We are colleges and universities of the ELCA. Our common calling is to be excellent schools that educate students for lives of meaning and purpose in the world. Our academic missions and institutional identities are grounded in specific geographical, ethnic, cultural, and academic contexts, but have in common a Lutheran heritage that has shaped those missions and identities in distinctive and relevant ways.
Kathi Tunheim
Associate Professor of Economics and Management
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Excerpted from Rooted in a Distinctive Tradition, Open to the World: Reflections Across Campus on the Heritage, Character, and Vision of Gustavus Adolphus College
Edited by Marcia J. Bunge, Rev. Drell and Adeline Bernhardson Distinguished Chair of Lutheran Studies
“The aim of this book is to address some of the common questions visitors or newcomers ask about the college’s identity and heritage: What makes Gustavus such a special and distinctive liberal arts college? What is the value of studying or working at a college founded by Swedish Lutherans? What does its Lutheran affiliation mean? How does its Lutheran heritage influence Gustavus today and into the future?”