Grand View University

Coordinates: 41°37′14″N 93°36′15″W / 41.620546°N 93.604279°W / 41.620546; -93.604279

Grand View University
Type Not-for-profit private university
Established 1896
Endowment $15.5 million[1]
President Kent Henning
Provost Mary Elizabeth Stivers
Academic staff
90
Students 2,300
Location Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Campus Urban
Colors Red and White          
Nickname Vikings
Mascot Viktor the Viking
Affiliations Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Website www.grandview.edu
The Humphrey Center is the oldest building at Grand View and houses the university's administration.

Grand View University is a private, not-for-profit liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Founded in 1896, the university is located in Des Moines, Iowa, and hosts 2,300 students in forty undergraduate majors and several post-graduate programs.

History

Grand View College and Seminary was started in 1896 by members of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In 1912, Grand View opened a high school academy department; instruction at the junior college level began in 1924 and was accredited by the Iowa State Department of Public Instruction in 1938 following the dissolution of the academy. After receiving accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1959, the theological seminary was relocated to Maywood, Illinois, in 1960.

In 1975, nursing programs were added for the first time along with baccalaureate programs. The college, then known as Grand View Junior College, became known as Grand View College. In 2008, after adding post-graduate programs, the college renamed itself Grand View University.

Athletics

Grand View Vikings logo
Main article: Grand View Vikings

Grand View offers 21 varsity sports for men and women; its teams are known as the Vikings. The university is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and competes in the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC). Men's sports include baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, track & field, volleyball and wrestling; and women's sports include basketball, bowling, competitive dance, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball. Grand View also offers 2 additional co-ed sports: cheerleading and shooting sports.

The Vikings won five consecutive NAIA national championships in wrestling from 2012 to 2016.

In 2013, the Vikings won the NAIA national championship in football.

Clubs and organizations

Campus traditions

"Bud the Bird"

Bud Jr. is unveiled by staff at the dedication ceremony of Bud's Place on October 1, 2005.

Since the 1930s Grand View students have participated in a campus tradition using "Bud the Bird," a large eagle statue, as the object of desire in the school's own version of "capture the flag."

A large, iron bird statue that stood at the entrance of a local White Eagle gas station was stolen by students, early in the college's history. "Bud the Bird," as the students affectionately called him, was passed from group to group on campus and with each new group, a new finding a new hiding place was to keep the statue. Verbal rules stated that the group in possession of Bud had to bring him to campus events, making it possible for him to be stolen again.

Over time, Bud has been replaced by clones. The first Bud was a casualty of the World War II effort when college president Alfred C. Nielsen donated the bird to the war effort for scrap metal in the early 1940s. The first Bud was replaced by Bud Jr., a 33-inch 200-pound replica. Sometime in the late 1940s, Bud Jr. was buried on the west end of campus, not to be unearthed again until over 50 years later in 1994 when maintenance crews were digging for fiber optic cables.

While Bud Jr. was hidden, students created new Buds in the 1950s and 1960s. In this time period, as many as ten replicas are believed to have been made. These replicas were made out of wood, metal, or glass, but all of the replicas carried on the trait of being large and heavy. In the 1950s, it also became a tradition to give Bud a funeral ceremony, including a casket and pallbearers. The students would carry the "deceased" to Birdland Marina, a small, city-owned marina located near campus that dumps into the Des Moines River. Students would pretend to throw the casket over a bridge and into the water below.

The competition over Bud became so intense in the 1960s, a brawl broke out between nursing students, on-campus residents, and commuter students.

Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s Bud the Bird's legacy was nearly forgotten. Bud's popularity returned with the discovery of the buried Bud Jr. in 1994 and the addition of the "Bud's Place" recreation room in the basement of the Nielsen dormitory. "Bud's Place" houses a permanent display of Bud's history.

Interesting places Bud has been hidden:

"The Rock"

“The Rock,” located in front of the Humphrey Center is one of the most prominent traditions of Grand View. When re-sodding the lawn of what was then Old Main (now Humphrey Center), students in the 1900s placed the rock on the lawn directly in front of Old Main's entrance. The only significant change made to the landmark was in 1915 when it was moved to make room for a new sidewalk to the entrance.

Students traditionally paint the rock in the darkness of the night whenever students feel the urge to express themselves. "In times of celebration, sorrow, or protest, The Rock is deemed a medium of the students," the Grand View student handbook states.

The rock is sometimes used to announce campus events, and on at least one occasion, has been used to propose marriage.

Buildings

Residence halls

All rooms have high-speed Internet access and cable TV; all buildings have electronic security systems.

Academic buildings

Old Main (now the Humphrey Center) circa 1900.

See also

References

  1. As of June 30, 2011. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2011 Endowment Market Value and Percentage Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2010 to FY 2011" (PDF). National Association of College and University Business Officers. January 17, 2012. p. 21. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  2. "Former president passes away, new suites named in his honor" (English). The Grand Views. 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2010-09-15.

External links

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