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