wfn.org | Gustavus Adolphus College President Announces Resignation

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 24, 2002

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION
02-15-SS*/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Axel D. Steuer, the 13th president of
Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn., announced he will resign
as president at the end of the current academic year, the college
reported in a Jan. 21 news release.
     Gustavus Adolphus College is one of 28 colleges and
universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
     Steuer, who will leave his current role in June, agreed to
remain an advisor to the college's board of trustees through May
2003.
     Steuer has served as president of Gustavus Adolphus since 1991.
During his administration, the college achieved a higher academic
standing and a stronger financial condition. Steuer also led the
institution through a significant rebuilding process required after a
1998 tornado caused more than $60 million in damage to the campus.
     "While it is difficult to leave this wonderful job at Gustavus
Adolphus College, I am ready for new challenges and hope eventually
to return to my first love of teaching bright college students," said
Steuer. "These past 11 years have been very rewarding years, and we
will miss the special contacts we have had with the many
extraordinary people who constitute the extended Gustavus family."
     "We congratulate President Steuer for his many accomplishments
and thank him for his years of faithful service to the college," said
Ruth A. Reister, chair of the college's board of trustees. "Gustavus
Adolphus College has further enhanced its national academic
reputation among liberal arts colleges during his tenure, while
preserving the important values and church affiliation of this 140-
year-old institution. Students, alumni, faculty, staff, college
supporters and the Lutheran church have all been served well during
his tenure."
     Steuer, 58, was born in Silesia, Germany.  He came to the
United States as a refugee under the sponsorship of the Lutheran
church in 1952.  He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and
psychology from Occidental College, Los Angeles; a master's degree in
philosophy from Harvard University and a divinity degree from Harvard
Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass.; and a doctorate in religious
thought from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
     Before he joined Gustavus Adolphus, he was a faculty member at
several universities, including Haverford College, Haverford, Pa.;
Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.;  Swarthmore College,
Swarthmore, Pa.; and Occidental College.
     A founding president of Minnesota's acclaimed Campus Compact
for community service, Steuer was awarded a John S. and James L.
Knight Foundation Presidential Leadership Grant in 1999, and in the
same year was honored by the Templeton Foundation as one of 50
"Presidents Effectively Promoting Character Building at Their
Colleges."  He was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star by His
Majesty, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in 1996, and was presented the
"Greater Gustavus Award" by the 20,000-member Gustavus Alumni
Association "for having notably advanced and aided Gustavus Adolphus
College."
     When he becomes executive advisor to the board of trustees,
Steuer will assist with the completion of current fund-raising
initiatives and the transition to his successor. An interim president
is expected to be named prior to the end of the current academic
year.
---
     *Stacia Senne is news director at Gustavus Adolphus College.

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