wfn.org | Braaten Resigns as President of Midland Lutheran College

[News News <NEWS@elca.org>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 22, 2002

BRAATEN RESIGNS AS PRESIDENT OF MIDLAND LUTHERAN COLLEGE
02-060-MR/CT**

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Jennifer L. Braaten, president of Midland
Lutheran College, Fremont, Neb., resigned from her post effective July
1.  Midland is one of 28 college and universities of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     "It is with deep regret and mixed emotions that I announce my
decision to leave the Midland Lutheran College community," Braaten said.
"With the recent death of my mother, it has become increasingly
important to me to be near my family."
     Braaten will become president of Ferrum College, Ferrum, Va.  Her
husband, the Rev. Conrad Braaten, serves as pastor of Reformation
Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C.  Their son is a student at Harvard
University, Cambridge, Mass., and daughter resides in Boca Raton, Fla.
     Braaten was the first woman to be appointed to the presidency of
an ELCA college or university.  She became Midland's 13th president in
August 1999.
     Under her leadership, Midland had an aggressive enrollment plan,
initiated advertising efforts, created new faculty and staff positions,
and arranged for donations to support it's endowment and scholarship
funds.  Braaten helped secure a $3.5 million anonymous deferred bequest,
a $1 million endowment for scientific excellence and a $395,000 grant
from The Teagle Foundation, New York, for board development and staff
increases.
     From 1991 to 1999, Braaten served as provost and vice president
for academic affairs at Lynn University, Boca Raton, Fla.  She was
academic dean for Lynn University from 1989 to 1991, and a Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools self-study director at the
university from 1988 to 1990.  From 1980 to 1988 Braaten taught
sociology and U.S. history at the College of Boca Raton, Boca Raton,
Fla.  She served as an adjunct professor of U.S. and Latin American
history at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, and taught sociology
and history at Palm Beach Community College, Boca Raton.   Braaten
taught history and sociology at the high school level from 1969 to 1980.
     Braaten earned a doctorate in education with "high distinction" at
Florida Atlantic University in 1987 and a master's degree in education
there in 1976.  She earned a bachelor of science degree, "summa cum
laude," at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1969.  She also
attended St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn. -- a college of the ELCA --
from 1967 to 1968; the University of Vienna, Austria, in 1968; and the
University of Oregon, Eugene, from 1965 to 1967.
     The board for Midland "understands Dr. Braaten's reasons for
accepting her new position, and we thank her for her service," said
Lloyd Brooks, chair of Midland's board of trustees.  "The board is
committed to continuing the level of excellence for which Midland is
known," he said.

     **Catherine D. Tibbels is director of public relations at Midland
Lutheran College.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html