Graceland University

Infobox_University
name =Graceland University


motto =Prudens futuri (Wisdom for the Future)
established =1895
type =
endowment =
staff =
alumni =
faculty =146
president =Dr. John D. Sellars
students =2,351
undergrad =
postgrad =
doctoral =
profess =
city =Lamoni
state =Iowa
country =USA
campus =
free_label =School Song
free =Graceland Forever
colors =Blue & Gold
mascot =Sting
nickname =Yellowjackets
affiliations =Community of Christ
footnotes =
website = [http://www.graceland.edu www.graceland.edu]
address =
telephone =
coor =
logo =

Graceland University is a private liberal arts university of about 2300 students and 150 faculty with campuses in Lamoni, Iowa and Independence, Missouri. The school, though non-sectarian, was established by, and is affiliated with, the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), and was founded in 1895 as Lamoni College.

Its main campus is located in Lamoni, Iowa. This residential campus offers 43 majors and 60 degree options, 17 varsity sports, campus wide activities, and intramural sports. Among the significant architectural structures on the Lamoni Campus are the Higdon Administration Building, the Roy A. Cheville Chapel, Closson Physical Education Center, Frederick Madison Smith Library, and the Shaw Center.

The Independence campus is an urban campus that houses the school of nursing, undergraduate and graduate programs in education and Community of Christ Seminary.This campus also houses the Center for the Study of the Korean War, the largest Korean War archive in the United States.

In 1995, Graceland University acquired SkillPath, a business training company offering seminars and classes in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. SkillPath has offered approximately 20,000 sessions to more than 500,000 students in 450 cities. [ [http://www.skillpath.com/AboutUs.html SkillPath Seminars – About Us] , webpage, retrieved June 24, 2006]

Dr. John D. Sellars was named as Graceland's 17th president, assuming that role effective July 15, 2007. He follows Dr. Steven L. Anders (Graceland's vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty who was appointed acting president on August 7, 2006), and John K. Menzies (who resigned as Graceland’s president on August 5, 2006).

Graceland won first-place in the four-year division of the SIFE USA National Exposition in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 23, 2006. The team then went on to be the 1st runner up at the World Cup competition in Paris, France. In 2008, the SIFE team finished 3rd in National competition in Chicago, Illinois. They have qualified for National's 9 out of the past 10 years.

Housing System

Instead of having fraternities and sororities like many universities, Graceland has residential social organizations called "houses". Each student is assigned to a "house," regardless of whether they live on or off campus. Each house functions socially as a fraternity or sorority. House officers form a house council including a president, a vice president, a Council of Student Activities member, a Student Academic Council member, a senator who represents the house in student government, an intramural sports representative, a chaplain, and finally Crescents (exclusive to women's houses and whose duties include decorating and doing arts and crafts). Members of a house council are elected to their positions by members of their house.

columns
col1 =Women's Houses
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1510 Amici]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1511 Aponivi]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1515 Hanthorne]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1516 Khiyah]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1517 Leilani]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1519 Paloma]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1809 Sariah]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1520 Shalom]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1521 Solah]

col2 =Men's Houses
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1092 Aaron]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1509 Agape]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1512 Cheville]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1513 Closson]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1514 Faunce]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1518 Orion]
* [http://www.graceland.edu/show.cfm?durki=1522 Stewart Manor]

Prominent alumni

*Leonard Boswell: politician, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, Iowa 3rd District, 1997–Present
*Teresa Carpenter: journalist and novelist, Pulitzer Prize winner, 1981
*Jeff Criswell: football player; offensive lineman for Indianapolis Colts 1987, New York Jets 1988–1994 and Kansas City Chiefs 1995–1998.
*Merle Harmon: sport announcer, motivational speaker, entrepreneur [http://www.sportsstarsusa.com/sportscasters/harmon_merle.html]
*Bruce Jenner: athlete, Olympic gold medalist, 1976
*Frederick Madison Smith: Graceland's first graduate; third president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now the Community of Christ, 1915–1946
*Israel Alexander Smith: President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now the Community of Christ, 1946–1958
*David Yost: actor, original Blue Power Ranger
*Milton Young: politician, Republican U.S. Senator from North Dakota, 1945-1981

Athletics

Football

In 2005, the Yellowjackets went 9-3, won their first conference title since 1975 and qualified for the NAIA national championships for the first time ever. This was just four years removed from an 0-10 season. Cris Welch is 28 and 14 in four years.

Herbert Goodman and Jeff Criswell went on to play in the NFL

Women's soccer

In 2006, GU won their third straight Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship. Despite a 17-1-1 record, the Jackets were not selected for the NAIA national tournament. They have not been defeated in conference play since October 2003 (29-0-3).GU is 67-6-11 over the lst four years.

Women's volleyball

Stew McDole has won 741 matches in 25 years at Graceland.

Men's volleyball

The Jackets capture three NAIA Championships (1973, 76, 79). They were one of only two teams to qualify for nationals all 11 years it was run. The NAIA stopped the championships following the 1978-79 season.

Men's soccer

In 2006, Graceland went 18-4-2. Despite losing in the Region V Championship, the Jackets were selected to the NAIA National Tournament and seeded second. They beat Milligan 1-0, Grand View 3-0, Webber International 1-0 and Azusa Pacific 0-0 (7-6 in a shoot out) to win the NAIA National Championships.

They beat Grand View 3-0 after losing 3-0 to them in the opening game of the season.In the semi finals against Webber International they played without one of the top two defensive players, Ruben Ruelas (broken ankle against GV), Edson Edward (#3 scorer, injury) and veteran Brett Porter (sitting out due to yellow cards).In the final against Azusa Pacific, they were without Ruelas, Edward, Facundo Rinaldi (Top reserve, out with a red card) and Kevin Souter (top player out on fouls).

In the shoot out, both teams made all five of their penalty kicks, which is highly unusual. Then in the second round, both teams missed their first three shots each. After each made the fourth shot, Goal Keeper Isaac Unruh came up with a huge save and Nick Gay put his shot past the keeper for the win.

In 2008, the Yellowjackets won the HAAC conference for the third time (1997, 2005 and 2007) finishing with a 17 wins, 2 ties and 2 losses record. Graceland advanced to National Tournament for the third year in a row. Kevin Souter (Portsoy, Scotland) has been signed by the Kansas City Wizards Professional Soccer Team.

External links

* [http://www.graceland.edu/ Graceland University]
* [http://www.gracelandbands.us/ Graceland University Bands website]
* [http://www.koreanwarcenter.org/ The Center for the Study of the Korean War]

Notes