment has been good," said Anderson.
"But while I am grateful to have served at Augsburg for so many
years, I am also aware that time is a great and valuable gift,
and I wish to spend more of it with my wife, our children and
four grandsons.  I believe the college will benefit at this time
from new, aggressive leadership," he said.  Anderson's third
six-year term as president would have ended in July 1998.  He
came to Augsburg in 1976 as academic dean after 15 years as a
faculty member at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.  "During
Anderson's 17 years as president, Augsburg has grown and
progressed on many fronts," said Barbara Gage, chairperson for
the Augsburg Board of Regents.  Augsburg's total enrollment grew
from 1,470 students in the fall of 1980 to 2,862 for 1996, and
the college's endowment fund grew from $1.1 million in 1980 to
over $15 million today.  The Board of Regents has begun the
search for a successor to Anderson and hopes to name a new
president by June, said Gage.  Augsburg is one of 28 colleges and
universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html