wfn.org | ELCA college and seminary presidents in Gettysburg greet Bushes

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

>ELCA News Blog

>September 19, 2008  

ELCA college and seminary presidents in Gettysburg greet Bushes

>by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service

The presidents of Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pa., and the
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (LTSG), greeted
President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush as they toured
the new visitor center of the Gettysburg National Military Park
on Sept. 5.  President Bush requested that Dr. Gabor Boritt,
founder and director, Civil War Institute, and the Robert C.
Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies at Gettysburg College,
lead the battlefield tour.  Boritt introduced the Bushes to Dr.
Janet Morgan Riggs, interim president, Gettysburg College, and
the Rev. Michael Cooper-White, LTSG president.  Gettysburg
College is one of 28 colleges and universities of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA); and LTSG is one of eight ELCA
seminaries.

"What we thought would be just a 'meet and greet' moment turned
into a lively conversation with the president and Mrs. Bush,"
Cooper-White said in a seminary news release.  President Bush
praised the new center as the product of a partnership between
public institutions and private interests, including the two ELCA
schools.

In the 1990s, Gettysburg College entered into a close
relationship with the Eisenhower Institute, a distinguished
center for leadership and public policy based in Washington, D.C.
In 2006 the institute became a program of the college and
established a second site on the Gettysburg campus.  Also in 2006
the seminary acquired Luther Institute, a faith-based
organization created in 1983 to address public issues within the
framework of Lutheran theology.  Luther Institute is located in
Washington, D.C.  "Forging strong partnerships with others is a
key to effective civic engagement and public witness.  Though the
current U.S. presidency is in its final days, I hope that in some
small way our conversation with the Bushes witnessed to the depth
and richness Lutheran voices can bring to bear in public life,"
Cooper-White said.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog