Augustana University offers more than 100 majors, minors, and pre-professional and graduate programs. The top majors declared by Augustana students include nursing, biology, business administration, psychology, exercise science, finance, elementary education, computer science, accounting and marketing. The university's
curriculum is based on a calendar divided into two 15-week
semesters, separated by an interim period of four weeks during January, as well as an optional summer term of eight weeks. Classes and study-away programs are offered during January. The school has a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Extensive internship, study abroad, undergraduate research and Civitas, the university's honors program, supplement Augustana's curriculum. Between 2007 and 2008, 285 students participated in an international educational experience, and 44% of students studied abroad before graduation. In 2023, Augustana's
financial endowment surpassed $115 million. Donations have allowed the school to expand its academic facilities, such as the renovation of the Mikkelsen Library, 2015 reconstruction of the Froiland Science Complex (formerly Gilbert Science Center), 2022 addition of Ralph H. Wagoner Hall, 2023 addition of Midco Arena, and ongoing construction of the Morrison Commons.
Admissions and rankings , Augustana's student body consisted of 1,825 undergraduates,
U.S. News & World Report classified Augustana as a "more selective" school, with 62% of the students enrolled having graduated from
high school in the top quartile of their class, The school's retention rate of freshmen returning as sophomores was 80% between 2013 and 2014. Those enrolled are primarily from South Dakota (42%) and Minnesota (34%), followed by Iowa (12%) and Nebraska (4%). In the fall of the 2010–11 academic year, Augustana reported its largest ever incoming class of international students. Fifty-four new students, representing 20 countries and five continents, joined 25 continuing international students for a total of 79 international students from 23 countries, making up about 4.5% of the student body. Although only 46% of students claim a preference for the school's
Lutheran religious affiliation, the school is nevertheless composed primarily of students following a
Christian denomination, with
Catholicism the second largest at 21%; 22% of students are categorized as "other". In 2017,
Forbess list of "America's Top Colleges" placed Augustana 97th among schools in the Midwest and 423rd overall.
Arts 's
Moses at Augustana University Augustana created the Center for Western Studies in 1970, which serves as a library, repository for special collections of art and artifacts, and academic publisher. The center holds an annual Dakota Conference on the Northern Plains for history, literature, art, and archaeology. It is "the largest annual humanities conference specifically about the Northern Plains". In addition to shows and galleries of Western, Scandinavian, and Native American art, the Center also hosts the Boe Forum on Public Affairs, The Augustana Choir and Concert Band tour widely nationally and internationally, including to
China,
Italy, and
Tanzania. While on tour in
Egypt during the
Revolution of 2011, the band was briefly stranded in
Cairo due to anti-government protests. The Augustana University Theatre Company presents four main-stage shows each year, one of which is a
musical, as well as two student-produced shows by the Augustana Collaborative Theatrical Society. Augustana Theatre sponsors an improv group, Brand Name Improv. The department also hosts the Claire Donaldson New Play Festival (formerly the 8-in-48 Claire Donaldson Short Play Festival), which occurs every other year. It was the first theatre department in the state to host a 24 hour play festival. In 2023, the department collaborated with Lifescapes of Sioux Falls and the Black Hills Playhouse to perform the first all-abilities show, which included a half Augustana cast and a half Lifescapes cast, which Augustana students designing as well. In 2006, the Center for Visual Arts replaced the old art department buildings, previously used as barracks during World War II.
Civitas Augustana's honors program,
Civitas, launched in 2007. "Civitas" is
Latin for "citizenship", and the program is built upon the work of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a
German Lutheran pastor and
theologian who was a founding member of the
Confessing Church and a participant in the
German resistance movement against
Nazism. Bonhoeffer's essay "The Structure of Responsible Life" is the program's central focus. Emphasizing
Stellvertretung (roughly translated as "vicarious representative action"), Bonhoeffer participated in the
Abwehr plot to assassinate Hitler and subsequently wrote the piece as a justification for his actions. Students examine his work in classes specifically designated for Civitas and in special honors sections of existing courses. 40 students are selected from each graduating class; they must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA, with entrance priority going to incoming students with an ACT score of at least 27 and a 3.5 cumulative high school GPA. ==Athletics==