S Swedes have always placed a great deal of importance on education, so it is perhaps no wonder that they founded as many as sixteen institutions of higher learning in the United States. Most of them are no longer in existence, the last one to close down being Upsala College in New Jersey, that folded operations shortly after celebrating its centennial in 1993.

But five thriving colleges are left, all with a ascinating Swedish history, even though few of their students today have any Swedish roots. Among them North Park College has repeatedly ranked as one of "America's Best Colleges" in the annual U.S. News & World Report list.

Academic instruction in Swedish language and culture is also offered at 40 other colleges and universities in North America, not to mention the countless "not-for-credit" evening courses taking place all over the continent. Several major universities offer M.A. and Ph.D degrees in Scandinavian languages and literature; a number of universities and colleges offer B.A. degrees in Scandinavian (or Swedish) languages and literature and/or area studies programs.

Here's a short introduction to some of these institutes, whether you are looking for a college that can shore up your roots or you have some basic Swedish and want a quick credit.

NORTH PARK COLLEGE

One of the first things you see when you approach the magnificentred-brick "Old Main" building in Chicago, is a large sign that proclaims "The beginning of wisdom is the fright of God" - in Swedish. Founded in 1891, by the Evangelical Covenant Church (Missionsförbundet), it is hard today to imagine that the "Old Main" of the college stood alone in the middle of a cabbage field when the first students enrolled.

The early years were tough economically until a former student and Covenant missionary discovered gold in Alaska at the turn of the century and donated funds for expansion. Today the North Park College and Theological Seminary consists of 16 buildings on 30 tree-lined acres on Chicago’s North Side in close proximity to the Andersonville "Swedish" quarters.

The college has an enrollment of nearly 2 000 students from around the world, providing education through a variety of day, evening, and weekend programs, from traditional liberal arts undergraduate education to GOAL, an adult degree completion program, and master’s degrees in business administration, education, management and nursing. There are also some 150 students in the seminary taking degrees in divinity, theology and Christian education, as well as a doctor of ministry degree in preaching. Professor Raymond Jarvi, who recently passed away, led a Swedish language program and administered courses at Vätterbygdens Folkhögskola in Sweden. Approximately forty transfer students from Scandinavia study at North Park College and even more students and faculty members take part in exchanges with Sweden, Norway and Finland.

The college houses the Center for Scandi-navian Studies and the Hugo A Anderson (of Atlantic Richfield fame) Chair of Scandinavian Studies, that have not only bene-fitted the undergraduates but the larger community as well. Director Charles Petersen oversees a program of lectures, performances, art exhibits and demonstrations by outstanding Scandinavian artists, musicians, scholars, writers and politicians.

On campus you will also find archivist Tim Johnson of the Swedish American Archives of Greater Chicago and the Swedish-American Historical Society that records the achievements of the Swedish pioneers.

AUGUSTANA COLLEGE

Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, is the oldest Swedish-American institution of higher learning. The college started in Chicago as a theological seminary for the Augustana Synod in 1860 when it was hard to recruit clergymen from Sweden. The language of instruction during the early days was Swedish, but by 1948 the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary and the college separated and today few of the 2 000 students have any Swedish-American background.

Augustana has 2 200 students and no teaching assistants and nearly 90percent of the faculty hold a Ph.D or the highest degree in their field. Total cost for tuition, room and board and fees this year is $ 19,989, but over 90 percent of Augustana’s students receive financial assistance. Special scholarships are available for Swedish students. In 1949 Augustana became a Phi Beta Kappa institution, and today it is ranked among the top 60 small liberal art colleges in the nation, based on the number of graduates who go on to earn Ph.Ds.

The college campus is beautifully located on 115 acres of land on the rolling hillsides of the Mississippi River Valley. There are some twenty-five college buildings, many with Swedish names such as the "Fryxell Geology Museum". The "Old Main" building looks very much like the main building of Uppsala University, except that it is crowned with a very American dome.

A major in Scandinavian offers opportunities for concentrated study of the Swedish language and Scandinavian literature. The college sponsors the popular Augustana College Summer School in Sweden at the Grebbestad Folkhögskola, located between Gothenburg and Oslo, where students earn a full year of language credit in six weeks.

The Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center in the beautiful Denkman Memorial Hall, has the largest Swedish-American collection in the United States. Here director Dag Blanck and assistants Vicky Oliver and Christine Johansson help researchers access more than 12 000 books and 263 micro-filmed newspapers.

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE

St. Peter is a small community of 9 000 on the scenic Minnesota River in the south-ern part of the state. It has been the idyllic setting of Gustavus Adolphus College since 1876. This national liberal arts college has an enrollment of 3 300. Named after Sweden’s hero king who died in the 30 Years War, the college was founded in 1862 by Eric Norelius in Red Wing, Minnesota, and was for a while, called St. Ansgar’s Academy.

Affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church, it has daily optional ecumenical chapel services and all students must complete one course in religion as a component of their studies. President Axel Steuer feels that the college’s Swedish-Lutheran heritage is apparent in its "ardent work ethic; a pervasive egalitarianism; a dedication to working for social justice and world peace; a commitment to excellence in the arts, science, medicine and literature; and a passionate stewardship of all resources."

The result is that Gustavus students really graduate on time after four years, compared to the five or six years it often takes at a large university. With a student/faculty ratio of 13:1, over 80 percent of students have attained the highest degree in their field and the Phi Beta Kappa college is listed as a "best buy" in Barron’s Selective College Guide and cited for "small class sizes and superior faculty accessibility" in The Insider’s Guide to Colleges.

Gustavus offers an undergraduate major in Scandinavian Studies,boasting courses in language, history and literature that lead to a thorough knowledge of modernday Scandinavia and an appreciation of immigrant contributions to America. Last fall there were 12 native Swedish students studying on campus and there is an active Gustavus alumni association based in Stockholm. Formal exchange programs have been arranged with Karlstad and Växjö Universities and summer study programs have also been made available at Lund, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Dalarna.

In an ever-changing world, Gustavus remains a place where the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library, the Alfred Nobel Hall of Science, the Jussi Björling Concert Hall, the Linnaeus Arboretum, the Raoul Wallenberg lectureship, and the internationally acclaimed Nobel Conference give a sense of tradition. The Nobel Conference, held on the first Tuesday and Wednesday in October, that the college has hosted for more than three decades, has brought Swedish royalty, scores of Nobel laureates and hundreds of other prominent scholars to explore the leading scientific and philosophical issues of our age. Each year the "Out of Scandinavia" program also brings leading writers, poets,actors and other distinguished people in the arts to the Gustavus campus for a week-long artist-in-residence program.

BETHANY COLLEGE

The small Swedish town of Lindsborg (population 3 200) used to advertise itself as the town "where culture and agriculture meet". Settled by Pastor Olof Olsson and his religious dissenters from Värmland in the middle of the Kansas plain, the town has successfully kept the most important symbol of its cultural heritage in the form of Bethany College.

The Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, a Lutheran pastor and educator founded Bethany College in 1881. First known as an academy, it became a college in 1886. He also founded the Bethany College Oratorio Society, that has presented Handel’s Messiah for 117 consecutive years, and encouraged Swedish artists and musicians to join the small college facility. The accomplished Swedish painter Birger Sandzén built up the art faculty and started the now 99-year-old Midwest Art Exhibition. Famous art schools and universities attempted to lure Birger Sandzén away from Lindsborg and the college, but he had fallen in love with the peaceful orderliness of the small town and the beauty of the surrounding landscape.

Today Bethany College strives to remain true to its rich heritage and traditions with its four-year liberal arts programs and offers its 700 students 17 major fields of study as well as 13 teaching majors and 11 minors. A low 13: 1 faculty/student ratio ensures individual attention. Over 90 percent of Bethany’s graduates seeking to enter professional schools are admitted. Twenty percent of Bethany’s graduates enter graduate and professional schools. The college is renowned for the quality of its education, music, arts, business, pre-professional, pre-engineering programs and as one of the few places in thePlains region that offers Swedish.

