In 1860, after church leaders formed the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod, Professor Lars Paul Esbjörn and a group of followers moved to Chicago to create their institution. In 1846, the academy became the Literary and Theological Institute of the Lutheran Church of the Far West before moving to Springfield, Illinois, under the name Illinois State University. Until September 2015, the university was known as Augustana College.Īugustana is South Dakota's largest private university and offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in more than 50 major fields of study.Īugustana traces its origin to 1835 when Scandinavian immigrants established the Hillsboro Academy in Hillsboro, Illinois. It derives its name from the Confessio Augustana, or Augsburg Confession, a foundational document of Lutheranism.

The university identifies 1860 as the year of its founding, the same as its Rock Island, Illinois, Swedish-heritage sister school, Augustana College. Augustana University is a private Lutheran university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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