BETHEL COLLEGE AND SEMINARY

When Swedish immigrants arrived in North America they all belonged to the Swedish Lutheran State Church. Over here they generally came to belong to one of five major groups: Augustana Lutheran, Mission Covenant, Methodist, Free and Baptist. One of the first tasks for the congregations was to establish schools and seminaries. For the baptists it started with Johan Alexis Edgren who founded a seminary in Chicago in 1871 for the purpose of educating Swedish immigrants that later combined with a Swedish Baptist Academy that had started in Minneapolis in 1905. Today Bethel offers a four-year liberal arts program and has some 2 500 students in St. Paul, as well as a seminary with some 700 students both in St. Paul and in San Diego. Bethel maintains its Swedish heritage in many ways, among them by offering courses in Swedish language and culture in the college. Two years ago the college celebrated it 125th anniversary with a visit from the Swedish King and Queen.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

The University of Minnesota was not founded by Swedes, but Swedes have been involved in making it into one of the 20 top universities in the United States. Swedish-born Nils Hasselmo spent more than 25 years at the University of Minnesota retiring as its president. One of his achievements was to persuade Swedish -American billionaire Curtis Carlson to fund their business program.

The Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch have approximately 750 students each quarter in Danish, Dutch, German, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish language classes. Undergraduate and graduate classes are offered both through day school and Extension, and undergraduate classes are offered during Summer Session.

Students have access to the most extensive collections of
Scandinavian material available in the Scandinavian Library, with more than 200 000 volumes in Scandinavian area subjects and disciplines overseen by the Swedish librarian Marianne Tiblin. Most interesting is the Tell G Dahllöf collection of American History seen from a Swedish perspective, the history of Swedish emigration to America, Swedish culture in America, and general descriptions by Swedish travellers to North America.

CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN

In April the California Lutheran University’s Scandinavian Festival celebrates its anniversary with Viking and Sami encampments, music, dancing, a smörgåsbord and lots of Scandinavian spirit. The event was the brainchild of a Swedish-American and a Norwegian-American who wanted to showcase their Scandinavian culture and the beautiful campus to the greater Los Angeles community. The other year the event drew 6,000 visitors. It is co-sponsored by the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation which maintains the Scandinavian Cultural Center in the university’s Pearson Library.

California Lutheran University was started in 1959 when Richard Pederson, the son of Norwegian immigrants donated the spectacular Pederson Ranch nestled against the rolling hills of Thousand Oaks "to provide youth the benefits of a Christian education in a day when spiritual values can well decide the course of history". The ranch now forms the heart of the picturesque 290-acre campus with some 2,600 students.

Many of the founding fathers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America university are of Swedish descent. Numerous Swedish students come to study at CLU each year. The largest number of international students are from the Scandinavian countries. Special scholarships are available for students of Swedish descent, like the Ingeborg Estergren Scholarship that provides a year of study in Sweden for a female student majoring in education.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

The Scandinavian Studies Department at the University of Washington was set up in 1909 after Judge Gustav Bonde sponsored an addition to the state constitution requiring a program in Swedish to be part of the University’s offering. With some 2 000 students it is the largest department of Scandinavian languages and literature in the United States with eight faculties and some ranked among the top programs in the world. One of the professors is Swedish Birgitta Steene who has made a name for herself as a Strindberg scholar. During the summer the Department organizes summer courses that provide quick credits in a really enjoyable way.

One of the most impressive buildings on campus is the Gothic-style Alfred H. Anderson Hall donated by the lumberman and Swedish immigrant with the same name.

UNIVERSITY OF BC

Swedish has been taught in the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of British Columbia for more that a quarter century. Since 1984, the Swedish-language instructor has come from Sweden thanks to a unique co-operation between the Swedish community that pays for the basic salary of the lecturer, the Swedish Institute that contributes travel and incidental expenses, and the university that supplies the support structure plus the literature courses taught by German Studies professors. Since 1990, UBC has exchange agreements with the universities in Uppsala, Lund and Umeå, which allows UBC students to spend an academic year in Sweden.

Other North American Colleges and Universities with Swedish Language & Literature and Contemporary Society in 1998.

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